“So do you think–I don’t know–that he’d get it?” Catra asked, awkwardly twirling some of her hair around her fingers. They were going to start actively telling people about… that. Finn. The bun in the oven, which was a weird saying that also kind of made her really want a buttery bun–not the point. She might have had a spastic moment and keyboard smashed the confession out to a total stranger on the network (Lila, though, was her name so they weren’t exactly strangers now) but that was a moment of weakness.
And hormones.
Yeah, all else failed, blame the hormones.
They did want to begin telling people near and dear to them, though. It was also going to be hard to keep hiding it from the soon-to-be uncle living under the same roof, so - cool. She and Adora were doing this. They were going to tell Adam.
They were going to tell Adam, with a shirt.
“No, he’d get it,” she decided with a firm nod. Catra had faith in him.
(Shit. Did she?)
“He’ll get it,” Adora confirmed, straightening the tissue paper in the gift bag she’d prepared for Adam once again. It was small, pale blue with a couple sheets of white tissue paper tucked into the top, and contained the shirt in question. The whole thing had been her idea; it was cute, and she and Adam had similar senses of humor, so she was sure he would appreciate it, too.
She set the bag on the coffee table and turned to Catra to wrap an arm around her shoulders and give her a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t be so nervous. Not like it’s the first person you’ve told,” she teased.
“That was an accident and I’m not nervous,” Catra completely and totally lied, knowing damn well that Adora would know it was a lie. Telling people did give the whole thing this whole… extra real factor. She was kinda looking forward to it? But it also was just, uhhhh.
She made a mrrrp sound and smoothed out her tail. It was getting a little fuzzy.
“It’s fine,” she exhaled heavily and rubbed her face into Adora’s collarbone; it was a scenting thing and self-soothing thing. “It’s fine. I should record it on my phone. I bet his face is going to be at least hilarious.”
Adora knew Catra’s reveal to Lila had just sort of fallen out, and when she’d told her about it, she’d laughed it off because it wasn’t a big deal. That didn’t mean she was going to let her live it down any time soon. At the moment, she was using it to sort of joke her out of her tension. If Adam didn’t get the shirt, he didn’t get it (although it was pretty self-explanatory, if you asked her). It wasn’t the end of the world, and either way, she knew he’d be thrilled to hear about the pregnancy.
She wished Teela was here to hear the news, too, but she put that thought out of her mind.
She pressed a kiss to the crown of Catra’s head and turned her wrist to check her watch. “He should be home…like, now, actually. Go get your phone, we should definitely record it.”
Was it Adora's twin sense? Or was it just the fact that he'd texted her to let her know that he was on his way home from the store? Either way, Adora was right – Adam arrived home not long after her declaration.
Things had been kind of weird on Darla lately. Adam couldn't say exactly what, but he knew that Catra had been a little out of it lately, and that her appetite had been… weird. He wanted to do something nice though, so he'd offered to cook dinner, and was just coming back from the grocery store.
"Hey, guys," he said, grinning when he saw them. "You weren't waiting for me, were you? I can go get dinner started now if you're hungry."
By the time the doors hissed open, Catra’s nerves were mostly soothed - she had tucked her nose into the crook of Adora’s neck anyway, breathing her in. It helped. “Heyyyyy,” she smirked, pulling away a little to spare her brother-in-law too much of an obnoxious display of affection between her and his sister. He had probably seen too much during his time living with them.
She sat up straighter, reaching for her phone and acting like she just went to casually slide her fingers across the home screen for no specific reason at all. Just - texting, or something. Maybe. Was that the camera button her thumb hovered over?? “We were,” Catra stated casually, gaze shifting to Adora knowingly. “Adora got you something, actually? That you should definitely open. Before you start dinner.”
Adam really was the best brother, already offering to cook dinner when he’d just walked through the door. Adora had never expected to have a brother, nevermind a twin, and it had been a bit of an adjustment, but now? She didn’t know what she’d do without him. She had gotten really lucky, and Finn would be super lucky to have him in their life, too.
“Yeah! I know it’s not our birthday yet or anything, but I saw this and thought of you, so.” She scooped the pale blue bag with its white tissue paper stuffing off the coffee table and extended it out to her twin. “Here!”
“You got me something?” Adam said, touched, and a little guilty. He hadn’t gotten them anything. Of course, they probably weren’t expecting anything, if this had just been a spontaneous gift.
He put the bags on the ground and took the gift with a heartfelt thank you, and once he pulled the shirt out from the bag, he held it out in front of him in both hands so he could read it properly.
When he did, he felt a bittersweet squeeze in his chest. Finn hadn’t been here long, but Adam had taken immediately to the cat-eared child, and he kind of missed them. He lowered the shirt and beamed at Adora and Catra.
“Thanks,” he said. “It’s too bad you didn’t find this sooner.” Then he actually could’ve worn it around his nibbling; it was pretty obvious that they’d gotten it because of Finn’s recent visit, and for no other reason than that.
Oh no. Oh no. Catra had given him too much credit.
The ‘record’ button had at least been pressed as he began to open up the gift, and to be able to have that sterling example of dumbass archived for the future was - okay, she couldn’t help it. She laughed.
Catra tried not to. Her other hand slapped over her mouth, and she turned her head to the side to keep it stifled and get ahold of herself. Deep breaths, deep breaths. It was a miracle she kept the phone steady to continue recording this momentous occasion.
“I can’t,” she swallowed with a toothy grin, fanning herself with a hand. “Oh, man. Adora.”
Adora was more surprised than she should have been by the way Adam missed the entire point. She got where he was coming from, though; they were still kind of fresh off meeting future Finn, so of course that was the way he was thinking. Maybe if Finn hadn’t shown up, it would have clicked faster, but she would not for one second wish their kid hadn’t come through, not after how crestfallen she’d been when they didn’t show up that first day.
She sighed and walked up to place a hand on her brother’s shoulder. “Well, you’ll have for when they get here for real,” she told him. She didn’t straight out say ‘Catra’s pregnant’, but she gave him an encouraging, hopeful look. That should be enough of a hint to put the puzzle pieces together, right?
Adam shot Catra a baffled look, not quite sure what was so funny but feeling distinctly like he was missing something. He just wasn’t sure what it was.
He smiled warmly at Adora, and pulled her in for a one-armed hug. “Well, thanks, Sis. I’ll make sure to keep it somewhere safe until then.”
Catra choked down a sound. Yes, it was laughter - again. She was doing her best here but c’monnnnnn, this was kinda fucking hilarious! She made another attempt to compose herself and actually kinda succeeded there, though the grin never left. It was absolutely devilish. Because this was funny.
“I mean,” she started, tilting her head to the side with twitching ears. By now she knew they had to be explicit about this, but she’d let Adora shine down the grand epiphany upon him. Sisterly rights and all that. “You can wear it now, technically.”
Camera was still rolling. Fantastic.
Even Adora knew no more gentle coaxing was going to get Adam to Point B when he’d already made his way to Point C. She shot Catra a look that was tired but still amused. It was kind of adorable that Adam just didn’t get it. She knew she could be a little slow to pick things up, too, and now she understood how her wife felt about it.
“Adam.” She pulled out of the side hug and took him by the shoulders, meeting eyes identical to her own and raising her eyebrows. “Catra’s pregnant. Like, currently, now. That’s what the shirt was supposed to say.”
Adam stared, first at Adora, then at Catra, and then at Catra’s stomach. His first thought, inanely, was that Catra didn’t look pregnant. He’d seen pregnant women before, stomach’s round before them, and Catra was definitely not round.
But, of course, people didn’t just immediately round out as soon as they became pregnant. His royal education had, in fact, covered that; it just took a little longer for the thought to creep up from his subconscious and shove the where’s her beachball belly? thought from his mind.
“Really?” he asked, the last dregs of his stunned disbelief before a grin wiped the blank look from his face. “Wait, really?” He turned his one-armed hug into a full bear hug, and then reached to pull Catra into it too. “That’s fantastic! Congratulations!”
Oof. That’s where the recording had to end; being swept into that hug was an event in itself. Not that she minded, no - she loved Adam, and would easily rip someone a whole new asshole with her claws for him.
Catra obviously reciprocated the hug. She even purred, a happy rumble of vibrations that could be felt in this whole embrace. “Hi, thanks,” she said, the grin becoming more of a soft smirk. “Now you can look at me with a little less fascination when all I can eat are my weird tomato sandwiches.”
Okay, maybe telling people wasn’t so bad. She had thought she’d feel awkward and want to fold into herself but Adam’s reaction was… cute. It made her feel all fuzzy and warm on the inside.
Adora wasn’t at all surprised to be swept up into a hug, and she opened her arms when Catra got pulled in to embrace her whole family. This was the reaction she’d expected. It may be a little delayed, but it was just what she’d wanted and needed, and feeling Catra purring against her while her brother hugged them tight was kind of magical.
“Ugh, those sandwiches,” she laughed. She was a fairly adventurous eater and had, as Catra always said, a bottomless stomach. But some of those combinations her wife had been putting together were enough to make her stomach roil with disgust. Adam, however, had been watching her like he was missing out on something. It was actually pretty funny.
“Is that what that’s all about?” Adam asked. He had, in fact, been very curious. He couldn’t see anything good about the sandwiches that Catra seemed to enjoy dipping in greek yogurt, but she seemed to enjoy them and he’d been wondering if he ought to give them a shot. “And the sleeping, too? I thought that might’ve been a Magicat thing.”
He didn’t know very many magicats back on Eternia, but he’d met his fair share of cats, and sleeping and eating strange things seemed to be some of their favourite things. “I’m glad you’re alright.” He gave first Adora, and then Catra, a kiss on the forehead before pulling out of the hug. “When are they due?”
Ugh. Catra’s cheeks flushed. “Not a Magicat thing, just–for whatever reason they were the only things I could keep down,” she admitted awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck. It made sense now that she knew the reason, but before when she was wading through the symptoms like some oblivious dumbass she was only trying to survive. Weird sandwiches it was.
Now it was mostly hot wings since the thought of anything else felt really unappealing.
“But, um.” Her hand fished for Adora’s, clasping and locking their fingers. “Due date’s June 1st, though they can come before or after that? Summer’s going to be fun with a crying kitten around.”
“We can handle it,” Adora assured her, squeezing their joined fingers and leaning in to kiss her wife’s cheek. It was going to be an adventure, but in her eyes, there wasn’t one much better to go on. She wasn’t blind to the challenges they would face, but they’d be in it together, the two of them, with Adam, and Glimmer, and so many of the friends they’d made here in Vallo. They would get through it.
“Get comfy, babe.” She helped Catra settle on the couch (unnecessary, she knew, but she appreciated her wife accepting it, regardless). She turned back to her brother, clapping a hand across his back and smiling at him. “Let’s get the pregnant lady fed, huh? And me too. This whole ordeal has made me hungry.”