A/N : This fic was actually imported from my AO3. Usually it's the other way around, but I wrote this today in my creative writing class at school on my school computer, and when this computer is under school wifi, it only allows you to open AO3- Not Wattpad. So I wrote this in AO3. Anyways, post-canon, also Tourettic!Mia with Coprolalia
They were married, just like they had always wanted. Mia was finally away from her horrible mother, and Lyle's family always neglected him anyways. Sure, the pair was far from perfect, and they were both lowkey shitty people individually, but something about them together just worked. It was as though their toxicities canceled one another out, leaving an only slightly unhealthy relationship in its place. And sure, they fought a lot but, at the end of the day, they still loved each other more than words could express.
So, they hit the open road. The whole "Smokin' Hot In Jersey" show inevitably fell through eventually, as reality TV does. As much as the pair was loved on there, the show changed hands each season. New stars came in and the old ones got kicked. After all, you can't redo the same formula with the same people- That would just make it super obvious that the show had no real artistic value beyond one season. No, if you got new stars each season, then you can use the reliable old formula on new dynamics. New relationships. New drama. That's what the viewers ate up like candy.
Thankfully for the pair, the money they got from doing the show was... Well, they were rich. They wouldn't have to worry about getting a job for a while, which was good considering that neither of them had ever graduated high school. Popularity would only take them so far in the capitalist system they were in, and that thought stressed them out a bit. However, they both knew better than to let it become all-consuming. The last person they wanted was to end up like that nervous, pink-haired girl who had played the lion in that awful, awful play during the Governor's wedding.
As they drove down a deserted road, surrounded by trees, Lyle noticed his girlfriend twitching in the passenger seat. Now, this was not anything new. He'd learned pretty early on into their relationship of her Tourette's and never made her feel bad for it. She was just usually good at suppressing them enough to where you wouldn't notice unless you were looking for it. However, there were always those times where it slipped through the cracks and came crashing down at her, almost punishing her for repressing them.
"Wild!" she ticced as her neck jerked a few times. A moment passed and then her whole body tensed up, her arms shooting up as though to block a hit. This one lasted for a good ten seconds, leaving her unable to breathe during that period. When it ended, she lowered her arms with a sharp exhale, and Lyle could tell she seemed annoyed- Both at her tics and herself for being unable to suppress them at that moment.
"You okay over there, love?" Lyle asked as he quietly pulled over to the side of the road and parked. It wasn't like the road was busy or anything, and Mia took priority over getting to... Wherever the GPS was taking them. He was far too tired to even remember exactly what the hell "Waffle House" was at that time.
"Yeah- Slutty!- Sorry. 'M usually better at- Fuck you!- Not doin' this" She gestured vaguely at herself with an ashamed expression. Lyle frowned. He never liked hearing her talk down on herself like that, especially over shit she couldn't even control. "It's okay" he assured her, turning off the car and turning to look at her. She tensed up again for a good few seconds before the tic released its grip. Lyle grimaced because it looked painful. "Can I help in any way?"
"Could you um..." she swallowed, which in turn ended up triggering a few tics as her neck jerked around painfully. Her shoulder was beginning to hurt from all the tensing and the pressure from her head slamming into it. "Could- Slut!- Could ya hold me?" she finally managed to ask him, still looking a bit ashamed as she did so. Normally she wouldn't mind asking him for help with something, but this was different. It was always different. She'd grown up conditioned to hide this or be ridiculed for it. Her mom just never thought it was very ladylike of her, though her dad never seemed to mind.
"Of course" Lyle replied with a small smile as he got out of the car. This was not the first time he had done this, but he always wanted to ask before making the move to hold her. After all, sometimes she was able to get it under control on her own. Sometimes it didn't evolve into a full-blown tic attack. Sometimes it would just grow into a thing to joke about, as a lot of her vocal tics were situational or acted as a sort of word association game. If Lyle brought up Dennis, Mia would involuntarily shout out "Simp!" and then the two would laugh about it. Sometimes, it didn't have to be a whole thing.
This was not one of those times.
Lyle came around to the passenger door and got in, lifting his wife up and into his lap as he shut the door. She clung to him and involuntarily punched him in the chest. "Shit. I didn't mean- Fuck!- 'M sorry" she apologized, but he just shook his head. It didn't hurt, and he wouldn't have cared even if it had. "Ya got nothin' to apologize for, babe" he told her softly as he wrapped his arms around her to keep her from performing any self-destructive tics (as often occurred during these episodes). "It's why 'm holdin' ya right now, after all. It doesn't hurt anyway"
"Slut!" she ticced out in a strained voice as her whole body tensed again. Lyle just held her through it, not minding the commotion happening in his lap. He loved this girl more than anything in the world- He didn't care if it was slightly uncomfortable to have a twitching and cursing figure so close to his own frame. She needed him and he was happy to be there for her. And he knew she would do the same thing if the roles were reversed.
"This is so- Lyle! Slut! Haha!- Annoying" she managed to mutter out as yet another round of tics wracked her body. Lyle nodded. "I get it" he told her. "I would probably be frustrated if I had to deal with this. But, for the record, it's not annoying. Not for me. I don't mind this part of you. Ya know that"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah"