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Catra woke up and immediately knew something was wrong. The first thing they noticed was that they woke up to an actual alarm clock instead of their mother shouting and threatening them.
They weren't sure whether or not to be alarmed at this fact or not but they got up never less. The next thing that was out of place was that Catra was also not in their sorry excuse for a room but a moderately sized bedroom that had posters on the wall and a desk in the corner. Catra walked around in the room for a while trying to figure out who the room belonged to when she heard an older female voice calling from downstairs.
“Adora hurry up you’re going to be late.” Oh no. Catra looked down at their hands and realized that their complexion was wrong. Catra had always had dark brown skin that they inherited from their latino father. But as they looked down at their hands they were the hands of a caucassian person. Catra ran into the bathroom and realized that not only did they have Adora Grayskull’s blond hair and blue eyes, they were Adora Grayskull.
Adora had been a long time crush of Catra’s but they never had the guts to actually talk to the tall blonde now they were in her body. ‘Wow Catra’ they thought to themself ‘what the heck happened that caused this.’ Catra was bluntly putting it freaking out. There were so many questions flooding a head that wasn’t their own. Where was the real Adora, What was Catra going to do, What were they going to tell Adora’s mom? In the end they just replied downstairs “Coming mom” Catra yelled. They heard a gasp and the stairs creaking “ ‘Dora what did you call me?”
Catra panicked, when their own mother asked that question it meant they screwed up. The bedroom door was opened by a woman a couple years older than they was “ Look Adora I may have taken on the motherly role but still I'm not that much older than you I’m only 4 years older than you squirt.” said the woman and she ruffled up Adora’s hair that was somehow still in its famous hair poof. They continued to wonder who that was as they put on Adora’s letterman jacket and backpack.
They got to school like normal? They didn’t really know but they were not okay with the fact that sparkles and arrow boy were making their way over to them. “Hey Adora,” said arrow boy. “Hey…..Bow '' replied Catra who kinda forgot his actual name for a second.
Bow had black hair and was sporting his signature crop-top as usual, he was nice, just enthusiastic about everything.
His girlfriend Glimmer who Catra had nicknamed Sparkles was a short stocky girl with bright pink hair with purple on the underside.
Sparkles looked a little suspicious but didn’t say anything. Catra kinda just ignored them and looked for their body and hetero chromatic eyes. “Hey Glimmer have you seen m- I mean Catra” She asked Glimmer. Honestly, Glimmer was the only one who probably knew where they were. “I do but why do you want to know, finally asking them out?” said Glimmer teasingly. Wait did Adora actually have a crush on them?! Yet another thing to add to the list of things to question later.
“Maybe? I just need to talk to them right now.” Said Catra using Adora’s voice. “Adora sometimes you really are a dumb jock, they’re obviously in their first period.” Replied Glimmer. Catra felt so dumb, their body was probobly in their first period. Catra didn't waste another second before they bolted to their math class.
Adora woke up not from her usual alarm but from a woman yelling at her from another room. Adora began to panic; she must've missed the bus, ‘Mara’s obviously pissed’ whenever Adora missed the bus Mara had to take time out of her day to take her to school.
Adora got out of the bed and yelled back “Sorry Mara I’m coming!” She heard what she thought was Mara coming towards the room. That’s when Adora realized this wasn’t her room, and this was not the color of her skin. Which meant that probably wasn’t Mara. A woman bursted in the room with a furious look on her face.
“Insolent girl! how dare you! you should know better Catrarina!” the woman yelled as she raised her hand to strike her. Before Adora could even realize what was happening she felt a sharp pain on her cheek.
Adora had barely realized that she had been called Catrarina until she reached the bathroom and saw a face that wasn’t hers staring back. Instead of soft baby blue eyes she saw a golden eye and a blue eye staring back. Gone was Adora’s blond hair always in a ponytail and there was instead a mane of dark hair frizzled from not being brushed. It was starting to come together in Adora’s mind. Instead of focusing on the pain Adora realized the name that the woman had said “Catrarina” did she mean Catra? Adora had always figured that Catra was not their real name but Catrarina was somewhat unexpected.
But somehow she was Catra, or at least she looked like them. That meant that the woman that had struck her was, a shiver ran down Adora’s spine at the thought, Catra’s mother. Catra had always been rough around the edges, that was a small part of why Adora had a major crush on the short latino person. But no one really knew why the person acted, why they did, but now Adora knew.
That was something to dwell on later now she had to get to school and avoid Catra's mother. Wait.... If Adora was in Catra’s body did that mean that Catra was in her’s?! Well at least Catra had a small break from their mother either way. That thought gave Adora a small comfort in the situation.
Adora made her way to school successfully and went to Catra's first class. Adora had figured out Catra’s daily schedule a while ago, Glimmer made fun of her for it but look who’s laughing now. Adora let out a small chuckle and her heart warmed when she heard Catra’s come out of her mouth. Adora loved Catra’s raspy laugh, she liked Catra as a whole but their laugh was one of the greatest things in life for Adora. She stepped into Mrs. Spinnerella’s class and sat down in a random seat. All of a sudden her body burst in.
Mrs. Spinnerella was taking the role when all of a sudden Adora burst into the room. What was even stranger was that Catra got up from their desk and grabbed Adora by her jacket and pulled her into the hallway. Mrs. Spinnerella didn’t really care that the pair left, she knew that the both of them were crushing on each other and it was their senior year anyway. Besides the scenario she just witnessed was the same way her now wife asked her out on a date. They’ll be fine.
Adora pulled whoever was in her body into the hallway “Who are you” She tried to say in a non-menacing voice. “Well technically I’m you if I’m correct and I’m someone else if I’m wrong” Catra said, making Adora’s voice snarky. “Well” said Adora “that’s my body and I kinda want it back.” Catra’s borrowed eyes grew wide, they had been right. “Huh, well I could say the exact same thing.” Adora then realized that she knew who was in her body. “I’m sorry,” Said Adora.
Catra hated how she made their voice sound so weak. “Unless you did something to cause this princess, you have no reason to be sorry,” said Catra. Catra had given Adora the nickname based on her room that they woke up. It looked like something out of a chessy fairytale.
‘Wow am I really this short?’ thought Catra as they stared down at themself from Adora's body. Instead of responding Adora hugged her own body, a body that wasn't her own moved before she knew what to do. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes until Adora moved back. Catra had no clue where Adora was going with this but she went along.
Adora grabbed the hand of Catra’s borrowed body and pulled them to a more private place on the roof of the school. No one really went up there and it was a nice day out, pleasantly warm with light cloud coverage. “I think this is going to be a long conversation.” Catra scoffed as they both sat down ‘of course it is princess I’m literally in your body’ Catra froze up at the thought. If this was Adora and Adora has been living their life since this morning she ran into Sharron.
Sharron was Catra's step-mother and their only living relative since their dad died a couple years back. That's when they noticed the red mark on their body’s cheek. “She hit you didn’t she, this morning I mean.” Catra stated.
It wasn't a question, they knew what the old hag was capable of. Adora grew somber and nodded softly, her borrowed hetero-chromatic eyes cast tot the floor. It was Catra’s turn to hug their body, they felt the sudden urge to comfort her. Sharron Weaver had always been a cruel woman to Catra but the abuse got worse after their father died in a car crash. Catra had many scars and bruises all over their body and now Adora could feel all of them.
Catra spoke “What happened, I’m so sorry but I need to know.” they said the words softly as not to scare Adora. “I woke up and she was yelling at me, I thought I was in my own house so I called her Mara. And then… then she hit me.” Catra’s grip tightened around Adora as rage filled them. They wanted nothing more than to get revenge, not for themself or the years of abuse but for Adora and the single strike that she received from Sharron. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry” Catra said with remorse.
Adora started giggling, it startled Catra but they joined in ,before playfully asking Adora “what are you giggling about.” Adora started cackling Catra’s raspy cackle “We’ve barely even talked about how I’m in your freaking body right now and you’re in mine” Adora replied still laughing.
Catra then started to cackle, this was such a stupid situation that somehow both of them got into.
As the pair started to settle down Catra remembered something that Glimmer had said.
“Hey princess?” Catra asked. Adora gave a sound that meant that she was listening to the question. “Ya know when I was looking for you and my body I ran into sparkles-” “You mean Glimmer?” Adora interrupted. Carta sighed “Yes Sparkles, anyway I asked where you- or really I was and do you know what she asked me?” Adora was starting to get nervous “W-what didn she ask you?” Oh this is great, Catra thought. “Well” drawled Catra “She said, her words exactly ‘finally asking them out?’”
Adora got beet red, or she would have been if she had been in her own body the color her skin was getting was more of a rosy brown. “Look Catra” Adora said nervously “I get it if you don't like me that way a-and when I got changed I promise I didn’t sneak a peek, I swear” Her words came out in a frantic mess but Catra stayed perfectly calm.
“Calm down princess, besides it’s not like I’ve been crushing on you since freshman year. “ Now Adora’s face was nearing a beet red, surprising even Catra who had never gotten that red before.
Adora looked at them, she really looked at them wearing her features. She took a deep breath before kissing them. Catra was surprised by the kiss at first but then after a split second they leaned in.
This felt so much like a dream, a weird awful amazing dream that neither wanted to wake up from. As they both took a breath Catra asked “Hey wanna just stay up here and take a nap then join the rest of the world?” Adora laughed but said yes. The both of them really needed a nap after this. As the both drifted off to sleep Catra had one last thought before falling asleep ‘Please let this be real’.
When Catra woke up, she woke up in the arms of a blonde jock taller than her. When Catra woke up she saw out of mismatched golden and blue eyes. Catra woke up Adora just to check, they needed to be sure. As Adora started to lazily open her eyes she quickly came to the same realization that Catra had. They were somehow back in their own bodies. They both looked at their hands and the clothes that they hadn’t put on, but the other did.
When they were sure that they were back in their bodies they looked at each other. They just stared at each other not moving or talking until they heard giggling from somewhere on the roof. Catra immediately became alert as they stood up to find the source of the sound.
Years of living in an abusive household had left Catra paranoid at any sudden sound. They felt a hand on their shoulder that they knew wasn’t Adora’s and they grabbed it and put the unknown person in an arm lock. That’s when they noticed the person’s short black hair and dark skin. The boy was also wearing a crop top and immediately Catra knew who it was and let them go. It was Bow once again getting on their nerves.
He giggles nervously as he backed up into his girlfriend Glimmer, who was smirking like it was permanently frozen on her face.
What Catra and Adora also noticed was that the short girl had a phone in the hand. What Glimmer did with that phone the pair could imagine. “Hey guys sorry to disturb your nap but school kinda ended like fifteen minutes ago.” Glimmer drawled.”So me and Bow came looking for you and we ended up here and you guys just looked so cute… but” Yep Catra called it there’s the but. “We kinda sorta took a picture of you guys snuggling.”
As she said this she turned her phone to reveal that she had indeed taken a picture. Bow was still being a nervous ball and said “Sorry for scaring you Catra you and Adora were just kinda looking at your hands a lot and I got a bit concerned.”
huh well that made sense, Catra thought. Although they still weren't satisfied with that explanation so they walked over to where their now girlfriend was still sitting and sat down next to her. They continued to look over at Glimmer and Bow with a smug look on their face and then proceeded to kiss their girlfriend.
Glimmer and Bow had no words as they watched and eventually just looked away from the pair making out on the roof of the school.
The four of them stayed up on the roof for quite a while, talking and laughing. Eventually the sun started to set and the two couples sat together watching it in a comfortable silence.
wasn’t thinking about their mom, or really anything other than their girlfriend in their arms and the sight before them. ‘Huh’ Catra thought to themselves ‘is this what it’s like to be happy?’ as if on cue Adora shifted in their arms so that she was leaning into them.
‘Yeah this really is what it’s like.’