WHAT: THE GREAT TWIN REVELATION - Catra finally puts two and two together, then there's processing WHERE: Darla WHEN: Today at some point WARNINGS: Nope STATUS: Complete
The kind she couldnât scratch, the kind that came from having this annoying hunch that wouldnât stop pestering her. She was good at observing - putting pieces together, figuring shit out. Right now, logically speaking, there shouldnât be anything to figure out. There was no major conundrum slapping them in the face. Nothing dire was happening. Everything was fine.
So, why - in the presence of two of the biggest blonde muscle heads in Vallo - did she feel like she needed to figure something out? That there was this link she was missing that would justify this hunch and solve this grand mystery that literally no one else was quietly obsessing over but her? It was stupid, and frustrating, and she couldnât let it go.
That itch was worse today with Adam over, and theyâd taken over the living room to try out this Mortal Kombat game which was gruesome as fuck but for whatever reason they were into it. Catra would have ordinarily opted in for a turn and showed them that, uh, button mashing and hoping for the best wasnât how you were supposed to play these games (seriously - there were pattern buttons for combo moves) but she could hardly get a word in.
Adam versus Adora had taken a vicious turn with grunts, grumblings, pinched faces and the occasional unintelligible screaming. Except they were identical grunts, grumblings, pinched faces with the occasional unintelligible screaming.
Almost like they were -
âWhat did you say happened to your sister again, Adam?â piped up Catra over the sounds of virtual violence, on the couch in between them both as she picked at a bowl of popcorn on her lap. Sheâd been watching them both, the way their tongues stuck out between their teeth in concentration. Hopefully someone heard her, thatâd be nice.
For as technologically advanced as Eternia was, they didnât have video games, and Adam was now learning just how sad that was. Some of it probably stemmed from the fact that Eternia had been in one war or another for his entire life, probably longer. Snake Mountain and the demon realms and all the rest didnât really give them time to be developing things like Mortal Kombat.
It was great though. Adam didnât typically like violence, and he avoided it as much as possible. He punched people sometimes, as a last resort and if there was no other creative ways to put them down, but the one time heâd actually used his sword on a sapient being, heâd nearly ended the universe, so lesson learned there. But Mortal Kombat, while violent, wasnât violence. It was pretty fun to either beat someone up or get beat up on screen instead of in real life, and while he didnât necessarily love the graphic fatalities, he didnât dislike them either. He wondered if he could convince Skeletor to sit down and settle their differences through a couple rounds of Mortal Kombat instead of through trying to take over/destroy/whatever he wanted to do to Eternia that particular month.
He and Adora were pretty evenly matched, their button mashing skills about on par with one another, but Adam was pretty sure he was going to win this fight. Right up until Catra mentioned his sister, and he was so distracted that he forgot to keep mashing those buttons.
He tried to remember when heâd even mentioned having a sister â it wasnât something that came up naturally a whole lot, and Adam didnât usually just burst out with the âOh yeah, I have a twin sister who was kidnapped through a portal when we were babiesâ out of the blue. And then he remembered getting drunk at his birthday and saying he hoped his sister was like Adora.
Still true.
âFinish him,â the voice on the TV said, and Adam put down his controller.
âOh, I donât think I did,â Adam said. âShe was kidnapped when we were babies. When we were about a month old, I think. We were twins. Someone came through a portal and took her. Duncan said theyâd tried to take me too, but he made it to the nursery in time to stop that. Not in time to save my sister though.â
There was no reason for Adam to think that his sister was even still alive, except that he thought heâd know, somehow, if she died. Kind of like he was pretty sure heâd know it if he ever met her. Twins had a bond like that.
Adora was immersed in Mortal Kombat right now, mashing away at her controllerâs buttons to the best of her ability. This game had been one of many Richie had recommended when sheâd bought Catra these gaming systems, and she enjoyed it. Sure, it could be a little bloody and gross and aggressive, but wasnât that already their lives? She had literally been raised to fight in a war, then spent three years as one of the de facto leaders of the Rebellion. At least this kind of violence was contained to a virtual world.
She and Adam were about the same level of competitive and skilled - which was to sayextremely to the former and not at all to the latter. She liked to pretend she totally knew what she was doing, but she, uh, sucked. She had tried to learn the combos that Catra had long ago mastered, but it just didnât seem to make a difference. So, back to button mashing she went, occasionally getting herself a win and basking in that glorious high.
She didnât really notice Adam putting his controller down, but when his character went stationary and the game prompted her to Finish him! - well, who was she to resist. She went in for the kill and her character was proclaimed the winner. She grinned big, throwing both arms up with a âYes!â and the controller still clutched in her right hand.
That was when she realized Adam had actually set his controller aside and was talking to Catra. Her brows furrowed and she leaned forward to set her controller down, too. âOkay, wait, what did I miss?â
What Adora missed was Catra choking on her popcorn.
It wasnât, like, a life or death choke - a kernel went down the wrong pipe when Adam went on in a detail she wasnât expecting, and Adora somehow also missed out on those too. She slapped her chest, sputtered and coughed until her airway was cleared and leaned forward to violently slam the bowl of popcorn onto the coffee table.
A few pieces spilled out from the edges. Her ears were erect, tail whipping, and a metaphorical light bulb flashed over her head. âHold up,â she choked out, voice extra gravelly from the snack mishap. âJust -â
Springing up from the couch she hurried over to the console and shut it off, and started to pace in front of them while wringing her hands. âHold up, and - give me a minute!â
That was⊠not the reaction Adam had been expecting. He frowned, glancing at Catra, and then looking at Adora with an expression that screamed I have no idea whatâs up with her.
âCatra was just asking about my sister,â Adam answered, helpless to give any sort of insight into Catraâs reaction.
Everything happened so fast - the choking, the bowl slamming, the leaping off the couch. Adora must have missed something big if Catra was reacting to it this way. She watched her wife pace for a moment, then turned to Adam.
âWhat about your sister?â she questioned. She knew Adam had a twin sister at birth that he said he wished would be like her - she remembered that drunken proclamation pretty well - but she didnât know what about that could have gotten Catra pacing and tail-whipping. âBabe?â
âUgh - give me a minute!â Catra screeched out and, yeah, there was some show of teeth. Her brain picked and pulled out some details, began connecting the dots, and she may have started mumbling to herself like a madwoman. This was it. The hunch. The frustrating-as-fuck feeling of missing something so important, so obvious.
Then she did some crazy hand gestures and finally, finally, began talking. âAdoraâs birthday isnât even her actual birthday,â she blurted out. âHorde orphans donât usually have precise birthdays anyway, theyâve always been our intake date - like, they found me in October when I was maybe four? So, boom, October birthday. Adora was found in January but she was already a few weeks old. Which stands to mean that her actual day of birth was sometime in December.â
Just like Adam. Adamâs birthday was in December. Catraâs stride across the floors halted, and she looked at the two of them with this expectation that they were obviously following her train of thought. Right? Right?
Adam was most definitely not following Catra's train of thought, and the uncertain smile he flashed at her probably said that well enough. He was, in fact, a little worried. He'd never seen Catra act like this before.
He gave Adora a bit of a shrug -- he didn't know what about his sister had set Catra off, but at Catra's birthday revelation his smile became a little more genuine, and he laughed a little. "Oh, weird. Hey, Adora! Imagine if we ended up having the same birthday! That'd be a pretty wild coincidence, wouldn't it?"
Adora knew everything her wife was saying about Horde orphans was true. Unless they ripped babies away from their parents the day they were born - which, unfortunately, had happened - it was either guesswork or, more commonly, laziness in putting down the day a kid was brought into the Fright Zone. But birthdays also meant nothing in the Horde, and most people didnât even know theirs. She had never really thought too much about hers, but Catra was probably right.
âYeah, it would be wild,â she agreed, brows still furrowed, her gaze on Catra instead of Adam. She knew there had to be more going on here that they just werenât picking up on because Catra was a little manic. Maybe it was because she was a tad high from an edible earlier in the afternoon or maybe, as tended to happen, something had just flown over her head. But she wasnât connecting dots that her wife clearly wanted them to connect.
So, she just asked.
âBut what does that have to do with Adamâs sister?â
Violence was not an option. Violence was not an option. This was a mantra she told herself over and over - internally anyway, all while she had this beautiful fantasy of grabbing them and knocking their dumb foreheads together. Catra took a deep breath, held her palms flat together in front of her, and focused on finding her goddamn zen.
Or whatever Perfuma called it. Look - she was barely hanging on a thread here with patience and doing her best to not scream at the top of her lungs. Or break anything. Youâre welcome, idiots.
âAdora,â she started, pointing her flattened hands in her direction, âcame through a portal as a baby, all by her lonesome. Adora is a First One. You -â Adam was pointed at next. âYouâre a First One too. Missing a sister that also was taken by a portal. Think about it. She-Ra? He-Man? Adam, you look like Adora if she had a dick. Adora, you look like Adam if he had tits. Somehow Adam doesnât have a forehead as big but itâs close enough. You two were born in December, most likely on the same day because - guess what?â
Scratch that. Catra was going to scream now, letting it out into the heavens (Darlaâs ceilings in this case) in exasperation.
âYOU GUYS ARE TWINS!â
Adam's hand unconsciously touched his forehead when Catra mentioned it, rubbing it as if to make sure that it really wasn't too big, but was only half-paying attention to that particular comment because of everything else.
Adora couldn't be his twin sister. For one thingâŠ
He frowned, glancing at her. Really kind of staring at her. They did, sort of, maybe, kind of look the same. He always thought that he'd automatically just know if ever came across her. And sure, he and Adora had hit it off pretty quickly, but it wasn't like either one of them was hard to get along with.
"You really came through a portal?" he asked after a long moment, still trying, and failing, to come up with some reason why his long lost twin couldn't be Adora.
Adora shot Catra an offended glare - why was it always the forehead? She mirrored Adam, rubbing it with a frown. She knew Catra didnât truly mean it as an insult, but it still stung a little anyhow. She blew out a breath and tried to brush it off to focus on the matter at hand.
Twins.
Catra thought she and Adam were twins.
While Adam stared her down, she stared back, taking in the sight of him. She supposed they did look alike. She had never looked at him with the intention of finding similarities, but now that she was - yeah, Catra had a point. Their hair was basically the same color, so were their eyes. They were even built similarly, about the same height.
Did that make them twins, though? She really had no idea whether sheâd had a family or not, and while sheâd wondered, sheâd never given it too much thought. She had been born in another universe entirely - and maybe it had been Adamâs, maybe it hadnât. But the connection through Grayskull, the correlation between He-Man and She-Ra, that was undeniable.
She cleared her throat and nodded, wringing her hands together in her lap. âUh, yeah. Light Hope, I think I told you about her, she created it and pulled me across to be the next She-Ra, I guess. Part of her programming. I was supposed to become She-Ra to balance Etheria and activate the Heart.â
âAnd how common is baby-snatching via portal?â Fine, that was more of a rhetorical question (and she didnât care for the actual number) but the point still stands. Catra put her hands on her hips, every twitch of ear and lash of tail expressing apprehension. âObviously you guys canât be identical twins - different genders, not possible, duh - but the likeness is there. Itâs too much likeness. It all adds up and Iâm going to die on this fucking hill about it, okay?? You. Guys. Are. Twins. Youâre each otherâs missing family!â
It was a miracle she didnât puncate that last part with YOU MORONS but she needed to take a few breaths and collect herself. Find that sweet zen spot before she popped a blood vessel. âIâm gonna go get a beer. Iâve earned it.â
The kitchen area was literally steps away. Catra sauntered her happy ass over to the fridge, grabbed a cold one, popped it open and took a satisfying sip like she solved one of the universeâs greatest mysteries.
It was a lot to process. Adam had always known that someday, heâd find his long-lost sister. Heâd believed it in the core of his being. Heâd spent hours as a child daydreaming about what it would be like to finally find her, what sheâd be like, how much fun theyâd have together. Heâd even read a ton of books about Etheria growing up, always intrigued by the planet that had disappeared, just like his sister had.
It was that realisation that did it for him: heâd been interested in Etheria because some part of him must have known that was where Adora was.
âOh, wow,â Adam said, and then he leaned over and wrapped Adora in a tight hug.
Oh. Adora hadnât expected a hug, but of course she hugged him back. More hesitantly, maybe, but she would never leave a hug hanging. But it was a lot to take in. Five minutes ago, she knew nothing about her family, and now sheâŠhad a twin? She knew it wasnât impossible. She just needed time - more than the five minutes this had all happened in.
âI guess it makes sense,â she agreed, pulling back. She flashed Adam - her brother?? - a small smile. âSorry, Iâm taking it all in, butâŠyeah, wow.â
âDo you guys need a minute?â Catra asked, crossing an arm while her other hand dangled the beer bottle (half empty now, she really did gulp that shit down quick). While she was proud of herself for figuring it out and ripping the news like a bandaid, this was a lot. Adora had grown up an orphan all her life, and they had a family theyâve made for themselves but to be reunited with a piece of a family she was supposed to haveâŠ
Well, that was going to do wonders to the mess that was her brain right now.
âIâll call Teela and fuck off? Or I can - ask her to come over, or something. Whatever you guys want.â
Adamâs own smile tapered a little when he got a good look at Adora. This was a lot for him. It was probably more for Adora. There was a lot he wanted to tell her. How his dad â their dad â probably wouldâve loved Adora, probably would have been proud of her: a hard-working, accomplished daughter he would have been happy to call his own. Theyâd have trained together, and King Randor would have happily taught her everything he knew. There was no doubt their mother would have adored her, and would have doted on her, and he could imagine the three of them playing in the gardens of Eternia or getting into flour fights in the kitchen.
He bit his tongue. If Adora wasnât overwhelmed already with the thought of just Adam, the idea of their parents, too, would probably do the trick.
âYou should stay,â he said after a moment. âIâll call Teela and ask her to swing by, if thatâs alright with you, Adora? I can wait for her at the door.â He had the feeling that Adora might need a minute to process without him hovering over her with all his smiles and expectations.
âSure, yeah.â Adora nodded. âI think thatâs a good idea.â It felt a little rude to just send Adam off, especially after this revelation that had just been thrown at them, but she needed a few minutes, and he had offered. Maybe Teela coming over would shed some light on this whole situation, anyway, because right now, she felt like her head was spinning.
âSpirit can go with you,â she offered. Their puppyâs head lifted, ears perking up when he heard his name, and he jumped down from the spot heâd taken over on the other end of the sectional. He trotted over to Adam, nudged his hand; Adora watched them with her hands folded in her lap until the elevator doors closed behind them.
Then, she turned to her wife.
âWas that really necessary?â she asked. Her tone wasnât harsh, but she was clearly upset. She stood, arms crossing over her chest. âWhat if thatâs not true? You could have just given him hope for nothing.â
Catraâs ears pinned back. Yeah, okay - she could admit that her sudden burst lacked some tact. Or, a lot of tact. âIâm sorry, I didnât meanâŠâ She paused to let out a sigh, and rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. âIt has to be true, Adora. Everything adds up.â
The beer was set aside so she could surge forward, hands going up to squeeze Adoraâs arms tightly. âWeâd all be dumbasses if we looked at all the facts and shrugged it off as a coincidence. Iâm really sorry I just, uh, blurted things out because when he said the portal thing it was really hard not to scream?â Catra winced. âWhatâs your gut say?â
Adora felt bad the moment she noticed Catraâs ears pin back. She really wasnât angry, but so much had just been dumped on her, and she was already not in the best place mentally. She knew Catra had just been overwhelmed herself, and she needed to take a breath and reel herself back in. No one was trying to hurt anyone here.
She sighed when Catra approached, raising her hands to her wifeâs waist to pull her in close. Her head was trying to tell her no, this couldnât be true. The pieces did fit together, she had to admit that. Part of her was clinging to skepticism, but she couldnât ignore that her gut was telling her Catra had nailed it. She was probably annoyingly right, as always. But suddenly having a twin and a whole family history thrust upon her was a lot. It wasnât easy for her to take in.
âMaybe,â she grumbled tentatively. âYou might be right. But I think I need it confirmed before I get excited. And before Adam gets any more excited.â She had seen the way he smiled at her and hugged her. He believed it wholeheartedly already, but Adora needed a little more than that. âIs that bad?â
âItâs not bad,â Catra assured and brought Adora in closer, arms wrapped around her back and they could rest their heads on each otherâs shoulders. âAnd I know youâre cautious about getting excited, too. Donât act like itâs just Adam.â
Growing up they had surrendered the idea of any blood-related families; their families had either died or they were abandoned. Either way, they were orphans. But then Adora had learned she was taken from elsewhere through a portal and that opened up a new window of possibilities. It was Adora, why wouldnât she have a family out there that wanted her?
Her arms squeezed her a little tighter. âThis is worth pursuing though. You can always get one of those DNA tests? You know that show that sometimes pops up - and for whatever reason these ladies donât know who fathered their kid so they like, have this big whole dramatic revelation and thereâs a fuckton of screaming??â Catra pulled back a bit to squish Adoraâs beautiful fucking face. âDo something like that. Just not on television. Thatâs trashy.â
It felt like a light had just flipped on in Adoraâs head. A DNA test, duh. That was a relatively quick, simple way to figure out if she and Adam were really twins - even if a part of her knew deep down Catra had absolutely called it already - and put any remaining nerves to rest. It was still big no matter what, but having solid proof in front of them would at least give her the peace of mind to know she could invest herself in this - being a sister, whatever that entailed.
âNot on TV, I promise,â she agreed with a soft chuckle. âThey do that kind of stuff at labs, right? Câmon, come help me look.â She pulled Catra back toward the couch and reached for the tablet on the coffee table. Time to do some Googling.
The more Adam thought about Catraâs revelation, the more he was sure it was true. It felt right. Heâd passed the instant connection heâd had with Adora as something that had come with the power of Grayskull, or the fact that sheâd healed him when heâd first shown up run through, and yeah, that probably had something to do with it, except heâd spent months in Preternia with the Heroes of Legend and he hadnât felt that close with any of them (though, he was the only one among them who preferred to stay in his lesser regular form, and Adora also seemed to prefer to be Adora over She-Ra).
Sure, maybe Adam had always made friends easily, and heâd never really thought of it before, but it made sense, and it only made more sense the more he thought about it. For a moment, he thought maybe he was just thinking it sounded right because he wanted it so much, except it hadnât been his idea, but Catraâs, and she didnât seem prone to wild flights of fancy.
Teela would be the test though. There was no one he knew that was more clearheaded and down-to-earth than Teela; heâd see what she had to say on the subject. And it wasnât too long after heâd sent her the text (Come to Darla. We have news??) that Darla informed him that she was there. He let her into the spaceship.
âOkay,â he said, without even bothering with a greeting. âLetâs say that my twin sister, the lost princess of Eternia were here in Vallo, who do you think it would be?â
Teela had very nearly joined Adam when he went off on his hangout sesh on Darla. She never minded spending time with Catra and Adora; watching Adam and Adora get competitive and shaking her head at them along with Catra was always a good time. She just wasnât in the mood for video games, so she walked Adam over, then promised to come back later. For the time being, she took the waypoint out to a nearby dog park to let Pop Tart burn off some energy.
She hadnât expected to be summoned back to the little spaceship so soon. Pop Tart had thankfully calmed, but that didnât stop him from leaping on Adam the second the door at the top of Darlaâs ramp opened. Abby, on the other hand, trotted right past them and made herself comfortable in the heated interior, sitting down beside where Spirit sat patiently waiting, without so much as a sideways glance at Adam.
The door slid shut behind Teela after sheâd stepped through, and she crossed her arms over her chest, eyebrows raised while she absorbed that question.
âYou mean Adora?â
âHey, buddy,â Adam laughed, kneeling down so he could scratch Pop Tartâs ears with both hands, his thin ears flopping between Adamâs fingers. He reached out for Abby as she trotted past, but shrugged when she walked past him, smiling after her, and occupied his hands again with Pop Tartâs ears.
âYeah, I,â Adam started, and then stopped, glancing at Teela in surprise. She hadnât hesitated over her answer, and didnât even look that surprised. Not as surprised as he would have expected, at least. âWait, did you already know?â he asked.
âNo. Not for sure.â Teela shrugged. She hadnât. After Adamâs sister had disappeared, even the Sorceress hadnât known what happened to her. It was one of Eterniaâs great mysteries, and she knew it had always niggled at the back of Adamâs mind, specifically. Why wouldnât it? Twins were so connected, and his had gone missing. She knew sheâd have been the same way.
âBut,â she continued, âit makes sense. Once you told me she was She-Ra, I took an educated guess. He-Man and She-Ra are supposed to be of the same blood. If youâre He-Man and sheâs She-Ra, itâs the only explanation that works. You hadnât already put that together?â
She shouldnât have been surprised, but sheâd always assumed heâd figured it out. She assumed maybe he hadnât broken the news to them yet - she knew Catra and Adora had been raised as orphans in the Horde - but surely he knew. He and Adora were way too alike for it to have gone unnoticed for this long, right?
âNo, I hadnât,â Adam said, embarrassed. He hadnât known much about She-Ra, hadnât paid as much attention to the legends and the stories as he probably should have when heâd been getting tutored. But when Teela put it that way, it seemed even more obvious. He probably should have known. He couldnât even blame Teela for thinking that he had and just hadnât brought it up yet.
âI was just thinking before you got here how much dad would have liked her,â he added, glancing back where Adora and Catra were sitting, as if he could somehow see through the layers of metal to them. âImagine how happy heâd have been to have a kid that actually took all their training seriously.â
Teela rolled her eyes, but it was all affection. Common sense occasionally evaded Adam - another thing he had in common with Adora. But, in fairness, she understood why it had taken them a while to come to this conclusion. Even knowing Adora was Eternian, she was sure the last thing theyâd suspected was for her to be part of the royal family.
âHey, donât get started on that,â she told him sternly, reaching out to shoo Pop Tart away so she could take his hands and squeeze. âYouâre a good person, Adam, and your dad knows that, okay? Stop talking down about yourself.â She knew Adam didnât remember sorting things out with Randor, and in this moment, she wished he had. Sure, he was a little lazy - she knew that better than most - but his fatherâs expectations had been a bit crushing. Even she could see that.
âAre they waiting for us upstairs?â She gestured to the elevator. âMaybe we should head up. Iâm guessing you two need to talk all this out.â
Adam managed a bit of a smile. He hadnât meant to talk down about himself, hadnât even realized heâd done it, but of course Teela had seen right through him. âThanks,â he said, and caught himself before he said you told me. It sounded too much like complaining that his father never had. His father had said it, even if Adam couldnât remember it.. He gave her hands a squeeze back, and only let go of one of them when he stood up.
âThey are,â Adam said. âAdora looked like she needed a moment so I thought Iâd give her and Catra some time to work things out together without me there making things awkward. I think theyâve probably had enough time to get through the initial shock of it all though.â
âGood idea. Letâs head up.â Teela turned toward the elevator, pressing the button to open it. Three dogs preceded them in - first Spirit, then Abby, then Pop Tart after some coaching (and maybe some shoving; he was young and excitable, whereas the other two were calmer) - before they followed and were taken back up to Darlaâs observation deck.
âHey,â she called out, spotting Catra and Adora on the couch. Pop Tart finally encouraged Spirit into playing, and they scrambled off together, Pop Tart chasing after Spirit with a yip. Abby trotted right past them yet again, uninterested in their puppy nonsense, and settled on the area rug right at Catra and Adoraâs feet.
âHey,â Adora replied, reaching down to give Abby some well deserved pets. She was such a sweet old dog. âAdam told you the big news?â
âOh yeah. Iâm guessing the smart one figured it out, though?â she joked, grinning at them playfully before offering her hand out to Catra to high five.
It was an onslaught of fur, whoo. Melog was on the ship somewhere (last she checked, napping) - theyâd wake up to herd the young ones. In the meantime, Teela was highfived. âAfter months of Adamâs face bugging me - no offense, your face is fine, you and Adora just make the same expressions sometimes - I did.â
Then she settled back into the couch, curling into Adoraâs side with a mix of guilt and sheepishness. âBut I might have broken their brains by announcing it randomly. Sorry, guys. At least it wasnât just me thinking it?â
âMy face is pretty fine,â Adam agreed, shooting Catra a playful wink. âAnd hey, sometimes these things just come out without planning. No sense beating yourself up about it.â Adam used to do the same thing, before his six years of keeping his alternate identity secret helped cure him of just blurting things out when he thought of them.
âHowâre you doing, Adora?â Adam asked her.
Adora sat back, slipping her arm around Catra and giving her arm a reassuring rub. Abby made a disgruntled noise, so Teela stepped over to take her place, sitting down cross-legged beside the beagle to give her some pets.
âIâm okay,â she replied evenly, flashing him a hesitant smile. âBut I was, uh - Iâm hoping you might be willing to do a DNA test? Itâs not that I donât think itâs true, but I just - I need that confirmation. If youâre willing.â She felt weird asking, but she was trying to power through it. She wasnât used to prioritizing her own wants and needs, but she was allowed to ask for what she needed. It was something she was working on.
âOh,â Adam said, for a moment surprised, not pleasantly so. Of course Adora wanted to be sure. She hadnât spent her entire life knowing that she had a twin brother out there somewhere, hadnât felt the comfort of knowing that finally sheâd found him. For a moment, he wondered what it would feel like if the test came back negative, and if it would feel like heâd lost his sister all over again.
But no, that was stupid. If the test came back negative, it only meant that heâd never found her in the first place.
He really wanted to have found her.
The flash of surprise was gone again faster than it had appeared, there fast enough that anyone would have been hard-pressed to be sure if theyâd even seen it, before he was smiling at her. âWell, my tutors would all agree that Iâm a terrible test taker,â Adam said, mimicking a terrible, snooty accent for the last three words, âbut for you, I think I could manage.â He shot Adora a wink and finger guns.
Oh gods. The dramatic wink, the finger guns, the weird accent - Catra had teased her more times than she could count for the same stuff. Adora knew deep in her bones there was no need for a DNA test, not when she looked at Adam and he was basically her mirror image. Even some of their mannerisms were the same.
There was really no doubt in her mind that it was true, at this point. Catra had put it together, Teela seemed unfazed, Adam really believed it. She just needed something final, concrete proof that it was what they all thought it was. Then, she could be excited. Then, she could stop holding her breath, ask questions, and try to figure out what the hell it all meant.
âGreat! I ordered the swabs already. Theyâll be here by drone in a few minutes, then itâs a twenty-four hour turnaround for results.â
Adam, you fucking dork. Catra had the same line of thought as Adora - that entire dorky shtick was a slap of proof in their face, but she understood her wifeâs need to have more tangible evidence. Still, she rolled her eyes as her tail gave a languid sway. âSo we need to distract you guys for twenty-four hours after the test is taken,â she deduced. As pleasant as it was to have a deliciously toned arm wrapped around her, she wriggled away from Adora (after pressing a kiss to her cheek, obviously) to stand up.
âTeela, Adam - you want a beer? Or something non-alcoholic?â Catra offered. âI figured we could all contemplate in shock over something to drink.â
âBeer sounds good,â Teela agreed, flashing Catra a grateful smile. âMaybe Iâll get Adam to put some effort into training for once. That should be enough to occupy his brain.â She sent Adam a smirk, using both hands to rub under Abbyâs ears.
âNon-alcoholic for me,â Adam answered. He had the alcohol tolerance of a gnat, and he was pretty sure that if he went for the beer, heâd just be silly. And would probably keep calling Adora âsisâ or something.
âHey, I have been putting effort into training,â he protested. Sorta. Kinda. Usually, at least. Especially if it involved something fun â he had been doing pretty good at going for runs in the morning now that he had Pop Tart to keep him motivated. It wasnât a terrible idea though, and he was glad that Teela had suggested it; physical excursion, at least, would be a good way to keep all their minds off the test results. Whatever way they came in.