Father’s Day came and went. Catra hadn’t realized it until, like, after the fact though.
If parental holidays were celebrated in Etheria then that was news to her but, y’know - she was also some trash orphan that had grown up in a place that had little emphasis on familial ties. There were no records of her lineage anywhere, and her first batch of paperwork more or less said ‘abandoned child found in a box’ when she was barely four years old. Sometimes she had quick flashes of memories of people that maybe looked like her, though she chalked up to her imagination and stuffed it away. Her parents were either dead (killed by the Horde, or by the neglect of the Alliance as they withdrew and refused to help outlier villages), or willingly gave her up to save themselves or maybe even lost her and then refused to reach out when they realized she had become some Big Bad Horde Commander.
It wasn’t any baggage worth unpacking. The closest thing she had ever had to a mother figure was a total cunt but she was at least a dead cunt, and now she was in a world where people weirdly thought of her as some kind of younger sibling (Richie and Alex, they made her feel gooey sometimes). Then there was Dan.
Her relationship with him was a little different. With Alex and Richie, she could talk some shit and playfully punch and get into some kind of hilarious debauchery with. Dan, though? He was someone that she could sit with comfortable silence, and he had this knack for providing warmth and wisdom and it was just - different, okay. The only time Catra had ever felt a shred of maternal love was through that yogurt place (A Mother’s Love, that flavor made her want to cry) but paternal love was… new. It was similar. But also - really different?
What the fuck ever. Dan wasn’t her parent. He wasn’t her dad. Catra was too old to want that kind of shit.
But she had showed up with a belated Father’s Day gift regardless, and it wasn’t a big deal. Pfft, no. It was just a portrait of Dan and Allison and Claire that she had painted, and Catra’s artistic abilities were weirdly good (practice, though, just like the cooking) and she may have scrapped and redone it a few times until she was perfectly satisfied and was that a unicorn in the background of it, flying?
That part was for the kid. Catra thought it would be a nice touch.
“Uh - no pressure when it comes to hanging it up,” she clarified awkwardly, biting her lip after unveiling the canvas to him in the middle of his living room. Dan’s house was pretty goddamn delightful; she always liked coming over but she didn’t do it as often as she should. If she and Adora ever opted into finding something outside of Darla, she’d want something like this. “I probably should have just made something that goes on the fridge the more I think about it.”
This was extra. Was this extra? Oh my fucking god it was so extra, what was wrong with her?
Father’s Day was new for Dan too. He never thought he’d actually become a parent - but he would proudly admit that he had a hand in nurturing Sabrina, since she’d only been a tender sixteen when they both first arrived in Vallo around the same time, nearly three years ago. She’d aged up since and maybe she didn’t need him to pack her lunch for school (she had a grown-up job now) but he was still around to be a listening ear or comfort her when she was sad, when those rainclouds felt like they rained a metric ton. Claire was much younger and did need him to pack her lunch for school - she would have a rainbow, unicorn-themed lunchbox for third grade this year - and she needed him to sit up with her when she had a stomach ache, needed him to help her stick to her chore chart and solve all her math homework problems. He loved it - absolutely loved fatherhood, even to those more grown up kids too.
Like Catra. Who didn’t need him to pack her lunch, but maybe she needed encouragement and someone to really believe in her - paternal love was something Dan didn’t personally have a lot of experience with receiving, but he had a lot of it to give. Sometimes he wasn’t sure he was even doing it right but when she showed up with a portrait she’d painted herself, something meant to be a Father’s Day gift, he had a feeling that maybe he was doing okay after all.
They sat in the living room, which was bright and airy, sunshine streaming in through the freshly washed windows. It had recently been scorchingly hot but that passed and overall summer felt like an embrace - hopeful, promising. Or at least, that’s how he was choosing to look at it. “It’s beautiful,” Dan said about the portrait, which he studied as he held it carefully. “Of course I’m going to hang it up. Right here as soon as you walk in, you’ll see it.”
He was already rummaging to find his toolbox so he could use a hammer and nails. “I can’t believe you did this - it’s pretty much professional,” he grinned. “You’ve been enjoying your classes?”
“Ummmm,” she stammered nervously, an arm crossed over her midsection while the other hand was scratching at her neck - careful to avoid the scar in the back though, she hated feeling the texture underneath her fingertips. “Yeah, I love them. I’ve always liked drawing anyway.” The portrait wasn’t anything realistic, no - it had this whimsical, cartoony aspect with their likeness. Obviously, it was them.
Dan was hanging it right now? So maybe it wasn’t too much. Catra let out a soft sigh in relief. “And - I thought this was, like, appropriate. You know? For you. Even if you’re not… you know.”
Not her dad, technically? She just felt like she should get him something? Catra didn’t even know vitamins were a thing until Dan, so. It’s like he kinda was. Maybe she’s been putting too much thought on family shit since Adora’s surprise twin popped up and she was projecting.
Her cheeks weren’t red, shut up. It was sunburn.
The sudden appearance of sunburn made Dan chuckle fondly - he was a little red too, flushed from the sheer exuberance and the happiness he felt. He usually just didn’t have people giving him gifts like this - though Claire had given him more bling for his stethoscope for Father’s Day, a present she apparently picked out on her own (maybe even contributed to a little too, with her allowance money) and also wrote a sweet message on a card for him; it had taken her a bit to warm up to him when she first appeared in Vallo and learned her mother was romantically involved with someone who wasn’t her dad, but Dan had been patient and took things at her pace. Now she was pretty cuddly with him and safe to say, he’d won her over - plus he loved her. Loved his family, every single one of them.
Into the wall a nail went, after he assessed the best place - right in the center, where the portrait would hang over the fireplace. It really was an excellent conversation piece. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “It really is incredible. And maybe you’re not technically the fruit of my loins - “
Was that gross to say? Kind of funny. He was pretty sure they’d had conversations about baby-making seeds and balls before, in this context. “But being a dad is more than that. I don’t even think of my father as my father anymore - he was just...someone I tried to understand but couldn’t. Who also tried to overcome his demons but couldn’t do that either.” Dan had, however - he’d done what Jack Torrance wasn’t able to do, and even though he’d died too, he died knowing that it was to protect the only family he had left - and it was his own choice, rather than being overtaken by a darkness and evil that was hooked in with its toxicity and didn’t let up.
Catra rolled her eyes. Yes, they’ve had conversations with adult humor and remarks but fruit of my loins was like, the worst phrase? Please stop, it was embarrassing. “Well - I’m glad you like it and that it wasn’t… weird to receive, or anything. It was fun to do.”
The canvas looked great in that spot, too. It gave her that ooey-gooey feeling. You know the one.
“I’ve no idea if I ever had a dad,” she tacked on just because, shoulders shrugging. “Same-sex couples are really common so to have two dads or two moms or sometimes - three parents? It can be normal.” They weren’t raging with polyamory relationships but they were also common and widely accepted. Etheria and how open it was to all its diversity was one thing it had going for it. “But if I ever did have one - I hope they were like you.”
There. Catra was done with feelings for the rest of the day.
Well, damn if that wasn’t the sweetest thing Dan ever heard. “And you’ll always have me,” he promised. “You’ll always be my very grown-up kid.” Those feelings, they didn’t vanish even if life circumstances changed - or if Vallo decided to tilt itself off its axis a bit, and take a few Outlanders with it. They didn’t belong here, technically, but that had never bothered Dan before - it didn’t stop him from viewing Vallo as a second chance at life, at love, at connection, and maybe as a way to continue making penance for all of the shit things he’d done when he was drowning in the bottom of a bottle (multiple bottles).
So, sure, the people could vanish but the feelings remained - he believed that there was some truth to the idea that loved ones lived on in the metaphorical chambers of your heart. Nothing could touch that.
There, portrait on the wall. It didn’t take long to hang and he adjusted it, studying its placement and deciding that it looked really good where it was. Then he went to Catra and slung his arm across her shoulders. Maybe gave her a scritch behind the ears too, shhh. “Best addition to the interior design,” he smiled. “Now I should probably be a better host - it’s probably too hot for regular coffee but I have it iced if you want.”
Fine, Dan’s other present could be temporary access to her ears. Catra would allow it. Despite the pointy teeth and claws, sharp edges and dripping sarcasm she was so very soft - and her ears were the softest. Don’t tell her that, though. She’d deny it.
“Your very grown ass kid,” she snorted softly, a little boggled that she could refer herself as anyone’s child but it was a strange, “would definitely like some iced coffee, that’s just the way people should drink coffee in the summer anyway.”
She didn’t mind outdoor heat or anything; hell, she regularly napped in sunbeams if she had the time but drinking hot beverages while it was also just hot-as-shit outside was a terrible combo.
But before he went off and played hospitable host, there was something she wanted to doooo…
Which was to give him a hug. An actual one. Catra was getting better at those; she’s hugged Dan before but not enough, and maybe she just should do that a little more often with the people she cared about. “Happy wayyyyy belated Father’s Day, old man,” Catra grinned toothily at him. “You put up with so much shit, you know?”
The hug caught him by surprise but in a good way - Dan was all for iced coffee (he kept a carafe of it in the fridge because necessary) and he was all for hugs too, especially from the people he cared about. It was important to get those in because you never knew how much time you truly had - he didn’t want to waste a moment of it, especially after he had seen so many come and go. Allison’s siblings and Nick and other friends that he still missed to this day - one day it could be him. Or Allison.
So yeah, he definitely hugged Catra pretty tightly - she was one of those folks he would absolutely hate to lose, and it would be this undeniable ache. Different from all the other gut-punches, but more impactful because he knew what it was like to have to unfurl slowly, believing you were undeserving of a second chance thanks to all the wrong you had committed before. They had that in common. They’d always (unfortunately) had that in common.
“Thanks, youngin,” he wheezed a puff of air, resembling a laugh. “I guess but...don’t we all?” Put up with a lot of shit, that is. It was just a thing while living here. “Worth it though.”
He squeezed Catra’s cheeks between his hands, playfully. “You’re worth it too.”
That, uh, ‘sunburn’ was still there - right over freckle-dusted cheeks, obviously that was why they felt warm. Catra didn’t hate this. She let out a groan like she did but she didn’t. “Dude, c’mon,” she said, nose all scrunched up as she pulled her face away. “I want that iced coffee, and if you keep getting mushy on me then you’re going to have to make me a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s penance.”
She also really enjoyed his grilled cheese sandwiches? They were easy to make, she knew how to do them well but it hit different when someone else made it for you, alright? Maybe it was that ‘parental touch’ people said food can have when a parent-like person made you something to eat, it was weird.
But a good weird. Catra didn’t purr, though there was this little trill sound she made and it was just as important as a purr.
The sound she made was adorable and Dan wouldn’t draw attention to it (much), so he just shook his head and gave in to those demands. How could he ever deny his ‘grown-ass kid’ any iced coffee? He couldn’t. It was as simple as that.
“Alright, come on,” he encouraged, letting go and heading for the kitchen - also bright and sunny, it had kind of a retro vibe thanks to Allison’s input; the sink was retro, anyway, and the cabinetry was exposed and the floors were wooden - maybe a little rustic too, but Dan was fond of the space. Was fond of the whole house, really. “You know I’m going to make you a grilled cheese though.”
It was a ritual, wasn’t it? Not one he was complaining about - he’d make one for the both of them, they’d wolf them down, and just enjoy the rest of the summer day. Seemed like a decent plan to him.
“Duh,” she grinned at him, the tip of a top fang sticking out. Catra figured by now that she could just breathe in Dan’s general direction and the offer would be there, buttered slices of bread and cheese warmed to her liking. “Literally the only reason I ever come by, don’t you know that by now?”
Dan was followed into the kitchen closely though, and her tail might have twined around his arm briefly in a gesture that was more important than a squeeze of hands when it came to Catra’s brand of expression. It was sometimes subtle. Maybe he picked up on it. Maybe he didn’t.
Still, it meant more than the words she could say.