When Wrong Feels Normal

Chapter 1: Recap

A/N: Specific TWs for each chapter will be in the notes up here. The only one I won't put here is the TW for EDs, as that applies to every chapter and would be a bit redundant to warn about every time. As for TWs for this first chapter, there are none!

Steven often woke up to the sound of his stomach growling, but he didn't think much of it. Being hungry in the morning is common, and given the adventures his sleeping body would have sometimes, he assumed it must've been a busy night of sleepwalking. No big deal, he'd just have a bigger breakfast than normal.

But as time went on, it only seemed to get worse. Every morning Steven woke up with a deep hole in his stomach, an aching hunger that made his insides turn. It started happening on days where he was certain he didn't sleepwalk too, days where the sand was undisturbed, where the tape on the door hadn't moved. He would wake up from dreams of food, salivating before he even opened his eyes.

"It's like I just can't get full, yeah?" he told his golden friend at the park. He didn't answer, he never did, but Steven liked his company. He stuffed another bite of his sandwich into his mouth, hoping his stomach wouldn't growl too loud around his friend. "You ever feel that? I was always a peckish lad, 'specially in secondary school, but god, I've never felt so starved in my life."

And then, one day he woke up in a field with a dislocated jaw. Or at least, he thought he did. The dream had been so real. The man with the cane, the scarab, and the car chase down the mountain--when he woke up he almost couldn't believe it was a dream and not a memory. He was even hungrier than usual if that was possible, as if he hadn't eaten in days.

So when Dylan didn't show up to their date, Steven decided to blame his unending hunger as the reason for ordering a steak, despite being a vegan. Perhaps it was a lack of protein getting to him, and not the disappointment at somehow missing out on three whole days. Even the steak didn't quite fill him up, so he ended up eating the chocolates meant for Dylan too, not really caring if there was milk in them.

But soon after that, Steven wasn't really worrying about the constant hunger anymore. As it turns out, Steven wasn't the only one in his head, there was in fact a whole other man sharing his body. Marc Spector.

Everything went so fast, it was hard for Steven to keep track of what was happening. Marc had a wife, he was Moon Knight, there was so much fighting all the time, and then...

And then they died. Steven learned he was an alter to Marc, he was something the brain of a traumatized boy made to process the horrible things that happened to him. They'd shared a whole life together, and Steven never knew. His mother had abused them, and he never knew. Marc had been in pain all his life, and Steven never knew.

From then on he vowed that Marc would never have to go through pain alone again. And not only that, but he would be sure to include Marc in the wonderful things about their life, to remind him that life isn't only pain, it is joy and love too.

He'd only wished they hadn't needed to kill Harrow to do it. Or rather that whoever killed Harrow hadn't needed to do it. They'd been in the pyramid, Harrow at their feet, Konshu threatening to never release them unless they killed Ammit's avatar, when their world suddenly went black, and they woke up with Konshu gone, and Harrow's blood on their hands.

A secret, horrible corner of Steven's heart felt no remorse for Harrow's death, given how many people he'd killed before they got to him. But he would take that to the grave.

Layla had left them after that sadly, she said she needed to think about things before making a decision. It was fair enough, and Steven did his best not to worry about it.

All that really mattered now was that they were free of Konshu, and had no more deadly adventures to hold them back. Steven was finally certain nothing could stop him, and Marc, and whoever else was there, from taking life head-on.

That is, until he and Marc woke up in his London flat.

A/N: Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Chapter 2 will be up tomorrow, 10/2/22, since this chapter was pretty short, and updates will be every Saturday after that! I also post chapter updates on my tumblr (joyful-soul-collector), and if you'd like to be on the tag list for those posts feel free to let me know! Anyways, let me know what you think of this story and I hope you all have a lovely day!