"For god's sake woman, I told you I'd be fine."

"I'm just trying to make sure. This is the first time… you know..."

Hody rolled his eyes. Ever since Turq had been born, both of them had been busy watching after their bundle of stoic joy. Topaz in particular rarely ever left the boy's side, and never for more than a few minutes. It was very clear her motherly instincts were in overdrive, but it was also clear she was tired.

Looking after a newborn wasn't easy and Hody, while doing his best, still had responsibilities towards the kingdom to take care off. He had his parents to help him, and every moment he had he made sure to spend time with Topaz and his son of course. He was by no means absent. But it was Topaz who was caring the most for the newborn right now.

Today however was going to be different. Today she was going to get a break. A well deserved one. Hody had cleared his schedule. No royal duties, no meetings, nothing at all. He was going to spend the day with his son, and Topaz was going to have a girl's night out with her friends… if she would just relax and go already anyway.

"You're gonna call and let me know if something happens, right?" she asked, looking worried. She knew Hody was competent. He could look after Turq just fine. And she did admit she could definitely use a break. A day at the hotsprings with the others sounded relaxing. But… she had never been away from Turq this long.

Hody nodded. "Yes. Not that anything is going to, but if something happens I will call you immediately," he assured. "Now stop worrying and go. I have this handled."

Topaz sighed. "Yeah, I know," she said. She knew she was worrying too much. It was one day. It wasn't like the caste was going to burn down or anything. "But… sorry, I still called in a little back up. His uncle is on his way."

Hody looked confused. "Twister?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Twister doesn't know how to take care of no newborn Hody. I meant his real uncle," she said crossing her arms.

Hody's eyes widened. "You didn't…"

"Look, I know you and Astro don't exactly get along, but… the guy knows how to take care of babies. I've seen it. Just… your folks are busy today, and it'd make me feel better, okay? So please just let him help you?" It wasn't like Astro was her first pick either, but the guy knew what he was doing. He was so good with Turq, and two heads were better than one.

Hody scowled. He felt a little annoyed that she thought he needed his help. He had been doing a great job being a parent! Why did he need that fool here? But when he looked at Topaz's face, he couldn't help but soften up. If this was going to get her out of the house and able to relax a bit, he'd suffer through it.

"Fine…"

Topaz smiled. "Thanks big daddy," she leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Who knows, may it don't be so bad. Your sister is right. You two have way more in common than you wanna admit."

Hody just grunted. He would let Astro come, sure, but he wasn't about to be shown up by him again. Turq was his son, and he knew how to take care of him on his own. If Astro didn't respect that and fall in line, he'd kick him right out.

"WAAAAAHHHH!"

Hody winced as he walked back and forth and bounced Turq gently in his arms. "C'mon little man, what's wrong? What are you throwing such a fit for?" he asked. The boy had suddenly just started screaming out of nowhere.

"Did you need any help?"

Hody narrowed his eyes and looked over towards Astro, who was sitting near the table chopping something. "If I wanted your help, I'd have asked for it," he said annoyed.

Astro just hummed. "Alright then."

Hody turned back towards his son and tried to calm him down. "C'mon Turq. What's going on? Are you hungry? It doesn't smell like you need a change," he said, giving him a sniff. Nope, he would have smelled it for sure.

"You had it right the first time," Astro called.

Hody growled. "I tried feeding him earlier…"

"You tried feeding him from a bottle. He's not going to eat that," Astro said as he got up and walked towards them with a plate. "Topaz isn't here, so he's not going to pretend he doesn't want something solid."

Hody looked at him as if he were crazy. "Are you out of your mind? He's a newborn, he can't eat anything-" Turq reached out and grabbed one of the pieces of chicken from his plate before shoving it in his mouth. Hody watched as his son began chomping away at the meal. "What the…?"

Astro just watched as his nephew scarfed down the food happily. He had remembered his father telling him Titan children took to solid food very quickly. When they were with their mothers, they fed as any normal children did. But that was more about being close with their mothers than anything else.

"How did you know?" Hody asked.

"He's a half-breed." A titan half-breed, but Astro still didn't know if he felt comfortable telling him that yet. "You may think he's just half mewman and half monster, and between you both you should have it covered, but it's not that simple. He's something entirely different. A new species."

"I know that…" Hody said irritated.

Astro narrowed his eyes. "Do you?" he asked. "There are things about him that might not apply to one or either of you. There are things he might have neither of you expected. You have to be ready," he warned.

"Are you seriously trying to lecture me on how to be a father?" Hody asked, scoffing.

"I'm telling you how to take care of a half-breed, which is something only a handful of people in mewni can do."

"I know already. Coral told me about-"

"This is different."

"How?"

"Because I said it is," Astro said, gritting his teeth. "This isn't like Dottie, or Meteora, or even me. Each one is different, just like each species in mewni is different. You have to learn those differences. You have to."

Hody bawled his fist up. "You think I'm not willing to put in the effort to take care of my own son?" he asked, trying and failing to hide his anger.

Astro scoffed. "Are you joking? If there's one thing I can say I've learned about you over the years it's that you're too stupid and stubborn not to try literally anything. It's the only semi-redeeming quality you have," he said.

Hody snorted at the backhanded compliment. "Whatever. I don't need your help."

"Maybe you don't, but he does," Astro said looking down at Turq. The infant reached out towards him, and Hody reluctantly handed him over. "He's going to need all the help he can get. Trust me, I know." Turq reached out and grabbed at his teeth, and Astro leaned his head back. "He has an obsession with sharp teeth…"

Hody hummed. "Yeah, he always reaches for mine and his grandmother's," he said reaching out and gently touching his son's head. "I still can't believe I made him." It was just… shocking sometimes. Knowing this little thing was half of him. He was so small and amazing and perfect. It didn't seem possible.

"Yeah, me neither."

"Oh shut up!"

Astro was about to respond, but then his eyes widened. He quickly handed Turq back to his father. "Well, I fed him. This part is up to you," he said.

Hody looked at him confused. "What are you talking…" He stopped when a familiar scent caught his nose. He scowled and looked down at his son, who had a content look on his face. "Shit!"

"That's the idea…"

Hody would never get used to the assault on his senses that came with changing a diaper. His son's waste could be used as ammo on the battlefield with how foul it smelled. "Uh, I'm not feeding him any more solid food. Not if it comes out like this," Hody said, disgusted.

"Hey, that was his first bit of solid food. The rest of that came from whatever Topaz is pumping out, so blame her," Astro said. He had a mask over his face, his senses being far more vulnerable to the stench that Hody's. "By the way, watch out."

"Watch out for-? Ah!" Hody barely managed to move out of the way as a stream of urine shot towards his face. "Good lord!"

"That's an impressive stream," Astro commented.

"Is he aiming at me?!"

"If so it's an impressive aim too."

"How can such a tiny body produce so much waste?! This shouldn't be possible!"

Things finally seemed to die down, and Hody was able to start getting a new diaper on him. Or at least attempting to anyway. Astro sighed. "Just let me do it," Astro said.

"I can handle putting a diaper on my own son. How would you know how to change a diaper anyway?" he asked annoyed.

"I changed Nia's diaper when she was a baby."

"What? You were only four?"

Astro shrugged. "I wanted to help my mother out any way possible. So I watched her and my grandmother, and I learned how to change diapers, make formulas, put her to sleep. Anything to help make it a little easier," he said.

Hody watched as Astro wrapped up the diaper and lifted him up. "There we go. Clean diaper and ready to take on the world," he said smiling at him. Turq smiled and reached out, grabbing onto one of Astro's horns. "Your child seems to be much too fascinated with my most dangerous traits. Is that something you should be concerned about?"

"Yeah, he didn't get that from me. I blame Topaz," Hody said. Between all the bloody violent lullabies and just her people's battle minded culture in general, he felt it was fair to put that on her. Not that he minded much. He knew his son was going to be a fighter.

Astro hummed. "So… what's it like?" he asked.

"What?"

"Being a father?"

Hody looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Why are you asking that suddenly? Are you and my sister expecting…?" He didn't even really want to finish the question.

"No," Astro said, shaking his head. "Not yet. But someday maybe… I guess I'm just curious is all. How it feels to be a father."

Hody crossed his arms. "It's scary," he said leaning against the counter. "And it's also amazing. Whenever I'm holding him, or just looking at him, I feel so happy and proud. Mistakes or the royal court be damned, I'd do it all over again. But… it's also a little worrying. I just want to…"

"Be a good father?" Astro asked. Hody stared at him, and then nodded. "My father said the same thing. So did my grandfather. I think being sort of scared is just unavoidable."

Hody nodded. "You're probably right. But the good vastly outweighs the bad I think," he said as he reached over and poked Turq's cheek. The boy made a noise before grabbing onto his finger. And biting onto them. It didn't hurt, which he'd honestly been concerned about after he'd seen him wolf down that food.

"I'm going to kill anything that ever tries to hurt him…" Astro stared at him looking a bit surprised, and he glared back. "Oh what, do you think that sounds crazy?"

Astro kept staring at him, and then sighed. "No, I just… god damn it. I don't want to concede that you might actually be a half decent father," he said.

Hody was… sort of surprised to hear him say that. "Uh… thank you?"

"Don't make this awkward."

"Too late for that."

"Bah!"

Turq began flailing his arms around wildly, and Hody looked down at him confused. "So, what's this supposed to be?" he asked looking up at Astro.

"This? Oh, I don't know. Could be some new thing, could be nothing. He may be a half-breed but he's still a baby. They just do weird stuff sometimes for no reason…"

Topaz smiled as she stood in her son's room and looked down at the three males. After she had gotten back from the hot springs, she had headed up to check on and say goodnight to Turq before going to bed and seeing how Hody held up.

What she hadn't expected to see was her husband, son, and brother in law all inside sleeping away. She knew Turq could be a fussy sleeper sometimes and ended up sleeping with them, but usually they brought him to their room. Hody however had seen fit to cram himself into his son's crib.

The baby was resting on his chest as it rose and fell, deep in slumber.

Sitting in a chair beside it was Astro, who was rocking the crib back and forth with his foot. "Well, look at that. My baby really is awesome. You actually got these two on the same page," she said. "And damn, gotta give Puff his props. That's one sturdy ass crib."

She pulled out her mirror and got ready to snap a picture. She was going to make sure she saved this and sent it to Maria and the others pronto. "Don't you dare," Astro said without even opening his eyes.

Topaz's eyes widened. She had forgotten he barely ever slept because of his biology or whatever. "Oh wow, you're awake… but…" She snapped a picture anyway. Astro let out a low growl. "Sorry, it was just too cute a moment to pass up. Now keep it down, don't want to wake them up, now do we?"

"I hate you…"

"But you love Turq. And years from now this'll be one of the photos I keep in his little baby album. So cheer up Uncle Astro." She flicked his forehead before making her way out. "Thanks for looking out for my boys today. Now I'm gonna get a well deserved nap. Don't get too comfortable there either. Mama's taking her spot back tomorrow."

A/N: Another commission for Callyie! This one of Astro and Hody looking after baby Turq! They might not get along, but the one thing they can act semi-civilized over is little Turq. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it before but I'd always meant to portray Astro as being good at taking care of babies. He took his role as big brother really seriously and wanted to help out Star anyway he could.

I'm actually not sure is Astro would officially be his uncle at this point, but I didn't think about that until halfway through the fic and I was too lazy to change it, so there you go! (They already knew it's inevitable anyway, so he's uncle by blood or by bond.)