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All I want is you, my dear
We will live up on the tree
In a big white house, in a big white bed
Darling, this is not the end
xXx
“Adoraaaaaa,” Catra groaned from the couch.
“What, my love?” Adora called back from the kitchen. Catra snorted and got up, walking towards the kitchen.
“When did you get that sappy?” She leaned against the doorway. “Why do we even need to have friends over tonight?” She walked closer, resting a hand on Adora’s collarbone. “Can’t we just, like… Watch a movie and get drunk on our own?”
“Listen, it’s the last day of marching band camp, I think it would be nice to let everyone over and, ya know… Party or whatever.” Catra groaned jokingly and kissed her.
“Whatever makes you happy.” She laughed gently. “My love.” Adora laughed and gently nudged her.
“I hate you.”
“You love me.”
“I do love you.” She wrapped her arms around Catra’s waist, smiling when Catra laced her fingers behind her neck. Their lips met so gently, but so carelessly. When they split, they stood foreheads touching in a comfortable silence before Adora pushed her away. “Now help me get the food ready, you dork. They’re gonna be here soon.”
xx
Empty White Claw cans cluttered the large coffee table in the middle of the room, along with several shot glasses, sticky from when Glimmer was a bit heavy-handed and poured too much. Some bottles were on the floor already emptied while others still had yet to be finished. Well, not for long. Glimmer grinned as she grabbed the half-empty bottle of Pink Whitney.
“Shots!” Glimmer chanted as she grabbed a glass.
“Don’t spill it,” Adora giggled.
“I won’t,” she said as she poured too much for the glass, immediately contradicting her previous statement. She threw her head back and laughed as Adora glared at her. “Just take it!” She shoved the glass into her friend’s face who took it without hesitation, grimacing.
“Ugh, delicious,” Adora said through barred teeth.
“We’re doing more shots?” Catra said as she walked back in from the kitchen. She leapt over the back of the couch, landing in Adora’s lap so gracefully and smiling up at her. Adora stared at her for a moment, unable to take her eyes off of her. Her attention was taken by Glimmer shoving another almost overflowing shot glass into her hand. Despite her better judgement, she downed it.
“Wait, how many are we at?” Bow asked, ever the voice of reason, as he also exited the kitchen, a hot tray of mozzarella sticks in his hands. He definitely had drinken the least amount between the four of them because he just was not the biggest fan of it. He had a few White Claws, but he had already expressed his main goal was to make sure nobody got hurt.
“Mind your business,” Catra replied, still in Adora’s lap. Bow rolled his eyes at Catra’s response and used his foot to kick the empty cans onto the floor, allowing space for the mozzarella sticks.
“Yeah, Bow, mind your business,” Glimmer said. She reached down and grabbed an unopened can of White Claw off the floor, trying to open it before Bow grabbed it from her.
“Feels like enough for tonight,” he said as he carried the can back into the kitchen. Glimmer groaned.
“Party pooper,” she laughed. Suddenly the music changed, and Glimmer shot up. “Bow, dance with me!” She grabbed his hands once he came back from the kitchen and began badly dancing with him, drawing a loud laugh out of Catra.
“You show him, Sparkles!” she called out between laughs. She rolled her head over, staring at Adora for a moment. “You’re really beautiful.”
“And you’re really drunk, methinks,” Adora responded, smiling.
“I don’t- I- YOU! I think you need another shot,” she finally managed to get out, stumbling over her words like she had never spoken a single word in her entire life. Without getting up, she grabbed a red solo cup and poured Adora another “shot.” In reality it was more like three, but it wasn’t like she could see anyway. Adora downed it no problem, grimacing as it burned.
“I hate it,” she said, handing the cup back to Catra.
“You’ve just gots to catch up, babe!” She laughed before planting kisses across Adora’s cheek, smiling.
“Catch up?” she asked, eyes wide and a wild grin on her face. “Baby, I- Who are you? I am from Ancient Greece!” She fell back into the couch in a laughing fit, laughing even harder when Catra visibly had absolutely no clue what she was talking about.
“Are you- I- what? ” she eventually stuttered out. “I don’t even think I know where Greek- is that what it’s called? Greek? No that’s the… Language? Culture? That’s the bitch!” Her eyebrows were furrowed. “What the fuck is the place called?!”
“Catra, my baby, my darling, my cinnamon apple,” Adora said, stroking her face with her cheek. “I tune myself out, but I’m like- I think, like… Kinda confident that I just said it? I think.” Catra stared at her like she was speaking another language before her eyes went wide with realization.
“Oh! Greece!” She laughed.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Mm, I’m your idiot.” Catra smiled before kissing her.
“Ugh,” Glimmer groaned, throwing an empty can of Claw at them. “Get a room.”
xx
Adora wasn’t sure how much time had passed between when she came back from the bathroom and when she got a call from Perfuma, asking about Catra, who hadn’t texted Scorpia back in a while and made her nervous. All she knew was that she blinked and suddenly it was almost four in the morning. The tiredness had hit her like a truck, and she struggled to function. “Come on, Catra, it’s- I think- bed? Bed time,” Adora eventually was able to make out. “I want bed.”
“Mmm, in bed with you? With a big strong lady such as yourself? Hmmmm,” Catra teased, sprawled out across the couch. “Maybe you should- you- make me .” Her words held a hint of a challenge. Adora bent down and scooped Catra up into her arms, carrying her bridal style into their bedroom before gently setting her down onto their bed. Adora threw her shirt off and climbed into bed, pulling Catra into a hug.
“Adora,” Catra said, suddenly very serious, her hands cupping Adora’s face. Adora’s eyes bounced back and forth between Catra’s blue and gold eye, trying to focus but being far too drunk to even exist. “I think I wanna marry you.”
Adora broke into the biggest, dopiest smile Catra had ever seen. “Dude, I am so fucking down.”
Catra giggled and pulled her close, hugging her so tightly that she thought she might die if she ever let go. With her face buried into the crook of Adora’s neck, she had never felt so safe, so loved. She had spent so much of her life trying to find somewhere to call home, somewhere to be free to exist without being punished for who she was and who she loved, and it had left her broken and scarred. She couldn’t let herself be vulnerable. She had to learn to be strong, to be invincible. She didn’t let herself feel anything. Some nights, she still felt trapped. She still felt like she would never escape. She had to teach herself to open up, to let people in. To let Adora in. But god, once she’d taught herself that, she couldn’t imagine what she’d be without her. She couldn’t imagine waking up alone, fighting her traumas alone. She had gone through hell, but she came out singing. She regretted so much of her life. There was so much that she would forget if she could.
But now that she was here, with Adora?
Maybe it was all worth it.
xx
When Catra woke, she could barely see straight. Her head was throbbing. She looked next to her but found the bed empty. The nightstand held a cup of water and a bottle of Advil, plus a note from her love. You’ll need it -Adora , it read.
After downing a few tablets of Advil, she walked out of their bedroom and stepped into the living room. Their friends were strewn about the couches and the floor, still passed out. She chuckled a bit as she heard Glimmer loudly snoring. She walked into the kitchen and found Adora quietly humming to herself while she made breakfast.
Catra walked towards her and wrapped her arms around her waist, planting a gentle kiss between Adora’s shoulder blades. “Mm, morning,” she mumbled. Adora chuckled and placed a hand on top of Catra’s.
“Morning. How’re you feeling?”
“Like shit, Adora,” she laughed. “I can’t believe you’re not hungover.”
“Never have been, never will be,” she said with a grin. “Do you want eggs or just pancakes?”
“Hm… Eggs too.”
“Morning, lovebirds,” Bow said with a sleepy grin from the doorway to the kitchen. “You two had a very interesting conversation last night.”
“Did we?” Adora asked as she closed the fridge. “What about?”
“Catra basically proposed.” Adora almost dropped the eggs she was holding. That actually happened? It wasn’t a dream? she thought to herself as she cracked one and let the contents spill into the bowl.
“Oh,” was all Adora said. She felt Catra’s eyes staring into her, waiting for her to say anything else, but she couldn’t. She didn’t know what to say.
Bow must have felt the tension, because he mumbled something about waking Glimmer up before he ducked out of the room.
The silence between the two of them was unnerving. Neither of them knew how to start this conversation. Adora tried not to let it bother her, instead opting to continue making breakfast. She really wanted to say something, to say anything, but she physically couldn’t bring herself to speak. She knew that it was their point of no return; what either of them said could make the other want to leave. Or, at least, that’s what she thought. She didn’t want to say anything that would drive Catra away. She knew Catra had a rough life, and that being close to people wasn’t something she was used to.
“Adora?” Catra’s voice made her snap back to reality. It didn’t sound like her usual tone, which worried her. It was delicate and quiet, like she was trying to not step on eggshells. Adora waited for a moment, trying to see if she would continue, but she didn’t. She glanced over to watch her fidget with her fingers, staring at the floor.
“Hm?” she mumbled softly, giving her space to say more.
“I- I don’t want to make you, like… Uncomfortable by any means, but I- I just…” she trailed off, trying to find the words. “I was serious. Last night, I mean. I- like, I know we haven’t been together for very long, but I-“
“Catra?” Adora cut her off. She walked towards her, cupping her cheek with a hand. Catra’s eyes bore into hers, searching for something Adora wasn’t sure of. The vulnerability in her eyes made her heart melt. “I mean it, too,” she said after a second, smiling softly.
Catra’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her into a hug that was so tight she couldn’t breathe. Or maybe it was just that she forgot how to. She didn’t care either way as she wrapped hers around Catra’s shoulders, holding her close. She never wanted to let go.
Catra pulled away, drawing a whine out of Adora. She cupped her cheek and rested their foreheads together.
“I love you, Adora.” Her voice was barely even audible, Adora was half convinced she didn’t say anything. But she knew she did. And she knew she felt the same.
“I love you, Catra.”
xx
Under normal circumstances, Adora hating the feeling of everyone’s eyes being on her. It made her feel nervous, out of control.
But in that moment, she didn’t feel anyone around her.
In that moment, the only eyes that mattered were Catra’s.
Catra’s eyes. God, how Adora loved them. She had never seen anything as beautiful as long as she lived.
As she walked down the aisle, and as she felt Catra’s eyes on her, she felt so at peace. The years leading up to that moment were stressful and hard. But it was so worth it to be there with the woman she loved more than anything.
Catra’s mouth was opened slightly as she stared. She had never seen anything as beautiful as long as she lived. Adora wore a gorgeous white flowing dress with gold accents. Her hair was down, something that she rarely let people see until that moment. Tears welled in Catra’s eyes, a smile forming on her face, as Adora got closer.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Perfuma, who had so graciously offered to be their officiant, started. “We are gathered here today to marry Catra Maria Espinoza and Adora Hope Grayskull.” She gestured to Catra, as they had rehearsed, for her to read her vows.
She pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and cleared her throat while she unfolded it.
“My life hasn’t been very easy. When I was young, I had it ingrained in my mind that I don’t deserve happiness, that every bad thing that came my way, I had coming. I pushed everyone away; I made sure that every piece of good that I had, I couldn’t keep. And I let myself victim to so many bad things, thinking that I deserved it. I never knew what it felt like to be loved. Until I met Adora. She showed me things that I would never have imagined. She showed me what it meant to have friends, to mean something to someone. I tried to push her away, but… We all know Adora. She never made anything easy, did she? And after a while, she proved that I deserve good things. She proved that I deserve love. And all the good things I’ve done these past few years have all been for her.
“I, Catra Maria Espinoza, take you, Adora Hope Grayskull, to be my wife, to have and hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish always.”
A peaceful silence fell over the room as Perfuma then looked to Adora. She took a shaky breath, suddenly on the brink of panic, before she met Catra’s eyes, her reassuring smile, a knowing look that it’s just them in that moment.
“‘You are worth more than what you can give to other people. You deserve love, too.’ Those were some of the last words my mother said to me before she passed when I was fourteen. I had spent so much of my life trying to be strong for everyone around me that I forgot that I need to let myself feel something. And Catra… Catra made me feel. She made me feel like it’s okay to feel. She has shown me some of the best times of my life in only a few short years. She reminded me that I do deserve love. And I think that if my mom was still around, she would love her almost as much as I do.
“I, Adora Hope Grayskull, take you, Catra Maria Espinoza, to be my wife, to have and hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish always.”
“And the rings?” Perfuma quietly asked, nodding towards Razz, who was seated in the front row. She stood and slowly walked towards them, a small basket in her hands. Catra carefully removed one of the rings from the basket, and took Adora’s hand.
“With this ring,” she said, planting a small kiss onto Adora’s hand, “I wed you and pledge you my love now and forever.” She slid the ring onto Adora’s ring finger.
“With this ring,” Adora repeated, taking the other ring from the basket and kissing Catra’s hand, “I wed you and pledge you my love now and forever.”
“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you married.” Perfuma smiled lovingly. “You may now kiss the bride!”
Catra let out a tear as she cupped Adora’s cheek and kissed her, so softly, so tenderly, with all the love that she had ever felt in her heart as long as she had lived.
Nothing around them was even real. All of their friends and family in attendance, cheering as they watched the two kiss for the first time as wives, felt like they were a million miles away. It was just her lips against Adora’s.
For the first time in her life, she felt like everything was right. She had Adora, Adora had her. They would be together for as long as the two of them lived. Safe. Secure. Loved.
And that was all she ever wanted.
xXx