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“Adoraaaaa!” Glimmer half-whispers, trying to keep her voice down somewhat. Her eyes scan the vast crowd of lingering guests on the Bright Moon palace floor. Most of them have champagne glasses in their hands, socializing peacefully with one another in their ball attire.
“No way! Are these cream puffs? I love cream puffs!” Bow exclaims excitedly from one of the snack tables behind Glimmer, clearly not paying any attention to the girl.
“Bow! You’re. Not. Helping,” she scolds, failing to hold back the annoyance in her voice.
“Hm?” Bow mumbles as he stuffs his mouth full of cream puffs, grabbing them from the table in handfuls. He clearly doesn’t mind getting pastry flakes all over his formal pink cropped-top and bowtie. “Oh. Right, right. Stick to the mission. Got it,” he composes himself, putting them back on the tray and wiping his mouth.
“Why did Catra have to leave us with Adora again? WHYYY?” whines Glimmer dramatically, as if this is the worst scenario in the world.
“Relax, Glimmer. I’m sure Catra’s got it handled. Those two haven’t left each other’s sides since we rescued her from Horde Prime’s ship,” Bow reassures her as he grabs a full glass of champagne from a tray on the table. “Drink?” he holds it out to her with a grin.
“Bow, I want to make a good impression on my dad tonight,” Glimmer declines. She doesn’t acknowledge him with her eyes, still anxiously searching the crowd of people a short distance away. The sound of pleasant chatter and laughter can be heard all around. “This is the first ball that I’ve hosted as Queen and I don’t want him to think I’m an irresponsible leader. Everything needs to go smoothly tonight. Which is why we need to find Adora before she destroys something.”
“Mm... these are so good,” moans a distracted Bow, once again stuffing his face with cream puffs.
Glimmer slaps a hand against her forehead and runs it down her face. “Uggghhh!”
“So how’s life in Bright Moon treating you?” Scorpia asks. “Must be quite an upgrade from the Fright Zone, I’d imagine. I’ve heard this palace even has waterfalls for showers, I mean—” she scoffs, admiring the elegant interior of the ballroom. “Talk about majestic, am I right?”
Catra chuckles softly at that description. “It’s different, that’s for sure.”
“I just wanted to say I think it was really noble what you did for Etheria,” Perfuma chimes in from next to Scorpia, dressed in a bright yellow sun hat and elbow-high gloves. “You and Adora saved the lives of so many, and that’s a debt that cannot be repaid.”
“Well, it was a team effort. We couldn’t have done it without you guys,” Catra shrugs off the compliment. “But uh… let’s just say I’ve been working on myself a lot.” She shoves a hand in the back pocket of her black jumpsuit, staring nervously into her drink.
Scorpia smiles warmly, ecstatic to hear that.
“Well, if you ever need some meditative guidance, my weekly drum circle always has room for one more!” Perfuma suggests excitedly, though it hasn’t been the first time she’s offered. Still, she refuses to give up trying.
Catra smirks, knowing that was going to come up at least once tonight. “One thing at a time, Flowers. I’m still… kinda getting used to all this socializing stuff.” She awkwardly swirls the sparkling drink in her glass before taking a sip, still not understanding why people love the taste of alcohol so much.
As she glances around the vast room of people, Catra still finds it hard to believe how much everything in her life has changed. A part of her still expects people to jump back in fear as soon as they catch sight of her, but so far, no one has reacted to her that way. Everyone seems to be okay with her being here.
“Ah, it’ll be fine,” assures Scorpia. “Everyone knows you helped save Etheria from all that eminent doom and destruction and chaos, you know, after you almost… helped Prime execute his evil plan and did all of that bad stuff before…” her voice trails off awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck.
“Yeah, that’s comforting, Scorpia,” mutters Catra, running a hand through the tufts of her short hair.
“What Scorpia means to say is…” Perfuma’s positive tone jumps in, “That’s all in the past! You’re one of us now.”
Catra can’t help but grin gently at hearing that, even though she already knew it. It still feels good to hear. “I know. I guess I’ve just… never really been seen as a hero before or whatever. Honestly, I don’t know how Adora does it. All this attention is really—"
“There you are!”
The three women nearly jump at the startling sound of Adora’s voice. Before any of them even process it, she has her arm hanging loosely around Catra’s shoulders and is leaning so heavily against her that Catra almost falls over.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Adora plants a firm kiss on the other girl’s cheek, not even noticing how red Catra’s face just became. “Ooh, can I just say… you two look amazing!” She draws her attention to the other two dumb-founded women. “I’m—loving the tie, Scorpia. It’s great. Really suits you.”
“Oh, great. I was just talking about you, Adora,” smirks Catra, folding her arms smugly.
“Oh, really? Nothing… too bad, I hope.” Adora giggles, snorting uncontrollably. “If you… catch. My. Drift.” Adora stumbles once more and Catra instinctively places a hand on her back, convinced the girl might actually fall over.
Heat rises to Catra’s cheeks once more at the inappropriate joke she’s pretty sure Adora just tried to make. Scorpia and Perfuma share an awkward glance, and Catra notices Perfuma trying to hold in her laughter.
“How much have you had to drink?” Catra asks her, attempting to hold her steady by the shoulders.
“Ummm, how much have you had to drink?” She pokes a finger at Catra’s chest, her words slurring. “I know! Not enough.”
“We haven’t even been here that long,” Catra points out. Despite the slight embarrassment, Catra can’t deny that she’s actually kind of amused by the way Adora’s acting right now. She’s never seen her drunk before. Even when she’s intoxicated, her eyes still sparkle.
“Exactly!” Adora exclaims loudly, making Catra jump slightly. “Let me tell you, that’s actually like… enough time to get drunk. Did you know that?”
“I do now,” Catra smirks in amusement, her voice significantly quieter than Adora’s.
“OH! Oh, oh, oh! I forgot to tell you,” Adora leans forward to whisper in Catra’s ear, her arm still slung around the girl’s shoulders. “I may have accidentally knocked over a pot and it broke, but don’t tell Glimmer!”
“What?” blurts Catra in disbelief, although she can’t say she’s exactly surprised anymore.
Adora only continues to giggle at herself, before catching sight of something at the other end of the ballroom. “Ooh, is that fruit punch?!” she asks no one in particular, before bolting off towards the crowd in a flash. “Be right back!”
For a few moments after she’s gone, the three of them only stand there in amazement, the silence stretching between them. Then Catra remembers Adora knocking over a pot and she lets out a nervous chuckle. She points a finger in the direction that Adora ran off to. “I, uh… better go check on her.”
Catra slides out of view before giving them a chance to respond, then her heart suddenly stops in her chest when she doesn’t catch sight of Adora’s blue dress and blonde hair in front of her. How could she have run away that fast? She did seem overly excited about the punch table, but when Catra walks over there, Adora is no where to be found. All she sees are countless Etherian’s standing around and chatting with each other.
Once she realizes that she’s been standing there like an idiot for longer than she should be, Catra continues to excuse herself past the people on the dance floor. It isn’t until now that she realizes how difficult it is to walk in heels and has to stop herself from just taking them off and throwing them across the room.
Just after mumbling an apology for squeezing her way past someone, Catra suddenly feels her arm being pulled and lets out a squeak of surprise.
“Catra!” She finds herself face to face with a panicked Glimmer. “Have you seen Adora?” she asks.
“I thought she was with you!” argues Catra, partially bothered that Glimmer had scared her like that. The four of them were together before, then Catra had caught sight of Scorpia and just walked over to say hi. She didn’t think Adora would run away from Glimmer and Bow. And even if she did, she didn’t think it’d be that big a deal.
“Yeah, well I turned my back for one second and then she was gone. Everyone knows you’re not supposed to leave Adora alone when she’s drunk,” informs Glimmer as if it is the most obvious thing in the world.
“How was I supposed to know that? We never got drunk in the Fright Zone!” defends Catra in an aggressive whisper, trying not to make a scene. “What’s the big deal anyway?”
Glimmer raises her fingers to her temples. “You know what? It’s fine. Everything’s fine.” Her voice raises an octave and Catra didn’t think it could get even higher than it already was. “I don’t care. I’m just gonna… sit back… and be the responsible Queen that I am. If anything happens, I had no part in it,” warns Glimmer with a raised chin, clearly attempting to seem calmer than she actually is.
Knowing that Glimmer is literally the most uptight one out of all of them, Catra scoffs sarcastically at that. “Yeah, okay.” She continues her search, allowing the Queen to stand there with her satisfied, smug grin.
After what feels like an eternity, Catra finally catches sight of Adora by one of the beverage tables. There are a couple people lingering around her, but she isn’t talking to anybody.
Of course she’d be there. It’s littered with cake and alcohol, but she’s really not causing any trouble. All she’s doing is just pouring herself another drink while constantly peering around suspiciously. It isn’t until Adora begins chugging her glass that Catra decides she should probably go over there and stop her. However, she’s only able to take one step before a tall figure steps directly in front of her.
“King Micah! Uh—Your Majesty,” Catra halts in her tracks. She hadn’t been expecting to run into him at this exact moment, standing there with his hands behind his back in all his regal glory.
He laughs pleasantly, and Catra wonders what is so funny. “Please, there’s no need for formalities, Catra. You are one of Glimmer’s best friends after all. You should know I welcome you into this palace with open opens.”
She finds herself at a loss of what to say to that. The timing for this really couldn’t have been worse. “Thank you. I—it’s…”
“I know it can be a bit nerve-wracking being here in front of all these people you’ve never met,” he leans in as if telling a secret, clearly not realizing Catra kind of has somewhere she needs to be, like, now.
Realizing that he’s taken her hesitation as something else, she wants to interrupt him but ultimately thinks better of it.
“Trust me, I know what it’s like. You leave for ten years and come back and suddenly you can hardly remember what it’s like to be in your own home again,” he continues.
“I… can’t even imagine. Sir.” The last thing Catra wants to appear as is rude, especially towards the King of Bright Moon, but while he momentarily releases his gaze from her to observe the room, she can’t resist peeking behind him at Adora in the distance.
Adora trips over her own feet just as a couple casually walks past her, but she attempts to brush it off by flashing them a finger-gun hand motion and an overly sly grin. They give her an odd look but keep walking. It takes everything in Catra not to face-palm right there. Finger-guns? Seriously?
“But it seems like Adora has been helping you fit in just fine,” lectures Micah. “You know, you’re quite lucky to have someone who’s such a… noble and courageous warrior such as Adora.”
While he’s speaking, Adora attempts to grab a slice of cake from the table but ends up dropping it instead. Her lips pressed tightly together, she stares at it on the floor for a few seconds, looks around with wide eyes, then casually brushes it under the table with her foot, whistling to herself.
All Catra can do is stare wide-eyed. How did no one notice that? Oh my god. Adora is such an idiot. She then forces a pained smile at the King’s… accurate description of Adora. “So lucky,” she says.
There aren’t that many people around Adora. The ones that are are too preoccupied with their own conversations to notice her, and it is quite a busy setting, but still. You’d think people would want to pay more attention to She-Ra.
“Anyway, I just wanted to say I hope you’re enjoying the ball,” concludes an oblivious Micah.
Just when Catra didn’t think things could get any worse, all she can do is watch, frozen as Adora accidentally whacks a candlestick on the table with her hand. She jumps to pick it up instantly, but Catra swears she can spot a small yellow flame igniting on the white tablecloth.
Seriously, how is no one seeing this?!
Panicked, Adora looks as if she’s going to run away from the destruction she just caused, then supposedly thinks better of it and grabs a cloth napkin from the table, whacking the flame frantically.
“Oh my god. Is that… Adora?” Scorpia asks, turning the group’s attention to the fumbling girl on the other side of the room.
They all follow the worried woman’s gaze, laying eyes on Adora in the distance who is currently beating up a table with a napkin.
“Did she really just start a fire?” asks Scorpia with amazement, hardly believing her eyes but also not entirely surprised at the same time.
“Oh no. Is she gonna turn into She-Ra again?” asks Mermista in her less than enthusiastic voice, her arms crossed.
“Not this again,” groans Perfuma from their side, before placing a hand over her eyes. “I can’t watch.”
Sea Hawk casually joins in on the huddle and follows the group’s gaze, drink in hand. “Should we do something?”
“I kinda wanna see where this goes,” admits Frosta enthusiastically, clearly enjoying the show.
“Hey, check it out,” Scorpia nudges Perfuma with her elbow, subtly gesturing towards the crowd of people ahead. Perfuma warily peeks through her fingers.
Catra is positioned a distance away, anxiously watching Adora while standing in front of a clueless Micah who has his back turned and looks to be trying to have a conversation with her.
Mermista and Sea Hawk fail to hold in their giggles at the sight of Catra attempting to escape the King.
“Looks like Catra’s got herself preoccupied,” comments Mermista, beyond amused with the chaotic scene unfolding before them.
Frosta rubs her hands together mischievously. “Oh, this is so good.”
“My Glimmer really did organize a spectacular night for us all,” observes Micah proudly.
Catra decides she can’t let this go on any longer. “I’m sorry. Could you excuse me for a moment?” she blurts with the most pleasant tone she can muster, then darts out of Micah’s view before he can even process it.
“Adora!” Catra runs towards the unsuspecting girl, who jumps to face her as soon as she hears Catra’s voice.
With her hands behind her back, Adora quickly tosses her drink over her shoulder to put out the flame, guilt written all over her face. Real subtle.
“Catra! I’ve missed you!” Adora throws her hands in the air theatrically, as if nothing had just happened at all even though Catra is right in front of her and saw everything.
Not buying the innocent façade for a second, Catra drags her away by the hand like a child who doesn’t listen, which actually isn’t too far from the reality of the situation.
“Isn’t this great? We never had parties in the Horde. I ca—can’t believe we never realized what we were missing,” utters Adora as Catra pulls her into a nearby secluded hallway that is separated from the ballroom by large pillars.
Catra folds her arms across her chest, her lips tugged into an amused grin. “Wow, you really didn’t get the memo with the whole ‘keeping it classy’ thing.” Catra is thankful that the noises of the ball have faded away, and the fact that there is no longer anyone around them. She’s still not entirely comfortable with the whole ‘party’ setting yet.
“No, no, it’s okay. No one knows…” Adora’s voice trails off and her eyes appear as if she’s about to fall asleep.
“Adora, I’m pretty sure the entire planet of Etheria knows you’re wasted,” mentions Catra. “You almost burned down Bright Moon just now.”
“Oh, I see why you brought me here…” Adora rests her arms over Catra’s shoulders, leaning into her so much that Catra’s back touches the wall behind her. Naturally, her arms wrap around the blonde girl’s waist, although it’s partially so she doesn’t fall over. “You just n—need to learn how to have fun,” murmurs Adora, lowering her voice significantly.
“Believe it or not, I’m actually having plenty of fun chasing you around everywhere.”
“Drink with me, Catraaaaa…” Adora whines, using that voice that she only uses when she wants something and prefers to be a baby about it.
Catra scrunches up her nose, pretending to think about it. Adora sways in her arms again. “Nah, I’m good. Someone’s gotta make sure you don’t get into any more trouble, don’t you think?”
“I’m not make… making trouble,” defends Adora, even though they both know that’s not true.
“You know Sparkles is gonna kill you, right?” warns Catra, recalling how panicked the Queen had been upon noticing the girl was missing. “Luckily for you, I don’t care so much.”
Adora only hums in response, and Catra wonders if she’s even listening to what she’s saying. “You’re… you’re pretty…” murmurs Adora, pushing her hips even further against her.
“So are you,” responds Catra with a sly grin. Wow. Yeah. This is really entertaining. Despite the smell of alcohol on her breath and the fact that Adora can hardly keep her eyes open right now, she’s still the most beautiful girl Catra has ever seen. She’s also not sure if she’ll ever get used to Adora calling her pretty.
“I’m embarrassing, aren’t I?” the blonde asks.
Catra shrugs, admitting with a smirk, “I don’t know, princess. I kind of like this side of you.”
For a brief moment, Catra thinks that Adora may have actually passed out on her shoulder when she closes the remaining space between them, only to realize that Adora is actually placing lazy kisses along her exposed neck.
Oh god…
Catra has definitely learned over the past month that Adora can be pretty needy when it comes to physical affection, but she can’t say she expected Adora to start kissing her neck in the middle of Glimmer’s celebration ball. Then again, she’s never seen Adora act this way before, and there are a lot of things that have surprised her tonight. She has had a lot to drink.
“Adora…” Catra sighs hesitantly, tilting her head back as Adora pushes her further against the wall. It isn’t that she doesn’t want Adora to kiss her because she does. The last thing she wants to do anymore is push away the one person that she’s wanted for so long. No one can really see them from here but there are still, like, hundreds of people just around the corner. And there’s just something about kissing in public that makes Catra feel a little uneasy.
Adora only continues to peck along her shoulders, her neck, her jaw, and finally her lips. And all Catra can do is let her.
For a moment, Catra forgets where they are and actually begins to lose herself in the feeling of Adora’s warmth against her. For their entire lives, she would’ve done anything to have this every day – that blonde hair, that soft skin, and that blue dress that fits so nicely on her…
So, why is it all still so hard to believe?
“Catra?”
“Hmm?” she mumbles, still lost in her thoughts. When she opens her eyes again, Adora is staring at her with worry, inches away from her face.
The blonde flickers her gaze to the floor insecurely, and Catra immediately hates herself for causing that pained expression on the other girl’s face. “I can stop if you want me to.”
“No. Don’t,” Catra nearly interrupts, her voice remaining soft.
“Catra… I can tell when something’s bothering you,” Adora persists, suddenly seeming to sober up.
“Nothing’s bothering me.”
“Catra…” Her eyebrows are pressed together tightly, pleading. Catra thinks Adora might actually be getting emotional. “Tell me.”
Come on, this is Adora she’s talking to. There would be no use lying to her. Catra sighs softly, kind of wishing they didn’t have to have this conversation. At least, not right now. “It’s just… I still don’t really feel like I fit in here, okay?” she mutters, feeling awful for interrupting that wonderful kiss just so she can bother people with her stupid feelings.
Adora blinks twice. She hadn’t really been expecting to hear that. “Wh—what are you talking about? Everyone loves you.”
Even though Catra thinks that’s a huge overstatement, it should make her feel better, but it doesn’t. Still, she doesn’t blame Adora. It’s her own fault for letting something so insignificant bother her so much.
“That’s the thing. Everyone looks at me like I’m some sort of hero for like… helping save the world or whatever. But I don’t feel like a hero,” she confesses somberly, avoiding Adora’s gaze. They’re supposed to be having a good time tonight, and now Catra feels like all she’s doing is ruining it.
“Hey…” Adora rests her palms on either side of Catra’s face, forcing her to look up. Their eyes speak a thousand words.
She knows it isn’t easy for Catra to express her feelings. It’s gotten a lot better overtime, but there are still so many things that Catra doesn’t want to talk about. Still, ever since they were kids, Adora has been able to read her even better than Catra can read herself.
“You’re my hero,” Adora says. Her lips tug into a warm smile, and that alone is enough to make Catra melt.
She can’t resist mirroring Adora’s smile, heat rising to her cheeks for probably the tenth time that night. Then she remembers all of the strangers’ hands she’s had to shake tonight and the fake smiles she gave that went along with it.
Catra chews on her lip thoughtfully. She wishes that were enough. “It’s just… everything is still really new and… weird. For me. And just being here, I keep getting reminded of all the awful things I did to these people…”
“Hey. Stop that,” Adora interrupts her before she can even think about going on. They’ve talked about this before. Despite the fact that Adora is trying so hard to reassure her right now, Catra still notices the way that Adora’s voice slurs and the fact that she sways a little bit when she speaks. “You—you know we don’t look at you like that anymore.”
Catra notices Adora’s eyes beginning to water, clearly getting upset over the subject. She’s not sure whether the alcohol has something to do with that.
“I know,” Catra presses her forehead against Adora’s, wishing she could make her less upset.
“You’re perfect…” Adora promises, and Catra swears that her heart may have just flown out of her chest.
They stay that way for a moment, and Catra doesn’t realize the way that she can’t stop smirking now, just letting those two words echo in her head over and over. Suddenly they can once again hear the background noise of pleasant laughter and music, remembering where they are again.
“Thank you,” Catra murmurs, her voice hardly audible. Not just for that, but for everything.
After a while, Catra begins to chuckle softly to herself and Adora finally opens her eyes again, confused.
“What’s so funny?” Adora asks, pulling her head back slightly to look at her.
“You did almost set Bright Moon on fire,” she whispers, smiling uncontrollably.
“Shut up!” Adora aggressively shoves her in the arm. She just had to ruin the moment, didn’t she?
Catra only laughs louder, remembering that hilarious image of Adora violently whacking a table with a napkin.
Though, Adora doesn’t get very far away from her before nearly tumbling over. “Whoa,” she holds a hand to her dizzy head.
“Okay, take it easy, princess,” Catra places a steadying hand on her lower back, guiding her back the way they came. “Come on. Let’s get you some water.”
As they exit the shadowed hallway and step into the bright light of the main ballroom again, Catra is still chuckling faintly to herself until a small blue figure darts in front of them and tackles Adora to the ground in half a second.
“I GOT HER!” Frosta shouts triumphantly, scaring the absolute life out of Catra.
“Frosta! What are you doing?!” she shrieks, staring at her girlfriend’s crippled body now lying by her feet. She has to place a hand on her heart to stop it from beating so rapidly.
“Oh, boy,” breathes Bow, jogging towards them and stressfully running a hand through his hair.
“Wuh… what just happened?” Adora croaks, trying to figure out how exactly she ended up on her back, staring up at the ceiling with multiple blurry faces hovering over her.
“FROSTA!” barks Glimmer nearby. “I said whatever you do, do not make a big deal out of—oh, forget it!” she shoots her arms above her head, defeated.
Just when Catra thought things couldn’t get any more chaotic, Sea Hawk races towards the commotion, clutching at least seven mugs of frothing beer to his chest and clearly not caring if any of it spills on the ground. His excited expression falters when he spots Adora wiped out on the floor. “Aww, did I miss it?” he asks, disappointed.
“Don’t worry, everyone! I’ve got it under control!” proclaims Frosta, the small girl still perched atop Adora’s stomach as if she had just downed a dangerous enemy.
Various heads turn to look in their direction. If everyone else at the party wasn’t staring at them before, they definitely are now.
Adora strenuously lifts her head off the ground, staring up at Frosta with half-lidded eyes. “Is… is there supposed to be two of you?” she groans tiredly before dropping her head back down, passing out cold.
Catra slaps her palm against her forehead. Yeah... she really is lucky.