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Let's admit it, things have been weird since Kath's heritage was revealed, biggest changes were that she could turn into a big, purple (soft) fur ball, that and that she was now a horny mess once every 3 months. At least those were the major changes, the others were hard to notice even for Lana, or more like Lana was the only one that didn't notice? at least she didn't notice all of them.
Kath's behavior towards Lana change slightly, she was now very protective of the red paladin, since they started going out Lana stopped flirting with every and any sexy alien they met but kath would always make sure to let everyone know they were together, by keeping Lana close to her and even nuzzling on her neck ever so often the "possible threats" looked at their general direction, she even growled at the ones that stated clearly they wanted to court Lana.
Lana really didn't mind the extra attention, it made her feel loved and secure by Kath's side, it's not that she didn't trust Lana to stop flirting with every other alien, she didn't trust that strangers would respect their relationship and tried court Lana anyway, nor understand what a mate means to galra.
Kath's possessive behavior was noticeable even to herself, what she didn't notice (but Lana did) was that she became more touchy feely, besides nuzzling her girlfriend constantly, said girlfriend often struggled to get out of bed every morning because Kath would cling to her and refuse to let go of her on the other side Lana has always been the type to express her affection physically: holding hands, small caresses, scratching Kath's chin and behind her fluffy galra ears, the last two were Kath's favorites, she'd literally start purring at Lance's rhythmical rubs and scratches, like an oversized cat, they often made Pidge scrunch up their nose at the excessive PDA.
The one thing that went unnoticed by Lana and even Kath herself was the meaning behind Kath's new found "habit", every time the team had to make a stop restock on resources for the castle Kath would end up buying soft blankets, fabrics, pillows and even small stuffed alien animals to give Lana, which wasn't so strange at first and Lana accepted happily until she didn't know what to do with them, some scattered around their shared bedroom but the majority stocked inside their closet. One day Kath brought back a huge shark-like stuffed animal.
Lana's face brightened at the sight of the big shark plush. "Where do you even keep finding these??!" She chuckled.
"Actually, Shiro kinda found it?" she said, scratching behind her neck, embarrassed. "She found a stall that had a bunch of stuffed toys of all sorts, I wanted to buy you a cute one I found at first but then I saw this little guy" she pointed at the stuffed alien shark in Lana's arms "who'd thought there was an alien equivalent of a shark somewhere out there."
"There's no doubt space is vast and full of mysteries, huh? I wonder where this little guy comes from? I kinda wanna see these shark aliens... Or course only if they're not deadly or like, bigger than the castle of lions" she shivered at the thought.
"Aren't our sharks back on Earth deadly anyway?" Lana gasped "UMH?! not really?? Besides, you can watch these beautiful specimens from the safety of a shockproof water tank at the aquarium, just like jellyfish, those are evil Australian spawns of Satan but they're also super cool! Again, from the safety of a shockproof water tank... or you can watch them on animal planet" she nodded.
"Anyway, thanks a lot Kath! I really love him" Kath gave Lana a look. "Him?"
"Yes, it's a him! And his name is Torombolo!" Said Lana, side glancing at Kath.
"Your name choices are always so weird, but as long as you're happy, I'm glad you liked him.” Said Kath smiling softly at Lana cradling the shark plush in her arms. “Anyway, gotta go, Shiro said she’d wait for me in the training deck, so see you around at lunch?”
“Sure thing, honeybunch~!” Lana said winking, which made Kath snort. “You're impossible, you know that?” Lana put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest like a bird. “I know you love pet names, Miss grumpy pants” Kath activated the panel by the living room door and started walking away.
“Just admit it!!!” Lana yelled out the door, sighing she turned around only to bump into Pidge, knocking off their glasses in the process. “Woah there!” she yelped “Pidge?? What are you doing here??”
Pidge crouched down to pick up their glasses and then rose up and poked Lana on the chest, accusingly “I was here the whole time! I been wanting to go to the hangar the whole time your silly galra preteen courting has been going on” they pouted “I wouldn't dare interrupt that!! Do I look like I want to be murdered by Kath?!”
“Get over it little Pidgey pod, you'll be this disgusting with you SO one day, or ever worse, I mean if you don't end up marrying a cold, heartless machine” Lana snorted. “Anyway, what do you mean with galra preteen “courting”?” Lana squinted at Pidge.
“Lana, my girl, are you dumb? Can't you tell you've been receiving nesting materials this whole time?” Lana shrugged, “umh? You mean the whole blankets and plushies ordeal? I thought Kath was being thoughtful… or you know?? Girlfriends usually give you nice stuff like flowers, chocolates or at least a dozen of blankets…”
Pidge sighed “okay, remember when you asked Allur about galra biology and other stuff?” Lana blushed light “yeah, I do.” Remember he actually gave you a book in altean about it??? I know YOUR altean isn't the best, but you should at least try reading it, I kinda read the whole thing myself… out of boredom, damn this castle needs more books.”
“You two sure are oblivious… The thing is those blankets aren't a gift! You're supposed to use those and some personal objects and clothing to build a “nest” thing, sort of? I don't want to get into details, but” Pidge shivered “but it's supposed to be your safe place during heats and shit, Kath's in charge to gather materials and you are in charge of building it.”
“Anyway, I don't want to get involved in your love affairs anymore, you're on your own to try to figure it out, I have to go check out the cool junk I bought to upgrade Green” Pidge left confused Lana behind in the living room.
“If that's what Kath wants to do, then I guess I can try?” She shrugged. “Kath will take her sweet time with Shiro in the training deck” she put her hand to her chin and hummed “might as well try to surprise her!”
Lana made a beeline to their bedroom’s closet, laid out the numerous blankets, soft fabrics and stuffed toys, picked up a few of their used clothes from the hamper by the corner of the room and put them atop of the pile, Lana stared at it, thinking about the best way to arrange it.
Of course, their nest would have to be built on their bed, even if the blankets were soft, laying on the floor for too long wouldn't be comfortable for either of them. “Hmhm, I think I'll put the softer blankets on the base…. I can put the pillows around the bed in circle? To make it more “nest” like, then the thinner ones go on top of the pillows?... Then I can put our clothes and the plushies in the middle of the nest” Lana scratched her head “I’m not sure if Kath would like it but it looks okay so far?” she yawned and climbed up to lay in the middle of their nest.
“I think that's an OK, it feels soft, comfy…” she mumbled, soon drifting off to sleep, surrounded by Kath's and her own soothing scent.
…
Lana woke up to the sound of the door sliding open. Kath was back from training deck, she had a towel wrapped around her shoulders and her hair was wet, having taken a shower before retreating to their room for the day.
Groggily, lana peeked out of their nest “hi there, beast princess” she said looking up to Kath who was now standing by the bed. “I heard you'd like this kind of thing?” She patted the spot next to her. Kath's now yellow eyes stared right back at her, without saying anything she started purring.
“So that's a yes” Lana chuckled softly, Kath climbed up the bed to rest on top of Lana, her head moved with the rise and fall of Lana's chest, they looked at each other silently. The rest of Kath's body started to change to the beat of Lana's heart, slowly her soft ears started to poke out of her black silky hair, her skin molted into a shade of lavender, her increasing body size made the bed dip around the shape of their tangled bodies. Lana held out her hand to pet Kath's hair, “you're wet… and heavy, come on get off me, I can feel my ribs cracking under your weight, you big purple cat” Lana said, smiling, “at least finish drying your hair.”
“Don't wanna” she peeked at Lana without fully raising her head from her chest, too comfortable to care about her wet hair. “Come on, I can barely breathe” she said, pushing Kath softly to her right side, she turned to lie on her left side, adopting a little spoon position, inviting Kath to be the big spoon, Kath immediately wrapped her arms around Lana's waist and started nuzzling on the back of her neck, planting soft kisses along the way, making Lana shiver.
“That's a good kitty” Lana turned around to meet Kath's piercing yellow gaze, she put her hands on either side of Kath's face and planted a soft, chaste kiss to Kath's lips. Kath started purring louder “I love you so much” said Kath in a slightly lower tone, she held Lana closer. “I love you too Miss grumpy pants~” Kath groaned.