Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first time Catra walks into the newly built Bright Moon Cafe, they don't really expect much other than your standard cafe; tables and chairs filled with customers, whatever that window thing for all the pastries is called, workers. Really just what Bow showed them in that picture the other day.

"Hey, Catra." Bow turns his phone with his signature dark blue Stitch-themed case over to the Catra for them to see. "Look."

"A... coffee shop? Why are you showing me this?" they ask, raising an eyebrow towards their friend.

"It just opened around two weeks ago, I think. It looks cool right?" Bow looks back at the picture on his phone.

"Looks like a fairy threw up on it," Catra comments. It's true though. With the lavender, white, and brown brick walls, round hanging lights above the tables and chairs, white cushioned seating next to coffee tables, the glittery pots full of plants and pink flowers, the sparkling  cream-colored  fairy lights, and clean white countertops, it most definitely looks like a place a fairy would make their home.

"I thought it was pretty." Bow frowns. Damnit. Stop making your friends sad, Catra, they scold themself.

"It is pretty, I guess." They try to reassure him. "You know I don't really like stuff like that."

He sighs. "I know. But it's got good reviews and it's closer to us than the other we usually we go to."

"Really?"

"Yeah, like fifteen minutes actually."

Catra thinks that over in their mind. "Hmm." I mean, they think, if it's closer. I'd save time and gas I guess. Wouldn't be that much though. They search the place up, Bright Moon Cafe, and check the reviews. 4.6 stars.

Huh. Maybe I'll check it out, they say to themself.

They most definitely don't expect to be stopped in their tracks by how fucking gay they are.

Woman.

Arms.

Muscles.

Pretty woman. Behind counter.

Said pretty woman is a tall blonde dressed in a cherry red hoodie behind her light brown apron, the sleeves rolled up to reveal a tattoo of what looks like the tip of a sword peeking out. Her hair is pulled into a high and tight ponytail that rivals JoJo Siwa's and highlights her sharp cheekbones. And to top it all off, she has an undercut. An undercut.

Wow.

Catra is so very gay.

Thank fucking God for women honestly.

By the time Catra snaps out of their little gay panic, they've probably been standing in the doorway for a minute looking a complete idiot. What a great first impression to give to the pretty blonde barista.

Their brain eventually starts to work again and they finally manage to move up to the counter to order as they intended to when they walked in. They quickly brush their bushy bangs out of their face and ready themself to be able to talk to the barista as they shuffle around the other people in the cafe, their tail remaining stiff behind them.

The girl's eyes, which are a pretty pale blue color, snap up to them from the coffee cup she's cleaning with a green towel. She puts on a bright and friendly smile, placing the cup into the sink and the towel on her shoulder.

"Hi. Welcome to Bright Moon Cafe. What can I get you?" Pretty Barista greets her.

Catra glances up at the chalkboard menu. Their gaze, for a second, drops down to the little silver pin on the girl's apron. The pin reads "Adora" in blocky printed text.

Adora. Of course, the pretty girl has a pretty name. Catra honestly didn't expect anything less.

They realize that they've been staring at the pin located near Adora's chest area a.k.a her boobs for about a minute straight. They blush and snap themself out of that daze.

They remember they still haven't answered Adora's question and they begin to order. "Um, can I just have a... large strawberry-vanilla smoothie and a small black coffee?"

"Of course." The barista side steps over to the cash register, grabs a plain white cup from the side, and picks a pen out of her apron's pocket. "Anything else?"

Catra shakes their head, their curly jaw-length hair bouncing when they do so. " Nah, I'm good."

Adora says, "Okie dokie." and gives Catra a pair of finger guns because of course she does. Of course Catra's attracted to a fucking dork.

"Coming right up." She taps the order into the register, reading out the total which turns out to be $13.84. "It'll probably only take a few minutes. Can I have a name?" She asks, ready to scribble down on the cup.

"Catra. Name's Catra," the brunette answers.

Adora writes it down. "Catra. I like it."

"Thanks. Chose it myself." They smirk.

"Well, Catra." Catra really likes the way Adora says their name. " I'm Adora, she/her." She puts out a hand over the counter.

"Ca-... Well, you know my name, they/them. I already know yours. Saw your name tag," They add the last part in hopes of not coming off as creepy to the blonde.

"Oh right, forgot that was there. I'm new to this whole job so..." She trails off, scratching the back of her neck before she had to make drinks. "Oh jeez, sorry. Gotta make your drink."

"It's fine," They laugh. "I'm in no rush."

"Still sorry," Adora apologizes and she looks genuinely sorry and that just makes Catra want to smile.

Catra stands off to the side, hugging their waist and examining the potted plants scattered across hexagon-shaped shelves hung on the walls next to a corkboard and colorful posters.

"Order for Catra!"

Catra looks back to the counter and sees Adora once again smiling at them widely. Their drinks are there, waiting for them, written on with chicken scratch writing.

"Sure these are mine?" They ask which gives the barista a confused look on her face.

"Yeah?" Adora answers even though it sounds more like a question.

"What does this say?" Catra brings the cup closer to them, squinting at her name.

Adora looks offended. "Catra, obviously!"

"Obviously," they snort. "This is literally unreadable."

"Well, maybe, you can't read."

"Maybe you can't write."

They stare at each other before bursting out laughing, likely disturbing the customers and workers but they don't care.

"Well," Catra starts, looking at the watch wrapped around their furry wrist. "I should probably get going. My roommate's gonna get hungry if he doesn't get this soon." When Bow gets hungry, he binge-watches cooking shows. Catra really doesn't see how that helps at all but they're not one to judge people. Well, they do judge people but they don't that to their faces. Okay, they do that sometimes (most of the time) but right now, they're getting a little sidetracked.

"Alright then," Adora says, making a small wave towards Catra as they back away to the door, drinks in hand. "Bye, Catra. Nice to meet you."

"Same here, Adora." The bell atop the doorway jingles and they step into warm sunlight.

I'm very glad I decided to go here today, they think, making their way to their car.

Chapter Text

The second time Catra walks into the cafe is two days after the first time, the sky is cloudy and gray with rain sprinkling down onto them. They hope that the sketchbook in their hand is still dry but that is honestly an unlikely possibility. They pull up their hood, covering their wet ears, and open the door, exhaling as the warm air from the heater brushes over and embraces them like a hug from a parent.

Not that Catra ever got any of those as a kid.

They look around, definitely not for Adora, and are definitely not happy and relieved when they see her standing behind the counter animatedly to a short, stocky woman with the same brown apron as Adora, tanned skin, glittery dual-toned hair, and mauve colored eyes. They definitely don't feel a small flicker of jealousy sprout in her.

Nope. Not at all.

They stride to the counter, watching as Adora spots her, beams a beautiful and gorgeous white smile, and waves excitedly. The girl next to her tilts her head, looking between Adora and them.

"Catra, hi." The blonde's tone is sweet, her smile so seemingly genuinely happy to see them that Catra's heart melts just a tiny bit. 

"You remember my name?" They ask.

"Duh. Of course," She says.

Catra nods. "Awesome." They tuck their sketchbook under their arm and their hands into their jacket's pockets. "Cool..." they whisper to themself, a small smile defining their dimples and their tail wrapping around their leg.

"Can I just have a-"

"Black coffee?" Adora finishes for them. Catra stares at her, mouth open before it closes.

"Yeah... you, um, you remember my order too?" Their golden amber and blue eyes widen just a tiny bit in disbelief at Adora.

"Uh, yeah. I have a really, really good memory." Adora emphasizes on the second really.

The glitter girl snickers at the statement. "No, you fucking don't. You just have a massive crush-" Sparkles doesn't get to finish her sentence as her mouth gets covered by Adora's hand.

"Glimmer. Shut. Up," Adora hisses, glaring at her.

Glimmer? Seriously? This girl's name is Glimmer?

God, who the hell gives their child that name? Worse, who gives themself that name?

Also, crush?? What is... oh. Oh. Oh?

"Do you have a crush on me, princess?" They tease, their tail swaying back and forth in the air.

"What, n-no!" Adora stammers, blushing at the pet name Catra used to refer to her. "No, of course! Glimmer- Glimmer's just acting crazy..." The girl trails off with a fake, nervous laugh falling from her lips.

As Adora continues to deny it, Catra feels their heart begin to crack a bit but tries their best not to show it in any way possible.

"Relax, princess. I'm only teasing," They say, crossing their arms over their flat chest.

"Okay. Okay. Um," Adora moves to the register, "do you want anything else?"

"Hmm?"

"With your order," Adora adds.

"Oh, uh, maybe... just a cinnamon roll?" They choose the first thing they see on the pastry display even though they don't really like sweet stuff all that much. They can give it to Bow.

"Sure thing. Is it for here or to go?"

"Here." They hold up their paint-covered sketchbook. "Gonna be doing this until the rain clears."

Glitter Girl has obviously left (Catra doesn't know when that happened but they don't care) and now it's just them and Adora. Well, them, Adora, and a bunch of other people but Catra's really not paying attention to them. Not to anyone other than the blonde. Catra leaves Adora be and finds an empty cushioned seat, cluttered with hanging plants and nearby a window that looks out into the street lined with cars and other shops around Downtown Bright Moon.

The shiny girl is back from who gives a shit where and she's the one who gives Catra her order, placing the cup and plate with the cinnamon roll on the coffee table in front of the magicat. The blank page in their sketchbook still hasn't been filled yet since the coffee shop has been bringing them no inspiration whatsoever.

"Thanks, Sparkles."

"It's Glimmer," she groans, the way she says the words implying many people have gotten it wrong before.

"I feel sorry for you," they state, taking a sip of their hot coffee. Glimmer looks confused.

"Why?"

"Your name's Glimmer. That's a pretty stupid name."

Sparkles laughs. "Says the magicat whose name is literally Cat-ra."

Wow.

Catra growls under their breath. "Fuck you, Twinkle."

"You're a bitch."

"Thank you for the compliment," and with that Catra is finally left alone, with Shimmer angrily stomping her way back to the counter. She probably looks like a tiny child having a temper tantrum and the thought of that makes Catra almost spill and choke on their coffee.

They blink and look up the ceiling, bringing the sketchbook up to their head to bang it against. Why. Can't. They. Draw. Anything?

Catra takes a "deep, calming breath" like the ones Perfuma showed them how to do. They try and focus their mind on something but all they hear is the sound of bubbly laughter and they slowly open their eyes.

Adora.

They could draw-

No. No, that's creepy, Catra.

But. It's not like she'd ever find out. And Adora would be a very, very pretty model...

Fine. Let's be creepy, I guess, they think.

They grab their pencil from where it's casually laying on the table and fish through their bag for their colored pencils; specifically, the colors surrounding yellow, blue, pink, peach, and black.

They gaze at the blonde girl, who is currently leaning on the counter with her elbows, scrolling through her phone which has a phone case that clearly says "Swiftie" in white, curvy lettering. Huh. I'm not that surprised honestly.

Adora's apron is off, thrown over the countertop and Catra takes in the deep blue color of their sweatshirt, the ridiculously awful horse printed on it saying "Watch Me Whip, Watch Me Neigh Neigh" in a speech bubble next to it, her undercut that looks like it would be really nice to touch but they're not gonna anymore creepy than they already are, the same ponytail with hair poof that the barista wore the last time Catra saw her, and everything else about the girl. They make a few sketch lines, looking between the paper and Adora every few seconds to make they get the picture perfectly right. They don't want to do a drawing of Adora wrong by getting her nose off by a bit.

They finish their sketch quite quickly and grab a baby blue for Adora's eyes, dark yellow for her hair that honestly looked like it was going fall by the time she was 30 if she wore in that ponytail for too long, a light peach color to best match the girl's white porcelain skin, and dark blue along with some other colors.

By the time Catra is done and somewhat satisfied with the finished result, an hour and a half has passed by, their cup is empty and the rain has stopped, just leaving puddles behind in the streets and on the sidewalk. They pack up their supplies, stuff them into their bag, grab the cinnamon roll and place it on a paper napkin, and look at Adora one more time before they go.

Adora is already staring at her when she turns around, a soft smile stretched across her face that makes her blue eyes bluer and makes Catra feel all fuzzy and tingly and warm inside their chest and why do they feel like there's something in their stomach that makes them want to throw up but, like, in a good way?

They exit the cafe with a smile and multiple feelings swirling around inside them.

Chapter Text

The third time Catra enters the cafe, they're actually accompanied by Bow this time since he decided he wants to meet the mystery barista girl that Catra regrets telling him about now because all he's been doing the past few days is pushing and encouraging them to make a move.

"She remembered my name, Bow!" They yell, muffled by the pillow they threw in their face to hide their growing blush. "She actually talked to me. And oh fucking god, she looked so fucking pretty yesterday!"

"Catra, that's really good to hear." Bow raises up a hand and somehow Catra knows he's doing that and high-fives him. "You should tell her!"

"Yeah, nope. Not doing that."

"Why not?"

"Um, mostly because one, I don't wanna. Two, I don't wanna. And three, I don't wanna. Okay?" They rant, holding up their fingers as they count.

"Okay. Okay," Bow tries and calm down them.

"Ugh..."

"Whatcha thinking about?" he asks.

"Nothing, thinking 'bout nothing..." They take the pillow off their face to take a deep breath of fresh air before shoving their face back in.

"Come on, Cat. You act as if we haven't been friends since junior high. I know when you're thinking about things."

"I'm just... nevermind, I don't really wanna talk right now."

"That's alright, Cat. I won't push you." They both say nothing for a moment before Bow changes the subject.

"Hey, you remember that girl I told you about a couple of weeks ago?"

"Yeah," they say into the fluffy pillow. "Your girlfriend right?"

"No... I hope she'll be but we haven't made anything official yet... but anyway, turns out she works at the cafe you went to."

"Let me guess; her name's Glimmer?" They say it as a joke but then Bow eagerly nods with a large smile.

"Yeah, it is!"

"Oh god..." They whisper. "Yeah, Bow... Really hate to tell you this but Shimmer and I don't like each other."

His face falls. "What? What happened?"

"She called me a bitch."

Bow's face and voice both go serious when he asks, "Why did she call you a bitch?"

"...I told her 'fuck you' to her face."

"CATRA!" His voice cracks as he takes the pillow from them and groans into it.

"...sorry..."

And actually telling Adora that they like her is a thing in which Catra is not going to do because a) rejection is a big fucking fear of theirs and b) they're not even sure Adora likes them. They know she isn't straight based on the lesbian pride pin they once spotted on a bright red letterman jacket Adora had tied around her waist. But the blonde still probably doesn't like them. Nobody ever does really.

Not in that way. 

They don't want to have misinterpreted the situation, make it weird, and then have to give up Bright Moon Cafe's really good coffee and have to go back to getting cheap coffee at the Horde Cup, which Catra honestly thinks is such a stupid name. They don't want to get coffee from a coffee shop with a stupid name.

They take a deep breath, staring at their hand wrapped on the door handle.

"Hey. You okay?" Bow's voice and gentle hand on their shoulder jump scares them of their internal rambling.

Catra nods and brushes any possible dust off their shirt's sleeves. "'M fine."

"Are you sure? You know you can tell me if something's wrong. If we need to go back..."

They sigh. "Nothing wrong. Besides, I promised you I'd take you here to meet her. And you know I never-"

"Break promises," he finishes their statement, smiling at his face.

"Just be... calm, okay?"

"What? I'm always calm!"

Catra looks at him, a pleading expression on their face. And Catra rarely, if ever, pleads. "Please, Bow. I don't wanna mess this thing... whatever it is, up."

"I swear on Netflix's Sugar Rush, my own vinyl record of Fine Line, and my beloved Animal Crossing island." He raises his hand up as if making an oath. "I'll be calm. But you can't really blame me here, Cat. This is the time you've ever talked to me about a girl. I'm happy for you, buddy!"

"I know you are, Bow, you've said that 20 times in the past three days." They smile and roll their eyes, their ears perking up at the airy and light jingly sound of the bell above.

They only walk about five feet from the doorway before Bow stops still beside them and his eyes go wide. Catra follows the trail of gaze and sees Adora looking at them the same, more particularly Bow. What the... All three are silent before Adora speaks up. "Bow? Bow Fletcher? "

"Adora Aimee Grayskull?"

What is happening?

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Bow yells in disbelief, covering his mouth in shock and surprise. Catra reaches up to comfort their sensitive ears. The blonde hoists herself over the counter with little to no problem at all and jumps onto the ground. I'm so fucking confused right now.

The two of them run into, clutching one another in a tight hug while Catra stands on the sidelines blinking with their mouth agape trying to figure what's going on even though they desperately need coffee for their brain to fully work.

"I can't believe it's really you! It's been so long since I've seen you in person!"

"Yeah, like 14 years! I can't believe you still remember me!" Bow exclaims.

"What? I can't believe you still remember me!" Adora parrots back.

"Hey... Anyone wanna tell little old me over here what's happening?" Adora and Bow turn to them, looking like they just remembered that they were there.

"Oh, sorry. Catra, this is Adora. Adora, this is-"

"I know who they are," Adora interrupts. Catra nods in agreement. Adora turns backs towards the coffee machines and remembers she needs to be back there.

"Oh. Oh, wait." A sort of realization dawns on his face. "Is this the barista you've been talking to me about-" He doesn't finish before Catra punches him hard in the arm. "Ow!"

Adora jumps back over. "You've been talking about me? Do you like me or something?" Adora drawls out the words, flashing them a smug smile that makes their insides twirl like a ballerina.

"Or something... Don't think so highly of yourself. You're unbearable sometimes, you know."

"You wound me..." Adora trails off and Catra understands the silent question.

"De León. Catra De León."

"You wound me, Catra De León."

Catra rolls their eyes, ignoring Adora's statement, and instead asks, "How do you two know each other?"

"Adora here was my best friend from kindergarten until when she had to move in 7th grade," Bow explains which Adora confirms with a 'yup'.

"Oh yeah, I do remember you telling me about an Adora back in highshcool," Catra says. "Hmm."

"I didn't know you were Bright Moon! Why didn't you tell me? I would've thrown you a welcome party!"

Adora hesitates and struggles with her answer. "Uh, well, it was... an unexpected choice. Just needed to get away... from stuff." It's clear that Adora doesn't want to talk about it any further so neither of them ask.

"So, uh," she coughs, changing the subject. "Matching outfits, huh?" Adora smirks, glancing between the two of them. Catra looks down at their clothes.

"Bow's idea, not mine."

A few weeks ago, Bow had won a bet between them, a bet that Catra doesn't really wanna talk about at the moment.

If Catra won, Bow'd have to watch a marathon of horror movies with them. If Bow won, Bow would get to choose one day where they'd both wear matching clothes of his choice. And of course, he chose today of all days to cash it in.

Bow decided on fluffy, knitted crop tops (his was pink and their's was blue) he said he had personally made by his girlfriend's aunt, friendship bracelets with each others' names written with colorful letter beads, rainbow butterfly clips to put in their hair, and matching jeans and white Converse for the two of them to wear.

"See you never outgrew your overwhelming love for crop tops," Adora points out.

"Don't think he ever will." Catra stares.

"Oh, almost forgot a part of our outfit!" Bow opens and rummages through his buttercup yellow backpack, taking out a very recognizable pair of hats from the 8th grade that Catra still despises to this day.

"Bow. No. No, don't you dare," they warn the boy but he doesn't care, instead, pulls out a hat and places it atop their head of curly brown hair. They scowl as Bow tightens the hat that has 'APPLESAUCE MEOW MEOW' poorly stitched into it with white thread, glitter, and sequins decorating the baseball hat around their head.

"There." Bow smiles, proud of himself. He puts his own on, showing off his 'ROBIN HOOD' stitching which is so much better than Catra's. (And now they're jealous. Jealous over a hat. Friendship made them soft.) It's well-fitting considering he had a humongous crush and Robin Hood phase when he was younger. Bow actually told them once that that's where he got the inspiration for his chosen name.

Adora is obviously not her best not to laugh at Catra but a few giggles still sneak their way past her covered mouth. "Laugh and I'll kill you, princess," Catra tries their best to growl menacingly, letting their fangs show but Adora doesn't falter, except for the faintest of pink dusting her cheeks.

"Like you could, kitty." Adora flexes her arms to which Catra's face flames up in response.

Bow looks at them with a clear question about the pet names the two of them are exchanging but Catra ignores him. "Alright, I'm hungry and thirsty," in more ways than one, "so, can we order now?" They question, voice thick and tight with frustration.

"Hangry, are we?"

"Please." They laugh. "No, this is just frustration. You don't wanna see my hangry look."

"Well then," Adora begins, walking off to grab a coffee cup from a high-up shelf cluttered with coffee beans bags. When Adora reaches up, her shirt raises to reveal a pair of wonderfully toned abs and Catra blushes. It seems like Catra has blushed more this week than in their entire life. Which seems pretty pathetic when you actually think about it. "Note taken. Usual? For here?" Catra nods at both questions.

"Bow, what do you want?"

"Ooh, um," Bow ponders, staring at the menu for a few seconds before continuing, "can I have a caramel macchiato?"

"Yeah, of course," Adora grabs another cup and writes down their order.

Catra takes out their wallet but Adora pushes it away back to them, shaking her head as wispy strands of blonde hair move as well.

"Nope. Put that away."

"What, why?"

"I'm paying for you."

"Yeah, no. You aren't doing that."

The blonde raises an eyebrow at the magicat. "Why not?

"Because. I'm a grown adult. I can pay for it myself," Catra insists but the girl doesn't let up.

"Yeah, I know that. But I am also your friend so I'm paying."

"What kind of logic is that?"

"Catra." Adora looks them dead in the eye. "Just let me pay."

"...Fine."

"Yay!"

Bow bites his lip to hide away a smile and squeals when they sit down on a rounded table in a corner of the shop next to a bookshelf which is actually filled with more plants than books. What is with these people and their plants? 

"I can't believe this!" He shouts, drawing the attention of the other people in the cafe. He quickly and quietly apologizes.

"Believe what?"

"That my two best friends like each other!" He looks so excited and his smile is wide with joy.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Catra, she obviously likes you!"

They scoff. "Yeah, no. You gotta be seeing things. There is no way in hell she likes me."

"Did you- Did you not see the way she was looking at you?" He asks incredulously.

"We're just friends, Bow. Barely even that."

"Friends don't look at each other like that though!" The boy protests. Catra eyes him.

"Like what?"

"Like-"

"Like they wanna fuck each other?" They interrupt their friend, taking a sip of their coffee. Bow chokes on his drink, surprised by the bluntness of Catra's words.

"That's... not exactly the words I would use. More like, they want to them out on a romantic date but what you said... could work too..." He splutters, coughing and pounding his chest.

"It doesn't matter anyway. It's not like it would ever work." They sigh and slouch down in their seat.

"What makes you say that?"

"You know... She's nice and pretty and fun to talk to and I'm just..." They gesture to themself. "I'm just me-"

"Don't. Don't talk bad about my friend Catra like that." He glares at them, pointing a finger at them.

"Bow-"

"Catra, listen. I know that she messed you up a lot-"

They scoff. "A lot is still an understatement somehow-"

"But. You are not a bad person. You deserve to have things that make you happy."

"And loving someone-"

They quickly sit up at the word. "Whoa, slow down dude. Who said anything about loving-"

"I'm just saying... Loving someone isn't a weakness." He scoots closer to them and wraps one arm around their shoulders. "And besides, you deserve to love someone and be loved in return. You're a great person, Cat."

"Thanks, Bow," they mutter after a few minutes.

"Any time, Cat."

The duo only stays for about 30 minutes before they're both finished with their drinks. Bow cleans up the table, throwing any napkins.

They walk to the door before Adora calls out to them right as Catra's about to leave. "Hey! Catra, wait!"

Catra hesitates before walking up, noticing how Adora fiddles with something white between her fingers.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, totally. Totally fine. I, uh, just wanted to give you something before you go," She mutters so quietly that if it weren't for Catra's increased hearing, they probably wouldn't have heard it.

She places a napkin on the counter and slides it over to Catra. "You seem like a really nice person. I'd like to get to know you and actually talk to you somewhere other than here. So, uh, yeah." And that's the last thing she says before running into the back.

Catra looks between the still swinging door leading to Adora ran off and the napkin in front of them. They pick it up and slowly turn it over.

All that's scribbled down is Adora's number and a small smiley face right next to it.

"Hi Catra:

xxx-xxx-xxxx  :)"

Chapter Text

The fourth time Catra enters the cafe is a week later. Even though Catra hasn't recently been in the cafe, they've been texting and talking to Adora back and forth ever since they got her number the last time they were there.

Through their talking on the phone, Catra learned that Adora was (and still is) a major horse girl when she was a teenager, has a dog named Swift Wind which is a stupid name for a dog if you ask Catra, is terrible at cooking at literally anything (she somehow burned mac and cheese; microwaveable mac and cheese to clarify), and that she teaches karate to kids part-time at the Serenia Dojo on Arxia Avenue on top of her barista job and studying to get a degree in kinesiology which one) how has Adora been functioning properly under all that work?? and two) Catra literally had to go and manually search up what that word was.

(Turns out it means 'the study of human movement' according to Google. Why they choose such a fancy-ass name for that, Catra does not know.)

They also learned that Adora is a massive dork and a little bit weird.

Which for some reason makes her endearing in Catra's eyes and makes them all the more attracted to her.

princess 👑

Hey Catra

Do fish pee

adora

wtf

its 2 in the morning

What? I'm just asking

why are you asking that

and why are you up at 2 am

Why are you up at 2 am?

HMM??

you are so immature

Why thank you Catra

not a compliment

I'm taking it as one

whatever

i'm going to back to sleep

Turns out they do pee!

That is so weird

Catra?

Catra, you there?

Catra?

CATRA?!

i will only say this once

shut up

When Catra walks in on a Monday, Adora isn't the first one they see when they walk in. It's Sparkles actually and when Catra looks around, they don't spot Adora at all.

They definitely aren't upset that the blonde isn't there and they don't get to see the girl's bright, white smile and happy expression that she has on most of the time but they just internally shrug to themself and walk forward to where Sparkles is looking down and organizing something on the countertop.

"Hi, what can I get for-" Glimmer's rehearsed welcome dies down in her throat when she looks up and realizes it's Catra in front of her. "Oh, great. It's you."

"It's me," Catra deadpans.

"What, aren't happy to see me, Sparkles?" They smirk when Glitter Girl's face darkens the longer she stares at them. She shakes her head.

"What do you want?"

"Black coffee."

"Oh, I get it." Catra's confused by the look they see on Sparkles' face, a mix of realization and mischievousness. They're not sure what she's realizing though.

"Get what?"

"You like black coffee 'cause it's black like your heart and soul. Am I right here?"

Excuse me? 

This fucking bitch-

Their face twists into a scowl, fangs pressing onto their bottom lip. "Aren't you supposed to be nice to customers or something?"

"I don't really have to worry about that." Sparkles just flashes her a wide, fake innocent smile that makes Catra want to punch her in her teeth. But Adora probably wouldn't like it if they punched her friend even if her friend was a really glittery and annoying one.

Not that Catra cares. Or anything like that...

Anyway.

"Well, good for you. Can I just have my coffee?"

"Would a please kill you?"

"Yes, actually," They say with a serious look in their blue and amber eyes.

Shimmer doesn't respond. Instead, she just tells them their total and Catra pulls out their credit card. They stand off to the side when the barista goes to make it and takes it from the little counter spot when their name is called.

They pick out a corner spot, sitting down onto a plush, pastel blue chair and setting their coffee down on the low table next to it.

They switch between scribbling on their sketchbook that they pulled out of their backpack and taking slow sips of their hot coffee when the bell jingles its familiar, fairy-sounding twinkle.

And now, Catra feels their mood get instantly better when their eyes land on an Adora bent over, panting in a blue jacket thrown over a white tank top with her hands on her knees. Her usual perfectly tight ponytail is messed up, strands hanging out and framing her face and covering a pair of round, gold-framed glasses. How does someone still look good when they're a mess?

Not saying that Adora is a mess or anything. Just that she looks like a mess.

Wait, that isn't any better.

Just stop talking, Catra.

I'm not even talking!

Who the hell are you arguing with?!

Catra shakes their head, blocking out the conversation they were having with themself which is pretty pathetic for them but anyway. Catra continues to stare at the blonde, more specifically at the now revealed toned back muscles and biceps Adora is blessing the world with after taking her jacket off and replacing it with her coffee-stained apron.

Muscles...

Stop. Catra, stop.

Just drink your coffee, maybe say hi to Adora or something, and then get out. Nobody needs your silent thirsting.

Nobody...

And of course, Adora decides to turn her head right where Catra is sitting and waves and gives them an infectiously sweet smile and now Catra feels all fuzzy and warm and ughhhh...

They wave back and then the nice moment is gone when Sparkles takes over Adora's attention and Catra's magicat hearing picks up a snippet of their conversation. "...in the back," the short girl says, pointing backward to a door behind them to which Catra visibly deflates. Catra taps their black-painted claws onto the wood surface as their sharp fangs fiddle with their silver lip ring.

Catra takes out a used pack of colored pencils and sits there for a few moments, just looking at the empty page before them. They've been hit with an art block recently and they just can't get over it.

And I mean, Catra thinks, aren't coffee shops supposed to be, like, the place to get inspiration for stuff according to rom coms and shit?

Catra sighs, pushing their sketchpad away from them and pulling out their phone.

Well, time for me to mindlessly scroll through social media and lose some of my very valued brain cells.

Catra feels someone tap on their shoulder and they turn their head, no longer paying attention to whatever Buzzfeed quiz they were taking. They've lost track of how many they've done in the past thirty minutes.

Those quizzes really addictive if they're being honest.

"Sorry. Um, hi," Adora says, smiling at them. Her ponytail is fixed with only a few stray strands tucked behind the girl's ear.

"Hey, Adora."

"I, uh, I wanted to actually say hi to you earlier but I was late to helping train a new hire here but I don't really know how that went since I'm new here so I don't know why Glimmer chose me to do that-" Adora cuts herself. "Sorry for, um, rambling..."

Adora, it's fine. I find it cute, to be honest.

As soon as Catra finishes that thought, Adora's face turns a bright shade of pink.

Huh? Why is Adora blushing...-

Wait a damn minute.

Did...

Did I say that out loud?

...

SHIT!!

You fucking idiot, Catra!

"Haha... that, uh, that's-" Adora once again cuts herself off, this time by a nervous laugh as she covers her face with her hands.

Catra has no idea what to do in this situation.

This literally, not once in the 23 years they have been living on this floating rock placed in the massive void of space (that sounds like something Entrapta would say; well, more like excitedly yell), has not happened to them with a girl that they like.

Not saying that Catra likes Adora in that way.

They just.

Enjoy her pleasant company.

And, uh, like talking to her?

Seriously, who are you trying to fool here?

"Do you- Do you wanna sit down or...?" They ask, clearing their throat while nodding towards the empty chair in front of them.

"Yes! I mean- sure," Adora stutters, pulling the chair slightly out so she can sit down.

And then, they just sit there. Just looking at the other. This isn't awkward at all, Catra sarcastically thinks.

Adora's pale eyes dart around the space they're in and- did she just look at my lips??

Ah!

Anyway, as Catra continues to internally panic, Adora's eyes land on their sketchbook strewn across the table. "What's this?"

"Oh. Um, that's just my sketchbook."

Adora raises a perfectly manicured eyebrow of hers. "You draw? Can I look?"

"Yeah, but it's not that cool though-" Adora opens the book and flips through it.

"Are you serious? This is so cool!" The blonde beams at them so proudly that it makes Catra flush.

"Really?" Their voice sounds so small and insecure when they ask that.

"Yeah!"

They both smile at each other and it grows silent while Adora looks through her sketchbook's pages. It's not the kind of awkward silence Catra was expecting; it's actually comfortable to just sit in each other's presence. Well, for Catra at least. They don't know how Adora's feeling.

It'd be weird if they did.

"Is... is this me?" Adora asks after a few silent moments.

Catra has no idea what's she's talking about for a moment until they see Adora holding their open sketchbook in her hand, looking very intensely at a singular page.

Oh right. My sketchbook, they think.

Which has a drawing of Adora.

A drawing of Adora. That Adora herself is seeing. In my sketchbook.

That she has in her hand. Right now. At exactly-

They take a quick peek at the time on their phone.

...2:43 in the afternoon.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck...

Catra's eyes widen, watching as Adora flips through their drawing-filled pages. The girl's usual milky white cheeks are tainted with a faint blush spread across them. They move to quickly snatch it back out of Adora's hands but Adora moves it out of their reach. Rude.

"Adora."

"What?"

"Adora. Give it."

"I'm looking."

"Adora." Finally, Adora looks at them and sheepishly hands it back and Catra holds it tight to their chest.

The blonde mumbles something under her breath.

"What?"

"... they're really good," Adora speaks up, rubbing her arm while looking away from them. "Like, really good. Just so you know."

"...thanks."

And once again, they just sit there.

Totally not awkward.

...

Thankfully, (but also not) Sparkles calls out to Adora that her break's over and Adora gives them a small smile that Catra barely sees and shuffles to the back.

Catra waits a few minutes and breathes in and out in order to calm down their racing heart.

Jeez.

They slouch into their seat, covering their embarrassed face with their sketchbook before groaning loudly, honestly not caring who looks at them in confusion.

Chapter Text

The fifth time Catra walks into the cafe is a day where they are tired as fuck.

But they're mostly always tired throughout the weekdays so that really isn't that important of a thing to point out. They walk slowly through the doorway of the cafe, rubbing their exhausted eyes and glancing and eyeing the empty seats and cluttered and disorganized counters of the shop. They shiver, crossing their arms while they try and adjust from the freezing cold that was outside.

And now, you might be wondering, what is Catra doing in the cafe on a day that it's empty? And how the heck did they get in when it's closed at the moment?

Well, Adora invited them over and dropped a spare key yesterday. For what reason, they don't know. She asked them to come to the shop on Friday before it opened during a call a few days. But that call took place around 3 am and they honestly don't remember a single thing that happened during that.

Hopefully, Adora didn't invite them just so that she could randomly murder them in the back. They don't wanna die in a coffee shop.

That'd be embarrassing.

Anyway.

The main reason they're tired is that they had to get up early. Really, really early. Specifically, 4 in the morning because this stupid cafe opens up at like 6 and they had to get ready really quickly to be able to get here an hour before it's open. Catra questions why people would willingly want to wake up at 6. Or better yet, any time before 11 am.

The almost comfortable silence of the shop is suddenly shattered like glass by the loud but muffled sounds of music playing behind the back door. And also the sound of singing that is embarrassingly off-key.

"...how it gets better than this. You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless!"

Oh.

Adora.

Who else would it be?

Catra walks up to the messy counters and notices a shiny silver bell sitting there. Now, they know that Adora won't be able to hear them tap it over her loud music and they should probably just text her that they're here but they still do it.

Again. 

And again before they yell at the top of their lungs, "I'm here!" That doesn't make the music stop though and Adora just keeps on singing. They roll their eyes and slide over the counter, walking and opening the door.

"In a storm, in my best dress, fearl-AH!" Adora screams when she catches sight of them, tripping over a random bottle of water near her feet and falling onto the floor. Catra resists the urge to laugh and instead just smirks and walks over, holding out a hand for the blonde to grab onto.

"Wow. Am I really that ugly that you just scream when you see me?" They joke, pulling the girl up as Adora stands and quickly moves to turn off the speaker that was blasting her music.

Adora doesn't seem to get that they're joking as she immediately pales and scrambles. "What? No, no no no- Of course not! You're very-... you're very not ugly-"

They place a hand on her shoulder but that doesn't calm her down. "Adora. Adora. Relax, dummy. It's just a joke."

"Oh." She blushes while rubbing her neck in embarrassment. "Hehe... sorry."

They shake their head. "No need to apologize... Thank you, by the way..."

"What're you thanking me for?"

"You know. For calling me not ugly. It's nice that someone thinks that." They smile at Adora as her blush deepens just a bit.

"Ah, well. Uh..." Adora looks away.

And she says this part so quietly that Catra almost doesn't hear it, "... It's true. You're not ugly. Not even close to that..." And what else can Catra do than blush and feel as though their heart is going to explode and kill them.

"Uh..."

Catra quickly clears their throat with a cough, breaking the silence and walking past Adora to hop onto a nearby counter.

"So... Taylor Swift?"

"Huh?"

"The music. That you were playing earlier." Catra clarifies, pointing to the red speaker placed on the counter next to them.

"Oh! Oh, yeah. I listen to her... from time to time..."

"Uh-huh. I know that based on the phone case I saw a few weeks ago that literally had the word 'Swiftie' written on it in cursive. I don't think someone who just listens to her 'from time to time' would have that. Also, I don't think they'd be screaming out the lyrics to one of her songs."

Adora stands there silent before hanging her head low and dramatically sighing. "Alright. You caught me. I am a diehard Swiftie at heart." She slaps a hand over her heart before looking at them and adding, "And, also, I wasn't screaming out the lyrics. That's a little bit exaggerative."

Catra giggles- and they never giggle, like not once have they done that in their life. What is this girl doing to them??- and rolls their eyes. "Yeah, you were, princess. I bet anybody from a mile away could hear you and your music."

The two of them laugh and it dissipates as they look at each other and smile. For like. A minute. A whole 60 seconds.

Catra clears their throat and glances away to stare at a steaming cup of coffee with milk and a large container of sugar next to it on the counter to their right. "So uh. What'd you wanna show me again?"

Adora stands up straight. "Oh, uh... Um, I wanted to show you something but it isn't actually here. In the shop, I mean, if that wasn't clear. I don't know why that wouldn't be clear but-" Adora abruptly stops herself, inhaling and exhaling before turning over to them.

"Do you have a jacket?"

"Uh, no? All I have is this sweater." They gesture to the dark red and white zigzag sweater they're wearing. Adora nods and wanders over to a nearby cabinet and pulls it open.

"That's okay. You can borrow one of mine." Adora reaches for the stray cup left out and places it inside the wooden cabinet.

"Um, quick question, why do I need a jacket?" They tilt their head, watching as Adora walks over to yet another and pulls out two thermoses. Adora hands one to them and they take it, the brunette's fingers just barely brushing their crush's.

Wait, crush? No. No, this isn't a crush. This is just... ah, who am I kidding?

They hold the cup close to their chest and they can feel the warmth radiating and unfreezing their still, somehow, icy cold hands. Adora disappears for a moment behind a dark door but eventually comes out, arms full with beanies and colorful jackets.

She picks out for them, a dark blue one with a silver zipper and buttons, and gives it to them. "Okay, do you wanna tell where we're going? And why do we need jackets?"

"You'll see. We're going somewhere special."

"Wow. That... thank you for that very specific piece of information," They deadpan. "Really helps narrow it down."

Adora just grins. "You're welcome."

Catra is currently freaking out. Like freaking the hell out.

They are standing, well actually walking around, in the unbearable winter cold, their arms thankfully not feeling like they're gonna freeze off thanks to Adora's jacket (Adora's jacket!! It smells faintly like vanilla and strawberry. Is that what Adora smells like?... That's a weird thought.) that they're wearing over their thin sweater that's really not meant for this level of cold weather.

But that's not the part that they're freaking out about.

(Well, they are freaking out about that but that's not the main part.)

It's the part where the two of them are holding hands. Holding. Hands.

...

Like.

What?

They resist the very big urge to scream, panic, and run away and leave Adora all alone with her coffee out in the middle of Thaymor Park. They're not that mean of a person.

Glowing fairy lights, like the ones back at the cafe, are strung from the branches of the park's dark green trees with hanging and colorfully patterned paper lanterns attached as well. Catra's never been to Thaymor Park when it's still dark outside, too cold in their opinion, so they stare awed and wide-eyed at the display.

Adora giggles beside them and they turn to her, asking, "Is this what you wanted to show me?"

"Um, sort of? There's another thing over there," Adora pauses, pointing to a spot behind the willowy trees swaying in the light breeze nearby the gray brick bridge over a tiny river, "that I wanna show you."

They walk over to the place, the number of lights decreasing until they're both standing in almost complete darkness.

Adora drags them through until they stop beside the bridge, Adora kneeling down onto the ground and Catra crouching next to her. Catra has clue what they're doing near a bridge in the darkness but then they hear the tiniest sound; a small quack. Adora shuffles a little bit to face them, though they can't see the best, and whispers in a soft voice, "Can you get your phone out?"

Catra does so and Adora then asks them to turn on their flashlight. They turned it down so it isn't too bright but light enough that Catra can see the pale yellow feathers and small orange beak of an adorable baby duck. The duck's black eyes look up to Adora and the blonde holds out her hands in a bowl shape, gently lifting the animal up when they clumsily jump into her hands as Adora giggles and says that the duck's name is Waddles. 

Catra stares, a little impressed, at the girl in front of them in which the fairy lights behind her shine in her beautiful and expressive blue eyes and frame her face in an almost angelic light from the spot that they're looking at her. The fact that they're too distracted by Adora to even notice the fact that the two of them have gotten closer than before shocks them a little bit.

It's dead silent, only the sound of other people nearby filling the empty air around them.

The space between their faces is almost non-existent, they can feel Adora's breath fan onto their face and probably the same for her with Catra's. One of them leans closer (Catra's not sure which; maybe it's both of them) and Catra feels their head tilt just a smidge and Adora's lips brush theirs and OH MY FUCKING GOD-

Ring Ring.

The sound of You've Got A Friend In Me plays and Catra inwardly groans at the ringtone Bow set for himself. The loud interruption also nearly scares the literally shit out of them and, apparently, the same for Adora as she shrieks and jumps up from her spot, knocking her forehead into the Catra's.

"Oh my god- Catra, are you okay?" They're most certainly are not but it's sorta nice that Adora's asking.

"Mentally, no. Physically, 50/50 at this point." They touch the spot above their nose that's probably gonna be bruised by the time the sun comes up. "Fuck..."

"I- I am so sorry! I did not mean to do that!" Adora pulls them up and dusts off their clothes which definitely doesn't help the faint red blush on their cheeks from the... thing that almost happened fade away. "I just get really jumpy, you know?"

"Can tell..."

She places her hands on top of their shoulders and moves their face so that they can look her right in the eye as she asks, "Are you absolutely sure you're okay? I don't want you to be hurt because of me."

Again, the blush just continues to rise, and they manage to squeak out with some difficulty, "Yeah! All fine over here! No reason to worry!" They fake a smile and push themself away from the blonde, noticing how her face falls a little bit before she recovers.

The ringtone plays again and Catra grabs their phone of the jacket they're wearing, watching Bow's profile picture come up on their screen. "I think gotta go."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I didn't tell Bow where I was going so he's probably worried for my safety or something." They look back at Adora whose taken a few steps away from them. They try not to focus on how the big space between the two of them (even though it's probably only a few feet away in reality) makes them feel.

"...I should probably go back to the cafe and uh- start opening up..."

It's awkward now.

Great.

They both stand there, waiting for the other to say something about what almost happened. Neither of them do.

"...Uh, bye 'Dora."

"Night, Catra."

As the two of them walk away from each other, Catra takes a quick peek backward as Adora's figure slowly walks away. They bury their face in their hands before answering Bow's call.

Chapter Text

Catra's mind is a little jumbled right now.

First of all, the shivering cold is finally getting to them even though they're still covered in Adora's warm and fuzzy winter jacket.

And second of all, Adora herself.

Oh jeez. Adora. Adora, Adora, Adora. Images of Adora almost kissing them frantically pop into their brain as they venture back to their apartment.

Oh right, that happened. 

Fuck. Catra almost kissed Adora. She almost kissed Catra. They almost kissed. There was barely an inch - no, a fucking centimeter would be the better term to describe it - between them before they would've been making out.

Well-

The two of them would've been kissing but Catra doesn't know about them fully making out. They certainly would've liked to but they don't know if they would have gotten to that stage because of Bow...- Oh. Right. He's probably worried about where they are.

They've got to call him back. There's a whole fucking lot they have to talk about.

princess 👑

Hi

Their phone dings and the screen lights up the dimly lit room and Catra's eyes have to adjust to the brightness. Catra stares intently at the text Adora sent for a couple of silent moments, curled up on the sectional couch of the apartment's living room with a blanket as Netflix plays a random movie Bow picked out for the two of them to watch. (He fell asleep thirty minutes after it started.) 

hey

They haven't talked to Adora since the 'Park Incident' happened as Catra likes to call it now except for the occasional short and bland greetings like now. They bring the phone closer to their face, tapping the buttons and debating on what else to add.

how are you  doi

Catra stops themself from finishing that sentence and groans, flopping their head backward, and deleting the text. Why is this so hard? Why can't I talk to her? They bit their lip, watching as dots appear and disappear, Adora ultimately saying nothing else in return.

Catra keeps on going back to that day, replaying what happened and wondering if they hadn't been interrupted and if Adora would've kissed them then. And if Adora likes them back or it's a one-sided thing and Catra's been taking everything wrong this whole damn time.

Catra turns off their phone and tosses it onto the ottoman in front of them, grasping the blanket closer to their face, listening to the background noise of the movie and the sound of Melog's paws against the apartment's wooden floors before Catra falls asleep.

The sixth time that Catra enters Bright Moon Coffee is a time when they're being forced against their will to go. Like, Bow is literally trying his hardest to push them through the doorway right now but he obviously and severely underestimated the strength they gained over the years. 

He's struggling and they're most likely drawing attention from random people on the streets and inside the cafe but Catra does not care. They don't want to go in so they aren't going to.

"Catra, come on!"

"No." Many people have told Catra that they're stubborn. And those people were right. Like, insanely so.

"You haven't been outside in three full days, Catra. I think it's safe to say you need to get out of your bedroom and somewhere you can breathe fresh air." He stops pushing and Catra turns around to meet his concerned face. They stare at each other, Catra turning their head up to the overcast and dark sky after a moment, wondering absently if it's gonna rain down today.

"But why do we have to go here?"

"...Because I want to see Glimmer and get some coffee," Bow says after a bit of hesitation on his part.

Catra sighs and puts their hands on their hips. "Are you sure it's not also because you want me to see Adora and try to enact whatever plan that the two of you made?"

Now, out of the two of them, Catra is the better liar. By a mile. Bow's voice cracks as he denies the accusation in his best friend's question. "What?! No, of course not."  

"Bow, I could you hear talking about it and scheming up a plan a few days ago with her when you guys thought I was asleep. Also, you need to work on your whispering. I could hear from across the apartment."

Catra eventually gets him to crack underneath the pressure of their stare as he bows his head. Catra just shakes their head.

"Okay, we do have a plan that involves you and Adora. But! I'll tell Glimmer that we shouldn't do it." He admits. "I'm sorry about that. I just really want to you to be happy."

"I know. Let's go before I change my mind."

"Great!" And Catra can just hear the smile on his face as they turn away to hold the handle and pull open the door.

They enter the shop and Catra starts looking around, spotting Adora taking a customer's order at the front counter and hurriedly turns their gaze onto the wooden floors of the store in hopes of not locking eyes with Adora. They don't need that intense eye contact.

Bow chooses for them to sit in the left corner of the shop on a pastel green and dark brown wood booth with gold paper stars hanging from the ceiling on a string of twine above the seats with golden covered lights. "I'm gonna go order, okay?"

"Yeah, fine." He then leaves Catra all alone with nothing.

Catra stands up from the incredibly comfy chair they were relaxing on and makes their way over to the bathrooms after bouncing their leg and staring all around the shop for a few seconds before they got bored, where they definitely don't anticipate getting bumped into someone and have scalding hot coffee splashed all over them and their clothes.

"What the hell?!"

"Oh my god! Shit, Cat- I am so sorry!" Oh, wait. Catra knows that voice. When they look up, they come face to face with a distressed-looking Adora, her stare switching between the spilled cups of coffee on the floor and them with their now stained red shirt. "I was so not looking where I was going!"

"It's...it's fine, Adora." Their statement goes unheard as Adora rushes to the back of the coffee shop, spitting out apologies all the way there.

Catra waits on one of the counters as Adora scours through her blue and gold-colored backpack very fast. The situation feels similar to the one that only happened a few days ago. It doesn't seem like it did though. Adora's been searching for an extra shirt for about 10 minutes in the back here. It clearly hasn't been going so well with the obviously frustrated furrow of the blonde's brows and her restlessness in trying to find one.

"Aha, found one! Knew I had a spare. Just didn't know where." Adora pulls out a cream-colored sweater from her bag, walks back over to where Catra is sitting and hands it to them. "But, uh, thankfully, it was here so...Yeah." She trails off with a bit of forced nervous laughter at the end of it. Catra reaches for the sweater, jolting slightly when their fingers brush each other, and quickly takes it from her, bunching it up into a ball close to their chest.

They unfurl the sweater, flattening it out before replacing their shirt with the extra. Adora, as they do this, coughs loudly and turns away from them, facing the wall while scratching the back of her neck, a bright mix of red and pink on her cheeks that Catra catches when they look at her.

Somehow, the two of them always end up being next to each other in silence, whether it is awkward or not. Catra doesn't know how the two of them have been there if they're being sincere.

They just stare at the girl in front of them, watching as the crappy light above them still manages to make Adora look like a fucking angel when she's underneath.

(Not that it would be that hard to do so considering who Catra's talking about.)

Catra's gaze, after who knows how long, wanders down and down and soon they're reminded of a few nights ago when they were incredibly close to Adora.

We gotta talk about that.

I mean, do we really have to?-

Would you rather leave it like it is now and have the two of you feel awkward every time you're around each other?...

It seems Adora has the same idea as them because as they start to speak, Adora does too.

"So-"

"I'm-"

They both quietly giggle until it dies down. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Catra's genuinely confused about why and what Adora is apologizing for.

"For what happened at the park. Well, almost happened technically," Adora says, arms wrapped around herself in a way that makes the taller girl look sad and small.

Oh. "Oh." Ok. That's. That's nice to hear.

"Yeah. I probably should've asked and things are really awkward right now so if we could just forget about it-"

Catra doesn't hear the rest of the blonde's sentence. If we could just forget about it...

Honestly, Catra didn't expect Adora to like them back. Nobody really does and they'd be incredibly fucking shocked if it was true. But to kind of hear Adora confirm it right to their face...

Adora doesn't want me. Not like I want her. Why should she? She'd be stupid to do so.

"Catra? Catra? Catra, are you okay?" Uh-huh. Yup. Totally, they try to say but they can't. Their breathing gets heavier and they feel like they can't do anything but cry.

Stop being so dramatic all the time. It's getting annoying, the voice of their late mother rings inside their head for the first time in a while.

"Catra. Catra, look at me. Just breathe with me, okay?" Adora breathes in deeply, taking hold of their hand and squeezing as she breathes. Catra follows the best they can, breaths shaky as they slowly and gradually calm down.

The brunette sniffles, feeling tear streaks on their cheeks as they wipe them away. "Sorry about that. I'll-...I'll just get out of your hair now." They begin to scooch their way off the metal counters, but a hand wraps around their wrist, temporarily preventing them from escaping the back room and running back to Bow's car where they can resume their crying.

"Wait. Please." Adora stops them from going anywhere. Well, not really, she just grabbed their wrist but Catra feels like they can't go anywhere or do anything when Adora's really close in their vicinity.

Catra swallows, finding it hard to do so as Adora doesn't look at them, instead the bracelets worn around their wrist. I mean, she already sort of rejected you so why not just tell her that you have a massive fucking sappy crush on her? What's the worst that could possibly happen to you?

"I feel really bad. I feel like it's my fault I made you - no, I know it's my fault I made you cry and I don't know why but I feel really shitty that I did that since I really didn't mean to but-"

"Shut up."

Adora's nervous rambling is abruptly cut off by Catra's groan that ends with them planting their face into their hands. "Huh?"

"Please shut up. You need to stop being so...you and stop talking before I..."

Adora looks concerned. "Before you..."

Say something I semi-regret. "Um, I need to tell you...something. Uh..."

Are we seriously doing this? Right now?...Okay...let's do this then, I guess.

"I-I like you, Adora," Catra manages to spit out, head still in their hands since they really don't wanna move from that position. At all. "It's...fine if you don't like me that way or you reject me since you sorta did that already but, uh, that's it."

Curiosity gets the best of them eventually when Adora doesn't say anything for a while and they find them looking up at a dazed and flustered Adora staring at the wall behind them.

Adora snaps out of it so suddenly that Catra gets spooked from just looking at it happening."First of all, you like me? Like, actually like me? Wow," She breathlessly giggles before continuing. "Second of all, why would I reject you? You're literally the most amazing person I've met in years. Third of all...I rejected you?"

Okay. So either she has memory problems or she's a dumbass. Probably both if we're being completely honest here. "Yeah. Like five minutes ago, Adora."

"Wha...Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"Oh, crud. Fuck me." The blonde looks like she's about to tear out her ponytail.

"I-I seriously did not mean to say that to you. Sometimes when I get nervous, I say things I don't think about or mean and you make me incredibly nervous- In a good way! Um, the point that I am trying to make is." Adora pauses for a second. "I like you too. Like a crazy amount that I'm currently wondering how you didn't figure it out the moment you met me."

...

Huh.

That's all the magicat really has to say considering the fact that they feel as though their brain is melting and exploding like a bunch of little fireworks at the same time somehow.

"You...like me? Me? Why?" Catra asks incredulously, pointing to their chest as if there's literally anybody else in the back that Adora could've said that to here.

"Of course I do. You're extremely talented. I mean, look at your art. You're incredibly fun to talk to, really, really handsome, you've got a great sense of humor, you make me really happy when I'm talking to you-"

Catra successfully manages to stop the girl's talking before Catra feels like they're going to melt from the way their face feels flaming hot, grabbing her face and pressing their lips together. Catra can't really feel anything anymore, only the rush of butterflies rising in their body and the places where Adora faintly touches the brunette's tanned skin as what was meant to be a chaste kiss turns into something a bit more with quickly frantic movements and Catra doesn't want to stop.

They would honestly be fine dying and suffocating like this, body and heart wrapped with warmth and kissing until they're fucking breathless-

"Ado- OH FUCKING SHIT!! Seriously?!" They pull apart, much to each other's despair and hesitation to do so, and find themselves facing a red-faced Glimmer with a scowl plastered on her face and her hands covering her eyes. "Ughhh!" A high-pitched groan that sounds like it's mixed with a scream escapes Glimmer's mouth.

"You guys have been back here for 20 fucking minutes and I was wondering really just how long it takes to find an extra fucking shirt. Thought you guys might have gotten murdered back here." Glimmer's hands slowly retract from covering her eyes while she speaks, hands now firmly resting on her hips. "Turns out you guys were just feeling each other up and shit."

Twinkle Tits grumbles before reminding Adora that she's needed in 5 minutes and muttering as she walks out of the backroom, leaving them alone to burst out in a fit of laughter, Catra's head resting on Adora's red-jacketed shoulder.

Catra closes the cafe door behind them and steps out into the fast-falling shower of rain, Bow walks ahead to where his car is parked across the street, and they breathe and take in what occurred back in the shop. Wow. They feel like giggling like a literal maniac.

Catra shimmies through the sliver of space between two cars and then they hear the sound of someone calling after them. No, not someone. Adora particularly. They turn and Adora is stepping down the tiny bit of stairs leading up to the cafe's doors and starts walking towards them, her clothes getting soaked once she moves out from under the overhang.

Adora walks towards Catra and gently tilts their head upwards, her baby, pale blue eyes slowly flick between their lips and their mismatched eyes, asking a silent question. Catra doesn't even let her speak it out loud, gripping the back of her neck and pulling Adora close towards them once again.

They break apart a few moments later, smiling heavily as the rain falls upon them.

"Just wanted to do that again...I should probably go back inside..." Adora whispers, hands cradling their jaw.

"Yeah."

Neither of them moves.

"Really should."

"Mhm."

Again, no one moves and Catra's hands move down to Adora's shoulders.

"Glimmer's probably gonna be mad at me for being out here inside of in there," Adora states, moving her head to look back inside where Glimmer is currently glaring at her through one of the cafe's windows. If looks could kill, Adora would be dead right now, buried 6 feet under the ground. "And I was right."

Adora moves her hands from their face hesitantly.

"...Can I take you out? This Saturday?" Adora blurts out. Catra kinda feels like their brain is shutting down after that question. "Like on a date?"

"Um. Um...yeah. Yeah! Definitely. I-I'm free." Catra flushes a bit at the idea of going on a date with Adora.

"Great!" Adora smiles and fidgets with her hands for a second before reaching in for another kiss that seems way too short and running back inside before Catra can even process it. Catra's left grinning there like an idiot as Adora waves goodbye to them, closing the glass door being her.

Only then, after they turn around and watch as Bow matches their wide grin through the water droplet-covered windows, does Catra scream out loud in fucking joy.