Work Text:
“Adora?” Catra whispered, poking her head around the door to the blonde’s bedroom, now basically just their shared room. She sniffled and ran a hand over her eyes, even though she had yet to cry, her eyes were gritty and itchy. When she didn’t get an answer, Catra slowly tiptoed into the room.
“Adora?” She tried again, a little louder this time. She had her blanket clutched in the other hand, claws digging in a little too much but not enough to ruin it, not like last time. RIP blanket number 1.
The brunette was ready to just crawl under the covers on the bed and wait for Adora to show up, but then the bathroom door was opening. Steam escaped into the room and Catra moved quickly to the opening. “Adora!” She gasped out, running over and wrapping her arms tightly around the other girl’s waist.
“Hey kitten.” Adora smiled softly, a little awkwardly hugging the girl (since she was wrapped up in a towel and didn’t want it to fall down). “Are you okay, Cat?” She asked, pulling back so she could cup Catra’s cheek. The girl immediately nuzzled against the touch, purring under her breath.
“Here,” Adora murmured when Catra didn’t reply, “why don’t you get comfy on the bed and I’ll get changed and then we can have a cuddle party, hmm?”
“Really?” Catra breathed, big eyes looking up at the blonde. “We can?”
“Baby, of course we can.” Adora dropped a kiss to the girl’s forehead. “I promise. You want to pick out some pyjamas and toys in the meantime?” she suggested, knowing the mention of toys always perked Catra up.
The girl had clearly been upset about something, probably still was, and Adora hoped if they got Catra comfy enough and feeling safe enough, she would tell the blonde what was going on. Adora didn’t have much of a clue, the whole thing had only been happening for a few months and there weren’t exactly many people they could go and ask advice from. Netossa had been really helpful, she seemed to know a lot about it, but her and Spinny were away for a little while, taking a well deserved trip now that, you know, the end of the world had been stopped and everything.
Netossa had told Adora that Spinerella sometimes ‘dropped’ as she called it, and regressed to a younger age. It was something maybe to do with trauma and stress and it wasn’t hard to figure out why Catra was going through the same thing. It made Catra feel safe and loved, and let her explore all the things they’d never had in their childhood. It let her have the feelings younger her had had to supress and hide and push away.
Hell, Adora felt like it happened to her sometimes too, but she didn’t seem to feel as young as Catra appeared. She didn’t entirely understand it, but had come to learn that it wasn’t anything nefarious or brain damage or any of the scary things Adora had thought to begin with. If Catra wanted to play with toys and be held and have cute pyjamas and eat ‘kid’ food, how could that ever be wrong?
Besides, Adora loved to look after Catra, always had and always would. Netossa explained that whilst she didn’t drop, she did have a different headspace. She fell into a ‘caregiver’ role, and genuinely enjoyed taking care of little Spinny a lot, just like Adora did with Catra. Some people took care of little’s for necessity, and friendship, not always because they felt the bond Adora did, not because they wanted and needed to look after them.
And Catra couldn’t help it anyway, it just happened. If she’d wanted it to happen, she wouldn’t have dropped for the first time Catra had shown Adora that side of her, in the middle of battle clear up, with robots blowing up all around them and things still burning aflame.
It just happened, it just was, and that was okay.
Catra rushed off to the drawers in their room, eagerly pulling open the top one to rifle through it. With the girl entertained for at least a few seconds, Adora slipped back into the bathroom and got dressed in loose bed clothes before coming out. She’d changed into some comfy bottoms and a long sleeved shirt, and it was so nice to run her fingers through wet, loose blonde strands. She’d grown up always putting a face on, always having her hair smart and tight and in place and ‘professional’ and she was learning to relax about her appearance. She didn’t need to be ‘on’ all the time, she didn’t have to scrape her hair up all the time, she didn’t need to put on a strong show all the time. Especially not with Catra.
The bed was already set up with Catra’s pjs and an armful of stuffed animals, maybe two. They’d gone a little crazy last time they’d gone to the market and had bought so many they’d carried them home in a pull along cart. Catra had fallen in love with each and every one of them and Adora wasn’t about to let the girl go without, not again. Whatever she wanted, Adora let her get, and if Catra didn’t have enough coins, the blonde would happily pitch in.
Catra did have her favourite stuffie, though she firmly told Adora that there were no favourites in the stuffie family, but the blonde knew if Catra could only choose one, she would choose the soft fluffy ginger kitty cat called Goose.
As predicted, Catra was indeed holding that one in her arms, wrapped up in the soft red blanket Scorpia had gotten for her after Catra’s claws had gone through the other one. Scorpia was another ‘big’ or caregiver, and often babysat for Adora when she was busy with the Princess Alliance or training and couldn’t take an hour away.
“Okay, kitten.” Adora clapped her hands, “Let’s get you in your pyjamas.”
In the Horde, they’d grown up only wearing branded clothes. Their sleep clothes always had the symbol on the front and the back and they were itchy and too small or too big, hand me downs and used clothes with holes and tears and weird stains.
When Adora and Catra had first taken a trip to the kids market, they’d both been blown away by it all. All the soft materials, bright colours, clothes with animals and food on instead of the symbol of their past. They’d seen pyjamas that were all in ones with little boots on the end, they’d seen matching shirt and bottom sets, they’d seen strange tops that were long and clasped between the thighs.
Apparently, in Etheria (just not their original parts), little’s weren’t all that rare. They weren’t everywhere, there weren’t thousands of them, but there were enough that there were stalls that catered to them. Adora had been shocked to see all the comfort items. Little wooden mouth guards with a ‘nipple’ that someone could suck on to feel safe, bottles with strange soft tops that stopped spills, toys thread carefully onto wool, that you could shake and rattle and even chew on. It had been amazing.
Catra was still unsure using some of that stuff, but she had accepted one of the bottles, and loved loved loved having warm milk in it. Luckily enough, Adora could put on a show and use She-Ra to heat up the drink to a good temperature. Seeing Catra’s amazement and awe had made it maybe the best trick She-Ra had ever done.
Catra had hated swaddling at first, and they’d stayed away from the all in one pyjamas, but now with help from Scorpia, who was an expert on it, the brunette had slowly began to let herself enjoy it and it made her feel even safer sometimes. It seemed it was one of those times, because Catra had picked out a white all in one with the booties on the end. Someone at the market had custom made it, so it had little She-Ra tiara’s and swords all over it.
After getting a wriggly Catra into the pyjamas, Adora pulled back the covers and the pair nestled underneath them. Adora sat against the bedframe and the girl clambered close, resting her head on the blonde’s chest, one arm around her waist.
“I love you, baby girl.” Adora breathed, pressing another kiss to Catra’s hair, letting out a soft, contented little sigh.
“Love.” Catra whispered, showing her teeth as she smiled.
“How about a story?” Adora asked softly, trailing a hand over Catra’s hair, running fingers through wild strands.
“Story.” Catra still smiled widely up at her. Another new novelty they hadn’t known existed, apart from scary and brutal stories of the Horde and the evil Princesses, that was.
“Okay, kitten. Once upon a time…”