Hey can I ask a question? I'm 16 and so is my oc. For the longest time I had a crush on Malleus, and when I told my friend about it she was really disgusted.
If my oc is 16 and Malleus is... Well, Malleus old does that make it pedophilia? And technically it doesn't matter because he's a fictional character, right?
Sorry I know you get callout posts, but I'm genuinely worried about this.
Hello! Thank you so much for your submission!
Starting off, I am sorry your friend reacted that way. Maybe they're just a Malleus hater ?(don't tell Sebek hahahahahaha)
Ok, so to answer this, you have to take into account Twisted Wonderland official lore, so spoilers ahead !!!!
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According to the Twisted Wonderland wiki (which I trust to have official information) Malleus is 178 years old, BUT belongs to the fae species, and more specifically, a dragon fae. Fae age differently than humans, even between other fae, if they belong to a different species other fae can tell, as mentioned in the Fairy Gala event.
Now, since Malleus, a dragon fairy, ages differently, you have to take into account HOW he ages differently. A human takes around 9 months to be born, but a dragon egg takes around 2-3 years to hatch, IF they're given constant love. Malleus took longer to hatch.
So Malleus ages slower than a human, so that must mean he ages mentally slower too, right? We don't exactly have information on that, bur from what we can see in- game, the answer is a likely yes. Malleus has been characterized to have childish moments, and sometimes even throw tantrums.
Take into account his age and human age too. If he were human, developmentally he'd be about 18, or 17.5, but let's round up to 18. 178 (his actual age) divided by 18 is 9.8, but let's round up to 10. It takes about 10 years for him to developmentally gain 1 human year.
So we can be assured that in maturity (mentally and physically), he is basically the same as his fellow 18 year olds, with tweaks since he is a dragon fae.
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You said you and your Oc were 16. I honestly do not care what an underaged Oc does. Same goes to an Oc that is of age, though I personally do think a teacher Oc being shipped with a first-year is a bit weird, but that's for another time. At that age, it is completely normal to crush on people older than you, especially if you spend lots of time with them, even teachers. Your Oc and Malleus are both teenagers, so in my personal opinion...
I think it's completely fine. Have you heard of the “If the grades do not touch, neither do you” phrase? That's what I would use to keep it safe in real life, whether you would like to use it in fiction is up to you. A junior and senior are perfectly fine. Malleus would absolutely NOT be a pedophile, creep, predator, e.t.c. Sorry for the verbose response!