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“Ta-da!” Adora exclaimed, throwing her arms in front of her in a motion Glimmer called “jazz hands”. Despite the grand gesture, however, Catra still appeared unimpressed.
“That’s it?” she said. Adora dropped her arms and sighed. She forgot Catra was newer to these parts of Etheria than she was. “It’s just a big building.”
“It’s an aquarium,” Adora explained. “It’s got a bunch of fish in these glass boxes that you can look at. It’s really cool, trust me.” Catra still looked skeptical, but she followed Adora to the entrance without protest anyway.
Adora purchased their tickets, and side by side, the two walked inside the room. While Adora had already been there once with Glimmer and Bow, this was the first time Catra had seen anything like this, and the sight of it made her jaw drop.
“Woah,” Catra whispered. Adora did admit, it was a pretty impressive display. Towering walls of glass stretched from the floor to the ceiling, Etherians of all kinds staring with wonder and amazement at what was behind. The only light in the room was coming from the tanks, gentle, fluorescent blues and greens that gave the aquarium an almost mystical feel.
Adora grinned. It wasn’t often that she saw Catra speechless. She started towards the nearest tank, pulling Catra along with her. While Adora read the description of the fish inside posted on the wall, mentioning a few parts out loud, Catra was transfixed by the creatures in front of her. Sure, she had eaten fish at Brightmoon once or twice, but she never knew that they could look like this. They were colorful, and for a moment Catra was of the impression that what she was looking at couldn’t be from Etheria. There was no way an animal could be that graceful and...and interesting. Suddenly, she understood why Adora was so fascinated by horses. If they were anything to her like these creatures were to Catra, then she completely understood.
The couple traversed the expansive aquarium, Adora pointing out the fish that she thought Catra would particularly like and mentioning a fact or two about them. Catra nearly had a heart attack when she tapped on the pufferfish’s tank and it expanded suddenly - “I didn’t think they would have defense mechanisms! ”. However, while Catra seemed intrigued by all of the marine animals, there was one tank that she seemed to linger in front of for the longest.
“Hey, Adora, what fish is this?” she asked. Adora, who had been examining the crabs in the tank across from her, came over. Catra was pointing at a small, but beautiful fish. It’s scales were a dark blue, but dotted along its body were scales of a much brighter shade. They almost looked like they were glowing, like sapphires under the moonlight of its tank. It’s eyes were big and dark, colorless and deep as the night sky.
“Uh...I don’t know,” Adora said, looking along the edges of the tank for a description. There was information posted beside it, but while it talked about the various other fish inside the container, there was nothing about that fish in particular.
“Huh,” Catra murmured, her expression thoughtful. It took a few seconds, but Catra eventually snapped out of whatever trance she was in and followed Adora further into the aquarium.
“Hey, Adora, what did you say your favorite color is?” Catra asked. Adora stopped, looking back at her.
“Uh, blue. Why?” Catra shrugged.
“Just curious.”
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Adora crossed her arms, tapping her foot in impatience. Catra’s really taking her time in there, Adora thought, glancing at the bathroom door. She stood there for a few more minutes before she became more concerned than impatient, and just as she was about to reach out and knock on the door, a familiar voice reached her ears.
“Get off of me! Let me go!” Adora whipped around.
“Catra!?” she shouted. Without thinking, she began running towards her voice, dodging the people wandering through as best she could. Oh god, what if Catra was hurt? She just wanted this to be a fun little date, and Catra seemed to really be enjoying the aquarium, and Adora didn’t want her first impression to be ruined by anything, especially not getting attacked, and-
“Huh?” Adora rounded a corner, and the sight in front of her, while still a little alarming, not quite what she expected.
Two people, who Adora could guess from their uniforms were employees there, had wrenched something from Catra’s hands, and they handed it to another employee, who dropped it inside of a nearby tank. It was only when the thing started moving around did Adora realize that it was the same fish that Catra had been so entranced by earlier.
“Catra, what happened?” Adora asked, rushing towards her to make sure she wasn’t hurt. Aside from her arms appearing to be rather wet, she seemed fine, albeit annoyed. Adora also noticed that she was carrying a bag filled with what appeared to water in one hand.
“Nothing,” she replied just a little bit too quickly. An employee turned to face Adora.
“Ma’am, this woman took the fish out of the tank. Fortunately, though, it wasn’t out for very long.”
“I was going to put it in the water, “ Catra grumbled. The employee sighed.
“Well, normally we would kick you out for such behavior, but seeing as you seem to be friends with this princess, we’re willing to let it slide. But only once,” they said firmly. Adora nodded, grabbing Catra’s hand.
“Thank you,” Adora said, genuinely relieved as she brought Catra into the room over.
The two left the aquarium after that, having pretty much seen all that they wanted to. On the way home, it was quiet between them, almost uncomfortably so. Adora felt it, so she asked the question she had been meaning to ask her.
“Why did you take that fish from the tank, anyway?” Catra looked up at Adora, before returning her gaze back to her feet.
“I, um...I thought it looked really pretty, and I know you love stars, and it kinda reminded me of them, and I…” Catra’s cheeks pinkened. “I thought you’d like it.”
Adora was taken aback. She felt her own cheeks warming.
“Catra, I…” Adora searched for the right words to express how she felt. Instead, she interlaced her fingers in Catra’s, stepping just a little closer. “That means a lot to me. A lot.”
Catra was surprised. “Really?”
Adora nodded, and smiled. “Really.”
“Although, next time, I would appreciate if the gift you got me wasn’t stolen,” Adora added, grinning. Catra smirked, giving a light shove.
“Be quiet, dork. You wouldn’t have complained if I gave you that fish.” Adora shrugged.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. But still, no breaking the law next time we go on a date, alright?” Catra nodded with exaggerated reluctance.
Adora made a mental note to bring Catra to the zoo sometime. That could be really, really fun.