History Main / AgeDownRomance

* In the Series/BanjunDrama episode "My Wish", 10-year-old Andy wishes on a snowglobe to become an adult so that he can [[TeacherStudentRomance marry his teacher]]. After he's hit by a car the next day, he wakes up in the hospital as a fully-grown adult. In the hospital, he meets his teacher and pursues his crush, but another admirer persistently gets in his way. [[spoiler:At the end, it turns out that Andy's sudden growth spurt was because he'd woken up from a 15 year coma he'd fallen into after the car crash, along with his teacher who had protected him. The girl he'd been pursuing since he'd woken up was actually his teacher's niece.]]

This trope is when after a FountainOfYouth, or OvernightAgeUp, characters find another character of their newest age attractive and/or fall in love with them or vice-versa. The effects may or not may persist when the character is reversed to their real age. Some characters may even deliberately do an age change to close the gap with their love interests; this is most commonly done with a child with a PrecociousCrush on an adult becoming older.

It often occurs in fanfic, especially PeggySue fics, often with TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody invoked to try and {{handwave}} away any {{squick}}. How successful that is is up to the reader. There's occasional overlap with TimeTravelRomance, at least with those cases where the two characters are acquainted even before travelling to different parts of each other's lives. A {{subtrope}} of AgeGapRomance.

* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' has done a few variations on this trope:

* In the ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' franchise, Green Lantern Corps member Arisia has herself aged up with the help of her Green Lantern ring so that she would be a suitable romantic partner with her fellow member Hal Jordan, who originally saw her as too young.
* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', Amy Rose wishes for herself to be older, partly so she can join the older heroes on adventures but also in large part so she can get Sonic's attention.

* In ''Film/SeventeenAgain'', Mike is aged down 20 years from 37 to 17. When he starts attending high school again in the present day he's a ChickMagnet (due to being played by Creator/ZacEfron). He has to deal with an UnwantedHarem of teenage girls including [[spoiler:his own daughter]], who are attracted to him and don't know his real age. This trope is one sided: he is not interested in any of these girls, instead trying to win over his wife, who now thinks he's a high school student who weirdly resembles her husband and LikesOlderWomen.

This trope is when after a FountainOfYouth, or OvernightAgeUp, characters find another character of their newest age attractive and/or falls in love with them or vice-versa. The effects may or not may persist when the character is reversed to their real age. Some characters may even deliberately do an age change to close the gap with their love interests; this is most commonly done with a child with a PrecociousCrush on an adult becoming older.

** In "Dead-End Kids", a series of circumstances cause the team to be sent back in time to 1907, where Victor falls in love with a local girl, Lillie. It's ultimately revealed that the whole sequence of events was set in motion by Lillie's older self, who remembered Victor as the love of her life and thus hoped that he would be convinced to bring her younger self into the present.

* ''WesternAnimation/Invincible2021'': Monster girl was a full grown adult, now in the body of a pre-teen. Robot, an adult, begins to have feelings for her. [[spoiler:He eventually transfers his mind from his true, decrepit body, to a cloned body that is about her age.]]

* Not what actually happened, but in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' adaptation of "Romeo And Smurfette", Papa Smurf finds himself in love with Smurfette and wishes that he were 450 years younger.

** Inverted in ''ComicBook/RainbowRowellsRunaways''; Gert is brought forward two years in time in order to prevent her death at the hands of Geoffrey Wilder. Since her boyfriend Chase was already four years older than her when she died, he's now much too old for her.

* ''WesternAnimation/ArchiesWeirdMysteries'': When all the town's adults are turned back into teenagers (both physically and mentally), the now sixteen Miss Grundy hits on Archie and Reggie. Both are repulsed by the idea, although Reggie starts to warm up to it whilst the two are slow dancing together, right before the affects wear off and she returns to her proper age with no memory of what happened leaving him to flounder for an explanation.

It often occurs in fanfic, especially PeggySue fics, often with TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody invoked to try and {{handwave}} away any {{squick}}. How successful that is is up to the reader. A {{subtrope}} of AgeGapRomance.

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfiction ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9364481/1/A-battle-of-subtlety-and-manipulation A Battle of Subtlety and Manipulation]]'', Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange are automatically divorced from their husbands when each husband was caught in the act of casting "Avada Kedavra" as a Death Eater and thrown in Azkaban. From there, it was revealed that the women born to the Black family have just enough trace amount of Metamorphmagus talent to slow down their aging but Narcissa and Bellatrix had both previously drank a potion that forced them to age at the same rate as everyone else. After taking the antidote to that potion, they [[FountainOfYouth regain an appearance of youth]] akin to Harry Potter for easier shipping with him.

* The situation between Lil' Miss and Hoohoo in Mayo's Youtube series Lil' Miss and Hoohoo is [[https://twitter.com/m__a__y__o_/status/1220523329603473408 actually this, despite her appearance and mannerisms.]] This is supported by character information from their [[https://twitter.com/m__a__y__o_ Twitter]] [[https://twitter.com/LilMiss12th accounts]], as well as a post-credits scene at 5:12 in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUxDh0dScFg second episode.]] [[https://twitter.com/LilMiss12th/status/1190298554545442818 The two are happily married.]]
** Considering [[https://twitter.com/m__a__y__o_/status/1202657853472948224 what a Super Mushroom can do]], it's most likely a similar situation to Mario needing a mushroom to match Peach's height.

* ''Manhwa/CharlotteHasFiveDisciples'': When the ritual Archmage Charlotte Eleanor uses to return her magic to the world upon her death instead reverts her into a child, she ponders why and concludes that there must have been a lingering regret in her life. She decides the one thing she regretted never experiencing was romantic love and decides to use her new life as Aria Lissen to find it. Unfortunately, while Aria has no shortage of suitors come adolescence, she is still, mentally, a centuries old archmage. This causes her to think of her peers more as squalling infants than romantic prospects. Ironically, she is completely oblivious to the obvious feelings of her old friend and SecretKeeper, Jeffrey, even as he helps make sure her new life is a comfortable one.

* The situation between Lil' Miss and Hoohoo in Mayo's Youtube series Lil' Miss and Hoohoo is [[https://twitter.com/m__a__y__o_/status/1220523329603473408 actually this, despite her appearance and mannerisms.]] This is supported by character information from their [[https://twitter.com/m__a__y__o_ Twitter]] [[https://twitter.com/LilMiss12th accounts]], as well as a post-credits scene in the second episode. [[https://twitter.com/LilMiss12th/status/1190298554545442818 The two are happily married.]]