#(the reason he relaxes more is because by the time Jun joins them Akechi and Tatsuya have had time to bond over their therapy sessions

[nie7027]

Another reason why I like this is because I've always thought that of the two of them Jun would be one to get close to Akechi quicker and more easily than Tatsuya.

Like Jun (with his actual memories) would take one look at Akechi and he will immediately realize hes staring at a younger version of himself. A reflection of who he used to be.

And that is enough make him try to get close to Akechi wanting to help him either not commit the same mistakes he did or to be more forgiving of himself if he already did them.

Basically adopting him in an instant despite his own reservations (1 he just met the kid he doesn't know anything about him 2 he just knows he is like him and that in itself is already a big red flag).

Whereas Tatsuya will need more time to trust the kid because he isn't dumb, he knows Jun and he knows why Jun got suddenly so latched to the kid.

He knows Jun is seeing himself in Akechi.

What he doesn't know is whether this is just Jun trying to help out a kid the way he wished someone had helped him

OR if Jun is doing it because he is still carrying intense guilt over the stuff he did and Akechi is just his atonement project.

Like Tatsuya is all too happy to leave the atrocities Jun committed in the past and move on but he knows Jun isnt like that.

Jun still sometimes struggles with it, all the stuff he did weighing terribly on his shoulders... but he's doing better, has been doing better...

And now there's a kid who is a glaring reminder of all of Juns sins. The mere sight of him enough to dig up long buried painful memories

Not to mention they barely know the kid.

Yeah he may be like Jun but that doesn't necessarily mean hes trying to be a better person like Jun.

He could actually still be a shitty kid perfectly capable of harming them of him being like Jun is anything to go by.

Specially harming Jun who has grown fond of him.

A rare weakness in him than can be exploited.

And it took so much for them to be together for Tatsuya to not be extremely protective of Jun.

Even if it's just a kid.

So yeah normally it would take more for Tatsuya to warm up to Akechi but in here I get to have the strange scenario where Tatsuya gets to bond with Akechi first before Jun even enters the picture.

Related to the all persona au I have that I have briefly mentioned before...

I've been thinking about my headcanon of how persona users become stronger/more powerful the longer they have had their powers and how that coupled with my headcanon about how the P1 and P2 casts are leagues more powerful than the neo persona casts (a single person from P1 or P2 would be able to take the the whole SEES or the Investigation or the Phantom Thieves on their own) because unlike the neo persona casts they received their powers directly from Philemon while the neo casts received it from the remnants of Philemon's power that Igor has means the P1 cast HAS to be introduced before the P2 casts in my all persona au.

Because the P1 cast being the ones to receive their powers first (and from Philemon) are the most powerful of them but they are also the ones who have been able to grow up accustomed to that power, to learn to control it as it develops and be aware of the huge responsability of it whereas the P2 cast didnt have that chance.

They are time bombs.

They have a huge amount of power they don't know how to control, they never got to learn how. Due to their circumstances they aren't even aware of the great power they have. They have no memories of that.

And if the memories ever return they would cause such an emotional overload that it would leave the person completely unstable. If only for a few minutes.

A few minutes too much considering the great amount of power they are unaware they have.

Decades of power they never learned to control accumulated along with mental unstability... That's an extremely dangerous combination

They are time bombs only someone from the P1 cast would be able to manage, not someone from P3/P4/P5 (maybe Minato/Minako but they are... you know.... Dead....speaking of Ryoji would also definitely be able to take them on but yeah he's unavailable too)

Even someone like the Real Tatsuya who actually got to grew up using his power isn't free of that because yeah he has decades of experience using his power but he also was trapped in a post apocalyptic dimension filled with shadows.

He's traumatized.

He lived for decades in a permanent high stress environment with next to no support (or none at all if he lost Katsuya at some point which is most likely the way im going) and accustomed to using his power without any constraint (there's only shadows around him, there's no need to care if he goes over the top and destroys everything in his path).

Upon returning to this side Tatsuya will be unaccustomed to living in a society, to having to restrain his power. And he will be in another highly stressing environment except completely different from what's he's used to because all will come from his head. His trauma.

He will hear a dog bark(having no heard anything but shadows for years) and he will go completely nuke over it in mere seconds launching super powerful attacks before he can even realize what hes doing. Just pure instinct and reflex he had to forge to survive the way he lived but that it's no longer useful to him here, back in the normal world.

He will need a therapist.

And Maki will be perfect for the job.

Not only is she a psychologist and a persona user who received her power directly from Philemon even before Tatsuya(so actually more powerful than him, if not one of the most powerful even in her own group) but she's also someone close to Tatsuya. Someone he knew and considered a friend.

Maki would know this and probably prepared for years for this (never losing hope that she would someday help the kids she couldn't help when she was younger).

She would appoint herself as Tatsuyas therapist the moment he steps back into our world, already applying all the psychology techniques she knows to help Tatsuya start processing his trauma way before Tatsuya or anyone else even realizes what she's doing.

It also fits nicely in my au because she's already also Akechis therapist which gives me an excuse to give them something in common, something that would help them get to know each other and bond over.

I imagine either Akechi or Tatsuyas exiting Maki's temporal office in the Shadows ops headquarters just as the other is arriving for their respective session and making small talk while Maki gets ready to receive the other.

Or them talking/complaining about the exercises Maki has ordered them to do and how much they frustrate them.

Just. I love when the au builds on its own