#typically they really don't actually argue or have serious conflicts almost ever

[snuggles-and-struggles]

Relationships aren't always roses and frills. Woe post of flaws be upon ye

Unfortunately, there's no amount of learning to communicate better that makes it always completely smooth sailing. Stretch is fickle and locks up, and Edge will just entirely avoid things depending on what the issue is, and what's upsetting either or both.

Stretch really isn't a talker by nature, at least not about his own problems. It's one of his biggest hurdles to overcome when opening up to someone, and even then there are times he just...can't. Pressing or coaxing, from either party, usually just ends with Stretch snapping angrily or slipping into a pretty serious avoidant depressive state.

Also why he struggles to get into therapy. It's like the more negative the feelings brought on by it are, the harder it gets to find words or verbalize at all. It can be incredibly frustrating and overwhelming.

And while Edge has certainly come to understand this about Stretch, he can also be very...difficult to read at times. Depending on mood or cause of a dip, a wide variety of things can help. But unfortunately that also means a wide variety of things can hurt if Edge doesn't read the situation correctly.

His mother hen type nature can exacerbate this more so, because Edge really struggles with letting someone he cares about deal with something on their own. Especially if he’s not fully confident it's actually helping them, which it doesn't always for Stretch.

As for Edge.

To put it bluntly, Edge is sensitive. Once he’s opened himself up to someone, it is ten million times easier to hurt him. And wounds tend to linger. What makes it worse is that, rather than frustrate him and turn into a grudge of sorts, usually, regardless of how angry or upset he had been at the time, his mind will mold it back around and he will see it as a failing on his end, to at least some degree.

His mind runs on a bit of a feedback loop, and when something "fails", he internalizes it. Tries to recalibrate. In a perpetual state of learning and adapting, which isn't always good. He’s essentially trying to shape himself into whatever "works best" for the situation, in this case, the relationship, and that means even if it's not necessarily what works best for him.

Coincidentally, a large part of why he avoids and represses things. Anything he suspects could be a point of conflict, well, if he never acknowledges it, then it'll never be an issue, right? And it's honestly more subconscious than anything, stemming from it being ground into his mind from a very young age to only ever really openly acknowledge "important" and "relevant" things, and to keep everything else to himself as much as possible.

Given how important honesty is to Stretch, obviously this is a point of contention in and of itself. But because of the whole "sensitive" thing, he really has to find ways to...not be angry at Edge. Not to an unhealthy degree, but coming at Edge in a state of frustration is not going to end in either of them bettering the situation.

Of course, this also leads to Stretch sometimes needing time away to calm down and try to figure the actual root of the problem, how to approach it and address it in a clearer way. But when he does this in a bad mood, especially if in the middle of/end of an argument, Edge gets very, incredibly stressed. No matter how frustrated he gets with Stretch, he hates upsetting him, and so when Stretch ejects like that, even though they've both come to learn why and its importance, he gets incredibly worked up.

Depending on what the conflict was over, he gets very frustrated and has to work out the anger, or he becomes deeply self flagellating, mentally punishing himself for how badly he handled the situation or if he feels he was the cause.

Stretch of course isn't a stranger to being overly critical of himself, either, but the way both of them are self destructive is quite different. It didn't take long for Stretch to realize when Edge gets in a headspace like that it can literally be detrimental to how he will perceive their conflicts or relationship overall going forward.

If it was not very clear by this point, they both have a very significant problem with trying to prioritize the other to even their own detriment, which the other is usually aware of and only fucking. Ouroboroses the situation.

They both deeply resent being a strain on the other, but sometimes toes are stepped on. Sometimes they argue. Sometimes they say something that hurts the other and it happens. It happens in every relationship. And they are both frankly terrible at accepting this.

Thankfully though, Edge usually does wind up in therapy. And thanks to that and Stretch and educating himself more on his own time, and Stretch coming to realize a lot of his own bad behaviors usually wind up hurting Edge, too, they've both become a lot more self aware, and work on these things at their own paces.

As for some less serious flaws.

Stretch is really easily bothered by "scraping" noises, so sometimes Edge's cooking makes him want to scream. Not always. But the sound of the knife on a cutting board, silverware on ceramic dishes, etc etc. Edge also grinds his teeth sometimes, which falls into the same category. Luckily he can usually dissuade him from it with kisses.

Stretch likes all colours. All of them. Even the ugly ones that Edge knows will clash terribly but it's Stretch's house too and if he really. Really wants that god awful rug well. Then maybe they can just put it in a room he will not be spending much time in. This reaches beyond home furnishings of course.

Edge's strange tastes in music can be deeply antagonistic for Stretch but he won't say so because he loves when Edge vibes to music while he cooks or bakes or cleans and he doesn't wanna take that away from him. Even if he does have to sometimes wear headphones in his own dang house to block out whatever travesty Edge put on.

Stretch loves fireworks. Fireworks deeply upset Edge. Even though Edge tells him to go off and enjoy fireworks with friends on the relevant holidays, Stretch insists on staying with him to help him stay calm.

Stretch loves to repeat stupid phrases he picked up online. Sometimes they are extremely stupid. And Edge has to accept the fact he will do it in public.

Edge puts off ungodly amounts of heat for one single monster. He is also extremely cuddly and takes it personally when Stretch won't snuggle with him. This can make summer difficult, at times.

Stretch is a teaser by nature, and Edge is usually fine with it...but. Sometimes the line gets crossed a little, and neither are happy about it.

They sometimes bicker for fun. Sometimes it becomes a little too real and they wind up actually a little annoyed at each other. Usually it's fixed with laughing about how stupid it was and kissing <3