Crocodile finds a strange stray cat an 11-year old Nico Robin
(AU where they met 13 years earlier. Robin's been on the run from the World Government for 3 years. Crocodile's 27 and has not set up base in Alabasta yet)
It seems like I have become possessed. By some sort of demon.
so one of the things I was vaguely aware of before reproducing was that people hold a lot of anxiety around the gender of babies and 'wrongly' gendering babies (i.e. failing to guess correctly based on their clothes and appearance what their genital configuration is) and having now had a baby: wow, yes, they really do.
I take an extremely laissez-faire approach to baby clothes because like, they are constantly being thrown up on and grown out of and so on, what matters is that they are clean and easy to put on and I am not spending $$$$$ on them. as long as the colour/design is not directly offensive, it's fine. what this means is that people are quite frequently 'misgendering' the baby and then falling over themselves to apologise about it.
and, like, I haven't even had a chance to dress him in anything pink yet; this is based on rules I didn't expect like 'anything with flowers or sparkly bits on it is for girls only'. equally, I do not care when this happens because it's an irrelevancy, but THEY care to make sure I am not offended. so I have started telling them "look, he's only [x] months old; his gender is baby."
and you know what? you'd be surprised how many otherwise average heterosexual people process this and go "huh, yeah, I guess it is." there is a tiny amount of hope for the future after all.
This tiny gray cat showed up in our backyard and we were like oh shes so small she must be a little baby kitten, we have to help her, so we got her inside and took her to the vet and they were like nope. no she has all her adult teeth. shes just small. she's literally just that small.
werewolf partner who is terrified of turning around you because they're not sure how much control they'll lack in wolf-form. They make you chain them up in the basement, lock the door, and arm yourself with a gun just in case.
Finally the time comes, and you're ready. You expect to hear growling and thrashing, or some sort of vicious struggle. But you only hear faint whimpers. You decide to go downstairs to see what's up, and there you find them, in their wolf form - ears back, head down, looking sad and scared. You approach, and still, no aggression.
After a few moments, you even decide to sit next to them. They lean in cautiously to sniff you, their eyes lighting up as they seem to recognize your scent. They immediately scoot over and lay their gigantic head in your lap, still whimpering and shaking - clearly seeking comfort from you. You expected a ferocious monster from how they'd warned you, but instead, you essentially got a giant puppy.
You gently stroke and cuddle your werewolf until they fall asleep on you. Exhausted from all the previous excitement, and not wanting to leave them scared and alone, you fall asleep too. You're awoken in the morning by them - back in human form - shaking you in a panic. They found you lying next to them in a pile of fur, and thought that something had happened - that you were dead. They're glad to be wrong, as you rub the sleep from your eyes.
When they find out what all actually happened, they're extremely relieved, but a little embarrassed.