Work Text:
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Collaborated art by @smartishbrat on Twitter and @apprentice-s on Tumblr!
Adora stared at her laptop screen and rested her chin in her palm. Something wasn’t sitting right with the layout and she couldn’t figure out what it was. The colors were right, the design was right, the idea was right, but something wasn’t…
perfect
.
She leaned back, letting her head loll backwards and groaned. Briefly, she wondered when Catra was supposed to get there.
Meeting Catra for the first time was kind of hilarious in retrospect; she had worked her usual shift at the animal shelter on the weekend when a girl with an athletic physique and wild brown hair walked in. The bell on the door had chimed, making Adora glance up, but she soon found herself staring at the girl’s heterochromia eyes: one blue, one yellow.
Upon a second glance though, Adora could see that the girl tried to carry herself with confidence, having walked in without saying a word and peeking at the animals in their cages. But the way the mysterious girl stole sideways glances in her direction or rubbed her arms made Adora realize she was nervous to be in there.
Adora had walked around the counter to the cages and tilted her head in the girl’s direction. “Interested in adopting?”
The other girl had bristled at the sudden voice beside her and she whipped her head in Adora’s direction. “Oh! I… I would, but I don’t have my own place. I mean, like, I’m living in a college dorm right now.”
And that had lead to Adora finding out Catra also went to her school and had the same class; she had admitted to the other girl she probably would have noticed her, but Catra had chuckled stating that she only bothered showing up for the exams.
From there, Adora had told Catra about the final project and Catra had asked Adora if they could work together on it. Catra was supposed to show up to Adora’s dorm soon, and Adora was losing her patience working alone.
Her thoughts were interrupted when her phone buzzed on the desk, lighting up with a message from Catra:
[Catra 3:47pm]: im hereeeeee :3
Adora smiled as she slid back the chair to get the door. She walked downstairs to the front of the dorm hall.
Catra squealed when Adora opened the door. “I’m so excited! This is gonna be awesome !”
Adora eyed the plastic bags in her arms. “Wow, you actually came really prepared.” she said.
“Of course ! I’m not as useless as our professor would have you believe you know,” she chirped, poking Adora’s nose.
Adora shook her head and lead her up to her room.
Catra immediately plopped on the bed and spread out the bags. “I wasn’t sure what to get, so I just got everything!” She smiled as she started pulling chipsout of the bags.
Adora quirked an eyebrow at her. “Uh… Catra? Are all of those bags filled with snacks?”
As she set another bag of assorted flavored chips on the bed, she smirked. “No way! I got drinks too!” She pulled out some red cups and two bottles of soda.
“Catra…” Adora groaned as she ran a hand down her face, “you were supposed to get supplies . You know… for the project?”
“I did! We can’t do a group project without something to snack on while we work!”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I never asked you, what was your major anyway?”
“Psychology,” Catra said as she crunched on a potato chip. “It’s really not that hard if you can read people well.” She took another chip and asked with her mouth full, “Yours?”
“Nursing,” she grumbled. “Ugh, I’m going to have to do this alone, aren’t I?”
“What are you talking about?” Catra asked, sitting up. She twisted a cap off of a bottle with a soft hiss. “Here, have some soda, it’ll help you stay awake and focus.”
Adora’s lips twitched briefly but she took the cup and downed it in one go.
“Jeez, and I thought I was bad….”
“Can we at least discuss the project? I already have some ideas for how we can set up the poster board.”
Catra popped another chip in her mouth. “Alright, hit me.”
Adora turned and grabbed her laptop from the desk, sitting on the bed and opening it to show Catra the layout. “I was thinking we could talk about a rainforest biome. I wanted to put facts about the different layers vertically on the board, like this. I think it would really show off what we know visually.”
“Uh huh,” Catra mumbled as she poured herself a cup of soda.
Adora’s eye twitched. “Are you even listening to me?”
“Adora, relax ,” she drawled. Catra shifted closer to Adora and leaned her head on her shoulder, pressing her forehead into the other girl’s neck. “We’ll get it done.”
Feeling heat creep up her neck from where Catra’s face rested, Adora pulled away. “At this rate, you won’t have a project partner when I finish my project.”
“Adora!” Catra squeaked and turned to face her fully. “Come on, I really need help with this one.” She clasped her hands together and looked up at Adora with pleading, wide eyes.
“Fine,” Adora muttered. Upon Catra’s small gasp, she pressed, “But only if you actually do some of the work.”
“Deal!” she said as her eyes lit up. “But can I do the poster part and you work on the notes and organization stuff?”
“That actually works for me. You can take a look at what I was designing on my laptop. I can start organizing the notes on paper.” Adora leaned over and handed Catra the laptop.
She nodded as she looked at the design. “I can start sketching it out on the poster board and figure out where we’ll put the notes in between!” Catra promptly hopped off the bed and took the laptop to the floor. She eyed the poster board on the other side of the room, found herself a pencil, and got to work.
Adora smirked, impressed with Catra’s sudden seriousness but relieved nonetheless. She leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed a snack table, spreading out her notes. She figured she could rewrite the most important points as a larger, bulleted list to glue to the poster.
As Adora leaned over the textbook on the bed beside her, she noticed the way Catra’s eyes narrowed when she thought about where she wanted to place the next part of the design. The canopy of the jungle was actually coming together nicely.
The next moment, Catra turned around to see what Adora was up to. They locked eyes for an instant long enough for Adora’s face to flush and pointedly turn away.
Catra covered her mouth with her hand, a giggle at the back of her throat.
Adora -- still looking down at her notes whilst red -- asked, “What’s so funny?”
Catra only found this more amusing. “You, obviously!” she replied, her voice a little raspy.
Adora felt her stomach knot a little. She decided to pretend not to hear the reply and eyed her notes with a new intensity.
“You’re cute when you’re concentrating,” Catra said.
Adora buried her face further still into her notes.
“I think we need a break,” Catra declared, putting down the pencil audibly and bouncing back onto the bed beside Adora. She scooted herself close enough to lean into Adora and rest her head on the other girl’s shoulder as she watched Adora scratch notes onto the paper.
The concentrating girl in question felt the skin of her thigh and neck heat up from from where Catra touched them.
“Whacha workin’ on?” she said, peering down from Adora’s shoulder.
“I’m trying to find the best way to describe how the sunlight from the emergent layer reaches the floor. It’s hard to explain how it gets through the canopy and understory without just saying ‘it’s the sun….’” Adora trailed off as she realized that Catra had started to twirl a stray strand of Adora’s own hair as she had spoken.
“Mmmhmm,” Catra purred in reply. She nuzzled her face fully into Adora’s neck and shoulder.
Adora stiffened but didn’t pull back. “So I’m trying to figure out how to say that without it sounding stupid.”
“Sure,” Catra mumbled as she wrapped her arms around Adora’s middle.
“Okay, what are you doing?” she asked.
“Is it bothering you?” Catra said, turning the question over to her.
“No, I mean, it’s distracting,” she said in a rush.
Catra pulled back slowly, only enough to run a finger along Adora’s jawline. She kept her eyes trained on Adora’s lips. “Is this distracting?” she whispered.
Adora swallowed but said nothing.
Catra cupped Adora’s face between her hands, running her painted nails along her cheeks. Finally, she looked up at Adora’s face with heavily lidded eyes and a smirk.
Catra waited only a brief moment for Adora to eye her own lips before pulling Adora’s face to hers.
A small squeak of surprise escaped Adora’s mouth as Catra’s lips crashed into hers. It wasn’t long before Adora caught Catra’s lower lip between her own. They briefly bumped noses as they both tilted their heads to get a better angle.
Opening up some more, Adora snuck her hands around Catra’s waist and pulled her body closer, feeling the other girl’s curves pressed against her. The warmth spread between the two of them as Catra deepened the kiss and attempted to nibble at Adora’s lip.
They both pulled back and stared at each other wide-eyed. Only a moment of silence passed -- as they stared at each other’s reddened expressions -- before they both burst into laughter.
“Oh god, I am so sorry! That was so weird,” Catra said, covering her mouth with her hands.
Adora snorted as she flopped on her back onto the mattress. “No! Ha! That was great! I’ve just never done anything like this before!” She wiped a tear from her eye.
Catra immediately leaned over Adora. “Me either!”
It took a minute, but Adora managed to reign in her giggling. “Wait, really?”
“No! What? Did you think I was some kind of--?”
“Nonononono! Not at all! I just figured since we’re already in college and all,” she trailed off.
Catra deadpanned. “Just shut up and kiss me.”
Then, it was Adora’s turn to smirk. She pushed Catra back at the shoulder and onto her pillow. She straddled Catra and pressed her body against her whilst still holding her weight up on her elbow.
Catra’s eyes widened and lips parted, taken aback by the smoothness of the maneuver. To her surprise, however, the other girl instead chose to run her fingers through Catra’s hair and stare straight through her.
“And here I thought you were the talkative one. Cat got your tongue?” Adora whispered.
Catra narrowed her eyes. “ Oh , now you’ve done it, blondie.” She then grabbed Adora by the collar and pulled her down to her lips once again.
The contact was forceful yet soft. It was hungry yet careful. Both were scared. Both were new.
After some time, Catra had nuzzled up to Adora as they both caught their breaths and straightened out their clothes. She giggled a little, her voice hoarse. “That was so much fun. We should do it again sometime,” she added with a smirk.
Adora craned her neck to catch her expression. “That… would be nice, actually.”
Catra pulled back. “ Actually? Harsh!”
Adora giggled again and pulled Catra back into her embrace. “We’ll have to finish the project at some point though.”
“I think it’ll have to be after dinner by now. My treat?” Catra asked, poking Adora’s stomach.
The resultant grumbling made them both chuckle. “It’s a date.”