#miraculous monsters and magic au

[i-am-thornqueen]

Hi, weird lore question for Miraculous Monsters and Magic. If a werewolf got a top surgery would like. Their boobs heal back after they shifted? Or do they make like sigils to put on top surgery scars to keep them from growing back.

That is a really interesting lore question! It's one of the things I've pondered myself in order to determine the extent of a werebeast's healing ability when they shift from one form to the other. This is what I've figured out:

The state of the body when a person is changed from human to werebeast becomes the 'default' setting they return to whenever they take their fur off. In general, alterations to the human or beast body are perceived as 'injuries' by the magic that allows beasts to shift between forms, but it's not intelligent magic - it doesn't think or learn, it just understands that the forms of the bodies given at the time of the curse are the forms it must return to for every shift.

For example, Adrien's nose. When he 'died', for lack of a better description, he smashed his face off the ground and broke his nose. While Plagg popped his nose back in place before he was resurrected, a crook remained in the bridge that became the new 'default' for Adrien's human body, so he'll always return to a human form with a roguishly crooked nose.

That's the major downside to becoming a werebeast - you better like the form you're in when you're changed, because it will be the default for the rest of your life.

HOWEVER, a werebeast's healing is not unlimited. It only works for body parts that are still attached to the body. So, bruises, lacerations, and broken bones are generally healed during a shift, to differing degrees depending on severity, of course. If an arm gets ripped off, you're out of luck. The magic isn't powerful enough to regenerate fully amputated limbs, all it can do is figure out how to heal what's left. For the case above, a ripped off arm will have the site of amputation heal over.

Big caveat here is that some limbs can be reattached after an unexpected amputation. If a werebeast wants a limb reattached, they can't shift AT ALL until after the surgery is done.

Top surgery can be understood as a form of "amputation", since an amount of tissue is being permanently removed from the body. The magic won't be able to recoup whole pieces of the body that are no longer attached, but it will try its best to heal what's left. In essence, the boobs can't magically grow back after they've been removed, but the magic will heal up the surgical incisions the same as any other kind of laceration.

To take body modifications even further, there are other ways to circumvent the limitations of a werebeast's inherent healing abilities. Sigils can work, some potions, too. In cases like wanting to get a tattoo or piercing, silver would be used to negate the regenerative properties of the shifting magic. In the past, silver weapons were effective against werebeasts since silver-inflicted wounds wouldn't heal in a shift and victims had to heal at a human rate - basically a death sentence if a fatal wound was inflicted. Nowadays, special silver needles are used in tattooing and piercing to ward away the werebeast healing magic so that it doesn't force the tattoo ink out of the skin or reject piercing jewellery. Very dilute amounts of silver are mixed into the tattoo ink and used in piercing jewellery as a way to low-grade continually ward off the healing magic. Silver still burns on contact, so the process of being tattooed or getting a piercing hurts like a bitch, but at least the amount of silver in the ink or jewellery is dilute enough that, once everything is slowly healed at a horribly human rate, they don't notice all that much.

Adrien runs into that hurts like a bitch issue whenever he gets a new tattoo or piercing, so Marinette has to hold his hand the whole time.

So, as you can see, I have thought wayyyyyy too much about lore details in the Miraculous Monsters and Magic AU. Like, it literally goes so far that I have a term used for persons born into the wrong species - transmagika. A person growing up knowing they are a wolf and not a human could be considered transmagika, and becoming a werewolf would be their transition. Another example are witches who believe they are human - such as Nathalie, who wanted to be human. She stopped believing she was a witch and thus transitioned into a human. There are people in the MMMAU who could be both transgender and transmagika at the same time, and they are very interesting people.

To take it even further, because I have no limits on the degree of obsession I have with this AU, I've also thought about reality of being a transgender magical person. Species like witches are all born structurally 'female' (for lack of a better term); a 'male' born to a witch would simply be the species of the father. For intersex, you flip a coin or the parents play rock, paper, scissors. For example, Sarah's father is human, so if Sarah had a brother, he would be human, too.

A witch can magically transition into the body of a boy, but being a boy doesn't automatically mean they'll lose their magic. Maintaining witch magic is predicated entirely on continuing to believe you are a witch. So, even if a transgender witch stops being 'female', so long as they believe they are still a witch, they will simply end up being a very rare magical boy witch. The reverse of that unfortunately doesn't work; a 'male' born to a witch who magically transitions into the appropriate body does not inherit witch magic with their new body - which is fine if they are only transgender, since they wanted the body not the magic. If they were also transmagika, wanting the body of a female and the magic of a witch... that gets complicated. Replicating internally generated witch magic is hard. Most transgender transmagika witches practice external forms of magic, like divination or necromancy.

...man, I seriously need to make a website to start containing and organizing all this lore. Maybe someday I'll be able to write an original story out of it.

If anyone else has any random lore questions pertaining to the MMMAU, please feel free to ask. More than likely, you will be the recipient of far too much information you were not expecting to receive and only 10% of it will be the answer you were looking for.

[sattlersquarry]

the great divide (steve harrington x fem!reader)

Summary: (Post Season 4 AU, the sequel to orange juice) After your miraculous return to the land of the living, you aren't doing well.

Word Count: ~12k

Warnings: 18+ PLEASE!!!! for language, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. The reader has panic attacks and intrusive thoughts about Not Wanting To Be Alive. If that will be triggering for you please don't read this (read my happier bloom series instead). there's also an allusion to a relapse, slut-shaming, and allusions to sex (although there's no smut, it just gets slightly steamy). this fic is angst + hurt/comfort with an optimistic ending. inspired by noah kahan's music (including this amazing demo on instagram).

a/n: please let me know if i missed any warnings. please don't read this if you think it will be too triggering. the last thing i want is to make someone upset! but writing this was cathartic and helped me work through some things, i think. writing is magical!

🫀🫀🫀

THE GREAT DIVIDE

SOMETIME IN 1987

You aren’t sure how long it’s been since you last saw your friends. It feels like a fucking long time.

You woke up on the ground of the Upside Down, covered in dried blood and terrified at the sight of Vecna towering above you.

He brought you back to life. He wanted to send you back home and use you as a soldier and spy, the same thing he did to Will, Billy, Heather, and countless others.

“If you do this,” Vecna had growled, “You can once again see your family. Your friends. Your beloved Steven. Otherwise…you will die here.”

You refused, not interested in being his lackey. He tried to flay you anyway, but he was weak from the hell Nancy, Steve, and Robin rained down on him, allowing you to escape his clutches.

He stalked you for days, finally catching up to you—but you got the upper hand, using Eddie’s spear to stab him. Repeatedly.  

Killing Vecna caused the gates he opened to sew themselves back shut before you could get through. You were glad that your friends no longer had to worry about Vecna and his army of monsters pouring through the four gates, but it meant you were trapped on the wrong side of the universe.

Vecna gone meant the Upside Down could revert back to what it was before he arrived. Now, the sky of the Upside Down was a buttery yellow, and it was much warmer. You saw patches of green grass and flowers starting to grow in various spots around town. But it still felt like a nightmare.

You wander the Upside Down each day with a routine: avoid monsters, forage for food and clean water, and visit the gates to see if any of them reopened. Food and water aren’t as hard to find as you feared, since the world isn’t so much of a poison, desolate nightmare anymore. But the gates stay staunchly shut, much to your chagrin.

You miss your life. You miss Steve. You miss his laugh, his smile, his kisses, his touch. You would do ungodly things to see him again.

You hope he’s okay. Any time you want to give up, you remind yourself that if roles were reversed, Steve would keep fighting to come back to you no matter what.

And, to your pleasant surprise, he does just that.

🫀🫀🫀

AUGUST 1987

It’s been three months since you returned to the land of the living. You’re not taking it well.

Surviving the Upside Down meant constantly being in fight-or-flight, scrambling to find food and clean water while avoiding demo-creature attacks. Without Vecna’s evil influence, the animals weren’t so bloodthirsty—but they still needed to eat.

You were able to avoid them, surviving yourself off disgusting canned food from the Upside Down’s version of the Big Buy and whatever houses you ransacked. It wasn’t very appetizing. It made the meal you were serving up today seem like a 5-star, 5-course delight.

It was neither of those things. It was for a church potluck that your mother had a hand in throwing. Lots of casseroles and carbs. She dragged you along to volunteer in hopes to get you out of the house.

Ever since you left the hospital in May, you’d only ever left the house to go to doctor’s appointments, therapy appointments, and Steve’s place. Your parents wanted to encourage more of a well-rounded life and schedule, and although they’d never admit it, you figured they hoped you’d turn back to your normal self. To the person you were before it all happened.

You think she might have died.

As you plate some macaroni and cornbread for your next patron, you sense eyes on you. You glance over and see two women at a table a few feet away. To your chagrin, they’re gossiping about you.

“I mean, it’s appalling,” an old bat named Shirley hisses. “She claims to have lost her memory after the earthquake and gotten lost, but it’s obvious that she just ran away.”  

“Probably thought she was grown up, that she knew better than her parents,” Mildred says with a sniff, adjusting her too-big glasses.

“I can’t believe she left poor Steve Harrington high and dry,” Shirley adds.

Your heart clenches at the fact that these women see you as a villain, as an irresponsible idiot who up and left everyone who loved her out of spite. If they knew the truth…if they knew the nightmare you’d survived…

It only gets worse from there.

“You know what Cynthia told me?” Mildred says. “That her cousin’s roommate’s friend’s brother saw Y/N working a street corner in Manassas. It's just shameful.”

Anger burns through you, hot like hellfire. So, what? You’re not just a flake—you’re a slut to this people now, too? What happened to ‘loving thy neighbor’ and ‘forgiveness’ and all that shit?

“Can I get some more of that?” an elderly man says.

It snaps you back to your task at hand: dishing out food to hungry churchgoers.

“Ah, yeah,” you say. You dump macaroni on his Styrofoam plate. “Sorry. Here you go.”

The man smiles and ambles off. You take a deep breath and try your best to tune out the whispers of the chattering hens.

Your mother must notice the scowl on your face. She makes her way to you, practically floating, as graceful as ever. She’s totally in her element. She deserves a daughter who doesn’t clomp and stumble her way through life. Who doesn’t jump at every loud noise and sleep with a hunting knife under her pillow.

“Doing all right?” your mother asks you, giving you that sympathetic look that you think you might despise by now.

You muster up a smile of your own and nod.

Your mother can’t tell its fake and beams.

“See?” she says. “I knew getting you out of the house would turn that frown upside-down!”

She doesn’t know about the Upside Down. She thinks you got injured in the earthquake, stumbled through the Indiana woodlands, and got found by cops two states over. That you couldn’t remember where you came from due to amnesia, that since they pronounced you dead no one assumed you were the missing girl from Hawkins until your memories came back.

You let her comment slide and fake a smile, figuring it’s better to pretend you’re fine than feel it all.

🫀🫀🫀

That night, you chat with Steve on the phone. He’s gone back to college for the fall semester and you miss him terribly.

He promised he’d come back to Hawkins every other weekend. He knows how hard it’s been for you coming back. Or, he says he knows. Sometimes, you get the idea that he doesn’t really understand.

How could he? Every time he tries to get you to open up about what happened and what you went through, you shut down.

However, when he asks how your day was, you decide to be honest.

“It sucked,” you say. You blow out a huff of air. “These old crones were being total bitches at the church potluck. Apparently, the new conspiracy theory is that I was turning tricks in Virginia.”

“Ugh, I’m so sorry Y/N,” Steve says. For some reason, the sympathy in his voice makes you wince.

“But it’s fine,” you say quickly. “I don’t care what they say about me.”

There’s a pause on the other end of the line.

“It’s okay if you do, you know,” Steve says, speaking slowly and carefully as if he’s worried about setting you off. (For good reason; you’ve been prone to outbursts of anger lately.)

“I know!” you say, defensiveness seeping into your tone. “But I don’t give a shit. Really.”

“Good,” Steve says. But he sounds unconvinced. “You shouldn’t.”

Another pause. It lasts a little too long for your liking. You clear your throat.

“I should probably shower and head to bed,” you say. “It’s been a long day.”

“Yeah, totally,” Steve says. You don’t understand why he sounds almost intrigued by the prospect of your boring nighttime routine until he says, “A shower with you sounds like heaven right now…”

Shit. You’re really not in the mood for phone sex. Even if that’s not what Steve is angling for, just slightly flirty banter doesn’t sound fun to you either.

Steve has been a total gentleman ever since you got back. You’ve kissed a little, but anytime he tries to take it further, you stop him. As much as you longed for him in every sense while in the Upside Down, you don’t feel ready to re-engage in those kinds of activities—like you’ve been shot back to the insecure, unconfident person you were before you started dating Steve.

He respects those boundaries and never, ever presses for more. But you worry he’s getting bored and wants to get back into old habits, possibly evidenced by his shower comment.

You’re a coward. You don’t tell him outright that you’re not in the mood, afraid he’ll have an out-of-character reaction and chew you out for being a prude or a tease.

“Huh?” you say. Steve starts to repeat his salacious comment, but you interrupt with: “Bad…connection…can’t…better…”

You hang up the phone and let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding.

🫀🫀🫀

OCTOBER 1987

It’s a Thursday in October, and you’re taking a trip for the first time in a long time.

“You have everything you need?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Toothbrush? Extra socks? Lambchop?”

You huff and roll your eyes, crossing your arms like a petulant teenager.

“Mom! I’m an adult. I do not need a stuffed animal.”

“But you packed her, right?”

You mumble out a “Yes” as she pulls up to the parking lot near Steve’s apartment building.

You applied for spring admission at the University of Indiana. Your lovely boyfriend invited you to stay with him for a few days so he could show you around campus for homecoming weekend.

Tonight is the unofficial campus tour with “Tour Guide Steve.” Tomorrow, you’ll help him and his friends put the finishing touches on a homecoming parade float, and Saturday is the big football game.

Before your disappearance and assumed death, your parents were insanely strict about you staying the night with Steve and wouldn’t have allowed it. Now, they’ve mellowed out—but you hate thinking it’s because of some kind of twisted pity.

Steve must have seen your mom’s minivan pull up from his apartment window, because he jogs over to you before you’ve even grabbed your bag from the trunk.

“Hey, babe!” he says with a beaming grin; the picture of exuberance. You can feel his excitement roll off him in waves. You feel like an asshole for matching his energy. Even though you’re excited for time with Steve, you have a pit in your stomach at the thought of being away from home for so many days.

Of course, if you get accepted to U of I, you’ll be away from home for weeks at a time. You try not to think about that.

Steve hugs you tightly, and you hope he can’t sense your apprehension.

He seems not too, still smiling as he gives your mom a quick hug and then offers to carry your duffel bag for you.

You give your mom a hug goodbye, promising to call if you want to get picked up early.

You and Steve wave as your mom drives away. After dropping your bag off at his apartment, Steve takes you on an abridged campus tour that ends at the dining hall. He wants to introduce you to his friends.

He has friends here. Of course he does, you’re glad he does. No one should feel like they don’t have friends, or like their girlfriend is their only friend. But what does it mean that your boyfriend is your only friend lately?

Nancy’s off at Emerson. As for the Hawkins crew, Jonathan’s busy with family stuff, helping Joyce and Hopper renovate their new house. Eddie’s preoccupied with his band, trying to get Corroded Coffin off the ground after a he-was-accused-of-murder hiatus. And Robin’s a student at Roane County Community College, spending her days with marching band and classes and clubs and work.

They’ve started inviting you to things, and sometimes you go. You usually don’t have much fun, distracted with your own anxieties and unable to think of anything interesting to say.

So, the fact that Steve seems to have moved on from everything so easily and has a pack of friends at college makes you feel pathetic, even though it shouldn’t.

At the dining hall, Steve introduces you to his buddies. When Steve lived on-campus last semester, Gus was his roommate. Now Steve’s moved into his own apartment off-campus, but the boys still hang out often and play together on a club basketball team.

Jessica is Gus’ girlfriend. She has a kind smile and compliments your sweater.

The last friend in their clique is Rochelle. She’s tall and slender, like a supermodel. Apparently, she and Jessica grew up together and are good friends.

Everyone greets you happily when Steve introduces you—except Rochelle, who looks you up and down like she’s inspecting you. It makes you uneasy.

You immediately start to dislike her more when she laughs loudly at Steve’s jokes and squeezes his shoulder flirtatiously.

“You are tew much, Harrington,” Rochelle says, flipping her shiny hair over her shoulder.

It makes you feel tense and jealous and angry and sick all at once.

You’re completely content to listen in silence while the others chat, but then Jessica asks where you go to school.

“Oh, um, here, in the spring,” you say. “Uh, hopefully.”

“That’s awesome!” Gus says. “You get the full Hoosiers homecoming experience a whole semester before having to pay tuition.”

You chuckle and smile. Any good feelings you have about this interaction come crashing down when Rochelle asks, “So, like, if you aren’t a student right now, what do you do?”

“She’s working at Sonic,” Steve says. “Saving up money. Right babe?”

You turn to him, face falling. You’re not working. You tried to apply for a job at Sonic and had a panic attack when you saw the gap in your resume from your 15 months in the Upside Down, so you roller-skated your way home to unemployment.

Did you not tell Steve that? You suppose you “forgot” to tell him about that panic episode.

“Uh, actually no,” you say, furrowing your brow. “Not anymore. I’m just taking a semester off.”

Surprise flashes behind Steve’s eyes, but he recovers quickly. He throws an arm around your shoulders and says, “Right, of course.”

The rest of the conversation is mostly you smiling and nodding along to the funny stories and inside jokes the group shares. When you and Steve get back to his place later that evening, you apologize for not updating him on the Sonic situation sooner.

Steve waves away your apology.

“Don’t even worry about it,” he says.

“But I feel bad,” you say, fidgeting with your fingers while you sit next to him on the couch. “I can’t believe I forgot to tell you.”

(You didn’t truly forget. You were embarrassed and didn’t want him to know.)

“These things happen,” Steve says. “I totally get it. For a few months after Vecna and…you, my brain was like scrambled eggs. I’d drink myself to a coma every other night. I definitely didn’t have the sharpest mind.”

You appreciate him for understanding. Except you feel shitty because you’re lying to him about forgetting. It’s a vicious cycle.

The two of you put on a movie, and while you’re lying on the couch with him, you start thinking of something you haven’t done in a long, long time.

You lightly trace your hand up and down the arm that’s wrapped around your middle.

“Hey,” you say quietly. “Would you want to…”

You clear your throat.

“What?” Steve asks.

You aren’t sure how to ask for what you want without sounding wholly desperate and/or pathetic and/or like the horniest bastard alive.

“Go to your room?” you say.

“Sure, if you want, we can go to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow.”

You laugh lightly.

“No, I mean. You know.”

You wiggle your eyebrows and Steve’s jaw drops. Mouth agape, like a goldfish, his brains seems to short circuit.

The air is charged with something you haven’t felt in a long time.

“Are you sure?” Steve says, a barely audibly whisper. His hand cups your cheek so delicately, and you feel cherished. Love. Seen.

“I am,” you whisper back, before pulling him closer to you for a kiss.

It’s the kind of kiss you dreamed about while you were trapped in another universe.

It makes you feel electric, the same way your first kiss had. That iconic kiss happened because Steve found out you’d never played spin the bottle. In his kitchen late, late at night, he took an empty soda bottle and spun it on the countertop.

He had maneuvered it just right and stopped it with his hand when the bottle neck pointed right at you, like a compass needle finding truth north.

“Well, what do you know,” Steve had said at the time, with a dopey grin on his face. “It’s you.”

“If you wanted to kiss me so bad,” you had quipped, “you could’ve just asked.”

And then you two kissed like crazy, amongst other things.

Back in the present, all your hesitancies and qualms about re-engaging in intimacy and sex with Steve are thrown out the window when you feel his lips on yours.

Giddy as if it’s the first time (because, in a way, it kind of is), the two of you break apart and practically race down the hall to his bedroom. Thank goodness for no roommates, because when you’re in there, Steve slams the door and presses you against it to kiss some more, closing the gap between the metaphorical great divide that you’ve placed between you both.

You tug at his shirt, and he pulls it off before the two of you stumble into his bed.

Things heat up, and they’re going great. Steve is kissing and biting your neck, probably leaving a hickey or two, but you don’t mind. His hands are gripping your waist, practically leaving scorch marks in their wake.

You’re loving this. You’re having a great time.

Until you’re not. The trains of thought in your brain all rush from the station at the same time, colliding at a junction on the tracks.

What if you give Steve an infection? Not an STD, but like, an Upside Down sickness. You could be a carrier and not even realize it. Is that a possibility? What did Dr. Owens say last time you saw him?

He advised you not to get pregnant. He said there’s a possibility your future children could have birth defects after your time in the Upside Down. Birth defects! You’re only 21 years old and your body is poisoned. Not enough to harm you in the short term, but the long term effects on you (and your progeny) could be terrible to deal with.

But Steve really wants kids. What if he finds out you can’t give him children and he leaves you? You really, really don’t want him to leave you.

You don’t realize it, but you start breathing a little harder. To Steve, it seems like you’re insanely turned on. Mentally, your brain is on a different plane of existence.

He’s going to leave you because he’s better off without you. He doesn’t realize it yet but one day, one day. He will.

Vecna was right. Vecna said Steve would get tired and bored of you. That’s why the monster tried to recruit you, to flay you. That’s why he pursued you across the Upside Down for days, hunting you like a dog until he cornered you at the quarry.

Steve finally takes notice of your erratic breathing pattern. You’re not reacting how you usually do to his kissing. He ceases the lovefest and leans up on his elbows.

“Y/N? You okay?”

You don’t hear him. You continue to hyperventilate, your eyes screwed tightly shut.

And when you stabbed the beast through the chest with the spear Eddie left behind, you didn’t even feel sorry.

Is that the kind of person you are? A sick, violent freak?

But it was self-defense!

But if you hadn’t tried to draw the demobats away, you wouldn’t have been in that situation. You went against the plan. You caused all the bad things that happened to you.

You’re a bad person. A bad omen. A bad girlfriend. A bad daughter. A—

“Hey, can you hear me? Y/N?”

Steve’s soft, slightly panicked, voice brings you back down to reality.

You nod, eyes still shut.

“Sorry,” you say. “I don’t—I don’t know what happened.”

“It’s okay,” Steve says, still speaking quietly as if he’s afraid to scare you. You don’t feel his hands on you anymore, but you sense he’s still close. “It’s okay. Can you sit up? I think you should drink something.”

You sit up slowly and open your eyes. Steve looks frazzled, but he musters up a smile when he hands you a glass of cold water.

“Sorry,” you mumble.

“You don’t have to apologize.”

You don’t respond, just take a sip.

“Can we just go to bed?” you say after a moment, voice cracking.

Steve nods and gives your knee a gentle squeeze.

“Of course. And, hey, listen, we don’t have to have sex anytime soon, okay?”

“But—”

“No, seriously,” Steve says, shaking his head vehemently. “I mean, of course I like having sex with you. Probably too much.”

You snort and shake your head, a small smile pulling at the corners of your mouth.

“But you know I don’t mind waiting. Right?”

You nod.

“Yeah, I know.”

But as you lie awake, tossing and turning, your brain continues feeding you lie after lie, and you find yourself believing the opposite. Prude, tease. Bad girlfriend. Bad person.

🫀🫀🫀

The next morning, you, Steve, Gus, Jessica, and Rochelle work on a homecoming float for the club basketball team the boys are on.

It’s fun at first. The parking lot is filled with floats for all different student organizations. Someone is playing music a bit too loud, but the energy is electric.

It takes a turn when Steve rushes off with Gus to get more supplies.

While you’re kneeling by the float trying to staple tinsel trim around the edge, you hear Rochelle and Jessica whispering conspiratorially on the other side. They can’t see you due to a large papier mâché basketball blocking you from view.

You're awash with embarrassment, feeling warm head to toe, when you realize they’re talking about you.  

“You know what Mollie told me?” Rochelle said. “When she and Steve were hooking up last year, he called her Y/N, like, three times.”

Your heart shrinks. You didn’t know Steve had been involved with anyone while you were gone. In fact, he said the opposite.

“That’s kind of sweet though, when you think about it,” Jessica muses. “But I wonder what caused Steve and Y/N to break up and then get back together. I’ve never dreamed of breaking up with Gus.”

“I heard some other super freaky stuff about her,” Rochelle says. “My sorority sister, Tina, is from Hawkins too. Apparently, Y/N had, like, amnesia or some shit after that earthquake thing. And she was like missing.”

“Damn,” Jessica says. “That’s crazy. How’d she remember stuff and get back home?”

“Who gives a shit?” Rochelle scoffs. “That’s obviously a cover story. Tina said the real story is probably something much simpler. Like she ran away to become a stripper but couldn’t hack it because she doesn’t have a good body. And, well, we’ve seen that firsthand.”

Anger and shame courses through your veins, and you tug on the hem of your sweatshirt. You’re comforted only a miniscule amount when you hear Jessica come to your defense.

“Don’t be such a jerk. And we have no idea what really happened so stop making shit up, mkay?”

“I’m just repeating what I heard. But Tina’s right, her whole deal is so weird. I can’t believe she’s Steve’s girlfriend. He deserves better.”

Those words echo in your head. He deserves better. He deserves better. You’ve been thinking that a lot yourself lately.

You don’t care if Jessica and Rochelle see you when you toss your stapler onto the ground and stomp off.

“Oh, shit,” you hear Jessica say. “Nice going, Roche.”

“It’s not my fault! I didn’t know she was creeping around!”

As you beeline through the throngs of float-makers, you bump into Steve, holding a box of glittery something. He grins at you.

“Hey, where’s the fire?”

When he notices the grim look on your face, he sobers up.

“Whoa, what happened?”  

“Who’s Mollie?” you ask before you can stop yourself.

Steve pales. He swallows hard, grip on the box loosening. He gingerly sets it on the ground next to him and shrugs.

“No one.”

“Liar.”

Steve glances around before leading you away from the crowd to a secluded spot on the outskirts of the parking lot.

“She really was no one,” Steve repeats. “Just some girl I had a class with. I was lonely and she liked me, so we went out twice.”

“I heard Rochelle say you hooked up with her,” you say. You cross your arms and try to keep angry tears at bay. “You told me you didn’t find anybody else.”

“I didn’t!” Steve says, a little louder. He clears his throat. “I meant that. We almost hooked up, but I couldn’t stop thinking of you.”

You sigh and shake your head. You want to believe him so badly. But the voice in your head that’s been so cruel to you lately isn’t convinced.

“Do you still think about her?”

Steve scrunches up his face, wholly confused at your line of questioning.

“What? No, of course not. Like I said, we hung out twice, had one near-miss, and then never spoke again. Babe, is everything okay?”

He reaches a hand to your arm and you flinch away. Your action makes him frown deeper.

You rub your forehead.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you say. “Just tired.”

A beat. You think Steve’s going to accept your answer, until: “Why are you lying to me?”

“I’m not lying!” you say, irritation creeping into your tone. “I’m just tired. Okay, Steve?”

Steve fidgets from foot to foot. He’s starting to look as agitated as you feel. With an annoyingly calm, even voice, he says, “I think you’re not being honest.”

“And I think you should shut up,” you fire back, before you can stop yourself.

Steve’s face contorts into a frown, the line between his brows deepening.

“Whoa, what the hell?” he says. “Why are you being like this?”

“Because I just found out you lied about not being involved with someone while I was gone!”

Steve rubs his face with his hands, as if he’s trying to scrub away whatever he’s feeling. He takes a deep breath, another one, and then finally speaks.

“Y/N, I thought you were dead,” he says, voice strained. “You can’t seriously be jealous of me spending time with someone else because to my knowledge, I was never going to see you again.”

You know you should apologize for your outburst. Tell him about your insecurities, now dialed up to 1000 thanks to Rochelle’s comments. Rejoin his friends at the float like the normal girlfriend he probably wishes you were.

But instead, you find yourself voicing one of the fears that’s been swirling in your brain since June.

“It would be so much easier for you if that was still the case, right?” you ask, softly.

“Excuse me?” Steve asks.

“Do you ever regret it?” you ask. “Bringing me back?” He doesn’t react, doesn’t move, doesn’t blink. You clear your throat and, louder, add, “Because it would be so much simpler for you to date a girl like Mollie or Rochelle.”

“Jesus, Y/N,” Steve groans. “Don’t bring Rochelle into this.”

“Why not? She’s obviously obsessed with you!”

“Yeah?” Steve scoffs. “Well, I don’t like her. I like you.” He shakes his head, as if he’s short-circuiting, and corrects, “I love you!”

Too late. You already heard the Freudian slip of your worst nightmare. He doesn’t regard you in the same way he did before your so-called death. You’ve changed too much.

You shake your head vehemently.

“No,” you say. “No. You loved the girl I was before it all happened.”

“You’re still the same girl!”

“I’m not!” you shout. You’re so angry, so upset, so emotional, you can’t stop. You’re floating above your body and watching yourself speak when you say, “I’m not. She’s gone, and sometimes I wish you’d never brought me back so I wouldn’t feel like this.”

Steve goes still once more. When he finally replies, his voice is dangerously quiet: “How dare you say that.”

You hadn’t expected that. You’d expected him to swoop in with comforting platitudes. To hug you and promise it would all be okay. To truly hear the words you’re saying—the thoughts you’ve been too afraid to voice in therapy, thoughts you’ve sugarcoated in your mind to lessen that bitter feeling on your tongue when you finally speak them aloud.

“What?” you whisper. Your eyes sting, unshed tears collecting on your lash line.

“How dare you say that,” Steve says, shaking his head. He’s angrier than you’ve ever seen him. He runs a hand through his hair and barks out a laugh so hollow, you can practically hear the echo in his ribcage. “That’s so fucking selfish that you wish you were still down there. I was miserable without you. I didn’t want to go on. I didn’t think I could!”

He's not getting what you’re trying to say. You open your mouth to reply, to apologize, to try and fix things, but Steve continues.

“So for you to be so callous, to think so little of me, to think I’d rather date some vapid airhead just because it would be ‘simpler’? To think I somehow can’t love you anymore because of what you went through? That’s just…bullshit!”

You heave out a sob as tears roll down your cheeks. Steve’s expression morphs into one of guilt. He swallows hard.

“Y/N, I—”

“You don’t get to tell me my feelings are bullshit!” you snap. You sniffle and roughly wipe your tears away, before jabbing a finger into his chest and pressing in. “Ever since I’ve been back, it’s all about how everyone else feels about it. You and my parents are so much happier, and you seem to think I can snap back to how I was before and forget it all happened and be grateful that I survived. Well, I can’t!”

Despite your distance from the parade planning festivities, you see a few curious students glance in your direction. You can’t be bothered to care.

“I don’t know how to go on with life like normal after 15 months in that hell, and no one understands what I’m going through!” you yell. “No one has been through that! And I’m miserable and scared and anxious and I’m lying to my therapist week after week because I can’t even verbalize what I’m thinking without feeling like I’m losing my goddamn mind. So sorry if sometimes I wish all this would go away.”

Steve’s facial expression cracks your heart in seventeen pieces. He looks devastated and confused.

“I’m so sorry,” he says, somewhat cautiously. “You’re right. I’m not handling this well, not seeing it from your point of view. But this is the most you’ve expressed how you’re feeling about it all. For the past few months, I—I don’t know. I thought you were feeling okay.”

You sniffle again and shrug.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, Y/N,” Steve says. He clears his throat. “This is good, I think. Well, no, it’s not good that we’re screaming at each other in the quad. But getting our feelings out is—”

“I want to go home,” you say, cutting him off.

Steve closes his eyes, sighs softly, and nods.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll drive you back to Hawkins tonight.”

“No, I want to go now,” you say, voice cracking as you try not to cry harder. “I want my mom to come get me.”

Hurt flashes on Steve’s features. “Babe, are you sure? I really don’t mind. I want to, actually. The drive will give us more of a chance to talk.”

But you’re too tired and overwhelmed to talk anymore. Steve understands, though his shoulders are slumped as the two of you walk back to his apartment.

He offers to pack your bag while you call your house. Your mom picks up on the second ring.

“Hello, Y/L/N residence.”

“Mom?” you sniff. “Can you come get me?”

“Oh, of course sweetie!” You hear the jingle of car keys. “Wait, are you crying? What’s wrong? Was it another nightmare?”

“I just don’t want to be here anymore.”

“Did you and Steve have a fight?”

“His friends were really mean,” you say quietly, deciding not to disclose that you indeed got in an argument with Steve. “This girl, Rochelle, said one of her friends from Hawkins is telling everyone I was a stripper.”

“Oh, don’t you listen to that.”

You can’t hold back tears as you begin to cry harder.

“How come everyone makes up those dumb rumors?” you say through sobs. “And if people on campus already know them, how much worse will it be if I’m a student here?!”

Your mom soothes you over the phone before promising to get there as quickly as possible. As you hang up the phone, Steve comes in from down the hall, frowning and carrying your now-packed duffel. He doesn’t even try to be subtle about his eavesdropping when he asks, “Why didn’t you tell me Rochelle said that to you?”

You shrug and look down at your feet.

Steve closes his eyes and shakes his head. “I keep replaying our conversation in my head,” he says, “and I feel like an ass.”

“You’re not, Steve.”

“No! I am. I absolutely am. You were honest and vulnerable, and I immediately got mad. I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” you say flatly. Admittedly, you’re not sure if you forgive him yet. But you know you didn’t treat him well either, so you say, “I’m sorry too. I was insensitive. I know you had a hard time while I was gone—”

“But it’s nothing compared to what you were dealing with,” Steve says. He steps closer to you and intertwines your hands together. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you?”

“My mom’s already on her way,” you say. “And you should rest up. Tomorrow’s the parade, and the homecoming game.”

“I don’t need to go to the game.”

“Steve—”

“I’d rather come back to Hawkins this weekend,” he continues. “Spend more time with you. Talk things through, you know? Maybe I can just ride with you and your mom, and Munson can bring me back Sunday.”

He’s sweet. But you aren’t sure how to tell him that you really, really don’t want to be around him right now. You don’t want to be around anyone, really.

You take a deep breath, gently drop his hands, and say, “I think I need some space.”

You can’t look Steve in the eye, but you hear the pain in his voice when he says, “Oh. Um, okay. Yeah. Of course. Space.”

You two sit in awkward silence while you wait for your mom to arrive. When she gets there, Steve continues to be a gentleman, carrying your bag for you and politely making small talk with your mom. He gives you a hug goodbye, but it doesn’t linger the way his hugs usually do.

As your mom drives away, you watch your boyfriend get smaller and smaller in the side mirror.

Before leaving, you promised him you’d call him that night.

You conveniently “forget” to do that.

He leaves a message at 9:37 p.m., asking you to call him back.

You don’t.

🫀🫀🫀

NOVEMBER 1987

“Hey, babe. It’s Steve. Again. I know we agreed on ‘space’ but I haven’t heard from you in three weeks…I don’t want to rush or smother you, but I’d really like to talk, even if it’s for, like, five minutes. So please call me back. I love you, Y/N.”

-

“Hey Y/N. Are you doing okay? Robin says she saw you and your mom at the store the other day and you just seemed kind of…out of it. To be honest, I’m worried about you. Listen, even if you don’t…even if we…even if you’ve decided you don’t want to be with me anymore, or something, I still care about you. And I’ll always be here for you, no matter what. Please call me. Bye. Love you.”

-

“Hi Y/N, I’m coming back to Hawkins for Thanksgiving. Can I come by after you and your parents have dinner? I want to check in. On how you’re doing, and on how you’re feeling about ‘us.’ Let me know, okay? Bye, Y/N.”

-

“Hey. I’m going to swing by your place after I’ve finished Thanksgiving dinner with the Buckleys. Robin told me you’ve been avoiding her too. And Eddie, and Jonathan. I know you’re going through a tough time, but don’t try to do it alone. That’s a lesson I learned the hard way last year. I’ll see you tonight, all right?” 

🫀🫀🫀

You’ve spent the past month and a half wallowing. All you really do is sleep, eat, shower, and take short walks around your neighborhood for exercise. Any time Steve calls the house phone, you tell your parents to let it ring and let it go to voicemail.

It’s shitty of you, but you aren’t sure how to dig yourself out of this hole that you’ve found yourself in. You’re still feeling rather undeserving of Steve.

So when he shows up on your doorstep on Thanksgiving, wearing that maroon sweater that you’ve always just adored, the first thing you do is apologize for your radio silence. Then, you offer him pumpkin pie.

“I won’t say no,” he says. “As long as you split it with me.”

While your parents cuddle on the couch and watch It’s A Wonderful Life, you and Steve sit on the kitchen counter and eat slices of pie with whipped cream.

For a few minutes, you exchange small talk and pleasantries. Then, Steve gets down to business.

“How have you been doing, really?” Steve asks.

“Fine. Just tired.”

“Y/N,” Steve says with a sigh. “Please just be honest with me.”

You suck in a breath.

“Okay. You want honesty? I’m having a really hard time.”

“I know,” Steve says gently. “And I want to help. Can you talk to me about what’s going on?”

You consider it. You consider wrenching your heart open for him and admitting all your fears and insecurities. But last time you broached this subject with Steve and tried to be wholly honest about what you were feeling, you didn’t explain it right and he took it the wrong way.

And you also hear what sounds like Rochelle’s voice in your mind: He deserves better. He deserves better.

You save yourself the trouble and say, “I need to get my shit together. And I’m not being a very good girlfriend while I do, so I think we need to break up.”

Despite your best efforts to stay strong, you feel tears coming on. Everything only worsens when you hear Steve whisper, “What?” 

He deserves better. He deserves better. He deserves better than you.

“I have to focus on myself right now,” you continue as the tears roll down your cheeks. You stab your pie with your fork and say, “I’m sorry. I love you so much—”

“I love you too, Y/N, so I—”

“—but I need to deal with this on my own. It’s not fair of me to treat you like this.” You clear your throat and add, “You deserve someone who can give you everything you want.”

“You’re what I want,” Steve says. You can’t look at him, but you get the impression that he’s tearing up too. “I mean, if this is really what you want, I’ll respect your decision completely, but I just have to know—is there anything I can do to change your mind?”

You don’t want to do this—

—but he deserves better.

“I’m sorry, but no.”

“You don’t have to do this alone,” Steve says after a beat. “Even if we aren’t together anymore, I’m still here for you. You know that, right?”

You nod, still decimating your pie slice with your fork.

“Okay, good.” He sniffles.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to keep apologizing.” 

“Sorry. Ah, I mean—”

Steve chuckles, despite everything. You two share an awkward hug goodbye before he leaves.

You stay in the kitchen and hear him wish your parents “Happy holidays.” As you hear the front door open and shut, as you hear his car turn on and drive away, you try to convince yourself this was the correct choice. That shutting him out means he’ll live a happier life without you.

The pit of emptiness like a chasm in your soul will go away eventually, right?

🫀🫀🫀

FEBRUARY 1988

It’s been 3 months since you broke up with Steve.

You decided to defer your U of I enrollment. Steve, being a good friend, calls a few days before the semester starts asking if you’d like help moving into your dorm, and you break the news to him. He understands but sounds disappointed. It makes you feel terrible.

But this is the right choice. You aren’t ready to be away from home, away from your parents, even if it’s just a couple hours away.

You start taking community college classes to fill your time and get some credits, along with working at Bradley’s Big Buy as a stocker. It’s mindless, monotonous work. It’s kind of perfect.

What isn’t so perfect is your therapist, Elaine. She’s nice enough. But she doesn’t seem to get it. You aren’t able to fully tell her what you went through, considering she knows nothing about the Upside Down, so she can’t really help you.

When you start opening up about the dark thoughts worming their way through your mind, Elaine advocates strongly and staunchly for putting yourself out there and making new friends to fill the void. You’re starting to wonder if you’re wasting your time shelling out $50 a week.

You do think a better social life would be good for you, so you invite Robin, Eddie, and Jonathan to come over to your place for a horror movie marathon. (Nancy would be invited too, if she wasn’t away at school.) You’ve rented a D-level slasher trilogy about a man in a hockey mask attacking pageant queens. It’s small potatoes compared to what you’ve actually been through.

Jonathan agrees, but both Robin and Eddie tell you they can’t make it. Robin because she’s got the flu. Eddie because he has band practice all afternoon and into the night.

It stings like a barb ripping you open when you swing by Melvald’s for cheap movie candy and spot the two of them across the street, laughing as they head into the Hawk with…Steve, who must be home from school for the weekend.

So they do want to have a movie night. Just with Steve and not you. Message received.

You wonder if Steve said something to sour you in their eyes. You thought the breakup was amicable. You know he was upset by it, but he respected your decision. And he doesn’t seem like the type to badmouth an ex, especially after all you’ve been through together.

But anxiety rolls through your nervous system the rest of the day. As you and Jonathan watch the crappy movies, you just feel numb.

“Jee-sus!” Jonathan yelps as the killer’s chainsaw hacks through someone’s limb.

He glances your way, eyebrows raising. “What? That didn’t scare you?”

You shrug. “I’ve seen worse.”

Jonathan’s brow furrows. He leans over and pauses the movie.

“Hey, is everything okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? We can watch something else. Or, if you’d rather be alone, I can head out.”

You pick at a loose thread on the pillow in your lap.

“Are Robin and Eddie mad at me?” you whisper.

“What?” Jonathan says with a laugh. “You’re, like, the nicest person in a fifty-mile radius. Why would they be mad at you?”

The old you was nice. The current you is moody. But Jonathan is also pretty moody, so maybe your moodiness is baseline in his eyes.

“They both said they couldn’t come tonight,” you continue, “but then I saw them just an hour ago in downtown Hawkins heading into the Hawk with Steve. Why else would they make up excuses not to come unless they were mad?”

Jonathan takes a long, slow sip of his grape soda and shrugs.

“It’s probably because they don’t want you to think they chose Steve over you in the breakup.”

“But that’s exactly what they did!”

“Maybe not,” Jonathan says. “Maybe they just made the plans with Steve before you invited us over and it’s easier to turn down your invitation than cancel on him.”

That’s a very logical way of looking at it, but it still stings feeling like you’ve lost two friends since you and Steve aren’t together anymore.

You and Jonathan continue watching, but his mom calls halfway through the second movie, forcing him to leave early—something about El using telekinesis to turn her bed into a bunk bed and it backfiring horribly.

You try to push your worries out of your mind, but paranoia takes a hold. As you toss and turn in your bed that night, clutching Lambchop for a semblance of comfort, your brain bullies you.

Robin and Eddie are pissed at you. Probably because you haven’t gone to any Corroded Coffin shows since you’ve been back. You’ve been a little preoccupied.

A little selfish, more like. It doesn’t matter what you’re going through. You should still support your friends.

But why? You don’t like drinking alcohol anymore because you don’t like feeling out of control. And the Hideout is the only place Corroded Coffin plays, and that place reeks of booze and cigarettes and bad decisions.

Maybe that’s why Eddie’s mad. Is Robin mad by proxy? Did Steve shit-talk you to her? How did he describe the events of the breakup?

Were you a bad girlfriend? Are you a bad friend? Bad person?

Yes. You’re a bad person.

🫀🫀🫀

You happen to run into Robin on the community college’s campus the following Monday. You can’t help but ask if she’s feeling better.

Her eyes widen and she plasters on a smile.

“O-oh, yeah!” she says. “I’m feeling loads better. Tons! Tons better.”

“Your sinus infection is gone?” you prompt, knowing full well she told you it was the flu.

“Yep! All gone. My sinuses are as healthy as can be. I feel like I could live to be 100!”

You exchange a few more pleasantries and shuffle off.

🫀🫀🫀

MARCH 1988

There’s a dark cloud hovering over your mind. Most days, you’re lethargic. You go to classes and go to work, and you do start going to the Hideout on Tuesday nights with Jonathan and Robin to watch Eddie play with his band.

But that’s the extent of your social life. You’re feeling lonely and drained.

Things take a turn for the worse in March. It was a cold, cold winter in Hawkins, and spring is shaping up to be warmer but just as gloomy. Really bad thunderstorms shake the windowpanes of your house most days, and the streaks of lightning remind you so much of the grayish-yellow Upside Down sky, it makes you sick.

You can’t help but find yourself thinking you want to disappear to escape it all. Not die, exactly. But fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. Maybe when you woke up, things would be better.

You try to explain what you’re feeling to Elaine the Therapist, and she doesn’t understand what you meant in the slightest.

“Have you gotten checked for narcolepsy?” she asks.

You give her a tight smile and say you’ll ask your doctor about it at your next checkup.

A bright spot is when Robin invites you to a party at her apartment. You forgot her and Eddie’s little white lie from a few weeks ago and RSVP yes.

The party is going well. You’re having a nice conversation with Jonathan and Eddie when Steve walks in, and he’s not alone.

Your heart sinks to your feet, through the floor, and all the way to the core of the earth when you see Steve is joined by Rochelle.

You don’t even hear any of the conversations happening around you. You quickly excuse yourself to the kitchen for a glass of water—and because you need to be alone.

You get about 15 seconds of a reprieve before Steve enters.

“Listen, it’s not what you think,” he says quickly.

“Hello to you too, Steve,” you say. You can’t even look him in the eye, choosing instead to study the ice cubes in your glass.

“I’m not here with Rochelle,” Steve continues. He runs a hand through his hair. “I mean, yes, she’s here. And I’m here. And we’re here together. But not together together! God, I’m not making any sense, am I?”

“None at all.”

“She needed a ride to her parents’ house for the weekend,” Steve explains. “She lives just forty-five minutes from here. But I guess they were out of town, and she didn’t have a key, so she’s staying with me. And she didn’t want to spend all day in my house alone, so—”

“She’s here,” you finish for him. You finally look him in the eye and force a smile. “That’s fine, Steve. You can hang out with whoever you want.”

“Trust me,” Steve snorts. “I’d rather not be hanging out with her. I’m just doing her a favor because she’s friends with Jessica and Gus.”

Before you can respond, Rochelle saunters into the kitchen. She smiles like a shark—all gums and teeth.

“Oh, it’s you!” she says. “Y/N! How have you been?”

“Fine,” you say politely. “How about you?”

“Oh, just great. Really great. Sad to not see you around campus, though. I thought you enrolled?”

She has the impressive capability of making everything single sentence sound like an insult.

“I’m going to community college instead,” you explain. “But I really should get back out there.”

You give Steve and Rochelle a wide berth before stepping back into the living room.

The rest of the party goes by fine. Except you can’t quite contain your rage watching Rochelle throw herself at Steve all afternoon.

She sits too close to him. She constantly whispers in his ear and giggles, like they’re sharing inside jokes and secrets. While Robin’s putting on a movie for everyone to watch, you swear you even see Rochelle put her hand on Steve’s thigh.

The only thing that makes you feel better is that Steve blocks every one of these advances. While Eddie regales you all with a Corroded Coffin storytime, you even notice Steve's slotted himself in between Robin and the wall, forcing Rochelle to stand off to the side near a potted plant.

When the party’s over, you wish Robin well and try to slip out unnoticed. Unfortunately, Steve has a terrible habit of noticing everything about you, and he follows you out.

“Hey, wait up!” he calls, jogging behind you as you speed walk to your car to avoid the sprinkling rain.

“Sorry, I have to go,” you say, struggling to unlock your car door.

Before you can get it unlocked and make your escape, Steve places a hand over the driver’s side door handle.

“Hold on,” he says. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

“Well, I have to get home—”

“This’ll take five minutes,” Steve promises. He traces an X over his heart. “Cross my heart, hope to cry.”

You scrunch your nose in confusion. “It’s ‘die.’”

“Huh?”

“It’s ‘Cross my heart, hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye.’”

Steve’s eyes widen and jaw drops, affronted. “Jesus Christ,” he grumbles. “Why would anyone ever want to do that?”

“That’s the point!” you say, and you can’t help but laugh at the appalled look on his face. “You don’t want to do that, so you keep the promise.”

“Ah. Okay, well, I’ll be fast. I just want to see how you’ve been doing these past few months. I—I miss you, you know?”

You swallow hard. The rain’s starting to pick up now. You don’t want to wait too much longer to drive home, or else it’ll be too hard to see. And if you see lightning, you’ll probably have a panic attack behind the wheel, making you a danger to yourself and others.

“I miss you too,” you say. “But I really, really need to get home now.”

You think of leaving it at that, but your heart feels as sad as the look on his face, so you add, “But you can come by my house later tonight and we can talk? Uh, how’s 8 sound?”

Steve’s face brightens. He gives you that smile that always makes your stomach do a backflip.

“I’d like that,” he says.

You smile back and open your car door. Before stepping in, you turn to him and say, “Do not bring Rochelle.”

“Cross my whatever and hope to who-gives-a-shit!” Steve says as he walks backward away from your car. You give him a small wave, which he returns, before getting in the car and driving off.

As you suspected, the drive home is much, much too anxiety-inducing. Thunder seems to shake the whole frame of the car as you drive across town. Rain falls in pails, as if angels are taking buckets and throwing them on your car specifically. Your windshield wipers can barely keep up, and cars are honking and passing you since your fear is causing you to drive about ten under the speed limit.

You try not to let that bother you as your hands grip the wheel for dear life, the muscles from your fingers up to your shoulders impossibly tense. There’s a reason your mom drove you everywhere last summer and fall. Getting back into the habit of operating a motor vehicle isn’t easy, and everything seems to scare you now.

Despite everything, the drive is going fine—until one of the cars passing you cuts a little too close as they swerve back into the right lane. They almost clip your front bumper, which causes you to panic and swerve off the road near the now defunct trailer park.

Your tires squeak on the wet grass and you slam on your breaks, heart pounding. Shuddery breaths draw in, out. In, out. You try and collect yourself and turn your left turn signal on to merge back onto the main road. However, something gray out of the corner of your eye causes you to whip your head in the direction of the trailer park.

This is where you died and were resurrected—well, the version of this in the Upside Down. In Hawkins, the area is cordoned off. No one can live there anymore, thanks to the big cracks in the earth. Once gates, they were now sealed, but they upended some trailers and tore others in two.

You see a flash of movement between two broken trailers. The gates are supposed to be closed, and there aren’t supposed to be Upside Down creatures in Hawkins anymore, but you can’t help but wonder alternatives. You feel compelled to check it out. 

You turn off your car’s ignition, grab the flashlight from your glove box, and clamor out, ducking under the “CAUTION” tape and jogging into the park. You squint in the rain, the beam of your flashlight scanning the surrounding area. You step over uneven earth, wondering if you’re wasting your time and should just—

“GRRRRRROWWWLLLL!!!!!”

You whip around and gasp. The gray creature you saw wasn’t a demo-creature, but a mangy, stray dog with muddy fur. It snaps its jaws and you see three little puppies cowering under a bush behind it.

An overprotective mama dog wouldn’t have scared you two years ago. You would’ve known exactly how to handle the situation without freaking out. But now, your fear spikes and you remember the few run-ins with hungry demodogs you had in the Upside Down. The dog is blocking your way back to your car, so you turn on your heel and run in the opposite direction, toward the imposing forest.

You can’t think clearly. Your mind is on fire. All you can think is Danger! Danger! Danger! And it’s keeping you from making any rational decisions.

You swear you hear the dog chasing behind you, snarling and ready to attack. You zig-zag between trees and glance behind to see if you really are being chased.

You lose your footing on slick mud, left ankle twisting painfully as you fall to the ground. Your flashlight skitters out of your grasp and rolls away, blinking out.

Now, you’re stuck in the rain, in the dark, with an injured ankle and no flashlight. Thankfully, the dog wasn’t following. But you feel powerless, hoping you can muster any survival instincts from your time in the Upside Down to make your way back to safety.

🫀🫀🫀

At 7:58 p.m., Steve parks outside your house.

He’s more nervous than he needs to be. He tries to remember that this isn’t a visit to win you back, as much as he wishes it was. No, he’s respecting your decision. But he’s glad he has the chance to just talk to you.

After you dumped him, he spent way too much time overanalyzing that fight you two had in October. It solidified the fact that he was an ass, completely misunderstanding you and getting mad for no good fucking reason.

Admittedly, he was tempted to throw away all his progress and drink away his misery. But he didn’t, channeling that energy toward more productive things. His mind is clearer than it was, and he’s going to make it right this time. Steve wants to check on you, the way his friends checked on him while he was having a tough time. Their support was invaluable.

Steve rings your doorbell, shaking out his umbrella.

The front door swings open. Your father looks expectant, before he frowns.

“Steve, hello,” your father says. “Is Y/N with you?”

Steve’s brow furrows. “Uh, no,” he says. “I’m supposed to meet her here.”

Your father curses and puts his head in his hands.

“Is it her?” your mother says, rushing around the corner with the cordless phone tucked under her shoulder. When she sees Steve, her shoulders slump. She speaks into the phone, “Hopper, she’s still not back.”

“What’s going on?” Steve asks, heart sinking. “Y/N’s missing?”

“She never came back from Robin’s party,” your father says, stepping aside to let Steve in. “You saw her leave, right?”

“Yeah,” Steve says with a nod. His mouth feels very, very dry.

Your mother continues murmuring on the phone with Hopper, and your father continues grilling Steve: “How was she? Did she seem upset?”

“A little nervous, maybe,” Steve says. He swallows hard. “I, uh, I think she was freaked out by the storm.”

You should’ve driven her home, Steve thinks. You idiot. If something happens to her, it’ll be your fault.

“She’s been so quiet lately,” your father says, voice strained. He clears his throat. “And so jumpy. But she said she wanted to start driving again. We thought she was getting better…”

Your father looks like he’s beside himself. Steve is unsure what to say to make things right.

Your mother hangs up the phone and sighs. “Hopper’s going to go look for her,” she says. She chokes out a sob. “Oh, Roger…she’s been so down lately. What if she…”

“Let’s not speculate,” your father says firmly, though he looks anxious about the possibilities.

Your parents decide to drive around looking for you, and Steve joins the search in his own car as well. He can’t sit idly by knowing you’re out there, possibly in distress, possibly in danger.

🫀🫀🫀

While you’re sitting against a tree trunk trying to shield yourself from the rain, there’s a morbid part of you that’s okay with this.

You wanted something bad to happen. You wanted to be in some kind of distress, because you being hurt means people have to care about you. Right? They have to really, truly see that you’ve been struggling but haven’t been able to ask for proper help.

You snap yourself out of that thought process, trying to remind yourself that people do care about you. But it’s hard to feel that way when you’ve put so much distance between yourself and the people you love.

You aren’t sure how long you sit in the rain having a pity party, watching your swollen ankle get bigger and bigger. You need to ice it and elevate it. And anytime longer in this rain, you’ll catch a cold.

So, you crawl on your hands and knees and find as sturdy a branch as you can on the forest floor. You use it as a pseudo walking stick to help you hobble back toward the trailer park. You know the way, thanks to your time traversing the forest daily in the Upside Down.

As you get closer to the break in the trees, you hear people calling for you. You shuffle there faster.

“I’m here!” you yell, stumbling through the tree line. “I’m here!”

It’s Chief Powell and Hopper, and they look relieved to see you. Officer Callahan and an animal control worker are trying to coax the mama dog and her three pups into crates.

“What happened, kid?” Hopper asks, sitting with you in the backseat of Powell’s truck while the other man radios for an ambulance and a tow truck for your car. The usual gruff timbre to Hopper's voice has a softened edge to it today, like he can sense your emotional fragility.

“Some jerk pushed me off the road. And I thought I saw…I—listen, the mud made the dog’s fur look gray, and I thought it was—”

“One of these hellhounds?”

You nod.

“I’m not sure if you realize this,” Hopper says. “But it’s been two years to the day since you…you know.”

You swallow hard.

“I didn’t remember,” you admit. “I mean, I knew the anniversary was coming up soon, I just…”

“We were all worried you…did something,” Hopper continues cautiously.

“I wouldn’t,” you say, much too quickly. “I mean, I feel like shit a lot of the time, but…no. I wouldn’t.”

Hopper nods, eyeing you. He doesn’t quite look convinced.

When the ambulance arrives, he rides with you to the hospital. Then, your parents meet you at the ER, while a doctor looks over your ankle.

It’s sprained, but not broken, thankfully. They send you home with a brace, some crutches, painkillers, and instructions to elevate and ice.

The whole drive home, your parents give you a speech about how much they love you and how they want to know how you’re doing, and that if you ever feel low, to talk to them because they can help. Normally, that kind of thing would annoy you, but after today—the fear of seeing what you thought was a demodog, of being back in the wilderness by yourself, even just for a few hours—you appreciate the gesture.

It's after midnight when you get home, and the rain has finally let up. Your dad helps you up the porch stairs, leaning the side with your bad leg against him the whole way. You almost don’t notice the note tacked to the front door until your mom points it out.

It has your name on it. You open it. Parts of it have been scratched out, but you can still read it all.

Hey, Y/N. I was driving around looking for you when Hopper found me. I’m so glad to hear that you’re going to be okay.

I’ll swing by tomorrow to chat, if you’re still up for it. If not, no worries. I know it’s a tough time. I just want you to know that I miss you I care about you more than you know I’m here.

-Steve

🫀🫀🫀

When Steve comes by the next day, he’s not alone.

You’re surprised to see him and Max Mayfield standing on your porch.

“Uh, hello!” you say. “How are you, Max?”

“Pretty good,” she says, “now that Steve is taking us for ice cream.”

You raise your eyebrows and adjust your stance on your crutches.

“Oh!” you say. You look to Steve. He’s smiling, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Everything about his posture is tense, nervous. You wonder if this is an intervention or something—if you’ll arrive at the ice cream shop and be bombarded by the rest of your friends and a licensed professional promising a “safe space.”

You tell your parents where you’re going, promising a million times that you’ll be careful, and hobble down the porch steps to Steve’s waiting car. He’s a gentleman, one hand hovering behind your back and ready to catch you if you fall.

Max lets you have the passenger seat, likely due to your injury. On the ride over, you consider (politely) asking what she’s doing there, as you expected this conversation would be about the nature of your and Steve’s relationship.

A part of you deep, deep down had hoped he would beg you to take him back. A part of you deeper down felt selfish for that, but it was what you wanted.

You made a huge mistake letting him go.

Steve ends up taking you both to Sonic, pulling into one of the parking spots and pressing the “Order” button. Max leans up from the backseat, sticking her head between the two front seats, and rattles off a complicated order of hot dogs, fries, slushies, and ice cream into the speaker.

“I thought this was just ice cream,” you say with an eyebrow raised.

Max smirks.

“Moneybags Harrington is paying,” she says, patting him on the shoulder.

“I resent that,” Steve grouses. But there’s a sparkle in his eye.

When the food comes, Steve divvies it up amongst the three of you. However, he quickly comes up with a shoddy excuse to step out of the car—something about the fries being a medium instead of a large.

Max climbs over the center console to settle in the driver’s seat.

You aren’t sure what to expect when you’re alone with Max, but it’s definitely not, “Dying and coming back really sucks, doesn’t it?”

Your burger immediately tastes like sandpaper. “Oh, let’s not talk about that,” you say. “Let’s talk about fun things. Have you learned any new skate tricks recently?”

“Don’t deflect,” Max says, waving a french fry at you for emphasis. “Steve said you were having a hard time because no one could relate to you, and I’m probably the only person in the world who can.”

She’s not wrong. After your return to the right side of the universe, you learned that Max woke up from her coma, completely healed, after you killed Vecna and the gates closed. You hadn’t thought about how the two of you had similar, paralleled experiences.

“It does suck,” you say quietly, swirling your spoon around in your ice cream cup. “And I kind of feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“For me, it was a lot of anger,” Max says. She fidgets with her own food as she continues. “I couldn’t understand people’s priorities anymore. Like, what do you mean you’re worried about a chem test, Dustin? A few months ago, the world almost ended!”

“I totally get that,” you say, and your heart already feels lighter. “And my parents don’t understand what really happened, so they just don’t get me at all. Why I get so scared, so angry. So jumpy. It makes me feel like I’m a freak in their eyes.”

“I feel like my mom doesn’t even see me anymore,” Max says. She clears her throat and you catch a glimpse of tears gathering on her lash line before she roughly wipes them away. “Like to her, I’m a ghost.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” you say. She scoffs.

“And there’s another annoying thing,” Max says. “The empty platitudes to make us feel better. That shit doesn’t fix anything!”

You’re not offended by her outburst, because you honestly agree. The two of you lament a bit longer, and by the end of the conversation, you’re feeling on top of the world. Sure, nothing is really fixed. But you finally realize that you have a kindred spirit in all this.

You and Max make a plan to do things together more often. You’re seeing her as a de facto little sister already, and you’re hopeful that your planned meetings will be just as beneficial for her as they are for you.

Steve comes back after what seems like a millennium, shooing Max back to the backseat.

“Took you long enough!” she says.

He just smiles.

🫀🫀🫀

JUNE 1988

It’s the first day of summer.

And it’s been a year to the day since you returned.

You expect to feel more anxious than you do. Instead, you feel peaceful.

You’re doing a lot better, genuinely. You found a new therapist (sorry, Elaine) and since it’s someone who worked with Dr. Owens, you’re able to spill all the gory details of your past and your trauma. Healing isn’t easy, but you feel yourself slowly sewing yourself back together again.

You and Max stick to your word and take weekly trips to Sonic. You talk about the heavy stuff, but also the normal life stuff. You sometimes have guests. This past week, Lucas and Mike tagged along, arguing the whole time about what should happen in the Ghostbusters sequel that’s supposed to release next year.

You and Steve…ah, what’s there to say. You want him back, but you imploded the relationship and it feels selfish to waltz up to him and say, “Hey, hot stuff. Wanna get back together?”

However, you’ve officially enrolled for the fall semester at U of I. While he’s home from Hawkins for summer break, under the guise of asking for tips about campus life, you spend a lot of time with him.

You also spend time in the library, doing some studying to catch up before you start your classes in the fall. Your high school graduation was a lifetime ago. Literally.

Steve, Robin, and Jonathan join you for those summertime study sessions, although Jonathan and Robin usually bicker over the music theory books and Steve doesn’t get much done except for doodling in his notebook. But sometimes you catch him staring at you, and then his cheeks flush pink in that adorable way that makes you want to do something stupid, like beg him to take you back.

If only you knew if he really felt the same…

…which you find out he does, during the summer solstice.

You’re at the county fair with your friends, but they’ve all run off to watch the fireworks, so it’s just you and Steve at a picnic table downing sodas and cotton candy.

Your fingers wrap around the cool glass of a now-empty Coke bottle, and you place it on the tabletop. You attempt to look nonchalant as you spin it slowly.

Once it’s picked up momentum, you let it go, watching it spin a few more times before stopping it with your hand when the bottle neck points at Steve.

“It’s you,” you whisper, attempting to recreate that magical first kiss moment from years and years ago. You clear your throat at Steve’s dumbfounded expression. “Ah, sorry. You don’t have to kiss me. I was just…”

To your pleasant surprise, Steve’s face splits into a grin. “Well, gee, Y/N,” he says. “If you wanted to kiss me that bad, you could’ve just said so.”

A million canaries titter a love song in your heart as he leans forward.

The two of you kiss, for the first time in a long time.

The great divide in your soul is starting to seal. And everything feels right.

THE END

🫀🫀🫀

a/n please lmk what you thought 🩵

tags; @aloneinthehellfire @starry-eyed-steve @hollandweather @wisdomssdaughterr @huffledor-able541 @springautumn

@sunshinesteviee @curiositydooropened @crappymixtape

[tanoraqui]

Dungeon Meshi Liveblog: Kill a Dragon, Rez a Falin

I just like when they're friends like this :)

This, too, is taken from another post, but truly this dynamic is sooo funny of

Chilchuck: I am not a fighter!

Chilchuck, any time he has any sort of ranged weapon: [aims with pinpoint accuracy]

.

This is just literally that moment in every Miraculous Ladybug episode where everything goes gray and the things Marinette is about to use for a Plan "light up" one by one in red with black spots. Please someone draw fanart of this. And maybe an entire Miraculous Ladybug AU. Yes I think Kabru would have to be Chat Noir - in terms of deuteragonist-ness is SHOULD be Marcille, but she and Laios just doesn't have enough of a bizarre push and pull Dynamic. We need real character foils to pull off that relationship square.

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Raw fucking dialogue.

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THE PERIODIC ADS ON THIS SITE FOR PRINTING OR CLOTHING OR SHOES REALLY ADD TO THE EXPERIENCE.

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Agh agh agh, looking at this, thinking about Namari's explanation of how much body mass you can lose before resurrection gets harder...

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Carving this tunnel into the dragon and physically walking in emphasizes how big it was much more than anything we saw while it was alive, and it's sooo cool.

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This ad was a great millisecond of cliffhanger, unironically.

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These opening pages of the next chapter are so devastating. After all the movement of the fight, this simple layout and minimal dialogue make the grief and horror and just emptiness, emptiness where Falin should be, where hope for Falin should be, ring like a low and broken bell. Driven in just a little deeper by Laios admitting he doesn't know a monsters fact (warg bones vs human bones) - there is helplessness, too. He's just doing the only thing he can, which is so little, in all this terrible caesura.

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And then this! Marcille and Laois don't have the messy meatiness of relationship to carry and Miraculous Ladybug love square, but they are JOINTLY the parallel to the Mad Mage, and that's fascinating. They're on the same page here: Laios's "No" isn't just the denial of grief, it's a flat "That's not what we'll do." This is Laios - of course he's already thinking about how the red dragon is perfectly functional meat. As is Marcille, at last 100% in-step with him re: monsters = meat, here in the final steps to save Falin. With magic and drive and an absolute determination to save Falin, they're going to walk hand in hand into the darkness, and if something in their devours them (or their party, or the surface world...) - well, it'll have to beat them first, because throughout this world it's eat or be eaten, and those who want it most, win.

(And it IS fascinating that they do this while, so far as I've seen, basically remaining at the relationship tier of "good friends/in-laws." This isn't Found Family, it's Found Really Good Co-Workers; and I LOVE that.)

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THE PARALLEL COMPOSITION AND DIALOGUE TO THE ABOVE SCREENSHOT WHEN LAIOS WENT TO KILL THE DRAGON THOUGH!! I'M FERAL!!!

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Obsessed with the decision to frame this as a monster meal.

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Blood! In! Hair! Blood! In! Hair! Man, when I saw that post saying this wished this show was in the show, I vaguely assumed her hair had gotten messed up in the fight but she didn't bother to fix it for the ritual; but in fact her hair was braided literally 1 panel ago - she undid that and DELIBERATELY (or at least uncaringly) ran her bloody hand through it.

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YOU WISH YOUR GIRLFRIEND WAS AS COOL AS THIS PANEL! Oh fuck yeah, eyes went white. That's when you know the magic is awesome.

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HUNGER AND EATING AS A SIGN, SYMPTOM, STIPULATION AND SYNECDOCHE OF BEING ALIVE!!!

Alas, but with good okay slightly postponed and belated timing I must now go to bed.

[callmedylan]

Idea I had for a Dungeon Meshi swap AU

(Farcille and Chilaios fans why are we yet to make a swap AU where Laios x Chilchuck and Falin x Marcille swap.)

(P.S I only recently got into dungeon meshi like a month ago + I’m going off the anime and a bit of character facts from the manga so beware I might get some stuff wrong 💔)

Recently I’ve been cooking up (pun intended) this idea for a swap AU, ofc I love when ppl swap Falin and laios’s places but I wish they’d swap more characters and their stories, so it got me thinking about different possibilities.

what if Chilchuck and Laios were the ones that met in Magic school and become good friends? (for the sake of the AU let’s just say half foots live a bit longer so they age more similarly to humans). Chilchuck learned magic cause he didn’t want to be seen as weak or greedy for his race, which led him to getting miraculously accepted into a prestigious College for magic (which leads him to later learn Dark magic). It’s not his fault he befriended the “weirdo” human boy from said school and now has to save him (he’s worried sick he’s just emotionally constipated as hell).

Along with all this, after being saved from that spirit as a child, Laios realizes he has a love for monsters and what not; which later leads to his love for magic. When hes able to work with his little sister in their group as a Cleric, he was super excited to travel with friends and see all the monsters they come across, it’s too bad he ends up getting munched on by the red dragon.

Meanwhile Marcille is a half Elf for hire who was never able to master magic; And since elf’s aren’t known for their physical strength, she learned to disarm and detect traps. Ofc she probably had trouble with business because of this, but Falin and Laios found her situation super intriguing and hired her almost instantly.

Finally theres Falin, maybe after saving laios from that spirit as a child she realized she enjoyed combat and instead of going on to do magic she instead took a similar path as Canon laios and left home around 12 and later became the leader of their group. Of course while shes much more “mature” than Laios and is better at picking up social cues, she still has that weird fascination with eating monsters; she’s just way less extreme about it (guess it runs in the family).

Senshi could probably stay the same, but I could see him and namari swapping places (still deciding)

Some other roles that would be swapped (there’s more but I’m too lazy to list all of them):

Shuro <—> Maizuru

Kabru <—> Rin

Izutsumi <—> Kuro

dandan <—> Mickbell

(Note I’ll most likely make Farcille and Chilaios canon in this AU)

In this AU Marcille and Falin would actually get to develop their relationship some more and I think it’d be rlly fun for them to have this kinda awkward little Romance, like “hey ik your brother (and our friend) is getting digested rn but you’re rlly cute…”

Meanwhile Chilchuck is annoyed cause his best friend could possibly not be saved and die if they don’t hurry up and stop worrying about eating monsters and forming relationships (as he totally pushes down his feelings for Laios).

I really need to draw something for this AU, I think it’d be rlly fun.

Anyways hope y’all enjoyed my stupid little idea ramble.

[yukidragon]

So... what do you think of a concept of Jack's Sunshine who is a Magical Girl?

This ask instantly gave me the image of Alice as a magical girl and OMG the potential of that is delicious. Thank you for sharing this plot bunny with me so I can totally run away with it!

The timing is also fitting since I recently watched the Miraculous Ladybug’s latest season ending and special and, uh… I’ve had… thoughts. (Yes, Miraculous Ladybug counts as a magical girl show.)

Before I begin, I want to plug the SnaccPop Studios patreon since it’s almost certain that I’m going to wind up using the magical girl Jack picture Sauce drew at some point in this ramble, and possibly other SDJ art. Please support the team if you can, and remember don't share anything privately posted on the patreon!

I also want to toss out potential content warnings just in case. This post will contain mention of PTSD, child soldiers, body image issues, cheating, toxic relationships, and the general erotic/horror elements that are part of the Something’s Wrong with Sunny Day Jack package. I’m not sure where I’m going to take this, but chances are there’s going to be some spice involving my OTP and some mention of Jack’s yandere obsession and the extremes he’ll go to keep his sunshine.

Remember, this is an 18+ Adults Only fandom! Minors do not interact!

 The “Magic” of Childhood

The magical girl genre is iconic, and it’s also been deconstructed in different ways with certain anime like Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Given Something’s Wrong with Sunny Day Jack is, in a way, deconstructing lost media and clown mascots into an eroge horror game, it feels fitting to go with that sort of spirit with this sort of crossover as well.

In this case, sunshine would have probably been someone who was a magical “girl” in their childhood/teen years, as that is usually the age range of magical girls doing their magical shenanigans while they learn life lessons and mature. Whether or not MC was actually a girl during this time period is, of course, up to the individual to decide for their backstory. After all, who cares if the magical girls in the story are actually girls? There are an increasing number of stories about magical boys in this genre, for example, and we all know non-binary folks can go anywhere they darn well please.

Given the tone of the game and MC’s state, I think it would be perfectly fitting if they are still a disillusioned adult who wants to abandon all things nostalgic. In this case, their past magical shenanigans would be included in the childish things that they want to forget. Heck, it’s more reason to want to forget if they felt like their childhood was taken from them because they had to fight monsters in secret all the time in flashy clothes and transformation sequences, even having to go as far as to save the world from utter destruction.

Then of course add in the complication that Ian and his cheating presents on MC’s mental state. Magical girl shows very often have romance as one of the key aspects of the story, the star-crossed lovers of the lead magical girl hopelessly pining over the prince charming of her dreams~ Only, in this case, “Prince Charming” betrayed their “destined romance” by getting horny and sleeping with someone else. Bonus points if these two were reincarnated destined lovers or the like, ala Usagi and Mamoru from Sailor Moon. I mean, wouldn’t that be a kick in the teeth!

In this sort of AU, the romance with Ian and the magical “girl” adventures MC experienced would be heavily tied to their childhood and teenage years. In a sense, they both represent the MC’s youth, for good and for ill. In the present day, MC is dealing with the aftermath of the love of their life cheating on them, being isolated and alone, and carrying the baggage of their fight to save the world, which robbed them of their childhood. They’re probably extra exhausted if they still have to occasionally transform and fight monsters even in the present day. They have to juggle adult responsibilities on top of the fate of a world, working a thankless job that doesn’t pay enough with a duty that pays nothing at all. They’d probably be even more of a penny pincher in this AU.

Jack entering into the picture would be a very interesting wrinkle to their life. Given MC has faced a lot of supernatural and magical shenanigans, I imagine they’d be more inclined to believe that, yes, this clown that suddenly appeared one day and insists on being their best friend is real. Now they have another magical mascot in their life, only this one isn’t some cute little talking animal. I mean, heck, they might even be more inclined to just roll with it after having to live with a magical mascot bossing them around for years.

Not that I imagine MC would necessarily let Jack in on their secret identity, especially if they’re trying to leave the magical girl business in the past.

I can imagine Jack would be stunned to learn of MC’s secret double life, especially if he saw them during their flashy magical transformation sequence. Magical girl anime wasn’t really a thing in the US in the early 80’s, so Jack isn’t going to be familiar with the tropes, even if there were some in-universe TV shows about it. (I mean, in Sailor Moon, the Sailor V show was a thing, so even in the magical girl universe there were magical girl shows, so…)

Of course, I have a feeling that most MCs wouldn’t be interested in watching any TV shows based on the fictional or real life exploits of magical girls after growing up living that life. It’d probably be a bit too real for them.

Man, wouldn’t it be awkward if during MC’s teen years, when in the thick of living the life as secret protector of the world, they had a best friend who was absolutely obsessed with the magical girl genre? They have to deal with all the drama of being a magical “girl” and listen to people ramble about it even when off the clock. I can see Ian totally being all over magical girl anime, especially when there are real life examples  around.

This gives me the image of MC, sitting in their childhood bedroom with Ian, having to play dumb and smile innocently while Ian gushes about being saved from a monster by a magical “girl” without ever knowing that the person he’s talking about is sitting right next to him. Talk about awkward!

Though it would also be a potential moment for romance. Ian talks up his savior and gushes over how cool they were, and MC gets to feel butterflies at hearing themselves praised so much… even if Ian thinks he’s talking about a different person.

A pity Ian had to taint those sweet memories by cheating, huh?

Back to the present with Jack. Once he finds out his sunshine is going out there battling monsters, saving the world… well, there’s definitely going to be mixed feelings. On the one hand, that’s amazing! It does go to show just how special his sunshine really is. On the other hand, MC is risking their life and possibly getting injured on a regular basis because of this duty of theirs. That’s not even adding in the more unsettling magical girl deconstructions and how that power might come at a cost…

Jack, in general, wants to try and make things easier for MC, and make sure that he is needed by them. Any sort of occupation or secret life they have makes no difference on this fact. However, I think he would want to make sure to reveal that he knows their secret only when the time is right, when he’s sure it’s not going to chase them away from him

So chances are Jack would nudge MC in the direction of wanting to tell him. He’ll show them that they can trust him with any secret, help them with any problem, especially if it’s important to them. He’ll take care of them, no matter what they want to do. He’s there for them… forever.

Until MC lets Jack in on their secret, he could secretly help them. Maybe he can hunt down evil doers and scare those nasty monsters away, maybe even convince the villains to stop creating monsters that put his sunshine at risk. It’s not exactly in character for Sunny Day Jack to want to hurt anyone, but he’s stopping the bad guys! For his sunshine! So they don’t get hurt! The bad guys too dangerous to be allowed to run around hurting people and trying to take away his sunshine by killing or capturing them…

Any sort of magical mascot MC has might wind up interfering with Jack and his plans, or maybe they too will be suckered in by his silver tongue and sweet words. It all depends, really. I imagine with their power, they would be able to see and hear him like MC has, which adds a whole extra dynamic to the relationship.

Hell, Jack could potentially convince the mascot to give him magical powers too, ala this gorgeous piece of art drawn by Sauce.

Look at Jack, all sparkly and magical, with such beautiful colors and design. He’s going to fight for love and his sunshine and triumph over anyone who would dare try to take his sunshine away.

If Jack becomes a magical “girl” too, well, then his sunshine can for sure share their secret with him without worry! It’ll be just the two of them protecting each other and the world. He’ll keep MC safe for sure with his new powers.

And make sure no one takes his sunshine away, even if that means making his magical clothes a little less colorful and a lot more bloody.

Gotta love how Sauce can create such delicious tonal whiplash with their lovely art. Jack makes for a chilling yandere magical girl, don't you think?

Like any good protagonist with magical girl powers, Jack would make sure to protect his sunshine, and even without powers he would want to keep them safe. It doesn’t matter if they have a secret double life. They can share all their burdens with him. No one has to know about their secret identity except for him. It just means their bond is even more special than it already was.

Of course… if MC is keeping Jack at a distance, or interested in someone else, that would create extra conflict. MC would likely be more aware that Jack is an unknown entity and be more wary of him even as they accept his existence and presence in their life as something real. If they choose someone else to pursue romantically, well… that’s a problem for Jack regardless of the universe.

If Jack does manage to get himself some magical girl powers, he might have a whole new arsenal of tools to get rid of his rivals in a magical and flashy way. Heck, if he learns how the bad guys transform people into monsters, he might have a way to get rid of them in a way that is seen as virtuous. There’s all sorts of twisted paths that could be taken with this sort of AU, especially when giving a yandere even more power.

Really, a lot of this depends on the details about the MC’s powers, the mascot they have, what they’re fighting, and if they’re still fighting even as an adult. With that thought in mind, let’s get a little more specific in the way I would personally tackle the idea of Alice being a magical girl.

Magical Girl Alice

The idea of Alice as a magical girl tickles me greatly, especially given the fact that magical girls are always super skinny. I mean, there’s a running joke about the Sailor Moon art style and how long and skinny their legs are. Magical girls don’t tend to appear in plus size unless it’s as the punchline of a joke. It adds a lot of possibilities, and the potential to tackle public perception to the cute stereotypical magical girl archetype.

Needless to say, someone like Alice would have a difficult time as a magical girl for many reasons. She already had a hard enough time being responsible as the oldest child of the King family and taking care of Ian without adding in her duties as a magical warrior for justice.

I can imagine it happening suddenly one day in the typical way these stories usually start, when an entity appeared in the form of a cute rabbit - Honey Bunny.

Yes, I had to use Honey Bunny for the role of magical girl mascot. I mean, who else would fit that role as Alice’s adorable non-human sidekick? In this case, it was a magical entity that took over her puppet and has a similar personality to her SunnyTime Town counterpart. In a way, Alice's issues with speaking were a blessing, as no one looked twice at Alice conversing with her “puppet.” In fact, people were amazed that she had developed some really impressive ventriloquist skills!

Alice has always gone out of her way to help people, just this took that desire to an extreme. As a kid, she was excited to become a hero for justice, and with magical powers to boot. It was so cool to transform into an identity that no one recognized, beating down the wicked monsters and saving innocent people.

Well… in theory. Naturally, the first time Alice actually had to face down a monster born from someone’s negative emotions, it was a lot harder than she thought. The whole magical girl gig was harder than advertised, but Honey Bunny helped her get through it. Besides, she needed to do it. No one else could, and if no one stepped up, the world would be lost.

Alice would have shared her secret with her family, but Honey Bunny always stressed the importance of keeping things a secret. No one must know - not her family and not her best friend Ian, even if he’s crushing on the mysterious magical girl who saved him from the wicked monster his mother had been transformed into one day. If they knew, then the bad guys could find out the truth from exploiting their loved ones’ negative emotions. If that happened then she and everyone she knew was in danger, and the world could be doomed.

Quite a lot of pressure on a kid, don’t you think?

Alice had to learn how to be independent, a lone warrior of justice, taking down bad guys. Sometimes she managed to get help, but it didn’t last forever. Perhaps she did eventually get a superhero team in her teens, which would’ve been a breath of fresh air. She had someone to lean on who understood this destiny that they were burdened with.

It did create this sort of divide between Alice and anyone not part of this magical girl group. This secret and weight on all of them was so big, too heavy. Others couldn’t understand… for the sake of the world.

I was going to say this caused a divide between Alice and Ian, but then I thought of Ian in his bunny costume and, well… Ian would make a cute magical girl, don’t you think?

If Ian was in on this secret double life, it would add more reason for them to cling to each other, especially if it was only the two of them without anyone else to depend on. It’d be like Ladybug and Chat Noir against the world, a whirlwind romance for the ages…

Well… until Ian let it go to his head so that he could get some head.

In typical magical girl story fashion, it took a while before Alice and Ian managed to get in a relationship. There were plenty of near-misses and misunderstandings due to the double life Alice led until Ian joined it. So many outings together had to be canceled at the last minute or interrupted because Alice had to sneak away to save people.

It was the end of high school when Ian got his powers too in a dramatic incident where the world and Alice’s life were hanging in the balance. This is one of those season finale climax moments where everything is on the line and they came a hair’s breadth from everything going horribly, horribly wrong.

Naturally, this made Ian and Alice’s bond, which had been waning due to her double-life, suddenly a whole lot stronger. Trauma bonding is pretty high for young people who need to cling to each other to survive after all…

Alice used her experience to help Ian get used to his role, though he had a much harder time juggling his double life. His mom was a big problem, constantly wanting to know where he was and what he was doing. In the end, he had to give back the powers Honey Bunny gave him because he didn’t see himself as worthy of them anymore. He also just couldn’t handle the pressure, not like Alice could.

Still, the two of them were close because Ian knew Alice’s secret and could help her make excuses to sneak off to save people.

The college era changed everything. The big bad Alice had been fighting for years was finally defeated at long last. She had thematically graduated from being a magical girl. She could finally live a normal life and figure out a dream of her own beyond saving the world.

But… Alice didn’t know what to do. Sure she thought about her future beyond being a magical girl off and on, but fighting to save the world and juggling her personal life with these secrets and lies took up so much of her mental energy. She was exhausted and wound up bouncing around in college.

In typical magical girl story fashion, the protagonist got together with her love interest in the end. Alice and Ian were a couple, so close and in love. With Alice not knowing what to do with this future that was open to infinite possibilities, she let Ian take the lead in guiding their futures, trying to get into acting alongside him.

Of course, much like in the normal universe, Alice got pushback. Though she’s a magical warrior for justice, she’s still chubby. Her physical abilities are better than the average person even in civilian mode, but bodies have a tendency to want to be a particular shape, and for her, that’s bigger than society wants her to be.

Much like in Miraculous Ladybug, Alice has some influence on how she appears when transformed. Will and subconscious desire strongly affect it, as well as creating that special aura that makes people unable to identify the magical girl with the pigtails as the same person as the girl with the same pigtails and hair color who was standing there only a couple minutes before. When Alice first started out, she was more or less herself, but fluffier, more colorful, covered in frills and glitter. She had the young magical girl flare and charm, just plus sized.

Unfortunately, as Alice’s body image issues manifested, getting mocked both by her peers and even enemies, she started subconsciously wanting to be smaller. She saw her ideal self as those skinny magical girls on TV, and it reflected in her transformed mode. It wasn’t an instant change, more like a gradual transition as though the creators behind the series got worried about having a plus sized magical girl and made her gradually slimmer until she looked more “on model” for the genre.

By the time Alice was a teenager, her transformed mode was the typical skimpy, but curvy, magical girl archetype. She didn’t look anything like herself, and there was no chance of mistaking the two of them for the same person. She wanted to look this way in reality, so when she had free time she worked out more and ate less. It was very unhealthy, and Honey Bunny had to work hard to keep her from developing an eating disorder. If Alice wouldn’t take care of herself for her own sake, then she had to do it to have the power to save the world.

The relationship between Honey Bunny and Alice is a deep friendship, but it’s a bit complicated. After all, it was Honey Bunny who guided a child to take on the responsibility of protecting the world. Regardless if there was no other option, it’s still not a burden that should be placed on any one person, let alone a child.

Needless to say, Alice has a lot of baggage from her time as a magical girl and some trauma bonding with Honey Bunny as well. When she finally had a normal life, she had come to accept that she could be loved as she was, not as [insert magical girl superhero name here]. I’m not sure what name I’m going to go with for Alice, but it might be a parody of Sailor Moon’s naming convention or some other magical girl anime’s naming style. I mean, I could call her Sailor Sunshine, but that’s a bit too on the nose. ;3 I’ll have to give it some thought…

What didn’t help Alice’s self-confidence and body image issues was Ian having a crush on her transformed self and gushing about her all the time. Although Ian did have a crush on Alice as well, he couldn’t help but geek out over a real life magical girl, and more than once Alice was made to feel jealous of the persona she crafted that always seemed so much better than herself.

When Ian eventually found out her identity, he was stunned, especially due to how different they looked, but at the same time it made sense to him. He insisted that she was the same person, with or without the flashy costume, and she was just as beautiful either way.

So in the “final season” of this magical girl show, Alice’s transformed self looked a bit chubbier than before - not as full figured as her normal self, but no longer a skinny twig. She better accepted herself a bit more, and she felt loved by Ian both in her transformed state and out. By that point she had grown and become happier with herself.

Which made Ian cheating on her later on with a sexy woman with big boobs and a small waist feel like a huge kick in the crotch.

Alice entered college with Ian full of hope, even if she felt lost for a future outside of being a magical girl. She had a partner who loved her and understood her, and she had the rest of her life to choose whatever she wanted in the world she saved.

It’s just unfortunate that all of the constant battles and running off to fight tanked her grades during high school, which made it harder for her to get into college in the first place. At least Alice could get into community college, even if that meant there was no hope of a scholarship. At least she had Ian by her side.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Though Alice had become a strong warrior for justice, she now suffered from PTSD and had traumatic flashbacks of moments that scarred her deeply, especially when it came to people she couldn’t save. She couldn’t exactly talk about it with anyone, and Ian couldn’t handle the burden. After all, he gave up being a magical girl because it was too much for him, and hearing how hard it was on Alice made him feel guilty, which in turn didn’t help her. Fortunately Alice had years worth of experience in holding it in. When you have to keep secrets in order to prevent the end of the world, you learn how to bottle up a lot of things.

Alice is a much better actor in this universe because of this, and it did help her get further in acting classes despite pushback and at least one teacher warning her about how she would be type casted in unflattering roles due to her body size. Still, at some point she wondered if it really was what she wanted to do. She spent years having all these eyes on her, having to be a commanding presence and play a part…

Despite Ian’s encouragement to keep acting with him, Alice dropped out. Though disappointed, he encouraged her to try and find her own dream. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but in so many ways she was very, very tired.

Alice’s relationship with Ian wasn’t the happily ever after she thought it would be. Much like in the regular universe, things deteriorated between them, with his cheating being the final straw. Those issues were sharper in this world, unfortunately. Ian felt even more insecure having a partner who was this famous  magical girl superhero who saved the world many times over. He felt insignificant compared to Alice at times, like he wasn’t worthy of her, and she could do so much better than someone like him who constantly needed saving… At the same time though… he couldn’t let her go.

The person Ian cheated on Alice with was someone more “on his level,” just a normal person living a normal life who made him feel happy and attractive during a time when he was alone. Long distance relationships are so hard, especially when you’re convincing yourself that you’re always letting your partner down.

Alice didn’t take the confession that Ian cheated well, but she didn’t nearly drink herself to death in this universe. The issue in this world is that the enemy can use your crushing negative emotions against you, so Alice had to learn how to combat those feelings. Often it was by transforming and destroying a few dozen trees in a forest miles away from civilization. When she got all of her energy out, she fled the scene of her destruction and collapsed to the floor of their apartment in tears.

Shaun came by in the midst of her grief, as Ian had called him in a panic to check up on Alice when she wouldn’t pick up the phone for a long time. He was a good shoulder to cry on, and kept her company the entire night until she finally cried herself to sleep.

Of course… the breakup isn’t going to be easy when it comes to superhero identities. Ian proved he can’t be trusted after all by betraying Alice, and she can’t be with someone she can’t trust… but at the same time he knows her secret. It created a lot of tangled up feelings and drama. Ian keeps trying to regain her trust and get back together with her, but she can’t, not with how hurt she is and how much responsibility is on her shoulders.

A new threat could appear at any time. Sometimes unrelated big threats appear, small one-off things. Alice technically can never retire from being a magical girl. It’s part of what made figuring out her future at college difficult.

Honey Bunny, being a magical mascot in charge of keeping up secrecy, used magical means to make Ian forget about Alice’s secret identity and the part he played in the magical girl life. After all, if magical girls have a magical field that makes it so no one can identify them and their civilian persona, even when there’s photographs, then it makes sense there could be different magics to ensure people don’t uncover the secret. I mean, we are talking about the fate of the world after all. That’s pretty serious stuff.

Disillusioned by love, exhausted by her duties, and now only with Honey Bunny to confide in again, Alice feels more alone than ever. She struggles to figure out what she wants in life, knowing that she can’t ever truly stop being a magical girl, not when supernatural forces sometimes crop up to cause trouble… to say nothing of the threat of a potential new villain appearing like the one that forced her to become a magical girl in the first place.

It makes it hard for Alice to feel motivated. Her dreams are murky. She coasts through college, graduating with a general engineering degree just to have something to show for the cost of the classes. She gets a job at Yogurtopia because it at least has flexible hours and Barry at least accepted her excuse that sometimes she’ll have emergencies unexpectedly. He has her work extra hours to make up for those times when she has to cancel at the last minute. Even with a job like this, it feels like she’s hanging by a thread, barely holding on because her boss has decided to offer her leniency. Chances are she won’t get that elsewhere.

Supernatural Ghost(?) Jack

Of course, it’s during this period where Alice is feeling more lost and alone than ever that Jack appears. She sensed something strange about the video tape, but not dangerous. It was compelling, touched by magic, and left her feeling like she had to play it. Honey Bunny had a weird feeling about it and cautioned her when messing with it.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that the connection between Jack and Alice was willingly made, at least for the Sunshine in Hell continuity. It’s no different in this AU. Alice, ever the hero, heard the pitiful cry of a soul trapped in hell, and saved him. Thanks to her years of being a magical girl, having her soul put to the test against many magical effects, Alice didn’t pass out after the pact was made, and she fully remembers the terms of their agreement.

In a way, this starts Jack and Alice off on the right foot. Alice feels a sense of purpose in trying to figure out what happened to Jack and how to help him, and she finds he’s actually a really nice friend. It’s also nice to be around someone who makes her feel understood. Honey Bunny is good company, but their complicated relationship isn’t the same as what develops between her and Jack.

Alice doesn’t let Jack know that she’s a magical girl, though he does know about Honey Bunny, if only because Honey Bunny asserted herself to make sure the terms of the magical pact between the two were fair and that there were no loopholes an unsavory character could take advantage of. Honey Bunny, being the guide for magical girls, has experience in setting up contracts, you see, and she does care deeply for Alice even though she also used the poor girl as a child soldier. Even if she didn’t have a lot of options at the time, it was still not a good thing to do to a kid.

Honey Bunny has a lot of guilt for everything she put Alice through, and is extra protective of Alice as a result. The two are very close, and Jack often feels jealous of their bond. He wants to be closer to Alice, his sunshine, his savior… closer than anyone. Their bond is special. He never felt this way about anyone before…

And Jack certainly doesn’t want anything to risk breaking the bond he has with his sunshine and being damned back to hell.

While Jack can sense Alice’s emotions and vice-versa through their connection, the wording of their pact is a bit tighter in this AU, and they can’t read each other’s minds. Still, that connection of empathy goes a long way in the two of them growing closer.

Jack helps Alice get some direction in life, feel more motivated in herself again in a way that Honey Bunny can’t quite manage to help her with due to their complicated history. He becomes an important part of her life, making it shine brighter and she feels happy in a way that she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

Alice struggles with burdening Jack with anything, especially since she’s supposed to be the one trying to help him, being the superhero and all, but Jack wants to help her, and it feels so nice to be taken care of for a change.

Alice has carried the weight of the world on her own for so long.

Things get easier with Jack around. Though Alice still works towards helping Jack be human again so he can interact with others, the idea of him one day going off to live his own life is just so sad. But can she really believe him when he says that he wants to be her best friend forever?

Jack understands what Alice is trying to do for him, and he does appreciate it, but he’s not leaving her even if she thinks that’s what’s best for him. He doesn’t want to leave her. Besides, he can see that wouldn’t be best for her. She needs him, and the more time they spend together, the more he’ll do to show her that. It feels so good to have her need him, to feel useful and wanted. She’s such a remarkable person, so strong and brave, but he wants to take care of her. She deserves to be loved and cared for, especially after all she’s done.

Jack, with his supernatural abilities, finds out early on that Alice is a magical girl when she has to run off because of a sudden monster attack. He doesn’t reveal that he knows right away, but subtly encourages Alice to tell him herself. It hurts a little whenever she avoids the opportunities he gives her to open up to him and lies to hide her secret, but he understands that a big secret as this can’t be easy to share, especially after he’s seen what some of these monsters can do to people.

One of the ways Jack tries to encourage Alice to tell him involves talking up the magical girl that appears on the news sometimes, how amazing and courageous she is. Unfortunately, that backfires a bit. Alice is reminded of the way Ian gushed over her alter-ego in the past, and the memory hurts like hell. Jack notices right away that this line of conversation upsets her, even though she tries to hide it. She covers it up by pretending that she can’t see what’s so great about the magical girl except her looks, and Jack, very gently, redirects the conversation in a more positive direction.

After that Jack focuses on not idolizing the magical girl persona, but humanizing her. He says there’s more to “her” and everyone beyond their looks. Everyone is beautiful in their own ways, but Alice doesn’t need the ribbons and sparkles to shine. She doesn’t need to fight monsters to prove how brave she is. She’s the most beautiful, most courageous person he’s ever known.

Alice, flustered by his praise, protests that Jack is just saying that. After all, so many other people are so much more beautiful than she is, including the magical girl who totally isn’t her!

Jack focuses on Alice and her actions, all the things he’s noticed her do day by day that make her shine, the acts of kindness, her bravery and determination. At times his words cross over into things that he does as a magical girl, deliberately so, but vague enough that she wouldn’t immediately realize that he knows. It’s just enough to force her to look at that magical persona in a new light and see that it’s just a sparkling dress on top of the amazing person who invested so much of herself into doing the right thing and sacrificed so much of herself to make the world a better place.

Alice can’t help but feel moved. Jack has a way with words, and she can feel he cares about her. Falling in love with him is a slow burn, but comes as naturally as falling into his arms, and eventually the line is crossed. Although she believed that she would never find true love after everything that happened with Ian, Jack gives her the courage to finally try again.

Naturally this is a love story with a happy ending because I’m a sucker for my OTP. When Alice is forced to reveal her identity through a suitably dramatic moment to save people, Jack gently tells her in the aftermath that he already knew, and he was waiting for her to be ready to tell him. He also tells her it doesn’t change anything - she’s always been the most amazing person in the world in his eyes, with or without the magical wand and frills.

Jack and Alice get together before the reveal, which is a source of anxiety for Alice until everything is out in the open. Fortunately, Jack is so patient with her and helps her deal with her anxious feelings and worries. When the truth is revealed, he helps her avoid people in order to transform safely, gives her ideas for excuses to tell people in order to hide her magical girl persona.

Really, Jack would make for a good magical girl guide. He’s certainly clever and manipulative enough to handle the job. Plus if no one can see him, he can figure out the best hiding spots.

Alice helps Jack become human again, or as close as he can be. When he’s able to be seen by others, a part of her fears that he’ll find someone else, someone he wants more than her. Still, unlike with Ian, she finds herself able to be more open with Jack than she can with anyone else. She eventually learns to unburden herself with him, to show parts of herself that she feels are ugly and would let everyone else down if they saw them. She learns to release worries she held back from even Honey Bunny because of the weight of obligation she had to not let anyone down.

Jack accepts it all. He’s patient and listens to everything. It troubles him when Alice finally tells him all the horrors she faced as a magical girl, all the trauma and awful things that she had to experience for the sake of the world. It feels so unfair to him that such a kind soul has to suffer alone like this. He’s even more determined to be her shelter and give her a place she can feel at home.

Alice feels freer with Jack than she ever felt in her life. Even though Ian knew her secret, he couldn’t handle all the horrors. He couldn’t stand by her side, placing her above him on a pedestal. Even though Honey Bunny was there the whole time, Alice didn’t want to let her down and was looking to her for guidance. Jack, however, isn’t someone with expectations that she has to live up to or a victim to shield from the ugliness of the world. He feels like someone who is there for her, standing right next to her on her level. The weight on her heart feels just a little lighter after she finally accepts that sharing her burdens with Jack didn’t crush him under that weight.

Of course Ian has tried to get back together with Alice in this AU, but he’s had far less luck. His phone got blocked right after the breakup, as did all his social media pages. Their breakup wasn’t “for now” but “for good,” in this AU, much to his dismay. With all the responsibilities Alice has to carry, she has to think of the world before herself. She can’t be with someone who she can’t trust, and he proved that she can’t trust him. It’s lucky that he didn’t blab her secret identity in a moment of weakness before Honey Bunny made him forget!

Ian still reaches out in any way he can though, mostly to Alice’s family and any mutual friends. He stalks her socials through secret alt accounts and tries desperately in his regular life to become the man worthy of her. He constantly tries to figure out ways to make up what he did to her even while constantly putting himself down.

Because Ian forgot about Alice’s secret identity, he forgot that she’s also the mysterious magical girl that sometimes appears in the news for saving people. He can’t help but crush so hard on this mystery girl, and it fills him with so much guilt. He already cheated on Alice once without this silly crush making his heart flutter! He can’t let his heart be shaken up again! He needs to be loyal this time.

At the same time though, it’s over… Ian should move on. Yet, he can’t move on. He needs Alice. He knows he does. He can’t handle life without her. They’ve meant so much to each other for so long. His life feels empty without her.

Also a part of Ian subconsciously remembers the things they experienced when he knew her secret, and it deepens his longing to make things right. He betrayed Alice so deeply when she had such a burden to carry. The guilt is eating him alive and won’t abade until they’re together again.

Alice avoids Ian and is distant when talking with him. She’s able to mask her hurt with a frosty mask, but it’s so very, very painful. She can’t handle being near him or thinking about him for long.

Fortunately, the closer Alice gets with Jack, the less painful it gets to think about Ian. Her heart starts to heal thanks to Jack.

Unfortunately, Jack does not take too kindly to Ian’s attempts at getting back together with Alice Fortunately, he’s not the only one with this sentiment, as Honey Bunny doesn’t want Alice to get back together with Ian either.

Really, Honey Bunny was leery about the idea of Jack being with Alice the second she picked up on something developing between them. She was worried about Alice getting her heart broken again, but Jack is constantly proving her fears wrong. He makes Alice so happy. Maybe this strange and suspicious clown was what Alice needed all along…

Jack takes advantage of Honey Bunny not wanting Ian around to team up and thwart any attempts Ian might make to get back together with Alice. Honey Bunny is a bit of a mischief maker when left to her own devices, and Jack is very good at talking her into playing a few harmless magical pranks on Ian. Naturally, they do this without letting Alice know. No need to upset her by forcing her to think about Ian after all.

So, yes, Honey Bunny, in a way, is assisting Jack’s relationship with Alice in this world too, even if she’s more than a little  hesitant about trusting him with Alice’s heart. She would be even more hesitant if she knew just how thirsty Jack is for Alice. His constant attempts to seduce Alice once the two are in a relationship is a point of annoyance for Honey Bunny, and she serves as a cock block more than once.

Still, it’s not going to stop Jack from showing his sunshine lots and lots of love, or experimenting with magical girl powers in a kinky way. Just the skimpy outfit alone is begging to be used for sexy times, maybe in a bit of roleplay as well. Sometimes pretending to be in a position of vulnerability can help someone take back power they lost, and Alice can discover that being tied up isn’t so bad when the person doing it loves her dearly and will undo the bindings the moment that she feels overwhelmed.

Jack might be playing the role of wholesome kids show host, but he’s still an actor at heart. He can have a lot of fun pretending to be a villainous evildoer who has captured the virtuous magical girl and has her at his mercy. He’s also open for it to be reversed, to be the dastardly villain finally captured by the champion of justice. After all, Alice has a lot of experience teaching the bad guys how to place nice, and maybe she can have a lot more fun with it when Jack is the one she’s teaching a “lesson” with the power of love~

I can imagine Jack would also try to encourage Honey Bunny to give him magical girl powers like she did temporarily to Ian. It’d lessen Alice’s burden and help them both out. He already has supernatural abilities of his own and is bonded to Alice. He can handle the burden fighting evil for the sake of his sunshine and the world. He won’t crumble under the weight of this heavy responsibility like Ian did.

Naturally, it would take a lot of convincing after how far south things went with Ian, but Jack is patient and clever. He’s patient enough to encourage Alice to come to him despite her many fears and scars. He’s patient to encourage them both to trust him, and we all know he has a way with words. Eventually, magical girl Jack will enter the stage and fight for the sake of his sunshine. He’ll use the power of his love to help her shine even brighter than the sun.

Besides the bonus of magical girl powers, Jack would naturally take advantage of the magic that prevents people from connecting a magical girl’s identity with their civilian form. I mean, if no one knows who you are, you can have anonymous sex in public with no one the wiser. Of course, the biggest obstacle is convincing Alice to give it a try, but they’ll no doubt come up with a compromise that satisfies them both.

I think I’m going to wrap up things up there for now. This ramble has gone on way longer than I intended it to - close to 8000 words! And that’s without going into detail with the smut or inserting a snippet of writing this time. I hope you all enjoyed this blend of magical girl shenanigans and Sunny Day Jack. Maybe I’ll get more ideas and touch on this AU again sometime in the future.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur

[bittersweetresilience]

sentitwins fic recs

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He would have stayed there forever, if he could. This was how it was always supposed to be: the two of them together, united by something stronger than blood — stronger than magic. Adrien knew he was stalling, crushed by the enormity of the truth. He just needed a few seconds more. “I think your father has the Peacock Miraculous,” he finally whispered. “And I’m going to take it back.”

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“What? Nooo! Adrien doesn’t hate Christmas.” “Are you absolutely certain? What was he like last year?” “Well, he —” Marinette furrowed her brow, scanning her own memories. Of course she was absolutely certain. At least, she thought she was.

Guarden by @clawsoutspotsoff (1,709 words)

There's a sound behind him, and Felix grabs his arm, wrenching him around. "Adrien, we have to go," he says, urgently. The color is starting to come back to his face, but he still looks panicked. "He can't find us down here." Felix puts his hand on the base of the coffin, and the metal cover slides shut again, returning it to the way they found it.

Blueberry passion fruit by @ninadove, @paracosmicat (2,511 words, ongoing)

He walked up to the counter, because he could not think of anything else to do. For all those times he had rehearsed their reunion, he had failed to consider the most obvious scenario: Adrien might want to run away once more.

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Shadow Strike by @ninadove, @paracosmicat (39,334 words, ongoing)

“We have to get the brooch back,” Adrien said, his voice cracking. “So he can’t do this to anyone else.” His lack of hesitation took Felix by surprise. When he finally looked back at him, there was something new in his eyes - something that vaguely resembled hope. Or what if the kids actually shared basic plot info with each other for once?

Matter of Luck by @wackus-bonkus-maximus (14,833 words, ongoing)

When Chat Noir activates the curse of the Black Cat Miraculous, he must get a kiss from Ladybug to break the spell. If only they weren't sworn enemies, he might have better luck. An “enemies” AU, but fun :) featuring the PV kiss plot

a mannequin lamenting to a statue by orphan_account (716 words)

you’re a sentimonster and you’re a sentimonster and you’re a sentimonster are there anymore senitmonsters i should know about? (chat noir meow)

(feligami fic recs) (félix fic recs)

[enthusedbambi-jjba-au]

Monster AU - Joestar Family Lore

brought to you by unexplained moment of omnipresence!

This is about the Joestar family in general. The only Joestar that I've confirmed to "be" anything other than human is Giorno (and his half brothers I suppose). But that doesn't mean the Joestar family is full of normal, magic-dry humans.

Let's start from the beginning:

Jonathan Joestar is a human being, and yet, he appears to be distinctly ethereal.

Not holy, per se, I could perhaps use the word 'divine', but the specific religious connotation that would probably conjure is not really meant to be part of it. The way I would tend to describe it would be 'some kind of ethereal entity borne of a miracle'. I'll just refer to this concept as 'the Entity' (with capital E) for simplicity. Within the bearers, there's a sense of righteousness that may be linked to it aswell.

Essentially, it was miraculous that anyone survived the carriage incident, and because George and Jonathan both did miraculously survive, they (but more specifically Jonathan) were hashtag blessed and the Entity became a part of Jonathan and subsequently his descendants. It's pretty simply passed down like genetics are; as generations pass on, there's some muddling or dilution, but every Joestar descendant from Jonathan onwards has this [non-Stand] Entity as a part of them to some extent. Even the normal ones (Holy); basically anyone with genetic parentage tracing back to Jonathan (so unfortunately no Joestars-in-law) will have it.

The muddling is because the Entity is more or less an entirely unique thing, so others that would have that same Entity as part of their being would be rare, if not completely nonexistent. Joestars are mostly having kids with normal humans, so over the generations it gets sort of 'watered down'. The Entity, however, is an incredibly strong thing, so much so that, even generations down the line, it's still detectable or distinct in them or their auras.

Furthermore, Hamon deeply resonates with the Entity, making it more powerful and more prominent; the two things seem to be somehow linked, and this connection may be why Joestars seem to be particularly skilled Hamon Users. Unfortunately, this also means that the Entity started to become much more subtle when the practise of Hamon was no longer passed down in the Joestar family.

So Joseph, despite being Jonathan's grandson, still has a very distinct presence of the Entity which furthermore gets even stronger throughout the events of Battle Tendency when he receives Hamon training. Though you'd never guess there's anything ethereal about him with how much of a little bitch he is

Then we get to Holy, Joseph's daughter. She's three generations (since Jonathan) along and the Entity (thanks in part to Joseph's attunement with Hamon) is still fairly strong. Her good natured spirit helps to bolster it somewhat, and though we never see her using Hamon, she definitely could. The Entity was strong enough for her that, when she was unable to control her own Stand, it helped her, through her will to survive, to withstand the full extent of her Stand's power, keeping her alive (I call bullshit on her not having enough fighting spirit and would like to see Holy throw hands).

So with Jotaro being Holy's son, Joseph's grandson (4 generations in), the Entity starts to become a bit passive. Jotaro doesn't practise Hamon and he's an asshole (albeit with overall noble intention) so the Entity has more or less ceased to be particularly distinct with him (though it might have had some influence on the sheer general capability of Star Platinum). It's still fairly plainly detectable in his aura.

And then we get to resident sleepy boy Josuke Higashikata, requiring a hop back in the generational line. Josuke is Joseph's son, consequently also being Holy's half-brother; thus, he's a third-generation Joestar descendant. This means that, similarly to Holy, the Entity is once again fairly strong (even though Joseph stopped practicing Hamon), and perhaps a little stronger due to another "miraculous" event that occurred in Josuke's childhood (when he'd been deathly ill); it's an Entity borne of a miracle, so it seems only natural that another miracle would strengthen it.

Now, I'm going to skip Giorno for a moment because he's a little... complicated.

Then comes Jolyne. Jolyne is Jotaro's daughter, Joseph's great-granddaughter; she's a 5th generation Joestar (and the only one of which we really know about) and by now, the connection with the Entity is quite faint, especially since it was already pretty subdued for Jotaro. It's detectable in her aura, but it doesn't seem to really have much impact on her.

Funnily enough, Jonathan aside, the Joestar descendant with the strongest attachment to the Entity... is Giorno.

Now before I get into detail about Giorno I need to address... the DIO. The Entity is linked intrinsically to both the spirit, and also to the physical form (hence why it's genetic), its primary attachment generally depending which is 'active', to put it simply. What this essentially means is that while a person is alive, the Entity is mainly attached to their soul. But if the person dies, the Entity typically becomes inactive. However, since DIO (who is, to simplify, still a vampire) decided to steal Jonathan's body when Jonathan died, that meant that Jonathan's body became active despite the lack of his soul, so the Entity remained attached to his body.

Giorno, technically being the son of both DIO and Jonathan (because of, you know, complete bullshit that just works), would inherit both the vampirism from DIO and the Entity directly from Jonathan. And this would also technically apply to Donatello, Ungalo and Rikiel (so, yes, they are all also part-vampire), but there's more when it comes to Giorno; since Gold Experience is basically Hamon: The Stand, the Entity particularly resonates with Giorno, meaning it's pretty much just as intense as it'd been for Jonathan.

This also further bolsters just how absolutely fucked Giorno's genetics are as a presumably three-piece, maybe four-piece hybrid... his aura is a fucking terror.

[fabseg-creator]

Miraculous AU: Yandere Twins Au - Amenath/Nathalie and Amélie (Yandere Amélie)

I've imagined a scene between Nathalie and Amélie. I thought about a fan-concept about Amélie, Felix's mother, being a Yandere.

It happens in an AU. In this AU, Amelie is lovesick of Nathalie.

There are two versions: the minicomic (up) and the fanfic (bottom).

The sketch art and the story (below) are mature: they contain bondage, undressing, sensuality moment, drug mention and toxic yuri (not really consent).

The story:

When Nathalie begins to wake up, a familiar and feminine voice calls her.

???: Already awaken, Nathalie ?

Nathalie: Huh ? Émilie ?

???: Nearly. But not really. Watch by yourself.

Nathalie opens her eyes and she sees Amélie who is smiling in front of her. The blonde woman is dressed in lingerie, wears a rabbit-themed headband, black gloves and latex boots and holds a whip.

Nathalie recognizes her own whip. She held that when she was an treasure huntress/archeologist.

The bed (it's Nathalie's bed) is covered of special decorations: pink flowers, roses, flower petals and red and pink heart papers.

Nathalie feels uncomfortable about the situation: she understands she has her arms and legs get tied/roped or handcuffed. She realizes too she is just dressed in lingerie too (and she has an exotic flower at her right ear).

Amélie feel happy when Nathalie looks at her.

Amélie: Did you sleep well, Sleeping Beauty ?

Nathalie feels confused. She has a bit of sensation of spinning (hangover ?).

She remembers she had suddenly fallen into sleep after drinking a cup of tea Amélie had offered to her while the two women were sitting at the garden. The last thing Nathalie had seen before was Amélie held her in her arms. The aristocrat woman expressed to her a malicious smile before the black out.

Now, she understands Amélie drugged her. She wants explanations.

Nathalie: What the hell happened to me, Mrs. Graham ? And what have you done to me ?!

Amélie: I just take care of you, this evening.

Nathalie: What is this madness ?

Amélie: I won't talk about madness when I can talk about love.

Nathalie (disturbed): Love ?

Amélie giggles. She moves her left hand and caresses the Nathalie's cheek. When she puts back the hand on her own cheek, she suddenly becomes exalted.

Amélie: Yes. I love you, Nathalie. I'm in love with you since 15 years. ❤

These words astonish Nathalie causing her to blush. 😳

Amélie: During a long part of my life, I searched the perfect lover and I've found you: Nathalie Sancoeur, my perfect wife. Colt was a foolish guy and he was too disgraceful for me. A true monster. I needed a plan to destroy him once and all. And save my Felix too.

Nathalie(worried): You murdered... your husband ?! 😮

Amélie: Just self-defense. But Gabriel was a fool and a monster too. I'm glad my son and my nephew can make their happiness.

Nathalie still remembers Gabriel was Monarch the Butterfly supervillain. He became obsessed about Miraculouses he lost his humanity. After being healed from her magic disease, she has resignately accepted to keep the secret away from Adrien (alongside with Ladybug).

Nathalie: Do you plan to eliminate me ?

Amélie giggles.

Amélie: No. No. I can't do it to you, Nathalie. I said I love you too much. ❤

Nathalie: And your son Felix ?

Amélie: I am sure my beloved son and his girlfriend Kagami will accept you and my good Adrien plus his girlfriend in the new family I want to compose.

Nathalie: And why me, Mrs. Graham ?

Amélie: Because You look too sweethearted, Nathalie. ❤

Nathalie blushes about Amélie's words but she still troubled. The first thought the bodyguard woman has is: To reason Mrs. Graham de Vanily to free her.

Confident about her escape plan, she begins to play her game.

Nathalie (feigning to be polite): Can you loosen my ties, Mistress Graham ? Please ? 🌼

Amelie laughs.

Amélie: Sorry, Nathalie. But I can't let you go. Not yet. ❤

Nathalie: What do you mean ?

Amélie: I will release you when you will name me by my name. Not Graham nor Fathom nor Lady nor Mistress.

Nathalie: Amélie ?

Amélie: Yes. Nathalie. From now you will call me like that. ❤

Nathalie calmly breathes.

Nathalie: Mrs. Amélie, I must say you... 🌼

The blonde woman suddenly makes a whiplash with the whip silenting Nathalie and making her close the eyes. The latter woman opens the eyes and sees she hasn't any damage. But only the flower from her ear was fallen into pieces because of Amélie's whiplash.

Amélie: Forgive me, honey. I don't want to harm you. I hate to damage beautiful flowers. 🌼

The situation isn't okay for Nathalie. She had underestimed Amélie. She didn't know the latter can be lovesick. And now, she understand this woman is unpredictable.

Next, Amélie's angelic face evolves into a darker tone. She licks the whip and poses as a dominatrix. She reminds of a Femme Fatale. That's worrying Nathalie. 😈

Amélie (dark and sadistic tone): Say. My. Name. 😈

Nathalie (a bit of intimidated, shouting): Huh... Amélie. Amélie ! 😰

Next to Nathalie's answer, Amélie changes her evil expression into an exalted/sensual tone. She feels at the height of excitement.

Amélie (exalted): Good, Nathalie. ❤

Right after, the blonde woman throws the whip puts her hands on Nathalie's cheeks and... kisses her on the lips. 💋

Nathalie slightly blushes because of Amélie's kiss. This situation is a Déjà Vu. 😳

That isn't the first time Nathalie falls in a situation. She remembers Émilie, Amélie's twin sister.

When Émilie was alive (before the Miraculouses' discovery), this woman had already confessed her feelings to Nathalie in the same way as Amélie is actually confessing her. Gabriel was never aware about this thing.

Now, Amélie is seducing her. Without another choice, Nathalie understands the evening with Amélie will be more longer than she expected.

The End?

[snail-studios]

For the ask game, what about an age of calamity timeline totk au?

(Like where there isn’t over a hundred years between the start of the calamity and rauru’s seal running out of magic. Just a few years maximum in between instead)

For example: Like does link just show up in Zora domain after being missing, with a ghost’s arm and a majority of his life force (or whatever heart containers are) drained? or what if a Zora patrol finds unconscious (again with a weird arm) along a river bank, presumably having fallen into it during the chaos of the upheaval? Or maybe Zelda and link trade places?

There are so many directions you can take it!

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

This is such an interesting idea!

I think in this AU I wouldn't send Zelda back to the past, but maybe the champions.

Maybe Link and Mipha have gotten properly engaged and courting is nearly finished (or they're married?) and so when the champions fall down that hole he is DEVESTATED. As much (and probably more) than he was with Zelda.

Now, why doesn't revali fly them out? Maybe he got bonked by a rock or something

Link's arm gets messed up, and Zelda is fully submerged in malice. The goddess in her blood stops her from being harmed, but it has steeped deep into her soul. They both wake up on the sky island, link with his raurru arm and zelda with some strange new abilities...

After searching for the champions, they come across some memories (which you play through as the champions) and realise they're in the past! So they do the plot stuff and go to the temples, where they find them in their respective temples, locked in time.

Rauru tells them they are sealed there as a sacrifice to keep ganon imprisoned, in temples raised high above the sky so none of his monsters can find them. When they go to Mipha's temple, Link snaps, and accidentally breaks the seal.

Mipha falls out of stasis, aging 10,000 years in less than a minute, and the sky turns blood red as the seal weakens. Rauru temporarily takes control of Link's arm and restores the seal. Mipha goes back to how she was before, the sky turns blue again and zelda is really pissed off with him. He knew he wasn't supposed to open the seal because rauru had told him with the other champions. The angrier zelda gets throughout the game the more the malice in her affects her personality, and she starts to look a little.....monstery

They fight Ganon, and instead of eating a secret stone he enlists the now completely malice possessed zelda to use her powers against Link, meaning he has to fight ganon and zelda at the same time, with Yunobo, Riju, Sidon and Teba (I'm sorry tulin is TOO YOUNG AND I LIKE TEBA) at his back. From far above Hyrule the champions do some magic sagey stuff, weakening ganon, and zelda breaks out of his curse, turning the malice powers against it and draining the malice from ganondorf's body and using it as a weapon for her and link. Ganon, in an attempt to survive swallows his secret stone and link and zeoda are flung into the air, the light dragon (which is revealed to be Sonia in a memory) helps them finish him off and the temples holding the champions fall, crashing into hyrule (and probably killing a lot of peoplehshdhletsignorethat) and so do zelda and link, holding each other as they crash into the water and miraculously not being vaporised :)

After this, they go to the temples and there is a lovely miphlink reunion and a big cuddle. And the epilogue is their marriage ceremony!!!! Obviously!!!!

[princess-of-the-corner]

Ended up musing on what Miraculous could work to allow for a villain to operate via proxies (Using the revised Lore we've discussed before) and had some fun realizations, did I say fun, I meant potentially nightmare fuel inducing.

Renlings: Indeterminate Powers The oddest, pick, but as there are so many spirits, and things like the Spellbook exist, I believe one could use magic to essentially bind the Renlings and force them to act on one's behalf.

Mei-Shi = Incarnation & Transmigration You want ghosts and ghouls and geists? You got-em, this power set makes the user their very own necromancer and oh boy can this create some cascading problems if it goes on too long.

Mouse - Multiplication & Duplication Pretty straight forward, just multiple one's self or duplicate someone else and then withdraw them if they get defeated.

Butterfly - Emotion & Transmission We've seen this, Akuma and Familiars galore, and potentially Imago too. Which would work really well in the "Villain with good publicity AU." IE, Gabriel using his growing fandom to select people very loyal to him to become perma monsters.

Ladybug - Creation & Purification Gone into before but the creation of Charm Constructs and potentially more esoteric magical familiars like Shikigami.

Lamb - Genesis & Preservation Clone armies, homunculus soldiers, vat grown armies, the world is our very squishy, disgusting oyster if you condition your creations right.

Fox - Mirage & Materialization Hive mind, erode the barrier between one's own perspective and that of other, place thoughts and ideas inside their heads over and over again until they are reprogrammed. Retain your mind and turn the world into a panopticon ruled by one voice, yours.

terrifying

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

I gotta ask. What's the Miscarcand AU?

Let me preface this by saying that I have thought about this ask since I first got it, but school and life are as painful as a Dremora Valkynaz charging full force from the depths of the Deadlands.

"Shall We Kiss in Miscarcand?" is an Oblivion era AU that stems from my love of all things Indiana Jones and The Mummy with a dash of Supernatural-esque monster hunting and reluctant friends to lovers slow burn because I am a romantic first and a human being second.

The story follows Fighters Guild Journeyman Avarenya as she investigates a mysterious orb retrieved from an Ayleid ruin during a job. Made of an indeterminate white stone, the orb is marked in an unknown Daedric dialect. Seemingly meeting a dead-end with the Skingrad Mages Guild, Avarenya is unexpectedly directed to an ex-member who was known to study the Daedric scripts by Druja. This leads Avarenya to Kvatch, where she meets Brother Martin. Much to Avarenya's dismay, however, the Priest of Akatosh is vehemently against helping her as soon as any mention of Daedra or study of dark magic is brought up.

Out of ideas, Avarenya stays the night in Kvatch, only to wake in the middle of the orb being stolen by an unknown thief. Avarenya chases the thief through the streets of Kvatch, but loses them in the dark. Things continue to go poorly for Avarenya as her attempt to report the theft leads to her arrest as a suspected Daedra worshipper! Then, quite unexpectedly, Brother Martin comes and bails her out of jail under the pretense of Avarenya hunting down Daedra worshippers rather than being one herself. Martin agrees to help Avarenya hunt down the orb and decipher it once it's found.

What follows are a series of adventures as Avarenya and Martin travel throughout Cyrodiil, recovering ancient artifacts, battling vampires, necromancers, and Daedra, and chasing down a mystery that could lead to the resurrection of an ancient divine order and the unraveling of a plot to invade Tamriel from Oblivion itself.

The story starts in 3E428, not long after the events of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Although the Oblivion Crisis itself is still a few years off, the premature meeting and companionship of the Hero of Kvatch and Martin Septim means that some things may go in a wildly different direction than they do in the canon version of the Main Quest. At its core, "Shall We Kiss in Miscarcand?" is an action-adventure/romance that goes wildly off the rails from most other Oblivion AUs out there.

Fun Facts!

Martin and Avarenya's son Magnus originates from "Shall We Kiss in Miscarcand?" Before coming up with this AU, Martin and my HoK had twin daughters. What this means is that with the advent of Magnus, Martin and Avarenya are now Leara Rose-blade's great-grandparents, rather than her grandparents.

At least in this AU, Avy is heavily Rick O'Connell coded, while Martin is Evelyn Carnahan coded. Please understand how much I love The Mummy. I have an incomplete pitch for a Miraculous AU too.

The title was pseudo inspired by that time eight years ago when I watched Ouran Highschool Host Club. No, I cannot remember the song. Yes, I have only seen that show once. No, I'm not looking the theme back up. It's just meant to be a comical little thing, you know?

If I were to make a cover for this, it would resemble an Indiana Jones movie poster. Additional similarities to Indiana Jones would include travels to exotic (eg: Morrowind, Skyrim) locations, freaky time shenanigans, screwing with gods, Avarenya bringing a spell to a sword fight, and Martin being afraid of snakes or something. Oh, and probably rival treasure hunters who would use their discoveries for material gain rather than the advancement or preservation of knowledge.

Their love confession would totally happen in Miscarcand while recovering the Great Welkynd Stone. Obviously.

There you go!! ✨

[i-am-thornqueen]

Hiii I have a question about the Miraculous Monsters & Magic world!

Witches and familiars can pass injuries between each other, right? So what happens if there’s an injury on a part the other doesn’t have? Like Adrien gets a cut on his tail and Marinette kisses it, where would it go on her? That’s a silly (but gets the point across) example, a more practical one would be genitalia. Especially since someone is soooo scared about his claws.

Also, does injury-passing work on eyesight? Like if one person has dog shit eyesight and the other has 20/20, can they pass around the good eyes like the Fates?

Thanks! Love your work <3

Ooooooh, another question that enables me to be a public menace and lore-dump on unsuspecting people. Love it!

(for the sake of others, I'll keep the answer below the cut)

It's true that witches and their familiars can pass injuries between each other. It's one of the many benefits of having a soul-deep connection to another living being.

Most often in the past, transferring injuries was used as a means of survival for witches; traditional familiars tend to be smaller creatures and spirits, so if a witch is injured while being chased by a mob of angry villagers, she can quickly exchange her injuries with her familiar and easily carry the poor creature while she's running like hell to escape. Once safe, she can either take the injuries back and let her familiar tend to her, or the familiar may keep the injuries and be tended to by their witch.

Adrien and John, as werebeasts, are not considered traditional familiars because they are so big (and worse, human), but the magic that allows them to shift gives them the additional bonus of an enhanced healing factor, so it's easier for them to simply take on their witch's injury and promptly shift to heal it over themselves. If prejudices against werebeasts' humanity wasn't such a thing in the magical community, there would have been a lot more witches in the past seeking werebeasts for familiar contracts.

Injury to nonhuman body parts, such as a tail, or to body-type specific areas, such as genitalia, can still be exchanged even if the other party within the contract does not possess that exact body part. The injury simply moves to the nearest equivalent body part. If Adrien breaks his tail, the closest equivalent for Marinette would be breaking her coccyx (tailbone). If Marinette accidentally takes a claw to her pink delicate parts, Adrien's equivalent would be learning the definition of subincision. It would be a lesson he never forgets.

As for eyesight, that would all depend. If you took a pocket full of sand to the eyeballs and got your corneas all scratched up, then yes, the injury can be exchanged. If you were born with bad eyesight and that's already your baseline, then no, the contract magic isn't smart enough to understand that your bad eyesight is something that needs to be fixed. You can't foist your faulty eyeballs on someone else, I'm afraid. ^_^;

The closest thing to being able to pass eyeballs around like the Fates would if a witch with bad eyesight made a contract with a spider spirit who had eyes to spare. If that spider were so inclined, they could gift a pair of their eyes to their witch, but it's more of a permanent gift rather than the hot potato game the Fates like to play.

[twstjam]

The steady hands on a twisting road (One-shot)

Characters: Malleus Draconia & Yuu

Ship(s): Platonic Malleyuu with a hint of a crush on Malleus's end

Word count: 1.7k

Summary: In which Yuu, the stranger from another world is the consort of Malleus Draconia, the lonely king of Briar Valley. From getting thrown into a world of magic with seemingly never-ending problems to getting married to a fae, Yuu's life has been very eventful to say the least. It's a lot to get used to, but at least they're not alone.

Or: AU where everybody are adults, there are still problems, and Yuu is still from another world. Oh, also, they're (platonically) married to Malleus. Did I mention that?

Masterlist

AO3 Link

a/n: I have zero attachment to this fic and au and zero plans to continue it, but I thought I'd transfer it here anyways because it's a twst fic. Also, it's a sort of Early Concept for my other fics (mainly Break in the Clouds and Death of Me) while I was still trying to brainstorm good ideas so just ignoring it would kind of be a disservice, at least in my opinion.

Yuu stirs from their nap groggily, lifting away the open book that they'd dropped on their face when they nodded off.

Turning towards the window, they notice that it's still very bright outside. They must not have been napping very long at all if that was the case. They close their eyes and try to fall asleep again, but the discomfort of the book on their face that had woken them up still lingers and they groan in frustration.

After days of non-stop problem-solving and near death experiences, Yuu had naturally thought that they would enjoy a day off. But of course, as their luck would have it, the constant excitement had skewed their sense of entertainment somewhat and they found themself awfully, terribly, bored .

They turn their head towards the grey pile of fur on the bed. Grim remains sleeping soundly, curled up with his pronged tail around him and the flames of his ears waving lazily.

"Lucky," Yuu mumbles. Even monster cats have it easy. All they need to be satisfied are food, pets, toys, and sleep, which comes easily, especially to a lazy glutton like Grim. Any toy would suffice too as long as it moved. He could bat around a ball of rolled up paper for hours.

One would think that being a king's consort would be all sunshine and rainbows—and it was and that was the problem. When you have downtime, you have nothing interesting to do because everything is already being taken care of, especially if the castle staff were too frightful or respectful of the king to go against his orders of letting his consort participate in any work.

Yuu really appreciates Hornton, but man was he too cautious sometimes. Hopefully one day he'll realise humans aren't as fragile as he thinks and they hope that day comes soon.

They're. So. Bored.

Saying it again and again doesn't make them any less bored, but a part of them had hoped it would miraculously summon another crisis they'd have to fix, like maybe Leona was being framed for regicide again, or Ace and Deuce were about to commit regicide again, or maybe Epel finally snapped and swapped out Vil's hair products. Yuu didn't care what it was, they just needed something to do .

With grace that was the least fitting for the royal title that they legally own, Yuu rolls off the bed and plants their feet on the floor. They lace up their boots and quietly leave the room as to not wake Grim. Lying around being miserable obviously isn't going to help, so maybe a walk would.

The Gothic style of the Castle of Thorns was one that they were still getting used to. They'd only married Malleus recently after all, and then one problem after another kept popping up in the other kingdoms to the point that they barely spent time in the valley, let alone the castle that was supposed to be their home. Both that and the unfamiliarity of the fae architecture didn't help in making Yuu feel at home here. They still feel like they're walking around at some sort of historical site or someone else's house.

It's to be expected, they suppose. They are from another world. Getting thrown into another dimension and then marrying their friend who happened to be the fae king on a whim would reasonably take some adjusting to, though the latter circumstance was more voluntary than the former.

The green flames flickering in the hallways of dark stone emanates a sort of calm yet haunting atmosphere. Not for the first time Yuu wonders if they can redecorate the place since this is technically their house. They'd asked Lilia and he'd seemed to like the idea, but they'd have to ask Malleus too since he was the king.

Yuu had wanted to ask him first, and they would've done that long ago if they could've. They really think their friend wouldn't mind a few changes to the castle but they always forget to bring up the topic when they see him, which was rare since he was always so busy with his royal duties as king and Yuu themself frequently got caught up in solving other people's problems.

Yuu heaves a sigh, shaking their head. If you'd told them a year ago they'd be isekai'd to a fairytale land, become a beast tamer in-training, have hundreds of run-ins with death and also married to a fae king with a hyperfixation on abandoned houses and vanishing acts, Yuu would've wondered how they'd remain sane. They're still wondering about that.

While lost in their thoughts, Yuu's aimless wandering had led them outside and the sunlight shone pleasantly on their skin. They sigh, content, and follow the stone path into the garden.

Their feet lead them to a sectioned-off part of the garden that they recognise more vividly than the rest. When they'd first arrived at the Castle of Thorns, the first thing Malleus had done was show them his personal rose garden. He'd told them that he'd grown the roses himself from seeds that his grandmother had sent him every year on his birthday. Based on how many flowers there were, Yuu had made a joking comment about his age. Hornton had only laughed and smiled at them in a playfully challenging way. They still don't know how old he is.

The rose garden was more identifiable to them compared to the rest of the castle's garden because of the memory. It felt like a very significant place. They weren't like the heart-shaped bushes of red roses they'd seen in the Queendom of Roses and were instead much more colourful. Standing among the flowers, they try to imagine a plain area of dirt and a little horned boy digging and planting seeds, caring for the flowers every day and adding more until they grew and grew into this garden.

Yuu grinned to themself. Despite Malleus's intimidating aura and composed image, their friend was so endearing and passionate. It was hard to believe how anyone could be afraid of him.

Their luck must be turning up and their "summoning" thoughts finally working their magic again because they look up and see the tell-tale sign of horns peeking out of the top of the rose bushes.

Yuu navigates their way towards them until Malleus's towering figure finally comes into sight.

"Hey, Hornton," they greet. The King of Thorns looks up with slightly wide eyes before a smile eases over his face.

"Yuu. Good afternoon, my dear friend," Malleus replies. "How are you?"

Yuu hums as they approach him, their eyes drawn to the rose he was gently cradling in one gloved palm.

"I'm doing alright," Yuu says with a slight shrug. "I'm just feeling a little bored."

"Bored?" Malleus's eyebrows raise slightly. "I apologise. I suppose there is not much to do in the castle for a consort when they have no duties."

"It's alright. I wanted to relax, but I guess I got used to being active so sitting still made me feel restless."

"Hmm," Malleus hums thoughtfully. "If you would like, I could arrange for some entertainment for you."

Entertainment? They're guessing that means stuff like jesters and musicians and performances and stuff like that. They're intrigued, but the thought of sitting in a throne and watching fae do tricks or whatever for them made Yuu's skin crawl with embarrassment and discomfort.

"Um, no thank you. Maybe something else?" They then squint up at him suspiciously. "Don't you have duties, your majesty?"

Malleus looks away from their accusing gaze with a guilty smile.

"I do, but I am taking a... short reprieve, so to speak."

Right. He absolutely ditched his guards again. Yuu can imagine that Sebek is currently screaming his head off for the king and making the castle staff go deaf while Silver is probably slumped in some fountain somewhere while birds braided his hair or something.

Yuu laughs. Their eyes close as they do, so they don't see the fond smile on Malleus's face as he looks down at them.

"As your consort, I should probably tell you to go back to work," Yuu says with a cheeky grin. "But as your friend, I think you deserve a bit of a break yourself. I don't have anything to do. Tell me more about the roses."

At their invitation to divulge a topic he was fond of, Malleus beams, his green eyes gleaming. He immediately launches into a lengthy explanation about roses and rose care, some of which he had already told them about, but Yuu is still keen to listen to every word.

His guardsmen eventually appear, evident by the sound of Sebek's ear-splitting yells. Although Malleus looks reluctant, he decides that he'd delayed doing his duties long enough and ends their conversation.

"Thank you for sparing your time for me, child of man. It has been a pleasure," he says with a slight bow.

"Thank you too, Hornton. The pleasure has been all mine." Yuu returns the bow with a smile on their face.

They were still amused by the fact that Malleus had run off from his guards again so they were feeling a bit playful. They take one of his gloved hands, lifts it to their lips and kisses his knuckles.

When they look up, Malleus has a stunned expression on his face. Yuu could be imagining it, but are his cheeks a bit red?

"King Malleus!"

The sharp sound of Sebek's voice seems to snap him out of whatever distracted state he was in and Malleus takes back his hand. He gives Yuu another polite bow as if he'd forgotten he'd already done it before turning around and making his way out of the rose garden.

Yuu chuckles to themself. They really don't see much of Malleus lately, but they always enjoy it whenever they could squeeze in some time with their friend.

Even with all the trouble they got into and all the deadly close calls, Yuu found that they couldn't quite complain since they got to have peaceful moments like this with Malleus, even if they were brief. Meeting him was an accident like everything else that has happened to them in this world, but marrying him had been a voluntary decision and though it wasn't a life they were used to quite yet, they don't regret their choice in the slightest.

Smiling to themself, Yuu gently brushes a hand over some of Malleus's beloved roses as they walk the path out of the rose garden and towards the rest of the castle grounds. There was still a lot of familiarising to do and they can't do it by sitting around in one place.

[aalissy]

Fantasy AU

Woop woop day 9 done :). And it's a fantasyyy AU where I got to write Prince Adrien with his lovely knight Marinette. Ahhh, I loveeee writing this AU hehe. Lemme know what you think <3

AO3

Prince Adrien sighed quietly. He rested his cheek upon his fist as he stared out longingly of the tower that he was locked in. His father, the Mad King Gabriel, had summoned upon the magic of the peacock miraculous to keep him imprisoned in the tower ever since his mother had died years ago.

In the span of but a few moments, he had lost both his mother and his freedom. Gabriel had shouted that this was the only way he could protect him from the evils in the world before locking him up.

In the beginning, Adrien had been grateful. After all, his father was right. The world was evil. He didn’t want the same things that happened to his mother to happen to him. But slowly, as the days turned to weeks which turned to months he had begun to see this as more of a punishment than a reward.

He had little to no contact with anyone. The only times he had any form of human contact was when his father came up to restock his supplies. Most of his day was spent cuddling with Plagg, the black cat Adrien had pleaded with his father to have after he had been locked up for half a year and was going mad himself. 

Plagg purred contentedly, causing him to smile down at the cat in his lap. Scratching him behind the ears, Adrien wondered just how differently life in this tower would have been like without him. It would have been unbearable.

The quiet sound of horse hooves had Adrien gazing out his window lazily. Had his father returned early with supplies? He didn’t know if he was ecstatic at the contact or if he was depressed at the fact that he wouldn’t see anyone again for the next few weeks.

Adrien blinked. Then blinked again. The figure approaching on horseback looked nothing like his father. It seemed to be a girl, her pigtails flowing out behind her as she raced toward the tower. She was clad in shimmering armor, her sword glinting in the moonlight. 

He scrambled back falling off the ledge he was sitting on as he crashed to the floor. He ignored Plagg’s unhappy meow and began to panic. Who was this? Was this one of the monsters his father had warned him about? Had she come to murder him like all of the stories his father had read to him?

Adrien gulped, staring down at the sword on her hip. It certainly looked very sharp. Should he hide? Should he at least try and defend himself? He had never thought of a plan for a situation like this. His father had been certain that no one would be able to find this place so they had never thought up any ideas for what would happen if it did.

Suddenly, the steady beat of horse hooves on the rough pavement ceased. Did she leave? Went away to bother someone else’s tower? 

Slowly, cautiously, Adrien poked his head back up to peer out the window. She hadn’t left at all. Instead, she had taken out two small knives and he gulped as he imagined what she would do with those. 

She stabbed the base of the tower and he watched in awe as she tested the hold her knife had. It must have been good because she jammed the second knife higher up into the rocks. Adrien’s mouth dried as he watched her begin to ascend the tower with a skilled grace he didn’t know was possible. 

So awed by her ascent up the tower, he had no time to prepare when the knight crashed through his window. A pair of bright, gleaming blue eyes blinked into his green ones with surprise. He jumped forward, grasping a shard of glass with force as he glared over at her.

His tiny, makeshift weapon was probably no good against her sword but at least he could say he tried. He was not about to die easily. 

“Get out of here!” he spat, praying that just the ferocity of his words would scare her off. “I won’t let you just kill me!”

“Hang on! Hang on!” She held her hands up, obviously trying to lull him into a false sense of security. “What are you talking about? I’m not here to kill you! I came here to rescue you.”

His heart swelled with hope before he quickly clamped it down. She was a liar! Every murderer would say this before dealing their dastardly blows. Adrien may not know a lot but he knew this much at least.

“Liar!” he hissed, eyes narrowing at her as he waved the tiny shard of glass.

“I’m not a liar.” She shook her head before the unmistakable sound of purring filled the room. The both of them looked down as Plagg rubbed himself against the lady’s legs, purring noisily.

“Plagg! What are you doing!?” Adrien shrieked, gesturing for his cat to come here with the knife. “She’s the enemy!”

“Aw! What a cutie!” she cooed, kneeling down as she scratched Plagg behind the ears. The traitorous cat leaned even further into her hand, obviously enjoying the scritches. 

Slowly, he lowered his knife. His father hadn’t warned him about this. Would a killer really pet a cat instead of... well, attacking him with the giant sword at her waist?

Adrien's mind raced with conflicting thoughts. Could this knight truly be here to rescue him? Was she not the threat his father had warned him about all these years? Plagg's content purring seemed to vouch for her innocence, but Adrien couldn't shake off the years of conditioning to fear outsiders.

"You expect me to believe that?" Adrien's voice wavered slightly, his eyes darting between the knight and Plagg, who seemed unusually comfortable in her presence. "Why should I trust you?"

The knight sighed, straightening up. "I’ll start by giving you my name. I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the renowned knight who has sworn to protect this kingdom. Your father might have misled you about me, but I assure you, my intentions are pure.”

Adrien's grip on the shard of glass loosened, uncertainty clouding his features. He couldn't just ignore the years of isolation and fear instilled by his father's warnings. Surely, he had locked him in this tower for a reason.

"Please, Prince Adrien," Marinette pleaded, her blue eyes reflecting sincerity. "Let me prove to you that I mean no harm. Your imprisonment here is unjust, and I'm here to set you free."

Adrien hesitated, torn between his ingrained fears and the glimmer of hope offered by Marinette’s words. Plagg, ever the perceptive companion, nuzzled against her leg, a silent gesture of trust.

“Ask yourself this, would I really have stopped to pet your lovely cat and give you my name if I was here to bring harm to you? Unless you truly believe that a piece of glass would be enough to stop me, a trained knight?” She crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at him teasingly.

With a deep breath, Adrien lowered the makeshift weapon and nodded slowly. "Alright, I believe you."

Marinette smiled warmly, her relief evident. "Thank you for giving me a chance, Prince Adrien. Now, let's get you out of here."

For the first time in years, Adrien was finally going to know what freedom tasted like. He was finally going outside.

[miraculous-magicalconnections]

FAQ about my rewrite/AU Miraculous: Magical Connections

A Brief Summary:

Miraculous: Magical Connections is a complete rewrite of the French TV show Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir and aims to fix the issues many fans (such as myself) have with it. This includes but is not limited to: plot holes, character inconsistencies, and a general lack of story

How Mature is It?

Most of what I write is Teen and Up, and this is no exception

That isn't to say every character is going to swear and make sex jokes all the time, because they won't, but I wanted to work with a rating that allowed long time fans something to look forward to in this

I also wanted this to be a bit more on the mature side because if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to go into too much detail with certain characters backstories and the trauma they've gone through (such as Adrien)

What do you plan to Change?

A lot of it! I have completely rewritten the character backstories, have overhauled a lot of their designs, and have given them all a proper personality (not to say they didn't before but now they're more diverse)

I have also changed a lot of things that many of the fanbase just didn't enjoy, such as Chloé's loss of character development, the younger demographic causing certain topics (such as Adrien's trauma) to be extremely watered down, and other things

However as for the main plot of the story, it's still mostly the same in that Marinette and Adrien are Ladybug and Chat Noir fighting against Monarque (Hawk Moth) and Paon Aimant (Mayura) and Lila is still another antagonist (though my version is arguably more terrifying given she actually knows what she's doing)

Any Added/Removed Episodes? Why?

I'm going to be taking something from every episode of the show, whether that be the plot of the episode, the Akuma/Sentimonster, or just certain information but none of the episodes are going to be a one-to-one retelling with rewritten characters

When an episode is used in a way that was more or less what happened in canon, there will be enough changes to make sure I'm not just copy and pasting the episode

Changes to the Heroes or Villains?

When it comes to Miraculous holders? Nope, all Miraculous holders will keep the Miraculous that they wield in canon (With the exception of Zoé who doesn't replace Chloé)

But Akumas/Sentimonsters? Yep! I have quite a few original Akumas and Sentimonsters, though I doubt most of them will get their own chapters since most are going to be used as throw away to further world-building

Any Ships?

Most canon ships will stay the same, such as Adrien/Marinette, Alya/Nino, and Ivan/Mylène being endgame, however a few other ships will happen throughout the story that aren't endgame such as Marinette and Adrien's relationships before they get together

There are also other ships that will happen that aren't canon to the story due to them not having a canonical partner, such as Sabrina

The only canon ship that won't be canon in my rewrite is Félix/Kagami as (while I like the ship) I have other plans for them

On the topic of ships though!

LGBTQIA+ Characters?

Marc, Nathaniel, Juleka, Rose, Max, and Alix, like in canon, are all queer, however a good chunk of the rest of the cast are also in some form queer because 1. I'm following a lot of popular headcanons, and 2. I want them to be

Any Lore Changes?

The most notable is how Miraculous came to be, something that will be elaborated in the story itself, however due to the change in this there are a few changes I've needed to make

The Peacock Miraculous was never broken so Emilie simply died in an accident, this also led me to making Adrien, Félix, and Kagami all humans

I've also changed certain aspects about Guardians and the overall world, such as making certain magical creatures real (namely dragons) and further tying Kwami's and their abilities into real world stories such as the lost City of Atlantis and the Loch Ness Monster

And if it wasn't obvious, I've also changed the lore behind the Kwami's so they're no longer these random magical creatures and instead Gods (which was never confirmed in the show)

Things About Me (The Creator)

Who are you? - Call me Magi, I'm 19, and I use any pronouns

How long have you been in the fandom? - I started watching Miraculous right around when season 2 started, and I've been active in the fandom since around season 3 or so

Why are you doing this? - Because I've seen other people do it and wanted to throw my hat into the ring when it comes to this story

What're your goals with this? - To make the story more enjoyable then what it is currently, especially to the fans who grew up with it and wish it was more mature (such as myself)

Favorite character/Miraculous? - Alix and the Rabbit

[universaln0b0dy]

Rewriting miraculous- Adrien agreste

[Note] Hey, hey! I wanted to start rewriting and designing miraculous for the fun of it. Please note that this is just for fun and giggles! I will try to keep the rewrite as close to the show as possible, at the same time I want to put as much of my ideas into it as I can. Also this is probably an angst au, because of my 3 am brainrot.

Adrien Agreste:

Look he isn't written good, I will say it as it is. Too much wasted potential, too much he is the love intrest not enough plot. I need more Adrien because the snippets of his personality he has are very Intresting, so we can work with that! But he is honestly kinda annoying at times at the same time he isn't, I don't know how to say it better, but that's how it is!

Backstory:

Adrien is a human child in this, not a senti-monster. His behaviour is all because of Gabriel, not because of some magical force. Adrien grew up in the Agreste household, with his mom Emily and his father Gabriel. Most would say they are loving towards one another, just until you look past the facade.

Emily is Gabriel's muse, his sunshine, his world his everything and the reason he adores his son so much is because he looks just like Emily, with his green eyes and blonde hair. But Gabriel hates Emily's twin with a burning passion. She looks just like his muse, at the same time she doesn't, she is ugly in his eyes, not comparable to his wonderful sun and so he forces Emily to cut of contact with her sister. Emily fights with Ģabriel about this, but Gabriel just responds by locking her up.

Emily tries to shield Adrien from this, telling him that Gabriel loves her and that he only wants to protect the two of them. Very soon in his life, Adrien is barely five, he first learns that his father's obsession is true love. (It actually isn't.)

Adrien looks at all the movies all starring Emily, all the pictures on the wall and Gabriel's obsessive jealousy as something good. Realising what she has done, Emily is devastated, devastated enough to risk something and that is bringing Nathalie back. Natalie desperately needs a heart transplant to survive and Emily does that, creating a heart with the peacock miraculous, ending up comatosed. (More to this when I am starting with the miraculous)

Gabriel is devastated by this because his wife slipped through his fingers like sand and completely abandonds Adrien in his grief, during the loss of his sun. (Luckily Natalie is there to help)

Gabriel actually thinks Emily was naive and that Natalie serves no other purpose than being his assistant. (He is delusional)

But back to Adrien, he first learns that love seems to equal obsession and then gets neglected, only for his father to come back into his life to plan every single step of it. Ever since Adrien is 8 he isn't allowed to pick his own clothes, style his hair or have a say in his own life. Luckily because of his mom and Natalie he actually was able to experience freedom of choice and doesn't think what Gabriel is doing is normal, at the same time he doesn't dare to speak out against anything.

His friendship with Chloe starts somewhere between the neglect and his loss of freedom. They both relate to eachother for having parents that either aren't there anymore or just neglect them, but unlike Chloe who only has her wealth to keep her company, Adrien has Natalie so he turns out a bit better than her.

His very first form of rebellion ever is going to school when he is fifteen. His dad still has a say in everything, but at least he can talk to other people, right? The thing is his classmates hate him at first, mainly because of Adriens behaviour. He wasn't ever part of the normal school kid society so he acts like he does in high society. No one liked that.

Adrien also tries his best to help Marinette who at first is totally against this, Marinette despises him, him and his behaviour. She compares him to Chloe.

Adrien actually needs some time until he becomes friends with Nino and Marinette, by trying to prove himself as a good person, but his fathers controlling and manipulative behaviour gets in the way. Lady bug will actually become his first friend, closely followed by Marinette.

Marinette becomes his friend after he protects her from Chloe, also developing a crush on him. Adrien falls in love with Lady Bug because he considered her amazing and while she is controlling, she is someone he idolised, which becomes the start of his possessive ness.

Personality as Adrien (season 1-3)

Oblivious: Adridens sheltered life stops him from picking up social cues, in a way you might not expect. He reads too much into everything. He has only ever interacted with the upper class, so he tries to interact with the normal people just exactly like he does with high society. Which causes a lot of things to fly over his head that would be said/ indicated by every day people.

Indecisive: Adrien was never allowed to pick something himself so he doesn't know how to react when someone asks him about what he would like for lunch, etc. The worst thing that happened because of this was that he almost was completely hated on by the class for not picking a side in a fight.

Possessive: Let me tell you, this guy is possessive of his friends, stuff anything! The mixture of seeing how his father was and the fact for the first time in his life he gets to make his own friends makes him loose control over his emotions occasionally. Nino would be the one to slowly bring him over to a more calmer path with his chill attitude.

Jealous: Ahaha, this ties in to the possessive ness and stems from his deep insecurity about the fact that his mother went missing (he blames himself) and that he is always so indecisive. He believes his friends can simply be snatched away. Which is stupid, he is a model, but still he feels like he just lacks everything. Kagami also has to suffer because of it

Helpful: Yes, despite everything Adrien is helpful. His mother taught him this and he won't ever, ever let it go. He tries to help anywhere he can whenever he can and in general is such a sweetheart!

Adrien as Chat noir:

Joyful, cocky, funny: do I have to explain in detail why? Marinette becoming Lady Bug gave her something to do, a responsibility. Adrien gets freedom, freedom he wished for so desperately secretly. As Chat noir he lives out the emotions he has to hide for his father and he can finally be himself

Possessive and jealous: Lady Bug is the sun as one would call it, less love more obsession. Suprise suprise I guess. For him lady Bug is what Emily was to Gabriel, a light in the Darkness. (Though Marinette still has more in common with Gabriel considered that she thinks of Adrien as her muse at some point.) Chat noir is helplessly in "love" and he wants to claim his possession.

Loud, obnoxious: This guy goes wild, he does the craziest stunts and just flings through the air cackling loudly to himself. For the first time in his life he wants to be seen and heard. Everyone admires him for the self he never was able to show and he enjoyed every second of it.

Insecure: needing reassurance daily that he isn't a useless side piece. Occasionally when his real life hits too hard he also doubts himself as chat noir and when villains find the right spot to hit it is over for chat noir with his incredibly fragile ego. Because chat noir is the most vulnerable part of Adrien.

Adrien "Chat Noir" Agreste season 4 and up

It takes longer for him to mature in the way lady Bug does and so does connecting his two sides. After a while though Adriens overcomes his insecurities and more, he heals from the neglect and even calls out his father occasionally when the latter is being unreasonable.

He becomes less jealous and possessive and learns about the correct way to love someone, just like Marinette does. Adrien even apologises to Kagami, who has of course never harboured any resentment towards him, but is relieved about it anyways.

Chat noir also stops clinging to Lady Bug as much and let's her do her own thing without feeling insecure in the eye of the other heroes. He knows he is capable now and he loves himself. (Though he developed a bit of an ego)

Art

Soo, Adriens human design looks way different when it does in the show, but that has a reason! Gabriel uses him as an walking advertisement and Adrien is forced to look perfect every where he does. No jogging pants or sweatshirt for him. His hair is styled and so ar his clothes. (Not by him)

Chat noir is silly. The black fur an his arms and Legs that act like leg warmers over to his hair, everything just looks a bit less than Adrien Agreste. The little bell makes noise, but the suit looks dark, perfectly matched together, not really special. A reflection of how he views himself. His costume does change after his personality does, but he is one of the rare users where the more power you have the more you look like the animal your miraculous represents and the it also reflects your personality don't clash that much.

Soooooo next is either chloe or Alya, I haven't picked yet but I hope you enjoyed this drawiting session and I'll see you next time! (Also, do you prefer Chat noir, or chat Noire)