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Catra is sprawled across the back of a couch in one of Bright Moon Castle’s sitting rooms. It is a rare day off from reconstruction efforts. Actually, it’s a half day, because while the workers across Etheria need breaks, Catra and Glimmer can’t quite stop. They took the afternoon off from all their administrative work, though, and now the entirety of the Best Friends Squad – of which Catra reluctantly acknowledges herself as a member – is spending time just hanging out together.
Glimmer is pacing as she tells a story involving explosions, which apparently means she has to teleport into the air and cause explosions of sparkles to simulate the effects. It’s a story from during the war, but it was before Adora joined the rebellion. Catra is amused by sixteen-year-old Glimmer’s exploits, but her mind is only half on the story.
With Glimmer pacing, there is an obvious empty spot amongst the couch cushions. Bow is on one end of the couch – he and Glimmer were cuddling before she got too worked up for it anymore – and Adora is on the other, an expanse stretching between them. Even more than that, Adora’s lap is empty. They already get teased enough about how they hang off each other and Catra really doesn’t need to crawl into Adora’s arms right now.
She wants to, though. She wants attention. She can listen to the story just as well with Adora’s hands petting through her hair as she can from up here. She likes her higher perch and she chose it for a reason, but her dirty secret is that she’s needy and always has been. She wants Adora’s attention, and Adora isn’t giving it to her right now, engrossed in Glimmer’s story as Bow winces and groans about the fallout from that, Glimmer.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t do it now, but it was still so cool!” Glimmer returns, channeling all the youthful enthusiasm of her story. Catra wants to make a joke about Glimmer’s irresponsibility, but she isn’t entirely sure how it would go over, so she keeps it to herself. She’s still learning what is and isn’t okay to say. She thinks the joke in her head would be fine, but she doesn’t want to turn this into a we can’t believe this is what passed for socialization in the Horde afternoon.
Catra absently kneads her hands against the couch cushion beneath her. It doesn’t give the resistance she wants it to – she wants the feeling of Adora’s thighs beneath her, satisfying and full in her hands. Glimmer’s story is done, but she doesn’t seem inclined to sit back down in her spot against Bow’s side. The story worked her up. She has that look in her eye that usually leads to her going teleporting around the country for a few moments just to work her energy out.
“Listen, I can’t do that kind of stuff now, so the stories are the closest I get. Let me remember irresponsibility,” Glimmer tells Bow, pointing accusingly at him. Catra chuckles, ducking her face down into her arms as Bow and Adora both laugh. Catra’s ears twitch as she raises her head a little to watch Adora. Unfortunately, most of what she can see from here is the back of Adora’s head and not the delightful flush that warms her cheeks when she is genuinely laughing at something.
“Alright, point made, enjoy your reckless youth,” Bow replies, raising his hands in surrender and rolling his eyes. Glimmer, the picture of a mature and poised queen, puts her hands on her hips and sticks her tongue out at her boyfriend. She draws herself back up to her full – and unimpressive – height, satisfaction at her victory rolling off her as she launches into another story.
“Okay, this one is way worse, but I think it’s what convinced Mom to finally make me a commander since she couldn’t keep me cooped up anymore, so it was worth it,” Glimmer starts, but Catra really can’t listen. She wants to, but all she is thinking about is how Adora dropped both her hands into her lap when she was laughing.
Catra slowly and purposefully slides off the back of the couch, tucking in her legs so she doesn’t kick Bow as she slinks onto the seat of the couch and immediately drops her head into Adora’s lap. Glimmer’s story doesn’t even pause as Catra sprawls out on her back and looks up at Adora with wide, round eyes. It is an unnecessary pleading look – Adora turned to look at her the moment she shifted and has a besotted look on her face now as she reaches down and takes both of Catra’s ears in her hands.
Catra’s chest erupts into a purr as Adora scratches and massages at the bases of both her ears simultaneously. It feels like heaven, and even better, it means Adora is paying attention to her. Catra is working on her jealousy, but she really doesn’t know how to stop craving Adora’s attention. Just the fact that she doesn’t mind Adora focusing on Glimmer’s story as long as she is still petting Catra is progress, and Catra doesn’t know how to go farther or be better.
Being good is fucking hard, it turns out. It’s why Catra never even tried. She knew she would fail at it. In the Horde, she was always treated like a failure, but she at least knew that she wasn’t. She couldn’t take coming here and being treated like a failure, being a failure, and being cast aside by Adora anyway. To her, at least back then, Adora had already made it clear how little she felt for Catra.
Catra tilts her head back into Adora’s touch, purring softly as she slits an eye open to look up. Adora makes eye contact with her for a long moment, her expression soft and loaded with affection, before she looks up and refocuses her gaze on Glimmer. Catra would definitely prefer if Adora kept looking at her like that for the rest of her life, but she doesn’t feel any annoyance as Adora turns her attention back on their friend.
Adora’s hands are still lavishing careful attention on Catra. Catra is getting better at sharing. If there is anyone with enough love and enthusiasm to go around, it’s Adora. She gives pieces of herself away like she has an infinite supply. That is Adora’s own habit to break, unlearning her sacrifice and selflessness that has nearly killed her on multiple occasions. At least she has realized now that her friends want her here and alive rather than as some great martyr, dead and gone.
Catra turns to tuck her face into Adora’s stomach, still purring softly as she tries to refocus on Glimmer’s story in the background. Doing some quick math on when this would have happened, she thinks she actually heard whispers about the incident amongst the cadets. An entire outpost lost and a resulting fire that damaged all the equipment and spread dangerously fast. The details match up with the story of Glimmer trying to take out a Horde encampment that was threatening a small village.
Adora shifts her hands, abandoning Catra’s ears. Instantly, disappointment spikes through Catra. She squints an eye open, finding Adora still looking at Glimmer with an expression of intense concentration that tells Catra she is also doing the math and connecting the dots. She could do that while petting Catra too though. Catra considers nudging into her, a subtle reminder that her girlfriend is right here, waiting for attention, but after a moment Adora shifts her hands to pet through Catra’s hair instead.
Oh. Well. Yes, that’s acceptable too. She’s still paying attention to Catra, at least. Catra shifts a little, lying on her side instead. It lets her turn her face out and watch Glimmer tell her story, but it also gives Adora access to the back of her head so she can pet her more. Adora’s fingers probably just got tired of the scratching massage she was giving Catra.
Catra sinks into the comfort as Adora pets through her hair and over her ears, her purr a gentle buzz between them as Catra does her best to actually focus on Glimmer, snickering a bit at her antics. Contented, Catra stretches out her limb, feeling them tremble slightly before she drops them down and goes limp. She nearly kicks Bow, but he has bigger problems. He currently has his head in his hands as Glimmer describes them needing to enlist the help of the townspeople they were supposed to be saving to put out the fire.
These are her friends now, not just Adora’s. They don’t blink twice at Catra crawling into Adora’s lap the way she always wanted to but was never allowed to before. Catra likes listening to their stories, even if Glimmer and Bow tend to wear twin expressions of horror and shock when Catra and Adora describe their own childhoods. Catra is still unlearning the way she had to behave to survive in the Horde, but moments like this make it all worth it.
She can just be herself - be with Adora, be with their friends - and take a brief moment of respite in the middle of rebuilding. She can chuckle along with the others as Glimmer pulls a face and quotes the town leader who told her off for her recklessness in a pompous accent. Adora’s hands are gentle in her hair as she shakes her head at Glimmer. Catra was always jealous and bad at sharing Adora when they were kids, but this is a good moment, calm and happy.
She wants to share in it with Adora. She might not be Adora’s one and only friend anymore, but Adora isn’t hers either. The Super Pal Trio has reunited in their efforts to dismantle and rebuild the Fright Zone, this time with a greater understanding of each other. As much as Catra is loathe to verbally acknowledge it, she loves being part of the Best Friends Squad too.
Catra was so afraid of losing Adora when they were younger, she didn’t want anyone else to get close to her. Now, she watches Adora’s unburdened expression as she laughs at Glimmer. She is happier, better, and so is Catra. She is still afraid sometimes – she still sometimes wants to clutch to Adora and push everybody else away, or even to flee from Adora’s arms just from the fear that she will one day lose their loving embrace – but she is getting better about accepting the good moments as they come.
They are small things of beauty in a world just beginning to learn to thrive again after decades of war. Catra’s heart flutters as she absently rubs her cheek against Adora’s thigh. As Glimmer sighs, finally out of steam from all her exuberant storytelling, Adora leans down to press a soft kiss into Catra’s hair. The sound of Glimmer flinging herself back onto the couch – and Bow yelping as she lands awkwardly on him – covers up the sound of Adora whispering into Catra’s ear, at least to their other friends.
“It’s already yours, you know,” she murmurs, her voice soft. It takes Catra half a second to connect the words to the scent mark on Adora’s thigh. Adora is already straightened up again, a small smile twitching at the corner of her mouth as Catra huffs and rolls her eyes. On the other end of the sofa, Glimmer is gently bullying Bow into the position she wants them to be in for cuddling. Catra knows that.
She’s just happy, and it feels good to put the mark on her girlfriend and know that Adora understands the full weight of its meaning and wants it there. It’s a reminder that even when Adora isn’t paying attention to her – even when she is laughing with her new friends and Catra isn’t there at all – Adora is still her friend too. Catra is taking steps. She is bettering herself, trying. Adora promised her, on one of the nights when it all felt like too much early on, that as long she keeps trying, Adora isn’t going anywhere.
She never was. Adora was always her friend. The fact that there are others in their lives now isn’t going to change that.