Archive of Our Own ^beta

Adora had one mission and one mission only: buy as much brandy as humanly possible and then get your ass home. She had wanted to help her mom so she’d volunteered, the fact that it made Adam look like the lesser twin, well, that was just a bonus really. The blonde rubs her biceps with her hands, the weather was well and truly taking a turn towards cold, snow was probably imminent any day now. Adora snatches a cart from the stand and rushes into the warmth of the store. Maybe she should’ve put a warmer jacket on but she hadn’t really considered it, she always wore her varsity jacket, some cold wasn’t going to stop her. 

Adora hurries around the aisles, making a beeline directly for the alcohol. She got glances from other customers, probably wondering why a college student was making such haste towards the alcohol aisle… or maybe not, actually. Adora recognised a few of them, she’d lived here her entire life after all, Etheria is a pretty small town, for the most part, the suburbs anyway. Adora smiles politely at those she recognised before she gets to her destination. 

It takes her a moment but she finds what it is she’s looking for, well, what her mother is looking for. Adora begins loading up on brandy, pretty much clearing the shelf, she goes to grab the last bottle when someone grabs the neck of it at the same time. Adora startles and turns to see who it was that had grabbed the bottle as well. When she sees who it is she feels her blood run cold. It can’t be. This isn’t happening. Two years apart and they meet again like this , of all the ways Adora imagined their reunion going it was not like this. She hadn’t seen her since… since… 

*  * *

"You left me!" Catra yells, shoving Adora’s shoulders. The blonde stumbles slightly but keeps her balance nevertheless. She doesn’t understand what Catra is saying. Adora feels her hands start to tremble, she knows she’d gotten tipsy last night at the party, she knows she kissed Catra at some point, she hadn’t meant to but with the liquid courage she… she couldn’t help herself. She’d wanted to kiss Catra since she was old enough to know what a kiss was. She could still feel Catra’s hot hands on her abdomen, which had slipped under her shirt at one point, and the taste of Catra on her tongue. Adora swallows thickly, shoving those emotions down, it seemed either Catra didn’t remember, or she was purposely ignoring the fact that they’d totally made out at that party last night, and now she was picking a fight. Adora steadies herself and clenches her trembling hands into tight fists. 

"What? What are you talking about Catra? I'm right here." Adora defends, gesturing around their surroundings. Catra scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest in annoyance, Adora registers somewhere, in the back of her mind, that Catra looks extremely pretty - even when she’s angry. 

"Even when you're here, you're not here with me ." Catra retorts and Adora frowns, shaking out of her haze again. "I get it Adora, you're popular, you're too cool for me, go do your stupid jock thing with your other friends." 

"Catra I- No." Adora knits her brows together in a scowl, Catra just stares at her blankly, the only sign of her distress is the slight tilt of her head to the ground, impossible to notice, unless you’re Adora. She’s really upset, Adora notes, but this isn’t fair. "I'm allowed to have other friends Catra! I won't apologise for that." Adora says firmly. Catra is her best friend, always, but now she’s acting kind of like a brat. “Besides, they’re your friends too!”

“No they’re not! The only reason they even let me sit with you guys at lunch is because you’re my friend! They’d never say something to their precious Adora.” Catra fumes. “Do you seriously think Lonnie actually likes me? She’s been shitty to me since middle school, whenever you’re not around anyway.” Adora’s tongue runs dry. She doesn’t know what to say to that. That can’t be true can it? She would’ve noticed, she would’ve done something, she never would’ve let anyone bully Catra but… Adora couldn’t be there all the time, she wonders what else she’s missed, too distracted by school and other friends to notice, no wonder Catra resented her. "Whatever, we'll be going to different colleges anyway, I think... just... leave me alone, we'll be out of each others lives soon anyway."

"Is that what you really want?" Adora asks smally. Catra has her heart in her palm right now, she could crush it so easily, if that’s what she really wants to do.

"Yes." 

Adora always thought the expression of feeling your heart break in your chest was exaggerated, a dramatic hyperbole used by teens in the height of their angst phase, but now she understood. Nothing hurt her more than hearing Catra telling her to leave. She couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t just those issues bothering Catra, something was telling her that Adora had overstepped her bounds last night. She'd ruined everything, and for what? A kiss. An amazing kiss. Why did she have to fall in love with her best friend? Not only had she lost Catra's friendship, something Adora hadn't been without since she was 5, but she'd ruined every chance at ever getting it back. Catra obviously didn't feel the same way, she didn't bring the kiss up and she was so angry…  

Adora turns her head to peer over her shoulder to capture one last glimpse of Catra before she obeyed her request because she knew she would obey, she has never been able to say no to Catra, even when it destroys her. Catra looks beautiful, she always looks beautiful, her hair tousled and fluffy in a good night's rest kind of way, her arms folded over her chest and her different coloured eyes sparkling in the early sunrise. Adora drinks her in as much as she can before she opens the door and closes it on Catra and her heart. 

They do see each other at school, occasionally, but Adora knows Catra is avoiding her and every time they happen to walk into one another Catra always turns tail and gets out of there. It hurts but Adora knows it's probably for the best. Falling in love with your best friend is a disaster from the start. 

Adora's not surprised when Catra gets valedictorian, she's always been incredibly intelligent, she knows that's when people start to really recognise her, before that she'd always just been Adora's friend, Adora hated that, she'd always seen Catra's potential, her worth, it may not be as easy to spot from the outside but Adora had always known and she thought that had been enough for Catra, she never knew that Catra had felt eclipsed by her, she never meant for her to feel that way. They don't talk the remaining months of senior year and Adora just misses her best friend more than she’s ever missed anything in her life. As it turns out, that conversation they had in the early sunrise in Catra's house was not to be their last.

//  

"Shit." 

"Wow, Princess saying a bad word." Adora whips around at the familiar voice and almost does a double take in disbelief when she sees her. Catra. She's wearing a red tank top, a flannel tied around her waist and denim short shorts, her hair is pulled back into a messy ponytail and her eyes sparkle in the midday sun. Adora's mouth runs dry. "Where's the real Adora and what have you done with her?" Catra teases and Adora has whiplash. Catra brushes past her shoulder and hops up onto the trunk so she's sitting on it. They hadn't talked the latter half of senior year, Adora kind of expected to never talk to her again if she was honest, yet here she was, out of the blue, talking to her. 

"Catra?" Adora says, dumbfounded, and Catra rolls her eyes. Even so, Catra hears the question without Adora having to ask it, she was always perceptive of Adora like that. 

"My moms told me you were moving out today." Catra answers, despite her presence, she won't meet Adora's eyes properly, just fleeting glances, and Adora's not good with awkwardness. 

"Oh, uh, yeah! What... what about you?" Adora asks. Catra's lips twitch slightly - Adora swears - probably at her nervousness, Catra always liked to make Adora nervous. 

"Next week." She answers. "Where are you going?" 

"Oh, Brightmoon, they have a great football team and offered me a scholarship, plus, I get to study history, and I love history." Catra scoffs. 

"Nerd." Adora chuckles, sitting beside Catra on the trunk’s ledge. 

"Says you." She fires back, bumping shoulders with Catra. Catra does smile this time and it warms Adora's chest to the core, she'd missed that smile. "What about you? Where are you going?" Adora questions and Catra leans back so she's resting on her palms. 

"Grayskull." Catra replies and Adora's eyes widen. "Studying business but law is my ultimate goal." Adora nods her head and looks away from her childhood best friend. This was weird. Adora missed Catra more than anything and yet now that she was here Adora missed her even more. There seemed like some invisible chasm had opened between them, Adora didn't know how to bridge it, or even if they could. 

"We really chose universities on the opposite sides of the country huh?" Adora asks and Catra lets out a sharp breath, almost like a bitter laugh. This hadn't been their plans at the beginning of high school, Adora had never thought they'd have so much distance between them, emotionally and physically, the thought filled her with immeasurable sadness and her chest felt heavy with the loss of Catra. "Catra I... I wish things had been different." Adora admits. "I'm sorry, for everything." 

"You didn't do anything Adora, this just... happens sometimes." Catra looks uncertain. The chasm between them was unbridgeable because Adora had kissed Catra, and she didn't want to be just Catra's friend, and Catra clearly didn't feel the same - their friendship could not sustain Adora's obvious pining. "Friends grow apart, it happens." 

"I miss you." Adora admits, she has the sudden urge to grab Catra's hand, to ask her to stay with her, even if it's just one night, she would rather have one last night with Catra and never see her again than say goodbye to her right now, but Adora is a coward and she can't bring herself to ask her love to stay. 

"I know." Catra says wistfully. She pushes herself up and stands, turning to face Adora fully, she finally looks at her and Adora feels her heart ache in her chest with longing. "I'll see you around Princess." She says and there's a sad smile on her lips, no promises that they'll see each other again, but it's enough for Adora, there's a maybe there, maybe I'll see you around, and that's something . Adora hadn’t expected to see Catra ever again. 

Catra turns and walks away and Adora watches her the whole way, right until she disappears over the hill, and then she returns back to her packing. 

Maybe. 

That was enough. 

*  * *

"Adora? Hey, Adora?" Adora snaps back to reality and feels like she just had whiplash. She's still holding the bottle of brandy by its neck and Catra, yes, Catra , had let go of it. Now she was just looking at her with concern. Adora's mouth felt completely dry. She hadn’t seen Catra in two years and somehow she was even more beautiful than what Adora remembered - definitely not wearing sweats and dirty trainers in a supermarket, oh no, Catra always looked good. She had the whole smoky eye thing going for her, the blue and gold of her eyes really popped, her hair was in all of it's natural curly glory, some of it tucked under a beanie sitting on the top of her head but it was as soft and fluffy as Adora remembered, she was wearing a leather jacket, that was snug and really, really , suited her, and Adora couldn't stop staring at her. Catra had always been kind of skinny in high school, she still was, but it was also clearly all muscle now, lean muscle, she was probably in better shape than Adora and she played football for her college career. 

"C- Catra?" Adora squeaks out before she clears her throat. Catra chuckles, she leans her chin in the palm of her hand, leaning her elbow on the handle of the kart, and Adora can feel a blush colouring her cheeks at hearing the sound. This is her childhood best friend, she'd known Catra since they were 5 and she’d been in love with her for as long as she could remember. 

"Long time no see," Catra says casually and Adora doesn't know how she's not freaking out, Adora feels like her palms might be so sweaty the bottle of brandy will slip right through her hands. "are you... throwing a party?" She raises one of her perfect eyebrows and glances towards Adora's kart, which was full of brandy, she's aware it looks kind of weird. 

"Uh, oh, no, huh," Adora chuckles nervously. "my mom asked me to get her brandy, she wants to be stocked up for the holidays, you know, for eggnog and what not." Adora nervously chuckles again and Catra's lips turn up on one side in a half smile of amusement. Adora almost passes out. She'd missed that smile. The half smile and the smirk were the best, Adora hadn't seen them in so long. Also why was she looking at Catra's lips? Stop it Adora. 

"Yeah, I remember," Catra says and she sounds almost fond? Maybe even wistful? "your mom made the best eggnog every year, she even let us have some." 

"Yeah," Adora confirms before extending the brandy to Catra who had obviously wanted one of her own. "you can have this one, I think I probably overdid it already." Adora sticks her thumb in the direction of her kart and Catra laughs. 

"Are you sure? I don’t want your mom mad at me because I stole her brandy." Adora grins. 

"Please, my mom loves you, you could never do wrong." Which was true for the record. Adora's parents absolutely adored Catra, when they stopped talking Adora had faced a lot of questions from them, questions she didn’t feel like answering, eventually everyone learned to not bring Catra up, Adora found it easier to not talk about it, even to her brother. 

"Thanks." Catra says, reaching for the brandy, their hands touch for a split second and Adora jumps at the sudden spark she feels but Catra is quick, she always has been, and she manages to grab hold of the drink before it falls. Catra places it into her kart which is full of your average grocery shopping items: bread, eggs, milk, etc. She must be shopping for her moms, Adora realises. She wants to catch up with Catra, so badly, but this isn’t exactly the place and things still feel awkward, and Adora doesn’t do awkward, plus if Adora didn’t hurry back her mom would be seriously worried. Still this is Catra. She can’t just walk away. 

“Y-you look good.” Adora stammers and she wants to facepalm. You don’t just say that.

“You do too, Princess.” Adora short circuits when she hears the nickname slip the brunette’s lips. Despite the fact that she absolutely does not look good, hearing Catra say it makes Adora blush. Adora wants to say something, anything, but she’s not sure what to say to her, she wants to catch up but there’s not enough time, she just wants Catra. It seems circumstances were never in their favour. Still, looking at Catra, she wants to grab her hand and drag her away, to go talk for hours on end, but she knows that’s not possible. 

“Hey would you like-” Adora’s question is cut off by the ringing of Catra’s phone. The brunette pulls it out and checks it before sighing. 

“It’s my mom, she’s probably wondering where I am.” Catra explains. Not a crazy thought considering it was quite late and parents tend to worry crazy about their little ‘babies’. 

“You should take that,” Adora says, retreating back towards her kart. Catra watches her, looking between her phone and Adora and Adora can do nothing but smile reassuringly at her. “I’ll see you around, Catra.” Adora says, swallowing harshly. It reminds her of the last words Catra spoke to her two years ago - she really hopes its not another two years before she gets to see her again. Catra looks like she wants to say something, but she reluctantly answers her phone instead, and Adora makes her hasty get away, disappearing around the corner out of sight. Adora wants nothing more than to turn back around and keep Catra in her life, but she doesn’t have the strength to face her again, not so soon.

//  

Catra pulls her beanie off of her head and hangs it by the front door. The weather was turning seriously chilly, she was pretty sure it would snow soon, probably in the next few days, but inside she was warm and super happy to be home. College was great, she loved studying, but having a break was needed every now and again. She pauses, seeing the brandy sticking out of the grocery bag and remembering Adora. Adora had filled out a little more, she seemed more muscular, and definitely more fuckboy than she had been in high school wearing those joggers, her varsity jacket and a cap, not to mention the undercut. But she looked good, so good. 

Catra had allowed herself a few moments of distraction of just examining the blonde, Adora had always been attractive but it's like two years apart and Catra's attraction for her had only grown with time, not lessened. She groans and bangs her head against the door frame, not hard enough to hurt but enough to show her exasperation. Even after all this time she still has a crush for her big, dumb, blonde, jock, ex-best friend. Adora was pretty much the same, nervous to the core but smiley and polite, chivalrous even, her blue eyes seemed bluer and in the couple of years of them being apart she'd lost the last of her baby fat and her jawline could slice apples. 

In short, Adora was hot as hell and Catra was screwed. 

No. She was an adult. She could handle Adora, plus they weren't friends anymore? They'd been apart for two years, not spoken for two years, she didn't have a crush on her, she was just surprised to see her that was all. Maybe... no, she did, Catra had missed that dumb jock. Her heart ached just thinking about her, she wanted to see her again, she couldn't explain it but the last couple of years had been great, she was achieving like she’d never achieved before, and yet it had felt like there was something not quite right. Like she was missing something. Catra knows, even now, Adora is her other half and seeing her again… she couldn’t stop thinking about her. Adora had been that something missing, she was half a damn person, and she'd found her again. 

Catra groans. It had been so long. Maybe her feelings for Adora were gone, maybe now they could have the friendship that they'd had as youths, without Catra's one sided pining, she was an adult, she was pretty sure that they could handle hanging out like old times, plus, Catra was over her crush, she wasn't secretly pining for her best friend and terrified of losing her, besides, there was nothing to lose? Adora wasn’t in her life, so if she said no to hanging out then that could continue, no loss, just the same, sure it would kill Catra to be rejected but, well, rejection was always a sore spot for her so that was to be expected. But there was a chance Adora might say yes and that excited Catra to no end. 

No. That was a bad idea. Wasn’t it? 

Catra sighs and brushes her hair from her face, sweeping it back, she ventured further into her house, it was already decorated though the tree was bare. Catra smiles at the sight, her moms knew that that was her job, she used to decorate the tree every year with... with Adora. Catra walks towards the tree, sitting under it was a box of decorations, she kneels, pulling it out, and opens it. Some of the decorations are nice ones, ones her moms had bought to actually make the tree look semi nice, but the majority of them were things Catra had made as a kid, one of them was a bauble she'd made in first grade, crude drawings of herself and Adora, she'd gotten Adora to sign it in her name, as well as signing her own. Best friends. They'd been side by side for years to come until no longer. 

Catra smiles at the bauble and picks it up gently, she grabs the string that was attached to it and slips it onto one of the branches. She stares at the bauble, feeling an overwhelming feeling of longing. She misses Adora, she does, she missed her even when she was there and not there. Catra drifts out of the living room and up the stairs. She’s sure her moms are probably fast asleep, and if they notice the single bauble in the morning she knows they won't say anything, they know to give Catra her space when she’s feeling... Adora nostalgic and, boy, is she feeling that nostalgia tonight. 

She’s not sure what it is, maybe it's the holiday atmosphere, maybe it's that she hadn’t seen Adora in two whole years and she missed her more than she cared to admit to herself before, but actually seeing Adora… that longing came back full swing. Catra opens the hatch to the attic, wincing when the ladders make a thump as they hit the ground. She freezes for a moment, straining to hear if maybe she’d woken her parents, but when she hears nothing Catra begins climbing. 

The attic is probably Catra's least favourite place but, then again, if your favourite place is the attic then you're probably a serial killer. She waves her hand around to find the dangling light cord and pulls on it. The light flickers a couple of times before a deep yellow illuminates the attic. She shudders, the attic is cold and creepy but she knows there's a box up here because she put it here herself - out of sight, out of mind. Catra pulls herself into the dusty attic, carefully avoiding any cobwebs she could see and trying not to think about the amount of spiders that were probably hidden behind boxes of old storage. Credit to her moms, they actually keep the attic pretty tidy, even when it's just a bunch of storage. 

Catra makes her way towards the old ugly chair that her moms had shoved in the attic when they'd moved in. The chair was the only thing left behind by the old inhabitants, and Catra wasn’t in the least bit surprised, it was a really ugly chair, and now it wasn’t just a chair but an impressive collector of dust. Catra reaches beneath it, her hands landing on the box she'd shoved under there at the end of senior year in the height of her anger at her ex-best friend and emo phase. She pulls it out and dashes the top layer of dust from it, sneezing when it hits her. She pulls the tape off, cursing under her breath when it's a little tougher than she anticipated, her writing on the side was jagged and bold, ' old shit ', Catra snorts, she really used to be so dramatic. 

She opens the box slightly, hesitantly, a box of Adora, memories she shared with someone who had once been so precious to her. Catra takes a deep breath, steadying herself, she hadn’t even noticed that her heart rate had picked up in pace tenfold. She opens the lid slowly and, as soon as she can peer inside, she feels the air whacked out of her lungs. Right at the top was an old picture of them when they were seventeen, just before things went from bad to worse, and Catra is wearing Adora's varsity jacket, as she so often had in high school, and she's sitting on her lap laughing at something dumb Adora had said and Adora is smiling so brightly. She knows her moms snapped this photo of them without them knowing, its raw genuineness is sharp, almost like a knife that's cutting Catra's chest open. She knows she loved Adora as more than just a best friend, it's clear in the picture, but having part of Adora was better than none at all so she shoved those feelings down, except, here she was now, Adora-less. She blinks back a few tears, she’s not even sure why she's so emotional, just that she is. Catra sets the picture to one side, she knows there's plenty more where that came from. 

She has a moment right there, up in the attic at midnight, her legs tucked under her in a slightly uncomfortable position, of sadness and longing, looking through old photographs and drawings of her childhood, a childhood spent with a best friend. Catra had always known she'd had a crush on Adora but it wasn’t until she was fourteen that she realised it was more than just a crush, that she was completely and irreversibly in love with her in every way possible. Then things started to change between them, when they got to high school they drifted apart, Catra still hated the way she acted. And that night... Catra shakes her head. She's still not sure why Adora kissed her, probably because she was drunk. It had been too much for Catra, she couldn't keep being in love with Adora and being her friend, something had to give, so she snapped. She really wished she'd been able to retain their friendship but it had been too much and she pushed Adora away. 

Catra shoves the welling emotions in her chest down and focuses on the last remaining items in her box of memories - maybe box of pain was a better word. She pulls the piece of paper out and instantly smiles, she knows exactly what it is before she unfolds it, the paper is creased in several places but still in pretty good condition considering it stretches right to the start of their friendship when they were six years old and thought they'd be together forever. Catra opens it and a smile instantly comes to her lips in fondness. Scribbled on the paper, in messy six year old writing, and in crayon too, is their self made certificate of marriage, because of course they got married when they were kids and they had no idea what marriage really meant, only that it meant two people who really loved each other would stay together for the rest of their lives and that's what they'd felt at that age. Catra sighs at the memory and nestled at the bottom of the box, hidden under the certificate, was the little plastic ring that they’d used in the 'ceremony', Adora too had her own. It makes Catra's heart swell with the memory.

*  * * 

“Mama! I need it!” Catra pouts holding her picture up to her mother with the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster. Selene chuckles brushing Catra’s hair from her face and Luna looks at her wife with a soft smile. 

“And why exactly do you need that so badly?” Luna asks, picking Catra up and sitting her in her lap. 

“I need it for my wedding with Adora.” Catra says like it’s obvious. Her moms exchange looks before they look back at Catra with fond smiles. She doesn’t understand why they’re looking at her like that, they were married, they knew what it meant. 

“You’re marrying Adora?” Selene asks. Catra nods her head enthusiastically. She was asking her parents to buy her a little suit, a burgundy one that would match Adora’s dress, so that they could get married properly because Adora had told her you had to dress up for a wedding. “Why are you marrying Adora?” Selene asks curiously. The question puzzles Catra.

“She’s my best friend,” Catra shrugs. “and I love her, and we want to be together forever.” Her moms chuckle and Luna leans forward to kiss Catra on her head. She grumbles at the affection but secretly she loved the attention, she loved her moms so much. “You and mom are best friends, you’re married.” Catra points out and her moms look at one another before they look back at their small daughter.

“You’re right,” Luna concedes. “Very well, I guess we’ll be buying you a tux.” Luna stands up, scooping Catra in her arms, and Catra starts laughing hysterically and her moms smile at her so widely. 

They buy Catra her suit and gussy her up ready for her wedding to Adora. The wedding takes place in Adora’s back garden, just by the tree at the base of it, Luna was to marry them while their parents had also dressed up for the occasion and were looking on with infinite fondness. Catra remembers looking at Adora and thinking how she would love her forever, even at the age of five. They had their rings and their parents took plenty of pictures to remember this moment. Catra was just happy she could marry her best friend, that they would be together forever. They’d sealed the marriage with a quick peck on the lips to which their parents had all looked at one another with tears in their eyes because the sight was so damn adorable. 

Together. Forever. 

*  * *

Catra's thoughts are interrupted by a soft voice behind her. "What are you doing up here so late little one?" Catra rolls her eyes at the name ‘little one’, even grown up her mom insisted on calling her that. Catra turns around, paper held tight to her chest, she guesses maybe her eyes are a little glassy because her mom's face drops into one of concern before realisation. "You know, Adora's number is still the same." Her mom says. Catra turns back to the box and begins packing it back up again. She'd considered calling but she couldn't. Could she? 

"It's too late to call." Catra brushes off, placing the box back under the chair, she turns towards her mom. "Besides, I don't... I don't think Adora would want to hang out with me again." Her mom chuckling at that gets Catra to glare at her and her mom throws her hands up in surrender. 

"Maybe," She concedes, which doesn’t make Catra feel better. "but I think she might surprise you." Catra scooches towards the ladder, which her mom was standing on, and sits in front of her, she feels like a little kid doing that, a little kid looking for reassurance from her mom. 

"How do you know?" Her mom reaches her hand up and gently caresses her cheek, giving her a soft look of disbelief. 

"I just know." She leans forward and kisses Catra on her head before she begins descending the ladders. "Now get some rest, or, at the very least, come out of the attic." Catra laughs softly and pulls the light switch before climbing down the ladder. She then closes up the hatch and makes her way down the stairs again. She passes by the christmas tree, still adorned with one bauble, and passes through the dining room to the kitchen where the phone was hung on the latch. She hesitates before she picks it up. She knows her number by heart but she still hesitates, it's late, Adora probably wouldn't be awake. This was dumb, she should just forget about it, except she can’t, she has a giant Adora shaped hole in her and it had been bad before but seeing her had made it even worse, she knew if she didn’t do this that it would just keep eating away at her and that thought alone was what brought Catra to type the number. 

She registers vaguely that the numbers on the keypad are worn from years of Catra dialing the number. At the first ring, Catra feels like she might pass out. At the second ring, she starts regretting her decision completely. At the third ring, she thinks she might be insane for ringing at half past midnight. And at the fourth ring, she almost puts the phone down but then she hears the ringing cut off and a confused voice on the other line. 

" Hello ?" 

"Adora, hey."

//

Adora bursts through the door with two bags of brandy and nothing else. Yeah, that had been hard to explain without looking like an alcoholic. She was still buzzing with energy from seeing Catra again, she had to tell someone about it, and she knew exactly who to tell. Adora bounds into the kitchen and places the bags on the counter and she sees a familiar body with their back to her. "You'll never guess who I saw at the grocery store today." Adora begins. 

"Catra?" He replies. 

"I know this is going to- Wait." Adora frowns as her brother turns to look at her curiously. "How did you know she was back in town?" Adora asks and her brother grins. 

"It's the holidays, duh," Adam responds, walking towards the grocery bag. "plus Catra and I talk all the time, we never stopped." Adora feels like she's just been sucker punched to the gut. 

"You... what?" Adora asks, clenching her fists in exasperation. 

"What? Are you jealous?" He teases. 

"You are so dead." They start rough housing, like how they did when they were kids. They're pretty equal in terms of their muscular frame, but Adora always seems to get the upper hand on her twin, she's pretty sure it’s because she's older... by two minutes, she naturally has to put her little brother in place. 

"Stop it!" He complains, elbowing Adora in the stomach, she gets him in a headlock and starts rubbing her knuckles over his head roughly for that. 

"You two, knock it off." The pair jump apart at the sudden intrusion and standing in the doorway is their mother, hands on her hips but a smile of amusement betrays her real feelings. "I swear, sometimes it's like you're still children." 

"She started it!" Adam protests and Adora sticks her tongue out at him. Their mother simply sighs and walks towards the bags of brandy. "Adora saw Catra in the store." Adam pipes up and Adora glares. 

" Dude !" She whisper yells and he shrugs his shoulders. 

"Catra," Her mom says wistfully, pulling the brandy from one of the bags. "how is she?" 

"Good... I think, we didn't really talk that much." Not really anyway. Her mom gives her a curious glance and when she hears her brother snicker she realises how that could've been interpreted. "I mean, it was awkward." Adora clarifies. Her mother smiles sadly and comes over to plant a soft kiss to Adora's forehead. She pouts a little at the action, she’s not a little kid, but secretly she loves it. "It was nice though... seeing her again." Adora knows, even though she's not saying it, her mom knows what she really means: I miss her. 

"Maybe you should call her and grab a coffee? Catch up?" She suggests. Adam snorts and Adora almost growls at him. 

" You ." Adora accuses. "I can't believe you stayed in contact with Catra all these years!" 

"Hey, it was only two," He defends. "besides, I thought she might end up being my sister-in-law at some point-" Adora silences her brother by tackling him, head first, when he says that. The blush she feels at such an accusation is covered by her exertion when wrestling her brother. Adam knew all about Adora's crush on her childhood best friend, he had, after all, been there to witness it first hand, that didn't mean Adora was just going to let him off the hook for saying such things to her. 

They tussle for a moment before Adora pins Adam and lets out a sound of success. That's when he decides to play dirty and digs his fingers in her side, Adora falls to one side and they start wrestling all over again until their mother comes over, decidedly sick of their shenanigans, and pulls them apart. "Honestly, are you two twenty two or not?" She tsks and playfully hits them on their biceps. Adam says his goodbyes to retreat back to his bed, since it was late, and Adora settles herself at one of the stools along the kitchen counter. 

Her mother looks at her curiously. "What's eating you sweetie?" She asks softly. Adora sighs, she shrugs off her varsity jacket and throws her scarf down on top of it, it was warm in here, Adora was pretty sure her mom had had the fire going, she never had the thing unlit this time of year. 

"I don’t know, Catra just..." Adora groans, lowering her head to the kitchen counter. "She looked good, better than good, and I guess… I miss her, and it just hit me how much things have changed." Adora rants, her mother’s soft chuckling brings her back up, she frowns in mock annoyance before smiling herself. "We thought we'd be together forever." Adora states and her mom gives her a sympathetic smile and squeeze on the shoulder. 

"I know, so did I." Her mom confesses. 

"I just... I really liked her, you know, as more than... more than-" 

"Adora," Her mom reaches out and gently brushes a strand of hair from Adora's eyes. "I know." And she does know, of course she does, Adora had been heart broken when Catra had told her she no longer wanted to see her, even more heart broken when she'd left for college on the other side of the country. "Do what you think is best." Adora groans and stands up from her stool. She knows what her mom means, she’s always taught her to do whatever she thinks is right, to stand by her resolve, but she just doesn’t know if she has one in this situation. 

She goes to the living room and flops on the couch dramatically. Her mom follows, chuckling, she grabs a blanket and drapes it over Adora's back and Adora snuggles it, closing her eyes happily as her mom kisses her goodnight and takes her leave. It was late but all Adora could do was think about Catra. She was the same but different, or maybe familiar was a better word for it, Adora was sure there were other things still familiar about her that she hadn't discovered yet, she wonders if she still smells like pine and if her eyes still crinkle when she does her full belly laugh, then she wonders if Catra has a girlfriend and her stomach swoops uncomfortably. She couldn’t blame her if she did, but she certainly wouldn't like it either, not that she had any right to feel that way, plus it had been two years, what was Adora expecting? She groans again, twisting around to stare at the ceiling. She hates to admit it but she's not over Catra and part of her thinks she maybe never will be. 

Her thoughts of Catra are torn from her mind at the sound of the phone ringing. Adora sits up and frowns, it’s half past midnight, she has no idea who would be calling so late. She stands, kicking the blanket off, and heads to the kitchen. She hesitates for a second, but picks up on the fourth ring. 

"Hello?" 

" Adora, hey. "

Adora freezes, instantly recognising the voice. She hadn't expected such a phone call tonight, in fact, she hadn't expected one at all. She'd expected them to go back to just ignoring one another. "C- Catra?" Adora says, stumbling over the own words, she wipes her palms down the side of her legs at her stupid tone of voice. "I mean, hey! How are you?" 

" You saw me like an hour ago ." Catra deadpans but then a soft chuckle travels down the line that tells Adora she's only joking. Well, partly joking. Adora smiles at the sound, it was so soft, and barely audible, but she didn’t miss it. 

"Yes, well, lots of things can change in an hour." Adora fires back and this time the chuckle is louder and Adora's smile turns into a grin. 

" Someone got sassy ." Catra teases. " touche princess ." Adora almost collapses at hearing her old nickname slip Catra's lips again. Instead, she leans her back against the wall and swirls the cord around her finger. She can imagine Catra in her house, leaning against the wall herself but on her shoulder, her soft curls pushed up, maybe she's in her PJs, or maybe she’s in her clothes still- Adora, stop it. 

"So what..." Adora trails off, she’s not sure how to ask without sounding rude. "Did you call for a reason?" Adora asks curiously. She hears Catra take a breath in and immediately Adora is on edge. 

" I, uh, yeah ," She responds. " I just thought maybe you'd like to... get coffee? A catch up would be nice. " Adora almost collapses again if she’s honest. Was Catra asking her out? No, surely not. She probably meant just a catch up as friends. That made sense. Adora totally wanted to get coffee. 

"Yes!" She admits that comes off a little too eager and she winces in response. "I mean, sure, yeah, when were you thinking?" Adora asks, much more casually, maybe even trying too hard with the casualness. There's a pause, and Adora worries that she might have scared Catra away with her over eagerness, but then she hears a soft sigh. 

" Tomorrow? Noon? Maybe we can get lunch too ?" Adora smiles at the thought and then she remembers something. 

"Oh shoot! I can't tomorrow." 

" Oh ." 

"My brother has this stupid art thing and my parents are forcing me to go but the day after?" There's a long pause and Adora worries that maybe she blew it. Maybe she could backtrack and agree to coffee tomorrow and just ditch her brother, he deserved it anyway, traitor . 

" Adam told me about that ." Catra replies. Adora's heart rate picks up at the confession and she pulls the cord hard around her hand. 

"So you admit you're a traitor for talking to my brother." 

" Don't be dramatic Adora ." Catra laughs and the sound is the most wonderful thing Adora has ever heard, her frustration at that whole situation melts away with each sound. " I can do the day after tomorrow ." Catra says and Adora pushes off of the wall. She's not ashamed to admit she even does a little dance in celebration. 

"Okay! Great! It's a date." Adora almost chokes on her own words. Why did she say that?! It's a date. Who says that to your ex-best friend?! There's a moment of silence and Adora fears the worst until she hears Catra take a soft breath in. 

" Sure, yeah, it's a date you dork. " Adora hadn’t been expecting that . 

"Okay, cool." Adora responds casually, though she’s not sure it comes across as casual considering she's kind of freaking out. They exchange mobile numbers since Adora didn't feel like calling the house phone every time they needed to talk, plus it would be nice to have, before Adora hangs up. 

She lets out a long exhale before her eyes widen with realisation. She was going out with Catra! Probably not a date, just a friendship date, but it was something ! Adora skids into the living room on her socks, raising her hands up in the air in a yes gesture. She almost falls but she doesn't care. She has a coffee date set with Catra.

//

Catra taps her fingers on the table top nervously. She was waiting for Adora who was running slightly late, not too surprising considering that was kind of her thing, Adora always got everywhere a little late, Catra was glad that some things never changed. Usually she was late because she was a worrier and she tended to forget stuff, like keys, still, Catra was looking like she'd been stood up and she didn't appreciate the dirty look the waiter was firing at her because she hadn’t ordered anything yet - like not ordering something after sitting down for two minutes is a crime. Bite me. She narrows her eyes and the waiter turns his back. 

That's when the bell above the door rings and in comes Adora, big, goofy, jock Adora. She's in her varsity jacket again but she has a hoodie underneath and a scarf around her neck. When she spots Catra she beams and Catra feels her heart rate pick up. Adora is adorable, Catra knows this, in fact she kind of has the energy of a non threatening puppy, just a giant golden retriever puppy shoved into a very hot jock exterior. Catra hates it. Well, she doesn't hate it, in fact, she loves it, but she can feel herself slipping back into her old feelings and that was a no go. They were adults, and this was her chance to get her best friend back without all those weird feelings getting in the way. 

Adora approaches her confidently, pulling the scarf from around her neck. She was a little less fuckboy today, opting for jeans over the sweats Catra had seen her in a couple days ago, but she was still fuckboy material and yet Adora is absolutely the opposite. She sits down, sliding into the booth, and shrugs off her varsity jacket and Catra raises her brow. "You're exactly the same." Catra says. Adora falters for a moment, clearly not understanding Catra's train of thought, before she relaxes and smiles softly. 

"Yeah, I guess I am." Adora admits and Catra shakes her head in fond amusement. 

"I could say the same about your leather jacket." Adora fires back. 

"Sure," Catra confesses, because it's true, she has had this jacket since high school. "but you wouldn't, I look hot in this jacket." Catra says, smirking, and she swears... is Adora blushing ? "Not that you don’t look dashing in your varsity jacket, I bet you're a heart breaker at Brightmoon." 

"Oh, uh," Adora glances around and Catra finds her flustered appearance altogether so cute but also curious. Why was Adora so flustered by this line of questioning? Catra's stomach drops. Maybe she has a girlfriend. Maybe Catra didn't think this through. "that's not really my thing." 

"What's not?" Catra asks, leaning forward, she's trying to sound nonchalant but now all she can think about is Adora kissing some other girl, some other girl who isn't her, and the thought puts a knot in her gut. But Catra has no right to feel that... they were just friends, barely even friends really given how things had ended. 

"Breaking hearts." Adora clarifies and Catra's not so sure, she certainly broke her heart in the past. Luckily for them both that awkward conversation is interrupted by the waiter appearing at their side asking for their order. They order food, opting for lunch as well as hot chocolates. The diner was just as familiar as Adora, they used to come here a lot as kids, in fact, if you looked under the table you'd see their initials carved into the underbelly of the table which Catra had carved with her pen knife one day, they loved it here, it was out of the way and the food wasn't half bad, they'd spend hours chatting about anything and everything while sharing milkshakes, or fries, it was kind of their place, clearly the diner had hired some teenagers with sticks up their asses, if that waiter was anything to go by, but so long as they had the same chef Catra didn't care. 

"So," Adora says nervously and Catra turns her attention back to the blonde. "how are you? How's college?" Adora asks and Catra sighs. 

"Honestly? Exhausting." Catra admits and Adora chuckles, leaning forward herself so that they were closer. 

"I felt that." Adora responds but she sounds far too cheery for Catra's liking. 

"Oh please, you're goody two shoes Adora, I bet you're sailing through classes." It’s not like Catra was failing, in fact she was excelling, but she felt like she was constantly behind and that she was supposed to be doing something at all hours so this Christmas break was a nice change of pace and a much needed break. "What about you?" Catra questions. Also, do you have a girlfriend? I'm asking for a friend. Catra keeps her mouth shut but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't at least curious. 

"I'm... okay? I don't know, I kind of feel like a failure at all times and things haven't been going so well, other than sport." Okay, wow. Catra hadn't been expecting that. She's not entirely sure what to tell Adora to make her feel better. 

"Hey, I'm sure it's not that bad," Catra reassures, nudging her with her foot, and Adora looks up. "you've always been a worrier." Adora laughs and Catra feels good about that, hearing Adora laugh always made her feel good. The waiter comes over with their hot chocolates at that point, interrupting whatever it was that Adora was about to say in response, Catra licks her lips, she loved hot chocolate, especially the whipped cream on the top. 

Adora takes a sip almost immediately and Catra watches her. She pulls the cup away from her mouth suddenly, sticking her tongue out while cringing. " Hot! Hot! Hot! " Adora complains and Catra feels a smirk pull at her lips. 

"Of course it's hot dumbass." Catra shakes her head and Adora narrows her eyes but she's like the least intimidating person Catra knows plus... is that? Yep, Adora totally had whipped cream on her nose now. 

Catra laughs at the sight and Adora gets this totally cute pout that only serves to make Catra laugh harder. "What? What is it?" Adora asks and Catra has to wipe her eyes before she responds. 

"You have a little something..." Catra gestures to her face and Adora's blue eyes widen. She wipes her face with her hand and completely misses and Catra laughs again. Adora narrows her eyes but Catra knows she's not really mad at her, in fact, she can detect a hint of a smile on her lips. "No, more there." She wipes and misses yet again and Catra was going to die from laughter, she's already laughed more in this hour with Adora than she has in two years. "Here, let me..." Before Catra can even think about it, she leans across the table and uses her thumb to wipe the whipped cream from Adora's nose before she puts said thumb into her mouth. Her eyes widen when she realises what she just did and Adora just stares with that dumb look of hers. Catra quickly feels her cheeks warm at the realisation of what she just did and Adora blinks a few times. 

"Uh," Catra sits up a little. "got it." Playing it cool was probably the best way to play this. Adora blushes before nodding her head. 

"Thanks." Luckily they're rescued by the appearance of their waiter carrying their food. Catra went with waffles but Adora had a plate of pancakes. The blonde grabs the nearby syrup and begins slathering her pancakes in the stuff. Catra scrunches her nose at the sight, some things really don't change. 

"You're gross." Catra comments, shoving waffle into her mouth, she almost moans at the flavour that floods her mouth but she stops herself. 

"Syrup is good." Adora defends. 

"Sure," Catra admits. "in moderation, but you drown them, they're like Jack from the Titanic." 

"Bit harsh Catra." Adora responds and Catra laughs, continuing to eat her waffles. She watches Adora in idle curiosity as the blonde devours her food. Adora always ate her food so quickly, and she always ate so much, but that made sense given she was a total jock, still, you'd think she ate more vegetables for the shape she's in, or protein shakes, but no. Her moms always loved having Adora over because she was a 'good' eater apparently, Catra, not so much, her moms were total feeders and Adora was a bottomless pit so they were a match made in heaven. Which kind of reminded Catra... 

"Hey, Adora?" Adora looks up from her pancakes and Catra feels a smile pull at the corners of her lips at the sight, and a familiar buzzing in her stomach, but she ignores that. "So my moms miss you a lot, and I was wondering if..." Catra swallows nervously, especially when Adora sits up, abandoning her pancakes for the moment. "Every year we used to decorate my tree, I was wondering if you'd like to do that again?" Adora doesn't say anything for a while which only makes Catra more nervous, maybe she shouldn't have asked but... she'd never admit it out loud but, she's missed Adora. 

"I'd love to," Adora says with that sweet smile of hers. "I've missed your moms, they always made the best food." 

"I get the feeling that's the only reason you were my friend." Catra jokes but she feels warm and fuzzy at Adora's accepting of her invitation. 

"Please," Adora rolls her eyes, returning to her pancakes. "it was you Catra, it was always you." Catra almost chokes. Adora can't just say things like that out of nowhere! "Besides, you stayed in contact with Adam, it's only fair I get to reunite with your moms." Adora sounded almost... jealous ? 

"There's no need to be jealous Adora," Catra teases. "you know you're my favourite twin, plus Adam isn't really my type." Adora honest to god blushes and diverts her gaze and Catra smirks at the reaction she just got from her. Adora scoffs and folds her arms over her chest. 

"I am not jealous!" Adora protests. "I just... I don't understand why you stayed in contact with him ." And not me. Adora doesn't say it but Catra hears it all the same. She actually looks genuinely upset and Catra feels awful. Catra reaches her hand across the table, taking Adora's hand into her own and stroking her thumb over her skin gently. Adora's eyes snap up in surprise but Catra focuses on their interlocked hands. 

"I... I didn't mean to, Adam just messaged me and he kept doing it and so did I... I asked about you, a lot." Catra squeezes Adora's hand and that was extremely hard for her to admit but it was true, she'd asked Adam about Adora a lot, in fact, most of their conversations, other than what was going on in their lives, was about Adora. 

"When you told me to leave I... I thought you wanted space so I never...." Adora trails off nervously, her hand was playing softly with Catra's own and the brunette felt her heart contract. "I thought you'd... you know, but you never did." Catra takes a sharp breath in. She feels horrible, honestly, she doesn't even know what to say to that but, also, she'd needed that reset. 

"Hey, I reached out now." Catra smiles and Adora looks up from their hands, her eyes look a little glassy, but then she smiles right back and squeezes Catra's hand. 

"Yeah, you did." And that's enough. At least, Catra thinks it is. 

Adora let's her hand go before she leans back. They finish off their food and hot chocolate, making idle chatter and catching each other up on things they might have missed, Catra learned that Adora no longer kept in touch with basically anyone from high school and her two best friends were someone called Glimmer and a guy named Bow, Catra wasn't at all jealous at the declaration from Adora that they were her best friends, Catra told Adora about Scorpia and Entrapta, as it turned out, they were all planning on visiting around the same time so a big get together date was probably already forming in Adora's mind. 

They parted, reluctantly, Catra watched Adora leave, she looked adorable in her little varsity jacket and her scarf and she still had her old car from high school, which was kind of amazing, Catra definitely thought that thing would’ve died before now, they had promised to meet at Catra's tomorrow, for the tree decorating tradition, and Catra found that she couldn’t wait for that time to come any sooner. She was actually looking forward to seeing Adora more than she wanted to admit. She sighs, already knowing she was in trouble.

//  

Ador-able: Hey, I'm pulling up right now!

Cat-Ra: Okay, I'm coming!

Catra leaps to her feet from her couch, a spring in her step. It was weird, texting Adora. After years of radio silence they were now texting constantly, well, they had been texting constantly for one day to be exact, after their lunch in the diner. Catra opens the door to see Adora walking down the path to her front door, today she wasn't wearing her varsity jacket but a red puffer jacket and when Catra feels the cold hit her she understands why, still, Adora wore that damn thing everywhere, it wouldn't surprise Catra if she had it on under the jacket. 

Adora stops a few steps from the door and smiles at Catra. "What are you waiting for? An invitation? Welcome to my humble abode, please do come in." Catra teases, she's not going to lie, she's kind of freezing, but teasing Adora is always worth it. Adora glances up before she looks at Catra and she looks slightly alarmed. 

"Uh," Adora looks up again. "Catra?" She asks. Catra follows her line of sight and feels herself flush. She forgot her moms did that. Hanging just above the door was some mistletoe and here Catra was inviting Adora under it. Catra huffs before stepping back and gesturing for Adora to join her. 

The blonde comes inside, closing the door behind her. She had little flecks of snow in her eyelashes and her cheeks were rosy, whether from the cold outside or the fact that Catra just invited her for a kiss wasn't completely certain, but, either way, Adora looked as stunning as always. Her blonde hair was pulled back into her classic ponytail, her bangs pinned back in its silly poof that Catra secretly found endearing and the undercut, Catra still wasn't quite used to that, or how attractive it was. 

Adora clears her throat and Catra realises she's just staring at the blonde and she blushes, diverting her gaze. "Can I..." Catra clears her throat. "Can I take your coat?" Adora smiles and begins shrugging off her coat before she hands it thankfully to Catra who takes it and hangs it on the nearby hooks. Adora, under her thick jacket, was wearing a christmas jumper, because of course she was, and it was just about the ugliest thing Catra has ever seen, but, according to Adora, it's ‘tradition’ and every year she breaks out the most hideous fashion crimes, sweaters Catra has never seen, the fact that Adora was in an ugly sweater and a pair of jeans, which were tucked into her boots, and Catra was in dungarees with a red turtleneck, her hair down in all its curly glory, speaking of which, she really needed to sort that out, said a lot. 

"Wow, this place is exactly the same." Adora marvels and Catra chuckles. 

"Of course it is." Catra leads Adora into the living room, ready to decorate the tree. Adora crosses over to the tree almost immediately and Catra grimaces, suddenly remembering what she'd done the other night in her depression over missing Adora. 

"Hey," Adora was grinning, gesturing to the tree. "you still have this?" Adora asks and Catra rolls her eyes. 

"You know my moms, they keep everything I make, no matter how terrible it is." Catra replies, following the blonde further into the living room. She swears Adora had grown a little, she seemed taller, definitely more filled out, definitely, Catra knew she was fit, stupid good looking jock. 

"Pfft, speak for yourself,' Adora says, still grinning and the sight warms Catra's heart - it really does. "this is my masterpiece." Catra snorts and shoves her shoulder. She couldn't deny Adora was wrong, the blonde wasn’t exactly the best artist, but, still, a bauble painting from 1st grade? Surely Adora's stick-men had improved? 

"I get them wanting to keep a part of you around." The comment catches Catra off guard, she hadn't quite expected Adora to say that if she was honest, she keeps catching her off guard, but Adora seemed surprised herself by the comment. "I mean... you're an only child, it makes sense that they'd want to keep your stuff." 

"I suppose." Catra swallows the sudden feelings she feels clog her throat. 

"Do my eyes deceive me or is that Adora?" The girls whip around to see Catra's mom, Luna, standing in the doorway of the living room and dining room, grin plastered on her face in soft amazement. 

"Luna!" Adora says, heading towards her and wrapping her in a tight hug. Catra rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. Her moms always loved Adora, she had the best manners apparently. 

"My, my, you have grown into a beautiful young lady Adora, don't you think Catra?" Her mom raises her eyebrows, glancing over Adora's shoulder, and Catra's cheeks turn impossibly red, she's glad Adora is looking away from her. 

"Uh, sure..." Catra says nervously and Adora turns to face her childhood friend. 

"Catra too." Adora says and Luna chuckles, especially when her daughter glares at her. Honestly, she could be a little more subtle about it.  

"Well, you're very much welcome back." Luna says, pinching Adora's cheek, and the blonde smiles so wide Catra worries her face might get stuck that way. She stares at them, Adora jumping into a story about college and she smiles, it's a painfully familiar scene, her mom always loved Adora, and she knew how Catra really felt about the blonde. "I'll let you girls get to it," Luna says softly, cupping Adora's chin affectionately, before Catra comes over to them and she kisses Catra on the forehead and Catra rolls her eyes but smiles nevertheless. "you have your work cut out for you, and I have the job of keeping you supplied with snacks." 

"Oh, you really don't have to do that..." Adora says nervously, rubbing the back of her neck with a nervous chuckle. 

"Please Adora, I would be honoured, plus," Luna narrows her eyes at Catra. "I don't think Catra's been eating right at college, she looks so skinny." 

"Mom!" Catra protests. Her mom simply winks at her before disappearing into the kitchen again. Catra sighs, before grabbing Adora's sleeve, she drags her towards the tree, ignoring that when she glances over her shoulder Adora had this kind of sparkly eyed look on her face. Catra releases her when she reaches the tree and grabs the tinsel from the box and then she does something, she has no idea why she does it, what posses her, but she loops the tinsel around Adora's neck and drags her towards her. The blonde stumbles a little and then they're practically touching, Catra had her hands in the tinsel but the fabric of Adora's jumper grazes her own shirt and she's so close Catra could just… she holds Adora's gaze, which is wide with surprise, and they kind of just stand there, breathing heavily, and then Catra catches herself and laughs, releasing the blonde and handing her the tinsel. 

"Start at the top Adora and work down." Catra says, turning her back on the blonde. She gathers herself, taking a deep breath to try and steady herself. She hears Adora chuckle and turns back to her, Adora seems to have gathered herself too, though she still has slight rosy cheeks. 

"Yes ma'am," Adora responds with a salute and Catra giggles at her - what a dork. "I know it's because you're so tiny you can't reach." 

"I can too reach!" Catra protests. Adora just hums to which Catra huffs. She watches Adora begin to wind the tinsel around the tree, giving it that splash of colour it needed, Adora does it so specifically (though she struggled to wind the tinsel around the back of the tree) which is just like her, she always has to do things perfectly, good for decorating trees and making them look pretty, not so good for life. Catra had always been the one to get Adora to loosen up and it seemed she really needed that again. So Catra decides some light teasing would help loosen the blonde up. 

"Adora," Catra calls and the blonde hums in question, though she stays concentrated on the tree. "do you have a girlfriend?" That wasn't teasing! Catra! Catra feels like an idiot for asking that so boldly but even when Adora almost trips over, despite her being stood still, and turns to look at her Catra keeps her cool, watching her observantly. 

"W-what?" Adora asks before she frowns. "No, why?" Catra shrugs. 

"Just curious." Catra responds. Just curious?! You're an idiot Catra. Adora pauses her tinselling and looks at Catra, before the ground, before Catra again, and Catra knows she wants to ask something too. 

"What about you?" Adora asks curiously. 

"What about me?" Catra asks and maybe she was distracted by Adora slightly that she didn't quite catch what she meant, sue her. 

"Do you have a... a girlfriend?" Adora questions. Her eyes are full of curiosity and something else Catra can't quite place. She holds that gaze for a while before she looks away. 

"No," Catra answers. "I'm far too busy for that." Catra is fighting a blush. That look. What was that? 

"Ha! Right." Adora says and she looks a little disappointed? Maybe. But that's weird why would she be disappointed Catra was single? Or was it that she said she was too busy to have a girlfriend? That was a joke. Adora knew that surely. Adora returns to her tree decorating and Catra sighs. She'd have to try harder to get the blonde to loosen up. 

She peeks into the decorations box before digging into it, she knows it's in here, she just has to find it in the sea of baubles. She finds it right at the bottom and drags it out, Adora turns when she hears the loud rustling. "What are you..." Adora trails off when she sees what's in Catra's hands. 

"I bet it still fits." Catra says with a smirk. Adora narrows her eyes but she doesn’t protest as Catra steps closer. "Okay, this has to come out." Catra says tugging on the blonde’s hair tie. Adora doesn't protest, she just allows Catra to do whatever she wants and that, for some reason, puts a knot in Catra's stomach. 

Catra removes the hair tie and runs her hands through Adora's golden tresses, it's a lot thinner than Catra's hair but its deliciously silky and easy to run her fingers through. She does that a couple of times before she grabs the Santa hat and pulls it onto Adora's head. The blonde grins and says "How do I look?" She asks. Catra stares for longer than she probably should before she turns her back on the blonde and mumbles. 

"Cute." Catra looks over her shoulder to see if Adora heard that and if the pink of her cheeks was anything to go by the likelihood was she had. Adora then bends down and grabs something from the box herself and says. 

"I bet this still fit you." 

"Oh no, absolutely not." Catra deadpans, very seriously, but that doesn’t deter Adora, she closes in and places the headpiece on her despite Catra’s attempts to not let her. Adora steps back and grins, placing her hands on her hips and Catra grumbles. She feels dumb. "Really Adora? Reindeer antlers?" Catra asks and Adora laughs. 

"You look cute." Adora says and Catra blushes at the compliment. She grumbles again, to show her dissatisfaction at being saddled with the antlers, but Adora is smiling so widely that Catra doesn’t have the heart to take them off. Instead, she turns her attention to the baubles. She begins picking them out and Adora joins her, smiling softly. "I'll get the top, you know, since you can't reach." 

"Adora, I will personally remove your kneecaps if you keep talking shit about my height." Catra threatens and Adora laughs, like fully laughs, she keels over and puts a hand to her stomach and everything, all Catra can do is laugh too because hearing Adora laugh like that was kind of amazing. 

They begin decorating in easy back and forth between one another, despite Catra's protest Adora does decorate the top of the tree, her mom comes in at some point and hands them eggnog that definitely has brandy in it, the very bottle Adora gifted Catra that night in the grocery store, and there's faint christmas music floating in from the kitchen as they work. Every time their eggnog is empty it refills itself, if Catra didn't know any better she'd even say that her mom was trying to get her drunk, even so, Adora certainly seemed more relaxed, not quite as tense, and they were having fun decorating the tree, it was nice to do something so familiar with a familiar person. 

They were down to the last bauble, and sitting down at the base of the tree, and Catra smirks seeing the last bauble in the box. She pulls it out and holds it up to Adora who groans as soon as she sees it. "Please, that's a totally gross photo of me." Adora says. "I don't know why you kept it." 

"You look adorable." Catra says dismissively. "I mean, the bangs really do it for me." 

" Catra !" Adora huffs, she swings for the bauble but Catra moves it away at the last second. Catra cackles, she'd made the bauble years ago as a gag gift, it was a picture of Adora's botched bang cutting session they'd had at ten years old, where Catra had cut Adora's bangs horrifically, because that's what you do when you're ten years old: you make impulsive decisions and then act on those decisions with your already extremely impulsive best friend. 

Adora had cried at the bangs, and then they'd laughed hysterically, after that Catra had tied them back and thus Adora's hair poof was born. "I look awful, I can't believe you made it into a bauble." Adora pouts and it's the cutest thing Catra has ever seen. "You are so not hanging that up this year." Adora deadpans and Catra bursts out laughing. Serious Adora doesn’t suit her. Adora starts smiling wider herself and Catra holds it up again. 

"Yes I am, it’s tradition , the tree just wouldn't be the same without it." Adora narrows her eyes, looking between Catra and the bauble.

"Gimme!" Adora surges forward to capture the bauble but Catra moves her hand too quick. Before Catra knows what's happening Adora is tackling her to the floor, both of them laughing hysterically, eggnog abandoned but definitely empty, Catra felt warm and she wasn't sure if it was the brandy or if it was just the mere presence of Adora and having her so close. 

Catra laughs hysterically as Adora grabs the bauble and lets out a sound of success and then it dawns on her that they're very close and Adora is technically pinning her to the ground. Their breaths catch and their eyes connect and Catra suddenly feels very breathless. "Um," Adora says and she sounds so nervous. Catra reaches up, straightening the Santa hat atop Adora's head, her hand absently trailing down her jaw. 

"Hey kids," Adora springs up suddenly which would have been hilarious if Catra also hadn't panicked hearing her mom address them and come into the living room, because something about that moment hadn't been innocent it had been charged and heated with... something . Maybe Catra was wrong. Maybe she couldn't handle being around Adora again. She was terrified of falling for her best friend yet again, she wasn't strong enough for unrequited love at this stage in her life. 

"I brought cookies." Luna says, she looks between the pair and Catra's sure they probably both look flushed but Catra ignores her mother’s questioning gaze and gets to her feet to steal a cookie, Adora takes one with thanks too. Then Catra turns her attention back to the tree, it looked good, and well decorated, but there was something missing. 

"I always put the topper on." Catra says. 

"Can you reach?" Adora asks and Catra scowls at her, though she's not sure she can look very threatening in a pair of antlers and a Christmas tree cookie in her hand. She walks over to the tree, plucks the star from the box and stands in front of it. Okay, maybe it was slightly taller than she was expecting, and then she gets a great idea in her head. 

She turns to Adora who was watching her closely and the blonde raises a brow. "Mind giving me a hand?" Catra asks and Adora steps towards her. 

"Sure." Adora says, dusting her hands of cookie crumbs. Luna had retreated to the kitchen, well, kind of, Catra could see she was nearby, spying on them. 

"Great, get on the floor." Catra demands, Adora stops in her steps. 

"Wh... what?" Adora asks and Catra ignores her, pushing her shoulders and Adora drops without resistance. Catra circles around her and takes a deep breath before thinking fuck it . She climbs onto Adora's shoulders, so she's sitting, and then she wraps her arms around Adora's neck. 

"If you drop me, I will kill you." Catra threatens. 

Adora only laughs as she stands to her full height, carrying Catra on her shoulders. She was far too tall now, she could easily reach the top of the tree, but she was kind of enjoying herself, she'd always known Adora was strong but knowing and actually feeling her muscles were completely different things. 

Adora carries Catra to tree easily and Catra deposits the star atop it just as easily. Adora steps back and they admire their handy work. The star really tied the whole thing together. Adora lowers herself down and Catra hops off her shoulders. "Not bad." Catra says, gesturing to the tree. She turns to look at Adora who wasn't looking at the tree, she was staring at Catra for god knows what reason. 

"Yeah," Adora says and her voice is thick for some reason but she presses on. "we make a pretty good team." Catra bumps her shoulder against Adora's. 

"Yeah," Catra says, grin spreading across her face, she examines the tree again. "we do." They shuffle closer and Catra feels Adora's hand beside her own and before she knows what she's really doing she connects their pinky fingers together. They stand like that for a while before settling back on the couch. Adora spends hours over Catra's that day and Catra finds she never wants her to leave.

//

"Mama! What are you doing? Adora will be here any second." Catra grumbles as her mother fusses over her yet again, fixing her hair and kissing her on the cheek that makes her blush. Catra had convinced Adora to join her on her annual day of giving, at least, that’s what they'd called it back when they had done it in high school, often she carried it out with her moms, and Adora had tagged along, but now they were older Catra had organised one for herself, though her mom had helped make the cookies and other baked goods because, Catra admits, she's not that good at baking - that's a mother's forte. 

"You look so cute." Her mother fusses and Catra wafts her hovering hands away while rolling her eyes. She steps around her mom to look at herself in the mirror. She’d gone and gotten herself a haircut, and she'd gotten it cut pretty short, it was still wild and curly but now it just touched her neck rather than being half way down her back, she liked it and there’s always something refreshing about getting a new haircut. 

Catra sighs and makes little fixes to her hair before she wipes the lipstick mark off of her face that her mom had left. When she turns around she sees her mom examining her with a certain look, a look that Catra knows but she wishes she didn’t. "What?" Catra asks defensively. 

"You and Adora have been spending a lot of time together." Her mom comments and Catra feels her cheeks beginning to warm at the accusation. It was true, they'd spent a considerable amount of time together, and when they weren't together they almost always texted one another. It felt like old times. Which Catra still wasn’t sure was a good thing considering her feelings, and how confused this whole situation made her feel, but she was glad to have Adora back anyway. Part of her resigned herself that if she was going to pine for Adora the rest of her life, that would be fine, because having some of Adora was a hell of a lot better than having none of her. 

"We're friends, friends hang out." Catra says shrugging her shoulders. Her mom simply hums which only serves to piss Catra off if she's honest. She ignores her mother and instead checks her phone, Adora should be arriving any minute. As if on cue, the doorbell rings and Catra hurries to answer it, ignoring her mother's following gaze. She opens the door and pulls Adora in by the wrist, purposely, so they wouldn't be caught under the mistletoe and also because they were running behind schedule. 

"Hey- whoa!" Adora stumbles through the door tugged by Catra and Catra laughs at her. 

The blonde shuts the door and then turns to Catra again, then something peculiar happens. Adora appears to freeze. Her eyes go wide and her mouth falls open a little and Catra frowns in confusion. "You okay there Princess?" Catra asks and Adora stares for one more moment before she shakes her head and clears her throat. Catra narrows her eyes when she sees the blonde is quite noticeably flushed - probably from the cold outside. 

"Uh, y-yeah, I just," Adora pauses, rubbing the back of her neck, before she gives Catra a shy smile. "you got a haircut." 

"I did." Catra responds and she smirks. Why was Adora being so weird all of a sudden? Catra had had short hair before, she'd gone through a whole phase back in high school, and yet she's never seen Adora react this way, it was very... interesting . "Do you not like it?" Catra asks. 

"No!" Adora yelps and Catra raises an eyebrow. "I mean yes! Yes I like it, I like yo- you look... wow." Adora says and she's so flustered Catra decides to take pity on her. 

"Whatever weirdo, I have something for you." Catra hears her breathe a sigh of relief and she smiles to herself where Adora can't see her. Catra goes into the living room to see her mom standing by the door frame of the living room and dining room, a cup of tea in her hands as she smiles at the pair. Catra narrows her eyes at her mother, Adora is oblivious but she can see that her mom has that look. 

"Adora, sweetie, lovely to see you again." She greets sweetly and Catra ignores her, pulling the package she got for Adora out. 

"It’s great to see you too Luna." Adora greets back and Catra rolls her eyes. Adora has always been a people pleaser, she shouldn't even be surprised at this rate. 

"Go change into this." Catra says, shoving the package into Adora's hands. The blonde seems surprised but she doesn’t protest, she simply excuses herself and heads towards the bathroom. Catra watches her go before she whirls on her mom. "Will you stop it?" Catra asks in distraction, her mom just shrugs. 

"I don't know what you mean." She responds. 

"Lovely to see you again," Catra mimicked in a poor likeness to her mom, Luna simply chuckles. "I already told you we're just friends." 

"I never said you weren't." Luna points out and Catra falters because she's right, of course she's right, maybe Catra is projecting a little, but they are just friends really. Catra doesn’t respond, she simply huffs and begins gathering all their supplies by the front door so she could recruit Adora's jock muscles to help carry it all to her car. She hears the bathroom door creak open and a few hesitant steps and Catra turns towards the sound. 

"Catra?" Adora asks and she sounds so unsure. "I look ridiculous." Catra laughs, walking to the bottom of the stairs, she can just make out Adora at the top, she's round the corner slightly, just tucked out of sight. 

"Come on Adora," Catra encourages. "I chose it specifically for you." 

"You chose this specifically for me?" Adora asks, coming around the corner and Catra's breath catches. Adora hadn’t put the full outfit on, oh no, she had the Santa jacket tucked under her arm leaving her in bright red Santa pants with white trim at the bottom, she had red suspenders on and a white tank top that really showed off her muscles, in fact, get rid of the white trim on the trousers and Adora could pass for some sexy firefighter or something, well, also minus the Santa hat sat on her head. 

Catra blinks a couple times at the sight, of all the things she thought she'd find Adora attractive in a Santa suit was not one of them. Adora seems to perceive Catra's staring as a bad sign however. "I should go change, I look horrendous." Adora huffs and Catra leaps up the steps in order to grab Adora and prevent her from changing. 

"No! You look great!" Catra says and Adora turns, looking slightly surprised by Catra's enthusiasm. "Besides, the kids need Santa." Adora huffs, crossing her arms over her chest and Catra definitely doesn't stare at those biceps of hers, okay, maybe she does but can you really blame her? 

"Why me? Why couldn't you do it?" Adora asks. 

"You have more of the build for it." Catra says with a shrug but truthfully it's because she's pretty sure Adora being santa for these kids will be the cutest shit she has ever seen. 

"Are you calling me fat?" Adora asks, though her tone suggests that she’s teasing and Catra smirks, pulling her down the stairs. 

"I wouldn't say fat, just thicker than me." Catra responds playfully and Adora laughs when they reach the base of the stairs, Adora bumps her playfully and Catra stumbles, letting loose a laugh of her own. "Okay muscles, I'm going to need your help putting all this in your car." Catra says gesturing to the pile of supplies by the door. Adora flexes her biceps playfully, though Catra has to force her sight away from them, before she begins picking items up without complaint. 

"Wait here, I'll be right back." Adora says. 

"You know I can help right?" Catra questions but Adora insists that Catra do no such thing. While Adora does that, Catra focuses on getting her own self ready. She was wearing a stupid christmas jumper, about the only time she'd wear one if she was honest, and only because they had to spread such festive cheer where they were going, it could be worse, she could've been the one in the Santa suit. Catra chuckles to herself, remembering Adora in that outfit. 

She grabs her coat and her scarf, zipping it up so she was nice and warm, and she kisses her mom goodbye before she hurries to join Adora who had managed to move all their supplies to the car. Catra smiles and stands on her tip toes slightly to kiss Adora on the cheek in thanks. "My hero." Catra coos and she smirks when she sees Adora turn almost as red as the jacket she was now wearing. 

"Uh, it was n-no problem, really, ha!" Catra rolls her eyes and beckons Adora to follow her with her finger. 

"Come on wifey, we need to go."

"What did you just call me?" Adora questions, following Catra out of the house. Catra freezes in her step. She hears Adora close the door and hop down the steps before Catra turns around to look at her.

"Uh, nothing." This time it was Catra's turn to blush. She hadn't meant to let the nickname slip her lips. She hadn't called Adora that since high school, since... everything. Why did she do that?!

"You called me wifey." Adora responds and she sounds so cocky and, in fact, she has a stupid smug smile on her face and Catra frowns at her in slight annoyance. 

"No I didn’t." Catra denies and Adora's smug smile turns into a smug grin and god why is that so attractive?

"I had no idea our marriage still stood." Adora says, putting a hand on her chest over her heart, giving Catra a shit eating grin. Adora isn't always like this, in fact, more often than not she's the flustered one in their relationship, always, but she has a habit of catching Catra off guard and sometimes it's infuriating.

"Stop it! Don't make me kick your butt." Catra warns, pointing a finger at her and turning to head towards the car. It was getting cold, plus she couldn't look at Adora looking at her like that anymore.

"That's not a very nice thing to say to your wife Catra." Adora sing-songs behind her and Catra balls her hands into fists.

"Ugh! You're insufferable!" Catra storms towards Adora's beat up car and rips the door open. Adora follows a few seconds later, climbing into the driver’s seat. Catra avoids eye contact, silently sulking in her seat, arms crossed over her chest, while Adora starts the car up. As soon as the engine starts Adora cranks the heat up and they wait a couple of minutes in silence. 

Catra stares out the window at the falling snow, it was coming down fast out there, she idly wonders if Adora has snow tires, and hopes she’s a better driver than in high school, she's still not sure how the blonde passed with only a couple of minors but she did, even still, Catra always felt safe around Adora. That hadn't changed. 

"I'm sorry." Catra's broken from her thoughts by Adora's voice and she turns to look at the blonde curiously with a raised brow. "I didn't mean... if I pushed too far, I'm sorry." Adora's blue eyes look a little bluer and Catra sighs, her breath making a cloud in the car, it was getting warmer but, well, like Catra said, she was surprised this thing still worked. 

"You didn't," Catra says softly, leaning closer to the blonde. "I was just... embarrassed I guess." Catra shrugs, looking away. She hates feeling embarrassed, it's one of the worst feelings, and she knows her pride is one of the big flaws in her personality. 

"Why?" Adora questions, nudging Catra with her shoulder. 

"I don’t know Adora I just... did you think it was weird?" Catra asks unsuredly and Adora smiles at her and that smile could brighten any day for Catra, it could make anything, literally anything, better. 

"Not at all, I actually... I liked it, it feels like old times." Adora says and she looks away to adjust herself before she pulls the car away. 

"Yeah," Catra leans her head against the window of the car, her stomach feels tight with something. Like old times, old times when I was in love with you. "it does." 

"So, where to first?" Adora asks. 

"Where we always go," Catra says, glancing at the blonde who had her full concentration on the road. "the fire station."

//

They pull up to the fire station and Catra leaps out of the car after she grabs something from the backseat. Adora watches her for a moment, feeling a smile tug at her lips. She hadn't told Catra just how happy hearing her call her wifey had truly been, they'd always jokingly called one another wife in their youth after their 'wedding' when they were kids. 

Adora opens her door and sighs, she looks ridiculous, she's aware, but at least she's in her own jacket and not the santa one, though the pants really give her away, even when they're tucked into her boots, but it was for Catra, she could never refuse Catra, especially when she smiled at her like that. "Come on slowpoke!" Catra yells and she's smiling again which makes Adora's heart skip. She quickens her step, her feet crunch with the fresh fallen snow before she catches up with the brunette who had already pushed the door open to the station. 

Adora stomps her feet when she enters and pushes her hands into her pockets. The station hadn't changed, it never does every year that they come here, so even a couple of years wouldn’t have made a difference. Stuffed in the corner was a table where certain firefighters were sitting, enjoying some downtime while it was quiet, they had cards in their hands and were joking with one another. 

"Catra!" A voice bellows from across the fire station. A familiar man stands from the table, dropping his cards, a huge grin spreading across his face and Catra breaks out into a run. 

"Joey!" She yells before leaping into the guy’s arms. Catra is so tiny he lifts her easily and Adora smiles at the sight, coming towards the pair who were happily saying hello to one another. You see, Catra kind of has a traumatic past, her moms, they're her moms now but not biologically, she was adopted when she was three, when she was a kid she lost her mom to a fire, apparently she fell asleep with a cigarette still lit, little Catra was in her room, she was rescued by the firemen, Joey was the fireman who picked up a tiny Catra, wrapped in her favourite blanket, and carried her out of her burning house. Catra told Adora all of this when they were younger, she confessed she didn't really remember her mom much, only that she felt warmth at her memory, and Catra never knew her father, she ended up with Luna and Selene pretty quickly, and maybe it’s selfish but Adora's kind of glad Luna and Selene adopted Catra, otherwise she never would have met her, maybe there was something about fate in that thought. 

"It’s so good to see you kid." Joey says, setting Catra down onto her feet, he ruffles her hair and Catra giggles. "And do my eyes deceive me or is that Adora?" Adora steps forward, a polite but nervous smile on her face. He grips Adora's shoulder and laughs. "Wow, Adora, you really filled out, if I'm not careful you'll be taking my job." He jokes and Adora grins. "So, did you bring the goods?" He asks, turning to Catra who hands him the tubbawear. "Godbless Luna's cookies." He says taking the lid off, he stuffs one into his mouth before offering it to the pair who refuse. 

"We can't stay," Catra says. "we were actually on our way to the hospital, but I always come here every year." Catra looks at Adora. Adora gives her a supportive smile and nods, Catra smiles back at her and Adora almost honest to god swoons. She knows already that Catra has her wrapped around her pinky finger, she's known since she saw her again in the grocery store. She never got over Catra, and she can feel those feelings stirring in her all over again. It should terrify her, it is terrifying, but, for once, Adora is willing to give up control, to just let things be, if Catra doesn't feel the same way it's fine, at least she has her back, that's all that matters. 

"Okay," Joey says, placing the cookies on the table, the firefighters sitting there pounce on them and Adora knows how they feel: Luna was an amazing baker. "well, before you go, you have to go down the pole, it’s tradition." Catra rolls her eyes but agrees to it anyway. "You too Adora." Joey says and Adora laughs, nervously following. 

They climb up the steps and Adora peers over the edge. She’s not scared of heights, she’s done this before, but it also seems a lot higher than she remembers. "You okay Princess?" Catra whispers. 

"Yeah it's just," Adora looks over the edge again. "a lot higher than I remember it being." Adora admits. 

"Nothing you can't handle Supergirl." Catra says and Adora chuckles when she feels something warm in her hand. Adora looks down to see Catra was holding her hand, squeezing reassuringly. Adora knows she was only doing it to show support but she hadn't expected it, and it was kind of making Adora more nervous, but also Catra was holding her hand! 

They make it to the top and Joey gestures to the pole with a genuine smile. Catra squeezes Adora's hand again and Adora relaxes a little, she releases a breath she didn’t realise she’d been holding. "Alright, who wants to go first?" Joey asks. Catra looks at Adora curiously, silently asking what Adora preferred, and Adora loved it. Catra cared about her again, she wanted Adora to be comfortable. 

"Catra." Adora answers. Catra narrows her eyes for a moment, holding Adora's gaze, she must find what she's looking for because she releases Adora's hand and heads to the pole. Joey explains how to land and some other safety points but Catra rolls her eyes and brushes him off. She turns to Adora, her hand on the pole, before she winks and then drops. 

Adora steps forward to watch, her heart beats out of her chest watching Catra drop but she sees her land the drop perfectly and a joyful cheer as she lands on the ground. Adora sighs with relief then she realises it's her turn. She steps up to the pole nervously and glances down. Okay Adora. You got this. Catra did it. Of course Catra did it, she's so fearless and brave she's the strongest person Adora knows, she's not even slightly surprised that Catra managed to do this with so much ease. 

"Come on Adora," Joey says with an encouraging smile. "your girl is waiting for you." My girl? Adora frowns, her eyebrows knit together in confusion as she looks at the firefighter who just gives her a knowing look. 

"Who? Catra?" Adora asks before she lets out a very nervous and unconvincing laugh. "Pffft, no, Catra isn't... we aren't... she's not my girl." Joey just gives her a look that says come on and Adora huffs. Was her crush that obvious? She knows she has a tendency to stare but... if it was so obvious why didn't Catra seem to notice? 

"Just remember to bend your knees as you land and you'll be fine." He reassures and Adora glances down again. 

"Go Adora! You got this!" Catra yells from the bottom and Adora feels herself pick up almost instantly. She grips the pole, looks at Catra one last time and then descends. It's quite fast, gravity is like that, so much so that Adora doesn't land quite as gracefully as Catra, in fact, she almost falls on her ass, but Catra catches her and keeps her upright. Adora's eyes widen when she's practically inches off of Catra’s face and her hands on her waist feel hot even though the thick layer of her jacket. Catra lingers and Adora swears... she swears that her mismatched eyes, beautiful as they are, flicker to her lips, even if only for a moment, and then Catra steps back. 

"Thanks." Adora says gratefully. 

"Don't mention it." Catra responds dismissively and she goes quiet, like she had in the car. Adora doesn’t get it, she doesn’t understand what it is that she does to set that off but, again, having some of Catra is better than none. Maybe Adora was obvious, maybe Catra knew about her crush and she was just trying to set up boundaries between them, to tell Adora she wasn't interested but in a polite way. Adora's heart aches in her chest. She knows Catra probably doesn’t like her in that way but she can't lose Catra again, she physically couldn't. 

Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of boots hitting the mat and she turns to see Joey smiling at them. He says his goodbyes to them, hugging them and then they're exiting the station back out into the cold. Adora wonders if things will ever be okay between them, if Adora will ever move on from Catra, if that's what Catra wants, but she knows, deep down, that she will always love Catra. Always.

//

After their diversion of visiting the fire station they head straight to the hospital. They exit the car and Catra comes around to Adora. “Okay, so,” Catra unzips Adora’s red jacket and grabs the Santa jacket from the back seat. She wraps the jacket around Adora and then pulls it up before fastening the belt, Adora doesn’t know why that’s so attractive to her, being dressed by Catra, but it is. Adora feels ridiculous but she’s willing to do this for Catra, anything for Catra. “now you look the part, and you and your super strong muscles can surely handle this.” Catra pulls a sack out of the back of the car, handing it to Adora who takes it. The thing wasn’t that heavy, or maybe it was and Adora just didn’t notice. 

They begin walking towards the building, Catra leading. Adora always hated hospitals, they were so full of sadness, and the smell of sanitizer was almost unbearable, but Adora knew this was for a good cause and she knew it was important to Catra. She knows Catra has a reputation for being harsh and cold but Adora knows that could not be further from the truth. Catra is a huge softie at heart, she always has been. 

Catra explains their presence and a friendly receptionist gives them visitor badges and shows them the way to the children’s ward. As soon as they get onto the ward they’re swarmed by children who had clearly been told people were coming to visit them. Adora bends down and opens the sack, she starts distributing gifts, which Catra’s moms had packed and wrapped, to the different kids while Catra smiles fondly at the scene. “You’re not Santa.” One of the kids points out and Adora stumbles. She looks at Catra who only smirks, she’s no help. Catra knows Adora is useless in situations like this and yet she refuses to rescue her from said situation. 

“No I’m not,” Adora confirms. “but Santa entrusted me to give out some presents before Christmas because he heard that all of you had been extremely good this year.” The kid breaks out into a giant smile and tackles Adora in a hug that catches her slightly off guard but it’s impossibly cute. Catra distributes some cookies to the kids before they begin their rounds of gift giving to those who were bed bound and unable to swarm the visitors at the door. It’s a little sad, Adora admits, sick kids is never pleasant but Adora has to remind herself that hospitals are a place of healing and if they could brighten these kids’ days even just a little bit, well, maybe that was worth it. 

They spend hours there, bringing as much joy as they can to these kids’ lives. Towards the end of the day Adora was sitting on a couch in one of the common visiting rooms, surrounded by kids who were cuddling into her, she even had ones in her lap, clinging to her, while Catra sat cross legged on the floor across from her telling the children a story and then something incredible happened. Catra started singing. Catra has the most beautiful singing voice Adora has ever heard. She’s captivated by her voice almost immediately, the sweet tones are like a sirens call and Adora can do little but stare at her in silent amazement, if Catra were a siren Adora would jump willingly overboard to be with her. 

Catra is beautiful inside and out, Adora knew she was in trouble before but she was really, really in trouble now. “Is she your girlfriend?” Adora jumps when one of the kids sitting in her lap whispers that to her. 

“No, no,” Adora whispers back quietly so as to not disturb Catra’s sweet singing. “she’s my best friend.” 

“You were staring at her like how my mommy stares at my dad.” The kid retorts, clearly they were having none of Adora’s excuses. 

“Well,” Adora starts sweating, she doesn’t want this kid to expose her, how bad would that be? She just needs to keep her cool, if she manages to do that i’ll be fine. “I love her very much.” Adora confesses and the kid starts smiling. 

“You should tell her that.” They say and Adora looks away from them to glance at Catra. Hearing Catra sing a sweet lullaby, surrounded by kids, made Adora wonder about the future, about if this scene would ever occur with them older and with their own children. The thought makes her blush furiously. Why was she thinking about that? She looks back at the kid who was examining her very closely. 

“You’re right,” Adora concedes. "I should.” and maybe she should. She never told people in her life that she loved them enough, she wanted Catra to know how much she meant to her but she also didn’t want to lose her. 

They spent a few more hours there before the kids are called for their dinner and Catra and Adora are asked to leave. They take their leave, though not before Adora deposits her Santa hat atop one of the kids’ head and she distributes one last gift to a shy kid that had ventured out only at the end. They leave with an empty sack and the feeling of warmth in their chests at what they just saw. 

As they’re walking down the hallway, Catra says something so out of the blue Adora almost trips over thin air. “You’re good with kids,” She comments. “whoever wife’s you up will be extremely lucky.” Catra glances sideways at the blonde and Adora doesn’t know how to respond to that. Had Catra been thinking what she had been thinking? No, that wasn’t possible. Why would Catra be thinking about that, that’s stupid Adora.  

“T-Thanks.” Adora stutters. “You are too… good with kids… whoever wife’s you up is extremely lucky too.” Adora says and Catra giggles before bumping her shoulder against Adora’s playfully. 

“Hey, you’re my wife, remember?” Catra asks and Adora stops in her tracks. Catra stops just a few steps in front of her, staring at Adora in complete confusion. Catra had no idea how Adora felt. She really had no idea. If she did she wouldn’t have joked about that. 

“How could I forget?” Adora asks, holding Catra’s gaze. It’s a tense moment of them just staring at one another and Adora contemplates the consequences of confessing everything to Catra but she knows she could never do that, not now anyway. 

“Race you to the car?” Catra offers, smirking at Adora with the challenge. Adora grins. 

“You’re on.” they break out into a sprint, receiving yells of annoyance at them, but they don’t care. Catra is fast, she’s always been fast, Adora may be a jock, and she may play football, but Catra’s lean body allows for her to travel at impossible speeds, Adora doesn't know how she does it. 

Catra wins, of course she does. Adora reaches the car breathless and a little sweaty and Catra looks completely unaffected by the sudden race. “Wow Adora, I really thought you were supposed to be an athlete.” Catra teases and Adora groans. Catra had that stupid glint in her eyes, the one she gets when she wins something. Adora was never going to live this down. 

“Shut up.” Adora demands. She strips her Santa jacket form herself, and swaps it for her red jacket, before she slides into the car and began driving them home.  She can’t stop thinking about what that kid said to her. You should tell her that.

I love you?

I love you.

//

By the time they got back to Adora’s the snow was really coming down. Adora was kind of amazed she’d managed to keep the car on the straight and narrow road for as long as she had, at one point she was afraid her old car would break down. She really needed a new car but as a student food was barely within her budget nevermind a new car and, sure, yeah, her parents had a lot of money but Adora didn’t like sponging off of them. Adora exits her car and begins hastily walking towards the house when she notices Catra isn’t following her, in fact… where was she? 

“Catra?” Adora calls, spinning around to face her car. Adora frowns in confusion, where could she have gone? Before Adora can call out again she’s hit by a speeding snowball that hits her on her right bicep. She turns to see Catra smirking, already making another snowball, and a glint of a challenge in her eyes. “Really Catra? What are we? Twelve?” Adora asks. Instead of answering, Catra throws the second snowball she had made which hits Adora right on her chest. “Fine! But you asked for it!” 

“I’m so scared,” Catra mocks. “Don’t hurt me Princess.” Catra teases already making another snowball. Adora manages to dodge that one and makes her own, throwing it directly at Catra, unfortunately for Adora Catra has some kind of superhuman reflexes because she dodges at the last second. 

And so the war of Princess and Wife begins. 

Adora takes cover behind a tree and manages to get Catra good a couple of times but Adora takes it hard, if there was a league for snowball fighting Catra would win by a mile, she was scarily good and her aim was killer. Adora’s cheeks were rosy from the cold and she was sniffling but she wasn’t about to give up. That’s when she hears Catra yell and start running towards her, Adora tries to throw the snowball in her hand but she’s too slow and she’s tackled into the soft snow. 

She lands with a ‘oof’ and Catra on top of her smiling smugly. Adora was definitely going to be soaked through now that she was lying in the snow but also she didn’t much mind. “Do you yield Princess?” Catra asks, grinning so wide at Adora, Adora finds it adorable but also slightly threatening if she’s honest. Definitely sexy. 

“Never.” Adora responds. 

“ Hmph .” Catra says in unamusement before she leans in close to Adora’s face. Adora’s heart all but stops at the close proximity. “You have something right…. There!” When Catra yells ‘there’ Adora feels cold smoosh against her face and it takes her a moment to realise Catra had just shoved a handful of snow directly into her face. 

“Why you…” Adora trails off and instead grabs Catra who yelps and flips their positions so she was now pinning the brunette to the snow instead of being the one pinned. Adora grabs a fistful of snow and is about to return the favour that Catra just did to her when she pauses. Catra looks beautiful against the contrast of the white snow. Her short hair is ruffled from their roughhousing and her cheeks are slightly rosy from the cold too, her jaw is sharp and her eyes sparkle in the dim evening light. 

Adora drops her hand and places them either side of Catra’s head, effectively trapping her in, she leans in close and Catra’s eyes widen. Adora wants to kiss her. Like, really wants to kiss her. She's aware that she’s staring at those lips, she’s not being subtle but she knows she never could and yet Catra is staring right back at her and it looks like her eyes are full of… longing, just like Adora. 

Adora leans closer, she can feel the heat of Catra sinking through her clothes even in this freezing weather, the proximity from Catra is enough to keep Adora feeling like she’s on fire. Before she can do anything however Catra smacks her with yet another fistful of snow, effectively breaking their moment. “Catra!” Adora complains, leaning back she wipes the sleeve of her jacket down her face to get rid of the already melting snow. 

“You snooze you lose Princess.” Catra responds, shrugging her shoulders. “Now I call a truce, I’m freezing.” Catra says wiggling out from under Adora. She begins walking towards Adora’s house and Adora watches her a little dumbfounded. What just happened? Had she really just thought about kissing her best friend? Adora was so fucked. 

//

Adora pads into the living room holding two hot chocolates which were steaming. She looks cute in her leggings that are tucked into her socks and her fluffy sweatshirt, her hair is down from her ponytail and her usual poof is just her bangs in all their wild glory, but she looks beautiful, cute and beautiful. Catra knows for certain now she's made that same mistake; she's fallen in love with her best friend all over again. 

Adora hands a steaming mug to Catra who gratefully takes it in her two hands before she lifts the corner of her blanket, inviting Adora to snuggle up beside her because if she's admitting defeat to her feelings she might as well get a snuggle out of it. Adora doesn't protest, she settles beside Catra, pulling the blanket so it was draped over both of their shoulders, while Catra stares at the fire in thought. They're thoroughly warmed up now after their little snowball fight fiasco but all Catra can think about is that charged moment they'd shared in the snow. Had she imagined that? It kind of seemed like Adora was going to... no, surely not. 

Catra glances sideways at Adora and almost jumps out of her skin when she catches Adora staring. Like really staring. She's not being very subtle. "What is it Princess?" Catra asks and she must catch Adora off guard because she startles suddenly, almost spilling her hot chocolate. Catra smirks, sipping her own drink to hide her amusement and slightly pink cheeks at Adora's staring. 

"I was just thinking." Adora says but she's using her lie voice, the one where she's being honest but not completely. 

"Don't hurt yourself." Catra quips and Adora huffs. 

"I missed you Catra." Adora confesses and Catra's eyes widen. She hadn't expected Adora to say that to her. "I missed you the day you told me to leave." 

"Adora I-" Catra chokes on the emotion bubbling from her chest into her throat. She doesn't know what to say really. She's sorry, she really is, but she needed that space, it had hurt her beyond belief but being rejected by Adora would have hurt her even more. She hadn't been in the right headspace to deal with that, she pushed Adora aside to protect herself, plus she hadn't said things that were necessarily untrue. Harsh realities and truths. But, Adora had been right, they had been fixable... only they weren't because Catra hadn't been able to make the confession she so dearly wanted to make when they were teens. 

Catra sighs and bumps Adora's shoulder with her own. "Well," She looks at Adora who was now staring at the fire, the flames licked at her profile, dousing her in a heavenly orange glow. She's beautiful, Catra thinks. "I'm here now." Adora turns her head and their eyes connect, Adora's blue eyes are a shade darker with something but they're so clearly very Adora. 

"So am I." Adora whispers and Catra smiles. They stay quiet for a few moments, just bathing in the warmth of the fire, and Catra thinks maybe she'll always love Adora but she's okay with that, she's made her peace with it. Catra sips her hot chocolate, Adora makes the best, almost as good as the one at the diner they'd had a few weeks ago, and it's so familiar, they've spent countless winters sitting by this fire, side by side, sipping hot cocoa and talking into the night but something feels different. 

"Hey so," Adora clears her throat and Catra glances at her, she was staring at the fire but her left leg was bouncing telling Catra she was nervous for some reason or another. "it’s kind of late, and you can totally say no and I'll drive you home, of course, but I was thinking... maybe..." Adora trails off, the only sound between them is the crackling of the fire. The blonde takes a deep breath and looks to her right and Catra smiles encouragingly and feels her heart stutter when Adora smiles back. "Would you like to stay the night?" Adora asks. Catra's eyes widen. She hadn't expected Adora to offer her that. Catra sits up a little straighter and she can see Adora's face start to drop and Catra's heart picks up in pace. 

"Sure, I'll stay." Catra responds and Adora's eyes light up. 

"Yeah?" She questions and Catra chuckles leaning closer to the blonde. 

"Yeah." She confirms. Catra feels infinitely warm and it's not just the fire, or the hot coco, it’s Adora. Adora makes her feel infinitely warm, from her toes to her head, just all over. She always has. She always will. Catra sighs with that information and polishes off her hot chocolate before setting it aside. She's tired, it's been a long day, and the snowball fight took it out of her and her feelings took it out of her the most. Fuck it.  

Catra readjusts herself, she casually moves Adora's arm and snuggles under it, making herself right at home, and she's aware she's kind of cuddling Adora against her will, and keeping her there since she locks Adora in her embrace, Adora freezes only for a moment before her frame goes entirely relaxed and her hand comes to thread itself in Catra's short curls and she begins stroking. Catra almost immediately falls asleep from the action but she holds out because she wants to enjoy this moment. She watches the fire for a while, the only sound between them is the crackling of the fire and Adora's soft sipping and breathing. Catra holds out for as long as she can but her eyes are heavy with exhaustion and if she doesn't get to a bed stat she's going to fall asleep in Adora's lap, cuddling the blonde, and that might not be the best idea but she can't keep her eyes open. 

Catra doesn't know when but she drifts off to sleep at some point, between the warmth and Adora's gentle petting she couldn't resist it. She wakes up when she feels herself being moved and she opens her eyes carefully to find she was indeed moving and up the stairs no less. Adora must have scooped her up at some point and was carrying her to bed. Catra was curled into her chest and she didn't want to alert Adora to her sudden alertness because it was kind of nice being carried by Adora and maybe... just maybe, it did something for Catra. 

She hears Adora grunt with effort while trying to open the door and her cheeks heat up hearing the sound. "I got it Miss Muscles." Catra says, though her voice sounds husky, laced with the remnants of her sleep. Adora startles slightly and Catra's eyes widen when she thinks Adora might just drop her but the blonde keeps tight hold. Catra grabs the handle and twists, opening the door, and Adora carries her inside, shutting the door with her foot when they enter. 

Adora settles Catra down onto her feet and Catra examines their surroundings. Adora's room was exactly how Catra remembered it. The walls were the same baby blue of Adora's eyes, her bed was unmade, as always, and she had a number of posters on her walls from her teenage years - one was even a horse because Adora was a total horse girl. Catra chuckles, tracing her hand over the pencil markings of Adora's growth and her own, there was a 'ha!' Next to the height where Adora finally overtook Catra, Catra had been so pissed, she'd grown a lot one summer and was taller than all her peers, little did she know that's as tall as she'd grow, Adora kept up a steady growth and now she was a good four inches taller than Catra, when she finally overtook Catra she'd been so proud of herself and Catra didn't want to grow because she liked how weirdly happy it made Adora to be taller. 

Shoved in the corner was a laundry hamper with some clothes hanging over the edge and on the ground, probably where Adora had thrown her clothes and missed. Adora suddenly brushes past and scoops the clothes up, her cheeks slightly red. "Uh, sorry." Adora mumbles. 

"It’s not like I haven't seen your tighty whities before Adora." That only makes the blonde blush harder. Adora's room was illuminated, barely, by fairy lights hung around it, sitting on her dresser top were numerous trophies that Adora had won, Catra had been to every single event, excluding a couple she must have gotten in their brief separation. Jock stuff, Catra rolls her eyes. 

She circles back to Adora. She stops just short of her, standing at the foot of her bed, facing the blonde. Catra looks up at her, this is familiar and unfamiliar, the way Adora is looking at her is... interesting to say the least. Catra wiggles her toes in the carpet and smiles at Adora before she leaps into the bed, claiming the right side for herself. "Make yourself at home." Adora jokes and Catra sighs, she takes that invitation to heart, snuggling under the duvet and burying her face in the pillow, it smells like Adora. She's surrounded by Adora. The only thing that could make this better is... Adora herself and, as though she can hear Catra's thoughts, the blonde peels her side of the covers back and climbs in. 

It's a little awkward at first, they just stare at each other in the dimly lit room, face to face, but then some invisible wall breaks down and Catra reaches her hand across the distance, pulling Adora's hand to her chest. They used to do this all the time but now it seems oddly... intimate. Catra sighs and she can feel the lull of sleep pulling her back under again, she’s warm in her little cocoon, and she's surrounded by Adora, it's almost impossible for her to not feel relaxed and sleepy. She absentmindedly brings Adora's hand up to her lips and kisses it, she doesn't see Adora's reaction in the dark, and her sleepiness, but she does hear Adora take a sharp breath in before she's pulled back into the waves of sleep.

//

The next morning Adora was on decorating duty or at least helping. Her dad had given her permission to do the outside lights, which he never usually let her do on her own but he said Catra would be the perfect step in for him. Adora was still hung up on last night. Catra had kissed her hand before she fell asleep, Adora knew she probably hadn’t meant to, she was just sleepy, but then she'd woken before Catra too, and they'd moved in the night, gravitated towards one another, like opposite ends of magnets, their legs tangled together and their faces inches from one another. 

Adora admits she didn't pull away immediately, Catra just looked... well, she looked beautiful. She always looks beautiful but there’s something about sleeping that wipes away all worries, all cares, on someone's face that gives them an even more gorgeous expression, especially how curly Catra's short hair had become in her sleep, ruffled by her movements, and Adora had traced her hand down the side of her face and along her jaw so carefully, so light, so as to not wake the brunette, she’d been tempted to lean in and peck her lips but she’d prefer they didn’t share their first kiss with one of them unconscious. 

That's when it hit Adora that she really, really , wanted to kiss Catra. 

She always knew that but she never really considered doing it before, acting on it, but things seemed different now. When Catra made a sound and stirred Adora had immediately distanced herself, turning her back on Catra as she woke from her slumber. She didn't want to tell Catra that she'd been close to kissing her, or that they'd been cuddling in their sleep, she just wanted to pretend like it hadn't happened and now they were here. Adora climbing a ladder up the front of her house, lights slung over her shoulder and a stomach full of her mother's waffles. 

She was aware Catra was watching her like a hawk and she knew this was her chance to maybe impress Catra. Adora hoists herself up onto the roof successfully and turns to look down. She wobbles a little on her feet before gaining her balance and looking at what she had to do. That’s when she hears Catra’s voice. "Adora, please be careful!" Catra yells from the base of the house. Adora turns to see Catra standing at the base of the ladder, her worry pretty clear. 

"Don't even worry about it," Adora says dismissively, waving a hand over her shoulder. Just as she says that she happens to get slightly tangled in Christmas lights and falls flat on her ass on the roof. Adora hears a yelp of panic below but she manages to recover herself quickly and hops back to her feet. "I'm fine! Everything is totally okay!" 

"You're going to die." Catra says covering her eyes with her hand, Adora can make out her blue one peeking out from behind it. Adora grins.

“I’m sure if I fall, you’ll catch me.” Adora says playfully and Catra removes her hands to glare at the blonde.

“That’s not how it works Adora.” Catra deadpans. Adora chuckles before beginning to hang the lights like she had intended to originally. She does it just like her dad does every year, she’d seen him do it plenty of times before so she makes quite quick work of it. She glances, every now and again, down to the ground to see Catra watching her very closely, like her watching closely meant Adora would fall any less. The sight made Adora think about their future, she could just imagine her wife standing at the base of the ladder, their children standing beside her watching Adora hang lights. Adora blushes at the thought. She hadn’t even kissed Catra and now she was thinking about being married to her and having her children… get a grip Adora.  

When Adora is done hanging the lights she begins descending the ladder again. When she reaches the ground she grunts in surprise as Catra grabs hold of her and hugs her ever so tightly. Adora chuckles nervously, wrapping Catra in a tight hug herself. “You are never doing that again.” Catra forbids and all Adora can do is grin. Well, at least she knew Catra cared.

“I did a pretty good job.” Adora defends, examining her work as Catra releases her.

“Yes, you’re perfect wife material, dummy.” Catra responds, rolling her eyes. Adora feels her cheeks warm at the use of the ‘wife’ nickname yet again. Adora decides to roll with it.

“Well, you would know, wife .” Adora teases and she sees Catra actually fully blush. Little did Catra know Adora had been thinking about actually wifing her up while she’d been in a perilous position on the roof. Catra’s saved from responding when her phone chimes in her back pocket. She curses as she turns to Adora with apologetic eyes.

“I have to go, my friends are coming up to visit and I said I’d meet them.” Catra explains. Adora can’t help but feel a small spike of jealousy at the mention of Catra’s other friends. They’d spent so much time together these past few weeks Adora had almost forgotten anyone else outside of Catra existed. 

“Oh,” Adora says. “my friends are coming down soon too, we should totally all get together and do something.” Adora offers and not just because she wanted to meet Catra’s friends, though she really did want to meet them, but she also wanted to continue hanging out with Catra, she didn’t want the brunette to forget about her. Catra narrows her eyes slightly and Adora just smiles back nervously before she shrugs and agrees. 

“Okay dork,” Catra replies. “I’ll see you around, no more climbing up ladders on roofs.” Catra leans in and kisses Adora on her cheek before she takes her leave. Adora puts her hand to her cheek, feeling Catra’s warm lips still there. Yep, she was in trouble. She was definitely in love with her best friend all over again.

//

When the bell rings Adora jogs towards the door, leaving Bow and Glimmer behind in the kitchen who were busy measuring ingredients for their baking session. Adora opens the door and grins widely when she sees Catra standing there, her heart picks up, like it had sprouted wings, she had been so focused on Catra that she hadn’t noticed she was flanked by a purple haired girl and a white haired one. "Catra!" Adora greets, dragging her inside, the brunette yelps as Adora wraps her in a tight hug. "I missed you!" 

"I saw you yesterday." Catra says giggling. She tries to push Adora way but it’s only half-heartedly and Adora squeezes her one last time before stepping back. 

"Yeah, too long ago." Adora says. 

"Whatever you say Princess." Catra teases and Adora feels some kind of way hearing Catra call her Princess but, if the pink of Catra's cheeks were anything to go by, she liked knowing Adora had missed her. "This is uh, these are my friends." Catra says gesturing to them. 

"Oh," Adora says, turning to them, she feels bad she hadn't noticed them sooner. "hey!" 

"This is Scorpia," Catra gestures to the white haired woman and Adora smiles warmly at her. Scorpia seemed to be examining her pretty critically, which was making Adora slightly nervous but then she seems satisfied by something and she steps inside, wide smile on her face. 

"Wow," Adora says, grasping the woman's extended hand and shaking it. "you're tall." 

"Yes I am!' Scorpia says cheerfully and Adora smiles back at her. Catra interrupts their interaction by gesturing to the other girl who waves at them. 

"This is Entrapta." The purple haired girl, Entrapta, steps inside timidly and Adora extends her hand. Her eyes light up and she pulls a swab from somewhere and goes to swipe at Adora's hand but Catra stops her. "Entrapta!" Catra yells. "What did I say about swabbing people without their consent!" 

"Don't... do it?" Entrapta says dejectedly and Catra nods sternly. "Awww." The girl actually pouts and slowly puts her hand down with the swab. "Would you mind if I took a sample?" Entrapta asks Adora and Adora looks at Catra who just shrugs. 

"Uh... sure?" Adora says and the girl, honest to god, squeals while grabbing Adora's wrist, she has a strong grip for such a tiny person, before she swipes Adora's palm with a cotton bud and then snaps it into a test tube before pocketing the tube. Adora just stares, completely dumbfounded, as the girl brushes past her into the kitchen. When Adora looks at Catra she's smiling fondly and Adora frowns. "What is she going to do with that?" Adora asks. 

"Who? 'Trapta? God knows." Catra says. "But if a clone of you appears out of nowhere I wouldn't be surprised." 

"That's..." Adora swallows thickly. "Comforting..." Adora already had a twin, she didn't need another one. 

Catra chuckles and grabs Adora's hand and Adora's eyes snap to their interlocked hands and she blushes furiously at it. She leads her into the kitchen and Adora stares at Catra in amazement, she was so happy she had Catra back. "Adora, hey, and you must be Catra." Bow says cheerfully. Catra drops Adora's hand and Adora tries not to pout too much at that. 

"Catra, this is Bow," Adora gestures to Bow who was wearing an apron, he had a streak of flour on his cheek which Glimmer notices and brushes off with her thumb. "and Glimmer." 

"Arrow and Sparkles, got it." Catra says and Adora frowns. 

"Catra..." She warns who simply just grins. Adora rolls her eyes, Catra always did this, but she was confident that Glimmer and Bow could handle her... probably. Catra removes her coat and grabs a nearby apron but not before Adora gasps at the sight she sees. 

"What? What is it?" Catra questions, looking around for the source of Adora's outburst. 

"You're wearing a christmas jumper." Adora says, tearing up in a dramatic way. Catra rolls her eyes and puts her hands on her hips in a disapproving stance. 

"Well, you said it was tradition..." Catra grumbles and Adora grins. She leans in and kisses Catra on the cheek and she takes satisfaction in seeing the brunette flush. 

"Thank you for joining the ugly Christmas sweater gang." Adora whispers and Catra mumbles something about not making a big deal out of it but all Adora can focus on is her rosy cheeks and smile. 

They begin the Christmas cookie baking, all chatting animatedly between themselves about multiple different topics, every time Adora hears Catra laugh she smiles on instinct, at one point, when they've put all the cookies into their cookie moulds, Adora picks the spoon up and licks it to which Catra demands a try and the blonde literally spoon feeds her. Adora admits they got a good few looks from their friends doing that but she didn’t much care. Something between them had shifted dramatically, ever since Catra had stayed that night things had changed and Adora was still trying to figure out what exactly it was.

Catra and Adora volunteer to clean up while the others retreat back to the living room. The sound of their soft talking drifted through but it was drowned out mostly by the Christmas music that was playing. Adora bends down to peer into the oven to see the cookies were rising already, they’d be done soon and then they could decorate. The blonde stands and turns to see she’s been ambushed by Catra. "What-" Catra grins, her hand extended and Adora knows what she wants but... now? 

Adora smiles and takes her hand, pulling her close. The soft sound of Christmas music playing guides their movements at first, they keep their distance, just dancing, a respectable space between them, but as they grow more comfortable, as always, they gravitate towards one another. Adora places her arms around Catra's waist, resting there, and pulls her close as Catra wraps her arms around her neck, a smile pulls at the corners of her lips and Adora wants to lean in and kiss that smile senseless but she knows she shouldn't, couldn’t, not unless she wanted this moment to end and she never wanted this moment to end. 

They sway to the music, Adora leans closer, as close as she possibly can until their heads rest together and she breathes Catra in, she has an intoxicating earthy smell, a smell of fresh pine and weirdly but a fresh spring morning, of dew on the grass. Adora gasps when Catra presses even closer, they're not so much dancing now as much as they're just holding one another really really close, occasionally moving, and it feels kind of... sensual. 

Adora gulps feeling Catra's nails tickle the back of her neck and her leg brush her inner thigh and Adora suddenly wants to get even closer. "Adora-" Catra says, cutting herself off, and Adora can hear the strain in her voice, like she wants something but she can't quite ask for it, Adora knows the feeling. 

Adora feels a sudden rush of courage, she turns them and pushes Catra against the kitchen counter, moving her hands from the small of Catra's back to grip at her hips and Catra lets out a sweet, sweet, gasp. When Adora glances at her face she sees Catra's eyes are wide but her pupils are blown, her lips slightly parted where the gasp had slipped past, and she's staring at Adora's lips and Adora convinces herself that she might just do it, she has no reason not to, this is the perfect moment to shoot her shot, to be bold, to let Catra know what it is she really wants. Adora leans forward slightly and she watches Catra tilt her head up at an angle perfect for Adora to close the inches between them. The blonde closes her eyes and just before their lips can even brush they startle apart. "Hey guys!" Adora has never jumped so high in her life. 

She stumbles back from Catra, almost slipping on a patch of flour they'd missed, before she whirls around to see Bow standing in the doorway. He looks slightly embarrassed and Adora assumes she probably looks just as bad - she can feel the heat of her cheeks. "What're you doing?" He asks curiously, a glint of excitement - or was it hope? - flashing in his eyes. Adora looks at Catra before Bow again. 

"We were, uh, we were just-" 

"We were cleaning up Arrow." Catra interrupts but that was clearly not what they had been doing. "What do you want?" Catra snaps, she looks annoyed and Adora doesn't know if it's with her or because of the interruption - or maybe it's both. 

"We were about to start putting some decorations up, wanted to know if you guys wanted to join?" Bow says and he's looking at Adora which really isn't helping her nerves right now. "Anyway, you know where to find us." He says backing out of the kitchen slowly like he was trying not to poke the bear, the bear being Catra who looked downright pissed at the moment. Adora kind of wishes she could join Bow. 

She watches him retreat back into the living room and Adora turns to Catra who huffs and turns her back on the blonde. Adora feels her heart drop. Had she overstepped? Was Catra... mad at her? "Catra-" Adora begins but the brunette interrupts her. 

"Let's just... clean up." Catra says and Adora swallows, hard, feeling a thick ball of disappointment and hurt stuck there. 

"Okay..." Adora says and she really wishes she could reach out, grab Catra's face with her hands and tilt her head up and kiss her senseless but the moment passed and Catra seems really annoyed.... maybe she hadn't wanted to do what Adora had thought she wanted to do. Maybe she really didn't feel the same way.

//

After the awkwardness of their separation in the kitchen. Adora removes the cookies from the oven and places them on racks to cool. Despite the fact that Catra had seemed annoyed before she seemed calmer now and she had stayed, leaning against the kitchen counter. She was so pretty, and Adora knew she was in trouble. Once the cookies are all out they proceed, side by side, towards the living room to examine their friends. They were all laughing and joking and Adora smiles at the sight. It was nice to see their two lives blend together so seamlessly. 

That’s when Bow clears his throat and points up with a big grin on his face. Catra and Adora both glance up, already knowing exactly what they were about to find hanging above their heads. Sure enough, dangling from the door frame was mistletoe. Adora looks at Catra with wide eyes who was smirking already. She tugs on Adora's collar and Adora feels suddenly very warm. "It is tradition." Catra says and she sounds almost like she's flirting? Adora grins turning to face Catra better. 

"Yeah," She agrees. "it would be wrong for us to ignore tradition..." Adora wiggles her brows and Catra snorts. 

"You're a dork." She teases. Adora rests her hands on Catra's hips, pulling her closer, and Catra suddenly looks nervous. 

"A dork you're about to kiss." Adora says and she feels a certain amount of satisfaction when she notices Catra flush. No interruptions anymore. This was the perfect opportunity. 

Catra wraps her arms around Adora's neck and pulls her down, standing a little on her tiptoes to meet Adora half way, and Adora eagerly accepts her invitation. Their eyes flutter closed and as soon as their lips meet Adora melts, she knows that maybe the kiss technically only has to be a peck but that's definitely not happening. Kissing Catra is amazing, Adora really wished she'd done it more. 

Catra's hands move from being looped around Adora's neck to her hand cupping the back of her head to pull her further down and Adora responds by pulling Catra closer by her hips, enticing a small moan which drives Adora a little insane if she's honest. They're both flushed, their cheeks rosy and pink with warmth but Adora thinks this just might be the most perfect kiss she's ever had. They're kissing under the mistletoe, both of them in Christmas sweaters, close, no space between them, and Adora has never felt more complete in her life. 

Catra breaks the kiss first, falling down onto the flats of her feet and Adora's eyes blink open slowly at the loss of contact. Catra is tiny. Has she always been this tiny? It’s adorable. Catra goes back to having her arms around Adora's neck and Adora doesn't remove her hands from Catra's waist, she needs that contact, especially given how breathless she felt right now. "Not bad princess." Catra says breaking out into a grin and Adora smiles back, leaning forward so their foreheads were rested together. 

"I, uh..." Adora suddenly feels her courage leave her. Maybe Catra only kissed her because of the mistletoe, maybe she'd been misinterpreting all those signs, maybe she just wanted Catra so badly she was mistaken, but then wasn't the risk worth it? She wanted Catra more than she's ever wanted anything, she needs her, and she can't just let this moment slip her by. 

This is her chance. 

"I hope I'm not overstepping any boundaries," Adora says nervously, her voice a whisper, suddenly she's aware that they're not alone but she's pretty sure Catra is staring at her lips before her eyes flick up and Adora's mouth runs dry at the beauty she sees in her eyes. "I want to do that again." Adora says. 

"What's that Princess?" Catra smirks and Adora huffs, they're practically cuddling and they're so close Adora can lean in and capture Catra's lips all over again if she really wants to and, oh God, she really does want to but she resists. She knows Catra has to be joking. She's totally joking right? 

"I..." Adora swallows. "I want to kiss you, again, and again, and again, if... you'll have me?" Adora was nervous and Catra must sense this because she rubs her thumbs against the back of Adora's neck, causing the blonde to shudder, before Catra leans up and presses a kiss to the corner of Adora's lips. 

"You're such a dork." 

"Catra!" Adora frowns, raising her voice a little, and she blushes knowing that if the others hadn't been looking before they most likely were now. "I'm serious, I... I like you a lot, like-like you." 

"Are we in middle school?" Adora huffs again and steps back, breaking them apart, and Adora goes to walk away when she feels her wrist being gripped and Catra pulling her back again. "Adora, I don't..." She glances at the others in the living room then nods her head towards the porch. Adora glances between them, if she's honest, she knows Catra was teasing her before but now she looks so serious, like that time when she was ten and she put her hands on her hips over a broken vase in her house and put it back together with glue. Her moms still had that vase, they said the cracks gave it character and a story, little did they know Adora had broken the vase, not Catra, and she’d had a break down over it but Catra had collected every shard and put it back together, reassuring Adora every step of the way that it would be okay, holding her hand through it all and taking the blame. 

Adora nods and allows Catra to drag her outside onto the porch out the back. As soon as Adora steps out she feels the bite of the winter climate cut through her sweater and shivers; it was so warm inside and Catra is so small, she must be freezing. 

Adora shoves that thought to one side when Catra turns on her, her mismatched eyes burn with some sort of emotion that Adora can't quite place. "I don't like you Adora." Catra says and she sounds mad. Oh god. Why does she sound mad? Maybe Adora was wrong? Maybe she misread everything and she'd just ruined everything. Adora feels panic seize her heart and suddenly she feels numb and it's not just the biting cold. "You are so... ugh-infuriating!" Catra fumes, pacing back and forth and Adora is so confused. 

"Huh?" She asks, her breath makes a little cloud as she speaks and Catra whirls on her. 

"I don't like you Adora, I've been in love with you since we were kids! You seriously never noticed?" Catra was mad but she was more scared, Adora could see that. 

Adora's mind whirls. In love... with me... since we were kids? " What ?!" Adora explodes. "I've been in love with you since we were kids too!" 

"You could've said something!" Catra yells and Adora frowns. 

"You could've said something too!" Adora defends and they hold one another's gazes for an intense moment before Catra starts laughing, like really laughing, her belly laugh that Adora loves, and there's tears in her eyes and Adora laughs too because they're idiots. They're complete and utter stupid gay disasters. They stop laughing almost simultaneously, their eyes catching one another, and then Adora feels herself move without her permission before she scoops Catra up into a bone crushing hug, spinning them for good measure, while Catra giggles and it’s music to her ears. They love each other. As more than friends! Adora feels like a complete idiot for not noticing sooner, she's sure Catra probably feels something similar. Adora stops spinning them and grins up at Catra who she was holding up with pure excitement. Maybe her confession had ruined their friendship but in the best of ways. 

Sometimes you have to break something in order to start anew. 

Catra was smiling too and she leans down so their lips meet yet again for the second time tonight. This kiss is a lot less graceful than the one they had shared under the mistletoe. That one had been soft, tentative, both of them yearning for one another, but this one was perpetrated by their sheer happiness of finally confessing their feelings and the exhilarating feeling of it all. It's a little sloppy, a lot sloppy actually, teeth are clashed a little, but they don't care, they've waited for this their entire lives, and Adora loves Catra beyond belief and she really, really , loves kissing her. 

Catra leans back, breaking the kiss again and Adora chases after her lips before she opens her eyes. She was still holding Catra up and the brunette grins. This was happening. They just confessed they loved each other, didn't they? What did that mean? Were they dating now? Girlfriends? Adora's thoughts are interrupted by Catra rubbing her thumb over the crease that had formed in her forehead in her silent contemplation and Catra laughs. "We can talk about the particulars later," Catra says before shivering. "but right now I'm freezing." Adora laughs, placing Catra back down onto her feet. 

"Maybe if you didn't insist on wearing those jeans in the middle of the winter." Adora retorts, sticking her finger through one of the rips of  Catra’s jeans and Catra chuckles. 

"You sound like my mother." Catra teases before snatching Adora's hand from her side. "Come on." Catra says, pulling them back into the warm cocoon of the house. They walk through the kitchen, under the mistletoe again, and Catra pauses to press a kiss to Adora's cheek before they continue on to the space on the couch which was free. Catra never lets go of Adora's hand the whole way, instead of sitting side by side, close, pressed up against one another, Catra sits Adora down first before climbing into her lap. 

Adora's cheeks flush, especially when she catches Glimmer's eye, but also she can't bring herself to care, she just wants to be close to Catra so she secures her arms around her waist and pulls her close. Catra smiles, making herself as comfortable as possible. They don't leave each other for the rest of the night. Best Christmas Eve ever.

//  

When it gets late the others begin retiring to their respective rooms, Bow and Glimmer were passed out on the couch, blanket thrown over them, so Adora felt it was best to just leave them there together. Adora shows Scorpia and Entrapta to the guest bedroom and wishes them a goodnight before she hurries to her own room knowing a certain someone was waiting for her. As soon as Adora opens the door and closes it she’s pushed up against it and feels lips meet her own. “ Mmmph !” Adora grunts in surprise but she meets Catra with the same intensity. She’s waited to do this for so long. There's no mistletoe anymore. They have no excuses to be doing this other than that it's something they both want and that they've both been craving for so long. Adora feels like she's on fire, like her desire for Catra is burning her from the inside out and she wants nothing more than to kiss her until her lips are bruised from the effort. 

Catra moans, pulling Adora by the collar towards the bed and Adora follows obediently. She lands on the bed with a grunt and Catra climbs into her lap, kissing her passionately, and Adora’s eyes widen with sudden realisation. Adora pulls away slightly, Catra looks absolutely stunning in the dim lighting of the fairy lights, slightly ruffled from their tussle, and Adora realises that she’s looking at her like that, no one else. Catra is all hers.

"Catra, I... I've never..." Adora trails off awkwardly and Catra pulls back. "I mean, I'd hate to assume anything but it kind of feels like we're heading... somewhere and I... I've never done... that." Catra's eyes widen and suddenly Adora's cheeks burn even more than they had been before. Oh god, that was weird wasn’t it? It's not like Adora had never had the options, she just always thought sex should be between two people who care about each other and she'd never really had girlfriends, none that she'd gotten to that level with anyway, she was kind of emotionally unavailable. 

"Never?" Catra asks and Adora's surprised by the genuine shock she hears in Catra's tone. She shakes her head in response, whispering a small never between the two of them. She's nervous, extremely nervous, Adora is always kind of nervous and anxious, every day of her life, but even more so now. "That's okay Adora," Catra says softly, she pulls away and plants soft comforting kisses to Adora's cheek, then her nose, then her jaw, that Adora shudders from the affection. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I'm perfectly fine cuddling you and giving you plenty of kisses." Catra smiles and Adora's breath hitches. She loves this woman, she really does. 

She's not entirely sure what comes over her, only that she has the urge to kiss that smile breathless. She flips them so Catra lands below her on the bed and she smirks when she sees Catra's wide eyes, she'd clearly caught her off guard. "No, I want..." Adora trails off, examining the picture below her of Catra, hair tousled and fluffy against the white sheets, her skin a delicious tan, always, and her eyes... her eyes really were the most beautiful things Adora had ever seen in her life. 

"What? What do you want?" Catra asks, a little breathless, and Adora lowers herself so their breaths mingle in the space between them. 

"I want you. All of you. Just... can we take it slow?" Adora asks and Catra breaks out into a giant grin and Adora knows it's because she just confessed that she wants her. 

"Slow is good." Catra confirms and Adora smiles closing the tiny space between them in a bruising kiss. "Wait," Catra pulls away and Adora actually whimpers. Her hand is at the hem of Catra's shirt, she's dying for that skin on skin contact, she thinks maybe she has been all her life. Everything about this is too much and not enough all at once. "are you sure?" Catra asks and Adora nods, kissing her neck, she shudders when she hears Catra gasp. 

"Certain." Adora confirms. The night is full of passion, definitely, but also its infinitely full of love too.

//

"Good morning." Catra blinks her eyes open to see a smiling Adora who had her head propped against her hand which was holding her upright, she looked beautiful in the early morning light which hit her skin in a way that made it look like she was glowing and her hair was out and flowing, not pulled back into its tight ponytail. Catra smiles on instinct. She can't help it now. This is who she is. She’s a person who smiles unabashedly at her childhood best friend turned lover, or girlfriend, whatever, Adora made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, something she had thought was impossible. 

"Morning." Catra mumbles, stretching, and then her eyes widen when Adora practically tackles her to the bed. 

"Last night was fun." Adora says, pinning Catra to the bed with her legs and Catra laughs looking up at the blonde who was smiling down at her in all her morning glory. "We should do it again." 

"What? Right now? I'm flattered Princess but your parents might hear no?" Catra teases and Adora instantly blushes. She grumbles, adorably, for a moment in mock annoyance but the smile that crosses her lips give away her true feelings. Catra feels herself smiling too and she places her hands on Adora's hips and rubs her thumbs in soft circles. 

"Was...." Adora trails off nervously and Catra looks at her curiously, encouraging her silently to continue. "Was last night good?" Catra's smile only grows. She can tell Adora is honestly nervous about her response but it had been better than good. Catra leans up and plants a soft kiss to Adora's cheek, lingering for half a second before collapsing back onto the bed. 

"It was perfect." Catra replies and honestly she was still aching a little from the ordeal, she was pretty sure she scratched the hell out of Adora's back too. Adora's nervousness dissolves and she leans down so she’s practically cuddling Catra while simultaneously straddling her. She closes the space between them and kisses Catra softly yet passionately. Catra feels, as cheesy as it sounds, like her heart sprouts wings and soars. The kiss quickly deepens and Catra drinks all of Adora in, even the little moans she does when Catra kisses in just the right way. This felt right. It felt natural. They needed that time apart in order to come back together in this way. Despite their love of each other, if they'd done this senior year it wouldn't have been as natural, they weren't at a place for it to work, they weren't ready, but, now, those two years had allowed them to grow, allowed them to come back together in a much more natural and healthy way. 

Catra moves her hands under Adora's shirt, her hands travelling up the blonde's back, which was impossibly toned, she feels Adora's lips twitch against her own. Things were definitely getting hotter. Before anything could really happen, the sound of the door whooshed open startles Catra and she hears a familiar voice yelling. "It's Christmas!" Without even looking behind her Adora grabs her pillow and throws it in the direction of the voice, Catra doesn't see it hit him but she hears the impact and Adam's soft ‘oof’ at being hit by the pillow. 

She admits, that's kind of sexy of Adora. 

"Get out!" Adora demands. Catra would be embarrassed they had been caught in such a position if she wasn't so distracted by how beautiful Adora looked sitting on her stomach, her blonde hair like a golden crown in the early morning light streaming in through the crack in the curtains. 

"Jeez, sorry for interrupting, you kids have fun." Adam says and Catra hears the door click shut. Adora sighs and lowers herself down to Catra and Catra shivers when Adora's lips trace along her jaw, leaving a trail of soft kisses. 

"I wish we could stay here all day but I think my mom would kill me." Adora whispers and Catra chuckles. 

"We should go see my moms at some point, they'll be happy to see you again." Catra says, wrapping her arms around Adora's neck she pulls her onto the mattress so they can cuddle properly. 

"Do you want to tell them?" Adora questions - her blue eyes sparkle so much in the morning light. 

"Adora," Catra pecks her on the nose. "I think everyone already knows." 

"Not officially." Adora says, a smile spreading across her lips. 

"Dork." Catra responds, shoving her shoulder. Adora falls backwards onto the bed with a laugh and Catra's heart squeezes in her chest. She missed her so much. "Come on, it’s Christmas day, we have a lot to do." Catra says, making to get up, only for her waist to be captured by two strong arms. Catra yelps when she's pulled back down to the bed and she scowls at her lover before deciding she wanted to get revenge.

Adora may be strong, and a total jock, but Catra's fast and she can be strong when she wants to be. She flips Adora and climbs on top of her, this time she straddles Adora, instead of the other way around, and she pins her hands above her head. She sees Adora's eyes widen and Catra smirks in satisfaction, she'd caught her off guard. "I'd like nothing more," Catra lowers her face, kissing Adroa's jaw. "than to stay in bed with you all day," Catra moves lower, her mouth landing on Adora's neck and she feels her shiver from the touch and her hot skin, signalling she was flushed. "to do what we did last night again, and again, but," Catra withdraws her mouth, smirking down at Adora whose chest was rising and falling rapidly, her eyes were wide with passion and she had a blush colouring her cheeks. "we have things to do." Catra hops off of her girlfriend, out of reach, and Adora groans, sitting up. 

"Tease." Adora complains. Catra rolls her eyes and begins gathering her clothing that had been scattered around the room last night. "Why don't you borrow something of mine?" Adora asks. Catra turns to her, holding up her jumper that Adora had ripped last night in haste. 

"Yeah, I think I'll have to, I really liked this jumper Adora." Adora blushes, which is adorable, really. 

"Sorry." She apologises. Adora stands from the bed and heads towards her chest of drawers. Catra examines her profile from the back, Adora had thrown a tank top on after last night but peeking out from where the shoulders thinned, leaving her back slightly exposed, Catra could see some very red angry marks. She walks over to her without saying a word and pulls the top down to examine the marks closer. Adora jumps, probably from the suddenness of Catra just appearing, before she relaxes at Catra's touch. 

"I really scratched the hell out of your back." Catra says. She feels a little bad, she knows they have to be at least a little sore. She traces her fingers over them softly then leans in to press a gentle kiss to them. Adora shudders under her mouth and Catra smirks. 

"They're my war wounds." Adora responds, turning around so she was facing Catra. Catra narrows her eyes playfully. 

"Are you saying having sex with me is like going to war?" Catra questions. Adora's eyes widen but she must catch Catra's playfulness because she smiles. 

"I'm not not saying that." Adora responds and Catra laughs. This was a side of Adora many missed, she's a goof, under all those layers of anxiety and performance anxiety. Catra picks up the nearby pillow from the bed and whacks Adora's shoulder. 

"Jerk!" Adora chuckles, accepting the hit, before she leans in and pecks Catra on her cheek. 

"Okay, you choose clothes and I'll take a shower really quick then you can shower." Adora says and Catra rolls her eyes: always the planner. 

"Yeah, you have sex hair." Catra quips and Adora balks. 

"I do not have sex hair!" She protests and Catra laughs. 

"You totally do." 

"Shut up!" Adora grumbles walking towards her bathroom. 

"Hey, Adora," Catra calls and Adora stops in her tracks. "why are we taking separate showers? Shouldn't we conserve water?" Adora trips over her own feet despite the fact that she's standing still and Catra hides her amusement behind her hand. 

"I mean... I... uh... we..." Adora seems to compose herself after that stumble. "We could do that." Her voice comes out strangled and Catra can't help but laugh. 

"Relax Princess," Catra says, walking towards the bathroom, she grabs one of Adora's straps of her tank top. "it's nothing you haven't seen before."

//  

"Mama! We're home!" Adora gets a big stupid grin on her face. 

"I love when you call your mom mama," Adora comments, though her brain was replaying the ‘we're home’ over and over again. Catra rolls her eyes and grabs Adora's hand, dragging her into the hallway. They hear the approach of footsteps and Adora can tell Catra is nervous, even if just a little, so she squeezes her hand and pulls her closer to her. 

"Ah, my favourite two people in the world, don't tell Luna." Selene winks at the two, a broad smile on her face. That's when she seems to notice their interlocked hands. "Oh, you finally figured it out." 

" Mom !" Catra fumes and Adora breaks out into a grin. Really, it’s frustrating, were they really that oblivious to one another? 

"Oh, sorry," Selene says and Luna comes up behind her to peck her wife on the cheek and examine the two standing in the hallway. 

"They finally did it huh?" Luna asks and Adora's grin only grows. Catra, on the other hand, looked down right livid, she had such a deep set frown and the huff she did in annoyance was completely adorable. Adora pulls her closer and wraps her arm around Catra's shoulder and kisses her temple to placate her girlfriend. That still made her giddy. Catra was her girlfriend. Girlfriend ! Catra's moms break out into giant smiles. "Adora," Luna says softly. "you were already part of the family but I guess we can welcome you officially now." The two are suddenly engulfed in a tight hug by the two mothers. Catra struggles against it, complaining and grumbling, before settling into the hug, Adora hugs them back just as tightly. This was happening. This was real. 

When they break apart Adora can't help the massive grin plastered on her face, if she wasn't careful it would get stuck that way. She looked to her left to see Catra staring at her with an intense gaze and Adora blushes at it for some reason. Why was Catra looking at her like that? "What?" Adora questions softly and Catra smiles gently at the blonde. 

"Nothing." She responds before following her moms into the kitchen. Adora watches after her, a little dumbfounded, before jogging to catch up. 

"Are you here for food? I'm afraid we haven't started yet." 

"No mama, I'm here to pick up Adora's gift and her parents invited me to have dinner there." Catra answers her mom and she nods. 

"My parents asked if you wanted to come." Adora says. "I know it's kind of last minute but well we used to... we used to have Christmas dinner together every year." And they had, right up until about two years ago. Luna and Selene exchange glances. 

"We'll come, only if your parents and yourselves come over here tomorrow for dinner." Luna compromises, after all, they'd kind of bought food for today. Adora nods enthusiastically, she knew her parents would have no issues with that, in fact, they'd probably love to. Catra excuses herself to go retrieve the items that she needed before they left, leaving Adora alone with Catra’s moms. “So, I feel we must give you the dreaded mom talk.” Luna says, glancing at Selene. Adora swallows nervously, she hadn’t been expecting this.

“Not to worry Adora, we know you would never do anything to hurt our baby, not purposely anyway.” Selene reassures softly and Adora sighs in relief. She considered Luna and Selene as being her second parents, they’d known Adora since she was a kid, they knew everything about her and she knew everything about them. “I mean, you two took way longer than I would have thought was humanly possible, considering you married one another at five years old.” Adora blushes at that. It had been obvious, apparently, that they’d been in love with one another for years, their entire lives basically. “Still, if you hurt our baby girl we would be severely disappointed in you.” Selene delivers that so deadpan Adora doesn’t know what to do but to laugh nervously. It may not sound like much of a threat but to Adora someone being disappointed in her was about the worst threat to her ever. 

“I… I love Catra.” Adora confesses. “I never want to hurt her, ever.” Selene and Luna glance at one another and smile. They reach across the counter and grab one of Adora’s hands each. 

“We know sweetie,” Luna says softly. “we really are glad you both finally figured it out.”

“No kidding, I was worried it would never happen.” Selene jokes and they all laugh and then Adora realises they’re crying, and she is too, and she doesn’t know why, maybe because this is all she’s ever wanted and she finally has it. She had everything she ever wanted. 

That’s when Catra chooses to return to the kitchen. She freezes in the doorway, seeing her moms crying and Adora though it’s probably clear that it’s happy tears.“What is happening right now?” Catra asks. She places her bag by the doorway and Adora turns from Catra’s moms to Catra. Catra wraps her arms around Adora’s core and Adora instantly feels better, even from that simple touch. She was so happy. Catra gives her a look of concern before she leans back to wipe the tears from Adora’s cheeks with her thumbs and she kisses her softly and lovingly which really doesn’t help Adora from her emotional state. Catra returns to hugging her girlfriend and glares at her moms. 

“Nothing, we were just talking.” Adora says reassuringly while sniffling. She likes that Catra is cuddling her so closely like that, trying to comfort her. 

“So we’re probably gonna head back to Adora’s now,” Catra says, still clinging to Adora, Adora loves that so fucking much. “do you want to come with us?”

“We’ll join you later.” Luna answers and Catra nods before grabbing Adora’s hand. She begins dragging them towards the front door ready to exit and go back to Adora’s house. Adora wonders what it was that she had done to deserve Catra. 

//

After dinner, which had been eventful, Adora admits it had been nice to have everyone back together again, they were now all sitting in the living room, the fire was lit, providing plenty of heat, Christmas music played softly from nearby, Adora had invited everyone over so it was literally everyone she loved in one room. They had exchanged gifts and now the only people left to exchange were Catra and herself. 

Catra grabs her gift and hands it to Adora with a shy smile. It was wrapped perfectly, Adora’s was definitely not as well wrapped. She shouldn’t be surprised, Catra always did everything perfectly. Adora removes the paper carefully, it feels wrong to tear such pretty wrapping and Catra almost certainly knows what Adora is doing because she rolls her eyes at her. She examines the gift, turning it over, she knew it was a frame but she didn’t know what it was framing. 

When she sees what was being framed she gasps, her eyes sparkling with recognition, she had no idea that Catra still had this. Sitting in the frame was their marriage certificate that they’d drawn in crayon at age five. Their writing and spelling was atrocious but Adora absolutely loved it. She couldn’t believe Catra still had this, she had thought Catra probably would have either thrown it out, or that it had been lost to time as so often happens with such items. 

Catra laughs at Adora’s sparkly eyes and sits on the arm of the couch, she pulls a chain from her neck and holds the pendent out for Adora to see, except it's not a pendant, it's one of their plastic rings they’d used in their ‘wedding’. “It doesn’t fit my finger anymore,” Catra says. “but I wanted something to remind me of you and what could be better than our wedding rings.” Adora smiles before she pulls Catra into her lap, hugging her tightly. 

“You’re amazing.” Adora whispers and Catra blushes. 

“It was nothing.” Catra mumbles but Adora just holds her tighter and kisses her on the cheek. Catra grumbles and blushes even harder. Adora grabs her gift and hands it to Catra. She couldn’t believe they’d had pretty much the same idea but Adora totally had to drag that ring out and make it into a necklace just as Catra had. Catra takes the present and smiles. She begins to unwrap a lot less gently than Adora had, but, to be fair, her wrapping wasn’t nearly as well done as Catra’s. 

When she removes the paper she examines the frame for a moment and Adora watches as her eyes light up and become glassy. “Oh my God.” Adora had gotten a picture of them at their wedding when they were five, Catra in her little tux, she looked adorable, and Adora in her burgundy dress, matching, one of their parents had snapped a picture of them pecking one another on the lips, sealing their marriage. 

Catra gets a giant goofy grin on her face and Adora thinks that might just be the best thing she has ever seen. Catra turns to look at Adora and leans in to kiss her on the lips. It surprises Adora but she doesn’t have any protests. The thing that breaks them apart is the sound of someone whimpering. “Bow… are you… crying ?” Glimmer asks in disbelief. The pair look over to see Bow had his hand over his mouth and his eyes were indeed watery. 

“They’re so in love!” He cries. Scorpia wasn’t much better. 

“I’m so happy for you wildcat.” Catra narrows her eyes at them but Adora simply smiles. It was nice knowing that their friends supported their relationship, even if crying over it seemed slightly… excessive. Adora sets Catra to one side and walks up to the mantelpiece and sets the marriage certificate and photo side by side before turning to Catra who was looking at her with such a soft expression that Adora felt her heart ache in her chest. 

She crosses the room and grabs Catra’s hand and drags her towards the porch. They step outside and Adora instantly shivers at the cold but she wanted to talk to Catra without prying eyes and ears, just the two of them. It was snowing and Adora could see flecks of snow landing in Catra’s hair as she settled them at the edge of the porch. “This Christmas has been the best Christmas of my life,” Adora confesses and it couldn’t be more true, what could be better than her finally getting to be with Catra, who she’d been crushing on her entire life. “I want to tell you something.” Adora says and Catra looks at her curiously. Adora steps closer, she brings her hands up to cup Catra’s face in them. “I love you Catra, so much, I never want to lose you again.” Adora whispers. Catra’s lips part in a silent gasp and all Adora can do is think about how much she wants to kiss them. 

“I never want to lose you either Adora,” Catra says quietly. “I love you too.” They both lean in at the same time and their lips meet in a passionate kiss. Adora keeps Catra’s face cupped in her hands, Catra’s lips are incredibly soft, probably the softest thing Adora has ever felt, she wants to be able to kiss Catra forever. It’s like one of those cheesy romcom films, Adora could hear the over dramatic music playing in her head, if this truly was a film they’d have the spinning camera shot and everything, but this isn’t a movie and, as much as Adora can scarcely believe it, this is reality. This is real. Catra is real. They're real. 

They pull away and rest their heads together. Adora smiles to herself, kissing Catra on the nose. “Together. Forever.” And this time it would stick. Little did they know that in the future, sitting beside their crayon coloured marriage certificate would be their actual marriage certificate, and little did they know that a picture of their actual wedding would be beside the one from when they were kids, to be joined by pictures of their families.

Together forever indeed.