Notes: Hi y'all! This is my first fic in two and a half years! I'm a little nervous about it, but I really hope you like it! It combines the live-action characters and their personalities/backstories from the live action films and G3. I also created a lot of headcanons for this fic, so if you have any questions about 'em, ask away! Otherwise, happy reading! Editing credits go to my good friends, Susz, and Kat.

Edit: Some spacing might look weird. I'm not sure how to fix it.

Warnings: Mentions of unsupportive families, talks of mental health, depictions of stress and exhaustion.

Word Count: 2.6k

Clawdeen.

Deuce is acting weird.

Admittedly, she doesn't know him that well yet. They've been going out for three months, but only made their relationship official two weeks ago. Maybe it's just her supernatural senses. Maybe she's just smart. Either way, Clawdeen can tell something's up.

"Are you okay?" she asks, at their weekly student council meeting. Now that she's a prefect, she's actually required to be there. As president, Deuce is too, although he looks like he'd really rather be anywhere else.

"I'm fine," he replies. He pulls out his chair and sinks into the seat next to her. He really doesn't look good. His once bright emerald orbs are now dark and dull, splashes of crimson mixed in with the whites of his eyes. He looks absolutely exhausted. His snakes, judging by how one slithers out from his beanie and tries to bite her, seem moody, too.

"Sorry 'bout that," he apologizes. He swats the snake away, and pulls his beanie down farther over his mop of curls. "So," he asks, turning his attention back to their classmates gathered around the table, "what's on the agenda for today?"

Heath.

Clawdeen, despite being the amazing girlfriend she is, isn't the only one to notice something's wrong.

Heath is Deuce's best friend. Him, Deuce, and Cleo go back to ghoul school, and he notices something is wrong when he's with Cleo in Phys-icks.

"Dude," he asks, his tone doubtful, "are you sure you should even, like, be here?"

Deuce, in response, jolts awake, and glares at his roommate from beneath his glasses. "Yes." He scowls. "I'm fine. Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Hmm." Cleo, from her seat beside Heath, taps her pencil against her chin. "I don't know, Deuce. Maybe because you look oddly like my family did, after we woke up from a thirteen hundred year sleep? That could be it."

Heath rolls his eyes. As much as he loves Cleo's sarcasm, now is not the time for it. "Or," he says, lightly elbowing Cleo in the waist, "maybe it's because we care about you? And we literally went through something super traumatic two weeks ago, and want to make sure you're okay?"

Deuce shoots Heath a disapproving 'really?' glare, aiming daggers at his best friend yet again. "Okay?!" he repeats, as he slams his textbook shut. "Why would I be?! Why would anyone be?! Clawdeen literally died, Draculaura nearly got killed by witches, and I took a knife to the throat! All within the first few weeks of school starting!"

"Don't forget Toralei almost won the prefect election," Cleo adds in, unfazed by the emotional outburst. "That was pretty terrible, too."

"Cleo," Heath hisses. "Knock it off." This was not the time.

Deuce's eyes glow a bright green, but they aren't the shade Cleo, or Heath, was used to. Once an intense, entrancing jade, they're now transformed, dark and stormy, and, for the first time in her life, Cleo didn't see her ex-boyfriend, kind and calm, behind those irises of sea green.

"Cleo," he growls, "that is literally the least important part."

"Deuce, Heath, Cleo— is everything okay over there?" their teacher calls from across the room.

"Yeah! Everything is fine, Ms. Ziz!" Heath gives her a thumbs up, and smiles sheepishly. Then, he glances between his best friends, and hits Deuce on the shoulder, his eyes immediately dying down. "You guys need to cut it out." He breaks up the minor fight. "Cleo, you're being απερίσκεπτος, and we don't need your snarky remarks. Deuce—" He tosses over a pair of black, stone-proof sunglasses. "We're only trying to help. You need to stop being such a snake, and chillax, man."

Deuce sighs, but catches the shades nevertheless, trading them with the ones he's wearing. Heath always keeps an extra pair handy, and he knows he can count on him. He always has his back. "You're right," he agrees. He pulls his beanie down farther, before hurrying out of the room. "I- I'm sorry, I can't be here."

"…Sooo," Cleo says, spinning around in her chair, "that was weird, right?"

"Oh, yeah." Heath nods. "No doubt about it."

Cleo.

Cleo knows Deuce better than anyone.

It's not really a surprise. Before attending Monster High, they'd been dating for two, nearly three, years. She knows everything about him. She knows that he has a pet rat, Perseus, and his mom absolutely despises him for it; she knows that he's the youngest of his family, and has six sisters; and she knows that he's always wanted to play casketball, but can't because he tore his ACL when he was fourteen, and it never completely healed.

Thus, she also knows when Deuce is keeping secrets.

She isn't subtle about it. She catches Clawdeen in the library later that day, her wedge sandals click-clacking against the spiral staircase. "Clawdeeen," she calls, sing-song, "you need to talk to your boy toy!"

Clawdeen coughs, nearly choking on her meow-cha latte. "Cleo!" she whisper-shouts. "What the Kronos?! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"I would've just gotten Frankie to bring you back to life, it's fine." Cleo shakes her head and waves the issue away, dismissing it.

"Yeah, because that worked out so well last time." Clawdeen glances down at the scars lining the palms of her hands. They'd been healed for a while and didn't hurt anymore– but that didn't mean they weren't painful reminders of how her friends, Draculaura and Deuce, had nearly lost their lives.

They could've died that night.

Draculaura had nearly been killed, Zamara using her to destroy all of vampire kind, and Deuce had almost gotten his throat slit, sacrificing himself while she took on the big bad, yet again. She couldn't keep letting them– letting him– do that, and couldn't keep putting them in harms way. They'd endured too much, and who was she, as a leader and student representative, if she couldn't even protect her pack?

"It still worked, didn't it?" Cleo rolls her eyes and sits down beside her. "Anyway," she steals a sip from Clawdeen's meow-cha latte, "we need to talk. Deuce has been acting strange lately. He's been falling asleep in, like, every class, and it's something Heath & I have both noticed."

Clawdeen raises an eyebrow. "How many classes do you have with him?" They were only halfway through the school day!

"Like, two." Cleo shrugs. "But that's not the point. He fell asleep in Phys-icks, and totally freaked out on me and Heath. Plus, he looked horrible at the student council meeting today—"

Clawdeen nods. Horrible isn't the word she'd use, but Cleo was right; the bloodshot eyes, pale skin, and irritability really wasn't a good look.

"—As someone who dated him for three years, he doesn't act like that. Something is wrong, and, as his ex-girlfriend, if anyone would know, it'd be me."

"Okay…" Clawdeen frowns. "Well, why don't you talk to him about it?" As far as she knew, Cleo & Deuce were still friends. Hell, they'd known each other since middle school.

"We're… not really on speaking terms," Cleo explains. "Not at the moment. Our conversations are almost entirely limited to group projects and small talk."

Clawdeen sighs. If she's being honest with herself, she knows something is wrong, too. She just doesn't want to admit it because addressing the issue would make it seem real. Their relationship is still new, and she wants to keep it fresh and fun for as long as possible.

She also knows, though, that if she wants this relationship to work, she has to be honest with him. Deuce had stood by her side, helping her against Komos and Zamara, all while reinventing himself. He offered her advice on her new social media superstardom, and was one of the first monsters to actually not judge her on orientation day. If Clawdeen can't be anything, then she can at least take Cleo's advice and be a good girlfriend.

"Okay," she agrees, at last. "But I haven't known him as long as you and Heath. What makes you think he'll talk to me, if he won't even talk to you two?"

Cleo has to resist the temptation to roll her eyes again, the words 'because you're his girlfriend!' on the tip of her tongue. But she knows that wouldn't be enough.

"Because he loves you," she says sincerely. She remembers how anxious she felt when her and Deuce first started dating, and she suspects Clawdeen is feeling the exact same way. "You're his safe place. I see the way he looks at you. There's a spark in his eyes that I didn't see when he was with me, Clawdeen."

She hasn't seen so much energy in his eyes in an eternity.

"And I know," Cleo continues, "that when we first met, I liked to cause chaos and mischief." She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "But you can trust me when I say I'm being honest with this."

Deuce.

Clawdeen follows through with her end of the bargain. It takes a little longer than she likes. She finally makes it out of casketball practice and fearleading by six fifteen. She rinses herself off with a shower, and visits Deuce in his dorm after that.

She stands at the door and raps her knuckles against the wood. She remembers Heath telling her about his plans with Abbey— so it should be just the two of them tonight. Hopefully she can actually get Deuce to open up and talk to her.

"Clawdeen?" he says, as he opens the door. He's dressed in sweats and a green t-shirt, holding the knob in one hand, and a mug in the other. If that isn't strange, Clawdeen doesn't know what is. 'Deuce doesn't drink coffee,' she thinks to herself. In fact, he hates hot coffee. If he has to survive on any caffeinated drink, it's definitely iced caramel meow-chiattos. "What are you doing here?" He takes a sip from his coffee. "Aren't you guys having that sleepover with Twyla tonight?"

She shakes her head and smiles politely. "Nah," she replies. She might be a little bit nervous. "Twyla's trying to pass her Boogeyman exam, so she's pulling an all-nighter in the library. Can I come in?"

"Y-Yeah, of course." Deuce steps aside, and Clawdeen walks into the room, her claw slippers silent against the floorboards. She's never been in Deuce's room before, and it's so different from her own. The walls clash with tiger orange and pinetree green, and Clawdeen can't even count how many plants they have.

'Amazon vibes,' she thinks to herself. 'Interesting.'

"Heath's an environmentalist," Deuce explains, and Clawdeen nods in understanding. She knew Heath was passionate about global warming and saving the rainforest; she just didn't know he was so extreme about it.

Maybe she'll talk to Heath about that next.

"So what brings you here?" Deuce asks. He places his coffee on the nightstand beside him, and the couple sit on the bed together. Clawdeen makes herself comfortable, trying not to stare into his captivating emerald eyes. "You miss me or something?" He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

Clawdeen laughs, a glowing bright smile, and suddenly she's reminded of why she fell in love with him all over again. "Always," she states. "But I'm here for a reason. Heath and Cleo said you fell asleep and freaked out in Phys-icks today. I know we just took down Zamara, and no one's really checked in with one another…"

"So you want to know if I'm doing okay," Deuce finishes for her. "And I appreciate you for that, Clawdeen, but I'm fine. I processed everything as soon as we got back, and I am awesome. I'm all good to go."

Clawdeen gives him a Look™. She doesn't believe him, and she's not having it. "Deuce, are you kidding? You've been a walking zombie all day, and you almost stoned Cleo in Phys-icks." She grabs his hands and meets his eyes with her amber ones. "Talk to me, please. I just want to know what's going on with you."

Deuce takes a deep breath and sighs. He holds on to Clawdeen's hands, and his eyes drift over to the rug beneath his feet. He knows she isn't going to let this go, and he'd really rather not lie or hide things from her. That's not how a relationship works. "I haven't been sleeping great lately. I've been drinking coffee to stay awake. I keep on having nightmares about Zamara and Komos. It's not even about getting turned to stone. I just… I'm there, with a knife against my throat, and I see you lying there, on the floor with Frankie, and… I can't lose you."

Clawdeen offers him a soft smile, and wraps him in a hug. She's not a very affectionate person, but she's making an exception. She's also never had friends, never mind a boyfriend before, but she's already made up her mind; she's going to do everything she can to support and help them.

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

"Thank you for telling me," she says. "Have you... talked to anyone about it? Your moms or your dad?"

Deuce shakes his head, and buries himself in Clawdeen's shoulder. Her hoodie is so soft, and he could stay wrapped up in her arms forever. "I don't know who to talk to," he says, his voice cracking. "My moms wouldn't get it. They're already pressuring me to follow in their footsteps, and hate that I go to Monster High. They'll be so ashamed of me. I can't go to them with this."

Clawdeen nods, and holds him close. She's met Deuce's family before, and knows they aren't the most supportive. His bio mom, Medusa, is pretty ambitious. While that isn't necessarily a bad characteristic, her opinions consist of how gorgons should "never be nice," and "always succeed, at any and all cost."

Needless to say, Clawdeen isn't a fan of her- despite how much she tries to be.

The two of them sit in the quiet for a while, Deuce silently sobbing on her shoulder. They stay there for what feels like forever, until Clawdeen is sure that he's asleep.

"Deuce," she whispers, "I am so sorry." She can't believe she roped him into helping her, and now his mental health is suffering from it. "But I promise we're going to work through this together. I'm with you till the end of the line, alright? We're going to fix this."

They have to fix this.

How is she supposed to fix this?

Thanks for reading! I'm always open to requests!