Chapter Text
Perfuma never intended to lie to her friends. It all just happened in a series of reasonable moments of stretching the truth. Like when Adora and Glimmer were planning how to surprise their partners with a double date to celebrate the end of finals season, and pointedly avoided discussing it in front of her, what was she supposed to do? Just let them feel sorry for her? She’d gone on dates, she could’ve had tons of advice for them!
Or when Sea Hawk showed a notable restraint from gushing about Mermista, shortly after Bow had had a whispered conversation with him, featuring not-so-subtle looks toward her. Being the only single person in a group full of couples was just. Not very fun. So she may have… invented a girlfriend.
At first it was just talking about going on dates, so she wouldn’t be so left out when the others talked about theirs. Most of it wasn’t even made up, the dates had happened, just not as recently as she claimed.
Then it went further. Because just going on regular dates with different people felt almost more sad than just being perpetually single and non-dating. So now she was talking about the same made-up girl on her dates. And then they made it official, and she suddenly had a whole nonexistent girlfriend to keep telling them about. And that’s when it really started to go wrong.
“Hey, Perfuma, you’re coming to the graduation party, right?” Adora asked, a wide enthusiastic smile on her face. “Glimmer rented out the whole Waffle House for it, it’s gonna be a real humdinger.”
“Ugh, will you stop that?” Catra cut in before Perfuma even got a chance to answer. “We’re in the twenty twenties, your slang is a century out of date.”
“I will not. Those words really razz my berries. Besides, it’s not me who’s a century out of date, maybe it’s you who’s a century in date.” Catra gave her a bemused look. “Um. Anyways! Perfuma?”
“Oh, uh. Yeah, of course! Wouldn’t want to miss it, big celebration and everything.” She wasn’t really sure why Adora was asking, the date for the party had been set months before, but. Might just be an RSVP thing? But no, of course she couldn’t be that lucky.
“Oh, you know what would be fun?” Bow cut in, almost managing to sound spontaneous, “You know, me and Glimmer will be there, Adora and Catra, I’m not even sure Sea Hawk goes to our school but he’s coming with Mermista – you should bring your girlfriend!”
“That’s a great idea, Bow,” Adora said enthusiastically, somehow managing to sound even less natural. “Don’t you agree, Perfuma?”
“I—um. I’m not sure she’s available? I mean, she can be pretty busy, and, uh. I’m sure she’s got something more important to—"
“More important than her girlfriend’s big graduation party?” Adora interrupted, her surprised displeasure almost comically overstated. Only almost, though, as Perfuma’s mind was still way too focused on trying (and failing) to figure out how to talk her way out of the situation. “That doesn’t sound like the amazing girlfriend we’ve heard you talking about, Perfuma, I mean what could possibly be more important to her than you?”
“I–I— I don’t know, it’s not like I know her schedule I just… It’s not that she’s a bad girlfriend, she’s great! She just—"
That was the moment Catra decided to chime in, sealing her fate. “Aw, Flower Girl, it almost sounds like you don’t want us to meet your mysterious girlfriend. What, are you embarrassed of us?”
Adora gasped, Bow looked absolutely devastated at the suggestion, and Perfuma knew she definitely wasn’t going to get out of this argument.
A half hour went by with Perfuma placating Bow and Adora, assuring them she wasn’t embarrassed of them, she was totally going to bring her fictitious girlfriend, she was super excited for them to meet her, all while Catra sat by with that smug look like she hadn’t just doomed her into mortifying humiliation come graduation day. By the time she was reasonably sure Bow was not going to return to crying, it was all she could do to excuse herself and leave with only a brief glare at Catra.
When she got outside, she sat down heavily against the wall with a sigh. How was she going to get out of this? She had to bring a girlfriend, she didn’t have a girlfriend, if she went alone with some weak excuse for why she couldn’t come they would go back to the assumption she was ashamed of them, and she could not put Bow through that rollercoaster again. Even staging a breakup would look suspicious at best.
“Why did you have to say that, Catra?” she asked into the night air.
“Oh, just felt like you might need the push,” Catra replied, suddenly appearing in the doorway.
Perfuma jumped at the unexpected response, almost hitting her head on the wall. “Wh—Don’t sneak up on me like that!” she yelled, frustration finding its way into her voice.
“Oof, sorry for being light on my feet, I guess.” Catra looked anything but sorry.
“Why are you here?” Perfuma asked, trying to be as firm and definitely-not-panicking-sounding as possible.
“What, can’t I just come out to have a chat with my best pal Flower Girl?” A couple seconds passed, Perfuma not relenting in her glare. “Alright, fine, you got me. I have a proposal.”
“A proposal about what?”
“Your girlfriend.”
“What about her?” Perfuma asked cautiously.
“She doesn’t exist. Right?”
Perfuma’s eyes went wide as saucers, “Um, n–no, she definitely does! Wh–why would I—” She trailed off, faced with Catra’s unimpressed look. “No, you’re right. She doesn’t.”
“Well,” Catra continued, brushing aside Perfuma’s outburst as if nothing had happened, “that’s going to be awkward at the party. Isn’t it?”
Perfuma only nodded, unsure where this was going.
“Well, luckily for you, my friend Scorpia loves parties, she’ll be happy to go with you.” Catra inspected her nails as she paused for a beat, letting her suggestion sink in. “And then once you’ve ‘proven’ to the others your girlfriend really does exist, you can fake break up or whatever, I don’t care.”
“And what do you get out of this plan?” Perfuma asked uncertainly. She wasn’t actually considering this, was she?
“I get to watch you trying to act and avoid detection for a whole night, in an otherwise boring and generic college party,” Catra replied nonchalantly, before turning and walking back into the building. “I’ll text you her number tonight,” she called over her shoulder as the door closed.
Perfuma stayed by the wall for a couple minutes, thinking through Catra’s plan. It was crazy. Right? But then again…it’s not like she had any better ones lined up, if everything went well this Scorpia person would at least get her out of the current situation. Even if it also set the stage for a whole lot more worse situations if it went wrong.
Eventually she got up to leave, sitting still against a wall outside at night was getting cold and she’d be able to think much better at home. As she started to walk away from the building, her phone buzzed with a message.
An embedded contact from Catra, with the caption “your beloved awaits ;)”