#I'm so normal (mentally ill) about the rhodes family ✋

[aberooski]

headcanon that came out of nowhere ; i think atticus is a Weird Cuddler. not in the sense that he’s weird about the touching but that he always always ALWAYS has to hear someone’s heartbeat when they’re laying together.

it started with alexis when they were kids, because he was always told that a big brother needs to be there for his little sister. so he was always there to watch her in the night when she would cry or have a nightmare, and he’d always know when she was panicking or not because of her heart rate. and all he would think in the darkness would be “you have to protect it. you have to keep her heart beating this strong.”

it was horrible when he was possessed. there was nobody’s heartbeat but his own to listen to. ‘his’ own.

when he’s finally back at school, he lays in the dark after a nightmare. he can’t get up, that feeling of a choking presence chaining him down into the bed. but into the sheets he taps, that familiar ba-dump, ba-dump of alexis’ heart.

No because I completely agree and I think this is entirely in line with his character.

I was just watching episode 173 the other day just kinda because I felt like it and I was I suppose you could say, studying, as I am constantly analyzing him, Chazz, and Alexis. And I came across a certain moment that confirmed that I write Atticus extremely accurately, but is also and more importantly, is incredibly telling about him as a character and a person.

So after everyone is lost to Darkness and Atticus is the only one left on the island stripped of his memories of anyone and everyone, he breaks down and says this:

Atticus, in his mind and in his heart, exists entirely for the sake of others. His purpose is to be there to guide and protect and care for others and to be needed. Every single thing we ever see him do is in the interest of someone else. Usually Chazz or Alexis, but a few others as well throughout the show. He never does anything for himself, or thinks about himself first. I agree, while he was alone in Darkness while he was possessed, he couldn’t be comforted by his own heart beat. If anything, it would only make things worse because he can't stand being alone and not having anyone to care for and protect. He yearns for connection with people, especially the people he cares for the most, and being cut off from them for so long would be destructive to him.

And to the point of him being a snuggler cuddler, I also agree! I think Atticus is a very tactile, tangible person. Both by way of physical touch, and having tangible representations of concepts and ideas for him to hold onto. Like a heartbeat.

And Alexis, being the most important person in his life, the one he's always held the most dear, would be one tangible representation of safety and comfort. And when he's in darkness, cut off from her and his friends, he can't hear or feel anyone's heartbeat. There's no comfort for him, no way to know if the ones he cares for are alright or if they need him, not that he could go to them anyway during that time. He would just feel alone and useless, like he'd failed somehow, even though what happened to him wasn't his fault and he never asked to be dragged into the shadows. He accepted the power of Darkness as a last resort so that he could survive and make it back home to his family and friends. But when he finally does come back, let's have a look at this shot from episode 30, shall we?

Now I may be stretching a little, but hear me out. I think when he comes back, one of the first things he can feel is her heartbeat. Now, normally he might not be able to because she's a girl so not to be crass, but I'm also a girl so I can say it, her boobs are in the way. But she just got her brother back after a year and thinking she'd maybe really lost him for good and they just went through a whole shadow duel, and she's sobbing. This girl's heart has to be POUNDING, so I think for him it's a feint feeling but it's there even while he's unconscious. And she's distressed despite the fact that it's good distress, sure, but the fact is that after so long spent being alone and cut off from any semblance of feeling or comfort and being unable to fulfill his need to care for and protect his loved ones, like his sister, feeling her heartbeat again would tell him that he's free. That he's safe, that she's safe. I think it would solodifty heartbeats as a source of strength and comfort to him. So I can absolutely buy that when he's being crushed under the weight of the dark and his fear and can't breathe and his own heart is racing, he could find it within himself to tap or somehow create the rhythm of his sister's calm, steady heartbeat to remind him that he's safe and that everything's okay. Or even if it's not, that it will be.

Not to mention the fact that he's a musician, and I think in that way was well, the steady rhythm of a heart would be very comforting for him and something very tangible he can hold onto in the essence of the concept because it's something he can wholeheartedly understand.

#in other words I read for too deeply into these characters for my own good #and atticus is such a deeper and more multifaceted character than anyone ever gives him credit for and the fact that they wasted him- #-will haunt me for the rest of my days #BUT AUGH THIS IS GOOD GOOD STUFF !!! #YOU COOKED WITH THIS THANM YOU FOR THE FOOD #OM NOM NOM #microwaving all of this is my brain like a microwave pizza 🍕 #you get it. you just fucking get it. #yugioh #ygo #yugioh gx #ygo gx #atticus rhodes #fubuki tenjoin #alexis rhodes #asuka tenjoin #I'm so normal (mentally ill) about the rhodes family ✋ #headcanon #yugioh gx headcanons #aberooski asks #I'd say I'm sorry for the novel but I think we all know I'm not #also it's just how I talk I'm a yapper so 🤷‍♀️