#manbun eren is an illusion

[karizard-ao3]

I love how you normally write Eren in his normie phase, and in tune with his more abrasive, early-aot self. But I’d like to know, what if Eren and Mikasa meet (again) when they’re a little bit older, and Eren is in his manbun phase. Think of that closed, jaded, distant Eren from season 4.

It's hard to write manbun Eren for me because I believe normie Eren is his truest self and manbun Eren is a façade that he could not possibly maintain if it were not for depression stemming from his future memories and his efforts to achieve them. I'm trying to think and I believe that Anamnesis Eren, despite being a cleancut guy with cabin hair, is probably spiritually the closest to manbun Eren out of all the versions of him I've written because he struggles so much with his mental health and the fact that when he doesn't keep it in check he hurts other people. Of course, Anamnesis Eren is much more sweet and vulnerable with Mikasa but I think his overall vibe is closest to manbun, because really manbun Eren is just a sad and misguided man who feels he has nothing to give the world but destruction and pain. His childhood aspirations have become twisted and skewed by the truth of the world and he's not coping well with it. In a modern au, the stakes are much lower and so his issues are not insurmountable. I think it would be much easier for him to work through them with Mikasa as his catalyst for change and revert back to his true, happy loser self. He'd be ODM gear manbun Eren from that official art: kind of vicious still but unburdened and having the time of his life. In canon, he can't overcome his issues. He has no choice but to keep moving forward toward hell and so if he met Mikasa then, it wouldn't make any difference beyond perhaps making him even more depressed. He wouldn't be able to pursue her or be with her, so she would be just another thing he had to give up and he wouldn't let her get close to protect her from him.

So, in short, I guess my opinion is manbun Eren reconnects with Mikasa and quickly becomes a dumbfuck again, at least when he's with her. He's like two different Erens. The rest of the world sees a sullen jerk who doesn't give a fuck how he makes other people feel and she sees a lovable puppy dog of a man who is nothing but kind.

[sunlightandsuffering]

LYS don’t let the inspiration be lost

Write the cabin au!!! But like I hope it’s not the illusion? But instead the real thing !?????

Like she’s completely knocked up four years in a row

YES! AHAHAHAH i actually thought about the illusion tho i was like what if Eren impregnated her thru the illusion and she got pregnant in real life, ICONIC ! once he gives her the first kid he's not shy anymore, he's like so again? but i think i'd give them the first year just to honeymoon by themselves and be in love and then slowly eren works up the courage to do it, it like weighs on him, the thoughts won't leave him alone it's like manbun eren in his head like DO IT !! GIVE HER A KID!!