WHAT: Wedding vows and kiss and Adora turns into She-Ra! WHERE: Gazebo at their WEDDING WHEN: Tonight! WARNINGS: The sappiest sap of all time STATUS: Complete
Finally, finally, Adora felt calm. For the first time in months, since the night she proposed, her stress levels fell. The wedding was here, happening; planning was over. Now, nothing else mattered but Catra.
She had written her vows. Over and over and over, trying to find the perfect words put into the perfect arrangement because this day had to be perfect. Her perfectionism streak had gotten the best of her more than once through this entire wedding planning process, and eventually, sheâd realized it was impossible to achieve. That hadnât stopped her from running through everything she wanted to say in her head since the moment she woke up this morning. Now she could only hope it spilled out coherently.
âA long time ago, I promised you that nothing really bad could happen as long as we had each other. I know I broke that promise once, but today, Iâm promising you again.â She picked up Catraâs left hand, slipping the band over her finger and pushing it down to meet the golden engagement band sheâd proposed with barely two months before.
âI promise to be by your side, to do everything in my power to protect you, to be there for you no matter what, thick and thin, forever. When youâre laughing and when youâre crying, when you just want to cuddle and when you want toâŠyou know.â She grinned at Catra playfully, leaning their foreheads together for just a moment before drawing back again. âI canât wait to be your wife and for you to be mine, to grow our family, and to spend the rest of our lives together.â
Her eyes were starting to fill with tears, but she didnât let that keep her from lifting Catraâs hands to her lips so she could kiss the back of her hand. âNothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other. I promise.â
Holy shit. Adora really took out the Big Guns when it came to this vow thing, didnât she - because Catra was stunned, cheeks flaming, tail lashing. How people could just say things like that in front of people flabbergasted her. It was one thing to open up behind the privacy of closed doors, and another thing to pour your heart out where other people could hear you and that was something Catra always struggled with.
And stupid, thoughtful, adorable, loving Adora also spent weeks neurotically stressing and rehearsing all of this without the expectation of being on the receiving end of one of these damn speeches. So when their foreheads knocked together, and the ring (made of metal from their old bunk, it was a little romantic) slid onto her finger, Catra made her decision.
She was going to wing it.
âOh - fine,â she huffed, and then glared at the witnesses of this whole shindig. âIâm about to say things, no one look at me.â
(Did she really expect people to listen to her? Absolutely not. Did the thought of people not looking at her make this easier to endure? Probably, yeah. Let her have this.)
Anyway, back to Adora. No glares for her though. Instant softness only. âKinda strange to think Iâm willing to be stuck with the weirdo that found me in a box and thought Applesauce Meow-Meow was an acceptable middle and last name,â she scoffed. âI didnât rehearse anything or - write stuff down so Iâm going to ramble and hope it makes sense? Because Iâve loved your dopey face ever since we were six and you called Octavia a dumbface, even if I didnât really know what it meant at the time.â
There wasnât a need to go into how the Horde was literally the worst place to foster any sort of emotional maturity; everyone who knew them was already aware of that history. âYouâre home. Youâre my favorite person to argue with about stupid things, and even if we get on each otherâs nerves all the time I somehow love you more,â Catra admitted, flustered but doing her best to pummel through it. âThatâs not changing. It didnât when we spent three years trying to kill each other, and itâs never going to despite all your terrible fashion choices that you manage to get away with because you really are that hot.â
Melog nudged her next, and it was her turn to pluck the ring sized for Adoraâs finger off the pillow. âYouâve literally seen me at my worst and somehow decided you were into me regardless, and you gave me this second chance I probably donât deserve but Iâm taking anyway. So I promise to stop making fun of your forehead, to love you every time youâre a frazzled mess pacing a trench on the floor, and to follow you on all your ridiculous adventures so you donât do anything too dumb without me, and -â
Catra slid the ring onto her, smirking. âThis definitely isnât because I like you, princess. You look out for me, and I look out for you. Promise.â
Adora laughed. It wasnât much, just a watery chuckle, really, but it burst out of her. She hadnât expected anything like that from Catra. Last sheâd known, she was going with something more standard because the sappy stuff in public wasnât her thing. Which was fine â more than. She knew exactly what she was getting into marrying this woman. Sheâd love her no matter what she said, even if it was nothing more than âI love youâ.
She was beyond thrilled sheâd gotten more than that, though. While hers had been possibly the sappiest sap sheâd ever said (something she was sure sheâd be teased about endlessly but that was okay), Catraâs were sap with that snarky sense of humor of hers injected into every word. It was good, a perfect example of who they each were and how they were as a couple, too. It was everything Adora could have hoped for and more.
She barely heard Richie instructing them to kiss the bride before she was wrapping her arms around Catraâs waist and pulling her in for that kiss. She felt the tingle that always preceded the outpouring of her magic, a sign that she was about to transform, but all she did was hold Catra tighter, lifting her in her arms as her body shifted and grew and glowed until her alter ego had undoubtedly taken her place.
There was a noise when she moved her arms around her - more of a squeak, really - and she smiled into the kiss, embracing her too. That warm, humming magic didnât go unnoticed. Neither did how her arms suddenly couldnât completely accommodate Adoraâs new size, gold and white armor now beneath her claws. When her eyes opened, it was She-Ra. Someone who she used to regard as an enemy and now, was her wife. What a wild ride life was.
Guess she didnât fuck up her decision to come up with a vow on the spot. Adoraâs reaction was a positive one and she felt a smidge of pride for bringing her to tears (in a good way, the only way she intended to ever make her cry). âYouâre an idiot,â she said fondly, her purr so loud it was as if rolling thunderstorms existed inside her. âI love you too.â
Catra paused, using her thumbs to wipe the wetness from Adoraâs cheeks. Then, she sighed. It was a happy one.
âYouâre going to carry me down like this, arenât you.â
Adora hadnât really thought that far ahead, but â yeah, that sounded like a pretty great idea to her. If only because she knew Catra was going to turn red as a tomato. She could never resist making her wife all blushy. Their wedding day was the very best excuse to get her all red and flustered.
ââCourse I am,â she murmured with a grin.
Without missing a beat, she shifted Catra in her grip to carry her bridal style, oblivious to their friends as she headed down the aisle with Melog and Spirit trailing out behind them.