To say Adora was excited to have her mom back in Vallo would be an understatement. She was ecstatic. There was something different about Marlena’s presence this time around, and despite her attempts to keep her hopes at a reasonable level, right now, they were sky high. She wished her mom and dad had come back together – Randor was more stoic than Marlena and she had still been getting to know him over Christmas – but having one parent back was an amazing gift, and she knew better than to take it for granted. Vallo gave and Vallo took away so easily.
So, she was taking full advantage of Marlena being here and spending plenty of time with her. Most of that time had been spent in conjunction with either the whole family, her brother and Teela included, or with Catra and Finn. All of which was fantastic; she liked having her mom around to be Finn’s grandma, and she would never turn down time wrestling the cubs with Adam, but she needed one-on-one time, too.
Over Christmas, their early morning walks with the dogs had been how she and Marlena really bonded and got to know each other. It had quickly become one of her favorite parts of her day. But that didn’t happen as easily now, with Marlena at Morningside and sleeping much more of a commodity with an infant in the house. That was okay, though! It just gave Adora more reason to plan an actual outing.
That outing? Barbie. What else, honestly? Adora hadn’t grown up with Barbie dolls – or, really, any dolls – but they were impossible to miss thanks to the Earth-inspired stores and merchandise that permeated Vallo’s retail scene. She’d even made sure to buy a few for Finn, though they were stowed away for when their baby was a little older. The movie looked fun, and Adora had been eager to see it since before its release date.
And she had. Through sheer determination, she’d finally won Leon over and got him to agree to a double date. Neither her wife or Revy had been terribly happy with the idea, but Adora didn’t care. She’d really loved the movie and having their company. She’d taken Adam with her next, and now, she had taken the first opportunity she could to buy tickets for a showing with her mom while Teela came by to hang out with Catra and Finn for the afternoon.
She was appropriately decked out in a Barbie shirt and denim shorts as they left the movie theater in the mall. They had an hour to kill before the time they’d promised to be home for dinner, and that gave them plenty of time to wander the air-conditioned mall and do some browsing.
That was the plan until she slowed in front of a salon; the glass doors were open and the white noise of blow dryers attracted her attention.
“I’ve… been kinda thinking about getting a haircut,” she told her mom, lifting a hand to pull through her thick, silky locks. She and Catra had been good about maintaining hair care in Vallo, but with Finn around, it was one of those tasks that had fallen by the wayside. “I’m overdue. Would you mind if we stopped in here?”
They made a Barbie movie. Marlena thought she’d never see the day. They didn’t have grand movie productions like this in Eternia – theaters, yes, with live performances that could be recorded – so the nostalgia of an Earth-like movie outing was perfect. It wasn’t exactly her kind of movie (she often preferred something with a little more action and some explosions), but it was enjoyable, and seeing her daughter light up with a smile like she was a ten year old warmed her.
Slowing down with her, she nursed the last bits of her ICEE as she followed her gaze towards the salon. “Not at all,” she said after a gulp, gesturing towards it with her cup. “Let’s go. I would have been happy to offer to do it if I’d known, but I gave Adam his first haircut, and I had many regrets about that. Awful bangs. Professionals should always be recommended for that sort of thing.”
“I cut my bangs bad once when I was like fifteen,” Adora told her, “and ever since, Catra won’t let me live it down. Or let me try to cut it myself again.” She hadn’t expressed any great desire to do that, especially after her awfully cut bangs had properly grown out, but it might have been easier to cut her split ends at home. Better not to risk it, though, with her luck.
She led the way inside and was checked in at the front desk; the receptionist waved them off to the waiting area, where Adora snagged a seat on a stark-white couch that reminded her of Lena and Kara’s penthouse. “Did you have a hair stylist on the staff at the Palace?” she asked.
Marlena grinned, her mouth and teeth tinted blue from her drink. “You cut your own bangs?” she cooed, finding that imagery to be adorable. The plastic was tossed into the trash can once they entered the salon, and she did mention to the receptionist that she would be paying – no buts, nothing – before settling down next to her.
“Calling it a stylist seems glamorous,” she commented, reaching over to stroke some hair from Adora’s face, trying to picture her with a chunk of it gone. “But we did. Mostly a barber to help maintain your father’s beard. He’s always been high-maintenance about making sure it stays moisturized. Bit of a diva beneath all that man.”
Adora’s reaction to the emphasis on that particular word was half-grimace, half-smile, but it quickly shifted into a full smile. “Maybe that’s where I get the hair envy,” she mused. She had always been ridiculously vain about her hair and mildly envious of those she felt had it better. She still wished she had She-Ra’s hair; there was something more luxurious and effortless about it, and she was glad Finn seemed to have inherited it.
She set down her soda and picked up one of the many magazines spread out on the coffee table in front of them. This particular one featured a dark-haired woman with a shorter cut – pixie-cut, Adora was pretty sure that was what it was called – and she shook her head as she flipped it open. “Help me pick something?” she requested, scooting close to Marlena so they could look together. “I think I want a change but nothing too drastic.”
“I can’t see you being adventurous enough with your hair for a total shock of a change,” Marlena chuckled, leaning over to flip the page for her. There were women with bangs, with high bobs, with medium-length hair that was layered. Cute looks, but she had a hard time picturing Adora with any of those. “Is this how long you’ve always kept your hair, though? I feel like, hmmm…”
Another page was turned, and there was a style she tapped her finger on. “Right above the shoulders would be different enough, but safe at the same time? Hair is hair, it’ll always grow back or you can have people magic it back to normal – I assume they do that here?”
Adora studied the picture for a moment. Her mom had chosen well for her – it wasn’t anything egregiously different, just off the shoulders with some layers mixed in. It was cute, too. She could pull it off and go home to Catra without worrying she’d get a disapproving look. She doubted she could do much with her appearance that would get that look from her wife, but she always liked to keep it in mind, just in case.
“I think this works,” she agreed with a nod. She pulled her fingers through the ends of her hair again. It had been a while. Usually, it stopped just past her shoulder blades, and when she cut it, she brought it to her shoulders. She’d tried to keep it maintained there since she started getting regular cuts in Vallo, but it was bordering on mid-back now after months of putting it off. Even pulling it into a ponytail was tougher at this length.
“This is the longest it’s been, actually. It’s getting nearly to Catra-lengths. But you’re right, I can have it restored if it doesn’t look right.”
The salon they typically frequented outside of the mall employed magic in its work. It was useful for training new stylists and beauticians; working with a live model was better practice, and if anything went wrong, it could be fixed. She’d offered herself up for the cause a few times before because it came at a discounted price.
“Mmm, agreed on the length but it’s thankfully not as thick,” Marlena smiled, taking the moment to admire her daughter and all that glorious, lovely hair. “I don’t know how she maintains it the way she does. Shorter hair is easy. Your head will feel lighter. And, selfishly, this is the first haircut of yours I’m here to witness. Didn’t get that chance when you were a little girl, so I’ll take it while you’re an adult.”
She didn’t mean to bring that up to bring the mood down, not at all. Comments like that were just reminders of how lucky they were to have these moments right now, and Marlena relished every single ‘first’ she got to experience with Adora. No moment would be taken for granted.
Adora hadn’t thought of it that way, but it was in no way a mood-killer. Instead, she tossed the magazine on the table and took the opportunity to wrap her arms around her mom’s shoulders and hug her. “I’m glad you’re here for it,” she affirmed. It may not be anything remotely new for her, but it was an experience she got to share with Marlena for the first time. She was happy to have it. “You’ll get to see Finn’s first haircut, too, and all their other firsts from now on.”
“And I will encourage the two of you to take Finn to get a haircut by a professional,” she promised, taking her in for this bear hug - a whole envelop Adora in her arms, squeezing her shamelessly tight. Marlena made sure to give her plenty of hugs like that. There wouldn’t be a shortage of it while she was around. “They have so much hair as it is already, I won’t be surprised if it happens in the next six months.”
Marlena may have cried a lot when she met Finn. She couldn’t help herself. The little hands, the little feet, the little ears. Knowing that her daughter was now a mother herself.
Gods, yep. Thinking about it made her eyes misty.
Adora squeezed right back, letting her eyes fall shut while she inhaled her mother’s scent. It was hard to believe she’d ever been hesitant to let Marlena in. She was such an inextricable part of her now, such a big part of her life who she’d missed more than anything while she was gone. She hoped she got to hold onto her for much longer than a six-week holiday stint, but she was going to treat every moment she got like it could end too soon.
“Adora?” She looked up and saw a friendly, elvish-looking woman waving at her. “Come on back!”
“Hi.” Adora stood, discarding the last dredges of her soda in the trash can. She scooped up the open magazine they’d been perusing, then looked back at her mom. “You coming?”
“Yes,” Marlena firmly replied, and the look she gave her daughter was something along the lines of how dare you think otherwise. She followed them to the designated station with the fancy mirror, and all the hair tools that looked like they could double as torture devices. The air was thick with the scent of hairspray. “I’m going to take pictures but I won’t send them to anyone – I made my own folder that consists of ‘Adora’s Firsts’ and the selfie we took by the Barbie poster is in it.”
“You can send them to me and to Catra later, after I’ve shown her in-person,” Adora laughed, smiling at her mother in the mirror as she was guided into the chair at the stylist’s station. She smiled to herself, thinking how she’d created several specifically-named folders of her own.
With the visual and some discussion, they set on the path: first, a visit to the shampoo station; then, a return to the chair where the action really started. The three of them all chatted, where they learned all about Tali’s (the stylist’s) time in her career, what her life at home was like, all about her three kids and her partner (who, to Adora, sounded very much like a Bow-type and made her miss her friend again).
They were a little outside of their timeframe by the time it was all finished. Adora made sure to shoot a text to Catra that they were running late, but they had a surprise that would definitely be worth it. As she appraised herself in the mirror with a small river of her own hair at her feet, she raised her hand to run her fingers through the length (so much shorter) and her face lit up with a smile.
“You’re right,” she told Marlena. “It does feel lighter.”
Marlena underestimated the amount of inches that would be cut off. It wasn’t until the scissors began chopping away at her hair and how it all piled down to the floor that it really hit her – and she may have bitten her lip from nerves. It was silly, in retrospect. The look was great. Certainly an adjustment from the long-haired Adora that she had come to know, but she loved it.
“So soft,” she whispered in awe, reaching out to gently touch her hair. The slight curls in it were precious. “It looks amazing, sweetheart. A lot less maintenance, easy to brush and style. Less for the baby to yank with their little hands. I took twenty-two pictures.”
“You sound just like Catra,” Adora chuckled. The sheer amount of pictures her wife had taken of Finn since their birth was mind-boggling. Honestly, they were both camera happy. That scrapbook of their first year Catra was creating was going to be chock full of photos of their baby doing a ton of similar-but-super-cute things.
From there, it was a flurry of thank yous, payment (and yes, Adora did try to stop her mother from paying, although she was ultimately unsuccessful), and making the trip back to Darla. Adora was weirdly nervous as they made their way up the ship’s ramp, hopeful her wife’s reaction would be a good one. She’d had herself convinced before taking the plunge, and she was still mostly convinced, but she found herself braced, anyway.
“Honey, I’m hooooome!” she called out, grinning as the elevator let them out on Darla’s main deck. Her wife’s back was to them as they approached, but Teela looked over and her eyes briefly went wide before she smiled. “Catraaaaa.”
By then, Finn was put on one of those electric swings that rocked them back and forth – it had some rotating toys above them, which they fixated on with their big blue eyes. Catra had been on the floor with them too, forever supervising (for what, she didn’t know, but motherhood was also just synonymous with anxiety, so) when she heard the doors open.
“Adoooo–” she began, mimicking her wife’s greeting with a grin as she glanced over her shoulder and holy shit, “–raaaaa???”
“It did take a lot of willpower to not send a group text with all the pictures I took,” Marlena announced, proud of her self-control, and let the two have a moment. She approached Teela, pressing a kiss to her cheek and then immediately went to Finn. “Hello, little one.”
“It looks great, Adora,” Teela offered, pulling at a lock of her own red hair with the fleeting thought she should do the same – but she’d come back to that later. With a smile, she joined Marlena beside Finn, flicking her fingers to telekinetically turn the rotating toys in the other direction.
“Haaaah, you fucking did it,” Catra beamed, scrambling up to her feet to bounce over and shove her hands into Adora’s hair. “I love it.” And then, quietly, for just the two of them to hear: “It’s still enough for me to pull on when I get frisky.”
Adora’s cheeks went warm and her eyebrows raised, but she grabbed hold of Catra’s hips. “Catra,” she murmured, playfully chastising, but that lasted all of three seconds before she sealed her lips to her wife’s to kiss her. “You sure you like it? I can always go get it fixed, but it was so long, and I just felt like…why not!”
Catra took in that kiss with delight, smiling against her lips as her hands kept marveling at – hm, the lack of hair. If Adora tried to tie her hair up like she used to do, it’d just be this baby ponytail that would undoubtedly look adorable. “I said I love it, dummy,” she assured raspily, “and as long as you like it, that’s all that matters. I think this is the shortest you’ve ever had it.”
It was different, for sure. Adora was always a creature of habit – she had always kept her hair at ‘safe’ lengths, and didn't venture much out of the norm after that infamous incident with her bangs. Catra was glad to see she went outside her comfort zone.
“Can I get Finn out of their swing??” That was Marlena calling out.
“Go for it,” Catra replied, not looking at her mother-in-law as she responded. It wasn’t out of disrespect. She was sufficiently occupied looking at – admiring – Adora, and she stood on her clawed toes to boop her nose with a kiss. “It’s a hot surprise, princess.”
“Okay, good.” Adora smiled contentedly and felt the nervous tension abate. She liked how enamored Catra seemed with the length; it was like reassurance that she had been right to like it and choose it. “But yeah, it’s kind of borderline. This doesn’t feel uncomfortable, but going shorter would.”
She had been ready to break out of her comfort zone but only to an extent. It was really only since she’d come to Vallo that she’d been shearing it to her shoulders. She’d gotten more daring today, but going any further was a long way out. Possibly a never thing, really. That hair vanity was very real.
“I told Mom about that time I cut my bangs that you’ll never let me forget,” she said, raising her voice to a normal level and guiding Catra back toward the other family members. She leaned in and gave Finn several noisy kisses across their face as they perched in their grandma’s arms. “Do you still have that cartoon you drew me when you got stuck in ancient times?”
“There’s a cartoon illustration?” Marlena huffed a laugh, Finn carefully propped in her arms. She didn’t miss the fact that they began purring the moment Adora came into their personal bubble and smothered them with smooches. It wasn’t the first time she witnessed this, and it was definitely something felt more than heard right now.
“I have several cartoon illustrations of Adora,” Catra piped up proudly. “Closest thing we have to a childhood album. I could make a whole comic based on her. I’ll grab it. I’d still love her with bangs, but – that might be the one hairstyle that would make me cringe. Sorry, babe.”
Adora sighed dramatically, but she was smiling in her wife’s direction, still leaning against her mother and baby. She could feel those tiny purrs emanating immediately; the sound immediately warmed her heart. “They’re pretty accurate comics,” she admitted. “And really cute!”
“I want a whole Adora comic book,” Teela chimed in, still on the floor with her back to the couch. “And I’m sure Adam would love it, too.”
A whole Adora comic book. Hah. That was a thought. Catra definitely had enough doodles for one. She walked past Adora on bare feet and flicked her forehead on the way. “I’ll go find it — I need you to disinfect the stuff in the sink for me by the way, thanks.”