my thesis is currently at 9200 words/ 10,000.

i have a full chapter and a conclusion left in my plan.

20 and 23 with uh, whichever you prefer?

Grollow! The babies

20. How do they comfort each other when one of them is upset? Is this method of comfort effective?

Shatter: Hollow hovers close, starting with giving love through acts of service. They're very, very quiet but also there for everything he might want, all the smallest things - they know exactly, after a while in the relationship, what might comfort him and better his mood. If that doesn't help, they gently nudge him to talk, tall them what happened and how he's feeling about it; after he does, they validate that and then try to search for an answer (what set him off so bad and how to avoid it in the future? why does he feel like his reaction is unreasonable, maybe?) or for a solution. They're definitely the type to go "who upset you. i just want to talk to them. who did it." while holding a nail in their hand. Grimm goes for distraction tactics a whole lot. If he notices they're upset, he will go out of his way to "annoy" them, mostly just telling them random pleasant stuff (a lot of eloquent "i love you"s may get dropped - they act like they hate that, but it helps them immensely and he knows it) and making cute noises/cuddling them if they feel up for it. If the upset's bad, he will drop everything and just straight up ask them to talk. No assumptions, no hidden meanings, everything that they're thinking despite how unpleasant and ugly it may be. Usually, just talking out loud and having him direct them towards a resolution solves the upset.

Dreams: Hollow stays close with a very, very big puppy eyes often, not sure how to really help - they ask how he'd like them to help rather than do stuff silently. Bad upsets they're great at solving and working through emotions; they're honestly great at that whenever it's not them feeling those emotions. Where they'd doubt their own reasonable-ness, they will tell him every time that what he's feeling is very real and very worthy of upset. Grimm is, like Cutie, the type to have his hands on fire and ready to incinerate whoever hurt them. (It's true for other Troupe members as well: he's very, very protective and possessive of them all.) He gets angry for them very easily, and it scares them at the very beginning, before they get used to it and begin to feel very, very safe. Oftentimes, he won't drop his bantering/teasing tone with them even when solving upsets - but if it's bad, he will go serious immediately, and has quite a talent for finding that one phrase that can make them reconsider the entire situation and see another perspective on it, thus solving the primary issue of "i shouldn't be upset in the first place" and letting them move on to the actual fixing of the problem.

23. What are the defining characteristics of their relationship?

Both AUs: trust. Trust and understanding. Understanding of each other so deep that they don't need words or any other communication to know what they need to know. IE: Shatter Hollow sees cues in Grimm that no one else, save for one of the Troupe members, does. They know how to react to all of those. They know how to enhance the best of his days and how to make the worst of those better. It works in reverse as well. They both know what the other is really feeling, no matter how much they may try to hide that. And it doesn't matter how they act on the surface, as is more prominently the case with Dreams pairing: they're way less straightforwardly mushy and they both suffer from the Wordy Bitch Disease, but they just don't... misunderstand one another after a while. Because love, to all of them, is safety. It's home. It's a place where you will never be invalidated or belittled, where you never have to watch your step lest you shatter the thin ice you're walking on. It's knowing that no matter what you do, no matter how much you fuck up, no matter how much you hurt and what words you say, the other will not give up on you without trying. "I don't want to require you - I want to want you. I want to be on my own, a full piece with no parts missing, and choose you despite that. Over and over, every waking and dreaming moment, I want you to improve something already great."