I'm back with an update for Awaken! My Trollhunter! Strickler fic, that's set post RoTT.
Summary: After being removed from taking part in Trollhunting business by Strickler after Jim’s close encounter with goblins, Jim decides to take matters into his own hands and steal a piece of Killahead bridge with Toby— to prove to Strickler he’s more than capable of standing on his own two feet.
I had this brain worm in my head for too long so now I’m writing it out here. Basic premise is that Sunny and Kel swap as siblings, with Sunny staying with his parents and Mari swapping over to Hero’s. Under the cut because it might get a bit long and also because it’s likely going to have a few uh...things in it.
tw: child neglect, child abuse (being safe for this one)
Mari and Kel
I’m going to have to be honest right out of the gate here, these two definitely get the better end of the deal in this
It doesn’t matter if it was going to be Kel or Sunny, Mari absolutely loved the idea of having a little sibling
She spends time with him, adores being around her little ball of energy and excitement that just wants to go go go
And she’s more than happy to go with him! She often leads, but never has trouble with getting Kel to run off charging forward on his own, letting him take the chance to explore the world. “It’s your own little oyster” as Mari would love to say
Kel grows up with a sister who understands that he sees the world in his own way, interacts with it a bit differently than most people would think, and who spends the time to try to understand that
She teaches him how to interact with people and solve his problems working with his mindset, different than his parents who seem to be almost patronizing when they try to teach him the ‘right’ way to do it
Mari doesn’t ever tell him he’s doing it wrong, she only ever works with him on how to interact with the world without accidentally stepping on its toes in his excitement
Kel grows up an excitable and rambunctious kid as always, and while he might not be completely there for the book smarts, he is stupidly good at emotional intelligence, even more so than in the base game
Because he’s had someone help him learn how to interact and process his own emotions, how to recognize and respond to others own emotional states, he’s much more able to read someone and then go “oh, I should probably act like X because they’re not feeling too well.”
He’s a much happier healthier kid too, because Mari is his role model, and with having a household that still has expectations, but isn’t as strict on her to meet them? Her perfectionism doesn’t develop as hard over the years, and she’s always had a stronger personality, enough to be able to stand firm in doing what she wants to, not just meeting her parents expectations
She does still meet them often because she’s just Like That to a degree, but it’s important to Kel because it lets him know that when he tries to follow in her footsteps, it’s not because Mari is the better sibling and he needs to follow her example, even if he refuses to believe she’s not the better sibling because she’s just so amazing and loving in his eyes
It’s because Mari shows that if she excels because it’s who she is and it’s what she wants to do, than it’s also fine to be bad at some stuff but good at other stuff if that’s what Kel wants to do!
And unlike Hero, Mari doesn’t try to play as the neutral party/the diplomat in the household when her parents talk down at Kel she steps in and puts her foot down, lets him know that he doesn’t need to be just like her, that he’s perfect in his own way
Kel’s never happier than when she says he’s perfect the way he is. Mari loves when things are perfect, perfection is something she strives for, he knows how much it means to her
So every time Mari says he’s perfect, he feels like he’s doing something right
Talking about how they will interact with the friend group as a whole is likely for another post, but know that by their powers combined these two are fucking nightmares of pranksters. There is no escape, only japes.
Hero and Sunny
Hero and Sunny...do not get the better end of the deal, but to be more specific Sunny does not
Hero does not actually have much problem with the household. High expectations and standards put on his shoulders would be an issue...if he wasn’t Hero
It’s not to say those expectations aren’t an issue, that he doesn’t feel the pressure nipping at his heals, but Hero is someone who is good at everything he does without much effort, and excels when he puts his mind into it
The only thing he doesn’t excel completely at is sports, but when he seems to be able to handle any instrument handed to him, be top of his class, and even at a young age have his charisma start to shine through? His parents don’t really hold it against him outside of light teasing
One of the jokes his father would say when Sunny was born is that he might finally be able to play some sports with
Hero can still play sports, he can play catch, he can do most things as long as he doesn’t do them for long and overexert himself, he’s just not perfect at it. (He doesn’t know why this upsets him so much)
Sunny is not someone to play sports with, and in fact he doesn’t seem to be one to do a lot of things unless he’s told to, and even then it can be...tricky, to know exactly what he wants to do
It’s not too bad for awhile, there’s high expectations still but he’s still a little kid for awhile
They have Hero, and the parents at least know that two golden star children is maybe a bit too much to expect, that Sunny will learn how to catch up eventually, especially with Hero as a role model and being there to guide him
And this, this is the first time Hero feels like he’s really failing at something important
He’s not Mari, he loves his little brother and every time he can get a smile out of him it means the world to him, he would do anything to help out Sunny
But he’s not Mari, he realizes this when the two eventually meet and he sees how she acts around Kel, realizes how much better she is at just understanding people. Sees that she seems to figure out Sunny better in a few weeks than the entire lifetime that he’s had
It’s not that he’s completely bad at it or doesn’t understand at all, but Hero has learnt a lot of his charisma tied to how to please other people, how to be what they want him to be because that’s what’s expected of him
In the main universe Kel didn’t need his help to be himself, to interact with the world, their relationship dynamic was different where Hero was the role model that tried to help Kel ‘be better’
Sunny follows Hero like a little duckling, trying his best to mimic when he can, but that’s most of what it ends up being, mimicry
Hero doesn’t know how to understand Sunny in the way he wants to, the way Sunny needs him to, and it hurts
He helps as much as he can, with homework that he translates in a way Sunny seems to get so that he doesn’t do bad not good enough, but not bad, just enough to be disappointing compared to Hero, not a disappointment...yet
Sunny does not grow up with someone who understands him like Mari understood him, he has someone who loves him dearly and would do anything to get him to come out of his cage, who has helped him open up more than he would have on his own
But it’s not the same
Sunny grows up with the axe of disappointment hanging over his head even more than before. Kel’s parents would at least say that he should be more like Hero. After a point Sunny’s parents just...stop.
It’s not that he’s even less of a disappointment, but almost like he’s not worth the energy and time to say so anymore. If you never met Sunny or had seen the pictures in the house you might not even know they had a son besides Hero, and Sunny can’t help but feel that they might like it better that way
Sunny doesn’t mind, really! It’s not like they’re actually hurting him or starving him or any manner of things. His dad tolerates him and his Mom really does love him, he just knows that Hero is the only one they really want and that if he suddenly vanished one day than it really wouldn’t be that much of an issue because they’d still have Hero. A story only needs one Hero to carry on, he knows that he’s just the side character
Hero is a mixture of ignorant and...afraid. Not of his parents, they love him too much for him to ever be seriously concerned and they actually do listen to him (a part of him calls him a coward because of that, what kind of Hero has the power to save someone but then doesn’t?)
But he’s worried of ever losing that respected position of favored child, respected child, the perfect prodigy. This is just the way things are in his world. He does his best to guide Sunny through it and hope that his love is enough for him even though he knows it isn’t, it’s nowhere near what he needs, what he deserves
He’s known this ever since the day when Sunny came over to his bed because he had another nightmare, but his presence didn’t save his little brother from restless sleep after. That’s when he knew he failed, because even if Sunny didn’t say it, he realized that Hero couldn’t...or wouldn’t, protect him him from the things that scared him
Hero is thankful for meeting Mari, for meeting everyone in the friend group, because Sunny finally has people who can understand him better, and teach Hero how to help out Sunny the way he’s always hoped he could
It’s not perfect, there’s still a mountain or problems but...Sunny followed him around now these days like a little duckling because he really did just believe that Hero was someone he wanted to follow
...And not just because he was afraid that if he didn’t have Hero, there wouldn’t be anyone left who’d really love him
You're welcome, you have been stressed, so I thought a gift would cheer you up [his lips twitch into what resembles a grimace more than a smile, but it was an attempt at a smile nonetheless]
"I love you, Verno, but I don’t love your hate. It wears you. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you do more than posture, and if you change that now.... You are not a monster, but that hate makes you do monstrous things. If there’s hate behind it, you stay your blade."
Do you think the Avengers, Pepper, and everyone in Tony’s life are aware and/or worried about Tony’s reckless self destructive behaviour?
oh yeah absolutely. pepper and rhodey are absolutely aware. that’s the whole point of iron man 2, that tony is prone to self destructive behavior when he feels like he’s at a dead end. pepper, rhodey, and natasha all witnessed it.
they all worry about tony. when he’s on the downward spiral, it’s hard to get through to him. he puts all his walls and masks up and won’t let anyone in, not even his best friends. they try their best, they really do, but it takes a lot of time, a lot of persistence, a lot of trust.
i think as time goes on and tony become more comfortable with the people in his life, he starts to open up more, so everyone knows when he’s having a bad day and about to do something reckless. they know it’s difficult for tony to unlearn this habit because after all, the sad reality is that no one hates tony stark more than tony stark himself. he always does whatever he can to keep everyone else safe, but he never considers himself in the equation. he’s always willing to make the sacrifice, but he doesn’t realize that losing him would leave a gaping hole in everyone’s lives.
they do their best to remind him, but it’s a work in progress.
