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They just stayed in the bed, laughing silly. Catra tried to catch some breath and thought these days in space were a blessing in more ways than one. It had been a long time since she had a laugh like that. In fact, she didn't remember being this happy since Adora left... with maybe the exception of that day she and Scorpia conquered the Crisom Waste...
Adora was making again that face at her -her friend had this tender smile while looking at her, but at the same times her eyes looked like she could cry at any moment.
Catra was probably imagining things, but she couldn't help it - the idea that Adora missed her that much made her feel special.
Catra turned on her side to face her. Adora had the prettiest eyes Catra had ever seen. She had never forgotten, but she prefered not to think about them because... well, they were at war. And now they were sharing a bed like in the old times, and all Catra wanted was to touch her, to embrace her, to comb her hair, to...
"What are you thinking about?", asked Adora suddenly.
"Nothing. You?"
"Nothing. Well... I'm thinking about what could you be thinking about".
"Ooooh, clever..."
Then suddenly Adora told her. "Space is weird, right? Like... really quiet. And there isn't much to do".
"Hmmm - and that makes you nervous, right?"
"A little. I mean... when we started we had to take Glimmer back, then rescue you... and there's still Horde Prime but... we can't do much until we get home. At least in Bright Moon we have a gym".
So... Adora thought about Bright Moon like home.
That stung a little, but Catra made her best to conceal it. It was logical, wasn't it? Adora left the Fright Zone years ago.
Besides, Catra didn't have any reason to come back there. The only thing she wanted was to stay with Adora.
That idea would have made her sick a while ago. She looked at Adora and wondered bitterly if the last three years had been some kind of nightmare.
How did Catra end up hating her so much? She knew she had always felt inferior to her, how hurt when Adora left her at the Horde. But at the same time, the cat girl felt as if she was thinking about herself like a totally different person. Catra wondered sometimes if that darkness was still there, waiting to hurt Adora for the things she did and the things she didn't.
Catra would have done anything to turn back in time and join the Rebellion when Adora first asked her at Thaymor -an eternity ago.
"Tell me about Bright Moon", said Catra, feeling she had gone too quiet for too much time.
Adora smiled and stared at the ceiling to think. "It's...I don't really know where to begin. It's..shiny. Everything is. People are so nice and they laugh and there are birds... there are no sirens, no training schedules...".
She was comparing it to the Fright Zone, probably. Maybe those were the first details she noticed when she left. "Sounds boring", retorted Catra.
"It's not!"
"Suuuperboring"
Adora pretended to be angry and turned her back on Catra, silent. Catra's hand approached her friend's stomach to tickle her, but Adora noticed in time and slapped it, suddenly laughing out loud as if the sound was the funniest thing in the world. Catra couldn't help it and she laughed too. It seemed so easy now...
They ended up wrestling for a while.
"Bet you can't do this with neither Sparkles or Arrow Boy", teased Catra, with Adora pinned down on the mattress.
"They play nice, unlike you", said Adora, chuckling.
"Booooring", repeated Catra, releasing her friend. She loved the sound of Adora's laugh. "Seriously, what do you do for fun?"
"Well, you know... we have parties, there's dancing... we have sleepovers, we play cards...Maybe the ship has a card deck! There's a lot of Mara's stuff here...", Adora said, trying to catch her breath.
The mention of sleepovers awakened Catra's memories. "Sparkles told me about you three assaulting the kitchen for cake..."
"Oooh, yes!!!... You definitely need to eat Brightmoon's cakes. There's this one...what's the name... Red... Red Velvet! You have try that one, Catra. It's my favorite! But you know, raiding Bright Moon's kitchens is not the same as in the Fright Zone", Adora explained. "First, they don't actually punish you if you get caught, since, you know, we were the princess' friends after all...besides, Glimmer's teleporting made it too easy - I had to convince her to learn to do it without her powers..."
"I bet I can beat you all three in stealing the cake first, even with the teleporting", Catra smirked.
"Oh-hohoho, do you think so? Let's do it then"
"Deal. What else can you do in Bright Moon?"
"Uuuuh, let me think. It's weird. At first, half of the time I was thinking - Catra would love this, what would Catra do? But now I can't seem to be able to remember...Oooh, riiight! You should try ice-cream. And marshmallows too! They are fluffy and sweet and we can have a bonfire and tell stories and..."
Then Adora fell silent and suddenly got up from the bed with a sad expression on her face, like touching it burned her skin. Catra's heart beat against her chest - what had she done wrong?
And then she understood.
Adora looked ashamed. She wouldn't meet Catra's eyes. "I should have done that", she muttered.
"Done what", asked Catra, getting up too. Adora took a step back.
"Come back to get you. At soon as I arrived to Bright Moon and saw it was safe. I-I thought about that but...but, anyways....I should have had more faith in you", concluded Adora weakly, not meeting her eyes.
Catra imagined for a moment Adora coming back to the Fright Zone at night, risking being seen as a traitor by the Rebellion, to convince her to flee from the Horde, from Shadow Weaver, telling Catra she needed her at her side. Maybe she had a dream like that, years ago.
"I would have said yes".
But she wouldn't have, would she? Adora had asked her, but Catra was too proud, too scared, too angry...so of course Adora didn't come back for her.
It was Catra's fault. She felt a lump in her throat.
"Adora, it doesn't matter anymore. It wouldn't have changed a thing. I made my decision".
Now there were both crying. There were things that couldn't be fixed by saying 'I'm sorry'.
But Adora was crying about not doing the right thing on time . Catra was crying about all the wrongs things she had done.
She needed to start doing the right thing. That's why she dried her tears and, after a beat of doubt, put a comforting hand on Adora's shoulder.
"Now we are together, ok?"
Adora shallowed, took a deep sigh, and squeezed Catra's hand gently.
"Yes. Finally", she breathed, a slight smile on her lips.
They stayed for a while like this, hands touching, eyes fixed on the other. The cat girl had this urge of more -these days in the spaceship the feeling was so overwhelming that Catra wondered how she had survived three long years without her best friend.
Catra came closer, took Adora's face with both hands and nuzzled against her forehead.
She used to do this when they were children and Adora was upset about something. The blond sighed, like she felt relieved, and caressed one of Catra's hands.
Being able to be with her like this... Catra didn't want to let her go ever again. She opened her eyes and looked at Adora's. Then at her lips.
Again, Catra closed the gap between them.
'She's so soft', she thought.
'WHAT AM I DOING ", screamed another part of her mind. That part took control and she broke the kiss, preparing an apology...until Adora kissed her back.
Adora was kissing her back. They were kissing. Catra's brain could hardly register anything more.
'Girls, dinner is read- I'M SORRY', they stopped, startled by Bow's scream.
He closed the door immediately, but the damage was done.
"Uuuh, we should go", said Adora, looking at the floor like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
She had the reddest face she had even seen on her, and Catra thought that hers probably was like that too. He heart pounded against her chest.
"Right".
No, this is not right what happened we kissed oh my god i kissed her and she kissed me back it was not a dream right please don't be a dream.
Dinner was going to be a living nightmare instead.