Chapter Text
"You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking. This has to be some kind of elaborate prank."
"No, ma'am, I'm sorry. The snow is only supposed to get heavier as the day goes on. It wouldn't be safe to take off in these conditions and air traffic control has recommended that all flights be..."
"Canceled, canceled, I know..."
Adora pinched the bridge of her nose and uncapped another exasperated sigh, the fifth of this whirlwind morning. From behind the check-in desk, a row of arrival and departure boards all glared back at her with their antagonistic red letters, reminding her of her newly acute predicament.
"It's just...I was supposed to be in Bright Moon this evening. My two best friends, they're getting married and I'm the maid of honor. So if I'm not there, the whole day will be ruined and..."
"I don't think you'll be the only guest absent," the attendant reassured, her own worn patience beginning to show through her customer service voice. "Everywhere from here to Bright Moon is snowed in as well. I would recommend calling ahead to your friends and getting comfortable. It may be next year before any flights can depart again."
Under any other circumstances, Adora might have laughed at the pithy humor. But as it stood, there wasn't much room for laughter on a day that was rapidly cascading from bad to worse - worse to the tune of three feet of snow and white-out conditions as far as the eye could see. Waking up late, spilling hot coffee all down her favorite winter coat, and almost eating it on a patch of ice outside the main terminal was bad enough; this cancelation was just adding insult to injury and within a minute of its confirmation, Adora felt like she was on the verge of tears.
Clenching her fists and looking away for a beat, Adora drew in a steadying breath and swallowed her ragged irritation before turning back to the check-in attendant.
"Okay, I get it, I'm stuck here. Sorry for pestering you so much. I know it's not your fault and all. I'm just..really disappointed."
"Understandably, ma'am. I wish there was more we could do to help." The attendant glanced over at her computer monitor, noting yet more cancelations rolling in off the tarmac. "Still, I hope you have a happy New Year's Eve!"
Adora could only offer a half-hearted grin as she pulled her now-worthless ticket off the counter and snatched up her bags. She wasn't about to hold her breath over it.
"You, too."
With that, Adora turned back to the terminal's waiting area, where an assortment of weary families and way-leighed holiday travelers huddled together around the gate's sparse charging stations, many still dressed in their festive finery from the Yule celebration days earlier. Despite the blanket delays that were sure to keep them all cloistered here indefinitely, many of them still looked merry, almost as if they were enjoying this chance to slow down and step back from the seasonal hustle and bustle. There was probably a lesson to be learned from that, Adora mused in silence to herself, something something about the true meaning of Yuletide.
But Adora wasn't in the mood for learning much of anything right now, save for the departure time of the next flight back to Bright Moon. This latest blow had her punching herself for not taking the late flight out yesterday, as Bow had studiously recommended. Now all she could do was stew in her mistake, hoping that maybe something - anything at all - would go right for her before the day was out.
The prospects so far were not promising.
After scowling at the winter wonderland outside the terminal's broad windows some more, Adora scanned the terminal waiting area for a place to sit. Everyone had apparently taken these indefinite delays as an excuse to spread out, making it that much harder to find a spot to park her tired body and her pair of hastily-packed carry-ons. A spot in the far corner of the grey, lifeless room opened up before long, though, and Adora swooped in without hesitation, praying selfishly that the former occupants had managed to escape this stark-white purgatory and wouldn't need their seats back.
After plopping down unceremoniously, Adora dropped her head into her hands, wondering how she'd manage to break the news to Glimmer. Before she could pull out her phone and dial, though, a voice spoke up, keen and calm and if Adora was being honest with herself, just a few sips enticing.
"You too, huh?"
Assuming at first that she'd just overheard someone else's conversation, Adora released her head and looked up, searching for the voice's source. Immediately, they made themself known, seated as they were just one luggage-filled space away.
There, a well-loved leather jacket hugging her lithe shoulders, a handsome mug glowered back at Adora, a look of feline curiosity gleaming in her milk tea smile. At her feet, a tattered purple Jansport rested against a pair of kicked-in black boots, while around her head hung an aristocratic air that transformed her cropped, cedar mane into a lightly-tousled crown. Even the way she idly twirled a finger around one of the loose straps on her backpack made her look like an astute, scheming prince, prudent and prying as a new guest stepped into her humble court, their presence permitted solely on the promise that they had something to exchange for the privilege.
And that gaze, that gaze - Adora could feel its flint and steel light a fire in her belly, warming her body until her cheeks began to glow with a pomegranate's ripe hue. They were just some stranger in a mid-sized airport and yet, she couldn't look away, not when she could choose instead to leave her rotten morning behind and get lost in this stranger's beautiful, mismatched eyes.
"Umm, hello?" The stranger raised a goading eyebrow. "Earth to unicorn girl, you in there?"
At once, Adora realized just how long she'd been staring and felt her whole body molt to match the burning in her cheeks. Quickly, she snapped her head back and searched for the stranger's intended receiver, only to find every seat in their general vicinity suddenly cleared out. There they were, alone in the corner across from gate M15, and all Adora could manage was to gesture meekly to herself.
"Me?" she murmured, shifting in her seat such that tiny, winged horse plush affixed to her luggage was a touch less visible. "You're talking to me?"
"Yeah, I'm talking to you, cupcake" the stranger crowed back. "You were supposed to be on the 8am to Bright Moon, right?"
Adora swallowed again. She was just making small talk and that she could abide without gawking. Hopefully...
"Yeah, I was. Or I would have been if all this snow hadn't come out of nowhere."
The stranger dropped her finger from the strap and down to a patch on her backpack that bore the familiar snow fractals that made up the nearby city's flag.
"I wouldn't call it nowhere. They call this place the 'Kingdom of Snows.' You don't really get that name from being sunny and 75 year-round."
"I guess you're right..." Adora nodded before noticing an "ORD" luggage tag strapped to the woman's sole piece of luggage. "Wait, were you supposed to be on that flight, too?"
The stranger shifted in her seat, slouching down a touch more and pushing her scuffed-up Docs in Adora's direction. "Sure was. Seat 3C, right by the window, same place as always."
An announcement grumbled out of the crunchy speakers above, prompting a few more nearby residents to lift their saddlebags and trudge on to another part of the air.
"Same place you...always sit? Do you fly a lot?"
"You could say that."
Snatching up her backpack with a hooked finger, the stranger rotated the satchel to reveal yet more bespoke patches adorning its exterior. Faded cloth surrounded many of them and with as many as there were in some spots, the pack was practically more reinforcements than it was original wild berry cloth.
"Ever since I got promoted to #2 at my company, I basically live and breathe airports. Seriously, I think I could sleepwalk my way through every freaking terminal this side of the Crimson Wastes."
The stranger set the bag aside and straightened up, leaning in closer with a sarcastically stern smirk scrawled onto her face.
"But you know what - occasionally when I'm really lucky, I'll get to take a few days off. And do you know what I do then? I grab a free ticket, kick my feet up, and fly off on a little vacation to the place I love most in this world - my own damn apartment."
Before the punchline even landed, Adora felt a genuine belly laugh rolling up through her lungs, pushing back the fog of what had been an outright dismal start to the day. She smiled and relaxed a bit more.
"Oh, wow. That sounds...can I say it doesn't sound fun? I don't really like flying that much. I can never get my ears to pop, so my head hurts the whole time."
"You should try plugging your nose and blowing, like scuba divers do," the stranger suggested, tapping her own button of a nose to demonstrate. "That can help sometimes. And it isn't all that bad. In fact..."
She turned and Adora followed her line of sight out toward the reception desk, where a man dressed in a navy blue vest and slacks approached and stopped just short of the stranger's seat. Though Adora couldn't make out the blockish writing on his name tag, she couldn't miss its auspicious golden shimmer - not your run-of-the-mill airport gopher, that was for sure.
"Ah, there you are, Miss Catra," the man started in, tipping his garrison cap as he offered a slight bow. "Thank you so much for your patience. The entirety of Swift Wind Airlines would like to apologize for your inconvenience, especially on a holiday. Under any other circumstances, we'd offer you the next available seat, but..."
Catra raised a disinterested hand to silence her visitor, who stumbled momentarily over his words before she could properly cut in.
"Yeah yeah, same thing as always. What hotel are you putting me up in this time? If you've got something with a hot tub, I'll take it."
"I have some disappointing news on that front, I'm afraid. After calling around, there don't appear to be any open rooms in the entire city. Seems the unexpected snowfall has prevented folks from checking out."
The steward paused, but the stranger didn't miss so much as a beat.
"So...?"
"So," he continued, nervous sweat appearing at his brow, "we were not able to book you for a complimentary room tonight. I'm afraid you'll have to stay here in the airport, at least until a new flight can be booked or a room opens up."
"Oh..."
The pronouncement drained some of the color and cockiness from the stranger's face, her eyes drifting down to her meager backpack and its noted lack of anything resembling a pillow or blanket. The steward raised a reassuring hand, even as the stranger continued to study her well-traveled shoes.
"However, as compensation for this unforeseen trouble, Swift Wind Airlines would like to offer you a complimentary upgrade to Platinum Medallion status. With it, you'll be able to freely access the sky lounge by gate D5 and dine at any of the terminal's cafes and restaurants, free of charge."
Both women perked up at the mention of free food, their shared lack of breakfast only now starting to niggle at their insides. The steward then withdrew a single, metallic credit card from his vest pocket and presented it in Catra's direction.
"Please accept our sincere apologies. We hope this will make your stay with us a bit more comfortable."
Accepting the card, Catra turned it over a couple of times before turning back to the steward, her original, satisfied grin breathing its way back into her mirthy cheeks.
"Heck, this doesn't sound so bad. Free food and free booze, I can roll with that." After nodding a few times more, Catra stopped and glanced slowly over at her new companion, who couldn't help but yelp quietly at the sudden eye contact. "I'll take this. But I think you forgot to bring a card for my plus one."
The steward turned his gaze down the row of seats and spotted Adora, her deer-in-the-headlights look growing more apparent by the second.
"Your plus one?" he questioned.
"Yeah, my plus one. Platinum status covers anyone I choose to travel with, right?" The steward nodded affirmatively and the room's most savvy traveler continued. "Then she should be able to get a card, too. I mean, she..."
Catra jabbed a thumb in Adora's direction and the blonde mumbled her name.
"Right, Adora - she's stuck in this pickle. too. Don't you think she deserves something to make her a bit more - what was it you said - comfortable ?"
Nervously, the steward straightened out his vest and fiddled his wing-shaped name badge.
"Ah, I suppose so."
Turning tail, the steward scurried off and out of sight, just in time for Adora to level a disapproving glare in her new friend's direction.
"What are you doing? You can't just lie to him! They'll put us in airport jail."
"I'm not lying," the stranger insisted, cooly brushing a few motes of dust from her jacket. "I've earned this."
"And besides," she grinned, all come-hither and blithe, "it would be my pleasure to travel with someone as dumb and cute as you."
Adora blinked. She could have knocked back a full glass of chardonnay just then and her mouth wouldn't have felt more dry, her cheeks more warmed by the sudden, sultry tannins in her opposite's tone. Maybe this girl was just being generous. But then again, what Adora thought she'd just heard with her own two ears went well and beyond what most reasonable folks would call "charitable."
Adora didn't have long to ponder the flirty words as the airport steward suddenly reappeared, a second silvery-metal card in his white-gloved hand. Her cheeks still rose tinged, she accepted the gift without looking back at her benefactor, who looked on with a satisfied smirk of approval. To Adora's surprise, the card itself carried a noticeable heft, as if the kindly steward had just nipped off and cut it from a plate of genuine platinum himself.
"There you are, Miss Adora. Again, our sincerest apologies for this unexpected delay. I hope you are both still able to enjoy the evening, despite the circumstances."
The stranger flicked her eyes over toward Adora and back before cutting another wicked grin.
"I think I can find a way..."
After another courteous bow, the attendant was on his way, leaving the pair on their own once more. Stuffing her own card in her jacket pocket, the stranger glanced back at Adora and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"So, you in, then?"
Adora turned and looked exaggeratedly over her shoulder, searching again for some invisible intended recipient. But Catra's eyes never left her, forcing her to turn back and point the card back at her own chest.
"Who, me?"
"Yeah you, dummy. You're stuck here, too, remember?"
"But what about...what about whoever you're flying with?"
Adora had assumed as much that a woman this...eye-catching would be traveling with a companion - a partner or girlfriend, if she had to guess. But the stranger shook off the thought before it had a chance to touch down.
"This girl flies solo, thanks."
Adora quickly tried again.
"But...I don't even know your name?"
"It's Catra," the brunette affirmed, "and if you haven't noticed, we've both got a pretty crummy day ahead. Might as well enjoy it with someone stuck in the same snow-covered boat. Besides, misery loves company. So..."
Catra placed a hand on Adora's leg, sending more than just static electricity dancing across her skin.
"I'll ask again - you in?"
The blonde woman didn't need any further convincing. She nodded and clutched the newly minted charge card enthusiastically between her fingers, hoping against hope that those butterflies behind her ribcage would work their way out in short order.
"Yeah, sure! That sounds fun."
"Good," Catra huffed as she rose with a start. "Because I think I might literally pass out if I don't get some caffeine in my system in the next five minutes."
***
In the end, it took far longer than five minutes to find a suitable cafe that offered anything other than drip coffee and dry donuts to unfussy travelers. Fortunately for Catra, their order took mere seconds to prepare once a suitable coffee room was located, their pair of porcelain cups sliding across the Java B&B service counter before Adora could even stow away her new golden ticket. It worked just as promised and now, as they pulled up seats at a table outside the shop's small storefront, they each had a piping hot cup of joe that they hoped would do some damage when it came to burning their early morning blues away.
Catra lifted the cup to her lips first, eager to feel the spark of dark roasted caffeine washing over her lips. Adora followed quickly after, and soon, they'd both taken their first sip, pausing momentarily to allow the brew's earthy warmth to infiltrate their veins. Something was undeniably off, though, and both life-long coffee-drinkers knew it immediately. Adora was ready to hold her tongue politely on the matter, but Catra hadn't been raised with such table manners.
"Ugh, yuck! This tastes like they poured dishwater or something in it. What about yours? Did they screw yours up, too?"
"It's....it's alright," Adora tried to deflect, her straight face wavering as she managed to choke down another sip. "It's probably just a bad batch or something. Didn't you say you liked this place?"
"I do. Or at least, I did. I had a redeye here that saved my damn life once, when I was trying to catch a standby flight to Plumeria at 3am."
Catra glared down at the still-tepid cup, hoping her leer was enough to hurt the beverage's feelings.
"But clearly that was beginner's luck. This tastes like those crappy chocolate coins you get in your stocking for Yuletide."
After another reluctant gulp, Adora finally gave up on her coffee and set it aside, a look of light disbelief mixing in with another disgusted shiver.
"What are you talking about? Those are so good. I used to beg my mom to get me them all year. They might seriously be my favorite candy ever."
Catra wrinkled up her nose, an action Adora had to pretend in silence wasn't the most adorable thing she'd seen all day.
"Ew, gross. Those things are made from brown-colored wax, I swear. I used to give them to one of the other foster kids I lived with and told him they were real money. Kyle would believe anything."
Adora waggled a flirty eyebrow Catra's way. "Well, maybe you just don't have a refined enough palate to enjoy them."
Without acknowledging the mock critique, Catra began glancing around curiously, her eyes searching the far ends of the expansive terminal. After flipping open her phone and running a few cursory searches, she looked back up at her coffee mate, a plan of action already lively behind her eyes.
"Refined or not, I know when I'm drinking crappy coffee. That's why I'm cutting our losses. Let's go see if any of the coffee places over in terminal D can do better than this sludge."
Adora tried her best to object, even as the flavors of burnt tree bark and silt took an encore bow on her tongue.
"I mean, it's okay. I don't want to be wasteful or anything."
"It's not wasteful if it's bad coffee." Catra reached into her jacket pocket and slipped out her charge card, which shimmered with genuine metallic radiance in the mid-morning light. "Plus, we both have unlimited funds, remember?"
"I guess..."
"And besides, I'm basically a walking encyclopedia of stuff to do in an airport. Stick with me and I promise you'll have a marginally less shitty day."
That Adora couldn't argue with. Already her day was improving, singed coffee aside. Where it might lead next, be that a more palatable mocha or...whatever else her nervous brain wanted to imagine, she was eager to find out.
Rising and setting their mostly full cups in a nearby bus bin, Adora snatched up her luggage and gestured back toward the terminal proper, where the morning light had started to paint the path ahead in a more optimistic hues.
"Alright, I'll go cafe hopping with you. Lead on, o wise airport sage ."
***
“See, what’d I tell you? Best airport coffee, hands down.”
Adora knocked back another satisfying sip, an incredulous glare in her cornflower blue eyes.
“That’s what you said about the last three places and they were all pretty bad .”
“Same difference." Catra wasn't about to admit she was wrong, not if she wanted to maintain this docent guise. "Point is, our quest was well worth it and we didn’t pay a cent for it.”
“ I didn’t pay a cent, anyway," Adora corrected. "I don’t even want to think about how many plane tickets you had to buy to earn this much free stuff.”
Catra lifted her spoon and stirred more milk froth into her cafe au lait. "You don't want to know. I have many regrets."
"Either way," Adora continued. "This latte is even better than what my favorite barista at home can make. Everything at Bright Moon Coffee Co. is so good, but this is...something else. It's heavenly. Like this view."
Their eyes floated naturally out into the grand atrium beyond, the elaborate heart through which innumerable travelers passed before striking out for parts unknown. Before flying in, Adora had seen pictures of this central galleria, its high, arched ceilings reminiscent of a circus tent's coasting folds and triumphant peaks. To sit beneath it now felt soothing in some measure, especially as the hub's typical tumult died down to a pensive hum. It gave them both something to think about, something to turn over like a poignant poem in their head - a distraction, even, if only to keep their minds in the moment and not on the alluring invitation sitting only a few coffee spoon lengths away.
"I can't believe I almost missed this," Adora cooed. "I was so worried about making it through security and finding the right gate that I would never have looked up. It's all so enormous and breath-taking - it makes me just want to sit here and sip coffee and watch it all day."
"But you're not gonna, right?"
Adora looked back across the flat top they shared to see Catra, that cocky eyebrow raised quizzically once again.
“Not gonna what? Drink coffee all day? I probably shouldn’t, no, not if I ever want to sleep again.”
The dark-haired woman rolled her eyes and scooted an inch closer.
“No, not the coffee, smart ass. Stay here all day." She slid her phone across the table, revealing a sizable list of interest points spread across the airport's several terminals. "There’s so much more to do in this place, you wouldn’t believe. I was thinking about checking out a few of my favorites, actually, if you and your stuffed unicorn wanna tag along. I mean, assuming you've got nothing better to do."
The flirting, this time, was more bare-faced and Adora decided she had to reply in kind.
“I thought you only fly solo.”
“I think I'll make an exception, just this once."
Leaning the rest of the way over, Catra scooped a little cream off the top of her drink, and dabbed it on the blonde's nose.
"But don't get the wrong idea - it's not because I like you or anything.”
As Catra pulled back, Adora felt a little jolt of electricity run down her spine, starting at her nose and dropping meteor-like into her gut, setting the butterflies fluttering anew.
“Oh uh...in that case. Yeah, let’s do it," she finally managed after sheepishly wiping off the sweet cream. "It’s a date.”
In an instant, Catra's face lit up like it was Yuletide morning all over.
“Ooooh a date, huh? Moving a little fast, aren’t we?”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant! I meant…”
Though she'd have eagerly watched Adora fluster her way through a half-baked explanation of her intentions, Catra chose instead to stand and drain the last of her milk-filled brew.
“Relax, cupcake. I’m just fucking with you. Now hurry up and finish your coffee. We’re burning daylight."