WHAT: Catra's been falling asleep during inconvenient moments and the two talk about it WHERE: Darla WHEN: Today WARNINGS: Mild sexual references STATUS: Complete
Catra had woken up late. There wasn’t Defense today so it’s not like she was missing money-making hours, but she had yoga class that started early and then after that was art and she had slept so fucking hard, had a bunch of weirdly vivid dreams (all of them also weirdly boring), and she set the alarm for PM instead of AM. This morning was a mess. She hurried up to get ready, and barely processed how off and pouty Adora was when she gave her wife a kiss on her forehead before venturing off Darla, onto her bike and into Vallo City.
She could have slept for the rest of the day.
Honestly, she really regretted not doing exactly that. Maybe she was coming down with something; her stomach wasn’t cooperating with much and Catra just had bouts of zero energy that weren’t obvious to most. If she was sick, she could mask it. It’s how she always did it. There’ve been a few comparable times and she has told Adora after the fact, and while she had gotten scolded about it she didn’t think it was too much of a big deal. It’s not like she was dying.
Catra could push through it. She’d been doing that for several days straight now anyway.
The day went on as usual. Yoga class with Perfuma to help keep her bendy and chilled the fuck out. Art class because that was cool and she really enjoyed it. In the middle of painting something, she had the sudden epiphany of - shit, my wife tried to have sex with me last night and I FELL ASLEEP.
For like, the third or fourth time?? Oh god. Art class was cut short. She sped back home, ran up Darla while struggling with her helmet straps, and when she made it into the common area deck she finally pulled it off her head and slammed it down on the coffee table.
“Hi,” she greeted, breathless (and nauseated, did she forget to eat?). “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I love you, can I take you to the movies??”
Four times. Four times Adora and Catra had been getting intimate when, right in the middle of it, her wife fell asleep. It was like the second Adora’s attention veered downward, away from holding her eyes, bam – Catra was out like a light. And she couldn’t just hold her gaze the whole time! There were other things to do, things they both usually enjoyed that weren’t happening anymore.
She’d gone to sleep each time pent-up and grumpy. She’d passed it off at first as Catra not feeling great; she may think she was hiding it, but Adora knew better, especially when she started refusing to drink coffee. But Adora wasn’t convinced that was the problem here. It had happened enough times now that she was worried it was something she was doing wrong.
A pattern was beginning to form and Adora was starting to get a little insecure about it.
For now, she just tried to push through it and brush it aside. It wasn’t worth bringing up to Catra and making her stinging ego even more sore. She was considering just giving up altogether and waiting for Catra to start things up – if she ever did again, since clearly sex was terrible now.
No Defense today meant she was in charge of entertaining herself while Catra went off for her classes in the morning. That mostly meant housework – taking the dogs out, then cleaning up and maintaining the lawn. When she’d finished up outside, she went to work in the kitchen, clearing anything from the fridge that was old and expired.
By the time she’d finished and earned herself a break, she was sitting on the carpet between the couch and the coffee table, amusing herself by playing with Jenga blocks. Of course, the whole tower she’d been carefully trying to keep from falling immediately collapsed and scattered when Catra’s helmet suddenly hit the coffee table, and she turned to Adora all breathless.
“It’s fine, babe,” Adora sighed. She’d obviously just realized what had happened, but there was no sense getting all worked up about it. “I don’t want to go to the movies. I’m good here.”
“No no no, it’s not fine,” Catra replied back in a hurry, swatting strands of hair from her own face because it had gotten frazzled under her helmet and one ear got folded a little funny - it actually stayed that way for now. She vaguely noticed the mess of fallen blocks. “I didn’t - I’m so sorry, I don’t know why it keeps happening but I promise it’s not you. I promise.”
Shit oh shit oh shit. This was looking bad. It was looking like she wasn’t interested when that was farthest from the truth. She was extremely interested in her wife in every way, now and then and forever. But falling asleep while beginning those activities was, uh, very insulting.
“It’s like our bed is cursed at night because every time I’m in it, I’m just - bam, out like a light! I don’t know!” There was pacing. Her feet kicked at the blocks on the floor and she still barely registered them. “I mean, fuck that bed for being comfortable, right??” Right.
Her stomach made a weird gurgling noise like it was eating itself and the headache she had was signaling the rest of her body to eat and drink water but she was busy. “Please, pleaaaase let me take you out,” she whined from desperation. “Please? I’m an asshole. We’ll do whatever you want.”
“Catra, stop,” Adora insisted, standing up to stop Catra in her tracks. She kept kicking some of the fallen blocks around, and it was hitting that little neurotic nerve like nails on a chalkboard. She reached out to adjust her wife’s folded ear carefully, then moved her to the couch. “Take a deep breath, okay?”
In the meantime, she bent down to scoop up the stray blocks and drop them on the coffee table. She’d put them away later, but right now, she felt better having them out of the way. And it gave her a minute to collect herself and try not to seem annoyed or upset. It was easier to put aside when she was alone and distracting herself, but she wasn’t the best at hiding how she was feeling from her wife, even when she really, really wanted to.
“It’s really okay if you don’t want to have sex.” She sat down on the couch, reaching back to pet Ivy where she was sprawled out across the cushions, keeping her focus there. “You didn’t have to rush all the way home just to try to make me feel better. I’m really fine.”
Nope, Adora was definitely annoyed. Catra’s body didn't like showing signs of illness but it did express some frayed nerves - the restless tail, and even her ears were a little twitchy now. She felt even worse about the whole thing knowing she had woken up and acted like nothing had happened last night because, like a dumbass, she had forgotten.
She was the literal worst.
“I want to,” she whined again, pinching the bridge of her nose with eyes screwed shut. They’ve been very sexual with each other since the start of their relationship, and that hadn’t slowed before. They were very compatible in that department. If Catra was on the receiving end of this she would have been very taken aback, too. “You’re not doing anything wrong, okay? You’re perfect. I’m probably just super caffeine deprived right now and I know that’s been making me really tired and - it’s me, it’s all me, not you.”
Adora shrugged, turning her attention back toward her wife with a hint of a pout and furrowed brows. She didn’t want to be upset about this. It felt stupid and maybe a little mean to be upset that Catra wasn’t into sex. She shouldn’t care about that when their relationship was obviously much bigger than sex. But it was important, and this happening more than once made her feel like something was off.
“You’re sure?” she asked. “Because it’s starting to feel like it’s something I’m doing wrong.”
Catra launched herself onto Adora’s lap, wrapped her arms (and legs, she was trapped now) around her, and hugged her tight.
“I promise,” she assured, and began giving her face a smatter of aggressively apologetic kisses. Catra would start initiating now but she didn’t want Adora to feel like it was forced?? And her stomach was in knots with her head still throbbing, none of that was sexy. “I love you, dummy, you know you always do it for me. You always do it really good.” That was said with a laugh, her hands going to cradle her face into her hands. “I’m going to make it up to you, okay? All those nights. Like, I’m going to break furniture with you when we do it.”
Adora could barely cling onto a smidge of uncertainty after that. She relaxed into Catra’s grip, even letting out a laugh when she began really smashing into her face with kisses. It was reassuring to hear it wasn’t something she’d messed up, but those reasons that had been brought up still gave her cause for different concern.
“I’m not worried about it right now, really,” Adora insisted, very sincere this time without a hint of annoyance. She reached out to tangle her fingers in Catra’s mane and meet her eyes. “But if you’re feeling so tired all the time, maybe we need to get you to a doctor. I know you’ve been feeling bad, but this seems extra.”
Catra tipped her head back and groaned. “I’m fine,” she groused, which - she was sure wasn’t really a lie? Yeah, she felt kind of funky but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t get through before. Obviously she was still functional. It’s just -
What was that fucking noise–oh, shit. Her stomach.
“I haven’t eaten,” she sighed. “So I should probably go do that. But I’ll start prepping one of your favorites for dinner tonight, yeah? I can make it fancy and even light candles on the table.”
Any little thing to make up for her consecutive monumental fuck ups couldn’t hurt.
“Nope, you’re staying right there,” Adora replied, her voice firm and an eyebrow raised in a ‘don’t challenge me’ sort of way. Catra could say she was fine all she wanted, and Adora would respect that enough not to push – that rarely went well for her, anyway – but she wasn’t going to allow her to get up and start cooking either. “We’ll order something now and worry about dinner later.”
She’d already eaten lunch, leftovers from what Adam had thrown together for the three of them last night, but her stomach was a bottomless pit. She’d eat again. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and passed it over. “Pick, please,” she requested.
“Uhhhhhh…” Wow, okay. Catra hadn’t expected that. She was ready to scramble off Adora’s lap to venture off into the kitchen and figure some kind of shit out. In truth, she didn’t really know what she wanted. Breakfast had been avoided because she’d woken up nauseated. Then not having eaten anything had led to more nausea.
This was a lot of pressure all of a sudden.
She slowly, slowly took her phone with a degree of uncertainty that was a little unusual. “I can try,” she mumbled, frowning at the screen. “I don’t really know what I want, ummmm…” Her fingers began scrolling. “Maybe, like…a BLT sandwich, or something. I don’t know.”
“When’s the last time you ate anything other than crackers?” Adora questioned, exasperation mixing with worry in her tone and in the way her lips pressed together. She hadn’t expected quite this reaction, but she’d had her suspicions that Catra wasn’t eating much. Last time she’d caught her, it was crackers, but she seemed to be doing her best to hide away when she claimed she was hungry.
“I don’t keep track of what I eat, princess,” Catra sighed and slid off her lap, leaning into accent pillows propped up against the arm rest. Picking out a BLT sandwich (it didn’t call out to her but it was something) from a random restaurant was a quick affair, and afterwards she passed the phone back to her wife. “See? I ordered food. I’m gonna eat it.”
Arms crossing over her chest, she pushed her feet into Adora’s thighs just to be a little annoying. “I’m fine, babe. I might be coming down with a little something but if it gets worse I’ll let you know, alright? No cadet repeats. I promise.”
“You better mean that,” was Adora’s reply, grabbing that foot with one hand to squeeze. She added another sandwich of her own before putting in their order and pocketing her phone again. She wrapped both hands around Catra’s leg, one at the ankle and one a little higher on her calf.
“If you end up hospitalized because you’re stubborn, I’m gonna be mad,” she told her seriously, giving the leg in her grip a little tug. It wasn’t much, not too rough, just enough to destabilize her in her cozy little spot against the pillows.
There was this little mrrrrp noise, the tug making her sink deeper into the couch. Catra wasn’t budging much. She was still on the couch with her wife, therefore still very comfy, thank you. “Very unlikely scenario,” she snorted, quirking a brow at her. “I’m up and doing stuff, there’s no fever. I’m okay.”
Catra loosened a hand from her crossed arms and crooked a finger at Adora. “Can you come closer so I can kiss you until the food’s here? Not sure if you’ve heard but I’ve been awful to my spouse at night lately, I’d like to give you some more reassurance.”
Unlikely but not impossible. Adora very nearly said that out loud but let it go instead. As long as catra was functional, she was right: she was probably okay. That didn’t mean Adora wasn’t concerned, but she knew the subject was closed for now. She wouldn’t argue.
“You really haven’t been awful,” she corrected her gently. She shifted forward to shimmy between her wife and the couch and into a prime position for spooning, one arm slipping comfortably around her waist.
It had been frustrating and confusing, for sure. But even when she’d been certain the whole thing was her fault, she knew it wasn’t spiteful. It wasn’t like Catra was falling asleep to intentionally avoid sex.
“Adora — if I was in your position I would be feeling severely butthurt right now too,” Catra intoned, burrowing back into her arms; her back molding into her front, a gentle purr kicking up. “The last thing I ever want you to feel is like you did something wrong in that department, or that I don’t want you. I’m really sorry. It’s not happening again, okay?”
It definitely hadn’t been intentional the first four times. It just happened? She was up for one moment, and then she would blink and it would be morning. Gods, she really needed to get back into caffeine again. But, point was, she was going to do everything in her power to stop a fifth time from actualizing and making sure Adora didn’t feel this way again going forward was a good motivator.
“Okay,” Adora agreed, burying her face into Catra’s neck to drop some kisses there. Her hopes weren’t terribly high – four times meant something was up – but her ego had been suitably assuaged. It was relieving to know it hadn’t been something she screwed up. “I’m not butthurt, though,” she mumbled into that soft neck fur. “I was just…concerned.”
Which was true, yes, but she’d also definitely been a little wounded. It was probably that never-flagging perfectionist streak that was responsible for the pouty mess she’d become. If there was one thing she’d never messed up before, it was satisfying her wife.
“I knooooooow,” she drawled, tightening her tail around Adora’s leg as an extension of neediness. Catra was so dang comfortable and if she closed her eyes for a few seconds she could - wait, no. Nope. She was not napping. She was going to stay awake, and cuddle her goddamn partner while conscious to make a point. “But if you’re worried I’ll just stay here with you while you squeeze me?”
Her head turned so she could drop a kiss to whatever part of her face that was reachable, doing her best to keep all of this light and playful. Things were fine. Everything was fine. She just had to convince Adora and it would be fiiiiiiine.
“Mmm, yes please,” Adora murmured, angling her head just right to get Catra to kiss her lips. She smiled, letting herself relax a little more into the couch and cuddle impossibly closer. She was cozy like this, wrapped up and settled by the sound and feel of those purrs. She raised a hand to brush a bit of Catra’s hair back off her forehead. “You still tired?”
Tired? Pfft. Catra rolled her eyes. “No,” she answered smugly, and then thought back to the whole honesty thing and - look, she didn’t think it was a total lie, okay? “I’m just comfortable. I could easily take a nap because you’re so warm and you’re big spooning me. That’s not my fault.”
It was Adora’s, for having such sinfully perfect arms and the audacity of making her feel safe. This was the best place to be. Her eyes closed for three long seconds before they blinked back open with determination. “But we have food coming so no naps. We can eat outside because the weather doesn’t suck.”
That was fair. Adora could probably stand for a nap herself like this; if they hadn’t just ordered lunch, she would consider it after a morning of physical labor. But she was determined to make sure Catra ate after the sounds her stomach had started making, and she was getting a little hungry, too. That BLT was starting to sound more and more appetizing now that she wasn’t all worked up.
“‘Kay, outside,” she agreed, leaning in to snag another kiss first. “Spirit needs to go out again, anyway. He’s probably still hiding from the lawn mower.”
“Can’t believe you did lawn work when I wasn’t here to sit around and watch,” Catra huffed playfully. Did she ever help with outdoor maintenance? Absolutely the fuck not. Was it her god-given right to be an audience to her wife when it was happening? It was. But since they’ve made the decision that food would be consumed outdoors now, this meant she needed to sit up.
It was tough. She didn’t want to, but she slipped out of Adora’s grasp so she could try and shake off the tiredness and the lingering nausea. Otherwise it really was tempting to let her eyes rest on the couch like that (although she knew that might lead to a full-blown nap). “Okay - I’m up and moving,” she said around a yawn and a stretch of muscle. “I’ll get us drinks and you can let Spirit out?”
Adora reluctantly followed suit, pushing herself up into a sitting position and leaning in to kiss Catra’s shoulder again. Because she wanted to and she could. “Deal. And next time, I’ll save the lawn work for when you’re here to spectate, I swear.” She’d normally have waited, but she’d been in a mood and needed to be productive – and that had been the most pressing task.
She got to her feet, extending both her hands to Catra to help her up next. “Can you make it all the way to the kitchen without falling asleep?” Yes, there was teasing now, a massive upgrade from her earlier poutiness. “I don’t want to leave you unsupervised and find you asleep on the kitchen floor.”
“Ohhhh, you’re never going to let this go, are you,” she sighed, taking her wife’s hands so she could assist in standing. Catra was fine with it. She did kinda deserve it for, y’know, inconveniently passing out during sexy moments. Rising on her tiptoes (not that it was necessary), she reached up to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Get the puppy, dummy. I’ll make out with your face before we eat.”