Also trying to imagine modern!Seb's complete breakdown when they do finally learn Mal's real age.
Some medical thing Seb is actually there for, maybe? One of those "confirm your birthday" things - a couple years into their relationship ... Mal's only 18. Maybe 19, depending on how long I feel like putting them together in pinning mode.
In cannon, Seb had Gabe to straighten them out when they first thought Mal was younger, but they'd already slept together. I still need to draw that comic. And then Seb kept Mal at a (minute) distance for two and a half years until Gabe died. Still technically hooked up permanently when Mal was 17, not that either of them knew that.
But in AU, Mal knows its birthday and hides it. Seb is sad and lonely and empty and their only hobbies are their vices, almost all of which are self-destructive. They don't have the heart to push Mal away once they take it in. Mal pushes and needles and instigates until Seb breaks down and lets it in. Because Seb wants to connection. Their sex has only been sex forever. They've never had a real relationship. They don't have friends. Mal is something different and new and scary, but they give in. Seb always does for Mal. Always will. Every Seb would dote on every Mal for eternity, even if modern!Seb isn't that hard of a lover like cannon Seb.
I dunno. They're the same characters, but circumstances change things drastically. Change Seb drastically. No Gabe. I'm really big on the why question and backing up all the character choices with reason.
So yeah, it was bad enough when it dawned on Seb that Mal was probably a minor by the way Mal spoke in cannon. I feel like there would be less stigma attached to an age gap relationship in that kind of setting anyway. Seb was extremely careful around children. But in AU, when Seb has real confirmation that Mal has been a minor the entire time, they're gonna fukkin lose it. They're gonna self-destruct. It'll be for naught, but it will be ill received. The important thing is that it's always too late.
...
Also I dunno exactly how well a false identity would work in a sustained medical setting, but if Seb found that Mal had been using their last name that it found through snooping, I think they'd extra mcfukkin lose it. Mostly because I don't want to come up with a last name for Mal and Jozren. But also Krimzik sounds so good. Why wouldn't Mal want their last name? (And why would it want a paper trail that leads back to it? Just using Mal Krimzik is fairly sketch, unless you add the tiefling bit which narrows things down significantly.)
