InsaneJournal

Valentine’s Day wasn’t completely foreign to Adam before he’d come to Vallo. Sure, Eternia didn’t necessarily celebrate, but his mom had always liked to do something a little extra romantic with his dad, whether it was a quiet dinner together or a long walk together, on the date. When he was younger, sometimes she’d have a heart-shaped cake baked for him for the holiday.

It wasn’t something he’d ever really celebrated much though. Last year he and Teela had adopted Pop Tart and Abby, and the dogs were still here, curled up on the kitchen floor, Pop Tart no doubt hoping that Adam would spill some cake batter at some point, or maybe that Adam would let him lick out the bowl when he was done (he could keep hoping; the cake was chocolate, and Adam wasn’t going to intentionally let him lick anything). But Adam had thought that baking a heart-shaped, chocolate-raspberry cake with Teela might be fun.

He glanced at the recipe book. “Hey, Snuggums, could you pass me the eggs?” he asked absently as he mixed the dry ingredients together.

This was Teela’s second Valentine’s Day, technically. With Vallo being Vallo, in her memory, the first had only been a few months ago, but she’d accepted her circumstances. Nearly a year had passed for everyone around her, and she’d decided to just roll with the punches and simply hope she stayed put this time. There’d been enough loss in the last couple of months – she didn’t want to be among them again.

She was doing her best to make this second chance a better experience overall. So, when Adam asked if she wanted to help him bake a cake, she agreed. It sounded like a fun thing to do together, and even with the dogs underfoot, she was enjoying just reading out the recipe and working through it with music playing in the background.

That all changed when Adam asked for the eggs, but he didn’t address her by name. “Snuggums?” she echoed, raising her eyebrows at him as she handed over the requested eggs. “Try again.”

Adam took the eggs, brow already furrowing in confusion. He was pretty sure he hadn’t meant to call Teela snuggums. He was actually pretty sure calling Teela cutesy nicknames was a good way to get himself punched. “Sorry, Sweet Pea, I didn’t mean to…” The words died on his lips as he realized he did it again.

Teela’s lips curled with amusement, watching the confusion spread across Adam’s face. It was clear even without him clarifying that whatever was going on was happening against his will. It was kind of cute seeing his eyebrows drawing together like that.

“Adam,” she chucked, “what’s my name?”

Adam could do this. He could. “Teela,” Adam said, but it came out sounding like “Cutsie Poopsie.”

He hid his face behind his hands.

“Alright, no more talking,” Teela declared, “until whatever this is–” She waved a hand at him, gesturing to his whole general being. “–has worn off. Mostly because I refuse to be called Poopsie in any context.”

Adam considered it, but Valentine’s Day baking, without talking to Teela, just seemed kind of sad. “I’m sure it’ll be fine if I just don’t try to say your name,” Adam said after a moment, and he planned on stopping there. He wanted to stop there. He could feel it coming, tried to stop it, and maybe because he tried to stop him, it burst out of him with a yell, like the cork in a bottle of champagne. “Baby girl!”

Teela was ready to relent there. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to talk to Adam – he was easily one of her favorite people to talk to – but Vallo was being difficult, and she didn’t want to test it. Still, she relented and went back to the recipe, only to be startled by a yell of yet another cheesy pet name. She actually jumped.

“Adam! Goddess, am I going to magically mute you? Seriously, Vallo?” She looked up at the ceiling as she said this, as if addressing whatever Powers That Be played these ridiculous jokes on this world’s citizens.

“No, it’s fine. I won’t talk again until this passes, promise, Sugar Lips.” He grimaced, but without much energy. It was fine, really. Sometimes Vallo was fine, and other times it was not, and that was just something he’d have to accept. It didn’t stop the fact that he could still spend the afternoon baking cookies with his favourite person. Still, he couldn’t stop his shoulders from slumping as he went back to stirring the batter.

Aw. Teela couldn’t help frowning when she saw Adam sag that way. She sighed, stepping up behind him and wrapping her arms around his chest. It would slow his stirring, clinging to his back like this, but that was okay. Catra and Adora were out and about, and they were in no hurry here.

“Once the crazy passes, we can talk about actual nice pet names, okay?” She paused, searching for an equally ridiculous name and grinning when she came up with it. “How’s that sound, Stud Muffin?”

Adam snorted, then laughed at that, let the stir spoon drop into the bowl, and turned around in Teela’s arms so he could wrap his own around her shoulders, and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Yeah, that sounds good, Pookie Pie.”

Teela sighed, but this time the sound was accompanied with a fond, if someone exasperated, smile. She leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips, quick and sweet. “Sugar Lips was the least offensive of the bunch, if you’re keeping track.”