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Chapter Text

Adora landed in a heap of trash bags with a groan. Her back, now, as well as her side – ached with a fiery reminder that something was severely wrong there.

Rolling off to the side and onto the grimy street was much harder than it normally would be. All the air had been beaten out of her on impact – she gasped for it, but between the thick, stale smoke of the back-alley and the stench of the garbage, it wasn’t coming to her.

She ripped off her red mask, gulping in air and half-hunching over herself to place a hand to the gushing wound in her side. She probably had to treat that, at some point.

“Well,” Adora whipped round at the sound of another voice, mouth gaping reflexively. At the end of the alleyway, Catra stood, a hand resting on her hip, her lips twisted up into that smirk she was oh-so-familiar with. “Isn’t this a surprise?”

“Catra,” Adora mumbled, taking note of how sluggish her words came out – and how the pain in her side was making her dizzy. “Hey.”

And then she passed out.

“Hey, hey, easy,” were the first words she heard after succumbing to the darkness. Her head throbbed something fierce – like she’d both drank too much alcohol, and hadn’t drank anything in a day. Probably the blood loss, her thoughts supplied.

“I-“ She said, forcing her eyes open, only to squint at the harsh yellow light.

“I said take it easy,” the voice cut, forceful but not mean. “Wow, Adora. You really can’t listen to others, can you?”

“Catra?” Adora lifted a hand to feel for the wound in her side. What was usually taut, rough fabric of her suit was soft cotton under her fingers. “What the…”

“Shush,” Catra said, placing a hand over Adora’s to stop her movement (or at least, Adora assumed that was why; Catra had never been one to enjoy physical touch.) “Shadow Weaver’s asleep, and I don’t want to wake her.”

Adora nodded. “Thirsty,” she whispered.

With a way over-exaggerated rolling of her eyes, Catra reached to the bedside table, picking up a glass of water. “I figured you’d be thirsty,” she said, “with all the open-mouthed snoring you were doing.”

Adora flushed – wishing, not for the first time, she was wearing her mask, so as to hide the blush. “Sorry,” she said, reaching up a hand to grab the water.

“No way,” said Catra, moving the glass just out of Adora’s grip. “You’re shaky, and weak. You’d drop it.”

“So what? You’re just gonna hold it to my lips?”

Catra did just that, tilting Adora’s head forwards and placing the glass at her mouth – her touch far more tender than Adora remembered (not that they’d had physical contact in… years, she supposed.) After a few gulps, Adora pushed slightly at the hand holding the back of her head, and Catra took the glass away.

“Why-“ Adora coughed softly. “Why am I here?”

“Uhm, because I ran into you with a stab wound at midnight? I wasn’t just going to leave Brightmoon’s Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman to bleed out in an alley.”

“How did you even get me up here?” Adora asked.

“With great difficulty.”

Adora pondered those words for a second, falling into silence, save for the few cars driving past outside. “So you know I’m Spiderwoman.”

“I should have known all along,” Catra quipped, the edges of her lips tilting upwards. “You’re the only dork around that wouldn’t come up with a name better than ‘Spiderwoman.’”

“I think it’s a great name!” Adora defended. “Very… to the point.”

“Understatement,” Catra snorted. “Anyway… you should get some sleep.”

Adora frowned. “But I’m in your bed. Where are you going to sleep?”

“On the floor?”

Before Catra could protest, Adora was pushing herself upright, ignoring the burning in her side – much better than earlier, but still pretty damn bad on a scale of 1 to 10. “I’ll go home,” Adora said. “I’m much better now, and-“

“Are you insane?” Catra asked. “Adora! You had a stab wound two hours ago. You woke up ten minutes ago. You are not throwing yourself over rooftops back to whatever hidey-hole you live in.”

“I don’t throw myself,” Adora mumbled. “I swing with webs.”

“Even worse!” Catra groaned. “What if the wound gets worse? Shouldn’t you, I don’t know, stay away from physical exertion?”

“I have super-healing,” Adora said. “Like… fast-healing. I’ll be fine. Besides, I’ve been in worse situations.”

“You’ve been in what?”

Adora sighed, quickly deciding it would be in her best interest to change the subject. “I see your room hasn’t changed.”

Other than the few posters Catra had managed to acquire, the room was stark white walls and cold wooden floors – with a bed and a set of overflowing drawers (that apparently doubled as a desk, from the chair next to it and the many books on top) as its only furniture. Shadow Weaver had always been stingy with money, but it was a whole other thing to see it in person, after all these years.

“Oh, come on,” Catra snorted. “Like you expected her to have gotten any better.”

Adora shrugged. “I try not to think about her,” she said honestly – regretting the words a second after they’d left her mouth, when Catra winced.

“That’s fair,” she said after a few moments, shocking Adora. “If I’d managed to escape, I’d never think about this dump again, either.”

“Come on,” Adora began. “You’re eighteen in a couple months, right? Four? And the day that happens, you’re free. Like we talked about when we were younger, yeah?”

Catra frowned. “Things have changed since we were eleven, Adora.”

“Shadow Weaver’s epic bitchiness hasn’t, though.” Adora said. “I mean – you can’t stay here a day over what you have to. It’s not… right.”

“Yeah.” Catra cleared her throat. “Four months and a day. Then I’m blowing this popsicle stand.”

“Talking of ‘blowing this popsicle stand’… I should go.”

Catra raised an eyebrow. “Adora. You’re not swinging yourself home.”

“Fine, fine! I’ll call Glimmer.”

Adora paused after her words, hands once again moving to her sides. “Uh… can I borrow your phone? Mine’s in that alleyway.”

“And then she gave me my suit back, and I came down the fire escape stairs, and went home,” Adora finished. Besides her stood Bow (totally enraptured with the story, with the over-dramatic facial expressions to match) and Glimmer (heard it all in the interrogation from her parents last night; probably on Instagram. “Now there’s one more person that knows.”

“Do you think she’s gonna, you know…” Bow narrowed his eyes. “Tell everyone you’re Spiderwoman?”

“No,” Adora said as they pulled up to her locker, beginning to put in the code. “It’s a 50/50 whether people would believe her or not – and even if they did, what does she have to gain from outing me?”

“Still,” said Glimmer, putting her phone away. Adora grabbed a textbook. “She shouldn’t be trusted. I mean, you two haven’t spoken in what? Seven years?”

“Six and a quarter,” Adora corrected.

“And yet you still think you know her like the back of your hand?” Glimmer scoffed. “I’ll get Dad to pay someone to watch her.”

“What? No!” Adora closed her locker. “That’s creepy.”

“And perfectly reasonable, considering this stranger knows your secret identity. I mean, what if she tells a bad guy?”

“What if she tells the press?” Bow supplied.

“Come on,” Adora groaned. “Catra’s not like that – I promise. We… we had a bit of a bonding moment, last night. She wouldn’t just out me like that.”

The bell rang over their heads, and quickly the hall was filled with students. “I’ll see her in homeroom, anyway,” said Adora, “so if you’re that worried, I’ll talk to her.”

“Good idea,” Glimmer said. “See you at lunch?”

Adora waved, walking with Bow away from Glimmer. “I mean… I’m not under-reacting, right?” She asked as they fought to get through the crowds.

“I don’t think so,” said Bow, “but I only know Catra from the Academic Decathlon. She doesn’t seem like the type to blab all your secrets.”

“Right?” Adora opened the door to their homeroom, spotting Catra almost immediately.

Catra raised an eyebrow tauntingly, lips twisted up into a perfect ‘I-have-dirt-on-you’ smirk.

Fuck.

When Adora had left Shadow Weaver’s shitty excuse for a foster home at aged 11, she’d had the clothes on her back (bought by Razz, who, although fostering her because she had spider-powers, seemed outraged that Shadow Weaver wouldn’t even part with the child’s clothes) and a brick-like phone that stored two numbers. (Razz and Mara.) She’d barely even had a chance to say goodbye – not even taking into account the idea that, for the first time ever, she’d be separated from Catra. She’d scribbled the number of her new phone onto some notepad Catra had as a last minute effort to stay in touch – and as her phone had gotten upgraded, she’d kept the hope that Catra might one day reach out, and insisted on keeping her phone number because of it.

Now, though, was not the time in which she was expecting a text from Catra.

                [Hey], it read. [It’s Catra.]

                [Do you still have the stab wound?]

Adora was on patrol, for chrissakes (she’d done nothing but help an old lady and her dog cross a street, though). She couldn’t just drop all her responsibility.

Two minutes later she was splayed out on a rooftop, looking at the texts in just as much confusion.

“I do not see the problem,” Light Hope said from inside the suit. “Why do you not just answer her question?”

“Because… I don’t know!” Adora groaned, rolling over. “This is like, my chance to reconnect with her! I can’t just say ‘no it healed’, and end the conversation. I have to be funny.”

“Would you like me to research stab-related puns on the internet?”

“No,” Adora sighed. “It’s ok. I’ll just… double text, or something.”

                [It’s fully healed, haha. Why? Are you worried?]

The reply was instant.

                [Bold of you to assume I care. I was just curious.]

                [Right, right.]

“The conversation did not ‘die out’,” Light Hope provided.

“Nope,” Adora grinned. “But I should say something else.

                [What are you doing?]

                [Where are you?]

                [Sorry, didn’t see your text. Homework. You?]

                [I’m on patrol B-).]

                [Wow, so cool. Try not to get stabbed again.]

                [Hey!]

“Your friend made a joke about the stab wound,” said Light Hope.

“Yeah, she did.”

“She is also trying to continue the conversation with you.”

Adora blinked. “You think?”

“Yes,” Light Hope said. “Would you like me to find a CCTV camera of her bedroom so you can see her reactions live?”

Adora pondered for a second, before remembering, “No, that’s creepy. And illegal, right?”

“There are many things that are illegal.”

“Wow,” Adora chuckled, “I never would have guessed.”

                [Patrol is really boring today :-(.]

                [What am I, air?]

                [No haha not in that way – it’s just that nobody needs saving.]

                [How terrible.]

                [Stop! You know I don’t mean it like that.]

                [I just wish I could be… being useful, right now.]

                [I have an idea.]

                [Yeah?]

                [Do a backflip.]

Adora groaned audibly. Why would she do that?

                [Why?]

                [Send me video evidence.]

“Why does your friend ask you such trivial things?” Light Hope questioned as Adora stood, reaching her hands above her head and cracking her shoulders for good measure. “Doing gymnastics does not make you ‘useful.’”

“Guess we’re both in the dark,” Adora said as she set up her phone on the edge of the rooftop, pressing record and backing away. She made sure she was fully in the frame, before doing a backflip – and a second backflip, because she could. Then she made her way back to her phone, ending the video and sending it straight to Catra.

                [VID=00:37. Why did you want me to send that?]

                [Wow, you actually did it. Give me a second.]

                [Catraaaaaaaa]

                [Done. Now it’s on twitter. Wonder if it’ll go viral.]

                [You used me for fame??? :-(.]

                [No, silly.]

                [Now your adoring fans will want to come and see you, and you won’t be bored.]

                [Oh.]

                [Wow, speechless. You can commend me now.]

                [You’re officially commended.]

“Is it a good idea to put your whereabouts on social media?” Asked Light Hope.

“Who cares?” Adora responded. “Spiderwoman is Brightmoon’s hero, and I’m still in Brightmoon. It’s not that groundbreaking, right?”

“You should thank Catra for healing your wound last night.”

“She didn’t heal it,” Adora said. “She just… bandaged me up.”

“She cared for you for over two hours. It must have been very difficult. You are very heavy.”

“Hey!” Adora chided. “I… fine.”

                [Hey, Catra?]

                [Thank you for taking care of me.]

                [Last night, I mean.]

                [It’s whatever. You’re lucky I was even there.]

                [Hey, if you ever get in that position again, you can come to my house, ok?]

                [Ok.]

“Catra!” Adora called, spotting the head of unruly brunette curls amidst the crowd. “Hey, Catra!”

Catra didn’t slow down, and Adora had to weave through the teenagers to end up at her side. “Catra!” She said again, emerging next to her.

Catra gave a non-committal nod in her direction, hands tightening around her bag straps.

“Um, okay,” Adora said, ignoring the blatant weirdness of Catra’s non-verbal reply. “I was wondering if you wanted to tell anybody about… you know. My secret.”

“What, that you’re Spiderwoman?” Catra snorted. “Why, is this an invitation to?”

“No!” Adora hurried to say. “Also, don’t say it so loud.”

“Oh, come on. People can’t hear us. Highschool hallways cause people to go deaf.”

“Well, I was asking because… you know, you can’t. Tell anybody, I mean.”

Adora turned the corner into the science block – Catra followed. “What if I did?” Catra asked.

“Tell someone?” Adora blanked. She’d never had to think about that before – she wholeheartedly trusted everybody else that knew. “Well, I guess my life would kind of be over.”

“Wow,” said Catra. “Motivating.”

Catra stopped at the classroom Adora was meaning to go into, pushing open the door. “Woah,” Adora said. “We have Chemistry together?”

“Yeah,” said Catra. “We have all year. You’re just too busy being scared of fire with Perfuma to notice.”

Adora opened her mouth to respond – but Catra was already walking to the back of the classroom. With a sigh, Adora slid into her seat next to Perfuma, who was texting somebody.

“Hey,” she said, putting the phone away. Adora mustered up a smile.

“Good morning, Midtown – my name is Seahawk, and the A stands for Adventure!” The news feed called across the cafeteria.

“And I’m Mermista,” Mermista said from besides Seahawk, rubbing at one of her eyebrows.

“Today, the Eco-club has successfully stopped the school from selling plastic waterbottles,” Mermista read blankly. “Good job, Midtown!”

Sea Hawk stood up from behind the desk, so that his forehead was cut out of frame. “In sport-related news,” he said, “Midtown still does not have a rowing team!”

“Because we don’t live near any water,” Mermista hissed. “Read the prompts.”

“And the basketball team has beat the other basketball team last night, which moves them onto the finals! Adventure!”

Mermista rolled her eyes. “The Academic Decathlon team advanced to the finals last month, and is going into New York over the weekend to represent Midtown in the final heat. The pressure is on.”

“Adventure!” Sea Hawk yelled.

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“In other news,” the camera cut to Sea Hawk sitting back down, “we’re talking about Spiderwoman! Who is the face behind the mask?”

“A recent poll on the student body says it’s most likely to be Huntara – our school’s recently ex-football Captain. However, people have said, quote, “she is far too buff,” as their main argument as to why it would not be Huntara.”

“This has been Midtown news, signing off,” Sea Hawk gave an exaggerated wave, and Mermista spared a look at him, rolling her eyes. The screen went blank.

“She just confuses me.”

Adora was poking her fork through the mashed potatoes the cafeteria had served today, a probably overexaggerated pout donning her face. Bow and Glimmer, once again, were her victims – forced to listen to her ranting about her problems, and unable to give advice without Adora overthinking it until she had a way to shoot it down.

So, both had coping strategies. Bow was texting Perfuma from Archery; Glimmer was searching up good lawyers just in case Catra blabbed her secret (not that Glimmer needed to search; her family, the Stark’s, hired the best lawyers in the country off the bat.)

“I mean, we had this amazing texting conversation last night, right?” Adora asked. “But this morning she was so closed off. And then I got her to open up a little, but she walked away from me!”

Bow and Glimmer both hummed. Adora took an aggressive bite of her mashed potatoes.

“And,” she continued, ignoring Bow’s ‘look’ because she was talking with her mouth full. “I don’t even know if she’ll tell anybody about the whole… Spiderwoman thing. Like, is she going to spill?”

“If she does, I’ll sue,” Glimmer said, putting down her phone, and looking over to Bow. “Hey, get off your phone. Antisocial much?”

Bow protested softly, but both Glimmer and Adora had moved on. “I don’t want to sue her,” Adora said. “I just… don’t want anybody else knowing.”

“Then we hire someone to watch her!”

“No,” Bow and Adora chorused.

“Really, though – it’s kind of creepy how fine you are with the idea of hiring someone to watch somebody 24/7.” Bow said. Glimmer shrugged in response.

“We could just keep an eye on her ourselves?” Glimmer suggested. “That’s not too creepy for you two, right?”

“It’s better,” Adora said. “But I only see her in Chemistry.”

“And all out-of-school hours. You literally have a stealth mode in your suit. My Dad built it in.”

“I see her in Academic Decathlon,” Bow chimed. “She’s the captain. And Perfuma hangs with me in Archery – she can report back if anything happens.”

Glimmer sighed. “So much free time wasted,” she said. “Why don’t we hire somebody just to-“

“No!” Bow and Adora said. Adora shovelled another bite of mashed potatoes into her mouth.

“Fine.” Glimmer slumped. “Wait – Adora, you have Chemistry with her? Since when?”

The next morning, Adora arrived in the Chemistry lab early, to talk with Perfuma and Scorpia (who she knew were definitely crushing on each other – how convenient) and rearrange some things. Catra’s entrance was met with the sunniest smile Adora could muster.

She was greeted with Catra’s eyes narrowing suspiciously, even as she slid into the seat next to Adora’s. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?” Adora asked, placing her head in her palms. “We’ve had Chemistry together all year.”

“Dork,” Catra groaned. “I mean – what are you doing in Scorpia’s seat?”

“Oh, right,” Adora pointed to where Scorpia and Perfuma seemed to be having a delightful conversation. “I thought I’d just help two lovebirds a little. I guess we’re lab partners now.”

“…Right,” Catra said, pulling a notebook out of her bag. “And you’re sure this has nothing to do with how your friends are paranoid I’ll tell everyone you’re Spiderwoman?”

“Shush!” Adora whispered. “You can’t say that so loudly.”

“Nobody’s listening, Adora.” Catra said.

“How did you know my friends are worried?”

“Because Glitter’s been giving me death glares since yesterday morning, and Bow sat next to me in Academic Decathlon.”

“Right.” Adora sighed. “Sorry.”

Catra shrugged. “I mean, if I were in your position, I’d be pretty paranoid, too.”

“We’re not paranoid! Well, I’m not. I trust you.”

Catra’s nose scrunched adorably. “Why?”

“Because… well, I don’t know. I just do.”

“Adora,” Catra raised an eyebrow, “before a week ago, we hadn’t spoke in seven years. You don’t have to defend yourself.”

“But I do,” Adora insisted. “I wish we hadn’t fallen out of touch.”

“Me, too.”

Adora studied Catra for a moment. She’d always been beautiful – but since Adora had moved away, she’d grown far prettier than Adora could have imagined. Her jaw was sharp, eyes framed by long, dark lashes – the blue and yellow contrast striking as always. Her freckles had only grown into a constellation across her cheekbones, that Adora’s fingers ached to trace, and memorise. Her hair, wild and unruly, was still beautiful. Everything about her made Adora want.

Was it jealousy?

“Where did you even go?” Catra asked. “After you… left. I looked for you around school, but you weren’t there. You only re-joined in freshman year, right?”

“Yeah,” Adora sighed. “Log story short; I got bitten by a radioactive spider, my new foster mom found out and decided to foster me, I got extensive training and monitoring until they deemed I was safe enough for high school. Now I’m Spiderwoman.”

“Right,” Catra said. “Wait; you’ve had spider-powers since you were eleven?”

“Yeah,” Adora placed a hand on the back of her neck, rubbing slightly. “You’d think I’d be good at it by now.”

“I was just thinking, it explains how you can do a backflip.”

Adora snorted, and Catra’s eyes widened before she began laughing. And, really, the sound itself was what set off Adora, too.

“Then I made friends with Bow and Glimmer, who told her Dad – who’s Iron Man – about me, and they let me move in with them. End of.”

Catra nodded. “So, just standard.”

“Excuse me! I happen to think there was some pretty cool stuff in there.”

“Yeah, yeah, Adora.” She tried to fight the smile at the sound of her name on Catra’s lips. “Whatever you say.”

And, right there, Adora knew. Superhero duties be damned; she was getting Catra back.

Chapter Text

“Good morning, Midtown – my name is Seahawk, and the A stands for Adventure!” Sea Hawk grinned at the camera, running a hand over-dramatically through his hair.

“And I’m Mermista,” Mermista said from besides him.

“Today, we are bringing news across all of Midtown about Brightmoon!”

“As we always do.”

“Yes, my dear Mermista, exactly!”

Mermista sighed over-exaggeratedly, looking down to her prompts. “Don’t forget today’s special charity lunch; just $2 and you get delicious food and a chance to help out your society.”

“I heard it’s pizza!” Sea Hawk quipped.

“It is definitely not pizza,” Mermista corrected.

“In other news, we are saying goodbye to our beloved Phys Ed teacher, Netossa, because she’s having a baby with her wife! See you next year!” Sea Hawk waved at the camera. A moment later, Mermista joined in, smile strained.

“And the biology lab recently adopted a new lizard, who we are naming Micah, in honour of Micah Stark, aka Iron Man. Thank you, Mister, Stark, for donating us a lizard.” Mermista said.

“Adventure!” Sea Hawk grinned.

“Why would you- why do you say that?”

“Breaking News!” Sea Hawk continued, grinning. “The student poll for who’s under the mask as Spiderwoman has hit a brand new twist. People think, quote, ‘how do we even know she goes here?’ others have said ‘what if it’s a dude wearing fake boobs?’”

“Because of this, Kyle is the next suspect for Spiderwoman,” Mermista read. “If it’s you saving Brightmoon, Kyle, the whole of Midtown says ‘thank you.’”

“Thank you!” Sea Hawk echoed. “I bet being Spiderwoman is an adventure!”

Mermista groaned. “And finally, the robotics lab are having their annual robot fight in room 29 today at lunch. Bring your own food – but they will provide cookies.”

“This has been Midtown news, signing off,” Sea Hawk gave an exaggerated wave. Mermista leant in.

“Sea Hawk, we talked about this. Don’t wave.”

Sea Hawk continued waving. The screen turned black.

“Bow, can’t you just beg your parents to let us come?” Glimmer asked. “I mean, we’re tight with your dads! They love us!”

The trio was once again sitting in the cafeteria, picking at the school lunch and discussing their predicament. Adora had been hungry, after an hour of Phys Ed – her plate was empty, and she was eyeing up Glimmer’s fries.

Bow frowned. “I mean, if you ask George, maybe – but they’re both really stressed about this competition! They don’t want two extra teenage girls to take care of.”

“But we’ll be silent!” Adora said. “They won’t even know we’re there.”

“Plus, we need to keep an eye on Catra, and you can’t exactly room with her.”

“So we’re hijacking the rooming plans now? Oh my god.”

“Bow,” Adora whined. “Come on. Your dads love us.”

Bow picked up a fry, eating it whole. “You can ask tonight,” he said, after swallowing. “No promises, though!”

“Yes!” Glimmer grinned, hugging Bow tightly. “Thank you!”

Adora watched as she seemed to realize what she was doing, pulling back. Both teens blushed slightly, keeping their eyes on their lunch trays.

“We got this,” Adora said. “I mean; what could go wrong?”

“Absolutely not,” Lance said. “We’d need explicit parental permission; and even then, you’re not even on the Academic Decathlon team.”

“We could be mascots,” Adora said, mimicking a few moves she’d seen the cheerleaders do with their arms. “Cheering from the side-lines, you know?”

“The rooms are already sorted,” he pushed on. “We couldn’t squeeze two more in.”

“But my dad could pay for it!” Glimmer said. “Yeah; what if my Dad got the hotel to give us another two-bed room?”

Lance sighed, looking over to George. “What do you think, honey?”

“I think it’s a great idea!” George said, fist-bumping Bow. Lance gave him an exasperated look.

“You really think we should change our plans? And so last minute?”

“Look at these two!” George said. Adora and Glimmer both put on their best puppy-dog eyes. “They’re not trouble-makers!”

Lance rubbed at a divot between his eyebrows. “Well… I suppose if Mister Stark sorted the room out, we could take two more…”

“Yes!” Glimmer grinned. “Thank you so much, Bow’s dads! You won’t regret it!”

“Alright,” Adora said with a loud exhale. “This is it.”

“This is what?” Glimmer asked from besides her, struggling to lift her designer luggage. “You’re such a dork, Adora.”

“I am not!” Adora said. “I’m just… prepared.”

Prepared was one word for it, she supposed.

In the three days since they’d officially been given permission to go to New York with the Academic Decathlon team, Adora had meticulously planned absolutely everything they were going to be doing. They arrived Friday night, and got to ‘sightsee’ until ‘curfew’ at ten. Then the next day would be spent at the competition, until lunch, when they would either get a consolation lunch and drive back early, or be set free to celebrate (all according to Bow’s Dad’s schedule.) Of course, this left an infinite number of variable things Catra could be doing behind Adora’s back.

On the bus journey there; she could be whispering in Scorpia’s ear that Adora was Spiderwoman.

In the hotel room, when they got there – she could be texting Lonnie about how Adora was Spiderwoman.

If they did go ‘sightseeing’, Catra could slip off to some bathroom, and post on Twitter that Adora was Spiderwoman.

See? Endless possibilities.

“I thought you were the one that was all chill about Catra,” Glimmer said. “I mean, she was still your best childhood friend. She doesn’t hate you.”

“She’s Catra,” Adora said. “She’s… unpredictable.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Glimmer set down her luggage. “Hey, don’t you have super strength? Why aren’t you carrying my bags?”

Adora picked up Glimmer’s bag, putting it on top of her own, and continuing to walk through the school parking lot. The bus was due at half four, which left Adora and Glimmer fifteen glorious minutes of peace before the goofs of the Academic Decathlon bombarded their ears all weekend. People were slowly trickling back in – beginning their tearful goodbyes even though, really, it was less than 24 hours away from home.

All this effort for Catra. Well, not like, for Catra, like a gift – like, as a precaution. Of course.

“Where’s Bow?” Glimmer groaned, pulling out her phone. “Shouldn’t he and his Dad’s be here? They run the Decathlon team.”

“Maybe they’re running late?” Adora suggested. “Like… everybody else seems to be doing.”

“No, come on. We’re just early,” Glimmer said. “Hey; watch my stuff? I need to go to the bathroom.”

Glimmer didn’t even wait for an answer, starting to walk away from Adora. “Wait!” Adora called. “How long is the drive? Should I go to the bathroom too?”

Glimmer turned back to Adora, giving a passive-aggressive, very over-the-top shrug, before continuing on her path. Well – only one thing to do, then.

Adora grabbed hers and Glimmer’s bags, and began running over to her sparkly friend.

Ten minutes, an ‘eww, I can’t believe my bag is on the floor of a school bathroom’, a touch-up of mascara (‘it’s not for Bow, Adora – no, I don’t want to impress him!’) and a washing of hands later, Adora and Glimmer emerged from the school. The bus had pulled up – and the parking lot was significantly busier than it was before.

“Glimmer!” Bow called. “Adora! Where were you two?”

“We’ve been here for ages, we just needed to go to the bathroom,” Adora said, dropping her bags. “Aww, you waited for us?”

“Yeah,” Bow chuckled nervously. “Maybe I shouldn’t have, though – I think the bus is full.”

“What?” Glimmer asked, a hand finding her hip. “But – but ten minutes ago nobody was here! How is it full already?”

“And didn’t the bus, like, prepare for enough students? How is it full?”

“The bags are in the back seats,” Bow explained. “We might have to squish in next to some.”

Glimmer groaned. “Well, let’s get on, before anyone else takes our seats!”

With Glimmer leading the way, the trio hopped onto the bus, looking around. Near the front was a luckily empty row – which Glimmer took, followed by Bow. “Sorry,” he said as he looked up at Adora. “Good luck?”

“Hey, Adora,” a familiar voice called from a few rows back. “Friends ditch you?”

“No,” Adora scoffed. “I volunteered to be alone.”

Catra scrunched up her nose slightly – like how she used to when she was younger, and it was so adorable. “That sounds even sadder,” she said. “Where are you gonna sit?”

“Next to you?”

Catra blinked, taken aback. Adora took the chance to slide into the seat besides her.

Score. Now if Catra wanted to tell anybody she was Spiderwoman, Adora would know, and could like… karate chop her phone, or something.

“Why are you even here?” Catra asked. “You’re not on the team.”

“Moral support,” Adora said. “And Glimmer really wanted to go to New York.”

“But her dad is literally Iron Man – she could go whenever she wanted.”

Adora shrugged. “Why aren’t you sitting with Scorpia?”

Catra pointed to the front of the bus, where a familiar head of white hair was chatting with a blonde. “She’s flirting it up with Perfuma in the front row,” Catra said with a wince. “No, thank you.”

“What, not a fan of third-wheeling?”

“Oh, please,” Catra smirked. “You’re in the same boat – except Thing 1 and Thing 2 haven’t realized their feelings for each other, yet.”

Adora shrugged – it wasn’t exactly her place to comment on her friend’s relationships – and George was standing from the front of the bus.

“Alright, everybody quiet down,” he said, waving an arm over his head as if he were wielding some power. “I’m gonna check we’re all here, and then we’ll hit the road.”

“So, what were you planning to do?” Adora asked as the bus was pushing off.

“I don’t know – listen to some music?” Catra said. “I mean – usually I’d study some, but I’m kind of tired.”

“Okay,” Adora said, nodding for a while, until she realized it was probably unnatural to nod for that long. “Well – you can do that. I’ll just… mind my business.”

“Adora,” Catra raised an eyebrow. “What did you plan to do?”

“Oh, uhm – I didn’t really plan… maybe I’ll read a book?”

Catra shook her head. “You suck at sitting still, dummy,” she sighed. “You will not be able to read a whole book.”

Opening her mouth to protest, Adora was silenced as Catra took out her phone, plugging in her earphones and fiddling with the screen. “Here,” she said, not looking up, outstretching an earphone. “And since you’re sitting in the aisle, bounce that leg.”

Adora took the earphone. Wow. Sharing earphones really made you have to sit close to your… partner.

“What are we gonna listen to?” Adora asked, eyes wandering across the roof of the bus – covered in this light grey soft-looking stuff. Huh. She wanted to touch it. “Hey, do you still like Taylor Sw-“

Music began playing – kind of like the ‘lo-fi’ Bow put on when he studied, but with words. “This isn’t Taylor Swift,” Adora said.

“Yeah,” Catra responded. “I haven’t listened to Taylor Swift since 2014.”

“Well, that’s a lie,” Adora snorted, “because at Homecoming, you knew all the words when they put a Taylor Swift song on, so you must have listened to it.”

“I didn’t know you knew about that,” Catra mused.

“I know a lot of stuff about you, Catra.”

Catra nodded. “Well, I’m gonna read my book – study up. Make sure to bounce the outer leg, ok?”

Adora looked to her leg, stretched in the aisle. She was already flexing her toes in the confines of her shoes, feeling the familiar pent-up-energy like feeling building in her muscles. “Okay,” she whispered to herself. “Okay, okay, okay.”

Her fingers began drumming on her thighs. Had she even packed a book?

Her mind drifted; she always brought a book to school. She’d been reading this really good sci-fi one, and she’d brought it to school that day.

Wow. She really couldn’t remember.

But she could just check her bag, right?

Adora took out the earphone, standing up and looking to the back of the bus. “Woah!” Catra called, grabbing her wrist. “What the hell?”

“I want to check if I packed a book,” Adora said.

“We’re on a moving bus, Adora,” Catra said. Her eyes were wide – not with worry though, because Catra didn’t care about her like that, anymore. “You can’t just get up.”

Adora looked around. Oh, yeah.

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly, sliding back into her seat. “I kinda forgot.”

“Yeah,” Catra let out a breathless laugh. “And I kinda forgot how spacey you can be.”

Adora nodded again, drumming her hands on her thighs. She picked up the earphone again, putting it into her ear. Oh. It was a new song.

“Adora?” Catra asked. Adora turned her head. “Do you want to borrow a book?”

Adora blinked. “Really?” She asked, a grin growing.

“Yeah, sure,” Catra reached down into her backpack, pulling out a book. “It’s a thriller. I don’t know if you’ll like it.”

“Thank you, Catra!” Adora grinned.

“Yeah, whatever,” Catra said. “Read the book.”

Adora nodded, opening the first page.

An hour or so into the bus journey, and 79 pages into the book (which was pretty good, Adora thought – she’d got stuck a couple times reading a line over and over as her mind drifted, but Catra had knocked her knee into her own, and brought her out of it) and Adora felt a sudden weight on her shoulder. It registered – but for a moment, Adora just continued reading.

Wait. A weight on her shoulder?

She craned her neck to see Catra, asleep. Her breaths were deep, and even – and from this angle, Adora could see the slight curl to her dark eyelashes, and the freckles on her forehead.

Her hair smelled good. Not strawberry-good, but… really nice.

Adora told herself the warmth in her chest was relief – if Catra was asleep, she couldn’t blab about the whole Spiderwoman thing. Her heart was making itself known against her ribcage because of her nerves about the whole situation, of course.

Adora tried to continue reading. But all she could focus on was the weight on her shoulder, and the smell of Catra’s hair.

“We’re here,” said a voice, and Adora felt a sharp poke to her cheek. “Wake up, blondie.”

Adora blinked several times, a hand drifting up to rub at one of her eyes. “What?”

“We’re in New York – and my neck hurts, I’ve been supporting your heavy head the whole trip.” Catra said. “But we just got to the hotel.”

“Oh,” Adora said. “Sorry for falling asleep on you.”

“It’s fine.” Catra looked down to her fingers – and Adora followed the movement. Catra was picking at her dark nail polish slightly. “I kind of did it first.”

“We should get off!” Adora said, standing again. The book Catra had lent her – that she had totally forgotten about – fell to the floor. “Oh, I’m so sorry!”

Adora dropped to her knees to pick it up, and hand it back to Catra. “From what I read, it was really good.”

“Keep it,” Catra said. “Over the weekend, I mean. You can finish it, if you want.”

Adora nodded. “Okay.”

For a moment, she stared. Catra had looked back up when she insisted Adora keep her book, but she was fiddling with her fingers again. Her hair smelt nice – and it looked so soft. Adora wished she could remember falling asleep on it – she’d got to use Catra’s hair as a pillow, and she didn’t even remember-

“Adora?” Catra looked up. “Aren’t you getting up? We should get off the bus.”

“Oh. Oh, right,” Adora chuckled, standing. “Silly me. I forgot. Well – I’ll be going, then. Thank you for the book.”

“We’re rooming,” Glimmer said the moment Adora got off the bus. “I don’t want to spend more time then I have to with people I’m not comfortable with.”

“Fair enough,” Adora said. “Which room?”

Glimmer shrugged. “Hey, Bow!” She called. Bow, who was standing at the front desk with his dads, walked over. “How’s the room situation?”

“It’s… ok,” Bow said. “My Dads get really stressed in this kind of situation, so they’re just kind of waffling. But it’ll all be sorted soon, and we can go exploring!”

“That sounds like fun,” Adora said, remembering the pent-up energy in her limbs. She cracked her knuckles to try and dispel some of it. “Maybe I’ll go out on a solo trip later, too.”

“What? No!” Glimmer said. “Spiderwoman is a Brightmoon-only hero. If anyone sees you here, you’re so busted.”

“But I could be subtle.”

“No offense, Adora,” Bow begun, lips twisting, “but you are the least subtle person I know.”

“You guys are so mean to me,” Adora pouted. “Maybe I’ll room with Perfuma.”

“Nah, she said she’s with Frosta,” Bow said. “And you can’t room with Catra, either, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Fine,” Adora pouted. She would have liked to room with Catra – share a room, like they used to do when they were younger. Share a bed, maybe, and be too hot for the covers and yet not want to move. She missed that.

“Alright,” Lance said. “Here’s how the rooms are working; get into pairs, please.”

Twenty minutes to unpack and a pouty Bow after being stuck rooming with his Dads later, and the teens were set free with the warnings to be back by ten, and not do anything illegal. Bow had immediately suggested they should go with Perfuma, who knew the city (which would mean they were with Scorpia, which would mean they were with Catra.) So they set off.

Perfuma led them to a pancake place, and then to an ice cream shop, and then to a shop for crystals, at which point people started breaking off. Scorpia seemed genuinely interested as Perfuma told her about each crystal’s ability, and Bow and Glimmer had disappeared way back at the pancake place to ‘find a bathroom’ even though they just walked out.

So, when Catra looked over to Adora, with the lazy smirk that seemed to set her on fire, and asked, “do you want to get out of here?” Adora could only nod numbly.

“Couples,” Catra groaned. “We got stuck with the oblivious dorks, and the two most positive people in the world – which is exhausting. I never thought I’d say this, but you’re the chilliest person in this situation. Excluding me, of course.”

Adora nodded, although the words weren’t really registering. “What do you want to do?” She asked, bouncing up and down on her toes. She knew what she wanted to do. Swing around New York.

“You’re restless, aren’t you?” Catra asked. After a moment, Adora’s eyes widened, and she looked over to Catra.

“How did you know?”

“You haven’t changed, you know. I can just tell.”

Adora sighed. “Yeah. I haven’t done… spidey-stuff in a couple days. I want to swing around, and stuff. You know?”

Catra nodded. “Why don’t you?”

“Really?” Adora asked. “Because, Glimmer thought it was a terrible idea, and-“

“Glimmer shimmer,” Catra waved off. “As long as you give me a ride, I’m good. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to swing around.”

“Okay,” Adora said, letting the excitement surface. “Okay. I have to get changed, then.”

“Wait – you have the suit on you?”

Adora pulled up her sleeve, revealing the red fabric. “Always,” she said. “Even if I’m not being Spiderwoman, Mic- Iron Man made it from this special material that dulls down my senses a bit. It really helps, actually.”

“Cool. Where do you normally change?”

Adora looked around for a moment, before spotting an alley. She pointed, raising an eyebrow for Catra’s sake – who nodded.

“You’re probably gonna want to prepare yourself,” Adora said, pulling her shirt off the moment they got into the alley, before beginning on the buttons of her jeans. “Because I’ve been told it’s pretty disorientating-“

She turned, to see Catra’s jaw dropped as she stared. At Adora. “What?” Adora asked, slowing her movements as she slid out of her jeans. “You’ve seen me in the suit before, right?”

Catra cleared her throat. “You just look… more muscular in person, I guess.”

“Oh.” Adora picked up her shoes. “Thanks. Where should I leave these?”

Catra graciously opened her bag, allowing Adora to deposit her stuff.

“Okay,” Adora said, sliding on the mask. “Arms around my neck.”

Catra obeyed, getting about as close to Adora as they had been on the bus ride (except, Adora’s brain reminded her, they were face-to-face, which was infinitely… worse? Better?) “Now what?” Catra whispered, mismatching eyes finding hers even through the mask.

Adora wrapped a hand around Catra’s lithe form, the other hand shooting a web to the top of the building. “Now,” she said, pulling Catra closer for good measure (and for safety – not because Catra fit surprisingly well in her arms, and she really liked the feeling.) “We fly.”

“That was horrible,” Catra said as Adora finally set her down. “Even the second time.”

“Yeah?” Adora laughed, pulling her mask off and stretching her back slightly. They’d flown over New York, before Adora dropped Catra off to run through a few drills that both got her heart pumping and allowed her to show of for Catra (and mostly the citizens of New York, of course.) Now they’d just landed in an alley next to the hotel.

“I’m gonna climb into the room,” Adora said. “I need practice scaling smooth walls.”

“You don’t need practice doing anything,” Catra breathed out. “You’re brilliant.”

Adora felt heat climb up her cheeks, and she crossed her arms over her chest softly, looking downwards. “Thanks. What do you think? Want a piggy-back up the side of the building?”

Catra declined with a playful poke to Adora’s side, walking through the front doors of the hotel. Adora put her mask back on, jumping up the wall and sliding the window open.

“Glimmer, you will not believe-“ Adora jumped into the room and froze.

Sitting on one of the single beds was Glimmer, Bow, and… Scorpia.

Adora paused. “Sorry, folks! It appears I have the wrong hotel room. I should get going; although, if there’s anything you’d like me to sign, of course I could-“

“Adora is Spiderwoman?” Scorpia exclaimed.

Adora sighed, pulling off her mask. “Did you two tell her?”

“We had to!” Bow exclaimed. “You two were out way past curfew, and Spiderwoman was trending on twitter, and Scorpia came in here because she saw Catra in one of the photos – which is insane, because it was just the back of Catra’s head.”

“I can’t believe my friend is a superhero,” Scorpia said. “I mean, you should really work on concealing your voice, but other than that, wow! This is so cool! I have so many questions!”

Adora rubbed the bridge of her nose softly. “I’m sorry for breaking curfew,” she said. “I needed to move, though. You know.”

“Doesn’t mean you couldn’t let us know,” Glimmer said. “Adora – Spiderwoman is Brightmoon’s superhero, and we’re the only people from Brightmoon in New York. What if someone pieces it together?”

Adora shrugged. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“Yeah,” Glimmer said, softer. “Just – be careful? I don’t want to be related to three public figures.”

“Do you lay eggs?” Scorpia asked. “You know – like a spider? Ooh – do you eat flies?”

“No, and no,” Adora sighed. “Can’t we just all go to sleep? Big competition tomorrow, remember?”

“Are your webs real?” Scorpia asked. “Can I touch one?”

“Get some sleep,” Adora said, pushing Bow lightly. He got up, and with him, Sorpia.

“I hope you know we’re very disappointed in you, young lady.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Adora said. “Sorry, dad. I’ll call home next time.”

“You better!” Bow called as Adora shoved the two of them out of the hotel room, shutting the door swiftly behind them and letting out a breath.

“Sleep?” Glimmer asked.

“Sleep,” Adora responded.

Adora was roused from sleep far too early, and boarded on a bus, where she fell asleep on Catra (and probably drooled – but that was a problem for another time.) They arrived at the hall for the Academic Decathlon finals, and the team were carted off.

Glimmer pulled Bow aside for a small motivational speech – and Adora couldn’t keep her eyes off Catra. When their gazes met, Adora offered a thumbs up, and a mouthed, ‘you got this.’ Catra offered a smile in response.

Adora went to sit in the audience with Bow’s Dads and Glimmer, and they waited. They watched as their team got seated – Bow, Catra, Scorpia and Perfuma on stage – and as the points slowly racked up on each side.

As Bow handled the history. Scorpia had the science. Perfuma was weirdly good with the random facts. And Catra was a mathematical machine, having memorised different facts for the other rounds, but able to calculate the mental maths in a second, stealing countless points from the other team.

They reached a tiebreaker round for the final prize – and Adora held her breath. Held it, as they read out the question – math. Held it, as Catra pressed her buzzer and gave the answer. Held it.

And let it out in the loudest scream she’d ever produced when they announced it was the correct answer – and Midtown had won.

“You’re insane,” Bow laughed as the team made their way into the mall. Once again, Bow’s Dads had elected to let the team loose whilst they grabbed a coffee or something for a couple hours, until they had to pack up and leave. “We heard you from on stage – and we couldn’t even see your face!”

“I was excited!” Adora defended. “And you have to admit, that was the most badass moment ever.”

“Says the literal superhero,” Catra teased from Adora’s side. Adora groaned.

“Don’t remind me – that’s 7 people that know about my secret identity, now.” Adora said. “Y’know, because Scorpia found out last night.”

“Did somebody say my name?” Scorpia asked, slinging a (very muscular) arm around both Adora and Catra’s shoulder. “Ooh, are we talking about the whole Spiderwoman thing? Because I have so many questions.”

“Scorpia found out last night?” Catra asked. “Wow. Cool. Welcome to the team.”

“Thanks, wildcat! Now Adora. Do you still kill the spiders in your bathtub?”

Adora thought about it for a second. “Well, I don’t have any spiders in my bathtub – but I wouldn’t kill them! I’d just… move the outside, gently.”

“Interesting. Do you advocate for other people to not kill spiders in their bathtubs?”

Scorpia continued asking questions (‘have you ever felt the urge to eat a fly?’ ‘if you give somebody a hickey, is it venomous?’) the entire way (‘do you have more than two eyes?’ ‘can you sprout more arms – or legs?’) to the mall centre (‘do you have fur?’ ‘do you work out, or do the muscles come with the superpowers?’) By the time they reached where they were going, Adora was worried her voice would go hoarse – and surprised Scorpia’s hadn’t, already.

“Hey,” Catra poked Adora’s forearm. They’d sort of naturally fallen to the back of the group, Catra trailing her feet and Adora sticking to her (to watch out that she didn’t spill Adora’s secret identity, obviously.) “Want to run away?”

“Run away how? We’re in a mall.”

“We could just disappear. Get some food, maybe? I’m starving.”

Adora nodded. “Okay. How do we do it?”

Abruptly, Catra stopped walking. The rest of the group continued, however – leaving her in the dust. They stood for a few moments, watching with baited breaths to see if their friends would turn around – but everyone seemed to be on their own wavelengths.

“Alright,” Catra said. “Now we do whatever we want.”

“When you said you were hungry, I wasn’t expecting to go get ice cream,” Adora confessed. “I mean – can’t we just get ice cream in Brightmoon?”

“Not like this,” Catra grinned down at her huge ice cream sundae. It was probably the height of Adora’s forearm – and Catra was miniscule – so Adora was trying to work her way around how she could eat it.

“Usually it would be you getting the shitty food, and me judging,” Catra said, taking a spoonful of ice cream. “How the turn-tables.”

“Very funny,” Adora said, licking at a bit of her own ice cream cone. “Hey – do you want a taste of mine? You didn’t get any of this flavour, right?”

Adora outstretched her cone, and Catra leant forwards, taking a bite. “Wow,” Catra said. “You have really bad taste in ice cream, Adora.”

Adora pulled back her cone as if Catra had personally offended it. “I happen to think raspberry drizzle is an excellent flavour.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Catra looked down at her sundae again, taking another large bite. Adora’s eyes traced the movement of her lips, skirting down to her throat.

Lips that had been on her ice cream. That… sounded worse than it was.

“Adora?” Adora jumped slightly, eyes meeting Catra’s, who had ducked her head slightly to meet her gaze. “You okay? I was asking if you wanted a bite of my ice cream.”

“Okay,” Adora said. Catra loaded a spoonful, passing it over – and kept eye contact with Adora as she put the spoon in her mouth.

Adora tried to keep calm, she really did – except, her cheeks were getting warmer at the thought of the ‘moment’ they’d shared, and the ice cream in her mouth was really cold – so she opened her mouth and began fanning as if it would help.

Catra watched, the sincere look she’d had for a moment as she fed Adora morphing into a laugh. “Oh my god,” she chuckled, “you’re such a dork! Is it too cold?”

Adora could only nod. The ice cream felt like her tongue was being iced over – very unpleasant.

But eventually she was able to swallow, and Catra’s laughter died down. “Catra?” Adora said softly, tongue still somewhat numb. “I’m really glad you’re back in my life. I missed you.”

Honestly, she was expecting some kind of snarky comment about how ‘cheesy’ Adora was being, or something – but Catra’s smile softened, and she tilted her head to the side slightly. “I missed you too, Adora,” Catra confessed. “But I don’t like you, or anything.”

As Catra shovelled another mouthful of ice cream, Adora smiled. “If you don’t like me, why did you miss me so much?” She teased.

“Shut up! I should never have told you that!”

Catra pouted, and her lips glistened with ice cream. And all of a sudden, Adora wanted to kiss her.

Kiss Catra. Kiss Catra, who was a girl. Kiss Catra, who had said countless times over that she ‘didn’t like’ her.

Her mind created a flurry of images – other times in which Adora was realizing she had also wanted to kiss Catra. She had always wanted to kiss Catra.

But… she was straight. And Catra was, too. Right?

Chapter Text

On the bus ride back, Adora was a livewire. They’d long-since ditched their ice cream pots for their suitcases, and were beginning the long journey back to Brightmoon. Glimmer had sat with Bow again (obviously), which led to Adora and Catra sharing a seat, too.

Catra had reminded Adora she still had Catra’s book (and should probably read it on the trip back, in opposition to dying of boredom. She’d offered Adora an earphone – putting on a playlist of songs Adora had never heard before.

And then she’d fallen asleep. On Adora’s shoulder. With more than two hours to go before they got back to Brightmoon.

Before the trip, Adora had mildly entertained the idea that she was gay (she’d kind of had to – when all your senses are suddenly dialled to eleven that includes your sex-drive, which she’d learnt the hard way) but she was much more focussed on the idea that she could be a crime-fighting superhero than the fact that she could be a raging lesbian.

…A lesbian.

Adora knew lesbians – back when she’d made the football varsity team in freshman year (before being told to quit because it was far too obvious), Huntara, their gorgeous team captain, had been a lesbian. Her Phys Ed teacher, Netossa, was a lesbian. Glimmer’s aunt Castaspella was a lesbian.

But was she? Like, was she really?

She’d had crushes on women – yes. Undoubtedly. She used to watch Pirates of the Caribbean on repeat with Catra, ignoring the complaints that they couldn’t record another movie if they kept it. But… what if she also had crushes on men, and she just… hadn’t met the right man yet?

Besides, lesbian was a bit of a strong word. She didn’t know if she was even comfortable with it.

Alright. Forget that. There was a Catra on her shoulder.

Catra’s body was… warm. Adora had forgotten – how had she forgotten this – the days where they used to share a bed, curling up with the absence of heat in the winter under a scraggly blanket, and even in the heat of summer – being achingly unable to hold Catra close, but sacrificing her hand to hold Catra’s thigh, or arm, or… hand.

Some days, Catra had curled into Adora, much like her namesake. Made herself small, and clung to Adora like a vice, preventing movement (ha – as if Adora would have wanted to move.) Other nights, she’d been grumbly, and yet allowed Adora to wrap herself around Catra’s smaller frame, because Adora ran hot, and Catra had shivered one too many times that day. Either way; any way they slept, Adora always found it wasn’t the sleeping that satisfied her. It was Catra.

And now, seeing her old best friend’s face unclouded by any emotion save for peace, freckles drawing constellations over the bridge of her nose, lashes sketching shadows of artwork down her cheeks, lips parted, soft – she missed it. She yearned for it. For all that she’d left behind. For the walks to school when Shadow Weaver had forgotten to take them, bundled up and happy. For days where their troubles overtook them, and they had to steal food, and pillows, and their only escape was in each other.

Her arm was on fire.

She should open the book – but the words on the pages seemed to be replaced with visions of Catra’s eyes, welcoming and open. Of Catra’s hands as they danced over her pens until they found the right one, and she’d smile to herself, genuinely. Catra’s lips. Lords, Catra’s lips.

Adora had always been envious of Catra’s eyes – how they were wide, and expressive, and two different, beautiful colours. As children, she’d made Catra sit still just to look into her eyes, trying to memorise every detail. She’d wished every day to be good at art, so that she might be able to record the beauty onto something she could always hold close. Except, maybe it wasn’t envy. Envy was an ugly emotion – one that wasn’t fit for such beauty as Catra’s.

She listened to the music filtering through her earphone – trying not to look to deep into the love songs, when her mind unwillingly conjured up images of Catra to match. Getting lost listening to the others, because she was staring at the way Catra’s nose scrunched slightly at the tip as she dreamt.

With Catra, Adora had a million miles of memories. Was it selfish, to want a million more?

The journey lasted a lifetime, and yet it was over too soon. Catra was waking up, rubbing at one eye and offering Adora a lazy smile that stopped her heart in her chest. The bus was coming into the parking lot, and lines of cars, of parents, were awaiting them. George was talking – he was saying something to them, at the front of the bus. Some congratulations, maybe. Adora’s mind was static. Static, and Catra. Always Catra.

“Adora?” A poke to her arm; her head turned. “Adora, are you alright?”

Catra was speaking to her. Her mouth opened – nothing but static came out. She closed it again. She stood.

“Adora?”

This time, Adora did not turn around. Her eyes were wide, and her cheeks were uncomfortable with heat. The space in-between her eyes felt heavy with an ache of thinking too hard, for too long. She couldn’t speak to Catra – she was in love with her.

She was in love with her.

And then Adora was off the bus, and Glimmer was waving her over to the Stark car, where Juliet – Head of Security – was putting away their suitcases. And she was heading over, and getting in the car.

Adora looked back, to see Catra get off the bus, eyebrows drawn together. She watched as Catra scanned the parking lot – for her.

The car drove away.

“How was the trip?” Juliet said in the same semi-monotone voice she used when she was trading pleasantries with no real interest.

“It was good,” Glimmer said elatedly. “The Decathlon team won the whole thing! And we went sight-seeing – sort of, and we got food, and me and Bow found this really good thrift store – so I bought a new jacket.”

Juliet nodded, but provided no response. “It was fun - right, Adora?” She said, turning to her friend.

“I think I’m gay,” Adora responded.

There was a moment of silence in the car, before Juliet snorted. “Wow,” she said. “Must’ve been a real good trip.”

“You mean you didn’t think you were gay before?” Glimmer asked. “Because – I thought you knew you were gay, and just… hadn’t outright said it. You mean you didn’t know you were gay?”

“You thought I was gay?”

“Adora, we used to sit at lunch and debate who the hottest girl in our year was. Straight people don’t do that. Especially not the way you defended Mermista.”

“…so I’m gay?” Adora asked. “But… why? How? I’m not – I’m not supposed to be gay, I’m-“

“Woah woah,” Glimmer placed a hand on Adora’s shoulder. “Hold on a second. What do you mean you’re not supposed to be gay?”

“I’m… me.” Adora said. “Isn’t it, like, bad to be gay?”

“I mean – not really, unless you’re a bigot. I’m Bi.”

Adora nodded. “I’m gay too,” Juliet said from the front of the car, “if that makes you feel any better. Just got engaged.”

“Oh, really?” Glimmer asked. “To who?”

“Your aunt. I’ll be your aunt in June.”

Glimmer paused. “That… is a story for another time. Adora, it’s perfectly fine to like women. There’s nothing ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ about it.”

“…alright,” Adora said. “Alright. So… I might be gay.”

The car pulled into the Stark Tower, and Juliet parked the car.

“Did you figure out you were crushing on Catra?” Glimmer asked.

“How did you-“

“So, yeah,” Adora sighed. “I’m crushing on Catra.”

Juliet had left (to apparently fondue with Micah’s sister, which was kind of weird), and Adora and Glimmer had set up camp (read; a pillow fort) in one of the common rooms, to talk stuff through.

“You really didn’t think you were gay before this weekend? I’m only asking because I don’t have enough fingers to count how many obvious crushes you’ve had on women in the time that I’ve known you.”

“I was a little bit busy being a superhero,” Adora said. “So what? I thought everyone appreciated women’s beauty, and just, like… dated men because they had to.”

“Wow,” Glimmer said. “Valid, but also I’ve known I was bi since the day I was born. So… are you going to make a move?”

“What No! I can’t.” Adora frowned, pulling the blanket she’d draped around herself further around her shoulders.

“Why not?” Asked Glimmer. “You like her. And she dated Scorpia for a while – so she’s obviously into women.”

“But… I’ve just got her back into my life,” Adora said. “I don’t want to wreck that. I can’t go 10 years without talking again.”

“It was seven, you over-dramatic bitch,” Glimmer frowned. “But… so what? You’re just going to be awkward around her for the rest of this year? You’re gonna try and force yourself to get over her, but it doesn’t work – and four months later, she has a date with this other girl, who isn’t even as pretty as you, and you get really mad and blow up at her and still don’t tell her your feelings so your friendship is awkward for ages until you make up some horrible excuse about being a jealous friend and everything starts all over again?”

“Wow,” Adora said. “That was oddly specific.”

“Just a… scenario,” Glimmer retorted. “One of the many possible horrible situations you could get yourself into by staying in the friend zone! You know what they say, Adora – YOLO.”

“I haven’t heard someone say that out loud since 2014.”

“It’s a good phrase – useful. And it 100% applies here. Get your girl!”

Adora let out a short sigh. “I… I’m scared, though.”

“Fuck that,” Glimmer said. “Fear is temporary. Regret is permanent.”

“Wow,” Adora chuckled. “That was actually pretty wise.”

“Thanks,” Glimmer grinned. “Now, tomorrow – will you go and ask Catra out?”

“Probably not.”

“Will you consider it?”

“I’ll daydream about it, if that’s what you mean.”

“How about just like… making some moves? Like, subtle flirting?”

“Oh my god,” Adora groaned. “Fine. I will do some very subtle flirting – and see if she reprociates, or not. But I don’t know how to flirt.”

Glimmer pouted. “Neither do I, actually. We’ll ask Bow.”

“Bow?”

“Yeah – he’s pretty good at getting dates.”

“You didn’t know you were gay?” Bow asks. They’re congregating around his locker as he switches out binders. “But… you had such a huge crush on Huntara as a freshman.”

“That wasn’t a crush! I just… liked looking at her muscles.”

“You literally used to challenge her at everything.”

“That wasn’t flirting! I was just… asserting myself as a good athlete.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bow closed his locker. “Catra. You’re gonna flirt with her?”

“Not flirt. Just… try and figure out if she’s into me, so I can ask her out.”

“Right,” said Bow. “Well… be yourself. Smile a little more, laugh a little more, touch her if you can – but be yourself, primarily. That’s always worked for me.”

“Okay,” Adora said. “That is the worst advice I’ve ever gotten.”

“Hey!” Bow crossed his arms over his chest. “I take offense to that.”

“Smile more?” Glimmer mulled. “But… how is that flirting?”

“It just is,” Bow sighed. “I don’t know how. It kind of makes you feel special – you got that person to smile more, and laugh more, and be physically affectionate. All that sort of stuff, right? It’s attractive.”

“Alright,” Adora nodded. “I’ll try it. I have chemistry next.”

“Ooh. With Catra?”

“Yeah.” Adora nodded, and a familiar figure brushed past her in the hall. “Hey, there she is now. Catra!”

Catra didn’t turn – within a few seconds, she was lost in the crowd of students in front of them. “Huh.” Adora frowned. “You think she didn’t hear me?”

Bow and Glimmer exchanged a confused glance. “You have all of Chemistry to figure it out. Good luck!” Glimmer said – and with a harsh pat on the back, the two of them disappeared, too.

“Right,” Adora said, more to herself than anything. “Okay. It’s simple. I just smile more, laugh more, touch her more, if I can. Easy-peasy.”

The moment Adora walked into Chemistry – and didn’t receive a, “Hey, Adora,” in greeting – she knew it was not going to be easy. For some reason, Catra seemed annoyed at her; no making conversation as they waited for the teacher, no response to the two extra times Adora had said her name (y’know, just in case she hadn’t heard the first greeting.)

And then the teacher came in, and the lesson began – and Adora was forced to push the behaviour to the back of her mind, focussing on the task at hand. An experiment, their teacher was saying. Lab partners – chemicals – instructions.

All too soon, the teacher had finished their explanation, and students were standing, getting what they needed. Catra had stood, too – and was crossing the room, to grab something or other. It was notably strange, now, how Adora could feel the distance between them as it increased with every step. She wanted to be close to Catra.

What had she done wrong?

“Okay,” Catra said as she came back to their desk, beakers in hand. “I can do it if you write it down.”

Adora’s eyes were caught on the tension in Catra’s face; how her eyes remained on the lab equipment, and her lips didn’t quirk up the same way they had not two days ago in that ice cream shop. “Okay,” Adora said after a moment of waiting for something – maybe for Catra to look up and meet her gaze, and offer one of those soft smiles she did that meant everything was going to be alright. “Okay.”

“Great,” Catra said bitingly, putting on lab goggles (and handing Adora a pair.) “Okay – test one, mixing the Hydrochloric Acid with…”

Adora allowed her brain to fill with static again. Catra was mad at her, for some reason. She couldn’t tell her she loved her when Catra was mad. She had to… she had to figure out what she’d done wrong. Retrace her steps, maybe. Except, Adora’s memory was faulty at the best of times, and whilst she’d logged every moment with Catra in her mind, she’d really only focussed on the good. Which meant she’d probably stopped paying attention, and done something stupid, and now Catra was – rightfully – mad at her.

“Adora?” She blinked; Catra’s eyes were on her. On her hand, though, which was holding an un-moving pen. Not on her eyes. “The answer is ‘blue.’”

Her voice was softer, but still bitter. “Okay,” Adora said, writing it down.

“Hey, why don’t you do it?” Catra suggested. “It might help you focus.”

Adora didn’t want to focus. She wanted to zone out and be able to think, until she landed on the right thing to apologise for, until she could fix whatever the weird tension in their relationship was. But she couldn’t voice this, so instead, she just said, “Okay.”

Adora stood. Catra took her place.

The experiment was simple; measure out X amount of an acid, mix it with another acid, observe the results. Catra had already set everything up; all Adora had to do was pour it in.

She picked up the measuring cylinder, and poured. The two liquids mixed, and turned white.

Next. “Green.” And then again. “Yellow.” Catra.

On the fifth, and final, experiment, nothing happened. “Um,” Adora paused. “Did I do it wrong?”

Catra traced over her notes. “No, that’s what we were supposed to do. Maybe we should try again?”

Adora was nodding, and crossing the classroom, to grab another test tube – or maybe a beaker. Catra. The static was back. Catra. She picked up what she thought she needed, and her eyes began to blur. Catra.

She completely missed the words of warning, and crashed into another student, sending the glassware into her hands shattering into the ground.

Another mistake, and once again, it was all her fault. Great.

Adora began picking up the glass, the blur in her eyes worsening as tears fully formed, looming on her eyelashes. A small shard cut into her skin; red stood out against white, forming a thick droplet. She continued.

“Adora!” A hand on her shoulder. Catra.

She looked up, and there she was – Catra, not mad, just… concern in her eyes. The tear took that exact moment to trail down her cheek.

Catra’s face hardened into a resolve Adora had seen many times before, and she stood. “I’m taking Adora to the nurse.”

The teacher didn’t protest – the whole class, that had gone silent, seemed to look away at this ‘resolution’, trying to get back to work. Catra leant back down, helping Adora drop the glass she’d already collected, and used that wrist to pull her out of the classroom.

The walk to the nurse’s office was silent; just Adora watching the back of Catra’s head, as she led the way. The head of unruly dark curls that Adora knew were soft to the touch. The mouth, although she couldn’t see it at the moment, she knew was set into a stern line that made the best of people cower. The hand, still on Adora’s wrist, warm.

When they arrived, there was no nurse – just several empty beds, and cabinets filled with supplies. “Sit,” Catra said.

Adora obeyed. Catra’s wrist left hers, and the space where it had been felt cold. She wanted to say something – she didn’t need the nurse, she had super-healing, this was all way too big of a fuss to make over her, she didn’t deserve it, she-

“Adora.” Catra had found a simple first aid kit, and was sitting next to Adora, on the bed. “Give me your hand.”

“It’s probably already healed,” Adora said, pushing her hand behind her back, away from Catra. “Y’know, Spiderwoman, and all that.”

Catra frowned. “Can I see?”

“But there’s no need,” Adora hurried out. “I can’t even feel it – I bet the blood’s clotted. In fact, we should just go back to class-“

Catra placed a hand on Adora’s thigh. The warmth, even through the fabric of her jeans, halted her words. “Give me your hand, Adora.”

Catra outstretched a hand, and Adora placed her own inside it, palm up. “Thank you,” Catra said, looking at the hand. “I just wanted to check if there was glass still in there. Can’t heal around glass, Adora.”

She nodded, and then Catra was examining her hand, using both of her smaller ones to move it around slightly, pushing gently at skin and skimming over already-formed clots. Catra’s hands had always been smaller than Adora’s – when they were younger, Adora had joked that Catra kept her nails long to make up for it. Even now, though, Catra kept them long, almost-sharp, and perfectly manicured. She’d wanted to hold those hands, when they were kids.

They weren’t kids anymore.

“No glass,” Catra said softly after a minute. “I’ll start cleaning them, now.”

She pulled a disinfectant wipe out of the first aid kit, ghosting it over the still-open cuts. It stung, yes – but not enough to make Adora hiss with the pain. She bit down on her lip, unable to tear her eyes from every point of contact Catra had with her. Catra got out a few plasters – placing them over the biggest cuts.

“Okay,” she said when she was finished, throwing the plastic into the bin at the end of the bed. “Now we’re going to sit and chill for a while – and if you don’t want to talk to me, you can call Glitter, and Bow; or I could just call Bow, he’s on the Academic Decathlon group chat-“

“Wait,” Adora said, “what are we talking about?”

“You were… weird in there, Adora,” Catra said. “You weren’t focussing, right? I thought the Stark’s would’ve put you on medication for that, or something. Has it got worse since we were kids?”

Adora shrugged. “I mean, I was on medication, but the Spiderwoman thing makes it worse, and at the same time burns through whatever drugs they give me ten times faster. Mica- Mr. Stark is working on it, but for now, I just… deal with it, I guess. It doesn’t often get that bad, though.”

“Why did it get bad today?” Catra asked. “Was it… me?”

“No!” Adora rushed to say. “Well, a little. Mainly it was just that it hadn’t happened in a while, so it was just building up. I’ve… never done that in public before, though.”

Catra nodded a few times, but they fell back into silence. “Being Spiderwoman helps,” Adora continued. “Just… moving around so much – exhausting myself, I guess. That’s the best way to prevent it.”

“That can’t be healthy,” Catra frowned. Adora let out a breathless laugh.

“I guess not.”

The silence came back, and this time seemed to stretch throughout the room. Adora felt the nervous energy coursing through her again – she wanted to bounce her leg, or something. Her fingers on the hand farthest from Catra began fidgeting with her shirt.

“What did I do wrong?” Adora asked. “Why weren’t you talking to me today?”

“I don’t know, Adora – what did I do wrong? You didn’t want to talk to me on Sunday – I thought you were only being friends with me for the weekend, or something.”

Adora blinked. Of course that was what it was – whilst she’d been panicking about Catra, and her feelings, she’d completely blown her ex-best-friend off, without even a goodbye. “Oh my god,” Adora said. “I’m so sorry. I was… I wasn’t even thinking, just on autopilot, and I was so freaked out by- just, ugh. I didn’t mean to ignore you.”

“Really?” Catra asked. There wasn’t any relief in her voice though, nor forgiveness. “Because I thought you spent a weekend being best friends with me, and decided you didn’t like it. I know – I know it’s hard, but it doesn’t mean you can just brush me off.”

“Of course,” Adora nodded vehemently. “It will never happen again, please forgive me.”

“Why did it happen?” Catra asked. “I thought the weekend went well. I thought we could be best friends again; don’t you want that?”

“No!” Adora answered. Her eyes widened. “I mean, yes! I mean – I want to be more than friends!”

Oh. Fuck. She’d really, y’know, articulated her feelings, there.

“That’s why I was freaking out,” she continued before Catra had a chance to speak. “I’m crushing on you.”

Catra’s head dipped, eyes tracing the tiles of the floor. “We should…” she started, before clearing her throat. “We should go back to class, and get our bags, before the bell rings.”

She stood, and Adora looked up at her. “You’re not going to say anything?”

“About what?”

“About how I just told you I loved you.”

Catra scoffed. “You want me to tell you I love you back? Adora, we started talking again two weeks ago. How do you know you even do love me?”

“I think I’ve always loved you, Catra.”

Adora looked up as Catra turned away, crossing her arms over her chest. “Whatever,” she said, walking out of the nurse’s office. Her heart began to ache; with the distance, or the rejection, she didn’t know.

She felt like crying. So she did.

The day after the confession, Adora swung over to Catra’s rooftop with a bunch of flowers in her arms. As she predicted, Catra was lying on her stomach on the rooftop, blanket underneath her, doing homework. Her eyes lifted as Adora’s feet touched down.

“I brought you flowers,” Adora said, pulling her mask off with her free hand. “They’re yellow – which means apology, and… friendship – you know, because you don’t like me back. So… here.”

Adora passed them to Catra, who had stood and was eyeing the flowers. “Are you sure that’s what they mean?” Catra asked.

“That’s what the florist lady said when I went in. Gave me a special discount for being Spiderwoman, too.”

Catra chuckled softly, sniffing them. “You’re such a dork.”

Even then – bathed in the light of the about-to-set sun, bundled up in ratty old coats to fight the breeze on the roof, smelling the friendship flowers – she looked beautiful. If Adora could paint, she’d want to freeze this moment in time, just to capture every speck of Catra’s essence on canvas, and immortalise it. Her heart ached the same way it had been doing the past 24 hours – clenching something painful in her chest, and forcing the tears out of her.

She wouldn’t cry today, though. Today was for new beginnings.

“Catra,” Adora began, “I know I sort of sprung that love-thing on you, and that was totally unfair – but before all of that, you were my best friend. So, I bought you those flowers, because even if you don’t like me back, I want a relationship with you. Friendship is great, you know?”

She swallowed. With Bow and Glimmer, she’d planned this speech; talking about how ‘as long as Catra was in her life, she was happy’, and all that jazz. But now that the time came, her words were awkward, and nonsensical.

“I missed you – all those years we weren’t talking,” Adora continued. “And, yes, the Spider-powers were amazing, but I can’t even count how many times I wished that I could give them up in exchange for staying with you. Because… you mean everything to me, Catra. So – as long as you’re in my life, I’m happy.”

Catra offered Adora a soft smile, putting the flowers down onto her blanket. She was barefoot, Adora noted. “I missed you too,” she said, reaching for one of Adora’s gloved hands. “I missed you so much.”

Adora was fighting against her face alighting with flame – she was supposed to have strictly platonic feelings for her ‘best friend’, now – so she couldn’t blush every time Catra so much as touched her.

Catra took her other hand, and they were practically standing chest to chest. Adora had to tilt her chin down a little to look at Catra’s eyes. She was holding her breath, she noticed.

“I was pretty surprised by your confession yesterday, too,” Catra said. One of her hands left Adora’s to tuck a stray piece of blonde hair behind her ear. “It came at the wrong time – but the words were right.”

Adora blinked, looking down into Catra’s eyes. “I don’t understand,” she said, and it came out just above a whisper.

Catra laughed softly. “Don’t you get it? I love you. I always have.”

“You do?” Adora asked. “But – my friendship flowers.”

“Those were roses, Adora. Aren’t roses supposed to be romantic?"

“But-“

“Shush,” Catra placed a finger to Adora’s lips. Adora kissed it, softly – delighting at the flush that found Catra’s cheeks as she lowered her hand.

“Catra,” Adora whispered, placing her forehead against hers. They were so close, now, that their breaths mixed. Adora could count every fleck of gold, or blue, in Catra’s eyes. “Can I kiss you?”

Instead of answering, Catra closed the gap.

It wasn’t exactly fireworks – like the movies explained it to be. Instead, Adora’s heart was clenching so happily in her chest that she felt like crying tears of joy. Her whole body was alight with awareness of Catra – her hand curling into the base of Adora’s ponytail, her other hand entwined with Adora’s. Adora grabbed Catra’s waist, pulling her closer, deepening the kiss. It felt… better than fireworks.

If this was what kissing Catra felt like, Adora never wanted to stop.

But eventually, Catra pulled back, out of breath. Adora never needed to stop for breath – spiders could hold their breath for a lot longer than humans, apparently.

“Can I kiss you again?” She asked, looking into Catra’s eyes.

Catra laughed, pulling Adora’s lips back to her own.

----

“And now we’re dating,” Catra finished as Adora pecked her on the cheek. Their lunch table – which had once been just Adora, Bow, and Glimmer – had now stretched to include Catra, Scorpia, Perfuma, Mermista and Sea Hawk (Perfuma was there because of Scorpia, but Sea Hawk and Mermista were a mystery – apparently Scorpia and him were best friends from the theatre-kid scene, and Sea Hawk dragged Mermista wherever he went.

“That is so cute!” Scorpia exclaimed. “Man, you could totally write a book about that kind of thing.”

“Or like one of those coming-of-age movies, and we get to be the supporting cast!” Perfuma continued. “Wouldn’t that be amazing?”

“You two should go for prom king and queen,” Glimmer said. “But which of you to apply for king? I’d say Adora, but Catra’s the one who wears suits to everything…”

“Who’s to say they would even win?” Asked Sea-Hawk. “My dear Mermista is in the running for prom queen, too – and she will not be outvoted!”

“If you said you were Spiderwoman, you’d totally get it,” Mermista said. “But ‘secret identities,’ and all that. They’ll probably give it to Glimmer or something, to get more funding.”

“Hey!” Glimmer pouted. “If I win, it would be entirely because I’m awesome.”

“Wait-“ Adora chuckled. “What makes you think I’m Spiderwoman?”

Mermista raised an eyebrow. “We’re like the school’s only reporters – overworked and underpaid. If somebody takes a single glance at your school record, and then at when Spiderwoman’s been sighted, it matches up pretty quickly.”

“We’ve actually been having a lot of fun accusing everybody else we know of being Spiderwoman,” Sea-Hawk chuckled. “You can keep your secret safe with us!”

Adora’s eyes darted to Perfuma, who was looking especially guilty. “I knew too,” she confessed. “Scorpia told me.”

“I’m sorry!” Scorpia said. “I’m usually really good at keeping secrets, but… come on guys, it’s Perfuma. And we were smoking weed.”

“It’s okay, babe,” Perfuma said, kissing her girlfriend on the cheek. “Everyone gets too chatty the first time they try it.”

“Okay,” Adora frowned. “How many people is that that know about my identity now?”

“Ten,” Catra provided.

“Ten.” Adora frowned. “Fine. That’s cool. You’ll all keep it a secret, right?”

Everyone at the table agreed – but Adora couldn’t quell the amounting dread in her stomach. “Chill, blondie,” Catra said, taking Adora’s hand under the table. “If they tell anybody, you could literally have their memory wiped, with some Stark Tech, or something. Or, just have everybody at this table followed.”

“Exactly!” Glimmer said. “Following them around, just to make sure they don’t make any mistakes, is a great idea!”

“No, it isn’t,” Bow said, “it’s just a major invasion of privacy. Catra, why are you okay with it?”

“Oh, I’m not,” Catra said. “I just wanted to see if Glimmer was the one who had me followed after I found out Adora was Spiderwoman.”

“You did?” Adora asked. “But – but you said you wouldn’t.”

“I’m sorry!” Glimmer hissed. “I didn’t know we could trust her back then.”

“Aww,” Catra pouted, “Sparkles, you trust me now?”

“I mean – enough that you’re moving into my house in a couple months. But don’t forget I’m a Stark, if you ever decide to out Adora’s identity.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Catra waved her off, turning back to Adora. “A month and a half, and we’ll be living together.”

“Can’t wait,” Adora responded, pecking her girlfriend on the lips. Girlfriend.

“Eww, take your PDA somewhere else,” Bow chucked a fry at them.

Catra turned to him. “Eww, confess to your best friend and start dating already.”

Bow and Glimmer both blushed, turning away from each other, and Catra groaned. “Whatever,” she sighed, facing Adora. “They’re hopeless.”

“Yeah,” Adora said, eyes locking on Catra’s lips. “Can I have another kiss?”

“You’re not going to murder me, right?”

Adora frowned. “No, of course not.”

“Right… because you’re taking me to an alleyway in the middle of the night for another reason.”

Adora was in her spidey-suit, sans-mask and with a huge coat covering most of her chest. Catra was holding her hand, also dressed warm for the evening chill, but dragging her feet slightly. “Seriously, Adora,” Catra said. “This is creepy.”

They arrived in front of the specific alley Adora was looking for, and Adora held out her arms. “Ta-da!” She said with a large grin.

“…I don’t get it,” Catra responded.

“It’s the alley you found out I was Spiderwoman in,” Adora said. “You don’t remember?”

“Not really,” Catra confessed. “To be honest, I was more worried with the fact that you were bleeding out and unconscious. That taxi journey must’ve looked really suspicious.”

“Huh. I always wondered how you got me home,” Adora chuckled. “Okay; we’re here for a reason, actually.”

She slid on her mask, losing the coat – and shot a web to the top of the building. “Stay here,” she told Catra, before scaling the wall.

“What are you doing?” Catra asked. “Does getting the high ground make murder easier?”

Adora ignored her; instead, fixing a web to the rooftop and beginning to lower herself upside down, back to where Catra was standing. “I just want to try something,” she told Catra. “It’s not weird, I promise.”

“Everything you do is weird,” Catra snorted.

Adora stopped when her head was in line with Catra’s. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” Catra responded. “You’re upside down.”

Adora used one hand to pull her mask up so her mouth was exposed, the other gripping her web and keeping her up. “I am,” she said, lips curling up into a now-visible grin. “Can I have a kiss?”

“…Upside down?”

“Yeah, that’s the whole point.”

Catra cupped Adora’s cheeks, eyebrows furrowing. “How do I even-“

She tilted her head, and their lips met. Kissing Catra had become second nature – but every time they did it, Adora’s whole body was set alight. It left her metaphorically breathless, and always chasing more.

Catra pulled back first, placing a soft kiss to Adora’s masked nose. “You are the biggest dork I’ve ever met.”

“You love me, though.”

“Yeah,” Catra chuckled, “I do.”