Touch Starved - Blog Posts

Headcannon - When Arthur was a kid he used to sneak into Uther’s room to steal shirts and wear them as nightwear.

He thought that a piece of clothing he wore to sleep, that smelled slightly like his father, is what a hug from Uther would feel like.

He never really found out if that was true because he had never experienced a real hug from the King.

Maybe, when he’s older and Arthur and Merlin are friends, but have obliviously feelings for each other, he steals Merlin’s neckerchief somehow. He doesn’t think or know to ask Merlin for a hug because he subconsciously thinks he’ll be rejected instantly.

So instead, he steals Merlin’s neckerchief and hides it under his pillow until night and while he’s sleeping he kind of just holds close it next to him.

Headcannon - When Arthur was a kid he used to sneak into Uther’s room to steal shirts and wear them as nightwear.

He thought that a piece of clothing he wore to sleep, that smelled slightly like his father, is what a hug from Uther would feel like.

He never really found out if that was true because he had never experienced a real hug from the King.

Maybe, when he’s older and Arthur and Merlin are friends, but have obliviously feelings for each other, he steals Merlin’s neckerchief somehow. He doesn’t think or know to ask Merlin for a hug because he subconsciously thinks he’ll be rejected instantly.

So instead, he steals Merlin’s neckerchief and hides it under his pillow until night and while he’s sleeping he kind of just holds close it next to him.

sleepy little sister

I’ve slept so so much but I wanna keep sleeping!

I wish I had big brother to come and cuddle me as I slept cause then I’d be so much safer and warmer. Big brother always knows how to make me feel better cause he’s just so sweet! I’m just too little to do stuff without my big brother I will always need him to help me!

I feel so touch starved I just wanna be cuddled and held :(. I miss being cuddled and comforted! I’m just one lonely little sister with her stuffies!

You know your touch starved when your dad pats you on the head and you nearly cry

I love non-sexual intimacy. Just holding someone? Sign me up. Oh you're sad? I'll hug you until you feel better. Oh you crave comfort? Then I'll be here. You just want my touch? Well of course! Just holding people and making them feel happy is SSOOSOSOSO

Touch-starved Logan x I have made it my personal mission to invade every bit of personal space you will ever have in you life Wade

Sometimes I just remember the one moment when I felt really cared for after a year of abuse from my 'best friend' and months of strained relationship with my parents after I had pushed them out during that year, then left them with the broken aftermath of their very traumatized, very expensive, daughter.

I was in the ER. Not a rare occurrence at the time. It was before one of my inpatient stays that year, but I'm not sure if it was the second or the third, they all blur together. I usually would have to spend a night there and wait for a bed to open up before being admitted, and that was how it went this time. In the middle of the night, I woke up with a nosebleed from the dry hospital air. I didn't really know what to do. Any normal person would get up and go to the nurse's station and get some tissues or something, but being a mentally ill child who was just yelled at by her mother the day before for saying she needed help because the hospital bills were already stacking up and going to the ER cost a lot of money, not to mention the inpatient stay, I didn't want to inconvenience the nurses (it's literally their job) so I just laid back with the back of my hand over my nose while I waited for it to stop. Swallowed a lot of my own blood, but I was already in such a horrible mental state, broken to my core to the point I wanted to leave mortality, that I could care less as long as nobody else was affected.

The bleeding stopped and I did the best I could to get the dried stuff off my hands by licking my finger and rubbing it off, but it was dark, so I couldn't really see if it worked. I went back to sleep and then woke up in the morning and did my usual ER routine of sitting in the dark because I didn't want to have to go out to ask the nurses to turn on the light (lightswitches weren't in the rooms for safety reasons or something idk). When one of the nurses came in to bring me breakfast, she turned on the light, but I didn't notice there was still dried blood on my hands and just ate my breakfast in silence because I never asked for them to turn on the TV. I always waited for them to suggest it since I didn't want to inconvenience them (again, it's literally their job to do that but I still felt bad asking). When she came back to take my tray, she noticed the blood and asked about it. It was only then I realized that blood on the hand of a mentally ill child in the ER because she could hurt herself is easily interpreted as literally anything other than a nosebleed. I panicked and started explaining myself, and to my relief she believed me and I wasn't put on a 1 to 1 (I had to experience that at some point later and it sucks). She left to go get me a wipe to clean it off.

She came back and I was sitting on the floor next to the weird little plastic round side table thing. I was expecting her to just throw it at me or something and leave me to clean myself up, but to my surprise she sat down in front of me and (after asking permission to touch me) started wiping my hands for me. She was just so careful and sweet about it. She called me 'honey' and it left me with a warmth in my chest that I hadn't felt in over a year.

It's kind of odd but I just look back at that memory with a weird sort of fondness. To her it was probably just a normal day on the job, but for me that moment meant so much. She was also probably just using it as an opportunity to look me over and make sure I was telling the truth about the nosebleed, but still. I was just this scared kid who felt like she was so worthless that she couldn't even ask a nurse to turn the TV on for fear that she would be loathed, and this woman went out of her way to lightly scrub the blood out of my nails.

Nowadays I'm doing better. My mental state has improved and I've been working on moving past that all, but I think that some time this past week was the 2 year anniversary of that day, and it just goes to show how far I've come. From being surprised and comforted by a psych nurse's gentle touch on my hands (the first human touch I had felt in months), to casual hugs with my friends and a year and 7 months out of the hospital as of yesterday.

I need a hug

What I would give for a good cuddle with the homies right now. Sadly, I have not the time nor the social ability to figure out a cuddle session of some sort. Always feels too weird to just be like; yo, wanna have some platonic cuddle time? Anyways, I am definitely very touch starved atm.

touch-starvation needs to be written with emphasis on the starving part. you are hungry to be touched. so hungry that even the very taste of it makes you nauseous. it has been long since anything has ever touched you, ever fed you - that your body has grown more used to that gnawing emptiness more than anything else. it's better for you to be held, to eat but it makes you sick to try. you know

Cale is so touch starved that when someone gives him a hug, he legitimately doesn't know what he needs to do with his hands. So he just stands there, awkwardly waiting until the person lets him go.

It's painful to watch how he gets stiff as a board when someone touches him by surprise. It's obvious to everyone how he prepared himself for the pain that never comes. The fact that he looks confused is even worse.

So now, after a family meeting, they decided that they would start with little gestures like pats on the shoulder and high fives. And then maybe fast hugs from the kids.

To be desired means nothing. To be truly understood and deeply loved is everything.

so touch starved that I got shaken awake and im happy

Everyone always says stuff like "oh Jason was touch starved" or "Nico's touch starved" but I give u this take:

Reyna is touch starved.

She's the leader of a Roman camp, so she probably isn't overly close to anyone and she probably has no one she trusted enough to help her.

So Reyna probably refuses to let people hug her or touch her because she's scared of getting hurt, and the only person she trusts is her sister Hylla, and then it grew to include Nico because you know trauma bonding and all that

Even if she learns to trust people the only 2 persons she'll allow herself to fall asleep around are Hylla and Nico because she trusts them to protect her.

And she's definitely a clingy sleeper, so if she falls asleep around either of them, or either of them are there, she would cuddle them because she felt safe.

If she's sick she would definitely refuse to get help and just keep working herself to death until her sister came and just. Kinda. Pulled her into a hug, and Rey would just melt against her because she's her sister and shit, and all the legionaires would be shocked as Reyna doesn't like people hugging her.

!Vent warning!

Anyone else just feel really touch starved and think ur friends hate you?

I'm the annoying friend who just tells jokes but I still help them. Sometimes tho I feel like they hate me and sometimes I just need a hug. Can't be happy all the time ya know?

Cuddle me but don’t touch me?

I know I can’t be the only one here who normally loathes physical contact, but would kill for a cuddle at like 4 a.m. It feels so intense, and you can sort of feel it in the pit of your chest. That feeling of desperately needing someone to hold you as close and tight as they can. Occasionally, it’s enough to push me to tears, Why does this happen? Is it that need for pressure that most neurodivergent people experience? Is it a hidden loneliness that only shows when I’m alone and sleepy? Am I touch-starved? Or is this something else entirely?