The Nyanny - Ch 10

Catra loved Halloween. As a kid she would spend months making her costume from anything she could find until she could afford to buy one with her pocket money when she was older. She would collect her candy and eat it all year to savour them. Her mum took her trick or treating when she could, but it was much more exciting when Catra was old enough to go around the neighbourhood with her friends. Catra would trade her chocolates with her friends and people at school for treats she could eat and stash them all year long to share with her mum on hard days. She loved Halloween for the way it brought a light to her childhood, but she had never experience Halloween quite like this.

Catra expected the Grey-Skull-Moon’s to go all out with their costumes. They had the money for intricate costumes and lavished events, but these outfits were not costumes. Catra was wearing a full historically accurate recreation of a regency dress and it was far too expensive for Catra to wear outside and possibly get mud on. She was sure that the dress alone was worth more than her yearly income, even as well paid as she was with the Grey’s.

Tuesday was Catra’s night off so she was surprised when Glimmer invited her personally to join the Grey’s at Glimmer’s Halloween block party. Catra didn’t have other plans for Halloween because Scorpia and Perfuma were already going to this event so she decided to join them for the festivities. She was sure that the party was going to be exuberant enough to gather a large crowd and plenty to do. It was Catra’s day off but spending her night with the Greys was far from the worst thing in the world.

Glimmer didn’t live on a fancy street uptown, but somewhere in the suburbs where cherry blossoms trees grew down the street. The whole block had rented rides and attractions to set up at the park at the centre of the street. Catra knew that if her younger self had known about this party, she would have milked it for all the candy and rides it was worth.

Catra knew the family was following a theme, but she wasn’t sure what that theme was but her dress was what she got for listening to an almost-five-year-old when they gave her costume demands. Catra didn’t like big poofy dresses much because of how they interrupted the free movement of her tail. This costume was made for a magicat though and not only any magicat, but this magicat. Which meant she had a tail hole and her crown fit well around her ears without stopping the movement or touching the sensitive hairs.

The outfit was complex with many layers of fabric to navigate so it was a relief when Dee was there to help with the costume. Dee did her makeup and the combination of eye shadow and blush not only made her eyes look more intense but made her freckles stand out against her tanned skin.

Catra’s dress was magenta with a gold neckline and a gold belt which hung low on her hips and sat against the front of her full skirt. The shape of her dress really made her look taller and more slender with a small waist. It was the style but it felt strange to see it in action. Catra moved around, testing out her flexibility in the dress and realised she was actually pretty comfortable once she relaxed into the dress’s support. She could still move pretty well despite the corset forcing her to keep her back straighter.

Catra had seen Finn’s costume when Adora had finished helping them put it on but she hadn’t seen Adora’s yet. Finn had decided to be the cutest little “scary” dragon this year.

Finn was delighted that this year they got to do trick or treat “on their own”. Finn didn’t care that it was in their aunt Glimmer’s very safe neighbourhood, or that Catra and/or Ms Grey would be waiting on the sidewalk for them between each house. It was still a good mix between freedom and safety that they were excited to be more independent while they went house to house with their cousin.

Ms Grey was just a touch protective of Finn, but Angel was almost seven and perfectly safe to trick or treat around the neighbourhood on their own. Catra didn’t want to tell Ms Grey that she might be overdoing it, because at five years old, Catra was given too much responsibility and independence to be healthy.

Catra knew her childhood home life wasn’t an ideal environment. She knew her upbringing was hard, and it was that way because they didn’t have a choice. If child protection and support spent more time trying to help them when they were struggling and less time trying to take Catra away from her mum, then they would have been much better off. If Catra’s dad had stayed and not run out on her mum, Catra knew her life would have been very different. But they made due and everything turned out fine. Catra had therapy for the things she wrongly believed were her fault and for growing up too fast. Now shes studying to fight for other family’s to be able to support themselves and give their kids a good life. It all worked out.

Catra refocused on the task at hand and left her room to join Finn in the living room. Catra stepped out of the hallway into the main room and immediately stopped.

Ms Grey was dressed as a prince.

Ms Grey’s hair was tied back with a gold ribbon a the base of her neck and soft curls attempting to escape their confines. A few wayward strands fell from their place to frame around her face. She wore a white and gold military jacket with gold shoulder pads and red pants. She had a black belt that cinched in her waist along with long black boots that her pants were tucked in to. She looked an incredible mix between strong and feminine. Her muscles pushed gently against her jacket and the belt on her waist gave her a hourglass shape. Catra could not survive this kind of treatment because stars, Adora was handsome.

Ms Grey looked up from Finn who had been telling her stories about dragons before Catra stole their attention away. Adora’s eyes widened slightly as she looked at Catra and Catra felt her cheeks colour. She hoped that look was a good look, because Catra still didn’t like dresses, but she might consider wearing them more if Ms Grey looked at her like that.

“Miss Catra! You look so pretty! Just like a princess,” Finn said bouncing with excitement causing their wings to flap behind them. Catra smiled at Finn.

“Thank you Finny,”

Ms Grey looked away suddenly as she cleared her throat. Her cheeks were colouring quickly and Catra felt a bit of smug satisfaction at the sight of Ms Grey being so emotive.

“Ready to go Finny?” Adora asked, her voice sounding a little strained before she cleared her throat again. Catra grabbed the small clutch that she left on the couch and checked its content quickly before they were off.

[…]

Adora had been annoyed at Glimmer’s insistence of inviting Catra to the Halloween block party but now she was absolutely livid. Glimmer had bullied Adora into giving her Catra’s number and Adora had held out hope that maybe Catra had a prior engagement for the night. It was her day off, so it made sense for her to be busy. The problem with that was that Glimmer also invited Perfuma, which was great, but also meant Scorpia was coming and that meant Catra had said yes. Catra coming to the party wasn’t why she was angry however. Adora should have been suspicious when Dee let themselves out of the apartment after throwing a coy “good luck” over their shoulder.

Adora tries to focus on Finn’s story about dragons but her mind was conjuring up reasons for Dee to say that to her after helping Catra with her outfit. Finn’s attention was snatched away when Catra entered the room and Adora’s stomach was already filled with butterflies before she even looked at her.

Stars, Catra made a beautiful princess.

She looked regal, soft and a little bit dangerous. Her crown was custom made, Adora knew that because had seen the invoice on her desk the day before but didn’t think much of it. It framed her face and gave her a mysterious aloofness that was really working for her. Adora was trying to keep her eyes in respectable places but Catra was wearing a necklace with a red jewel that was begging to draw her eyes. Adora looked away, feeling her cheeks flush painfully as she tried to right herself.

She understood now why Dee had wished her luck. Adora wasn’t sure how she was going to keep her eyes off Catra all night if she was going to look like that.

“Ready to go Finny?” Adora asked, horrified as her voice sounded so strained before she cleared her throat. Catra grabbed the small clutch that she left on the couch and checked its content quickly before they called a car to join the party.

Adora ordered a larger car so that everyone would be comfortable on the drive but the car service was busy because of Halloween and a regular sized car arrived instead.

“Sorry about the car Ms Grey, its been a busy night,” the driver explained as he opened the door for Adora to get inside.

Catra helped Finn remove their wings and carefully strapped them into their car seat while Adora waited. Finn was so small that it was still safer to lock them into a car seat in case they were in an accident but the seat meant that they took up one side of the car. Adora was too big to sit in the middle so she hoped Catra would be fine squeezing in.

“I can sit in the back with Finn and you can take the front seat?” Catra offered, clearly thinking the same thing as Adora.

“No, I-uh, I can’t,” Adora said as unreasonable levels of panic quickly filled her chest. She knew she was too quick to respond and she tried to avoid Catra’s curious gaze. Adora hadn’t been able to sit in the front passenger seat of a car since the accident that killed her mother. She was terrified and despite knowing her fears were unfounded she had never had a serious reason to face them.

“That’s okay, I can sit up front,” Catra offered kindly and Adora felt her stomach knot at the idea that Catra could be hurt in that cursed seat.

“No, it's fine, it's a short ride, we can make it work,” Adora justified, and Catra nodded her agreement. Catra slipped by Adora, bundling up her dress as best she could and sliding into the middle seat. Catra was petite so she fit just fine. Adora got in after her and tried to give her space. Adora’s attempts were ignored as Catra was distracted with Finn, poking them with her tail while Finn tried to catch it.

They were distractingly close but Catra wasn’t making a big deal about it so Adora tried to ignore it too. Lucky for her, it was a short ride to Glimmers street.

They were dropped off at the end of the street because the street was closed off to traffic. Adora held Finn’s hand while they walked down the street to look at the Halloween decorations outside each house. Adora was trying to pay attention to the hard work put into each display but Catra was too distracting. Every time Catra picked up her dress to avoid something on the ground she captured Adora’s eager attention.

“You don’t have to be so precious with the dress, anything you get on it will wash out,” Adora mentioned and Catra huffed a little.

“I know, but the longer I can keep it clean the more I can show it off,” Catra said lifting her dress in a dramatic sweep and Adora smiled. Catra seemed to genuinely like her costume and she wore it well. Adora hadn’t seen Catra in anything that showed off how small and toned she was until now and it was both impressive and frustrating to see.

Catra was too adorable.

Catra’s ears wiggled and she perked up a little to look down the street. Adora looked for what captured her eye and saw Perfuma and Scorpia waving excitedly from three houses down. Catra chuckled and waved back.

“You can walk ahead if you prefer,” Adora offered as Finn got too close to an moving dummy’s sensor and when it jumped at them they hissed and ran back to safety. Adora smiled and put her hand to Finn’s head as they hid behind her leg.

“That’s okay. We’ll catch up soon, I want to see the decorations first,” Catra said, stepping forward into the dummies sensor and when it jumped at her she made a big show of telling them off for scaring Finn. Finn watched curiously until they realised it was fake. They quickly stopped being afraid as they laughed at Catra’s dramatics. And Adora couldn’t seem to take her eyes off her.

[…]

Finn got a big haul of candy for their amazing dragon costume, which was to be expected. They sat down with Catra and Angel to go through the candy and Catra helped Finn pick out the ones they couldn't have so they could trade with Angel for what they could eat.

When they caught up with Perfuma and Scorpia they gushed over the costumes and Catra showed off her pretty dress with pleasure.

When the other Grey twin arrived it became apparently why Adora was a prince when Adam, with his cane, was dressed in a white backless dress. Finn thought this was amazing and told Adam that he was the prettiest princess. Catra was only slightly sulky about being upstaged so quickly but she couldn’t blame Finn. Adam was wearing the hell out of that dress.

Teela was wearing a bar wench outfit and had padded her stomach to look heavily pregnant and Finn was convinced that she had snacks hidden in her belly. It later became clear that she was hiding snacks when Teela kept picking popcorn out of her belly pouch whenever Finn wasn’t looking.

The family theme was apparently royals with their unconventional partners. Glimmer was dressed as a queen and Bow looked like a robin hood type. The whole family couldn’t make the party so it was a smaller group than Catra expected.

Angel and Finn went on all the rides that Finn was tall enough to go on and there was only one left. Angel was too scared for the haunted house but since Finn had seen that the scary things were pretend they had been getting braver over the course of the night.

Ms Grey didn’t seem at all concerned with the idea of a haunted house, it was probably because she was six foot and had muscles to defend herself with, but Catra was simply small and bitey. She didn’t mind mannequins or things that jumped at her but she was terrified of actual people acting like killers or murdered because what if they actually were?

Regardless, Catra wasn’t afraid of anything - except murderers and being harmed in any way - and she was going to go through this scary haunted house with her crush and a three foot tall kitten.

“You seem nervous,” Ms Grey commented casually as she attempted to untangle the chains that hung over the chest of her costume. Catra could see her struggling since she was still wearing her black gloves and rolled her eyes before she stepped forward to help.

“I’m not a chicken,” Catra said and Ms Grey smiled as her hands fell away to allow Catra to work. Catra untangled the chains easily enough but didn’t step away immediately. “I don’t like when its real people,” Catra whispered like a secret and glanced up at Adora. Ms Grey was closer than she expected and her eyes were warm as she gave her a reassuring smile.

“Its still pretend,” Adora offered and Catra crossed her arms defensively.

“Yeah, but what if its not?” Catra huffed.

“Then I’ll protect you,” Adora said simply and Catra looked up at her wide eyes. Catra was independent, she liked to pave her own way, to be free and self-reliant. Yes, she liked to prove her own strength to the world but she couldn’t deny how Adora’s word made her feel warm and safe. Catra knew she was capable of protecting herself, but it was nice to think that she didn’t have to.

“Fine,” Catra huffed dramatically, “If I die, its your fault,” Catra said, trying to hide the way her face felt warm.

“Deal, we’re next,” Adora said, calling Finn to join them in line from where they had been sitting with Glimmer, Bow and Angel after getting bored of waiting. Finn bounced up and roared at the person ushering them into the house and they clearly tried their hardest to look scared and not coo at the adorable display.

The house was surprisingly quiet, it was many twisted corridors and judging by the size of the outside it was going to take them a while to get through it. Finn seemed excited until the first time someone jumped out at them and they realised it was a real person. Catra yelped in surprise the same moment Finn screamed. Catra grabbed onto Adora’s arm after she scooped Finn up into her arms. Finn was able to calm themselves again after seeing several mechanical scares and Adora put them back on their feet when they were ready but Catra was still clinging to her. She could hear people walking around them and was unsure if it was other haunted house goers or people waiting to jump out at them. The not knowing was killing her.

“You’re going to put holes in my jacket,” Adora said softly to Catra as Finn played with scary touchable stuff in the ‘lab’ area that was meant to feel like a brain. Catra quickly released Adora’s arm, she hadn’t noticed her claws pricking into her and she felt her face colour with embarrassment.

“Sorry,” Catra muttered and Adora just smiled at her. Her blue eyes were all kinds of strange colours as the light source changed in the haunted house. They were getting close to the end when Finn noticed a person ready to scare them and decided they were done.

“No thank you! I’m already scared enough, please don’t scare me,” Finn said confidently and incredibly politely. The person who looked like they were meant to be a murderer covered in fake blood with a chainsaw just looked at Finn with surprise and didn’t move.

“Thank you,” Finn said when they let them pass and go to the end of the house and run outside. Adora and Catra went to the door and right as they were leaving someone jumped out and scared Catra. She yelled and grabbed onto Adora to stop herself from punching the guy in the face and Adora just laughed. Finn was waiting a few feet ahead smiling proudly at their achievement of doing the haunted house when their older cousin was too scared.

Once Catra’s heart rate returned to normal she praised Finn’s bravery. When Finn went to brag to Angel about their achievement Adora stepped closer to her.

“You did well, too,” Ms Grey praised and Catra felt her cheeks warm.

“Easy for you to say, handsome princes are meant to be brave,” Catra said. Adora’s smile turned playful and Catra was transfixed by it. She had never seen that look on Adora’s face before.

“Would you like to know a secret?” Adora asked, leaning a little closer to whisper and Catra’s heart raced at her proximity.

“What?” Catra asked, her eyes glued to Adora’s sky blue eyes as they crinkled with her smile.

“I’m actually just a prince,” Adora said. Catra’s face burned as she realised what she said. She just told Adora that she thought she was handsome. To her face. Catra wished the floor would swallow her whole in that moment. Adora just gave Catra a little smirk before she walked away to join Bow and Glimmer. Catra was mortified at herself but tried to calm her heart. Adora was just teasing her, it didn’t mean anything. Catra just wanted Adora to flirt with her, she wasn’t actually flirting with her.

[…]

Adora was waiting in line for the fresh cinnamon doughnut stand when Glimmer turned to her with determination in her eyes. Adora wanted to groan, she should have known her sister had another reason for indulging Adora’s sweet tooth so readily.

“Adora, I need you to level with me,” Glimmer said firmly and Adora huffed.

“I have never lied to you,” Adora said and when Glimmer gave her a disbelieving look she adjusted her statement. “I rarely lie to you…about things that matter,” Adora corrected and Glimmer rolled her eyes.

“Good, keep that energy going,” Glimmer said and Adora sighed.

“What is it?” Adora asked and Glimmer seemed to be considering her words carefully.

“Are you dating Catra?” Glimmer asked and Adora gasped so hard that she choked on spit.

“Glimmer!” She scolded as she tried to recover. “Why would you ask me that?”

“What! Its a valid question,” Glimmer defended and Adora frowned. She was horrified that her sister could think so little of her to believe she would cross such a line.

“No its not, she’s my employee,” Adora reminded her and Glimmer shrugged.

“Yeah, people date their employees all the time,” Glimmer said and Adora glared at her, people may, but Adora did not.

“Well I don’t. That’s a gross misuse of power, how could you think so lowly of me?” Adora asked, her voice coming out hurt and Glimmer rushed to explain herself.

“I don’t think lowly of you or whatever words you’re putting in my mouth. I’ve just seen the way you look at her,” Glimmer said, thankfully lowering her voice.

“I look at her completely normally, like I look at anyone,” Adora said, which she knew was fundamentally a lie. She wanted to look at Catra like she looked at everyone else but it was unlikely. She just hoped Catra hadn’t also noticed.

“Ha, no, I’ve seen those puppy eyes you give her, you had them the whole time with-”

“Don’t say it,” Adora cut into Glimmer’s statement, knowing exactly where she was going. Glimmer had the sense to pause but she elected to finish the sentence regardless.

“…Melody,” Glimmer said and Adora felt rage and pain boil up in her chest at the mention of her ex. She didn’t want to talk about this, especially not in public, surrounded by people and barely thirty meters from Catra herself.

“She is nothing like Melody,” Adora snapped and Glimmer flinched a little at her cold tone.

“I’m not saying she is, I’m just worried about you,” Glimmer said, her voice placating and soft.

“Well you don’t have to worry, because we aren’t dating,” Adora reiterated and Glimmer bit her lip before she charged ahead anyway. Glimmer could be as thoughtful as she wanted, but she rarely chose to keep her opinions to herself, no matter how misguided.

“If that’s true, you need to do something about this, or you’re going to get a workplace sexual harassment case against you,” Glimmer said and Adora’s face coloured, whether it was from embarrassment or rage she didn’t know but she glared at her sister. “Won’t the papers love that one,” Glimmer said rolling her eyes.

“What do you suggest then?” Adora asked through clenched teeth. Of all the places Glimmer could have brought this up, waiting in line for doughnuts was a poor choice.

“Dating,” Glimmer said like it was the most obvious thing.

“I don’t have time for a relationship,” Adora repeated her feelings which had not changed after five years as a single mother.

“I didn’t say a relationship, go on a date, or a few. Even if its just to burn off steam and get a little human contact so you don’t fall in the lap of the first attractive woman you see,” Glimmer said and Adora glared. She wasn’t falling in anyone’s lap. Catra and Adora were just friendly, they worked together and lived together, of course they would be friendly.

“That’s very disrespectful,” Adora said and Glimmer sighed like Adora was the one being unreasonable.

“Look, I’m just trying to look out for my big sister,” Glimmer said, changing tactics to her begging little sister act. Adora scoffed.

“I am barely two months older than you,” Adora reminded Glimmer and she rolled her eyes.

“One and a half, but with how high strung you are these days you could easily pass for forty,” Glimmer said and Adora huffed. They were finally at the front of the line and the man smiled at the two of them.

“You should listen to the little lady,” The man said, and Adora was mortified as she realised he had heard their conversation. “Never date your employees,” the man said before looking over his shoulder at the woman making doughnuts in the back. “Right hunny?” he asked with cheeky grin on his face.

“That’s right, worst thing I ever did. Thirty years later and I still can’t get rid of him,” the woman said with a wink and the man laughed good naturally. The sweet exchange did nothing to tamper Adora’s feeling of humiliation.

“Now what can I get you?” The man asked.

“A dozen doughnuts,” Adora said, completely straight faced, she was barely holding back her rage but this man wasn’t the reason for her anger and did not deserve her bad attitude.

“Do you think that’s enough for everyone?” Glimmer asked curiously as she tapped her chin in thought.

“No, these are for me, what are you getting?” Adora asked and Glimmer rolled her eyes. Adora wanted to be done with this conversation as soon as possible and Glimmer acting like she had done nothing wrong was only making her angrier.

“Make that three dozen please,” Glimmer said offering her card but Adora beat her to it simply by being taller.

“Adora!” Glimmer grumbled and Adora ignored her. “At least let me pay after you listened to my opinion,”

“Maybe you should think about being more considerate next time you choose to berate me about my love life,” Adora snapped and Glimmer looked surprised.

“Adora…”

“Save it, I’m going to go check on Finn,” Adora said and stalked away.

[…]

Adora returned to the group in a worse mood that when she left. Catra could see how the others noticed the change but tried not to bring attention to it. Adora rejoined the table, sitting across from Scorpia and allowed Finn to crawl into her lap.

Finn had gotten tired of their costume after they started getting hungry, so they were wearing normal clothing now and their Uncle Bow’s jacket to keep them warm. Adora wrapped her arms around Finn and hid her face in their fluffy hair.

No one else was reacting to the strange behaviour but Catra hadn’t seen Ms Grey act like this before so she was worried. Catra looked to Scorpia and Perfuma for guidance, Scorpia looked equally confused and concerned but Perfuma just looked sympathetic. Catra hadn’t seen this before but maybe it was something that happened more often when she was around family. Around people she trusted.

Glimmer arrived to the group with doughnuts and everyone set to enjoying their treats. After several attempts from Finn to feed Adora doughnuts, resulting in sugar in one or both of their hair Adora emerged from the kittens hair. Adora was talking softly to Finn while she ate the doughnut they gave her, asking how they were enjoying the night and their favourite parts. Ms Grey wasn’t talking with the other adults anymore and solely focused on Finn.

Catra looked around the table again as she ate her treat and noticed the guilty look on Glimmers face as she glanced at Adora. Catra wondered what she might have said to make Adora so withdrawn.

“Can we go home? I’m tired,” Finn whispered to Adora as they snuggled into her arms. Adora pressed a kiss to their head.

“Of course, kitten, we can go as soon as you like,” Adora said gently and Catra felt her cheeks heat up slightly. She could have lived her whole life not knowing what Adora sounded like using that pet name.

It was strange that she used it for Finn though. It was used the same way a baby, or baby were used. One was an infant, a kitten, and one was a pet name for a partner, kitten. Maybe Adora didn’t know there was a difference. Catra really didn’t want to have that awkward conversation with her. Maybe it was a slip up and she said it by accident. Catra hoped it was a one time thing so she never had to tell Adora that it was more appreciate for her to call her girlfriend “Kitten” than Finn.

Adora carried a sleeping Finn while Catra carried their costume back towards the end of the block to get their car home. Adora was still quiet and her brow was crinkled adorably like she was thinking hard about something.

“Did you have a good night?” Catra asked to try to get Adora talking. Adora nodded without looking at her before she adjusted Finn. Adora hadn’t really looked at Catra since her mood change and Catra was starting to wonder if she had been the cause of it. But as if to dispel Catra’s fears Adora looked over at her.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable with my comment earlier,” Adora said with a determined frown that crinkled her eyebrows just slightly. Catra looked at her with confusion for a moment before she smiled. Adora was still thinking about that? That was kind of sweet.

“You didn’t make me uncomfortable,” Catra said, uncomfortable was possibly the furthest thing from what she felt in that moment.

“I’m glad but please tell me if I ever do. I do not want to overstep,” Adora said. She looked so concerned and Catra couldn’t help but smile.

“If that happens, you will be the first to know, believe me,” Catra said and Adora smiled. “Besides, you were just responding to my comment, so I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” Catra offered, Adora didn’t seem uncomfortable, but that might have changed after the moment was over.

“I’m not used to compliments, but it did not make me uncomfortable,” Adora assured and Catra bit her lip to stop herself from giving another compliment. She found it hard to believe that Adora didn’t get many compliments, unless people were simply intimidated by her. That was possible.

Adora stopped at the end of the block when their car pulled up and turned to Catra.

“For the record, you look lovely in your costume too,” Adora said with earnest eyes and Catra couldn’t help the playful smirk that came to her lips.

“I know,” Catra said playfully, and Adora was unable to stop her short bark of laughter that erupted from her chest. Catra felt her fur fluff up as her body covered with goose bumps.

“You surprise me,” Adora said with a smile.

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Catra said, taking some pride in surprising a woman like Ms Grey. It felt like an achievement.

“It is,” Adora said, her eyes soft for a moment in what was quickly becoming Catra’s favourite expression on her. It was only a moment though, a small frown came to Ms Grey’s face as the look disappeared and she glanced away. She was silent as she went to the car to get Finn settled into their seat.

Catra was even more convinced that whatever had upset Adora was her doing as she wondered what happened.

[…]

Monday was exhausting. Adora had meetings all day and she was sporting a terrible headache. Her shareholders were insisting on changing the the quarterly meeting from January to the start of December in order to discuss these idiotic military applications research. Adora hadn’t been concerned about them previously, but the idea had been gaining traction and Adora needed to act before they got out of hand.

Adora needed to meet with Angella and Adam to ensure the board hadn’t gotten in their ear about this. Angella was retired, but she had a seat on the board because of her marriage to their father. When their dad passed, Adora and Adam were given equal parts of the company to ensure they maintained majority over the shareholders. Adam had allowed Adora to control his assets to ensure his role remained stress free, but Adora needed to bring this to his attention before she started swinging her weight around. She needed them to back down but if they refused to listen, she would make the call regardless.

Adora let herself into the house and put her coat into the closet before she walked down the hall into the living room to possibly the cutest thing Adora had ever seen.

Finn and Catra were wearing their new headphones and dancing around complete silence. Finn was attempting to sing to the music they could hear in their headphones but it didn’t help Adora work out what song they were listening to. Finn was mostly jumping around and bopping their head with their hands in the air but Catra was dancing like a complete dork. Catra was clearly dancing to entertain Finn as they giggled in delight at her dramatic dance moves.

Swifty had no idea what was going on, but was running around excitedly trying to join the fun. When Swifty spotted Adora they ran to jump on her. Adora pushed him down, he didn’t usually jump but he was clearly excited, so she just clicked her tongue in displeasure and he sat to retrieve pets.

“Mama! We are having a disco!” Finn yelled loudly which attracted Catra’s attention and she had the good sense to take one earbud out before talking.

“Welcome home, would you care to join our silent disco? I can share an earbud,” Catra offered, holding out the red earpiece.

“Thank you, but I don’t dance,” Adora said and Finn pouted as they took their earbuds out.

“Please! It’s really fun,” Finn said and Adora was helpless to resist their kitten eyes.

“Show us your moves, I’ve seen you dance with Finn before,” Catra said, shaking her shoulders ridiculously and Adora tried to hide her smile as she stepped closer.

“I don’t know how to dance with adults,” Adora clarified and Catra’s eyebrows went up quickly which caused Adora’s cheeks to warm. “I mean…I only know how to dance with someone who I can carry,”

“I don’t doubt you could carry me, but that’s fine. Dance with Finn, my moves are too smooth for you anyway,” Catra said playfully before she winked at Finn who giggled and bounced to be picked up. Adora was a little lost at the playful look in Catra’s face as she continued to boogy as she held the earbud out to Adora.

Adora felt like she was in a trance as she took the earbud holding Catra’s playful eyes. She put the earbud in her ear and heard a rock song she didn’t recognise before she hefted Finn into her arms. She danced how she usually would with Finn, stepping to the beat in a circle, a semi-waltz that she failed to practice but Finn enjoyed. Finn giggled in delight as they continued to sing to their song which was nothing like the song Catra was listening to.

Catra started bouncing around with Swifty, singing her song in a silly baby talk voice that only made Swifty much more excited. He tried to jump up on Catra but she dodged him in silky movements like they were dancing and Adora tried not to laugh.

After some time dancing in the living room Adora completely forgot she had a headache at all.