#but there doesn't seem to be as much of an exploration of the breakdown of a longterm relationship as we thought there'd be

[icewindandboringhorror]

Lineup of all of the characters that appear long enough to need a visual representation of them in the game lol

[sequoiareachesforthesky]

Milgram fic idea: the prisoners are bored (as they always are) and they've already celebrated every holiday imaginable. So someone suggests doing a cross-dressing event for a change. Mahiru, Mikoto and Muu help everyone find the perfect fit (Mahiru sews half the clothes herself to make it look perfect).

A bunch of gender crisis ensue.

[showmethestarlight]

So I think my thoughts on The Tortured Poets Department are that I'm a little conflicted. I think it is a good album, the sound is a bit Midnights and folklore and evermore, which is a bit messy but it kind of works. I think it's more of a matter of which kind of albums you prefer for where it falls in your rankings but the albums that are mostly slow songs that stay at the same level/tempo aren't my favourites so this isn't my highest (I love Speak Now for example for songs like Haunted) but I still had a good time listening and I still had a few I liked a lot on the album. I liked the sound and storytelling of But Daddy I love Him, I think Florence and Taylor's voices are really good together on Florida!!! I liked My Boy Only Breaks His Favourite Toys, and I loved the dark and deep atmospheric feeling of Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? And I thought Clara Bow got its message across really well. There are some songs I'm confused by and I think I'll need some time with to understand like Fortnight and Fresh out the Slammer and some odd little lyrics here and there that I think maybe could have been cut because they just felt out of place or unnecessary. And I just don't think I'll ever be much of a fan of Guilty as Sin? I think I like Cassandra but at the moment it feels too much like mad woman. I think those are all my thoughts so far, I probably need a few more listens to process everything.

[kenjakusbraincum]

Walls

Sukuna x Reader

A small addition to Vows

Synopsis: Two scenes exploring the first times reader and Sukuna respectively break down in the face of reader's terminal illness. Tags/Warnings: sick!gn!reader, master/pet dynamics, angst, hurt/comfort. (Chronologically takes place after reader and Sukuna talk about him taking new pets in the original fic!) Word count: 1.2k Author's note: This is probably as vulnerable as I'll ever write Sukuna :3

You tried to be strong. So long, so hard you tried to be untouchable. You knew sukuna hates weaklings. But you're in so much pain. You can barely swallow anything properly with how sore your throat is from the coughing. It takes so much out of you, physically and mentally, to pretend that this harrowing illness is nothing, and that you're somehow okay with it and ready to die. You're not. You don't want to die. You don't want this life that you've built with Sukuna to end. At least not as abruptly as it seems it will happen. One day you just can't pretend anymore.

Sukuna always asks if you're doing okay. He hopes that one day he'll hear you say yes. But you don't. You mutter a quiet no, and hope the topic would quickly. Not quickly enough. Because you break down crying. It starts small, your usual, timid little crying, but as you talk through it, the weight of your illness presses down on you like a rock - and you break. Loud, helpless. Hysterical bawling, the crying that leaves you breathless, the crying that drains you of everything you have and more.

And Sukuna doesn't know what to do - usually telling you to stop would work, because you would obey his every word, no questions asked. But this is different, this isn't your usual crying about something small, something you aren't allowed to do or something mean Sukuna said. This is a honest, heart wrenching breakdown that has been impending for a while. And he can't tell you to stop - because you can't stop. All he can do is hold you tight, and remind you to breathe.

There's nothing he can do. Healing you is a double edged sword, that provides relief, but at the cost of crashing hopes when the symptoms return. They always return. How useless of him. He can't properly comfort you because he's so detached from human emotions and interactions, he can't save you from this hardship... And he can hardly make it any easier. All he can do is sit with his guilt, little weeping you curled up in his arms, and... that salty drop of liquid that just escaped from his eye to his lip. What was that? Is he?... No, it's impossible.

Of course, reader falls asleep quickly after this. Sukuna stands up to leave, but he finds himself unable to part his stare from the bloody napkins and abandoned crochet projects by your bed. Tea gone cold and plates still full of food and sweets that you didn't have the strength to consume. Clothes untouched, folded neatly in your closet - you don't change out of your sleepwear anymore. The doorknob to the terrace, the one that leads to the garden you love so much, gathering dust after days, weeks of being unopened. You used to go into the garden every day. Your descent is slow, like that of a flower, whose petals slowly dry and detach, until none are left. His favorite flower, the one he loved to admire every day, at every opportunity. The type of flower that grows, blooms once in a hundred years and more.

And Sukuna is a stone, was a stone, stoic and unshaken for the longest time. But he is not as he was before. Love spares no one. Love leaves no one unchanged. He breaks.

You're in his lap in the garden, during one of the last sunny days of autumn. He stares into the distance, lost in thought as he often is, but... his face looks different. Tense, with his brows furrowed and his lips tight. He looks worried, almost sad. You ask him what he's thinking about, and he hesitates. There's a lump in his throat, and you hear it in his voice when he finally speaks. Nothing. He should've said nothing. What a fool.

He tells you he struggles to imagine life without you. And then he looks at you, and you feel it so vividly. A punch to your gut, a knife to your heart. Oh. You know you're dying, but if you had even the slightest of doubts, it's gone now that Sukuna is opening up to you. Sukuna and vulnerability don't exactly go hand in hand.

You sit up and plant a kiss to his shoulder. You tell him what you believe to be true - that the pain is fleeting, and that one day he will be complete again, alone or with someone else in your place. He frowns at you, once more unwilling to accept that scenario. But you want that for him. You truly, wholy believe that he is worth your - and anyone else's love. That he's beautiful, he keeps you safe, provides for you, pleasures you, listens to you - what more can anyone ask for? There's a thousand humans who would die for a chance to be loved like that, who would be just as genuine and grateful as you - and he crumbles, telling you to just shut up! He turns his head in another direction, facing you with the veins popping in his neck. He should've known you would try to make it better. He should've known you wouldn't let him wallow in his misery.

You crawl closer, reaching your hand for his face and trying to pull it towards you, but he doesn't budge. He holds his breath. He really doesn't want you to see him like this. Weak, pathetic.

Sukuna. You call him by his name. So intimate, forbidden. So personal you don't think you've ever called him that outside his bed, and even then it was pried off your lips, pulled from the depths of your conscience, out of your control. Anyone else would've paid for the mistake of uttering his name with their lives. But it's nothing new that you have privileges others don't.

Sukuna. You wrap your arms around him and lean into a hug, and he accepts it, squeezing you so tight he almost leaves breathless. You kiss up his neck, his cheek - wet, and his lips, almost trembling as they touch yours. There's so much more you want to tell him - but he shushes you. Kisses you again, tells you to forget it, it will be fine. You're not sure if he's saying it to you or to himself.

You tell him you know, that's what you've been trying to say the whole time. Then you smile at him, that angelic smile of yours, and smooth your hands over his face, wiping the frown off of his face. What a magical little being you are, he thinks to himself as he savors your beauty. You always had the power to take his anger and turn it into love.

No, Sukuna doesn't think that he could ever scoop up another little human like you out of the crowd. For a moment he thinks maybe it's better that you die, simply because he fears how far he would keep falling for you if nothing stopped him. He thinks maybe he would've become a different man. A better man. But your fate is sealed, and with it, any and all hopes for a changed Sukuna. Soon you will breathe your last breath, and Sukuna will once again be a monster, unbound by anyone or anything. Free of the confines that you've passed upon him - the heaviness of a human conscience. Closer to the man he was before he met you. But never, ever the same again.

[creepy-friday]

Fem. proxy NSFW headcanons with the three proxies? (separately) I love the way you write them, and you really don't find people who write them accurately anymore. Thank you!

Hi! Thank you so much,I am glad the fandom is still alive! :D

Creepypasta Proxies x fem!Reader

|NSFW headcanons|

Warnings: implied nsfw,suggestive language,mental illness mentions,dub-con/non-con mentions,misogyny, various kinks mentions including dacryphilia,knife play and somnophilia

Side note: Sex is meant to be a pleasure experience for both partners (or more,whatever y'all are into) and it isn't limited to a particular "style", it is okay to explore and feel good and confident about it.Stay safe everyone!

Toby would be the one who would think about engaging in sexual activities the most

I ain't gonna sugarcoat it,he's still very mentally ill so he would only assume you don't necessarily find him attractive enough if you seem to reject all of his affection that would lead to something more

That's why during some of his breakdowns he might push you and get pretty violent,forcing himself onto you while kissing roughly,altough he wouldn't continue to a very end if you're extremely uncomfortable about it

Considering the amount of trauma he has,the few moments he can feel at his best are during the highs of an orgasm tbh

Did I ever mention he has a mommy kink? I definitely fucking did he will let you use him as you please,dirty talking also gets him last a few more rounds.He just wants to know he is the one who can please you the most,that he's doing a good job,that he's your pretty good boy~

Degrade him a little,he also doesn't mind if you want to crave a little something into his skin.Even tough he cannot feel pain he definitely likes it,it's something that makes him feel like he belongs to you

Toby would do the same if you let him.He has his moments where he wants to feel in total control,but at the same time he's all sloppy and needs to touch and lick every part of your body

Holding you into a tight grasp while you bounce on him makes him all vocal,he doesn't hold back on moans either, looking up to you like you're all that matters to him in this world

He loves to hold you as close as possible during intercourse,as close as he can get to hear your fast heartbeat or to lick the tears that escape from your pretty eyes

Masky is rough and would often not let you cum until you beg and further humiliate yourself to get it from him

He would fuck you in front of a mirror as exposed as possible while praising and shaming you at the same time

Holding your hair into a fist while pressing your head into a pillow and holding both of your hands between your back as he doesn't stop thrusting into you until you're left breathless is what he loves the most

He can still act arrogant and bossy, blowing the smoke on your face while forcing you to take all of his length in your throat,maybe even putting his hands under his head while acting like you blowing him off it's such a chore fucking douchebag

Tim can be a sweet and loving partner,making sure you are okay while leaving soft kisses on the spots Masky left on you

The white masked man still loves to be in power and would talk disgusting things to you because of it

"You were made for this,weren't you?" ; "Finally learning where your place is,am I right?" ; "I bet your cunt deserves more atttention,after all you've been a good slut lately" and so on and so forth,would make you agree and be vocal while saying the exact words he wants you to say

Would engage in fear play and grind onto you while you sleep,staring at you while he strokes himself off and finally covering your mouth and thrusting all of his length into you while letting out grunts and low moans

Hate fucking is nothing that he isn't familiar with,he secretly adores when you put him in his place and fuck his brains out,if you're not easily intimidated and take the lead you can make him roll his eyes into his skull and use this to shame him later he deserves it

Hoodie adores when you start crying while desperately holding onto him if you're not tied up,of course while you're overstimulated and shaking from the last few orgasms.

"C'mon,I know you can continue,one more time for me,hm?"

He's isn't as much of a jerk like his friend,but I totally can see him taking his sweet time to ravish you just for his fucked up pleasure

He would often tease you in semi public spaces or legit under the table while other residents are talking to you,he has no shame about it either

Cannot keep his mouth shut for anything,he will whisper the dirtiest filth to your ears while soft grunts escape his mouth

Except to be touched while sleeping next to him.He would gently pet your hair while you sleep on his chest,then his hand would move across your body.He cannot help it,you look way too peaceful while you're dozed off,so defenless and utterly at his mercy

If you insist to use a safe word with him he would respect it while smirking,his ego would be over the roof,especially knowing on how good he makes you feel

"You feelin' good?" he asks as he takes his sweet time to make you beg for him to go faster,he's okay to take orders and doesn't mind instructions on how to make you feel even better than before

As long as you allow him in and ask nicely he's all yours to break or to use to break yourself into~

[wayfayrr]

i actually feel pretty bad for self-aware hyrule because for the 3d boys, a lot of their immediate problems are solved by getting out of the game. stuff like getting used to having to eat and sleep more frequently is gradual. but hyrule has the hardest time even getting out of the game to begin with, and he has the biggest disconnect with his body in and out of it, he has no idea how to orient himself in 3d space, he has no clue what the limits of a human body are. the problems hit him as soon as he manages to escape. he got the barest glimpses of us to begin with and he can't even rest after what it took to unite with us. (although given we have to teach him all these things maybe there is a silver lining)

Hyrule.... hyrule is going to struggle. a lot. seems to be a common theme with him coming to earth in my works huh?

He doesn't recognise his body - not that he was ever able to in the first place. He doesn't recognise the surroundings, he's barely even ever been able to see in his game now he has the ability to see further than a few metres and in hd? to say the least he's struggling

the other links have to be taught to breathe pretty fast and to blend in with humans pretty fast - cause as well as being with you they're also itching to explore (hence they have to blend in yk?) your world with you So was rulie - before he realised how different you are to how he was, all of a sudden after getting out he's 'content' or as much as he can be when he's having a breakdown just staying inside and adapting to one thing at a time, blending in can wait until he even knows how to move his arms properly

and if he can use this to his advantage to get more attention? well you won't blame him will you?

[ae-neon]

Nesta Vs ACOSF, a rambling rant

TW: mentions of sexual assault and abuse

Besides the "love" story that read like a quiet descent into domestic horror, ACOSF has one element that keeps me from being able to pick it up even just to sift through for Nesta gems: sex.

Here me out, I'm not a prude and I think we could have gotten a smutty romance but...

At her core, Nesta has always been a proud and modest person.

To be clear, with pride, I mean that her sense of self - her famous steel spine - has kept her together and unbroken even during harrowing circumstances. It's vital to her. It's so ingrained in her that - given we have no other explanation - we can assume it's what shields her mind from literal magic. However, like any trait, her pride can also be a thing that comes off as negative in the wrong situations.

With modesty, she was raised to keep a certain ideology that based her value on sex, beauty, marriage etc but it's important to understand that Nesta applied those standards inwards, at herself. (Eg In acotar, she brings up Feyre and Isaac in defence of her and Tomas, in acomaf, she is mostly upset about not hearing from Feyre or being notified that Feyre has switched courts - not about Feyre sleeping with Tamlin and then Rhys)

Now, I don't think Nesta's modesty makes her better than Feyre, in fact I was happy to get the representation of two different types of views on sex

But what I didn't consider at the time was that SJM was painting this out to be a negative trait.

In retrospect it seems obvious even though Nesta has defied her narrative destiny and become a sort of icon, at the end of the day she was still supposed to be written in a negative contrast to Feyre.

It seems funny but imagine you consumed the book the way Sarah intended, the way so many in the fandom have. The old Sarah Says rule, for my long time mutuals.

For example:

The dinner in acomaf - it's obvious Nesta is upset that she hasn't heard from Feyre only to have her come through not only as a whole Fae but bringing others and endangering their entire family.

But imagine it as a one dimensional reading and suddenly the "I fuck" dialogue is a girlboss moment of feminism giving a fuck you to the strict patriarchy of the "mortal lands" let's ignore how the Fae are actually more patriarchal and the Illyrians even more so than that

So understand that Nesta's modesty is being directly contrasted with Feyre's sexual freedom. The reader - at least from sjm's perspective - is supposed to agree with Feyre and disagree with Nesta in a sort of win/lose, yes/no, black/white dichotomy.

And because sjm is consistent and boring and a self-inset author, this dynamic doesn't change even when the protagonist does.

Only now sjm and her feminism has changed from fuck-whoever-I-want girlboss to kinky-but-only-with-my-husband tradwife

So Nesta can't be prudish and cut off because 1) it's not as conducive to the breakdown of self and buildup of a dependent and abusive relationship and 2) it's not in direct contrast with Feyre's current monogamous, traditional family values character.

So Nesta starts drinking and sleeping around and it's not because we're going to explore the unraveling of the pride and modesty at the core of the character as part of her transformation or as a result of her trauma

But because it's supposed to be a bad look, degrading, it shows she's failed, it makes her a loser

All of that is already insane. And even more so when taken with the context of her assault by Tomas and the sex centred relationship she has with Cassian

Now add to that the fact that in the book, Nesta is an object of desire for 2 villains and undergoes assault and drowning AGAIN

Sjm literally gives less than 2 fucks about SA, that much is obvious even from the way she inflicts and then disregards the experience of both Feyre and Rhysand respectively. It's a tool for her, a quirky story element

But to have Nesta experience such a similar thing - especially when the experience of being Made can be read as a sort of rape allegory on its own - and all for the sake of "romance" fantasy??

Even Nesta's reading habits are sexualised, to be clear I don't think there's anything wrong with reading smut, but the scope of her intellect and reading is narrowed down when we're suddenly made to believe most of the books she reads are smut.

This is someone who likely taught herself economics and investment within months in order to not just pay off the debt, upgrade her whole family's way of life but also rebuild the family fortune. Someone who, having stopped schooling at around 14/15, did the math needed to calculate the feasibility of the evacuation of a small country.

Someone who's verbally stated life goal was to see what a woman could make of herself in the world.

Even her love of reading is used as a stepping stone for how horny she is, instead of it being a result of her deeply ingrained need for escapism

She reads smut because the only thing she has in common with Cassian and the IC is sex. Because sjm thought one of the core elements of a friendship between 2 SA survivors and a disabled woman from a culture that mutilated her for being born a woman would be their desire to fantasise about men.

All the while the male love interest treats her like garbage.

We could have had a smutty book filled with sex where each scene could have been the growth of Nesta's trust and love of Cassian through intimacy. It could have been a sexual relationship that involved and explored kink - which explored vulnerability and the negative impact of how Nesta's pride became a source of stress and strain.

It could have been an exploration about the complicated relationship with desire and oppressors that many survivors have. But it isn't.

It's hahaha horny, so RELATABLE

Even when it comes to the abusive situation Nesta grew up in, it's just hung up like decoration on the character. Not explored, let alone healed. I don't wanna hear that sjm explained or explored Nesta's abuse when we don't even get her mother or her grandmother's names

We don't get

The complexity of being a trapped and abused woman who came from a trapped and abused woman who came from a trapped and abused woman

Or the complexity of a dysfunctional family

Or even the journey of recovery from addiction and self-harming behaviour

Now, not every aspect of Nesta or any survivors lives have to boil down to how it relates to their experiences but SJM is praised for her "recovery" and so much of this book is about sex and abuse but has no depth

It could have been a less-deep, fun experience of sex and desire and kink. But no

Nesta has sex with many faceless men because sjm is condemning her as a failure. Sex is her punishment, it makes her dirty and unworthy and cheap.

Then, through her "healing", she becomes a sex doll for the right guy. Sex is her reward, it makes her hot and useful and appealing.

Sjm writes not just like a man but like a particularly talented misogynist so it's the way sex is used that really puts me off

Edit: ultimately I think the sex and romance should have interacted with and evolved her pride, modesty and past experiences, rather than those things being demolished to turn her into a sex doll

[zombie-bait]

The Death of a Vampire

Lestat as a protagonist just works so incredibly well and a very significant aspect of that is him being Anne Rice's self-insert. Lived experience can be critical when it comes to writing a good story and many memorable novels will feature elements of that. Anne is built different, though. Lestat (book 2 onwards) is basically Anne's journal for dealing with her grievances and trauma, which, on its own, is a very questionable method of writing. More often than not, it causes him to be characterized inconsistently between books because Anne's own opinions have changed. But it also makes him so real.

You follow his struggles with religion, you see him yearn for forgiveness from a god that has seemingly abandoned him a long time ago and you feel it. The passage I will never get over is in the early chapters of The Vampire Lestat, when Lestat has a breakdown over his mother's (and frankly his own) mortality. He struggles and he cries and he can't get out of bed because there's nothing he can do. Eventually he starts to live again, forces himself to.

But.

"I wandered into the church and on my knees I leaned against the wall and I looked at the ancient statues and I felt the same gratitude looking at the finely carved fingers and the noses and the ears and the expressions on their faces and the deep folds in their garments, and I couldn’t stop myself from crying. At least we had these beautiful things, I said. Such goodness. But nothing natural seemed beautiful to me now! The very sight of a great tree standing alone in a field could make me tremble and cry out. Fill the orchard with music. And let me tell you a little secret. It never did pass, really."

I think about those last two sentences a lot. I think about them even more since Anne Rice passed away.

Every page of Interview is spent talking about death and yet (imo) it's only in TVL that you really feel it. Louis in book 1 welcomes death quite readily because, besides his toxic boyfriend and their traumatized daughter, he doesn't have much to live for. He's basically given up by the time Lestat appears. The greatest torture, to Louis, is the knowledge that he can live forever on the suffering of others.

But Lestat is the complete opposite. He wants to listen to music, to explore Paris, to perform on any stage that will take him, to embrace the man he loves and to send his ailing mother letters of his accomplishments. Death matters most to those who are desperate to live and god is he desperate. He's haunted by his mother's sickness, by the wolves on the mountain that threaten to end his life before he's even lived it, the witches place that reeks of meaningless suffering. And in a way, the dark gift provides opportunity to escape that. But it is still death. It takes away Nicki in a very literal way and takes away his mother in a more personal one. Magnus, like death, chose Lestat arbitrarily. He sees the cellar of blonde corpses and knows that he was only one of dozens to meet an untimely death with no explanation.

Lestat also really wants you to know that he is, truly, a good person. He must be. He swears to only hunt criminals and then goes back on that two pages later. He reshapes stories to present himself as the noble protagonist and the audience has no choice but to believe him. He wants, desperately, to be loved for all that he is, man and monster. He wants to be the hero.

He's this awful, fascinating, very human man so clearly born out of the internal struggle to find meaning and love in a cruel, unpredictable world we all tend to share. He's made up of incredibly basic and powerful human desires hidden behind a mask of bravado and I can't recalling seeing another protagonist like him.

(Quick mention: This isn't some kind of "wow Anne Rice is an incredible author who can do no wrong" piece. She's written a lot of fucked up and bad shit that cannot be easily brushed over. But I don't think I'll ever get over reading TVL for the first time. To read someone bare their soul in such a way creates a truly unique experience. A lot of characters in a lot of pieces of media face death, but it's rare to see a character face mortality in such a personal way.)

(Also odds are I've written similar posts to this before but shhhhh these sad gay vampires are all I have)

[warsamongthestars]

One of the things that struck me in TBB, that after processing, immediately told me how the so called "family dynamic" worked and how it immediately grinded and gritted against fandom interpretation...

And how badly TBB really did fuck up TCWs character dynamics...

Was the episode "Common Ground". Season 1, Episode 10.

I can argue details and semantics all day, but that would require an episode by episode breakdown.

Common Ground, however, is an easy episode to point out that literally has all the flaws, in their showing, that every episode before it only inferred... and how those flaws grew afterwards in only weirder and weirder shapes.

Common Ground was when the Bad Batch were sent after a Separatist Senator, and Omega was left in Cid's bar.

There are several things to point out in this episode. Several that show case the flaws, and one that hits so closed to home that I can't, I really really can't, accept fandom interpretation of TBB family dynamics, because of.

Let's start with the flaws:

Hunter's repeated problem of expecting Omega on the team, when she's not on the team.

... One, You left here at the bar, Jackass, for safety.

... Two, goes against anything Hunter says about giving Omega a life, by immediately expecting her on mission.

... Three, Even when she's not there, she keeps having an impact on the story that isn't needed and certainly isn't wanted.

... Four, shows this nearly obsessive fixation that he never fucking gets over at any point in the show. A fixation that costs even Omega.. and I'll get to that one.

... Five, you think this about Omega, but Not about Crosshair.

Number Five on the above, is another one--The total lack of any group conflict or battlefield failure, thanks to losing a vital member of the team, Crosshair.

It only comes up here when its about the kid, who absolutely shouldn't have any reason to be on the battlefield at all. ( SHE'S LIKE FUCKING NINE YEARS OLD)

It is only roughly inferred by previous episodes (and only if you're looking for it), but for some reason, the Bad Batch never seems to suffer losing Crosshair or their Sniper, and no attempt as exploring what his duties were or what he meant to the team, is ever brought up.

The constant giving of his position and objects to Omega, really makes Omega into his Replacement, if not a full on team rebound.

And this is never explored. 3 Seasons are done now, and it was NEVER EXPLORED. Oh yes there was the Cross and Hunter confrontation, but that wasn't a confrontation, that was a pissing contest until the monster showed up. Every confrontation had been a pissing contest, because this show cannot write meaningful communication that isn't about the golden child donut steel or isn't a pun or one-liner.

Even TCWs would communicate meaningful, even when it was being funny.

Personally, if a team I had grown comfortable with, knew the dynamics of, relied on and was relied on whilst as a teammate, and had been with FOR YEARS-- decided that after my mindcontrolled zombie ass was taken / kidnapped and had gods knew what done to me... if they decided to replace me immediately with someone a quarter of my age with no training but having all my duties... I would be beyond pissed.

I would frankly never return to this group again, and would go out of my way to avoid them, will curse them for the rest of my fucking life. That sort of thing would destroy any relationships, and forget healing and repair and any communication--this right there would pretty much tell me that, the thing that was beyond my control, allowed my team the excuse to remove me entirely.

Forget trying to save me, it was easier to replace me and nobody gave a shit.

So yeah, that's another major flaw this episode brought up.

The regulation of Echo into bitchy sidepiece.

Nothing Echo says or does has any meaning in this episode. The Bad Batch don't listen to him, he doesn't do anything of import, and y'know, this kind of episode should have been an Echo Episode.

It should have been Echo centric.

Why? Because if there is anyone established in the Bad Batch group that would have a cow and character conflict with helping Seppies, it'd be Echo.

He was tortured, forcefully changed, and made into a weapon against his nation, his ideals and his brothers.

Confronting a Seppie Leader or a Seppie mission would be the perfect opportunity to dive into the character of Echo and his past conflicts.

But what does this episode do? Regulate him into bitchy side piece, and proving that the Bad Batch does not really give one shit about their brothers.

They already replaced Crosshair, so losing Echo wouldn't have been no skin off their teeth.

( So much for the TCWs team that adopted Echo because they knew how to care for them. Fuck them I guess--let's have these apathetic cardboard cutouts instead, OH LOOK AT THAT ONELINER THEY PULLED ISNT THAT AWESOME )

Exactly what do Tech and Wrecker do in this episode exactly?

Y'know, Tech and Wrecker were memorable in TCWs. But I can't seem to remember what they did here exactly that made them stand out. In fact, you could cut out Tech, Wrecker, and Echo, and leave the episode (as is) to Hunter alone, and the same shit would still be relevant.

In fact, that's pretty much a lot of TBB anyway. They removed Crosshair, and not a damn thing happened. They removed Echo, and not a damn thing happened. They removed Tech, and not a damn thing happened.

( Oh yeah, they pasted Echo back in a few times, cos y'know, Hunter's skillset means fuck all comparison to that written obsession of his )

Might as well have removed Wrecker too, they sure as hell didn't give him any satisfying endings or even character arc. Oh yeah, he's real cute when with Omega--but tell me exactly how interesting and important a MAIN character is if they're are only defined by how they look when in frame with another character.

Okay. Now, for the last one, and the personal bit.

Hunter yelling at Omega at the Bar.

Look, I like Omega as a character. My issue with here is what she represents in the narrative, how the narrative treats her, and what is spent in order to make her a good character. I would adore her more if she was a side character or side kick instead, someone who's really is meant is to define the main characters and add an extra dynamic or aspect--and maybe star in an episode or two to really get to know the side character.

The narrative treats her too much like the end all be all in everything, even in adult conflicts, and Treats that as a Good Thing.

Time for the personal stuff...

As someone who had once been a child, dragged into adult situations against both my health and my will, and worse, relied on by adults (who were suppose to nurture Me) for emotional support at cost and under threat either by forces outside or forces inside, especially after being sheltered and having been taught no skills but being expected to have those skills anyway, never once being taught communication but being expected to communicate and under a hierarchy of "Do what I say and anything to the contrary is Your Fault"--I know Omega's situation when applied to the Real World.

( Obviously I never ran from governments, never flew in space, and I sure as hell didn't have super duper genome brothers in the millions. But I did have one real shit homelife and its amazing what can translate to and from metaphor. )

( And how all the sudden, how I can have a really fucking hatred for shit writing, and writers who thought it was a good idea. )

You don't turn into a hero at the end of that journey. You don't even really get a sense of self until far into your own adulthood. Most of the time, the biggest quest of the day is getting out of bed or off the laptop to do even the most basic of things for one's self.

Now personal stuff over...

Omega is, like, nine. She was already left in a seedy place. She's young enough to trust adults without issue to any perceived flaws, because she wouldn't know what minor red flags look like.

And because she's really good at strategizing a game (cos apparently we couldn't allow Echo to do that, who was explicitly captured because he was THE stradegist), the local adult that she was entrusted to, exploits her ability to do so against potentially hundreds of customers.

And while this had benefits, cos it cleared the family debt (... for now), this was still exploitation of a child by an adult.

Then the Bad Batch return, and what does Hunter do? Give Omega her rights for causing attention. Even though she is Nine, and clearly, she couldn't possibly advertise for so many people, and frankly, probably couldn't say No either.

(And given the Racing episode that occurs in Season 2, Hunter Only does this to Omega ).

Sure, Hunter gets the "you're being an asshole" treatment and things seemingly clear up by the end of the episode.

But do you honestly thing that an apology game is how you remedy that sort of fuck up? That maybe, there should've been commutation about how the local seedy barkeeper is probably the last person you want to leave your kid with?

That y'know, an exspec ops super mutant might know a thing or two about communication and trust and enviromental awareness?

OR THAT MAYBE YOU SHOULD REALLY STOP GOING ON COMBAT MISSIONS AND JUST FUCKING LEAVE ALREADY!? YOUR DEBT IS PAID, GO AWAY, LEAVE, GET OUT, DO SO NOW.

Common Grounds, as an episode, highlights why the TBB doesn't work. Its not a case of "But only THIS episode is Bad and can be Ignored!" because Common Grounds highlights the prime elements of TBB, which are its many flaws.

Its underutilized characters, its total lack of environmental awareness, the emphasis on the super duper oc donut steel, and worse, its utter inability to bother reaching out to its audience unless its to twist a knife in.

( Just look at what they did to poor Tech. )

It doesn't try to be a hostile narrative, in fact its really good at being hostile to its characters and its environment, but it doesn't work any good without attempting to tarnish or ruin that good and it never considers what a positive step looks like that doesn't involve it coming off as shallow or excuse based--it overdoes Chandler's Law.

It is Common Grounds for Negligence.

... ( and I wasn't totally thinking about how that ending came together, but fuck, that checks. )

[aromantic-diaries]

Hey, as an aroace, is it reasonable to have a mental breakdown over people being aphobic and shipping canonically romantically repulsed aroace characters with other characters romantically??? (Also I love your blog so much as an aroace.)

I can completely understand the way you feel, it's really invalidating and even becomes hypocritical when you consider how fandom seems to be very strict about not shipping gay and lesbian characters with anyone of the opposite gender but doesn't extend that respect for a character's canon identity when they're aro and/or ace

There's this post which makes a pretty good point and I saw a video discussing the topic, with the specific example of Alastor from Hazbin Hotel

The whole topic of shipping aro/ace characters seems to have been discussed a lot lately and I feel like it's due to the release of Hazbin Hotel since it's something pretty mainstream with a canonically aroace character who also happens to be the sexyman of the show

But yeah I am definetly on your side here cause we get very little representation and most of it is only confirmed outside the show by creators and doesn't have much impact on the stories. All that could at least be explored in fanworks but it's still mostly shipping. I haven't even watched Hazbin Hotel and I still get annoyed when i see people shipping the funny evil deer man. Surely there must be more potential

[pseudowho]

Hey Haitch, what's up ? I need help and since you're : 1. One of the most prolific writers on here 2. You seem to be organised 3. I assume you have written a dissertation before What advice can you share for someone who has to write their master thesis pronto ? I have a terrible case of ADHD and just a mild interest in my subject, but I need to pump out 40 pages in 2 weeks so any advice is welcome Also you're the best, I loved your very clinical approach to analysing the JJK men's little swimmers

Heeeeeyyyy

I am NOT PROLIFIC, shut up.

I am organised you're right, thank goodness for ✨anxiety✨

I've written a couple, taught dissertation classes on a University level, and bullied Mr.Haitch through a PhD too.

So I've not lived with ADHD sadly. I can only tell you what I'd do.

Get over yourself. I don't give a fuck if you don't like your subject and I don't give a fuck if you find it hard to concentrate. Pull your grown-up pants up, give yourself a slap, and recognise that you either do it and do it well, or you fail. Once you decide that knuckling down is infinitely more palatable than failure, it helps. So, be your own drill sergeant for two weeks now.

Examine your thesis question/hypothesis. Imagine teaching this subject to a class; what questions are they going to ask? You're going to want to answer those. They're going to highlight some key themes to explore. These themes can be grouped into your thesis subheadings.

What does the evidence show? There's almost certainly a theme there; do sources wildly disagree? Is there a general lean towards one answer? What gaping holes are there in the research? Assess the provenance; what limitations are placed upon pieces of evidence based on their provenance? How reliable are they? What are the sample sizes of the studies, if this is relevant to your thesis?

ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE THOROUGHLY EXPLORED THE FULL EVIDENCE...what do you think, and why? What do you think lends strength to your argument?

Remember, a Masters Thesis is a DISCUSSION, an ARGUMENT-- it's frustrating arguing with someone who clearly doesn't know what they're talking about, so get reading babe.

Do your References and Bibliography AS 👏 YOU 👏 WRITE 👏👏 ...as SOON as you mention it in the main body of the text, reference it properly. You are on limited time so tidy up as you go along. The devil is in the detail. I advise the Harvard referencing system, it's the nearest and simplest.

Good luck. This won't be easy. I'm a glutton for punishment and I love a challenge so this is a bit of me.

If you have a moment of "waahhhh this is hard I hate it I feel sorry for myself", let it be just that-- a moment. Pick yourself up and get back to it. Do not spiral. Now is not the time. Spiral after, if you like.

Please note: I'm not that much of a drill sergeant with other people. The above is how I bully myself, and I do bully myself. I would never judge you for a breakdown.

Love,

-- Haitch xxx

[autismprotocol]

Sorry for the late post (I work nightshifts) but I figured I should give more info on the Hungers thing. It's a theory I've mostly seen being floated in the youtube comments or one-off tumblr posts, so I'm not sure where it originated. It's one of those "this is either the key to the whole series or a fan-created red herring that will be discredited by the end of season 1".

The primary evidence of it is the fact that for the first 5 episodes the horror has been entirely driven by a passion or desire of the statement give, and their desires have gotten more focus then their fear.

Harriet wants to see her dead husband again, even if he's come back wrong. RedCanary seems driven by the thrill of urban exploration and a desire to clear the magnus institute first. Darla has body image issues (hence why the probable flesh avatar ink5oul can get her) and thus wants to feel pretty (ink5oul also is only willing to work on her when she states a clear desire). Samuel Webber wants to be with the wife he murdered. Voilin guy from episode 4 (who tumblr user fandom-geek stipulated might be James Smithson of the Smithsonian museum) wants his musical talent to be recognized even if it costs blood (and Stranger McArtifact gives him his deepest desire rather than his worst fear). Tom the horror fan is ecstatic to get a personal screening of an obscure horror movie he's been searching for.

Again, any theory based on the first 5 episodes should be taken with a grain of salt. Needles doesn't really fit into it (I guess he wants people to be afraid of him?) and the stranger and buried's charity auction from hell in episode 7 certainly doesn't fit in (unless the "good cause" is playing ironic genie to the people the artifacts are being sold to). It's just an idea I've seen being floated around about how the powers might be different in this timeline.

Thank you so much for the extra info on the hungers/desires theory! when discussing it with my roommate we are starting to beileve that what we're seeing in this world is the birth/ creation of avatars and they had the theory that avatars (at least in protocol) are born from a strong desire I really love this idea so I'm gonna try to prove the few from the newest episode under this theory that

EP 8: Give and Take - for this one we actually can't fit that cleanly into the theory (if you have a theory about how it could fit in please leave it in the comments or send a ask :D ) we are thinking that the inccident read in the episode about the brutalist liminal spaces was a ritual, rather than the birth or the individual act of an avatar.

EP 9: Rolling with it- this avatar (Evil dice dude) was born from a desire to control his luck.

Ep 10: Saturday night: Neil Dickerson is tricky i still have no idea if he's an avatar himself or if it's just Mr Bonzo but either way Bonzo was created from Nigels desire to be famous,

I'll be interested to know if this pattern continues into future episodes. So far I see the Desire theory being a pretty strong case to explaining the origin of the esoteric inccidents the O.I.A.R files.

also just a quick update: I'm working on a Episode 10 breakdown but Its taking a while because I wanted to illustrate some scenes to add some visual flair :0 it will hopefully be out by tomorrow or monday!

-Echo

[hekateinhell]

you said you were comfortable with receiving questions about your fics and i have a question about our house armand and daniel's backstory. how much of armand's sexual trauma does daniel know? i mean in the fic he mentions "the brothel in amsterdam" or how hypersexual&relentlessly giving armand is but, did they ever sit down and have a talk about it ever (it seems a bit unlike armand pre-therapy) or did armand Had to open up a bit about it to daniel bc something cathartic happened, for example a breakdown during sex, him disassociating etc. ? i would love to know if you have anything in mind about this or generally how that convo would go when it eventually (hopefully) happens. armand being as secretive about his past as he is, we hardly get anything like this in canon and even in many fics it is hardly dwelled on, but i do think about it a lot! so i would love to know your thoughts!! lots of love x

Hiii! 💖

Omg, I've thought about this so much in the canon of Our House!

If I continue with the fic, I would definitely love to expand on this more because the whole theme of the fic is supposed to be about trauma—how sometimes there are just some things you don't ever really heal from but you can grow around them! You can find ways to live with them, ways so they don't hurt so much, so they're not so intrusive, and ultimately you can still have a good life and love and be loved. That's just what I want for Armand, okay? 🤧

Ngl, I had to skim through my own fic to make sure what I have written still aligns with what's in my head because it's been a while lol. But yeah, Armand was clamped down pretty tight (pun intended) pre-therapy and his sexual trauma wasn't anything that he was willing to recognize at the time and it definitely wasn't anything he wanted Daniel to know. The trick with OH is that the fic is primarily from Daniel's POV, so there's a lot he doesn't know (thanks Armand) and therefore the reader doesn't know. He's been kept in the dark about sooooo much!

Like for example, Daniel didn't know anything about Armand's sexual trauma prior to therapy but in the notes in my head, Lestat knows because he met Armand when Armand was 17 and left Amsterdam for Paris, and they, along with Eleni, also did sex work together sometimes just to survive. Louis met Armand in New York and knew him when he'd just arrived to the USA and was initially making money as a sugar baby. Daniel doesn't know any of this at any point in the story yet lmao. Armand gave him a bit of the Amsterdam and Europe overview in therapy, but "I was in a window in Amsterdam by the time I was thirteen," isn't exactly something Daniel really wanted to pry into, you know? He knows Armand has night terrors a decade later, he knows Armand has an ~interesting~ relationship with sex; he can put two and two together and imagine what kind of horrific things Armand endured. 

But beyond that, no, they've never talked it in detail! I did always think at some point it would be inevitable that it comes up in some messy way like the Baby Thing. Like Armand maybe pushes himself too far while exploring a kink, and like you said, triggers himself and it all comes out. But I also like a softer version where he just walks into the living room one night and curls up by Daniel's side, making himself small, and says, "I want to talk to about what happened to me in Europe, about who I had to be before you. Because sometimes I still feel like that lost, forgotten child, and it frightens me. Maybe if you knew him too, you could talk to him for me. You could make it better."

Which I mean... this is a lot to put on Daniel! But that's the secret secondary theme of this fic lol Daniel Molloy Carrying the Entire Fucking World on His Shoulders! 🤪

[hothammies]

just wanted to say I'm really liking this au so far, mike's character breakdown is so fun and I just wanted to thank you for a part of it! when I first read that he wasn't good with guns I deflated a little because I thought oh, it's another incompetent mike and macho will situation 😞 but the fact he's not good with guns because that's a NERF, and he's otherwise actually competent, respectable, intelligent, commanding, just - mike wheeler himself - made me really happy! that's a fun take, and I appreciated the effort in how you used the dnd charts etc too it's so cool!

it makes me look forward to the other character intros, and I already loved how sweet will looked in the party line up art even while holding a gun 😂 idk if you plan to have him only embrace the skill because it's necessary and not entirely what he likes, or something else, but I just liked that kinda contrast in the art regardless it made me giggle

oh also: "would never hesitate to do something deplorable to protect the party: family first" <- iconic. I can see the ruthlessness already I love you mike that's our leader, kind badass boy

this ask made me squeal and kick my feet like five times so thank you for that LMAO

i'm so happy that you (and others) have been enjoying the mike characterization i've put out for this au :"D i put a ton of thought into all of them and i'm having a lot of fun! mike in canon seems to be one of the most intelligent characters in the show, closely rivaled to dustin in making plans and having them go right, so him being incompetent is like an oxymoron.

there's a reason he's the leader of the group, and when people paint him as incompetent and / or babygirlified (in the "damsel, innocent, weak, must protect" sense) because he's played by finn or because he has terrible physical capabilities, it kinda makes me annoyed. so what if he's weak physically? he's still the one who actively squares up to people even when he knows he's about to get his ass beat :P he is the one who puts everything into action. his intuition and plans are correct most, if not all the time, and it pisses me off when people undermine that to try to fit him into someone who needs to be saved.

of course, in this au, his weaknesses more lie in his emotional incapabilities rather than survival. he isn't the best physically either, but that doesn't mean he can't do anything (its the apocalypse - he had to have learned something at some point).

the pressure that bears down on him in this au isn't based on society, and more related to the fact that he sees himself as the sole "caretaker" for the group. being put in charge of the lives of five other people followed by your own is scary as hell, and he doesn't really have an outlet for the pressure he faces until he enters that fwb relationship with will. that's an entirely different can of worms though so i'll stop with that for now!

i'm actually so happy that you mentioned how sweet i drew will in his design <3 will's character sheet will be posted tmrw so hopefully it will make sense why i drew him the way i did. i hope that my explanation regarding the rifle makes sense and does his character justice! him being good with guns was also a way for him to bond with lucas and explore his character a bit - it'll be explained later :O

and abt that last line regarding his ruthlessness... in all of the group's backstories, they all had people outside of the party that very much helped shape their identity and how they act. all i'll say is that mike is very much influenced by nancy in the moral compass department >:)

[the-starry-seas]

omg you're a techo enjoyer too??? blessed 🥺 do you have any hcs or plot tribbles about them you'd be willing to share?

So Tech is the person that Echo spends the most time with, when he first goes with the Batch. This isn't because of any desire to connect on Tech's part - the only reason nobody calls him unfriendly is cause Crosshair is right there, in much the way that your neighbour's snarly dog isn't much of a problem compared to a rabid T Rex.

Instead, it's because the Bad Batch realise that, y'know, Echo's been Matrixed into a freezer for a while (timeline is not my strength but it was a few years, I think). Somebody's gotta figure out those cyborg parts and how to fix them, preferably before something breaks. And of course for something that serious, you choose the smart one.

At first, Echo is very awkward about this. The last thing he wants is someone digging around in his parts, even if it's for a good reason. But he also knows that it's going to be even worse for everybody if he has some sudden breakdown that disables him. So he grits his teeth and bears it.

(Tech does not notice shit about this. He has new science to explore, new problems to figure out, and human interaction has never been his strong suit. Autism King <3)

There's definitely some initial awkwardness, but Echo figures out pretty quickly that if he gets Tech rambling about something, the sound of his voice is soothing. Echo thinks nothing of it. (lol. lmao even.) He also comes to find it vaguely endearing when Tech gets distracted in the middle of something because he thinks of some cool upgrade that he can do. The Iron Man-style rocket boots are a total success. Tech is fully convinced his sensation of affection and pride is just because he got the boots working, and nothing to do with Echo himself (again: lol. lmao even.)

Tech pokes at the dataport, frowns, and looks down at his datapad. "Can you give me a hand with this?" A metal arm clatters to the floor next to him. Echo, across the room, hasn't moved from his co-pilot's seat and is still watching the latest episode of his holodrama. "Technically," he begins, adjusting his goggles with an indignant sniff, "yes, that is what I asked for. But I expected better of you."

Echo suddenly has some fucking thoughts about the possibility of Tech praising him, let me tell you. Still, he also has some reservations, because there's times where Tech gets too invested in the ✨ science ✨ and Echo starts feeling kind of like an experiment all over again.

Anyway the two of them are getting along pretty well and Tech is remaining fairly oblivious to both their feelings. (This is not a dig at Tech, I'm simply a huge sucker for ships where one of them doesn't realise their feelings until a Dramatic Moment, generally involving a near-death experience.) Except that Echo doesn't much like talking about his past and all the Clone Trauma™, especially pertaining to his lost Fives, and Tech's a nosy bitch who wants to know everything.

So Tech finds a way to get Echo's file. If the reg's not gonna talk, well, when has Tech ever respected a 'no access' sign? He reads through it and takes some notes, and it seems as though things are fine.

Except once Echo actually does start opening up about his past, Tech jumps in to fill in some details. Details that Echo certainly never told him. And Echo wants to know how Tech knows, and Tech's a shit liar, so the truth comes out.

Echo is not pleased with the truth.

(pain incoming)

"Well, I've... read your file," Tech says, hesitantly. He reaches up to adjust his goggles. A nervous tic, one that Echo usually finds endearing. But hearing that Tech was reading his file makes something twist in his stomach - what's left of it. Especially with Tech nervous about it. Echo's never really seen him like that. Not with him. "Okay," he replies, fighting to keep his voice and expression as close to 'calm' as possible. "And?" "I know it's been, well, hard. For you. For the other reg- the other clones." Echo stares at him, too shocked to attempt a look of neutrality any more. Tech must be joking. He must be. Not about reading his file, Echo had assumed that the Batch had all dug into him to find out who he was. But thinking that he knows anything about what it was like? Just because he read a file? He's seen the kinds of files that are kept on clones. They're dry, succinct, and mention nothing about who a clone is, just a service record like the kind you'd see kept about a machine. Because that's just about all they were, to the people in charge. The clones certainly weren't people to anyone but themselves. "So what's it like, Tech? Go on, you read the file." He waits. It's harsh, he knows, maybe even cruel, but he's not much in a laughing mood any more. "Maybe I... missed a few things," Tech hedges, looking very much like he wants to escape. "How much more do you want to know? Because they carved me out of myself, but they left the memories, and I see all of it every single night, so I can tell you more than the devil himself could stomach." He waits, but Tech doesn't say anything, just shifts his weight, eyes wide, fingers curling and uncurling around his datapad. Finally, Echo says, "You don't know shit, Tech. Don't ever pretend you do. Especially not around me." He leaves. For once, Tech's not distracted. For once, Tech watches him go.

So there's a bump in the road, as it were. Well, more like hitting a moose with your janky 90s sedan. You walked away from it physically fine but you have an overwhelming feeling about how oh god you're so fucked. Also who do you call about that???

Echo calls Rex. Rex does not know what to do about this. He lets Echo vent until they've been sitting quietly for a few minutes, and then suggests that maybe that was just Tech's way of trying to connect to Echo. Not exactly normal, "but you always did say, when you called, that he always paid attention to you and wanted to know more about you. Maybe this is an extension of that, and he didn't realise that he was crossing some lines."

(Yes, in my head, Rex is lowkey playing matchmaker. He's heard the way Echo's voice changes when he talks about Tech, and he wants to see where this goes.)

Meanwhile, Tech is bothering the shit out of Hunter because 'you know how people work, what did I do?'

This is the first that Hunter is hearing about any of this. He doesn't have the slightest idea what's going on, but he does have some experience with relationship difficulties caused by inadvertent assholery *inserts my Cross/Hunter agenda here*

So Rex helps Echo calm down, and Hunter helps Tech figure out how to apologise. Tech doesn't do shit with that knowledge because emotional conversations suck and he'd much rather pretend that just never happened, thank you goodbye. He's just a huge anxious mess because he doesn't know why people think he's being weird or mean or rude when he thought they were Just Vibing.

It takes like two months for Tech to make a move to fix this, is what I'm saying.

"Echo?" Tech asks hesitantly. He stands with his hands clasped in front of him, one thumb rubbing over the knuckles of his opposite hand. "Fuck off." Tech winces, but, well - with the way he inadvertently treated Echo, it's not like he can complain. "I- when I mentioned your file-" "Don't." "I was just trying to say that you didn't have to hide anything from me. That you were one of us. And we'd do our best to understand. I didn't- I'm not good at apologies, I'm sorry, I'll go-" "Wait." Tech freezes in the doorway, even more uncertain now. Echo sighs and looks at him. If his gaze is supposed to be communicating something, it's not in a language that Tech speaks. Maybe his uncertainty shows on his face, or maybe Echo was just waiting to collect his thoughts. "Thanks, Tech." Despite the awkward seriousness of their conversation, Tech smiles. "You're welcome, Echo. And if there's- I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to, you know, but if there's anything you wanted to talk about, um, well, I'm only so far away. The Marauder's not a big ship." Echo doesn't say anything else, but he nods, and Tech feels like he actually managed to make some progress as he slips back out to the kitchen.

Anyway Echo has to comm Rex and send him ten bucks because Rex was right about Tech not being an asshole. Rex is only a little smug about this.

Echo slowly starts gravitating back towards Tech after that, and Tech is all !!!! not entirely sure what's happening but apparently the hot one Echo doesn't hate him any more so that's great!

They eventually get back into their groove and Tech makes him those kickass rocket boots to apologise for the whole... whatever that was. Words are hard, inventing is easy. He's still not 100% sure what went down, but Echo seems to have forgiven him, so he doesn't want to bring it up again. (He does, but it's like... a full year later, once he's definitely sure that Echo's not mad at him about it any more.)

Good thing that they do find their way back together, because one of Echo's legs breaks. And of course Tech's the one who immediately gets a little googly-eyed about finally being able to take Echo's leg apart. (He was strictly forbidden from Tinkering while Echo was wearing them, because Echo doesn't completely trust Tech to be able to resist the siren call of becoming a mad scientist. He adores the man, but he also knows Tech's weaknesses.)

Tech does indeed get a little mad scientist-y when he gets his hands all over those legs. He spends a week with a diet of space Red Bull, dry instant ramen, and no sleep, and comes up with Legs 2.0.11.8. He almost blows the ship up once or twice, but nothing seriously affects the life support systems, so it's fine, leave the lab alone.

Legs 2.0.11.8 are lighter, more durable, fit more comfortably, and have not only the fancy rocket boosters, but the ability to switch out normal treads for heavy ones and even climbing crampons! And a thousand other upgrades, but he's talking so fast that Echo genuinely has no idea what's going on. He figures that he can ask to read Tech's file about em later (yes he jokes about that, no Tech doesn't know if he can laugh).

When Echo first tries out his new legs, he loses his balance and goes straight into Tech's arms. Tech catches him and murmurs You're doing great, Echo.

Echo is running on an emotional high of having his legs back, having much better legs than the last ones, being caught by a hot nerd, and being praised by a hot nerd.

There's nothing to do about all that except kiss Tech.

He briefly thinks he's encountered a massive problem when Tech doesn't kiss back, and just stands there with a thoughtful look on his face. There's about a thousand things crossing Echo's mind in that moment, none of them exactly good. Can he get kicked off a squad for kissing someone???

Tech calmly says, "That was unexpected but perfectly acceptable. I commend your technique."

Echo isn't entirely sure what that means for a second, but then Tech pulls him in with both hands and tongues him, and Echo figures he doesn't need to ask.

The Batch is entirely unaware of this until three weeks later, when Echo joins them in the cockpit and sits right down in Tech's lap with his legs crossed. Wrecker wants to know why Echo's not in his usual co-pilot's chair. Echo just says figure it out and nudges Tech's chin up to kiss him.

Okay I've got so many headcanons too hold on

Tech's bunk is full of half-forgotten-about wires, metal sheets, pieces of rebar, loose screws, and the occasional shard of glass. Echo will not get into that bunk, they cuddle in Echo's hammock.

Tech will lay on top of Echo like a living weighted blanket and is perfectly happy to stay there for 12+ hours if he gets really invested in something on his datapad. This is often some design for another improvement to Echo's implants, so double bonus!

Strip chess

They love crosswords but they manage to get really competitive. Usually this means they make out about it, but sometimes they get mad at each other. Scrabble is banned after a few Incidents that resulted in yelling and a little blood, Hunter burned the tiles.

Tech keeps begging Echo into picking up dangerous insects, snails, frogs, and poisonous plants with his metal hand. Echo doesn't have to worry about getting bitten/poisoned and Tech can get a close-up look. Best of both worlds!

LEGO couple. If you haven't seen them for 16 hours? They got deeply invested into space version of some NASA set with 4000 pieces. Echo will bite you if you interrupt them.

Echo doesn't handle cold weather, it reminds him too much of being stuck as a POW. This means that the Batch leaves him on the ship on arctic missions but it also means Tech gets him eight pairs of fluffy socks because he read on the holonet that those are the best for keeping warm. Nobody's allowed to point out that Echo no longer has feet to keep warm. Echo wears them anyway and has favourites.

Sometimes Echo uses his USB hand to lock Tech's datapad when Tech won't go to sleep

He has a body pillow because it helps when his hips hurt. It's custom printed to look like Tech. Tech gets irrationally jealous over seeing Echo cuddle it.

Tech can do that finger skateboard thing and Echo uniroincally thinks it's really clever of him and admires his tricks

Tech makes Echo a new arm that has a human-shaped hand on the end so it has a wider range of function. The USB comes out of the tip of Echo's middle finger, at Echo's request.

Echo shakes hands/takes things from people with his metal hand. Tech is the only exception.

Tech likes crouching and crawling around, instead of walking 'normally'. There's been a few times that his head's popped up from where he's been crawling around on the floor like a snake, and Echo almost kicked him in the face because it scared him.

Echo can do some Black Widow shit with his new metal legs. He tries them all out on Tech cause it gets Tech real hot and bothered

There's been several times that Tech runs away from making out because he had a breakthrough thought on some project. Echo is always a little mad about it.

Tech snores. Loudly. Echo always turns off his hearing aids and lets that be everyone else's problem. He likes the way Tech's chest moves against his when they're sleeping together.

Echo keeps the lights off and his shirt on when they're getting intimate for years. Lot of self-esteem issues related to how his body looks. It's Tech's unfailing admiration for the occasional shirtless look, that eventually helps Echo start to accept himself.

Tech's name in Echo's phone is 'cyare' and Echo's name in Tech's phone is 'Echo 💙'

Echo once casually refers to a 'honey-do list' and Tech needs a reboot because holy shit he's honey!!!

Everyone can always tell when they were making out because Echo has hickeys everywhere. At first he was embarrassed about it but nowadays he shows them off.

Rex once commented 'oh, wow, did Echo get hit in the throat?' and Tech spat his water across the table. That was how Rex found out they were hooking up.

Rex said he was going to give Tech the shovel talk and Tech immediately started talking over him about the types of screws used to connect shovel heads. Rex never got around to his part.

Tech and Echo always walk holding hands. Sometimes the rest of the Batch stops or changes directions, and Tech doesn't notice with his datapad two inches from his face, so Echo gently tugs him in the right direction.

Sometimes the rest of the Batch didn't stop or change direction, and Echo is pulling him into an alley to make out.

Tech still hasn't lived down the time he came back from a detour with Echo and then had to go back to find his codpiece.

They stargaze whenever they're planetside. Tech loves infodumping about the stars and Echo loves to listen. Tech custom-built a two-person lawn chair so they can put their feet up. Echo's fallen asleep cuddled up to him more times than even Tech can count.

Echo has to be physically direct with flirting, cause if he just says something like "wow you're hot", then Tech just says "yes thank you", and keeps doing what he's doing. Gotta distract him from his project by kissing him or sitting in his lap or something before Echo can get to the words part.

[nicoline1998enilocin]

After reading your last tony one shot, it's impossible not to ask you for another part with the reader getting pregnant again, please? 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

Welcome home, little one

PAIRING | Husband!Young!Tony Stark x Wife!Female!Reader

WORD COUNT | 5K

SUMMARY | Both you and Tony are ready to add another baby to your family, though getting to that point doesn't seem as easy as the two of you had hoped. A difficult pregnancy and even worse labor and delivery have you doubting everything, but when you're holding your new baby in your arms, you know it's been worth every second of pain and hardships; you'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

WARNING(S) | This is your official trigger warning. Do not proceed if any of these topics upset you. Smut ( praise kink, breeding kink, dirty talk, nipple play, fingering, oral (f receiving), slight spit play, unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it!), implied aftercare), angst ( difficulties with getting pregnant, complete emotional/ mental breakdown, extreme morning sickness, Reader accidentally wets herself, unplanned pregnancy, difficult labor, extreme loss of blood, emergency c-section ).

A/N | Thank you so much for your request, sweet Nonnie! I absolutely adore these two together and their little family, too! This fic took a turn I had not anticipated before starting this, but I hope you enjoy the route I took with this regardless! Oh, and a small sidenote... I WISH HE WOULD LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF EVERY SINGLE DAY?! 🖤

Likes, comments, and reblogs will be very much appreciated 💚

Divider is by @silkholland | 18+ banner is made by yours truly

Main Masterlist | Tony Stark Masterlist | AU Masterlist

Once a month, Orion and Hudson go to their grandparents' house for the weekend, so the two of you have the entire kingdom of your home for yourselves.

Howard and Maria adore the twins, and they're always excited to have a sleepover with grandma and grandpa, so you two make the best of every single weekend alone.

You and Tony spent most of the night making love to one another, and now you just woke up, cuddling into his arms, your legs tangled together, your head laying on his chest as you listened to his heartbeat.

''What would you think of having another baby?'' you say, seemingly grabbing the comment out of thin air, and Tony sits up straight within seconds, pushing you off in a not-so-elegant motion.

You land on the mattress with a huff, and you just lay there defeated; Tony quickly looks over at you to see if you're okay.

''Sorry, Sunshine, I wasn't sure I heard you correctly. Did you say you want to have another child?'' he says as he looks at you, and his hand moves to your cheek, rubbing it softly with his thumb.

''I did, yeah. The twins are growing too fast, and I'm ready to add another. I always dreamed of having a big family, after all,'' you say, and Tony can't help but feel his heart beat faster when you talk so lovingly about your kids and family.

''You guys are the absolute loves of my life, and I think one more little one would make life perfect,'' you say with a big smile, sighing softly at the thought of having another baby.

''I think that would indeed be perfect,'' Tony whispers as he leans towards you, capturing your lips in the softest, sweetest kiss, moving his lips in sync with yours as you open them, giving him access to explore your mouth with his tongue.

He crawls over you after pulling away, letting his hips roll slowly over your mount and onto your stomach, shy of where you need him.

His arms are caging you in, his forehead pressed against yours as he looks deep into your eyes, breathing warm air over your lips with every roll of his hips, and it is at this moment you're very grateful you don't have two kids in the house to interrupt you.

''I'm going to take good care of you today, Sunshine. I'll make you fall apart over and over again until all you can think of is me. There won't be a single worry in your mind, not a single thought other than how good I will make you feel,'' he says between kisses that trail down your body.

When his mouth reaches your breasts, he takes his time to pay attention to each of your nipples while soft moans keep tumbling from your lips, and the wetness between your legs only grows.

His tongue licks circles around the peaked bud before lapping over it and sucking it into his mouth, making your back arch as his hand plays with the other one, rolling and squeezing your nipple and kneading your breast itself. You can feel that you're slipping into a fuzzy headspace.

His hips keep rolling against the mattress as he's making his way down, as he is very much in need of some friction, but he doesn't allow himself enough to get off on it, wanting to feel you squeeze around him later.

''T-Tony,'' you moan softly when he bites down softly on your nipple, and the groan leaving your body at the sting has him twitching, and precum drips from him at the sound.

''You're doing so good for me, Sunshine, being a perfect girl,'' Tony praises, and it makes you feel good, making you slip further into your favorite fuzzy headspace.

After giving both your nipples the same treatment, he trails his kisses down your stomach, his hands wander down your sides and underneath your ass, where he squeezes playfully before letting them wander onto your thighs, his trail of kisses going down your right thigh first, before taking the same path upwards over your left one.

When his mouth reaches your inner thighs, he spreads your legs apart, making enough room for him to fit perfectly as he drapes your legs over his shoulders, his teeth nibbling softly on the sensitive skin, earning him small whines as he bursts of pleasure shoot through you.

''Tony, please,'' you beg, not knowing what you're begging for now. All you know is that he makes you feel so good, and you only want more. More pleasure, more Tony, more everything.

''Hmm, it's so nice when you beg for me, Sunshine, but you don't even know what you're begging for, do you? Just begging for all I'm giving you and more, huh?'' Tony says as his hot breath glides over your folds, where you need him more than anywhere else.

You're too deep into the fuzziness to comprehend what he's saying entirely, and answering is next to impossible now, but he's still trying to get one out of you to tease a little bit.

''Have you already gone fuckdumb for me, Sunshine? Haven't touched you yet, and you already can't seem to think straight,' he says with a big smile, your back only arching as his lips ghost over your folds.

''Y-yes,'' you croak out, and his tongue licks a big stripe from your entrance to your clit while his hips slowly roll against the mattress so he won't go insane.

A loud gasp escapes your lips as his thumb pushes onto your clit and makes small but tight circles, and your hands are trying to find anything to hold onto, to ground yourself as you're overcome with a lot of pleasure.

''Good girl,'' Tony groans before replacing his thumb with his tongue, switching between licking, sucking, and nibbling your clit as he builds you up and up, waiting for the coil inside you to snap.

Your breath rapidly quickens as you get closer, and your back arches as he keeps licking and sucking, your hands finding their place in his hair as you tug on it, waiting for the pleasure to flow over.

''G-God, 'm cumming!'' you scream out, your back arching and your hips rolling against Tony's face as he licks you through your orgasm, his hips stopping their motions before he cums all over the sheets.

He grunts as you tug on his hair, and the vibrations only prolong your orgasm, but before this one is entirely over, his fingers find their way to your entrance, plunging them in with one smooth motion, and you let out a pornographic moan at the feeling.

''Fuck! M-more, please!'' you beg Tony, and he does, moving his fingers in and out in a steady motion, his mouth still attached to your clit before bending his fingers and sending you headfirst into your second orgasm.

Tears are streaming down your face from pleasure, overflowing as you're coming down from your high, aftershocks of your orgasm still wracking through you as your legs tremble, and you can't think straight anymore.

''Such a perfect girl for me, Sunshine. Fucking love it when you cum for me like that; you taste sweet as damn honey for me. Can never get enough of tasting you as you fall apart for me,'' Tony whispers in your ear as he's hovering over you again, his cock leaking beads of precum onto your stomach.

His lips find yours, and you let out a broken moan as you taste yourself on his lips. If you weren't ready to have another baby with this man before, you are now.

The two of you were wrapped up in a little make-out session until your hand wandered lower, wrapping itself around Tony's still-hard cock and slowly moving it up and down at a teasing pace.

''I still want you to put a baby in me, Love,'' you say as Tony trails his kisses down to your neck, grabbing your arms and twisting you around simultaneously so you're straddling him.

''If you want me so bad, why don't you ride me so deliciously? Ride me and squeeze my cock with that tight pussy until I fuck my cum deep inside you,'' he groans, and you lean forward, capturing his lips with yours this time.

Your hips roll against his cock, which is trapped between your dripping cunt and his stomach, and the squelching sound coming from you only makes you more turned on.

When you slide forward enough to stimulate his tip and his back arches, your hands find their way into his messy hair, pulling him impossibly closer as your tongues slide into his mouth, your hips not stopping what they're doing.

''S-Sunshine, need you to use me,'' Tony says because he goes feral when you use him as your fucktoy, doing everything you want to him for your pleasure.

He doesn't give up control in the bedroom often since he loves to take his time and make such sweet, perfect love to you for hours on end, but when he does this, he will always feel like he's on top of the world.

''Yeah? Are you going to be a good boy and let me use you however I please? Gonna let me fuck you until you're completely dry, and your cum is leaking out of my tight pussy?'' you ask, and Tony's eyes widen at your words, nodding rapidly.

''Alright, but only because you're being a perfect fucktoy for me right now,'' you say as you squeeze his cheeks with your fingers, and he opens his mouth before you spit into it and make him swallow it.

The moan leaving his chest lets you know just how good you make him feel right now, and with one more roll of your hips, you let him know you're feeling amazing as well. You lift your hips, impatient, and need him to fuck you right here and now.

You slowly sink when he's lined up with your entrance, his preparation helping immensely as you get used to his stretch inside your tight walls. Even after giving birth to two children, nature has gifted you a tight pussy, for which Tony is eternally grateful.

His sliding in has you moaning loudly, and Tony can't help but squeeze your hips as you adjust to his position because it always feels like you can feel him so much deeper like this.

''Fuck, 's like a vice, Sunshine,'' you say as you clench around his length, your head falling back as you start rolling your hips a little, enough to give you a bit of pleasure but not enough to get you both off yet.

''This dick feels so fucking good inside my pussy; I can't wait for you to fill me up and get me pregnant again. That's what you want, right, to see me all around with your child again? Yeah, such a needy slut for me when I'm fucking pregnant, fucking me every chance you get, and drinking my milk too, huh?'' you say as you keep rolling your hips while Tony desperately tries to thrust up, but without success.

''I don't think so,'' you say as you lean back, effectively pinning his hips to the bed with your weight. ''You're only supposed to take what I give you because that's what you need, right? All you need to do is lay there and be pretty for me, so I can fuck myself dumb on this cock, and you can get me nice and round again,'' you say, and Tony swallows thickly at your sharp tone but nods.

''Good boy,'' you say before picking up your hips and sinking again with quite a bit of force. Tony is completely taken off guard by it, and he gasps as pleasure builds in his veins, bones, and soul.

You keep this going at a nice and slow pace while building both of you up until you're almost there, and you lean forward to whisper into Tony's ear.

''Please, fuck our future child into me,'' you say with a breathy moan, and before you know it, you're laying on your back, your knees pressed into your chest, and Tony's fucking you with such vigor he's completely breathless.

''Fuck, I will fuck this cum so deep into you, it'll have no other way to go than into you, Sunshine. Going to get you so fucking pregnant again, see you growing round and perfect for me as you carry my baby again,'' he groans, and with those words, he shoots his cum deep inside you with a loud moan of your name.

You're falling apart simultaneously, and he fucks you both through your orgasms until you're completely fucked out, and he pulls out. When he sees his cum leaking out of you, he scoops it up and pushes it back into your pussy, wanting it to stick and get you pregnant.

''You're always my perfect girl, and I can't wait until you're glowing like last time when you carried the twins,'' he says as he peppers soft kisses all over your face before the two of you take a relaxing shower and spend the rest of the day on the couch.

Getting pregnant this time proved more difficult than anticipated, and you've done many pregnancy tests each time you're late, but to no avail. After about the 3rd or 4th time, you were ready to give up and accept that it wasn't in the cards for you, but Tony convinced you to keep going.

''We don't have to try again right away, Sunshine. If you want to wait a little while, that's okay too; your physical and mental health goes before anything else, okay?'' he says as you look at another negative pregnancy test after you've been so sure this time would be the one.

''I d-don't know if I-I can d-do this a-anymore,'' you say between lots of sniffles, the reality of yet another negative test slowly sinking into you, making you more discouraged than ever.

''It's okay, Sunshine, c'mere,'' Tony says as he pulls you into his chest, holding you close as sobs wreak havoc in your body. You can't take it anymore, and you're having a complete breakdown. You're feeling more spent than ever, and you know you can't keep going like this.

You decided to stop trying for about a year to get your cycle on track again, and maybe your hormone levels, too, since it could be one of the causes of your late periods.

That is until one faithful morning in early June, an alarming wave of nausea suddenly wakes you up, and you quickly run to the bathroom, just in time to throw up everything in your stomach and then some.

Tony was by your side instantly, holding your hair back with one hand and rubbing your back soothingly with the other. The cramps in your stomach are unlike anything you've ever felt before, and because of the force of your throwing up, you accidentally wet yourself, too, which you hadn't noticed as you were too busy trying to stop dry-heaving.

When you figure that out, you burst into tears, embarrassment flooding your body as you let your head fall, but Tony doesn't comment on it, knowing it'll only make you feel worse.

''Let's take a shower together,'' he says softly before standing up and turning on the shower so it can warm up before you get in, and he shoots Maria a quick text to take care of the twins. It's a good thing you're at his parents' house for a week.

He slowly gets you out of the pajamas you were wearing and throws them onto a pile to be washed right after your shower before getting into the shower with you, where you're shivering despite standing under the warm water.

Tears are still streaming down your face as he wraps his arms around you, and you two stand underneath the warm water, your arms holding his body tight to your own as you allow your emotions to take over for now.

Tony is your safe space; with him, you're finally letting go of all the emotions bottled up for so long. From the acting career, you never got to have, early parenthood, not having your father in your life, being unable to get pregnant, and so much more. Everything has been building up and leading to this point.

It will be a ride with more difficulties than you could have foreseen.

During the shower, Tony helps you wash your hair - giving you a relaxing scalp massage - and your body without mentioning what happened earlier. It was already embarrassing enough, and before you know it, you're clean and wearing your comfiest outfit, glasses, and hair loose around your shoulders.

''You're doing so well for me, Sunshine. You're doing perfectly. Shall we see our little Munchkins?'' he asks after putting on his comfy outfit and glasses.

''That'd be nice,'' you say. Tony throws the clothing from earlier in the washing machine, letting it do its thing before guiding you to the living room where Hudson and Orion are watching cartoons with Howard; Maria is in the kitchen making breakfast.

Orion spotted you first, and she happily trots over to you, and you let her arms surround you, pulling you in for a hug. It doesn't take long for Hudson to do the same; you're fighting back the tears right now.

You go and sit on your knees before them before talking to them. ''I love you both so much, you know that? You two are our little miracles, and I'm happy that I'm your Mommy,'' you say, and they both wrap their arms around your neck, each hugging one side of your face.

''We love you too, Mommy,'' Orion says, and she plants a big kiss on your cheek, which makes you giggle; Hudson does the same, making you chuckle as well, and Tony can't help but smile when he hears your two angels as they make you giggle like that.

''Can the two of you sit on the couch and watch your cartoon for a few minutes? I need to whisk Grandpa away to talk to him,'' you tell the two of them, and Howard gets up, following you to his office.

''Is everything okay?'' he asks as you close the door behind you and sit in one of the chairs in front of Howard's desk.

''I- I'm not sure... As you know, Tony and I have had many difficulties conceiving another child. Still, we might have gotten lucky by accident,'' you say, a small smile creeping onto your lips because you know it's too early to tell by now.

''Earlier today, I had this awful wave of morning sickness, and it's worse than it was with the twins, but I don't know if it's that or if I just ate something bad yesterday,'' you say, unsure of what Howard will say. But there's a reason you're trusting him with this information.

''Have you had the chance to do a test yet? I get that it's still early, but after everything the two of you have gone through, it might be good to take a test and know for sure, even if you might not like the outcome of it,'' he says, but you shake your head.

''W-We didn't think we'd need them anytime soon. We've only stopped actively trying about six months ago, and even though I'm on birth control now, I'm sure it could have slipped through,'' you sigh, and Howard nods.

''Well, what do you hope for the result to be?'' he asks, and it's a heavy question to which you're not sure you have an answer. On the one hand, you've been wanting another baby for so long, but on the other hand, you're not sure you're ready after all the negative tests lately.

''Honestly? I don't know, and that makes me feel horrible,'' you sigh, fighting back the tears.

''It's normal to not know what you want, especially after everything you've gone through for the last year. It's best if you talk to Tony about it and take a test together, so you both know what's happening, and we can take it from there,'' Howard says as he grabs your hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

Tony had a similar conversation with his Mom in the kitchen, too.

''Mom? Can I talk to you for a few minutes?'' he asks as he walks into the kitchen and leans with his butt against the counter, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

''Of course, what's going on?'' she says as she flips the French toast in the pan, which sports a beautiful golden brown color.

''I'm worried about her, Mom. I think she had a wave of morning sickness this morning, but it wasn't anything like with the twins; it was as if this had been quadrupled,'' Tony sighs as he thinks back to your hunched-over form earlier this morning.

''Is she pregnant again?'' Maria asks, but Tony shrugs.

''We haven't done a test yet, but I doubt it since she's on birth control. It's not like we were actively trying or anything,'' he says, watching Maria scoops the French toast onto a plate before adding new ones to the pan.

''Maybe start there,'' she says, and you do. After breakfast, Tony will get a few tests just to be sure while you're cuddled up on the couch with the twins and a nice thick blanket. You're watching the same movie for the hundredth time, but you don't mind because it makes them happy, which also makes you happy.

When Tony returns, you quickly take the tests; this time, there is no denying it; every test indicates you are pregnant. After all the hardships and negative tests, you've been blessed with a little one for your family.

This pregnancy has been tough so far; the morning sickness never disappears until you finally enter your third trimester. You are on strict bedrest now because the doctor doesn't want to put you under any more stress right now.

''Can I get you anything, Sunshine? Something to drink, some snacks? Another pillow? A few kisses?'' Tony asks as you get situated on your couch. Today is your first day of bed rest, and you're already restless.

''I can always go for some kisses,'' you say, and Tony happily provides, pecking your lips sweetly before you lean back, letting yourself sink into the pillows behind you as you get situated with the snacks and drinks close by, as well as your laptop, tablet, the remote for the tv and a few books.

''I'm going to pick up Virginia from the airport; I'll be home in a few hours, okay? If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask my Mom; she'll be here in less than 10 minutes when necessary,'' he says as if it's the first time you hear it.

''I know! Now go, or else my Mom will be waiting,'' you say, and with a playful smack on his butt, you send him on his way. Today is the twins' school day, so that they won't be home; Howard will pick them up and bring them by later tonight.

You were quickly used to the bedrest, but the further your pregnancy progressed, the more restless you became. You're used to doing everything around the house, and you feel bad for Tony since he had to stop filming for a pretty big film, forgoing one of the most prominent roles of his career.

''I'd do it each and everytime for you, Sunshine. You're more important than anything right now,'' he says, and even though you love the attention, it can get a bit much sometimes. Though in the nearly five years you and Tony have been married, you've never fought, and you weren't planning on starting now.

''Love, can I please have some time by myself?'' you ask, and Tony nods, giving one last kiss on your head before leaving you alone and doing his own thing for now.

This routine continued until you were about to hit the eighth month of your pregnancy when everything suddenly changed quickly.

''T-TONY! HELP!'' you screamed out, and he was by your bed within no time. You had already pushed back the comforter to see what was happening, and your water had broken already. It was still early, but you couldn't stop it now, so you went to the hospital.

The drive was smooth, and before you know it, you're in the labor and delivery ward of the hospital. Hudson and Orion are with Howard at home, and Virginia and Maria are with both of you in the hospital.

Every few minutes, a contraction rushed through your body, and you would scream from the pain, squeezing Tony's hand so hard you were afraid you might have broken it at one point.

''FUUUUUCK! GET HIM OUT OF ME ALREADY!'' you yell when the nurse checks how far you are dilated, and you're finally ready to push. Your doctor arrives quickly; before you know it, you're allowed to push until it suddenly feels like you're peeing.

''Stop pushing! You're losing a lot of blood, and we need to do an emergency c-section!'' she said, but you were at the point where you couldn't stop pushing, feeling like you needed to go to the toilet badly.

''C-can't stop!'' you say with a whine, but before you know it, you're wheeled to the operating room that's only a few doors down and brought under for an emergency c-section.

Tony, Maria, and Virginia are left in the room, utterly dumbfounded at what happened. The entire hospital is decorated with Christmas decorations, but here they were, fearing for your life and your son.

There was no Holiday cheer for them right now. Their Christmas Eve might have turned into the worst day of their lives without them knowing because no one is telling them anything.

After what seems like an eternity, one of the nurses in the operating room approaches Tony and pulls him apart from Maria and Virginia.

''Your wife has lost a lot of blood because her placenta ruptured, and we didn't want to risk the baby's health. Both mother and son are alive and well, though it will be a long recovery for her,'' the nurse says before returning to the operating room.

Tony falls against the wall before sliding down, his hands in his hair while sobs leave his chest and tears stream like hot tracks down his face. His wife and baby are okay; his family is finally complete.

''They're okay,'' he breathes out as Maria and Virginia walk over, and they both pull him in for a big hug, crying along with him as they are relieved you're both okay.

You're staying in the hospital for a week after the c-section, and three days into your stay, Howard, Maria, and Virginia are coming over to visit you three with the twins, as they've been very excited to meet their little brother.

Since you couldn't celebrate a proper Christmas, the twins are both wearing a Christmas sweater with ''Big Brother'' or ''Big Sister'' on it, and the grandparents are wearing wacky Christmas sweaters as well, along with some presents for everyone.

Tony was holding your newborn son in his arms since you're not allowed to lift too much yet; seeing how fresh your wound is, you're allowed to hold him during breastfeeding, which is good.

''Hi Mommy, hi Daddy!'' the twins say in unison, and they both run over to Tony, who swiftly needs to step back.

''Careful, Munchkins, I'm holding your little brother, and we wouldn't want anything to happen to him,'' he says before sitting down in a chair behind him, and you can't help but tear up as you see Hudson and Orion be so gentle with their brother.

''He looks like Hudson,'' Orion says with a big smile, and you nod.

''He does! But he also looks like you, Babygirl, because he may have a similar face to Hudson, but he is hiding the same curls as you under his little hat. He's the perfect combination of both of you,'' you say, and Tony shows what you're talking about.

Orion gasped happily when she saw, and she gently touched his hair, making both you and Tony melt as you looked at your twins with their little brother.

''But what is his name, Mommy?'' Hudson suddenly asks, and all eyes are on you, making you a little nervous.

''Tony and I have thought long and hard about his name and decided to give him an exceptional name. His full name is Paxton Howard Stark,'' you say before looking at Howard, whose jaw was almost on the floor.

''Can you come here, Howard? Because I want to thank you for everything you have done these past years. You stepped in as my Dad when my own couldn't handle the responsibility, and I am eternally grateful. Because of that, I wanted to give you the biggest Christmas gift of all - after Paxton being born on Christmas Day, that is -which is to name him after the best grandfather he'll ever have,'' you say, and you reach out to Howard to wipe the tears from his cheeks.

''Thank you so much for everything you've taught me these past years and for allowing me to show you what you've missed out on in your youth. You're like the daughter I always wish I had, and now that we have you, we're never letting you go. After giving us the wonderful gift of our three grandchildren, you will forever have a special place in our hearts and homes. I love you, and thank you for giving me the amazing honor of naming him after me,'' Howard says before leaning forward and giving a kiss on your forehead.

The afternoon is spent cooing over Paxton, feeding him, sleeping, looking over your wound, opening presents, laughing, crying, and talking.

When you're finally allowed to go home a few days later, Tony carries Paxton in his carrier as he walks into your house; Virginia, Maria, Howard, Hudson, and Orion are already inside. Now it's just the three of you left, and you can't help but say it after everything you've gone through.

''Welcome home, little one.''