You are My Sunshine is a Trollhunters fanfic by rockymountainvixen.
A few short months after being abandoned by James, Barbara and Jim have finally regained some stability; only to have their lives completely shattered by a single, inexplicable event. Now they have a devastating secret to keep, even if it means isolating themselves from everyone around them. But as the years go by, people are starting to ask questions, and their carefully crafted facade begins to crack.
The fanfic can be read on Archive of Our Own here
, and is continued in the sequel A Secret's Worth.
[Unmarked Spoilers!] This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Averted heavily.
- Afraid of Their Own Strength: After accidentally hurting his mother, Jim has become terrified of his troll form's immense strength. It doesn't help that he was just seven and he was strong enough to damage human bone with no effort and, as he matures, only grew stronger despite his effort to hold it back.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: While (illegally) investigating the Lakes' house to uncover their secret, Toby, Claire, Mary, and Darci discover – besides the claw marks on the basement door – raw animal/organ meat in a padlocked freezer and a secret compartment stashed in the attic (which Barbara proclaimed was strictly off-limits). It contains fangs and fur, a book sealed with a combination lock, and... bath bombs.
- Ascended Fridge Horror: On his fifteenth birthday, the ramifications of all of the basic things normal high schoolers do that he cannot due to his "condition" hit Jim all at once and he has an emotional breakdown and cries in front of Toby, Steve and the rest of his classmates in public. Unaware of the truth, Toby thinks it is because of his father's abandonment on his fifth birthday. In the sequel story, it is mentioned that Jim has fallen into a deep depression after his said breakdown... at least until Claire invites him and Toby to hang out with her and her friends to a county fair. Afterwards, Jim gets a lot better, until his friends call CPS on him and his mother and he's practically reduced to an Empty Shell and cuts himself from the only sources of joy in his life to protect his secret.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Jim learns Barbara's theory that a witch from Salem had created the bath bomb that cursed him in the first place, but he finds it far-fetched despite living with a magical curse for ten years. Barbara herself was skeptic her theory, but laments her own son's "condition". Barbara and Jim each lampshade this in their heads.
- Both Sides Have a Point: When CPS is finally involved in the sequel, Jim is torn up from Toby, Claire, Mary, and Darci, yet each side has a point. For Jim, he is right that, no matter how close they are, his friends shouldn't have to butt into his Family Business so suddenly (even if they did prepare for anything). Also, Jim has every right to suspect how they'd react if they ever knew his secret, whether out of fear, betrayal, or struggling to accept that what Jim was is real. Finally, Jim's friends have completely misled him into believing that they'd "leave him and his mother alone". On the other hand, for Toby, Claire, Darci, and Mary, they're right that Jim himself is never completely honest with them and gave them every reason to be concerned by how Barbara raises him, not to mention how much he gaslights them into letting it go and gave them the cold shoulder by straight up avoiding them for several days. True, they made a terrible mistake of reporting the Lakes more than once (mostly due to bad communication), but they at least told the authorities to help "save" Jim from a potentially Abusive Parent, due to their more-or-less abnormal rules and routines.
- Dark and Troubled Past: In the sequel, it is revealed that Barbara's parents were emotionally and psychologically abusive towards her. This brings Barbara's Freudian Excuse more into light as she feared of becoming more like them. Given how she had to treat Jim when his transformations began, it's hard not to understand why Barbara felt immensely guilty for what she's (technically) done to Jim.
- Enfant Terrible: With the emotional trauma that his abrupt and unexplained transformation forced onto the young Jim, as well as the various limitations with keeping it a secret from humans, Jim has a tendency to go on tantrums that are very destructive given his Super-Strength. It is not until he accidentally hurts his mother and her leaving to the hospital without telling him where she is going does he snap out of this.
- Gaslighting: Jim's willing to tell Blatant Lies to keep his nightly troll form a secret, especially if it means keeping his mother safe (as she's the only one who knows what he's dealing with).Jim: Whatever scratches you think you saw, those were probably just made by racoons.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: Inverted with Jim. He definitely was a difficult kid because he had to isolate himself within his own home with only his mother to keep him company, he never actually goes "mad"; he was just a young, naive child who was forced to deal with an unfamiliar physiology he has little-to-no control over. After his incident with his mother, he grows more calmer and helps unburden Barbara's stressful style in anyway he can. Around his teens, however, he suffers a traumatic emotional breakdown at the thought of being alone forever. In any way, Jim tries to cherish every joyful moment he has with his loved ones to keep himself from feeling completely lonely.
- Hope Spot: When Toby tries to give Jim one last chance to come clean about his secret, Jim was seriously considering telling him everything... until he flees from Toby in the last minute.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: All Jim wants is one night to be out in public and be able to live his own life without fear of his transformations interfering. Although his camping trips are the only times he's not under "house arrest", he still wants to hang out with his friends and participate in many other activities like other kids his age.
- Because of his limited free time to live like a normal kid, Barbara often has to spoil her son with extra fun activities, like going to theme parks, to keep his childhood more happy, yet he still never had sleepovers with his friends (let alone allowing them to stay over his house past sundown) nor attend any late-night occasions (like Halloween).
- It is once mentioned by Barbara and Toby that Jim used to participate with the Junior Mole Scouts. When he was a kid, his absences were tolerant and more flexible. However, as he grew older, his meeting schedule became more and more difficult to keep up with and couldn't even participate in field trips. Ultimately, Jim was kicked out. It's implied he kept Barbara in the dark about this until she found out.
- It's All My Fault: Unsurprisingly, Barbara blames herself for what happened to Jim that night he changed for the first time. It's even implied that Jim blames himself for putting his mother in such a bad situation because of his changes.
- Mama Bear: Barbara is willing to sacrifice anything to protect Jim.
- My God, What Have I Done?: It is not until Jim accidentally hurting his mother in one of his tantrums does he realize the full weight of his actions and just how dangerous his troll form really is. Conversely, when Barbara finds a distraught Jim, she realizes that she had left without telling him where she was, just like how his father left them, Jim thinking she would leave forever. From then on, Jim becomes more calm and gentle and tries to handle how serious his "condition" is.
- Nice Day, Deadly Night: During the day, Jim is just a normal child. But due to the mysterious properties of the bath bomb he bathed in when he was five, he ends up turning into a troll during the night. When he was eleven, he discovers he also changes into his troll form when underground, even during the day. But as Barbara observed, it is only when said underground is subterranean, not manmade.
- Noodle Incident: When Jim has to double-check Barbara's cooking instincts, even at a young age.Honestly, set one measly little pasta salad on fire and suddenly your eight year old thought you needed supervision.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Jim once has this reaction when he realizes that the sun was narrowly down and he must return home from the movies at a panicky speed. And again when the girls confess that they saw his claw marks on his basement door.
- Later, Barbara has this reaction when the CPS begin investigating her, courtesy of Toby, Claire, Darci, and Mary.
- Parents as People: While Barbara loves Jim unconditionally, the stress of her job combined with the new living situation of being a single parent can be hard enough. Add on the fact that her son (who isn't even in his teens yet) transforms into a troll that Does Not Know His Own Strength and is not allowed to do things other kids his age could do due to the fear of people finding out is another problem entirely. Sometimes when his frustrations boil over into tantrums, she is too exhausted to deal with it and ends up locking him in the basement until he tires himself out. As guilty as this makes her feel about it, it is the closest thing she has to a solution in coping with the situation. In the sequel story, Darci, Mary, and Claire discover claw marks on the basement door, believing they were from Jim. This unfortunately lead them to believe that Barbara Lake is an Abusive Parent who locks her own son in the basement, all because of a Disappeared Dad. Toby once mentioned that Barbara told his nana that she found a babysitter for her night shifts, but after calling CPS and eavesdropping on the investigators, he believes Barbara lied and has been leaving Jim home alone. In a way, he's right, but not because she's isolating Jim.
- Parents Know Their Children: Jim's eyes remain the same in either of his forms. This was how Barbara was able to recognize her son the first night he changed.
- Recurring Dreams: Barbara has suffered from constant nightmares of Men in Black stealing Jim away ever since his transformations began.
- Secret-Keeper: Barbara's the only one who knows about Jim's nightly transformation and, basically, she's the only person he can talk to when dealing with the unnatural changes he's going through... until Toby, Claire, Darci, and Mary learn Jim's secret themselves.
- Stages of Monster Grief: Jim appears to suffer from this.
- Denial: Jim usually tries to deny what he is and constantly tries to "fight back" his troll form.
- Defiance: At a young age, he tries to defy his mother's rules to try and be a normal kid, but must be hidden from prying eyes during the night in fear of being exposed. It's not when he accidentally hurts his mother does he realize how dangerous he is during the night.
- Depression: In his teenage years, Jim grows inevitably depressed by his nightly transformation affecting himself and his life. Exaggerated when he fears he'll never be able to participate in daily activities other kids his age could and may never have a life of his own. This results in Jim having a mental breakdown, but he does get better after making new friends with Claire, Mary, and Darci.
- Betrayal: After Claire, Mary, and Darci reveal that they know his mother locked him up in the basement, Jim begins to feel threatened. And when Toby learns the truth, the four decide to call CPS on Barbara to "save" Jim. However, Jim feels betrayed and tries to push them back in fear of his secret being exposed and how they'd react.
- Acceptance:
Word of God claims that Jim will slowly but surely accept what he is once he has the support he needs – aside from his mother's.
- Struggling Single Mother: If James leaving the family wasn't enough to put a large burden on Barbara, it's exaggerated when her only son begins to change into a troll at night, having to raise/nurture Jim differently than other kids.
- Victim-Blaming: Jim ends up becoming a target of this by his own friends, including Toby, when they call him out on his hypocritical accusation of lying to him, but inevitably sends Jim to another Rage Breaking Point as he attempts to protect them from his rage. When he takes it out on Jerk Jock Steve Palchuk, things do not end well.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 22 of A Secret's Worth is when Toby, Claire, Mary, and Darci learn Jim's secret.
- Wham Shot: James Lake Sr., Jim's biological father and Barbara's ex-husband, makes his first appearance at the end of chapter 19 of A Secret's Worth.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Following his incident of hurting his mom with his Super-Strength, Jim becomes more calm, respectful, and even more careful with his enhanced abilities during the night. Also, when he was nine, unlike most children his age, he was quick notice how tired his mother was, due to working only during the day. He completely understood that it is because she had to stay at home during the night and take care of him, due to lack of hiring babysitters. As such, Jim manages to convince Barbara to begin her night shifts and leave him home alone so he can look after the house.
- Thanks to his early curfew and his ability to suppress his sleeping needs, Jim finishes his schoolwork with standard-to-good grades. Strickler is even impressed by his highly profound studying time in all of his classes. Darci once mentioned that he finished his biology worksheet long before its due date.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: When investigating Jim's house for clues to "save" him from his so-called "abusive" mother, Toby, Claire, Mary, and Darci believe that they're in an episode of Law and Order, but they'd have a lot more success if they treated this like an episode of Supernatural.
