Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Adora Greyson could not sit still in the front seat of her mother’s SUV if her life depended on it. Adora reached for her phone and began fiddling through every song in her road trip playlist. She had made it specifically for the trip but now every song just didn’t seem right. She could feel her mother seething in the driver’s seat at every press of the button.

“Adora, leave it, please,” Hope said sternly, keeping her focus on the road in front of her.

Adora sighed and turned off the music completely.

An awkward silence filled the car as Hope looked over at her daughter. Adora’s brow furrowed as she looked down at her phone. Her thumb was swiping her Instagram feed paying no attention to what was on it.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

Adora wished she had an answer, but she really didn’t know. She should be happy; she was on her way to her top choice university where her friends Bow and Glimmer were also attending. She also knew her former teammate Scorpia would be attending as well as...Catra D’riluth.

She didn’t quite know how to describe her relationship with Catra. She wouldn’t call them enemies, but she definitely wouldn’t say they were friends, yet she always seemed to be everywhere Adora was, including Brightmoon University.

Their rivalry had started freshman year of high school during debate team practice. The topic was should high schoolers get after school jobs. Adora was for and Catra was against. It ended in Catra accusing Adora of wanting to abolish child labor laws and with Adora calling Catra a dumb face. Ever since then they have been constantly in competition with one another whether it was grades, sports, or well anything really.

However, she knew for a fact Catra was majoring in psychology, while Adora herself had picked kinesiology. They may share a few general ed classes, but Brightmoon was a big school so there was a chance they might not even run into each other. However, something in her chest tightened at the thought of not seeing Catra at school. Adora would never admit to it, but she enjoyed being around Catra, even if she could be infuriating at times. She made Adora want to be better and made things more...interesting.

Adora knew no one in her major and was going to have to figure out how to keep her grades up on her own without the motivation of facing off with Catra to keep her going. What if she couldn’t do it on her own? What if she couldn’t make any friends or Glimmer and Bow moved on without her?

“I’m just nervous about meeting my suitemates,” Adora replied. It wasn’t a complete lie, Glimmer and her had decided to become roommates and share a bathroom with two complete strangers on the other side in order to make new friends. Adora didn’t even know the names of her soon to be suitemates let alone what major they were in or if they would even get along.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, just make sure to focus on your studies, maybe you can start a study group with them! That could be fun,” Hope said excitedly.

Adora’s mother had a talent of making every conversation revert back to Adora’s studies or accomplishments. Adora had always been competitive, but not as competitive as her mother Hope. Ever since Hope and Mara adopted Adora at twelve years old, Adora's life had been filled with soccer tournaments, debate championships, and quiz bowls. Then Mara got sick and passed away leaving Hope a single mother raising a teenager.

Mara had been the emotional support parent while Hope had always been able to show her love and admiration in other ways such as taking Adora to 7am practices or showing up to every single event an hour early to make sure she got front row seats to watch Adora play. The competitions are what bonded them together, it’s the one thing they had in common and Adora was too scared to let that go, even if it meant having to struggle to live up to expectations.

“You know your mom would be very proud of you,” Hope stated. She paused for a moment to hear Adora’s reaction only to be met with silence. “She would say, Adora I know you’re going to make great friends and memories and be the best you can be,”

Hope, side eyed Adora, who was still silent looking out the window now to a field of nothing.

“She would probably say stop talking Hope you’re just making her more nervous” Hope jokingly muttered to herself, but loud enough for Adora to hear.

Adora couldn’t help smiling at that one, Hope definitely wasn’t the best at emotional support, but Adora knew she was trying her hardest like she did at everything.

“She would probably say make sure you pack snacks, you know how you both get when you’re hungry,” Adora replied.

Hope chuckled softly, “I mean it, I don’t want to pull over at McDonalds because of one of your low blood sugar temper tantrums”

Their laughter filled the car and a little bit of Adora’s anxiety floated away. Adora remembers the second thing they have in common; how much they love and miss Mara.

/-/

Catra D’riluth had finally made it to her dorm room after having to deal with Scorpia’s constant showtunes. Catra refused to let it ruin her good mood. Today was the day that she officially never had to deal with her mother, Sharon Weaver, ever again. No more having to sneak out of the house, no more belittling conversations, and no more having to live up to impossible standards. Most importantly no more being compared to Adora Greyson.

Throughout high school Weaver would compare Catra’s accomplishments to Adora’s. When Catra won the debate championship, it was overshadowed by Adora being voted captain of the soccer team. When Catra broke a school record in the 400m race, it didn’t matter because Adora had won the STEM scholarship award that same day. Adora was a constant reminder that Catra would always be second place, but not anymore. At first, she had reservations on picking the same college as Adora, but it was a good school, and she was done letting Adora determine her academic accomplishments. She knew from Scorpia that Adora would not even be in the same major as her, so the odds were they would never have to see each other on campus.

Catra looked down at the slip of paper that had her room assignment on it. Her roommate was going to be a person named Entrapta and that is all Catra cared to know about her new roommate. Scorpia had tried to get her to room with her, but for Catra this was a fresh start, and she wanted to start this chapter by not being reminded of her high school days. Catra did not like the idea of having a roommate at all in fact, but freshman here did not get the single room option, and again anything was better than being at Weaver’s.

Catra unlocked her door and stepped into her dorm. It was bigger than she thought it would be but that might just be because her roommate wasn’t here yet and she hadn’t laid out any of her stuff. There were two beds, one in the corner left and one on the far right facing parallel to the bathroom door. The bathroom in which she would be sharing with two other students who would live on the other side.

.

Catra decided to take the bed closest to the bathroom and put her sheets and bedding on. A simple maroon fitted sheet with a gray comforter that she bought herself. She hopped into her newly made bed and closed her eyes. For the first time in a while, it was silent, and she felt like she could breathe.

“HI THERE!” A disrupting voice shattered Catra’s newfound calmness like a rock through a window.

Catra decided to begrudgingly open her eyes and saw a person her age with the longest and most purple hair she had ever seen.

“I’m Entrapta, and you must be Catra,” she smiled brightly.

“Hi, this is my side of the room and yours is over there,” Catra says sitting up and pointing over to the bed on the right.

“Cool! I guess this desk will have to be used as a workbench at least until I can get in the robotics classroom which shouldn’t be a problem,”

“Did you just say workbench?” Catra asked her new roommate.

“Yes! Its where I make all my inventions and tech advancements, I’m majoring in computer science, which is fun and all, but my passion is making things and seeing how they tick, I built Emily to help me...”

“Okay just keep your stuff over there and the noise down to a-“Catra paused as the rest of Entrapta’s sentences register in her head. “You built a what?”

“Emily! She’s my little robot, kind of like BB8 from Star Wars only she mostly helps me carry my equipment,” Entrapta takes out a little tablet from her front overall pocket and types a couple commands. Before Catra can say anything else a round little robot creature comes waltzing in slowly, carrying some boxes above the robot's…head? The robot is built like a sphere but has legs like a spider. Two long arm attachments are holding up two large boxes.

Catra’s eyes widen. She didn't know whether to be impressed or concerned or both. “You built that?”

“Emily goes by she/her pronouns, but yes, I did build her from some computer parts, a web cam, what else...oooOoo I found some pretty useful internal hard drives that were over stocked at Best Buy,”

“Okay, I get it you’re a genius, just keep your stuff over there and try to keep the noise down to a minimum, and the robot is not to be left on in the middle of the night, the last thing i need is to wake up to her staring at me in front of my bed,”

“Oh Emily is actually very understanding of personal space it shouldn’t be a problem, but if the thought makes you uncomfortable i will make sure she is off during the night,” Entrapta stated as she began taking boxes from Emily's arm attachments.

Catra couldn't help but notice the absence of Entrapta’s parents but did not want to start asking questions. To be honest she was a little relieved that Entrapta came up by herself. The dorms were crawling with parents helping their kids up the stairs decorating their room, Catra couldn’t help but feel jealous at the sight, but now was not the time to have those feelings. Today was a celebration of her newfound freedom, and a little jealousy was not going to get in the way of that.

“I think our suitemates are here,” Entrapta said looking towards the shared bathroom. “Should we say hi or wait for them to come to us?”

“Having them come to us sounds like a good plan, maybe they won’t come to us at all and then we both win,” Catra replied not moving from her current spot.

“You seem anti-social,”

“I’m not, I just like my alone time and right now I’ve been interrupted twice,” Catra replied.

“I like my alone time as well, I think the probability of us getting along as roommates is at a 70 percent,”

“What about the other percent?” Catra asked,

“Well I’ve only known you for ten minutes, and most roommate disagreements don’t start until after two weeks,” Entrapta explained. “And of course, the small chance you could be a serial killer,”

“Why would I be a serial killer?” Catra asked defensively.

“I’m not saying you are, I’m just saying I don’t know you very well and the statistics of you not being one is not zero, same data goes for our suitemates,”

Catra rolled over on her side facing away from Entrapta, “I promise not to murder you if you let me get some peace and quiet, how about that?”

“Sounds like a deal,” Entrapta said,

Suddenly a soft knock came from the bathroom door.

“I am not here,” Catra said.

Entrapta opened the bathroom door much to Catra’s chagrin. Catra was still facing away from the door, maybe if she lied here still enough they would think she was asleep.

“Hi I’m Entrapta and this is Catra but she’s not really here right now,” Entrapta said to their new suitemates.

“Catra?” The sound of her own name on that familiar voice was enough to prickle the back of her neck and force her to turn around.

Catra could swear she could feel her heart drop like an elevator that had been cut loose, “No no no.” She stood up quickly and glared at the sight of Adora Greyson and Glimmer Moon standing in her doorway.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Glimmer said rolling her eyes

And with that Catra’s good mood had officially ended.

Chapter Text

Adora knew she was staring but she couldn’t help it. Catra was standing in her bathroom. No, Catra was standing in their shared bathroom. Adora could feel the fluttering in her chest, the kind that was normally reserved for penalty kicks as she took all of Catra in.

Even with the surprised expression on her face, she looked more relaxed than Adora was used to. She had grown her hair out this summer and she wasn’t wearing her typical red headband. Instead the sides of her hair framed her face effortlessly while the rest was tied loosely into a ponytail. It highlighted her high cheek bones and bright mismatched eyes which were currently glaring at Adora. Catra’s signature frown was now on display, replacing the shocked look from moments earlier.

Out of 5000 incoming freshmen, three dormitory buildings, each containing five floors and a thousand rooms combined, of course Catra would be her suitemate. Adora couldn’t help but laugh at the situation.

Catra could feel the heat and annoyance that radiated off her cheeks as Adora’s laughter filled the entire space. She hated how it made her stomach do flips and how addicting the sound of it was. She especially hated being at the receiving end of it.

“What are you laughing at?” Catra demanded trying to keep her own composure.

“There’s just….so….many…. dorms at this school,” Adora tried to breathe and calm herself down to get the words out but the giggles just kept coming, “The chances...of us..getting assigned...are almost ...impossible!” There were tears in her eyes at this point and she knew it wasn’t that funny but she couldn’t stop herself.

“I think you broke her,” Entrapta whispered to Catra.

Adora finally calmed herself down and looked up to see Catra glaring at her even more so than before. Adora's cheeks were glowing from her laughing fit and she could feel the surge of dopamine and confidence flood through her.

“You know your face is going to get stuck like that if you keep looking at me that way,” she said,

Shit, maybe too much confidence. Catra’s face was as red as a tomato and Adora swore if Catra had lasers for eyes, Adora would be a pile of ash right now.

Catra took a breath and a moment to regain her cool as Adora’s blue eyes challenged her. Adora’s stupid smirk, Adora’s stupid face, Adora’s...everything made her want to tear the entire place apart. Even though the option was tempting, she knew it was just what Adora wanted, and Catra was not going to give in that easily.

“Of course you’d room with Sparkles. She would be the only one who could put up with you,” Catra smirked as she felt herself gain the upper hand “and your snoring,”

“I do not snore!” the blonde defended.

“Tell that to everyone on the senior camping trip. I could hear you all the way from across the fire pit.” Catra laughed.

“That could have been anyone between us!”

“No it was definitely you, it’s just no one has been willing to say it to your face, I give Sparkles a month before she breaks down and admits it to you, I bet I could record it through our wall in fact,”

“I do have some recording equipment if you would want to try this experiment,” Entrapta chimed in.

Catra laughed at the unexpected reply, maybe having a tech genius as a roommate would be fun.

"That is a breech of privacy!" Adora retorted, " And definitely against the Student Conduct Code,"

"What do you know about conduct codes? You've been here for five minutes,"

Glimmer groaned, “Would you two stop for like two seconds! I don’t like this arrangement anymore than you two, but we’re going to all have to share the same space for a while, so suck it up, make a truce or whatever and we can decide shower schedules,”

“I’m more of a night shower person myself,” Entrapta said

“I take morning showers,” Adora and Catra said simultaneously.

“I have an 8:30 on Monday and Wednesdays,” Catra replied smugly.

“So do I,” Adora countered, “Wait what 8:30 do you have?”

“Does it matter?”

“I was just wondering if we had a class together, Catra,” Adora said.

“It’s Bio 110 with Dr. Spinella, now you know what class to avoid,”

Adora smiled, “No luck, I have that class too, guess you're stuck with me,”

Catra was not as easily pleased, Adora recognized that look anywhere. She had seen it in debate when Catra had been caught off guard by her opponent. It was like wheels were turning in her head as she prepared for her next point of defense. But Adora didn’t feel like battling right now, she wanted to unpack and get some food and try not to focus on how much work awaited for her first week of school. Part of her wanted to ask Entrapta and Catra to join but she knew Catra would refuse. So she tried the next best thing, extending an olive branch.

“Listen I also have soccer practice at 7am so I could always shower at the locker room and you can have the shower here, but I would appreciate it if I could have it first on Tuesdays and Thursdays since I have afternoon practices, fair?” Adora asked as she held out her hand for Catra to shake.

Catra rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest “Fine whatever, only because I don’t have class until 10:30am on those days,” Catra could see Adora’s dopey grin and looked away. “This is not because I like you, and put your hand away you look ridiculous,”

Adora still smiled as Catra swatted her hand away, “Thank you,”

“I take night showers if anyone cares,” Glimmer said, cutting in.

“Do we have to have a verbal battle now for access to the shower?” Entrapta asked Glimmer.

“No that’s just their weird thing,” Glimmer replied, “You can go first and I”ll just go after,”

“Alright, well I’m going to finish unpacking,” Entrapta said and without another word headed back into the dorm room.

Glimmer tugged on the sleeve of Adora’s t-shirt. “Yeah Adora we need to get done decorating before our moms come back with lunch,” she looked towards Catra “We’ll see you around,”

“See you in bio!” Adora said before turning and heading into her dorm room with Glimmer.

Catra groaned and went straight back to her former position on her bed facing the wall.

The door closed and Catra finally had her alone time. Now that she had it, all she could think about was having to see Adora’s shining annoying face in biology tomorrow.

—----

Glimmer closed the door as Adora began pacing back and forth in their shared room.

“Will you please calm down,” Glimmer asked,

“BUT!” Adora exclaimed but was silenced by Glimmer’s hand on her mouth.

“Dorm walls are super thin, keep your voice down,” Glimmer said, removing her hand from her friend’s mouth.

“But,” Adora whispered, “How are we supposed to live here for an entire school year with her right across the hall? Catra can’t stand me.”

“Adora, it’s going to be fine, we’re not in high school anymore, we can act like civilized adults,” Glimmer said, “Maybe it’s time for you and Catra to end whatever weird thing you have going on?”

“One it’s not that weird, second, I’ve tried being her friend but again she… can’t…stand… me, everytime I try and be nice to her I end up messing it up and making her mad,”

Glimmer smiled knowingly at her best friend, “Are you sure about that?”

“Sure about what?” Adora asked defensively.

“I don’t know, You’re generally a nice person but whenever Catra is around you kind of flip a switch and always go straight to pushing each other’s buttons,”

“I do not!”

“You so do!” Glimmer shouted, forgetting for a second about the thin walls that surrounded them. “Adora,” she said more quietly, “If you want Catra to like you then stop making everything a competition.”

“I’m really trying not to, it’s just, this is how I know how to talk to her,” Adora shrugged, “But you’re right, we are mature adults, I can do this, it’s just nice to see another familiar face. Even if the person that face belongs to happens to hate my guts,”

Glimmer rolled her eyes and began opening one of the many boxes that had been strewn across the room. “Sure, or you just like the fact you might get to see Catra everyday”

“I am not going to acknowledge that statement with a response,” Adora said.

“Fine ignore your feelings, see what I care,” Glimmer said, throwing an obnoxiously sparkly pillow at Adora. “Now help me make my bed before our moms get back,”

Adora put the pillow down and helped Glimmer with her bubblegum pink sheets, Glimmer had basically had come armed with an armata of pink, purple and sparkly room decorations. Adora had been there on their Target trip as Glimmer’s cart filled within minutes. Even witnessed the argument of Glimmer and her mother over how many boxes could fit in the car.

“This is going to be my home for the next 8 months, I want it to feel like home!” Glimmer had shouted, the argument ended with her and her mother crying about how much they were going to miss each other.

Adora could not understand the spectacle of emotion at all. Hope had Adora bring most of her childhood bedroom stuff, Adora picked a few items at Target with Glimmer on their shopping trip. The only slight argument they had was whether or not Adora should bring her trophies to her dorm.

“They’ll inspire you,” Hope had said at the dinner table.

“I don’t know, can’t you just keep them here? I feel like it would be weird if I took them with me,” Adora replied

“Well at least take the photo of us all at your soccer championship,” Hope said

“Fine,” she replied, stabbing her fork into a sliced piece of potato.

There were no tears about her leaving the nest. In fact, Adora couldn’t recall a time she had ever seen her mother cry. Even at Mara’s funeral Hope was her stoic self, reciting the eulogy and holding sixteen year old Adora’s hand as Adora wept. It was clear from Hope’s words that she was in love with Mara, but she said everything as if she were miles away, Her face and voice remained poised through the whole thing.

“People grieve in different ways,” Mara had warned Adora in her last couple of weeks. “ Your mom has one of the biggest heart’s I know and sometimes it’s easier for her to let her mind take control of the wheel, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t care,”

Adora remembered going home that day after the service staring aimlessly in the car as Hope drove them home. They sat together in silence, until they reached the front steps of their house. Someone had left a plate of fresh homemade snickerdoodles.

“Razz must’ve left some for us,” Hope had said, recalling their strange but kind old neighbor from next door. “I’m surprised she remembered their your favorite,”

“They’re Mara’s favorite too,” Adora had replied quietly.

Hope smiled sadly and put her arm around Adora and they walked into the house together and ate the entire plate. Once they were all gone all that was left was a hard plastic red plate with ladybugs on the rim. Adora still had the plate, she wasn’t sure why, but it felt wrong to throw it out.

After that things went on as normal as they could after something like that. Adora would yell and cry at Hope on her worst days but Hope would just state that her reactions were completely normal. She was trying to be comforting but sometimes Adora wished Hope would just lose it once in a while to show that she wasn’t alone in her feelings. It seemed as if there were a wall between them and neither one knew who put it there first.

“Earth to Adora,” Glimmer said, interrupting Adora’s trip down memory lane.

“Sorry what?”

“My mom texted me she said they’re in the lobby with food,” Glimmer said, “Now come on we have one afternoon with them then freedom!!” Glimmer all but dragged her by the hand and out the door to the main hallway.

Adora smiled at Glimmer’s enthusiasm and followed her down the hall, knowing it would be the first of many times.

Chapter Text

Catra arrived early to class for the first time in her life. It helped that she had decided to wear the maroon sweat pants that she had worn to bed the night before. She smiled to herself thinking of how Weaver would’ve dissaproved of this fashion choice and how she couldn’t do anything about it now.

Another reason for her miraculous timely arrival was the fear of coming in at the same time as Adora. Luckily Adora had already left for practice by the time Catra was ready for class. She had found the bio lecture hall fairly easy and sat down as far away from the entrance as she could. She sat in the back row hoping that when Adora came in she wouldn't notice her. The class size was about 150 which was normal for a general ed lecture course. Knowing her luck she’ll probably end up in the same lab with Adora as well but she wasn’t going to think about that right now.

She took a sip of her coffee from the cafe on campus and the smell alone was enough to ease herself into a better mood this morning. She couldn’t help but glance at the doorway watching students come in one by one waiting to see that dumb blonde ponytail bounce in. Minutes began to pass and Catra was almost done with her coffee and the lecture hall was almost completely filled but there was still no sign of Adora.

Catra checked her phone to see the time was 8:27am. The professor had entered and began walking down to the front of the lecture hall. She was a lovely woman in her late 30s with long hair and soft rounded features. She wrote her name as Dr. Spinnerella on the whiteboard.

Catra looked down at her phone again. It was now 8:30, so where the hell was Adora? Did she drop the class? Did she get hurt on her first day of practice? She had never been late to anything in her life. What was this opposite day?

“Good morning class, my name is Dr. Spinerella, you can call me Spinderella. and this is Bio 110 if you are a bio major you are in the wrong class and should be in bio 200 which is two doors down the hall on your left,”

A few students stood up awkwardly and began to leave for the correct lecture hall, while Adora finally stumbled in. Catra nearly sighed with relief seeing the blonde hair she had been dreading all morning. Adora was slightly out of breath and scanning the room for a seat in the mostly filled lecture hall. Her face was flushed and her hair still slightly damp from showering after practice. She was in her athletic shorts and white hoodie that said BU in big red letters. Catra glanced over to a newly empty seat that was about three seats to the right and a row ahead of where she was sitting. Dr. Spinerella was still talking, as Adora began to panic, not seeing anywhere available. Suddenly her eyes were locked on Catra’s. It was like a cry for help, the way Adora looked at her, and for a second Catra thought about looking away and leaving Adora to fend for herself.

Adora’s confidence needed to be brought down a peg, anyway Catra tried to reason with herself. But Adora’s eyes bored into her like lasers of guilt and she couldn’t bring herself to go through with the thought.

Catra rolled her eyes and pointed down to the empty seat that she noticed moments ago. Adora followed her direction and smiled thankfully. She scooted her way into the aisle and into the seat.

“As a reminder you are all adults and this isn’t high school anymore,” Spinerella continued, “If you choose to skip my lectures then I can’t stop you but I will not be sympathetic when you come to me the day of the midterm and beg for an extension when i haven’t seen you since the first day of classes, if at all,”

Catra was trying to pay attention but she couldn’t help but glance down at Adora. She had her hand propped up on the seat holding her head up. Catra could only see her side profile from this angle but she could tell she was tired. Her ponytail was put up in a uncharacteristically lazy fashion and her eyes looked heavy. Adora’s head slowly began to dip as her eyes flutter close then open again, battling to stay awake.

Taking a morning class after soccer practice was probably not the best decision on Adora’s part. Pairing that with staying up half the night worrying about practice and her first day of school, you could easily tell Adora was not her usual confident and present self.

“Idiot” Catra thought to herself as she began writing the day of the midterm down in her planner.

Catra glanced up again to see that Adora had completely fallen asleep. Her head resting on her hand as no one but Catra took notice. Catra knew the right thing to do would be to wake her up, but there was no way she could do that from this far away without making a scene. Plus she already helped Adora more than enough today, couldn’t have her get any ideas.

Catra scribbled a little doodle in the corner of her page to keep her mind off of Adora, and that’s when it happened.

A soft low rumbling noise that Catra very well recognized from the senior camping trip.

Adora had begun to snore in the middle of class.

Luckily they were in the back of the lecture hall so it was not obvious to most of the class nor the professor who was still going on about extra credit work. A few people began to chuckle in the back and it made Catra’s blood boil. How had no one tried to wake Adora up yet? Catra knew the snoring would only get louder if she didn't do something. This did not mean she liked Adora, she just didn’t want to die from secondhand embarrassment if the teacher caught Adora snoring in class. So, it was time to take drastic measures.

Catra ripped a paper out of her notebook, wrote a little note, and crumpled the paper up into a ball. Dr. Spinerella had her back turned to change to the next slide and Catra saw her opening to throw the wad of paper at Adora’s head. The blonde immediately stumbles awake when the paper ball made contact to Catra’s relief.

Some students began cracking up in the back gaining Dr. Spinerella’s attention. “Calm down there in the back, we’re almost done,”

Adora’s cheeks were redder than before but it could have been so much worse. She looked over at Catra and frowned.

Catra glared right back and mouthed “read the note you moron.”

Adora bent down in her seat and picked up the crumpled wad of paper and unwrapped it.

‘Hey Adora,
You were snoring. Don’t thank me later
-Catra

Adora’s eyes widened at the realization that she was snoring but she eventually smiled down at the paper and neatly tucked it into her binder sleeve. Adora looked over at Catra who was deliberately keeping her eyes glued to her notebook. Not daring to look up for a second for fear of seeing Adora’s grateful gaze for the second time today. She should have just let Adora snore away and get caught. Anything would be better than the feeling of Adora's eyes on her right now.

This is the last time I help Adora Greyson with anything ever again, she thought to herself as she scribbled the last of her notes down on the paper.

“Alright that’s it folks, come see me if you have any questions and I’ll see you on Wednesday,” Dr. Spinerella announced “Don’t forget to check what lab you have,”

Catra had never packed her belongings and left a classroom so fast in her entire life.

–****

“You fell asleep?!” Glimmer shouted, sitting next to Bow and across from Adora at the dining hall table. The group had relocated for breakfast at the dining hall after Adora had called for an emergency best friend squad meeting.

“I know, I know” Adora laid her head on the table in defeat, “I have never been so embarrassed in my life,”

“What about that time you got sick on the bus during that 8th grade field trip?” Glimmer asked,

Adora groaned and put her hood up while her forehead remained glued to the dining hall table.

Bow smiled at his girlfriend put a hand on her shoulder, “I don’t think this is helping,”

“I’m just saying there are definitely more embarrassing things that have happened,” she said, continuing to eat her scrambled eggs.

“Did the professor notice?” Bow asked.

Adora put her head up slightly “I don’t think so,” She paused, unsure of whether or not she should reveal that Catra had woken her up. Adora wasn’t sure why Catra had decided to help her in her hour of need, but Adora was grateful. When class had finished Adora had turned to say thank you, but Catra was already halfway across the room gunning for the exit. It was confusing, first Catra helps her out but runs away. Is this her way of saying they're cool now? Or that Adora should stay away?

“Catra woke me up, said I was snoring,” Adora avoided their gazes deciding that the window was far more entertaining than what she had revealed.

Bow eyebrows arched in surprise, “Oh? Well that was nice of her,”

Glimmer smirked, “Yeah for once,”

“Hey she has to be somewhat nice, she’s friend’s with Scorpia,” Bow pointed out.

Glimmer rolled her eyes, “Scorpia could befriend a rabid man-eating coyote, doesn’t count,”

“No. maybe Bow’s right,” Adora said, “Like you said we aren’t in high school anymore, maybe she’s ready to be friends now”

Glimmer looked at Adora like she had lost her mind, “You literally could barely tolerate each other in the same room yesterday,”

Adora chuckled, “Yeah but you said-”

Glimmer held up her hand “I know what I said, but I think you’re not being realistic if you think that all your Catra troubles can be fixed from this one interaction,”

They began to collect their dishes and head to the drop off bin. “I’m just saying Adora, it’s a good start, but don’t get ahead of yourself,” Glimmer said, putting her plate and silverware into the black dishwasher bin.

“So inviting her to a party would be too much?” Adora asked,

Scorpia had told Adora that the women’s soccer team hosts a party after the first weekend of practice for the incoming freshman. It was to be held at the team captain’s house, but it was open to anyone who was friend’s with the team. Adora wasn’t sure if Catra even liked parties, she never saw her at the ones in high school save for Scorpia’s birthday.

“You’re going to invite Catra to a party before me?” Glimmer exclaimed, as she pushed Adora playfully.

“No, of course I was going to invite you and Bow, I just thought it might be nice to invite Catra and Entrapta too,” Adora said.

“I think it’s a bad idea,” Glimmer replied.

Adora looked to Bow practically pleading for approval, “Bow?”

Bow looked at Glimmer as if he was apologizing in advanced. “What’s the worst that can happen?” He shrugged.

Adora’s eyes lit up from the approval “Thank you! I’m going to stop by the dorm and see if they’re there now,” Adora left for the dorms smiling proudly to herself.

“This is going to end badly,” Glimmer said to Bow.

He smiled nervously “Let’s hope for the best,”

****

Adora paced in her dorm room back and forth going over the script she had made in her head.

“Hey Catra, there’s a party happening this Saturday want to go in a group?,” she muttered quietly to herself. “No that sounds weird,”

She tried again “Hey Catra there’s a party this Saturday, Scorpia will be there and I thought you and Entrapta might want to come too,”

Adora faced the bathroom door trying to remind herself that this wasn’t a big deal, she’s just a person trying to be friendly with her suitemates, that’s all.

Adora knocked on the bathroom door to make sure no one was already in there. When the coast was clear she opened the bathroom door and walked to the otherside where Catra and Entrapta’s door stood.

“It’s going to be fine,” Adora reassured herself.

Adora knocked on Catra and Entrapta’s door and waited for any sign of reply. It was long enough for Adora to wonder if neither of the girls were in their room.

Just as Adora was about to turn around the door opened and there stood Catra looking annoyed as ever.

“What do you want?” Catra asked one hand still holding the door knob as if at any point she was going to shut it in Adora’s face.

She was still in her sweats from this morning. Her hair was a little messy as if she had just woken up from a nap. It still surprised Adora of how much Catra’s style had changed since graduation. Catra always looked polished but also a little high strung when they were in high school. Her curls were always pulled back in a red headband, she wore typical high school attire but again everything was pressed and clean and perfect.

Meanwhile this Catra hadn’t worn anything but pjs or athletic wear since entering campus.

Adora couldn’t help but feel envious of this new change. Her style hadn’t changed since middle school and she didn’t really know who she was without her overachieving jock image.

Adora could feel her nerves returning as Catra waited for her response. “I just wanted to say that there’s this thing on Saturday and I thought you might want to go-you and Entrapta,”

“ What thing?” Catra asked with as little interest as possible.

“A party! Soccer team has a party after first weekend of practices and Scorpia will be there too! And I know your friends with her so I thought you might want to go,” Adora said, wishing this had gone more smoothly like it did in her head.

“Scorpia told me about it, so why are you telling me about it?”

Adora thought of retorting with a snarky response, but she could hear Glimmer’s voice in her head.

Be nice

Adora looked at anywhere but Catra “I just would really like it if you came, so I wanted to tell you about it,”

Catra’s eyes widened, but quickly returned back to their natural glaring state, “What the hell is this Greyson?”

“What?” Adora asked,

“This…thing!” Catra lifted her hand gesturing to Adora “What’s your angle here?”

“There isn’t an angle, Catra,” Adora explained “I just want to move on from this constant arguing and you were really nice to wake me up in Bio even if you did throw a paper at my head, but still I’m just-“ Adora sighed putting her hand on her head trying to regain her train of thought. “God why is this so hard,”

“I don’t know, you knocked on my door, so spit it out,” Catra replied.

Adora groaned in frustration “I’m trying to be nice to you,”

“And you’re failing miserably,” Catra smirked,

“Stop that,”

“Stop what?” Catra asked, placing a hand on her own chest feigning innocence.

“I am trying to have a normal interaction with yo-,”

“What about this is normal? You walk over to my door and ask me if I want to go to a party like we’re friends or something?” Catra argued, crossing her arms defensively.

She couldn’t imagine being friends with Adora. Going to study groups, hanging out at parties, and getting coffee before class? Yeah right, this was just a sick joke to Adora, and Catra was done playing into it.

“Like we didn’t spend the last four years of high school hating each other’s guts? You hate me and I can’t stand you, so stop trying to mess with my head!” Catra exclaimed

Adora’s face fell and Catra could almost feel the weight of it from across the door threshold. “I don’t hate you,” Adora said “I never have,”

Adora turned around to leave back to her door. “I’ll leave you alone, sorry for bothering you,”

Catra could feel her conscience screaming at her to let Adora go and be done with this conversation, but she could already feel the guilt inside gnawing at her like she had wounded a puppy. Every time she had tried to match Adora she would lose. Now, if she tried to ignore Adora, she still ended up losing. It’s only right that forming a friendship with Adora would end in the same result, but right now in this moment, Catra didn’t care about winning.

“Adora?” Catra said knowing what she was about to say would probably blow up in her face. “I’ll go,”

“You don’t have to leave, it's your bathroom too,” Adora turned around and explained glumly.

Catra rolled her eyes “No dummy, I’ll go to the party, alright,”

Adora’s eyes began to light up like a Christmas tree “Really?” she asked tentatively.

“Don’t make this a thing, I was already planning on going, just maybe now I’ll see you there and say hi and try not to remind everyone how I can run twice as fast as you,” Catra replied but her usual smirk was replaced with a small smile that Adora had never seen before.

Adora laughed and Catra’s smile grew a little bigger “Deal, I’ll let you go now, um see you then or I guess I’ll see you in bio since that comes first, do you have lab tomorrow at 10:30?”

“No, I was late for registration so I have it on Fridays,”

“Well I can tell you how it is then during the lecture on Wednesday! If you want or whatever,”

“Maybe, I’ll think about it,” Catra said her hand returning to the door knob

“Sure sure one thing at a time, I’ll see you later,” Adora turned to leave but the sound of Catra’s voice stopped her once again.

“Adora?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t hate you either,” Catra said quietly and closed the door as fast as the words left her mouth.

Chapter Text

Adora was actually on time for the next bio lecture. Yesterday’s classes had gone smoothly without trouble. The lab was a breeze, mostly just labeling the parts of the cell and what their functions were. Adora was still mulling over the idea of telling Catra about it. It seemed they were on neutral ground as of Monday. They had run into each other in the bathroom on Tuesday night when Adora was brushing her teeth at the sink closest to her room.

Catra had waltzed in with her hair back and toiletries basket in hand in preparation for her nightly face routine. She walked over to the other unused sink in the room as Adora continued to brush her teeth.

Catra glanced over and admired Adora’s attire that consisted of blue and white horseshoe pj bottoms and a gray t shirt.

“Nice pj’s,” Catra smirked, putting the facewash in her hands as she returned her gaze to her own mirror.

Adora looked down, toothbrush still in mouth, realizing she was in fact in her horseshoe pjs. She rolled her eyes at herself for choosing to bring them to college, but they were her favorite.

She spat in the sink quickly and washed her toothbrush. “They’re very comfortable thank you very much,” and left the room swiftly leaving Catra amused as she continued her routine.

That was about it as far as roommate interactions go. Glimmer had spent the night at Bow’s dorm, leaving Adora the room to herself. She was a little disappointed when Glimmer sent her a text saying she wouldn’t be home. This was their first week on campus and Adora was already beginning to feel a little left out.

Even in practice she felt like a fish out of water. Coach had decided to assign her as their center midfielder, which meant a lot of running, and having to learn to play defense, which was something she was not accustomed to. She was still disappointed on not being made striker, but honestly with how talented the other players were, she was just happy to be starting out on the field.The girls on the team were nice but there wasn’t much time to talk on the field and Adora had to leave super quickly to make it to her next class, so there was no time for hanging out after practice. She had always been good at making friends in high school, but she felt like she didn’t know where to start being in this new environment. Even her lab partner didn’t show up, and she was beginning to feel like she was cursed or something.

Today she had made it to class before Catra did. She sat in the exact spot she had last time and began pulling her stuff out of her backpack. Her legs ached from practice and she could hear her stomach growling. She pulled out her thermos of ice coffee that she had picked up from the school vending machine. It was mostly sugar but it would have to do, and it would prevent her from falling asleep in lecture again.

The professor walked in and Adora realized it was almost time to start and Catra wasn’t here yet. Adora looked at the empty seat next to her and decided to place her backpack on it just in case Catra needed a seat. There were less people than the first class but it was still pretty full in the lecture hall.

Spinerella started her powerpoint for the day about cells starting with prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

Adora began taking notes, but couldn’t help but glance at the door entryway.

Fifteen minutes into the lecture they were talking about ribosomes and she knew in her gut, Catra probably wasn’t coming.

***

Catra woke up in her dorm room at 8:30am on Wednesday. She had slept through her alarm that had gone off at 7am. Entrapta had tried to wake her up at 7:30am to which Catra replied in a half sleep state “Wake me up again and I’ll sell that robot on Ebay,”

Entrapta thought it best to leave her be and continued to her own morning class.

Catra stared at her phone swiping aimlessly through social media until a text from Scorpia popped up.

Scorpia: Hey Wildcat! Adora said you didn’t make it to class just wanted to check that you’re ok.

Catra had never missed a class in high school. Weaver wouldn’t have let her. She would wake her up in the early morning, make sure Catra was presentable for school and drop her off. Catra would sometimes be late to class anyway out of spite but she knew she couldn’t miss a class without the wrath of Weaver over her head.

But today when her alarm went off and she realized there was no one forcing her to go to class, no one making her get dressed, and no one who would care if she didn’t go.

Well, almost no one. Of course Adora had texted Scorpia, probably because she didn’t have Catra’s number. Catra began typing her reply to Scorpia:

Catra: i wanted to sleep in sue me

She thought about Adora waiting for her in the lecture hall like she herself had done on Monday. Hopefully Adora could keep herself awake this time. Catra returned to her social media black hole, deciding to go with her favorite pastime of watching cat videos and baking videos on Tik Tok.

Her stomach growled after finishing a video of someone making blueberry and cream cheese crepes.

She knew the dining hall would not have anything even close to as good as the videos she had been watching. She could go to the place where she got coffee the other day, but that would mean walking off campus. Her stomach growled again and she sighed sitting up in her bed.

“Fine, you win this one” she said to herself looking down at her stomach.

She put on a deep red hoodie, some leggings and shoes and started making her way down the hall. The doors in the hall were slowly getting more and more decorated as the week went on. Catra had noticed that Adora and Glimmer had put a little white board on their door with command strips. Someone, most likely Glimmer, had written “Happy First Week of Classes!” in a bright pink dry erase pen. Catra picked up the pen and drew a frowny face with its tongue out inside the letter o.

She walked out into the lobby and traveled down the stairs to the first floor. The lobby looked abandoned as most of the students were either asleep or in classes during this time of day. Catra walked out the door and began making her way to the cafe that was down the street from the dorms when she heard her name called across the courtyard.

“Hey Catra! Wait up!” Scorpia called out, practically running to Catra.

“Hey Scorp, I’m getting food so either walk with me or we’ll talk later,” Catra said keeping her pace.

“I …could..eat!” Scorpia said, nearly out of breath. She was still in her soccer practice clothes. She hadn’t taken her shin guards off yet but at least she was wearing regular sneakers. She was carrying the largest duffle bag that Catra had seen.

“How was practice?”Catra asked hoping to distract Scorpia from the fact she was missing class.

“Good! The players are really nice and good. We have a scrimmage on Friday so that’ll be fun,” Scorpia said trying to adjust the strap on her duffle bag. “They’re going to have me play as the center back and Adora is going to be a center midfield,”

Catra side-eyed Scorpia “What no center forward?”

Scorpia shook her head, “Coach said she wants to see Adora play center mid,”

Catra chuckled, “Greyson’s probably having a fit right now, she always played as a striker.”

Center forward was usually the star of the show when it came to soccer. They were on average the person who scored the most goals. Center midfield was also a very important position, usually reserved for the player that had the most stamina. Having to play both offense and defense meant the player had to be able to run.

‘No wonder she’s tired’ Catra thought, ‘She’s probably running 5 miles a practice’

“Yeah, I could see she took it a little hard, but we’ll see, it’s early in the season,”

They went into the cafe, which was a small shop called Darla’s. It had a rustic vintage feel with soft lighting. Every chair was a different size and shape, as were the tables. Catra ordered a lavender lemon bar from the pastry shelf and an almond milk caramel latte, while Scorpia had a tomato pesto panini. They sat in the back corner and Catra felt instantly calm as she took her first bite of the lemon bar.

“Holy shit, that’s good,” Catra said,

“Oh, I wanted to ask,” Scorpia said, “Do you want to carpool for the party on Saturday?”

Catra looked up hesitantly from her pastry, “Who else is riding in your car?”

“Right now, just me.”

“Sure, is it cool if Entrapta comes with?”

“Yeah the more the merrier!” Scorpia said, taking a bite from her sandwich. Her phone buzzed on the table and Scorpia looked down to read the message.

“Adora is wondering if you want the notes from today’s class,”

“God, can’t she just leave me alone, everyone skips classes! It’s not a big deal,” Catra said.

“I think she’s just trying to be nice Catra,”

“Well I think she’s judging me for not showing up today, and it’s no one’s business what I do, so she can stop trying to be nice to me or whatever, because I know it’s just her way of showing me up again,” Catra crossed her arms and looked away from Scorpia’s concerned expression.

“I feel like you’re putting a little too much thought into this,” Scorpia replied, earning a stern look from Catra, “No offense,”

“Offense taken,” Catra said taking another quick bite of her pastry, “I’ve been compared to Adora all through high school, and I’m just sick of it Scorpia,”

“Then why do you still talk to her?”

“I don’t! She just-” Catra couldn’t finish the sentence out loud when she didn’t know the answer. How was she supposed to explain that she couldn’t help but interact with Adora? How could she explain how much she hated being compared to her, but still somehow enjoyed her company? Adora, who was great at everything, and nice to everyone, and barely had to try at being perfect while Catra busted her ass in order to feel some sort of accomplishment. Scorpia was right, she could have just let Adora go that day in the bathroom and never talk to her again. But Catra couldn’t help it, she was like an asteroid being pulled into the sun’s orbit. It was impossible not to like Adora Greyson, even when she was being a cocky know-it-all, because deep down Catra knew she was a genuinely good person. Which made Catra feel like the worst in comparison.

“It’s just hard to explain,” Catra finally said, “She’s not an asshole all the time, she can be...nice,” Catra shook her head as if trying to forget all the other good qualities that Adora had. “I just, feel like it’s another game,”

“What do you mean?”Scorpia asked,

“Like if I’m nice to her, she wins,” she explained.

“I’m still not following,” Scorpia said, “How does she win by being friends with you and you being nice to her? Wouldn’t that be a win-win situation?”

Catra rolled her eyes and placed her head in her hands, “I don’t know, it’s stupid. I just feel like I’m always going to be not good enough and she’s just going to be a constant reminder of that,”

“Has Adora ever said you’re not good enough?”Scorpia asked,

“No, but I know that’s what she’s thinking,”

Scorpia sighed and placed a hand on Catra’s shoulder, “You can’t know what someone is thinking, unless they tell you, otherwise you are just going to keep pushing people away with your own mean thoughts Wildcat,”

Catra was not expecting a therapy talk with her coffee this morning, yet here she was and it wasn’t even ten o’clock. “You’ve been hanging out with Perfuma too much haven’t you?”

“What? No, she just makes some good points and is very introspective,” Scorpia blushed at the mention of her partner’s name, “Anyway, you are changing the subject. The point is you need to stop assuming people think the worst of you, especially Adora,”

“I liked it better when you weren’t friends with Adora,” Catra said

Scorpia laughed, “To be honest it took some time, but she is a pretty cool person when you get to know her,”

“Yeah whatever, I guess,” Catra replied. “Tell her she can leave the notes under my door if she wants,”

***

Adora slipped her biology notes under Catra and Entrapta’s door. The crack underneath was pretty slim so she had to do them one at a time. She even added some notes about the lab for Friday. As she was sliding the last paper in the door opened suddenly.

Adora looked up to see Entrapta standing in the doorway with the bio notes in her hands.

“What are you doing?” Entrapta asked,

Adora’s eyes widened like she was a kid who had been caught stealing from a candy store.

“Just giving Catra my notes from Bio, she missed the lecture,” Adora said beginning to stand up from her crouched position.

“Why didn’t you knock?” Entrapta asked,

Adora blushed with embarrassment, why hadn’t she just done that? “I don’t know Catra mentioned sliding them under the door and I was just following instructions, I guess,”

Entrapta tilted her head, “So you and Catra are friends now?”

“Well trying to be, I’m not sure if Catra thinks we’re really there yet, but yes I would like to be,” Adora said, “And yours too, of course! I’m sorry I’m usually much better at making friends, and not being weird like stuffing paper under doors,”

“It’s okay, I like having weird friends,” Entrapta said putting the bio notes on Catra’s unmade bed. “Do you want to come in?”

“Uh sure?Just for a bit, if you don’t think Catra will mind?”

“Well if we stay on my side of the room, I think we’ll be fine,” Entrapta said.

Adora walked in through the doorway and it felt like walking into an alternate dimension. The room layout was identical to hers and Glimmer’s, but Entrapta had raised her bed so it was almost a couple feet off the ground, providing her with under storage space for her plastic drawers of clothes. The only decoration on Entrapta’s side were blueprints and sketches of invention prototypes above her desk that had some sort of metal device and parts strewn about it. Catra’s side of the room was messy with clothes half stuffed in plastic drawers, some books were stacked on her desk as well as a giant textbook that had yet to be unwrapped from its plastic covering that read ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY.

“I like what you guys have done with the place,” Adora said taking the rest of the room in.

“Thanks, it was a lot quicker with Emily’s help,” Entrapta said,

“Who’s Emily?”

As if on cue Entrapta grabbed her computer pad that was on her bed and punched in a few commands. Emily came crawling out on her metal legs from the closet and at Adora’s feet. Adora nearly jumped and stepped on her out of surprise. “You have a robot?!”

“Her name is Emily, I usually store her in the closet when Catra’s around because she’s not really accustomed to her, but I think she’s warming up to her,” Entrapta smiled brightly “Isn’t she amazing!”

“Yeah that’s amazing!” Adora said taking a closer look at the small robot, “Is she allowed in the dorms though?”

Entrapta shrugged, “Nothing says I can’t have a robot in the dorms, and I did deactivate her defensive artillery before coming, so she is technically, at this moment, not a weapon,” Entrapa explained.

Adora took a step away from the robot slowly, “Well good to know, are you planning on bringing her to the party?”

Entrapta’s eyes lit up “Oh yes! The social experiment can’t wait!”

Adora laughed, “It’s just a party Entrapta,”

“It can be both!” Entrapta said returning to her desk and putting on her safety goggles. “I think I’ll leave Emily at home though, don’t want to risk her getting stepped on in a large gathering of people,” She turned on her soldering iron and began connecting a wire to what looked like a computer board.

“You seem kind of busy, maybe I should go,” Adora said, slightly surprised that the smoke had not set off the fire alarm yet.

“Just working on a project, sorry sometimes it’s easier for me to talk to people if I’m doing something else, if you don’t like it I can stop,”
“No that’s cool, I have some homework I have to do anyway,” Adora reassured her.

“Oh, you can do it here if you want,” Entrapta offered,

Adora smiled, “Sure, why not? Let me get my stuff,” Adora went into her room and got out her nutrition textbook as well as her laptop. She returned to Entrapta and Catra’s room and closed the bathroom door, deciding to sit on the floor with her back pressed against the door.

“Thanks for having me over, Glimmer and Bow have been a little busy this week,” Adora said,

“No problem!” Entrapta said,

Adora saw the little cloud of smoke rise above Entrapta’s head, “How is that thing not activating the fire alarm?”

“Oh I disabled the fire alarm when we moved in, I usually put it back once I’m done soldering though, don’t worry,”

Adora smiled nervously and opened her laptop, at least she had made one new friend today.

Chapter Text

Adora sat as still as she possibly could as Glimmer tried to put the eyeliner on her. She thought she might try something new for the party and Glimmer had a love for all things cosmetology. Adora hadn’t seen Glimmer this excited since prom night when she had asked her to do her hair. 

“I don't know how you do this all the time,” Adora said, trying not to fidget. 

“It just takes practice!” Glimmer said, “I’m so glad you let me do this, I swear if I wasn’t studying art, I would’ve become a cosmetologist,” 

Glimmer had already done her makeup for the night. Bright purple and silver eyeshadow that complimented her pink and purple hair. Her eyeliner was a glittering dark blue that followed her lashline and connected at the crease. Glimmer had always been adventurous with her style and Adora had always admired her for it. But now, being in Glimmer’s makeup chair, she was a little nervous she would end up not feeling comfortable with the result.

“Don’t smile! It’ll throw off the wing!” Glimmer said, tilting Adora’s head back. 

“It’s not going to be super thick right?” Adora asked not knowing where she should look, “I just want something small,” 

Glimmer took a step back and admired her handy work. “Of course! Don’t worry if it’s not your style, we can always redo it, but I think you’ll like it!” 

“Do you think it’s weird if I wear my high school sweatshirt?” Adora asked looking down at her black and red sweatshirt that said Horde High School Soccer. 

“Not really, I mean people wear their college gear all the time, who cares?” Glimmer shrugged, “Plus if you try to take it off you could ruin all the work I have done, so please do not change until the eyeliner is dry,” 

Glimmer put the eyeliner down and reached for Adora’s hand and dragged her into the bathroom. “Alright take a look! It's not completely done yet, but I want to know what you think before you finish it with mascara,” 

Adora looked in the bathroom mirror and saw her reflection. It was a little more than what she normally wore, but not too different. Her eyes were defined by a light brown eyeshadow and the eyeliner wing was small and came to a nice point. 

“Do you like it? It’s okay if you don’t, you won’t hurt my feelings,” Glimmer said waiting for Adora’s response. 

Adora turned and smiled, “I like it…it’s perfect, thanks Glimmer,”  Glimmer nearly shrieked with joy and gave Adora one of her world famous hugs. 

“Okay okay now just put some mascara on and we will be good to go!” Glimmer said going back into their room “Bow said he’ll pick us up in the lobby,” 

Adora took out her mascara and began putting it on, she glanced at Catra and Entrapta’s door. It had been quiet most of the evening and she was curious if they had already left yet. 

Adora took another look in the mirror and smiled, “It’s going to be fine, it's just a party,” 

***

The party was in full swing when Scorpia, Entrapta, and Catra arrived. The music was a little loud, and the house looked somewhat big, but the sea of people made everything feel too close and too small. Some people were playing cards at the kitchen table, others were dancing in the living room. A random cat had been seen darting between people, not used to having so many people in their home. Catra considered hiding with the cat if it meant she could get away from all the commotion. 

While Scorpia was making rounds, Catra and Entrapta had gone straight to the kitchen and noticed a girl with bright pink hair mixing some vodka and sprite. Catra got herself a cup of the same thing and took a sip. The only alcohol she ever had was some wine she had sneaked from her mother’s liquor cabinet, but she hated how sour the taste was. This was different than some old wine that Weaver kept stashed away. It was like normal soda with a bit of a bitter aftertaste. 

Maybe I didn’t put enough vodka in , she thought. She added a tiny bit more but not too much. She didn’t want to get flat-out wasted in front of strangers. Entrapta meanwhile was preoccupied with the finger food that was displayed on the kitchen counter when Catra said she was headed outside for some air. She opened the sliding glass doors that lead to the back patio. 

There were a couple of people smoking out there, but they were far enough away that it didn’t bother Catra. It was a little colder than expected and Catra had wished she had brought a jacket or something instead of just wearing her plain black t-shirt. She leaned over on the railing and took another sip of her drink. Her nose wrinkled as the vodka taste had become a little stronger as the cup became less full. She checked her phone, it was 9 pm, the party had started at 8, and Adora was nowhere to be seen. 

“I want you to come, Catra,” she muttered mimicking the blonde, “I’m Adora and I’ll give you my bio notes and invite you to a party that I may not even show up to,” 

You really thought she wanted to be friends with you? She's always going to be better than you, why would she want to hang out with you?

She could feel herself getting angrier the more she looked at the clock on her phone. She hated parties, yet here she was, and for what? So she could play nice with Adora? Adora, who was standing her up? Catra rolled her eyes at herself, maybe the term was a bit of an overstatement, but she couldn’t help but feel hurt at the thought of Adora ditching her.  

“Hey, you doing okay over there?” Catra looked over to see a woman with dark green hair and a septum piercing, looking at her like she just overheard Catra’s entire internal monologue. She was holding a vape in her hand and a drink in the other. 

“You seem kind of…I don’t know…. out of it,” she said, taking a hit off her vape and blowing it in the other direction. “Do you want to..” she trailed off holding the vape pen out like she was letting Catra borrow a pencil. 

“No, I’m good,” Catra replied, taking another sip from her cup. 

“Good, shit is bad for you,” the girl said blowing out another hit opposite of Catra’s direction “I’m Mermista, by the way,”

“Catra,” she replied, turning around so she could see into the house to casually scope out anyone new who had arrived.

“How’d you know about this party, Catra?” Mermista asked, 

“I came with Scorpia and my roommate Entrapta,” Catra said, not understanding why this woman was questioning her. “Who invited you?” 

Mermista chuckled, “Well this is my house, and I am team captain, so it would be kind of awkward if I wasn’t invited,” 

“My condolences to the destruction of your house,” Catra replied pointing to the inside where someone had begun stacking red solo cups only to have it be rammed into by another party goer. 

“This is nothing,” Mermista said, “Last party, our kitchen caught on fire,” 

“How the hell did that happen?” she asked. 

Mermista smirked “My boyfriend wanted to be cool and light his martini on fire because he saw it in a movie then he freaked out and the  kitchen curtains caught fire,” Mermista chuckled at the memory, “It gave my roommate an excuse to sew new ones though so, Perfuma was happy for the project, I think,” 

Catra cackled, “Burning your girlfriend’s kitchen, I’m assuming you broke up after that?”

“Still together, it’ll be two years in May” Mermista shrugged, “I did get rid of all the matches in the house this time,” 

“Smart idea,” Catra said, glancing back at the sliding glass door.

“You waiting for someone?” Mermista asked, taking notice of Catra’s searching gaze. ,

“What?” Catra scoffed turning away from the party “No, just someone mentioned about stopping by but it doesn’t look like they’re here,” 

“Who is it?” Mermista asked,

“Why do you care?“

Mermista groaned “Because this party is boring and I need some entertainment, come on who is it?” She began to lean dramatically on the railing waiting for Catra to respond. “Before I die of boredom, come oooon I know you want to tell me,” 

Catra had no idea why she felt compelled to talk about Adora to a person she had just met moments ago. Maybe it was the drink, or maybe it was the fact Mermista wanted to listen, but it was nice to talk to someone who didn’t seem like she would care one way or the other. 

“Her name’s Adora, she’s on your team,” Catra said looking down into her empty cup.

Mermista looked confused for a moment, ”I might be a little out of it, what does she look like?” 

“Tall, blonde, ponytail with a ridiculous hair poof,” Catra explained imitating Adora’s signature hairstyle with her own hair,

“Adora!” Mermista said finally piecing the clues together, “Yeah, kind of quiet, but nice,” 

“Adora’s never been quiet in her life,” Catra replied, “She talks to everyone,”

Mermista shook her head “I don’t know if we’re talking about the same woman here. It’s only been a week but she mostly keeps to herself or talks to Scorpia on occasion,” 

“Well whatever, it’s not important, she’s not here so…”

Entrapta opened the sliding glass door that led to the patio, “Hey Catra! Adora and Glimmer are here! Thought you would like to know!” 

Catra covered her hand across her face in embarrassment “Thanks Entrapta,” she retorted back wishing she was anywhere but here,

“No problem!” Entrapta shouted back, closing the door behind her.

“Well looks like she made it, better go and talk to her before Seahawk finds out I have a lighter in my nightstand,” Mermista replied.

“Thanks,” Catra said making her way to the door, “Hey, don’t mention to Adora I was like waiting for her because I wasn’t, I just needed some air and…” Catra sighed in defeat. “Just could you be cool and not say anything?”

“Secrets safe with me,” Mermista said with a knowing grin. 

Catra felt a weight off her shoulders as she headed back inside to the party.

***

“We’re so late,” Adora complained as they walked up Mermista and Perfuma’s driveway.

“I’m sorry all these streets look the same and my google maps was malfunctioning!” Bow said “Plus Glimmer is not the best navigator,” 

Glimmer scoffed, “Take that back,” 

“You yelled at me for turning on a street that you directly told me to turn on!” Bow said, throwing his hands up in the air.

“I said second right not first right and you know it! ” Glimmer said.

“Okay,” Adora said, getting in between them. “It’s no one’s fault, we’re here let’s have a good time,”

Adora could hear the music from outside, but she knocked on the door anyway. 

Glimmer chuckled and took a hold of the handle, opened the unlock door and headed straight in.

“Hey!” Adora objected

“Oh relax no one could probably have heard us anyway!“ Glimmer said, closing the door behind them. Adora had never seen so many people in one house before. She recognized some of the girls from her team, but there were so many others whom she had never seen before. 

“Adora! You made it!” Entrapta yelled, carrying multiple plates of finger food. “Look, they have my favorite, tiny food!” 

Entrapta held out a plate that had been stacked high of tiny cupcakes, crackers and cheese, and finger sandwiches.

“Hey Entrapta!” Adora said relieved to have another friend at this party.“This is my friend Bow, he’s the one I told you about who was joining the robotics club,”

“Oh yes! I heard you make inventions too!” Entrapta said acknowledging Bow. 

“Yeah! I heard you have a robot already! That’s so cool!” Bow said, 

“Thanks! She is pretty cool,” Entrapta replied, “I can’t wait to fill her in on the data of this social experiment “ 

“What?” Bow asked,

“The party,” Adora explained, “how’s it going so far?”

“Good! Most are drinking and commingling. I saw a few people separate themselves from the group to the back patio. I hypothesize that they are the introverts of the experiment. Speaking of which, Catra is out there! I’ll tell her you’re here and see if that creates a chain reaction of signaling the other potential introverts to return to the party,” she said and practically skipped to the back patio door. 

“Well she seemed…excited,” Glimmer said, “And speaking of excitement I’m going to get some drinks,” 

“I’ll go with you!” Bow said and turned to Adora. “You coming too?” 

“I’m good, I think I’ll say hi to a couple people, but you guys have fun,” Adora said.

“Alright, but don’t forget to have some fun too, I’m DDing and I will be taking my job very seriously,” Bow said, raising his hand like he was taking a pledge.

“Thanks Bow, but I’ll probably take it easy,” Adora replied, “However, Glimmer will not be so I suggest you keep an eye on her before all that peach schnapps is gone,” 

Bow laughed “When you’re right, you’re right,” 

Adora stood awkwardly in the middle of the room trying to scan for someone she felt comfortable talking to. She noticed Huntara, the team’s goalie, playing a card game with some others.  Adora couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated as she considered walking up to the group by herself. Huntara was always one to crack jokes at practice, even nicknaming Adora “Blondie'' after their first practice. Adora wasn’t sure how she felt about the nickname, but again speaking up against the six-foot-tall, made out of pure muscle, the goalie didn’t seem ideal. Maybe taking a drink to get the edge off would be a good idea.

Adora looked around some more until finally, a familiar face appeared that put her mind at ease.  Catra was here and Adora could almost swear by the look on Catra’s face that she was just as relieved to see her too. 

“About time you showed up,” Catra said “Is this going to be a recurring thing? You, showing up late to stuff?” 

Adora rolled her eyes playfully “We got lost finding the house, and since when do you show up on time?”

"I show up when I want to, and I decided I wanted to be on time,” Catra said. 

“Well I’m really glad you wanted to come at all,” Adora said with such earnest Catra didn’t know what to do with it. 

“How did the lab go?” Adora asked, 

“Fine, I was done in like twenty minutes,” she replied, knowing the reason she was done so fast was thanks to Adora’s extra notes. “Thanks for the notes and stuff,”  

“Anytime! Also, you’ll be happy to know I didn’t fall asleep on Wednesday. I did have the worst stomach ache from the worst ice coffee I have ever had, but I stayed awake,” Adora announced proudly. 

“Vending machine coffee?” Catra winced, “You didn’t,” 

Adora nodded “I did and I regret nothing,” 

Catra laughed and Adora couldn’t help but smile despite herself.  

"Well maybe if I’m actually on time I can bring you a real coffee,” Catra said without putting much thought into her words.

Adora’s smile grew even wider at the kind gesture. “Aw you’re being so nice!,”

“I am not!” Catra defended her cheeks turning pink at the compliment “I take it back, have your shitty insta coffee,”

“Oh come on” Adora playfully pushed Catra’s shoulder, “Just admit it you’re a nice person and you want to be my friend,” 

Catra shrugged, “I’ve had vodka, it has lapsed my judgment,” she raised her empty cup to Adora and smiled.

“Ah, of course, that must be it,” Adora smirked “Maybe if I have some we won’t argue for the whole night,” 

“Yeah that’ll never happen, I can’t even imagine you drinking,” Catra scoffed at the thought of Adora getting drunk at a party. She was way too sure of herself and definitely didn’t need any liquid courage to help with that. 

Adora furrowed her brows “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

Catra could feel herself taking a wrong turn, but didn’t know how to stop it. It was like her mouth was on autopilot but it was headed into a dead end. “Nothing, just that you’ve always been so..”

Good, friendly, confident in her skin. All the things Catra admired about her, but would never admit in a million years.

“So what?” Adora asked, crossing her arms and doing all that she could not to pout.

Adora didn’t need to ask the question to know what the answer was. Adora had always been a model student. She couldn’t lie to save her life, especially when she was a kid. She never drank or got high in high school. Adora may as well have a sticker that said goody two-shoes stuck to her forehead. Adora could feel her insecurities bubbling to the surface. 

You aren’t fun, everyone’s going to think you’re stuck up or lame. Why did you even come here? Everyone’s having fun without you. 

“Adora, forget I said anything, really, you can drink if you want or if you don’t want to…” Catra said, trying to backtrack as Adora spiraled into herself. 

“Well I want to,” she proclaimed, “I can be fun, I’m not always the responsible one, in fact, Bow is driving us home tonight so I can have as much fun as I want,”

“Alright, who is down for some drinking games!” Huntara yelled from across the room. People cheered in response as people began to line up at the table.That was the sign Adora needed to prove she could be just as fun and relaxed as Catra, Huntara, or anyone here for that matter. 

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Adora said but Catra caught her by the arm. 

“Adora, come on,” Catra said, “I didn’t mean anything by it,” Adora turned away from Catra’s gaze and back towards Huntara, “Hey Huntara, I call first dibs!”

Huntara chuckled “All right Blondie! Coming out to play, I like it!” 

Adora walked away from Catra’s gentle but firm grip. Catra felt like she was about to see a train wreck but couldn’t do anything about it. She watched from afar as Adora sat at the table with two other people.

“Alright folks we’re playing fuck the dealer, basically I pull out a card ask you a question about the next card, and if you guess wrong you drink. If you guess right, I drink, any questions?” Huntara asked, shuffling the cards effortlessly in her hands. Adora shook her head as she took in the rules of the game. 

“Ok Blondie, you first,” Huntara said and put down a card that read ten of clubs.

“Alright, do you think the next card will be lower or higher?” 

Adora thought about the possibilities, it was most likely lower with a ten being a pretty high number to start with. “Lower,” Adora said.

Huntara pulled the next card and it was 6 of spades. “Alright, safe for now,” she said and downed a shot. “Do you think the next card will be black or red?” 

Two blacks in a row, her best chance was red. 

“Red,” Adora replied,

Huntara pulled out a 7 of spades “OooOoo no luck, time to drink,” Huntara poured the tequila from the bottle into a solo cup. Adora took a sip, it tasted like gasoline. She coughed as it burned her throat. She could taste it in the air even after it had gone down.  She put the cup down and waited for Huntara to ask the next question.

“You gotta drink it all, that’s a whole ass shot in there blondie,” Huntara pointed to her cup.

“Oh come on Huntara give her a break she’s a freshman,” one of the other players said. Adora recognized her as their right forward, a girl with bright pink hair who looked like only a freshman herself due to her small stature.

You can’t even play a drinking game right. You have to do this or people will think you're weak. 

Adora took a hold of the cup and guzzled it down. She ignored the fire in her throat and slammed the solo cup to the table. “Next question,” she coughed a bit as Huntara got the next drink ready.

Huntara smiled, “Alright take it easy, it's just a game, is the next card higher or lower than a 7.

“Lower” Adora said

The card was a Jack of diamonds. Wrong again.

Huntara gave her the shot that she had just poured into the solo cup. Adora swallowed it down, the burn is less intense than it was previously. She could feel her cheeks getting warm, her head buzzing as she tried to focus on the next question. This was a bad idea, but there was no going back now. 

“Alright let’s move on to someone else while you let those drinks sit Grayson.” Huntara said,

“No, it's still my turn, come on go ahead, I can do it,” Adora said, pushing her cup back to Huntara.

Huntara raised her eyebrows “Alright if you say so,”

Catra watched Adora down two more shots after losing twice in a row. This was stupid, she could see the sweat on Adora’s brow. She was barely keeping her head up and she was smiling like an idiot. This had gone on far long enough. Catra walked quickly up to the table as Huntara was pouring Adora’s 6th shot. 

“That’s enough, she’s done,” Catra said, putting her hand on the table between Adora and the next shot.

“But I already poured the shot,” Huntara said, pointing at the cup. 

“Yeah it’s mine, Catra” Adora slurred “I gotta take it, fair is dare,” 

“Fine then,” Catra downed the shot and coughed and spat most of it back into the cup. It tasted like gasoline and smelt like nail polish. “What the hell Adora this shit is terrible,”  

Adora giggled, “I know, it’s awful,”

“Aw gross, why’d you have to spit it in the cup?” Huntara grimaced as Catra set the cup down.

“This game is over, I'm getting you to Sparkles,” Catra said.

“Okay fiiiine, thanks for letting me play, I’ll beat you next time Huntara,” Adora swayed, getting up and waving as she left the table.

“Alright Blondie,” Huntara smiled and shook her head.

“And don’t call me that!” Adora yelled back over her shoulder as Catra began pulling her away. 

Adora looked up and down at Catra trying to keep up with shorter girl “You’re really strong for how tiny you are,” 

Catra rolled her eyes, “Thanks, now come on, Glimmer has to be somewhere in this house,”

“Hey you called her Glimmer,” Adora said, stopping in her tracks.

“Yeah because I seriously need her to take you off my hands before you do something dumb, Princess,” 

Adora blushed from the nickname and the alcohol. “Oh come on Catra I’m just having fun! Like Bow said, “have fun!”

“Adora you don’t need to be blackout drunk to have fun, this is your first time drinking, clearly, you should do it around people who can help take care of you,”

Adora smiled and poked Catra on the arm “You’re taking care of me,” 

Catra rolled her eyes and took Adora’s wrist and led her down the hallway, “Yeah because those idiots you call your teammates certainly weren’t going to,” 

“Making friends is hard,” Adora pouted, remembering the way Huntara laughed as they walked away from the table. She may be drunk, but she knew when she was being made fun of.

“Shut up, you always make friends, it’s like your most annoying quality that you can make friends with anyone,” Catra felt the wait of her hand that was holding Adora’s wrist pull hard, “Ouch! What are you doing?” Catra looked down and Adora was sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway. 

“I can’t,” she said softly, “I can’t do anything right,” Adora could feel the tears forming in her eyes. “I try, I’m really trying Catra but, I’m sorry I’m so sorry, I’m terrible at making friends, and now you’re not going to want to be my friend,”  

Catra always thought everything came easy to Adora, but looking at her now, Catra knew she was wrong. If she had just kept her damn mouth shut then maybe they wouldn’t be in this mess. Catra sat down across from Adora. She took her hand in her own. “Hey Adora, look at me,”

Adora’s head slowly turned up, Catra could see some stray tears rolling down her cheeks.

“You have nothing to apologize for, okay? You’re going to be okay, do you want to go home?” 

Adora nodded in response, “Can you walk with me so we can find Bow to take you home?”  Catra asked, 

“I don’t want too many people to see me like this,” Adora said quietly, squeezing Catra’s hand lightly as if to check that she was still there and not abandoning her in this hallway.

“That’s fine, we’ll just sit here,” Catra released Adora’s hand and went to sit next to her. She leaned back against the hallway wall and looked over at the blonde. 

“Do you have your phone on you?” Catra asked, 

Adora shook her head yes and got her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans. She handed the phone to Catra “I don’t know your passcode dummy,” 

“I don’t want to tell you, you’re going to make fun of me,” Adora said, wiping away the tears that had fallen moments ago.

“I won’t,” Catra said honestly. 

“Promise?” Adora asked. 

“Yes Adora, I promise, now come on what is it?” 

“It’s my birthday, 0119,”she replied.

Catra tried her best not to roll her eyes and keep her promise. It could have been worse, it could have been 1234. She typed in Adora’s passcode and went to her messages. “I’m going to message Bow and Glimmer where we are okay?” Catra took away her hand to start typing the message. 

Adora: Hey this is Catra. Adora is not feeling good and needs to go home. We’re in the hallway.

“ Okay we’re going to wait here and-“

“Wildcat there you are! We’ve been looking all over for you!” Scorpia said as she approached with Perfuma glued to her side.

“Is everything okay?” Perfuma asked, glancing down at Adora who now had her face buried in her hands 

“We’re all good just trying to get a ride home,” Catra said trying her best to courteously block Adora from further embarrassment

“Do you need me to take you guys home?” Scorpia asked, 

Catra turned to Adora, “Would you be okay if Scorpia gave us a ride home?”

Adora nodded, “Yeah I guess that would be okay, what about Bow and Glimmer?” 

“Scorpia, could you go tell Glimmer and Bow we’re taking Adora home?” Catra asked, hoping to finally get out of this damn house.  

“Okay, I’ll meet you at the car,” Scorpia said sincerely and went with Perfuma to find Bow and Glimmer,

After they left Adora lifted her head up to see Catra’s concerned gaze, “Why..why are you being so nice to me?” she stammered.

“Because I was the asshole who got you into this mess, only fair that I get you out of it,” she said, as helped Adora up and began making their way out of the hallway to the front door. 

“You didn’t get me to do it, I screwed up,” Adora hiccupped, as they left quickly through the front door.

“Well, we screwed up together, okay?” Catra replied, keeping an arm on Adora in case she lost her balance on the way.

They walked to Scorpia’s car in comfortable silence, luckily they weren’t parked too far away from the house. Catra went to open the back door but it was locked. 

“Dammit, we’ll have to wait for Scorpia, are you going to be okay?” Catra asked. She could already feel the cold air on her arms again as tried to get Adora to sit on the curb. 

“Bow texted back!” Adora said happily reaching her phone out and putting it a little too close to Catra’s face, “He said thank you for taking me, he’ll check up on me when he brings Glimmer home, he’s a good friend,” 

“That’s great, Adora,” Catra replied, too busy concentrating on staying warm. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms trying to smooth down the goosebumps that were forming. 

“And so are you,” Adora said smiling and scooting closer to her, “Is this okay? You seem cold,” 

“It’s fine, I just don’t like being cold,” Catra replied, wishing she was as warm as Adora seemed to be.

Adora looked down at her high school sweatshirt that she was wearing. She pulled at the hem and struggled to get it overhead as her ponytail caught on the hood. 

“What are you doing?” Catra laughed, helping her get the rest of the item of clothing off, Adora’s head popped up, her ponytail mostly ruined and the sides of her hair were slightly frizzed from the friction. Her eyeliner was a little smudged from crying but not too badly. She gave the goofiest innocent smiles that Catra had ever seen.

“I’m too warm and you’re too cold, it’s basic science Catra, here,” she said holding out her sweatshirt for Catra. Catra looked down at the red and black sweatshirt and took it in her hands. Even drunk, Adora was still putting other people first. 

“You don’t have to, Scorpia should be back any second,” Catra replied, but still had the sweatshirt in her hands. 

Adora shook her head. “It’s too hot anyway, you take it,”  Catra swallowed her pride and guilt and placed the sweatshirt on. She breathed a sigh of comfort feeling the warmth of the thick cotton surrounding her like a blanket. “Thanks,” 

“Do you ever get really warm when you get drunk?” Adora asked failing miserably to readjust her ponytail. 

“No…” Catra began picking at her chipped nail polish. “I’ve never actually gotten drunk before, that vodka I had was like my second drink ever,” she admitted. 

There was a brief silence as Catra’s words hung in the cool night air between them. Adora’s drunken mind finally processed them as she looked back at Catra with disbelief and a little bit of anger. 

“WHAT?” Adora practically yelled, this entire time she had been trying to prove she could be just as experienced as Catra only to learn that Catra had barely done anything like this in her life. 

“I know, I know listen I never meant to make you think I did,” Catra explained, “I just thought you were always too confident for that kind of stuff, and I kind of felt like I needed it because I suck at parties, and you were late, and I was nervous and I just, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, okay?” Catra waited for the yelling to start but it never came. Adora looked at her with raised eyebrows and a stifled laugh that began to grow and grow. 

“Clearly I’m not as confident as you think I am,” Adora said between her giggles, “I get so caught up in my own thoughts, that I let myself…” she paused trying to regain her train of thought, “I’m sorry I’m too drunk to have this serious of a conversation, but the point is. I’m I’m trying my best Catra, but I feel insecure all the time, especially at parties” 

Catra felt like she was talking to a different person. Adora feels insecure all the time. That couldn’t be true, she was so good at so many things, Catra couldn’t comprehend how the two could go together. Even if Adora was not in her most coherent state, she could tell she was being honest with Catra. She had seen the flash of hurt in Adora’s eyes when Catra had made her comment, the look of determination she had as she waltzed over to the card table as if she had something to prove. Catra had no idea how much power other people’s words had on Adora, but she decided that Adora deserved to hear some good ones from now on. 

“Adora, I’m really…” Catra's almost apology was interrupted by the sound of the car’s alarm system unlocking. She yelped in surprise and turned to see Scorpia and Entrapta making their way down the street.

Adora laughed, “Ha! She scared you,” she poked Catra in the arm again, but Catra swatted her hand away. 

“Hey guys, sorry I was looking for Entrapta and saying bye to Perfuma, hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long,” Scorpia said, opening up the driver’s seat. 

“ Adora, are you okay?” Entrapta asked. getting into the front seat. 

“I’m fine Entrapta, just wanna get home to my bed’s all,” Adora said leaning on Catra to steady herself off the curb. 

“Oh good! When we get home could I measure your blood alcohol level? It would give me a baseline of what the average party-goer has when-” 

“Entrapta, not a good time,” Catra interrupted, joining Adora in the back seat of the car. 

“Of course, I have plenty of data already, maybe next time,” Entrapta smiled and began looking through her notes. 

“Nope, neer again” Adora said still fumbling over her words, “Or at least not at a party,” 

Adora leaned into Catra’s shoulder as they drove back home with only Scorpia’s radio playing in the background. “Thanks for getting me out of there,” Adora mumbled into Catra’s shoulder. 

“That’s what friends are for, or whatever,” Catra said hesitantly, leaning back into Adora and the backseat. 

Maybe being friends with Adora Grayson wasn’t so bad. 

Chapter Text

Adora woke up the next morning with the worst taste in her mouth. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Glimmer was still asleep and dressed in the same clothes as last night. She looked down and realized she too had fallen asleep in her t-shirt and jeans. She groaned as her body ached with every movement. She checked her phone and her screen illuminated making the pounding in her head feel ten times as worse.The clock on her phone read 9 am as well as three text message notifications. 

Catra😈: Hey Adora, this is Catra, I left your sweatshirt on the sink counter

Catra😈: Also, if you don’t remember. I added my number to your phone last night, also change your passcode dork. 

Adora stared at the messages, wondering if she was still dreaming. Last night’s memories began replaying in her mind. Drinking at the table, Catra pulled her away, crying in front of Catra. Adora tilted her head up towards the ceiling, 

“I’m such an idiot,” 

She looked at the other message from her mom. 

Mom (Hope): Hi honey… how was your first week? 

Adora began typing the word terrible but soon deleted it. She didn’t feel like talking about it now when all she wanted was to brush her teeth and get some food. 

Adora: Fine just busy, have a lot of homework so I’ll talk to you tomorrow 💗

Mom (Hope): You got this!

Adora changed into some workout clothes and knocked on the bathroom door. She opened the door and was surprised to see Catra who was in her new signature attire of a t-shirt and leggings. Her hair was wet and messily wrapped up in another t-shirt and stacked on her head. Her eyes seemed hollow and worn like she had been staying up all night. Adora smiled, knowing she probably looked ten times worse. Catra gave her a tired grin “You look tired,” she said, as she took her toothbrush out of its holder. She noticed Adora’s makeup was still partly on, her ponytail if you could call it that, was half undone riddled with tangles with long wisps of baby hairs sticking out in all directions.

“Shut up,” Adora said with a smile on her face. She turned on the faucet to wash the leftover eyeliner off her face. She noticed her sweatshirt had been folded up on the counter. She took it and put it on herself, it smelled like Catra’s body spray, vanilla, and honey. They stood in comfortable silence as they went about their morning routines. Adora would sneak glances at Catra doing her eye makeup for the day. Catra sat on the sink counter with her face as close to the mirror as possible. 

“Do you think you might need glasses?” Adora finally asked as she put away her toiletries in the cabinet below her sink. 

“I do have contacts, they're just in the other room and I’m too tired to get them” Catra replied not taking her eyes off the mirror. 

“That makes no sense,” Adora said closing the cabinet door. Usually, she would take a shower, but she could feel the clench in her stomach and the weight on her head begging her for food and coffee “I’m going to head down for breakfast, want to come?” 

Catra paused from her makeup routine and turned her attention to Adora. She wondered how much of last night Adora remembered. When Scorpia had dropped them off, Catra and Entrapta had the responsibility of getting Adora up the elevator and back into her room. It was as much as a cluster fuck as it sounds. First getting Adora into the elevator was a challenge since she decided to push every button, including the emergency intercom. After calmly explaining to the operator that they had hit it by mistake they were able to get down the hall without waking up the RA on duty. Adora didn’t have her keys so they had to take her from their room through the bathroom. Adora was half asleep with Catra and Entrapta dragging her at this point. They placed her on her side and tucked her in. 

“We shouldn’t leave her alone, she could turn on her back, and throw up” Entrapta explained. 

“Shit,” Catra replied she glanced towards Adora’s desk chair, “Well we can’t sit up and watch her all night,” 

“No, wait! I could get Emily in here!” Entrapta replied excitedly, “She can monitor her, and send a distress signal if she turns during the night.” 

Catra wasn’t sure if this idea was crazy, brilliant, or something in between, but she wasn’t going to turn down a chance of getting to rest in her bed without Adora’s fate on her shoulders. “Are you sure, that’ll work?” 

“I built her, of course, it will work,” Entrapta said confidently running back into their room for Emily and their trackpad. 

Catra still stayed up just in case the alarm went off.  She finally heard Glimmer and Bow stumble in at 3 am. Bow had yelped in the night presumably at the discovery of Emily in the girls’ room.  That was Catra’s cue that it was time for her to finally get some sleep, only to wake up and find herself exhausted and still in Adora’s sweatshirt. 

“Catra?” Adora asked, not knowing the chaotic event that had occurred when she fell asleep, “You good for breakfast?” 

Catra checked back in reminding herself of the promise she made last night to give being friends with Adora a shot. She stared at the sweatshirt that Adora had on, the one she had so kindly let her borrow last night  “Sure, but you’re paying,” At least if it ended in disaster Catra would get a free pastry out of the deal. 

***

They sat outside the curb of Darla’s coffee shop, the place was bustling with noise and commotion being primetime hours. There was not a single seat left, so they sat on the curb with their pastry bags and to-go cups. 

Adora took a bite of her snickerdoodle cookie, “You know when you said breakfast I thought it would be more like eggs and bacon, not dessert,” 

Catra side-eyed the blonde, “Are you complaining about having dessert for breakfast?” 

Adora shook her head no, her mouth still mostly full of cookies, “No, this is great,” she swallowed and took a sip of her coffee. 

“I’m surprised you’re able to eat,” Catra said, taking a bite of her lavender lemon bar.

Adora shrugged and put the crumpled bag in her pocket, “I just woke up with a headache and my breath tasted so bad, but I remember everything that happened. Well mostly, I remember kind of being asleep when you guys finally got me to my room,” 

Catra chuckled recalling how Adora flailed about, “Yeah, that was more of an adventure than getting you out of the party,” 

Adora looked down at her coffee cup, “Thank you again, I’m really sorry for how it all kind of escalated,” Adora's cheeks were flushing, still not over the scene she had caused.

Catra took a sip of her own coffee as if it would help her find the response she was looking for. “No problem,” she settled. 

“So…does this make us friends now?” Adora asked sincerely, wanting to know for once in their lives where they stood with one another. 

Catra rolled her eyes “Why do you want to be friends with me?”

Adora took a minute to think of her answer. In truth, she had always admired Catra. She was smart and funny, and never took anyone’s shit. She could be downright frustrating when they were competing, but she liked that she had someone to keep up with. When Adora saw her in their bathroom on the first day she was surprised but mostly relieved. Catra was both challenging yet familiar, and Adora knew she had a caring side now after their experience at the party. 

“I just…” Adora began still looking at her coffee cup. She glanced up to Catra’s waiting gaze. “I like talking to you, I know we argue but I don’t see it as real arguing,”

Catra gave her a knowing glance “Okay,” Adora shrugged, “Most of the time, at least, I know we can both get carried away, but you’re like the smartest person I know, and Scorpia talks about all these nice things you do, so I know it’s in there,” She poked Catra in the arm. “You’re a good person, and I like you,”

Catra couldn’t help but feel warm at the compliment. She knew she was intelligent, but hearing it come from Adora filled her with a sense of pride and acknowledgment that she wasn’t used to getting. 

“How embarrassing for you,” Catra grinned trying to deflect her own embarrassment from Adora's sincere statement 

“Catra, come on” she replied giving the brunette a playful shove.

“Listen sometimes... you are the most stubborn and infuriating person I have ever met, aside from Glimmer-“

“Please tell me there is a but coming on,” Adora interrupted earning a stern look from Catra. “If you would let me finish, maybe,” Catra said “as I was saying you infuriate me, but there are times where I guess… I don’t not like having you around,” 

Adora smirked, “Really that’s the best you can do?” 

“I just-“ Catra stopped her train of thought. “I can’t go back to how we were in high school, competing with you was exhausting sometimes,”

She noticed the way Catra picked at her nail polish whenever she was trying to be vulnerable. She had done it last night before admitting to Adora that she hadn't really drank before. Catra was really trying to be honest with her, the best Adora could do was respect her wishes. 

Adora nodded, “Okay so we won’t compete for anything!” 

“You make that sound way easier than it is,” 

Adora stood up dramatically on the curb raising her arm. “What are you doing?” Catra asked, laughing at how serious Adora’s face had become, her eyes closed like she was about to recite a prayer or a wish.

“Sh, I am making a promise, I solemnly swear, that I, Adora Grayson, will never compete with Catra D’riluth, in honor of our newfound friendship,” Adora peeked her eyes open “Okay now you,” 

“I am not doing that,” Catra said, still sitting on the curb hoping no one she knew was walking by.

Adora groaned, “Come on, amuse me please,” Adora reached out for Catra’s hand. Catra swatted it away but stood up on her own. She raised her hand lazily, “I promise not to compete with you,” she said and dropped her hand down with a thunk.

“Try again, I, Catra D’riluth,” Adora started as she raised Catra’s hand again.

“I, Catra D’riluth,” Catra mumbled.

“Solemnly swear,” Adora said, Catra glared at her, already regretting this agreement

“I swear I won’t compete with you in honor of our friendship blah blah,” Catra said quickly and sat back down on the curb before Adora could make her recite it again.

“Thank you,” Adora said politely and sat back down on the curb. 

***

The next few weeks went on without injury. Adora found herself slowly becoming more accommodated to her college schedule and position as center midfielder. It was still hard to talk to the other girls but she was getting there. Mermista had started talking to her on the field more and more lately. Mostly about her boyfriend and his antics, but Adora appreciated her reaching out. She found herself sitting next to Catra in the biology lecture and Catra did eventually start bringing coffee for them both to enjoy in the mornings. 

“You can barely call this a coffee order,” Catra said one day before the lecture as she handed Adora her drink. Adora's slightly damp and recently washed ponytail had begun leaving a wet spot on her shoulder. ” It is too,” Adora defended with a yawn, “it has espresso in it so it’s still coffee,” 

“You have drowned it in oat milk, caramel, and chocolate,” Catra countered. 

“Hey, you get sugary pastries, I get my sugar and caffeine for half the price this way,” she said taking a sip

Catra rolled her eyes, “Not worth it,” 

“It’s too early for you to be this judgmental,” Adora teased, “Also be nice to me, coach made me run like 15 laps today,”

Catra wrote the date in the corner of her paper only to have it disperse from falling droplets of water. 

“You are literally dripping sweat on me, I have a right to judge,” Catra said pointing to a few droplets that had landed on her notebook. 

“Oh, stop whining it’s wet from the shower not from practice,”

“If my notes are unreadable, it’s on you,” Catra replied, turning to an empty page of her notebook and starting again.

“Such a drama queen, how are you not majoring in theatre?” Adora teased pulling her damp ponytail to the side of her shoulder that was furthest from Catra.

“I didn’t have time, I was too good, said it wouldn’t be fair to the other students,” Catra said, looking amused with herself. 

Catra would never admit it, but giving into Adora’s friendliness was easier than she thought it would be. She only meant it to go as far as sharing a class and swapping notes. The kind of friendship where if you saw each other in class you would team up on a group project, but never see each other outside of school. Adora had made it apparent that was not going to be the case. 

Adora had begun showing up to Catra and Entrapta’s room to hang out. Usually, she would bring her laptop in and sit on the floor. Most of the time it wasn’t even their bio homework she was working on. Somehow the tables had turned and Catra would find herself hanging out in Adora and Glimmer’s room when Entrapta wasn’t around. Usually without Sparkles present. 

One day Glimmer arrived to see Adora studying at her desk and Catra laying upside down on Adora’s bed scanning through her phone.

“So, is this going to be a thing now?” Glimmer asked, 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Sparkles,” Catra replied sitting up to a more comfortable position,

“You guys are friends now?” Glimmer asked, “A few weeks ago you couldn’t stand each other,” 

“That’s still up for debate,” Catra replied but there was no venom in her words. Adora rolled her eyes and tossed a pink eraser at Catra.

“Hey!” Catra complained throwing it back,

“Adora can I talk to you later, after you guys are done living in a parallel universe,” Glimmer asked,

Catra could tell this was a conversation that she did not want to be in the room for. “I was leaving anyway,” 

Adora’s head perked up from her textbook, “You don’t have to go,” Catra smiled “I have to print out my essay at the library anyway, I’ll see you in class tomorrow,” 

Adora waved as Catra exited out the door into the main hall. Glimmer was staring her down like she had gone crazy. 

“What the hell is going on here?” Glimmer asked,

Adora’s eyes widened “What? You told me to be nice to her,” 

Glimmer crossed her arms across her chest “I know, I just didn’t think you would be hanging out with her all the time is all,” 

Adora frowned, “We don’t hang out all the time,” She knew the statement was a lie when she finished it. They had been practically glued to the hip since the night of the party. However, Glimmer had been spending half her time at their dorm and the other half at Bow’s. 

“I just feel like I haven’t seen you at all, you barely respond to my texts and you’re always in Catra’s room,” 

“I’m sorry,” Adora said, “I know I’ve been spending a lot of time over there, I just felt like you wanted to spend more time with Bow lately.” 

“I want to spend time with you both!” Glimmer shouted, “Bow maybe my boyfriend but we’re all best friends, of course, I want to hang out with you,” Glimmer sat on Adora’s bed facing her. She knew she had been a little preoccupied since the party, but she had missed hanging out with Adora. So, if Adora wanted to hang out with Catra more than Glimmer might have to follow her advice

“I can’t believe I am saying this, but how about we all try to hang out together?” Glimmer said, “You, me, Bow, Catra, Entrapta, the more the merrier,”

Adora raised her eyebrows “Really? You mean it?”

Glimmer shrugged “I don’t see what you see in Catra, but if she’s going to be coming by here then I guess we should learn to get along too or whatever,” 

Adora smiled, “I would like that, she’s actually really fun when, you know, she’s not insulting everything,” 

“Just tell her we’re having a kickback at our dorm,” Glimmer said getting her projector from under her bed. “At least I’ll have an excuse to use this thing,” 

***

Catra felt her phone buzz in her pocket as she left the library with her essay papers in hand. 

Adora: Hey would you and Entrapta be down for a movie night? Glimmer wants to use her projector.

Catra nearly thought she had bumped her head when leaving the library. Spending time with both Adora and Glimmer and presumably Bow, at the same time sounded like a nightmare waiting to happen. 

Adora: pleeease 

Catra had two choices, stick it out and watch a movie with Adora’s annoying entourage, or hear them yelling and being annoying from the other side of her wall. She groaned in frustration, what the hell was Adora doing to her?

Catra 😈: Fine…but I get a say in what movie

Adora replied with lightning speed.

Adora: Can’t wait!!!!!!

Catra had never seen that many exclamations together in her life, but she couldn’t help but smile when she saw them in Adora’s reply

Chapter Text

Adora ran down the side of the field with the ball, she could feel a hollowness in her chest as her muscles began working overtime like a machine. She could feel her breath becoming shorter and shorter, but the field just kept stretching. It was like she was on a treadmill that was never going to stop. The other players began to blur so badly that she couldn’t tell who was on what team. “Adora, pass it!” she could hear a teammate yell.

“Adora you need to run faster!” another but she could not attach the player to the voice. “You’re going to be benched if you run like that,”

“Stop!” Adora yelled, “I can’t stop,” Adora tried to yell again but no sound came out, just an empty scream. She could feel the pressure on her neck and the rattling in her chest. The feeling of static entered her body. She couldn’t stop, she couldn’t scream, all she could hear was people yelling at her.

“Adora wake up!” Glimmer said shaking Adora awake. The blonde cried out to find Glimmer holding her arms to keep her body in bed. She was drenched in a cold sweat, she was gasping for air as if she had actually been running on the field. Glimmer held her down firmly trying to offer words of comfort.

“It’s okay, you’re okay, it was just a dream,” Glimmer said, still holding her in place. Adora could feel the tears in her eyes as she tried to regain her breath control. There was a knock at the bathroom door. “Just a minute!” Glimmer called back disregarding the late hour of the night. “I’m going to get the door real quick, are you going to be okay. Adora shook her head yes still not being able to force words out of her mouth. She rocked herself back and forth and crossed her arms defensively over herself. Glimmer cracked open the bathroom door,

“It’s 3 am Sparkles, what the hell is going on?” Catra asked, Glimmer was about to shout again, but remembered Adora was still in a vulnerable state, “Listen Adora had a bad dream, I’m taking care of it,” Catra’s gaze softened a bit, “Is she, you know, okay?”

“She’s fine…I think, she just started moving in her sleep, which is normal, but then she started yelling so I woke her up, she mentioned having nightmares before I just didn’t realize it was this bad,” Glimmer’s cool was slowly dissolving. “I just don’t know if I did the right thing waking her up, aren’t you not supposed to? Or maybe that’s sleepwalking, shit,”

“Sparkles calm down,” Catra said pushing past her and entering the dorm room, she spotted Adora who was sitting up in her bed slightly rocking herself. She looked up to see Catra, who was now sitting next to her on the bed “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Adora said quietly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry”

“Adora,” Catra said, “It’s okay no one is mad, right Sparkles?” Catra waved Glimmer over to the bed. “Yeah no one is mad,” Glimmer nodded also sitting on the bed. Adora started to breathe normally again as she focused on her surroundings. She counted how many things were red in her room, a grounding technique that had seemed to work when she was young. She counted ten things including Catra's tank top. Adora glanced at her two friends comforting her on the bed, “Really guys I’m fine, just a bad dream it happens, just got to go back to sleep is all,”

Adora was used to having bad dreams, it would happen from time to time when she was anxious, but she was good at handling them. Sometimes she couldn’t go back to sleep for hours but tonight her eyelids felt heavy. Glimmer and Catra looked at one another almost as if they were having a private conversation in their heads, deciding if Adora was not in a completely anxious state. The one thing Adora could not handle was being taken care of.

“Guys I’m serious, go to bed,” Adora groaned. She pressed her head back into her pillow exasperated. “I have practice in like 4 hours, I’ll be fine just let me sleep,”

“God you’re bossy when you’re tired,” Catra said, getting up from the bed.

“Tell me about it,” Glimmer said, giving Adora a playful smirk. “But it also means she’s probably fine,” Adora turned onto her stomach, her face half smashed into the pillow. “I’m right here!” Adora said, muffled by half the pillow.

“Okay princess, get some beauty sleep, I don’t want you like this during bio,” Catra said with a yawn.

Adora didn’t look up, until she heard the door close and noticed the rustling of Glimmer getting back into bed. Soon Glimmer was fast asleep while Adora had yet to find such comfort. Rolling from side to side unable to stop the thoughts from jostling in her head. She looked at her phone which read 6:10 am. Today was going to be a rough day.

****

Catra kept glancing at her phone during biology class. Adora’s coffee was slowly getting colder and colder by the minute. Professor Spinnerella was going on about the midterm for next week but all Catra could think about was why Adora was skipping class, or at least why she didn’t tell her about it. She knew she was blowing things out of proportion, she had done the same thing the first week of school but that was before Adora and she were friends. Also, this was Adora she was talking about, the girl who once came to school with food poisoning because she was worried about missing their AP United States History exam. Catra felt her phone buzz, she looked down and saw a text from Scorpia.

Scorpia: Hey Wildcat! Don't freak out Adora wanted me to tell you she’s missing class, she got hit pretty hard in practice but she is okay!

Catra’s eyes widened at the screen and her pulse began to race. She began packing her things up quickly muttering the words; reckless, moron, and some other curse words that were strung together. She began leaving class, daring anyone to judge her, she didn’t care if they did. The only thing on her mind was Adora had been hurt and that she was going to be okay. She marched out of the biology building throwing out her mostly full coffee cups. She pulled out her phone and called Scorpia who answered quickly.

“Where is she?” Catra asked, the concern in her voice too apparent for her liking.

“We’re in the nurse’s office at the Health and Wellness Center, she’s getting checked out. Mermista and I brought her in-”

“I’m on my way,” Catra said, “Text Sparkles too,” “Catra, she’s fi–” Scorpia tried to say something, but Catra hung up on her before she could finish. She had to remember how the hell to even get to the Health and Wellness Center from here.

***

Adora sat in a small room of the Health and Wellness Center. She always hated doctor’s offices, even before Mara had gotten sick. Everything always looked so cold and impersonal. This one at least had a little personality. The walls were decorated with anatomy posters and cheesy cartoons about safe sex and good hygiene. The counselor had told her they had a practitioner on-site to do some tests to rule out a possible concussion. Her head felt awful, but that’s what you get for ramming into a goal post. They were scrimmaging and the opposing team was making a corner kick, she was guarding the center-right of the penalty box in case they were able to block the kick and run with it up the field. Mermista made the kick, and Octavia received it with a nearly clear opening. Adora ran quickly to block, as Octavia tried to score. Adora remembered jumping to cover the goalie’s empty side trying to head the ball out of the line of fire only to block the ball with her body and her head colliding with the side of the goal post. She remembered Scorpia and Mermista pulling her off the field as the coach told them to bring her to the Health and Wellness Center to make sure she didn’t have a concussion. Adora had complained that she would be missing classes, including biology with Catra. The coach said she would email her professors about what happened and to get some rest. Rest was the least of Adora’s worries right now. She had two midterms next week, Glimmer’s movie night tonight, and a possibility of not being able to play their first game of the season. Her mother was going to be so disappointed, she could lose her scholarship, everything she had worked hard for was falling around her over a stupid head injury. Adora could hear some commotion going on outside the room she was in.

The sound of two women yelling in the front office. “She’s an adult, just let us see her!” She heard Glimmer’s voice on the other side of the door. Soon after the counselor came in, he was a tall nervous looking man bald, with pale skin and ears so tall they almost looked pointed. “It seems you have some friends who are causing quite the commotion to know how you are,” he said trying to keep his eyes on his clipboard, “being that I can not share your personal information and status before I have shared it with you, I have gotten the doctor to fetch your results promptly. He will be in shortly, but do I have your permission to kick them out or let them in,”

Adora rolled her eyes, Glimmer and Bow were practically family to her, of course, they could come in. “Go ahead and let them in, it’s fine.” she waved the counselor off. He nodded, thankful that he would not have to be responsible for turning them away. Glimmer nearly broke down the door with how fiercely she opened it. “Can you believe that counselor wasn’t going to let us see you? Are you okay? How much does it hurt?”

“Jesus Sparkles, enough with the questions, you’re hurting my head, and I didn’t even get hit,” Catra said walking into the room. Adora smiled at the unexpected visitor, she just assumed Glimmer had brought Bow in but was happy to see Catra, even if Catra was scowling at her. “You owe me coffee, by the way,” Catra said. “Least you could do for not texting me yourself,”

Adora chuckled, “Yeah I know, sorry would have done it, but they wouldn’t let me have my phone in case I have a concussion,” Catra’s face dropped from annoyed to concern, “Do you have a concussion?” Adora shrugged, “Doctor is about to come in with the results, did some vision and hearing tests, but they want to be sure,”

“Did they do an MRI scan?” Glimmer asked, “I know from Grey’s Anatomy, you should always do an MRI scan,”

“You’re thinking of a CT scan,” Catra pointed out, “For head trauma, they always ask to do a CT scan, that’s why the whole thing with Derek was such a big deal,” Catra looked up to see Glimmer and Adora smirking at her. “What?” she asked defensively realizing she had openly admitted to watching one of the sappiest drama’s on television. "If you’re going to quote Grey’s at least do it right,” Adora and Glimmer laughed as Catra became more and more flustered.

“I must have a concussion, if Catra is openly admitting to watching Grey’s Anatomy,” Adora joked, “Don’t joke about that!” Catra crossed her arms defensively around her chest, “It’s one of the longest-running shows for a reason and we are not going to talk about this now, alright?”

“Catra, it’s okay Glimmer watches it too,” Adora said, “I just never thought you and Glimmer would have something like this in common,”

“OooOo we should watch our favorite episodes tonight! Come on Catra I know you have some,” Glimmer said gently nudging her. Catra looked very unamused as a sudden knock came from the door. The doctor came in, surprised to see more than one person in their exam room. He looked pretty similar to the nervous counselor who had entered before. They could have been brothers. “I take it these are the students who nearly threaten to sue my cohorts?” Adora turned her head to her friends with a “Really?!” expression written all over her face. Glimmer shrugged in response, “You know my mom’s a lawyer,”

“I’m so sorry,” Adora said trying to ignore the pain in her head.

“It’s alright, I know having a friend in the exam room can be a stressful situation, but you will be happy to know we do not believe you have a concussion, and you can go home,” The girls breathed a universal sigh of relief. “But you should still be monitored for the next 24 hours just in case. So no strenuous activity, I would encourage you not to use screens during this time, as well as keep track to make sure your symptoms do not worsen, now please leave my office and call me or your health care provider if your symptoms get worse,” He ushered them out of the room as Adora gathered her things.

****

Adora, Catra, and Glimmer arrived at their dorm room. Glimmer and Catra agreed to ditch the rest of their classes today much to Adora’s chagrin. “Guys I already feel bad about messing up movie night, I don’t want you to get behind in classes because of me,” Catra scoffed, “I had a 4.2 grade point average in high school, Adora, I think I can handle missing one Methods and Statistics class,” Catra left the room to enter the bathroom with Adora’s ice pack in her hand

“Also movie night is not canceled! It can still be a kickback we just won’t watch a movie!” Glimmer said, “I already texted Bow, he’s bringing snacks and games, and he is on his way now!” Catra came back to sit on the bed with Adora, she handed over the ice pack that was now wrapped in a washcloth so it wouldn’t be so cold on Adora’s skin. “Are you sure you’re up for all this? It’s okay if you’re not,” Adora smiled and rested her head on her pillow. “Yeah, I have to stay awake for the next couple of hours anyway, it’ll help me stay up,” she yawned fighting the urge to take a nap.

She had barely slept last night and didn’t have her usual coffee. The odds were against her as she noticed how comfortable the bed was with a cool ice pack and cloth on her forehead. Catra tapped her ankle on the bed and Adora opened her eyes with a jolt. “Sorry, I know you’re tired,” Catra said, “But we have to make sure you’re okay to fall asleep, pamphlet said after three hours we can let you sleep and then wake you up after an hour just to make sure you aren’t too groggy,” Catra memorized the pamphlet when they were walking back to the dorms. Glimmer had noticed her reading it, and wasn’t surprised.

When Glimmer arrived at the Wellness Center she saw Catra sitting there checking her phone, her leg anxiously bouncing. She looked up and Glimmer had never seen Catra look so stressed. “They won’t tell me how she is,” Catra said, “Scorpia just left, she said she’s fine, she just hit her head on a goal post, but I don’t know why they would have us wait this long if something wasn’t wrong, but these idiots aren’t telling me anything,” Glimmer could practically see the steam coming from Catra’s ears as she talked. The way she visibly relaxed when they entered the exam room and saw Adora talking and well. Catra’s behavior mirrored Glimmer’s own experience when Bow had broken his arm when he crashed his skateboard. Glimmer had always known Adora had a soft spot for Catra, even if she wasn’t willing to admit it. Now, it was obvious that Catra had a soft spot for Adora too, and Glimmer was going to do everything she could to make these two idiots realize it.

“I should probably have some coffee then,” Adora said trying her best to sit up. “I can get it!” Glimmer said quickly. “I need to get some drinks anyway for tonight, make sure she stays awake, have Catra text me your order” Glimmer smiled satisfied with herself as she grabbed her keys and left the two alone.

Catra reached for Adora’s phone and put in her same dumb passcode. “You’re going to have your identity stolen one of these days,” Catra said typing in Adora’s coffee order. Adora smiled tiredly watching Catra text her order already knowing it after weeks of her ordering it for her. Adora loved seeing this side of Catra, how fiercely caring she was under all that sass. “You pick a passcode for me then,” Adora said. “I could still steal your identity,” Catra said putting Adora’s phone on her nightstand and returning to her seat at the end of the bed.

Adora’s head was propped up with pillows at the front of her bed. She shook her head “No, you’re too nice,”

“I’m not nice,” Catra insisted trying to make herself more comfortable and failing miserably. There was no place for her to support her back without lying next to Adora or moving from the bed entirely. “God, why do they make these beds so uncomfortable?”

“Do you want to come up here? It’ll be more comfortable,” Adora asked tapping the spot next to her. Catra couldn’t explain why the question had made the heat rise from her cheeks to the tip of her ears if she tried. Adora’s face nearly matched her own as she realized what she was implying. Catra was her friend though, and friends shared beds all the time, she tried to reason with herself. She had plenty of sleepovers with Glimmer to solidify this as fact, but she never felt so nervous and flustered by just asking until it involved asking Catra. “Okay,” Catra answered so quietly that Adora wasn’t sure if she even heard her correctly until Catra began crawling over.

Adora shifted to her left to make room so Catra could have the space closest to the edge in case she changed her mind. Adora propped her pillows back up and gave Catra one to prop up herself. The women sat up next to each other with barely a sliver of space between them. Catra’s fuzzy socks were brushing Adora’s calf, and her bracelet was hitting Catra’s arm. Catra’s curls were gently falling against Adora’s shoulder. They tickled her slightly but not so much that it made her want to move. Adora’s heart was pounding yet she found herself feeling more comfortable than ever. “Is this okay?” Catra asked, Adora, nodded so quickly she hit her head against the hard ice pack she was holding.

“Oooww,” she whined. Catra laughed as her nervousness melted away at the look of slight pain and amusement on Adora’s face. “I can’t believe I ran into a goal post, lamest injury ever,”

“It is pretty lame, but did you save the goal?” Catra asked, taking the mostly melted ice pack away from Adora and placing it on the nightstand.

“Of course I did,” Adora smirked, “Half my job is defense now, and as you can see I take it very seriously,” she said pointing to the swollen spot on her forehead. “I can see that,” Catra said, “Does your head hurt?”

“Uh yeah I ran into a goal post, of course, it hurts,” Adora said obviously. Catra elbowed her with little effort, “I meant more than before, like enough that we should go back and get a CT scan,”

“You just want to impress me with all your Grey’s Anatomy training is that it?” Adora couldn’t help but tease Catra. It was as easy as drinking water, the way Adora could push her buttons. She had been a little more careful in the past couple of weeks not to goad her too much. She didn’t want to revert to their rivalry when they had been making so much progress, but the itch was still there. Catra hadn’t made any protest and came back with her teases in return, and Adora wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Shut up,” Catra said, but the laughter that followed betrayed her words.

“So were you a McDreamy or a McSteamy fan?” Adora joked knowing well enough it was neither, Catra laughed even harder, “Neither, if anything I was into Arizona or Teddy,” Catra left out the part of also having a thing for Lexie when she had gone blonde for two episodes. Did Catra have a type, maybe a little? But Adora didn’t need to know that, especially when they were sitting this close.

Adora hadn’t expected a real answer but the results gave her a charge of pride and confidence having known their qualities from what Glimmer had relayed to her in the past. “I’ve never watched the show myself but Glimmer said I would like Cristina or Callie probably,”

“You’ve never seen it?” Catra looked shocked.

“I don’t really like hospitals,” Adora replied hoping she hadn’t brought down the mood. She wasn’t sure how much Catra knew about her mother’s passing. She was sure the rumor mill at their high school probably made the rounds, but she knew Catra wasn’t one to pay attention to rumors. “That’s understandable,” Catra replied. She knew what Adora was referring to, she remembered Adora being out of school for a week their sophomore year. She heard from Scorpia that Adora’s mother had passed, and they were having a service that weekend. Catra had expressed her respects in her own way, but never talked directly to Adora about it “If you ever want to talk about her, you can with me, I mean,”

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Adora said, a silence filled the room but it was different than the usual one that engulfed the space at the mention of Mara’s name. This one was more of an open invitation, a kind of silence that was giving her space to think or decline on continuing the topic. “She had a big sweet tooth too,” Adora finally said, “She ate probably twice as much sugar as I do,”

Catra grinned, “Ah so she’s responsible for your coffee order,”

“She couldn’t stand coffee, used to always drink horchata or cream sodas,” Adora added, “Also you eat just as many sweets as I do, so don’t pretend you’re on some high horse,”

“You eat processed sugar, I eat handcrafted baked goods, we are not the same,” Catra said.

“It’s all sugar Catra just admit it!”

“Fine, I have just as big a sweet tooth as you, sue me!” Catra finally admitted defeat.

“I will, you heard Glimmer, her mom is a lawyer,” Adora quipped back earning a remarkable cackle from Catra. “I can’t believe she said that to the counselor, he looked scared shitless,” Catra said throwing her head back in laughter, “She has more guts than I give her credit for,”

“So do you, I know you must’ve left your bio to come to see me,” Adora said, earning no visible reaction from Catra. “Like I said you’re a nice person, I like talking to you, and I’m glad we’re friends,”

Catra’s stomach and chest were like whirlpools spinning in different directions. “It wasn’t that big of a deal, bio is always boring especially if there isn’t an annoying blonde there to entertain me,” Catra admitted hoping the humor in her voice would not give away the absolute storm of emotions that was at the risk of taking over. This was ridiculous, weeks ago Adora had been a thorn in her side, and now she had become a garden of comfort. She was dedicated, messy, and fun, and she was sitting so close….so very…close.

Bzzzz Bzzzz

Adora’s phone broke most of whatever tension in the room was left. Catra nearly fell off the bed from surprise, and Adora had to grip her arm to keep her on the bed. They looked at one another slightly frazzled and embarrassed, “You should probably get that,” Catra said noticing Adora had not released her arm. “I’m not supposed to look at screens,” Adora replied simply.

Catra picked up the phone and noticed the caller ID was Adora’s mom, Hope. “Here just talk to her, just don’t go on your phone after you're done, I’ll be right next door okay? Come get me when you’re done,” “Thanks,” Adora said disappointed as Catra got up from the bed and went into the other room.

Once Catra was alone in her room, she rested on her duvet, trying not to think of how much better it felt being on Adora’s.

Chapter Text

Catra had never been to a sleepover before. Her mother never allowed her to go over to Scorpia’s later than 9 o’clock, and no one was allowed at her house past eight. Catra was only allowed to go on the senior camping trip because it was a school-run event, but other than that she had never slept over in someone else's room. It would be a distraction from her studies, as Weaver put it. Catra remembered sneaking out of the house late at night to go to Scorpia’s birthday party only for Weaver to drag her back home an hour later. After Catra stopped trying to go to parties, Weaver would just embarrass her and make her feel like shit for wanting to have a normal teenage life. 

So, when Glimmer and Bow arrived back later that afternoon and heard about this, they went into instant party planning mode.

“Not even for your birthday?” Glimmer asked. She had begun dragging her mattress to the floor. The plan was to gather all their mattresses and make a mattress floor for comfort since the dorm had an itchy grey carpet. 

“My birthday is close to Halloween, so her letting me go trick or treating with Scorpia’s family was usually my so-called birthday party, but I think that was just Weaver’s way of not having to throw me an actual party,” Catra said casually as if she was explaining a simple math problem. 

“That’s so sad,” Bow said nearly dropping his end of Glimmer’s mattress.

Catra shrugged, “I don’t talk to her anymore, so it doesn’t matter anymore,” 

Catra wished she could fully mean the words she was saying. Having had no contact with her mother had been freeing, but she could still feel her lack of presence. She liked the idea of having a parent being around, saying they were proud of her, nagging about eating right, but the truth was Weaver never gave her that without strings attached. She should want to be here, she should want to apologize to Catra for all the things she has done, and she should want Catra like a parent should want their child. 

Catra knew she was chasing a fantasy because, in reality, Sharon Weaver was never going to change, not for her, at least.

Adora didn’t realize that Catra was no longer on speaking terms with her mother. She never saw Catra’s mom at any sporting event or debate competition. The only time she caught a glimpse of her was when she witnessed a shouting match between Catra and her mom in the school parking lot before school. Catra’s mom was in the car saying something that Adora couldn’t hear only for Catra to yell back about her being a control freak and a narcissist. Catra had walked away with her head down, and Weaver sped off like she was never there. 

Adora chastised herself for not asking about it, but they weren’t really on good terms, and she was in the midst of her grief with Mara. The best she could do was complement Catra’s sophomore speech, which she presented a few days later, on the topic of improvements needed in the foster care system. 

She remembered Catra glaring at her, deciding whether or not Adora was messing around with her until Adora had mentioned being in the system herself. 

“I was in it for most of my life until my moms adopted me. Mara, my mom, aged out of it too, so not a lot has changed. You brought up some really good points and realistic solutions” Adora said. It was the first time she had mentioned Mara since the funeral, but it felt good to talk about her.

Catra blinked in surprise and gave the smallest nod unsure how to react to that kind of praise. “Yeah well thanks… I did a lot of research, and people are just idiots if they can’t understand how much it matters to kids to feel cared about,” 

Adora didn't realize the weight behind Catra’s words back then, but she knew it now.

“It does matter,” Adora said, sitting up from her position on the bed. “What day is your birthday?” 

“Why?” Catra asked defensively. 

“Because I want to know,” Adora said, “It’ll be good for my short term memory if I can remember it after tonight,” 

“Fine, it’s October 28th, happy?” Catra asked, 

“You’re a Scorpio! I fucking knew it,” Glimmer said like she had cracked the code to all things Catra. “Adora get off the bed we need your mattress too,” 

“Is that supposed to mean something?” Catra asked Adora who just simply shook her head and shrugged in response. Adora stood up from the bed but stumbled a bit catching her foot on a sweatshirt that had been discarded onto the floor. 

“Ok, we are getting off-topic,” Glimmer said “The important thing is that tonight, Catra gets to experience her first sleepover and we try to keep Adora up and make sure she doesn’t have a concussion,” 

“Sparkles she can barely stand on her own,” Catra commented, helping Adora steady herself. Adora pushed Catra playfully “I’m fine, I just tripped, just admit you're nervous about your first sleepover,”

Catra pushed her back, and Adora fell dramatically back on the mattress. “Oh sure, push the person who may have a concussion, that seems like a great idea,” Adora said. Catra’s eyes widened, and her heart stuttered until the joyful melody of Adora’s laugh filled her ears, drowning out any fear or remorse Catra had previously in her body. 

“You are insufferable!” Catra said, climbing onto the bed and tackling Adora. 

Glimmer rolled her eyes and peeled Catra off of Adora. “If you’re going to fight then fight on the floor, I need the mattress,”

Adora stood up from the bed, her face red from laughter. Catra had her arms crossed but her smirk gave away her annoying facade. 

Bow smiled at the two, “You guys are too cute,” 

Adora wanted to disappear as Bow finished his sentence. She wanted to catch Catra’s reaction but was too mortified to even look in her direction. She recalled them sitting together on the bed just hours ago. The smell of honey and vanilla still lingered. The way Catra’s head tilted back when she laughed and how her shoulders bounced against her own. The softness of her voice when talking about Mara. Adora shook her head as if her feelings would fly out with It. She shouldn’t be feeling this way about Catra, she had just earned her friendship. Asking to be anything more would be too risky. She liked having Catra as her friend, she didn’t want to lose that even if it meant pushing aside her feelings for the time being. 

“I am not cute,” Catra stated, stepping away from Adora’s orbit, strengthening Adora’s internal dilemma. 

From their reaction as well as Glimmer narrowing her eyes at him, Bow had realized he may have said something wrong. 

“What?! You have cute arguments that’s all. I only meant,” Bow defended but Glimmer wrapped her arms around his waist before he could dig himself deeper into a hole he couldn’t get out of. 

“What he is saying is…Entrapta and Scorpia will be here any minute, so quit messing around and help me get Adora’s mattress next to mine so we can have a comfy place to sit,” Glimmer said finishing her statement by giving Bow a quick peck on the cheek for reassurance. 

***

By the time Entrapta and Scorpia arrived at the dorm, the slumber party had been completely set up. The small dorm was crammed with fully loaded soda bottles, bags of Doritos in multiple flavors, and board games stacked high in the corner. The mattresses did give everyone a comfortable place to sit but balancing snacks and drinks became a little difficult. They were all sitting in a crowded circle deciding what game to play. 

“Well, it can’t be anything that needs a table clearly,” Glimmer said, “How about Uno?” 

Adora sat next to Catra looking at her expectantly. She wasn’t sure if board games would count as competition. “Is this okay?” she whispered. 

Catra nodded hesitantly. She felt a pull in her stomach at the thought of playing against Adora, but Adora had proven these past weeks that she was willing to put Catra's feelings first. Plus, it wasn’t Adora’s fault they couldn’t just watch a movie. It's just a card game, they could handle this. 

“Alright! Let’s play!” Bow said 

***

They could not handle this. It started fine; everyone was having a good time. There were jabs here and there, some reverse cards were played, but nothing too complex. Things started to take a turn halfway through the game. It started with Catra laying down a draw 4 card, so Adora had to pick up four cards. Adora was trying to be on her best behavior but she could feel her cool dissolving especially when Catra used her next turn to lay down yet another draw 4 card for Adora to pick up.

Adora glared as Catra shrugged innocently “I need to get rid of them somehow,”

“And you decided using them two times in a row was the best way to do that?” Adora grabbed her four cards nearly slamming her hand down on them in the process. 

“I’m just playing the game,” Catra smirked. “No need to cause a scene, Adora”  

Catra knew she was stirring the pot. They had agreed they wouldn’t compete with one another, but this was a simple card game. A card game she was winning, and she couldn’t help but enjoy the furrow in Adora’s brow and how she nearly held her breath whenever it was Catra’s turn to go. Catra had two cards left and Adora now had nine (thanks to Catra). The others made their turns without incident. Catra looked at her small hand of cards and smiled a smile that could only compare in mischief to that of the Cheshire cat

Adora glared “Don’t…you…dare.” She said slowly, not taking her eyes off Catra. 

Catra pressed her lips together trying to bite back another smile that would drive Adora to insanity. She laid her card down…it was a draw 2 card. 

Adora put down her card so quickly that Catra didn’t even see it fly from her hand. Adora had placed down a reverse card meaning Catra would have to pick up two cards instead. Catra looked from the card pile to Adora’s smug face.

“If you’re going to play that way, then so am I,” Adora said grinning at her victory. She expected a scoff or at least a glare from Catra but she received neither. Instead, Catra laid her final card down without much thought, Adora looked at the pile to see Catra’s last card taunting her with two arrows going in opposite directions, a reverse card. 

“I believe that means  I win, Princess,” Catra said. 

“You had that the whole time!” Adora said pointing to the card that had been her downfall.  

“Well yeah, the best strategy is to hold all your trick cards to til the end,” Catra said.

“That’s so smart!” Bow said, and Catra couldn’t help but smile with pride. 

“It does seem like the most probable way to win, of course, luck does factor in like Adora having the misfortune of going after Catra,” Entrapta explained. 

“But you picked up a card three turns ago,” Adora said unable to let this loss go,

“Nothing in the rule book says I can’t hold back my cards, I used my turn to pick up a card instead of using my trick card,” Catra said.

Something in Adora short-circuited. “You can’t do that!” Catra frowned wondering why Adora was making such a big deal out of a small win. 

“Adora, you're acting like a child,” Glimmer replied trying to reel her friend in.

“Catra just had a really good strategy,” Scorpia said.

“If you have a card you can play, you have to play it,” Adora explained, she wasn't even sure why she needed to explain it. Those were the rules, and Catra had broken them. 

“You’re just mad that I finally beat you at something!” Catra argued, clenching her fist to her side. 

“No, I’m mad because you’re not following the rules!” Adora was standing now waving her arms about as if she could physically get her point across. 

“I knew you'd be a jerk about this. You can’t handle when someone outsmarts you at something for once!” Catra stood up, invading Adora’s personal space. She could feel her pulse racing, a familiar sensation that she had attached to facing off with Adora that she had nearly forgotten. Adora's glare was unyielding like the iceberg in Titanic. This was the Adora she was used to, the one who couldn’t handle losing. Even at a dumb card game, apparently. Catra was done playing pretend, so without another word she stormed into the bathroom and back into her room closing it with a giant smack. 

The room was painfully silent, no one knowing who should stay or who should leave. 

“Well it was a nice couple of weeks,” Glimmer finally said, breaking the tension. 

“I’ll go check on her,” Scorpia said getting up from her spot and entering the bathroom.

“You really couldn’t let her have that?” Glimmer asked Adora as she began putting away the cards.

“She wasn’t playing by the rules,” Adora said, “Why is that so hard to understand?” 

“Because it's a dumb card game Adora that’s why!” Glimmer shouted, “Normal people don’t get this upset about a card game!”

Adora dropped her gaze at Glimmer’s words. She knew she was right, but she couldn’t help the annoyance and heat she had felt at the moment. She was taking things too hard again. It was so important for her to be right. She couldn't accept making a mistake even if it was during a card game, even if she upset her friend in the process. Why couldn’t she just have fun like everyone else? 

Competing with you was exhausting sometimes,

Catra’s words rang through her mind and along with them came the guilt. She had been so guarded about letting Adora in and now that she had, Adora had given her a reason to shut the door again. 

“Shit, I’m the worst,” Adora said putting her head in her hands.

“You’re not the worst,” Bow said stroking her back, “You just get a little ahead of yourself,” 

Scorpia returned to the room “She’s not opening up,” 

“Let me try,” Adora insisted but Scorpia stood in front of her. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Scorpia said, 

Adora straightened her posture. “Please, I know I was wrong, I just want to apologize,” 

“Fine, but I’ll be standing right out here,” she said as more of a warning than fact.  Adora swallowed her pride and walked into the bathroom and towards Catra’s door. She knocked softly. 

“I said leave me alone, Scorpia!” Catra yelled.

“It's not Scorpia,” Adora said, “it's the jerk face,” 

“I don’t want to talk to you either,” Catra replied. 

'Well at least she wasn't giving me the silent treatment,' Adora thought, but Adora wasn't here to clear her conscience. She was here to give Catra what she deserved, which was a sincere apology. 

Adora sat down on the floor and pressed her back into the door. Even though there was a wall between them she couldn’t face Catra’s direction without feeling embarrassed. She took a deep breath trying to remind herself that whatever happens, it would be okay. 

“I wouldn’t want to talk to me either,” Adora admitted, “I’m sorry for how I acted. I was just so frustrated and you just kept winning and there was nothing I could do about it, but that’s not an excuse. You’re right, I was being a jerk and you didn’t deserve that,” 

Adora waited to hear some sort of reply but nothing, but silence came. "You told me I turn everything into a competition and I promised you that I wouldn't, but I broke that promise. t I don’t want to ruin your night, you’ve been so nice to me, and even to Glimmer! And it seemed like you were having a good time before I messed it all up. You deserve to have a good first sleepover, so if you want to come back I-we would all be happy to have you back, but I also understand if you don’t want to hang out with me there, or maybe they can come in there and I’ll hang out in my room to give you space or maybe we could take turns…” 

Adora’s ramble was caught off by Catra swinging the door open. Adora gasped and fell backward. Her blue eyes looked up and standing above her was Catra. 

“Do you ever stop talking?” Catra smirked leaning down to get a better look at Adora’s confused upside-down face.

Adora flushed, “No…not really,” even from upside-down Adora couldn’t help but stare as Catra’s eyes scanned her. Catra was hurt by Adora’s actions but seeing her dumbstruck on the floor was enough for her to consider returning to the party. She wasn’t used to being apologized to, and she certainly wasn’t familiar with specifically Adora admitting she was wrong. She also had a feeling Adora would spend the entire night trying to make up for it. 

“I’ll come back in, but no more games,” Catra said standing her ground on the matter. "I know it's a stupid thing to get mad over, but it made me feel like shit, and I don't want to feel like that anymore,"

Adora nodded from the floor, "I never want to make you feel like that, I'm sorry" 

Catra stepped over to the other side of Adora. She reached out her hand and Adora took it in her own. Catra pulled her up and looked her in the eye. “Head still feeling okay?” 

Adora nodded, being lost for words as she was too focused on the fact that her hand was still holding Catra’s. 

“Maybe Sparkles can get a movie set up, after all, it's been way more than three hours, and your headache is gone,” Catra said. “Or you can always close your eyes and listen if it gets too hard to focus on,” 

Adora nodded again, “I’m really sorry,”

“I know, but I wasn't the best winner either, let’s just go back in there and have a good night,” Catra said, and Adora swore she felt Catra squeeze her hand. “Thanks for apologizing,”  Catra let go of her hand and walked back into the other room. Adora was not far behind her as she heard Catra ask Glimmer to get out her projector. 

***

Glimmer and Bow set up the projector which was an event all in itself. They had pinned a top sheet to either side of the walls to make a big screen. The group had settled on Parks and Rec as the night’s entertainment. At some point, Adora started to show off the skill of throwing a piece of popcorn up in the air and catching it in her mouth.  Adora became a little bit frustrated when the popcorn kept bouncing off her nose, “it’s harder than it looks, guys,”  Catra threw a kernel at her aiming for the blonde’s nose again but Adora caught it swiftly in her mouth. Adora raised her arms in victory “Saved it!”  Catra shook her head “I’ve created a monster,”  Entrapta tried throwing five of them in the air and caught three in her mouth at once, amazing Adora in the process. 

“It’s simple physics and probability,” Entrapta said, 

The night started winding down, Adora and Catra were the only ones still awake. They were propped on Adora’s mattress barely watching the Parks and Recreation episode that was playing. Scorpia was already half asleep in the corner on the floor grasping the pillow Glimmer handed her before. Glimmer and Bow were asleep and slightly spooning on Glimmer’s mattress next to them. Entrapta had her headphones on and was laying down near the door, she had fallen asleep watching some sort of robotics-building tutorial on YouTube 

Leslie Knope was currently on flu medication and trying to rally herself up for a speech on screen. Catra chuckled softly the scene reminded her of Adora when she was tipsy that night at the party. 

“You have Leslie Knope energy,” Catra mumbled to Adora who was practically half-asleep on her shoulder. 

Adora laughed and Catra could feel it on her skin “How so?” 

Catra yawned barely able to keep her head up, “You’re like the sun, just super bright and happy and intense,” 

Adora raised her eyebrows “Is that a bad thing?”

Catra shook her head and patted Adora's arm for reassurance “No, it’s infuriating at times, but in the best way possible, it’s hard to stay mad at you,”

“It’s okay if you're still mad at me,” Adora said looking up at her. 

Catra’s tired mind thought about it for a moment, but the only thing she could think of was how nice it was to be back on Adora’s bed. “I’m not mad, I just think we’re not ready for games yet,” 

“I hope we can get there,” Adora admitted, thinking about future game nights in their dorm with Bow and Glimmer. "Maybe we could try playing in teams, we could be partners instead," 

Catra smiled at the thought, that maybe that could be a solution for them in the future. "I think I would like that," she said leaning into Adora’s warmth for the second time today.

“Did you have a good time?” Adora asked as she fiddled with Catra’s bracelet to stay awake. 

“I actually did, you and Sparkles know how to throw a slumber party,” Catra looked down at Adora and realized she had never seen her so relaxed before. Her hair was out of its usual ponytail, she wasn't shifting from side to side. She was just lying next to Catra breathing slowly and serenely. It wasn't until she heard soft snores that Catra realized she was practically cuddling with a sleeping Adora. The realization was enough to wake Catra up and delicately shift away from Adora. “I should probably go to bed,” Catra whispered as she began to gather her pillow from the mattress. 

Adora had a grumpy look on her face from losing Catra’s shoulder as her pillow. Adora lazily placed her hand on Catra’s pillow. “Sleepover means sleeping over, it's part of experience,” Adora grumbled insistently, “But if you feel more comfortable in your room that’s cool too,” 

Catra rolled her eyes and placed her pillow back in its previous place. “Can’t believe I missed out on falling asleep on a floor all my life,” 

Adora chuckled, “It’s fun, but I understand if you don’t want to deal with my snoring,”

“It’s going to be a long night,” Catra said but didn’t move from her spot, if anything she stretched a little closer to where Adora had set down her pillow and blanket. Adora turned off the projector and tucked herself in. Catra’s eyes grew heavy as she nestled into her pillow, there was not much light save the dull glow from Glimmer’s fairy lights. Adora turned to her side and faced Catra who was nearly asleep. Adora closed her eyes only to hear Catra say her name softly. Adora peeked over at Catra her blue and amber eyes blinking slowly through sleep-filled lashes. 

“I like your snoring,” Catra said finally closing her eyes with a ghost of a smile crossing her face. 

Chapter Text

The one thing Catra knew she was good at was running. She had done it all through high school, whether it was track or cross country, or running away from Weaver’s hell hole. It was functional, it helped her feel in control, but free somehow. It gave her a sense of accomplishment. Running cleared her head in a way nothing else had. So when she woke up the morning after the sleepover with her arm curled around Adora's waist, hands intertwined, and her face nearly buried in a mass of blonde hair…she ran. 

Twenty minutes of slowly detaching herself from a snoring Adora, stepping over sleeping bodies, and drowning in denial had to lead her to Etheria Park. It was a cold mid-October day, not too many people were up this early on a weekday, but there were still a few scattered about. Most of the noises she heard were the sounds of the creek and a couple of birds squawking in the trees. She felt cool air enter her lungs as she continued down the path passing an empty playground as she trotted by trying not to think of Adora. 

Or how she felt in her arms, or the way she grumbled in her sleep when Catra had slipped away, or how the hell Catra was supposed to face her ever again after knowing what it felt like to hold her so close. Her feet were barely hitting the ground as more memories of Adora began appearing in and out like some sort of pop-up ad that wouldn’t remain closed. Catra’s heart rate began to elevate as if she could run away from all these thoughts and feelings. 

Being friends with Adora was one thing but being more? Catra wasn’t sure if she could survive it. She would lose a part of herself. The part that knew she could do things on her own, the part she had worked on for years under Weaver’s thumb. It’s what got her into college for christ's sake and now Adora’s beautiful dumb face was just going to undo everything. Because if Adora didn’t feel the same way or changed her mind, Catra knew it would break her heart. It would be the final nail in the coffin that Catra would never be good enough. 

It also wasn’t fair of her to put that pressure on Adora. Adora deserved someone who wasn’t intimidated by their feelings. Someone secure enough in themselves that they could give everything to her without the fear of losing themselves in the process. Catra wanted to be that person, hell she yearned to be that person…she just knew she wasn’t there yet. 

Finally, Catra’s muscles couldn’t keep up with her thoughts. The pain began to creep its way from her calf up to her knee. Successfully distracting her from her racing thoughts. Catra stopped at a park bench near the far side of the creek her breath haggard as she reached her arms above her head trying to get more air. She reached for her phone in the pocket of her leggings. She had an hour before her lab class. Her body was covered in sweat and her muscles were craving the sweet release of a shower. But showering meant going back to the dorm bathroom, which meant possibly running into Adora. 

“Fuck,” she muttered still trying to catch her breath as she rubbed her aching calf. 

“Seems like you’re having quite the time,” a coy voice said breaking Catra from her dilemma. She whipped around to see a tall blonde with intense features. They were dressed in a crop top that had they/them pinned on the right side and green leggings. Their makeup was done as if they were going to a nightclub. Everything about them was streamlined, purposeful, and confident. Catra felt like she looked like a mess in comparison and was not in the mood to be toyed with in this state.

“Piss off,” Catra said but her harsh breathing sucked out all of her intimidation. 

“Sorry, I was just making an observation,” the stranger said grinning. “I work at the gym downtown and I’m supposed to be passing these fliers out and I thought a runner like you might want one,” 

“I do my running alone thanks,” she replied. 

“Well, we have classes every week too, including a Zumba class which I think you would be superb at,” Catra glared at the unwelcomed observation. “Oh don’t flatter yourself, I know a dancer when I see one, I took twelve years of ballet, and the way you were running just now just screams I used to dance!,” DT struck a third position pose. “Light on your feet, poised, but strong,  it was quite obvious,”

Catra’s face became even redder. She had begrudgingly been on the high school dance team during her off-seasons for the track to skip gym class. She was pretty good at it and did enjoy it. She didn’t have to be super in your face positive like the cheerleaders did, she just had to dance the routines during the halftime show with a smile on her face and that was it. Plus the dancers got to wear shorts/pants instead of skirts which was a huge plus in Catra's book.

“Oh don’t be embarrassed darling that’s so boring, own up to it! I’m sure you’re fantastic, anyway take this flyer and if you tell them DT sent you, you’ll get the first class free,” 

“DT?” Catra questioned and begrudgingly took the flyer. It was neon green and had big blue letters: COSMIC ATHLETICS. Catra noted below the business name that it was an LGBT-run gym.

“Yours truly,” DT did a little bow, “I am a senior at BU, perhaps you have seen me in some of the theatre productions,” 

Catra shook her head, “I’m a freshman so no can’t say I have,” 

“Fresh meat! Wonderful! We’ve been trying to get more freshmen to join the gym, Well I must be on my way, these flyers aren’t going to hand out themselves, what’s your name kitten?” DT turned to ask before heading back towards the downtown area.

“Catra,” 

DT’s eyes gleamed with mischief “Well Catra, hope to see you at the gym, if not then cest la vie,” They walked away with their hands filled will fliers. 

Catra folded the paper up and put it in her pocket. Her excuse being there was no trashcans or recycling bins around and she didn’t want to litter. She ran back towards the college hoping with every ounce of her being that Adora had already left for practice.

****

Adora woke up alone, well not actually. Bow and Glimmer were still asleep on the mattress next to her but it looked like Scorpia, Catra and Entrapta had left sometime in the morning. S he remembered the feeling of Catra’s arms wrapped around her but she knew it must’ve been a dream. A hollowness settled in her chest when she woke up to nothing but empty sheets. She wondered if Catra hadn’t fully forgiven her and left early because of it. They had said they were back on good terms last night, but why would she leave so early? Adora’s alarm went off and she realized she needed to get ready for her afternoon practice. Adora silenced the phone quickly to not wake up Bow and Glimmer. She stretched her tired limbs and began getting ready.

Once she was ready she looked at her phone to see if Catra had texted but was disappointed to see nothing but her home screen. She walked out of her dorm and into the hall. She opened her phone and began typing a text to Catra as she walked

Adora☀️: Hey, headed to practice. Want to study for bio midterm later? 

Adora looked up from her phone and opened the door to the lobby standing on the other side was none other than Catra. 

Her hair was up in a ponytail and her forehead was glistening with sweat. She was wearing a dark sports bra that Adora was trying not to notice as well as her usual maroon leggings. Her cheeks flushed and pink from the wind, she gaped at Adora like she had seen a ghost. 

“Hey…you’re up,” Catra said cursing herself internally for saying something so obvious and ridiculous. She hoped she didn’t look too much of a mess but knew she had run pretty hard. It didn’t matter, she was going home anyway. So why was she so worried about looking so disheveled?  

Meanwhile, Adora had forgotten all the words in the dictionary except “Catra” and “hot”. She gave her a nervous smile hoping it would conjure more words in her brain. “Uh-huh,” she said. Well, that would have to suffice. 

“Sorry I kinda took off, though I could fit in a run before lab,” Catra explained picking at her nails. 

“Yeah, I was wondering if after you would want to study for the midterm,” Adora said keeping her focus on Catra’s eyebrows to keep some sort of appearance of social normalcy. 

“Really? You’re not sick of me yet?” Catra joked trying to ease some of the tension she had been carrying all morning. 

Adora shook her head, “Never, I mean no but I. I know you like your alone time, so if you want to just study in the same room and not talk that’s fine too, or if that’s not your thing, or if you prefer to just do it on your own time that’s cool,” Adora knew she was rambling again, but there was nothing she could do to stop. Catra firmly put her hands on Adora’s arms. 

“Breathe dummy,” Catra said holding her grip on Adora. Adora felt like there was lightning coming from Catra’s fingertips. The feeling brought her back to reality as she finally said, “I just really want to hang out with you,” 

Catra’s face flushed even harder and Adora wondered if she had said the wrong thing. “Sorry, I know we just hung out last night but I’ve been stressed about the bio midterm, and hanging out with you calms me down so I thought I would ask,” 

Catra could hear her conscious screaming in her head, “ Don’t fucking do it, you moron,” Catra slowly removed her hands from Adora’s arms. “I can’t tonight,” 

Adora seemed to physically deflate at the admission, her shoulder curling inwards. “All good, just thought I would ask,” 

Catra couldn’t leave Adora hanging like this, but if she wanted to keep Adora as her friend she was going to have to set some boundaries. For her sake and Adora’s. 

“I just need to do some stuff on my own for a little bit tonight, but I would love to hang out on Sunday maybe?” Catra said. 

Adora’s face lit up the hallway “Yeah! That would be” she faltered. “I can’t my first soccer game is that afternoon,” 

“Well, maybe I could meet you after,” Catra compromised. 

“I’m not sure how long it’ll be,  you’re okay waiting around?” 

“I could just go to the game and we could walk back to the dorm together,”

“You would see me play?" Adora stammered, she felt butterflies at the thought of seeing Catra in the crowd for her first game or any game for that matter. Of course, she had seen her in high school but that was when Catra was on the dance team, so she had to go to the games. Having Catra watching because she wanted to was what made Adora’s insides feel like honey.

“I assume Sparkles and Arrow boy will be there to cheer you on, so might as well,” Catra said trying not to make it a big deal. “Plus I get to see how you handle center half for once,” 

“It’s not likely I’ll get much playtime if, at all, seniors get priority,” Adora explained not wanting to disappoint. 

Catra rolled her eyes, “Well they’re idiots if they don’t have you play, you were a fucking terror in high school,” 

Adora laughed, “Is that a compliment I’m hearing? I feel like there’s one in there somewhere,”  

Catra crossed her arms, and gave her a knowing look “No, I’m just making an observation,” 

Adora shook her head, “I was not a terror, I was just really motivated,”

“They used to chant She-Ra every time you got the ball,” 

Adora blushed at the high school nickname. Adora was known as a powerhouse center forward. She had tackled down defenders twice her size, she was an unstoppable force when it came to her and the goal. Glimmer was actually the one who coined the nickname back in high school. 

“It’s like you turn into a superhero when you get the ball,” Glimmer said, “You get this confident look on your face and you just act like you have super strength or something, like the hulk but you know less scary and way better looking,”

 “Glimmer started that, and it was mostly to boost morale,” Adora reasoned looking away from Catra’s gaze. 

“Well whatever, even if you’re on the bench the entire time, we can still hang out afterward and talk about how they should have put you in,” 

Adora’s phone alarm rang through the hallway, she quickly silenced it and grimaced as she realized the time. “Shit I’m late, but yes to everything, I’ll see you Sunday,” she said nearly running out the door. 

Catra sighed as she watched Adora leave. This was going to be the longest two days of her life, but she knew she was doing the right thing. She just wished her heart would agree with her for once. 

***

“So your girlfriend’s coming to watch our game?” Mermista asked, passing the ball back to Adora. Adora nearly missed the pass but recovered swiftly. She kicked the ball back to her partner. “Catra isn’t my girlfriend,” she said, her voice catching at the thought of Catra and girlfriend being in the same sentence.

“Really?” Mermista said, trapping the ball and passing it to Scorpia. “I would have thought you would have locked that down by now Greyskull,” 

Adora had been greeted with the new nickname when she entered practice to commemorate her injury. Mermista assured her it was all in good fun and practically an initiation. Adora thought it was better than Blondie so she was willing to take what she could get. The bruising on her head wasn’t too bad and the swelling had subsided. Just a faint purple mark near her left eyebrow remained. 

Scorpia’s eyes glanced at Adora, “You two did seem pretty close last night, you know after the whole uno thing,” 

“We’re friends Scorpia, I’m sure she’ll be coming to see both of us play,” Adora said, trapping the ball once again. 

“Steal the Ball Drills!” yelled Coach Netossa from the sidelines. 

Scorpia trotted up to Adora and stole the ball from Adora’s feet, running it down the field as the real drills began. 

“Hey!” Adora complained and jogged to catch up with Scorpia. 

Scorpia turned around her feet still dribbling the ball between her feet. 

“What’s your endgame, Adora?” Scorpia said trying to guard the ball against her while Adora tried to find an opening. 

“What do you mean?” Adora said clipping the ball over Scorpia’s feet only to have Scorpia's shoulder check her off balance and get control over the ball once again.

“Catra’s been through a lot, okay? I love that you guys are becoming friends and all it’s just…watch what you say to her okay? Make sure your intentions are clear is all I’m saying,” Scorpia said while dodging Adora’s attempts to steal the ball. 

“My intentions?” Adora asked, 

“Just figure out what you want Greyskull, and make sure Catra knows,” Scorpia said.

Adora furrowed her brow, it didn’t matter what Adora wanted, when she knew she couldn’t have it. What was the point of talking about it? She was going to be Catra’s friend, this crush would pass, it had to. Scorpia was right, Catra deserved someone who could give her the world, and Adora was a mess, still trying to figure things out. Last night was the first night in a while that she had slept soundly. Hope had been texting her nonstop making her feel homesick but overwhelmed at the same time. Glimmer felt like they weren’t hanging out enough, she just felt she was disappointing everyone. 

“You’re a good person, Adora,” Scorpia tried to reassure her. She passed the ball to Adora “Come on, before Netossa makes us run laps for standing during drills,” she patted Adora on the back and ran back to the start point of the drills.

****

Staying away from Adora until the end of the weekend was easier than Catra thought it would be. At least physically, Adora’s schedule seemed pretty full-packed since Catra had no run-ins with her at the dorm or the bathroom.  She had received a few texts or funny snaps from the blonde in between practices. Catra had decided to go down to the COSMIC GYM Sunday morning. She didn’t do the Zumba class but working out on the treadmill was better on her feet than on the asphalt from the park. DT hadn’t been at the gym when she arrived but their name did get Catra a coupon for a free class.  It was a good atmosphere and Catra was happy to find some solitude but she couldn’t help but want to reach for her phone and text Adora about every dumb mundane thing she saw. 

Catra😈: There’s a person who keeps grunting every time they lift the dumbbells. Kill me

Adora ☀️: Ughhhhh hate that, yell back assert yourself 

Adora☀️: Was it a gym bro? 

Catra😈: i dont think so im at that queer run gym downtown, it’s pretty nice when someone’s not grunting in the background lol

Adora☀️: That’s so cool! Maybe I’ll join you next time

Catra smiled, Adora would love it here. She was surprised she hadn’t heard of it first but Adora said most of the team works out at the rec center that’s on campus. 

Catra😈: just promise not to grunt after every rep please i beg you

Adora☀️:I swear 🤬

Adora ☀️: dammit i meant the hand emoji 

Adora☀️: *🖕🏻

Adora ☀️:fuck no i did not mean to flip you off 

Adora☀️:*✋🏻

Catra laughed as she saw the texts while leaving the gym. She could see the ellipses forming as Adora was probably panicking over her mishap. 

Catra 😈: 🖕🏻 middle finger swear, its the adult version of a pinky promise

Adora stopped typing and replied with laugh emojis. Catra could imagine Adora’s laugh in her head as if it weren’t burned into her brain. 

Adora☀️: I have to get back to studying math. Can’t believe I have all my midterms on Wednesday.🙄 I’ll see you at the dorms or the game today. 😊

Catra smiled down at her phone. For the first time, she was excited that it was finally the end of her weekend. She had kept herself occupied, hanging out with Entrapta and Scorpia on Saturday, as well as making constant stops to Darla’s for her usual pastry. They were all fun but she was excited to see Adora today, so she let herself be content and enjoy the warm feeling as she walked back to the dorm. 

She felt her phone buzz and smiled thinking Adora had sent her another meme or cat TikTok. But the message wasn’t from Adora. 

Unknown: Hey Adora gave me your number this is Glimmer, get your stuff together we’re carpooling 

Catra rolled her eyes and added Glimmer to her phone as Sparkles ✨🤬. This might be a longer day than she thought. 

Chapter Text

The ride to the stadium was short being at the far side of campus. They honestly could have walked but Catra wasn’t complaining about having to ride in Bow’s car…that is until he started asking questions about herself. 

“What’s your favorite color?” Bow had asked keeping his eyes on the road. 

Catra sighed, “Really? That’s your opening question?” 

“Well all I know about you is that you’re good at Uno, you got the highest score in our SAT prep class, and you and Adora are friends now, and we would like to be your friends too so what’s your favorite color?” Bow asked again waiting for Catra’s reply, who was stunned that he even remembered her being announced as the top score in SAT prep. “I bet that it’s purple,” he said hoping his guess could fish out a response. 

“Based on our room and what you usually wear I would guess dark red,” Entrapta chimed in. 

Catra rolled her eyes in the back seat and leaned up towards Glimmer who was sitting in the front passenger seat, “You want in on this bet, Sparkles?” Catra asked, 

Glimmer grinned, “Five bucks if I get it right,” 

Catra laughed, “Oh I’ll take that on,” 

“Text the color to Adora so I know you’re not lying when I get it right,” Glimmer said,

Catra smirked, retrieving her phone from her bag. She had to give Glimmer credit, but her confidence would not waver. It wasn’t that the color wasn’t uncommon, but she hadn’t known many people to state it as their all-time favorite. 

Catra texted Adora the color giving no context whatsoever. 

“It’s done!” She showed her phone to Entrapta as proof that it had been sent. “Huh I guess that would have been my third guess,” Entrapta said squinting at the lit-up screen. 

Glimmer turned around and looked Catra in the eye as if she had some sort of telepathic superpower that could pull the answer from just a look. Glimmer’s wheels began turning, Catra didn’t seem to be phased by the other’s guesses, and Glimmer had only seen Entrapta and Catra’s room once. She tried to remember if there was anything that could connect to the question, then it all hit at once. The color of Catra’s comforter, Catra’s water bottle, and…what Glimmer thought was hilarious and kind of sweet…half of Adora’s last name. 

The way Glimmer smiled made Catra’s fight or flight sense edge closer and closer. “Quit grinning like a lunatic, you’re stalling,” Catra said. 

“It’s Grey..isn’t it?” Glimmer said as if she already knew the answer. 

“Yes!” Entrapta exclaimed, “point one for Glimmer,” 

“Dammit!” Catra muttered as she searched for Glimmer’s Venmo to send the five dollars. 

“Aw like Adora’s name!” Bow gushed thinking it was the sweetest thing he had ever heard. 

Catra’s face grew ten degrees hotter as she tried to keep her focus on her phone. “Shut up, or I will throw myself out of this car and make you pay for my hospital bill,” It wasn’t her fault her favorite color was a part of Adora’s name or the fact it sometimes matched the color of Adora’s eyes…in you know certain lighting or whatever. 

“Is that why you guys always fought before? Were you jealous that her last name was Greyson?” Glimmer asked reveling in the five dollars that were now in her Venmo account. Catra had put the middle finger emoji as the subject headline. 

“Of course not!” Catra retorted thinking back to when she first heard Adora’s name being called in her freshman English class and maybe being a little irked that the new kid had her favorite color as her last name. Especially when Adora asked about extra credit not even five minutes later. Her blonde ponytail high at attention, Catra remembered peering over to see her notes were color-coded. She had at least five different colored pens on her desk and even her handwriting was what she imagined a Disney princess’ handwriting to look like. Full of perfect swirls and neat margins. Catra had rolled her eyes and sunk back into her seat, thinking her dream name was being wasted on a high-achieving nerd.

“Well you know there is one way you could have…” Bow started to say and Catra knew where he was headed, so she kicked the back of the seat once like an upset toddler on a road trip. “Agh!” he yelped mostly from shock, “No hitting the driver!” Bow said tightening his grip on the wheel. Catra leaned back into her seat with a satisfied smile on her face. 

****

The group took their seats in the stands. They were third-row center much to Catra’s surprise until Glimmer mentioned Adora had reserved the seats. It was a little overcast for a game day but that didn’t seem to deter the crowd of people filling up the rest of the college stadium. Glimmer was scrolling through her Twitter feed until a Grey’s Anatomy post came up. She chuckled at it and leaned over to show Catra. She squinted at the phone and laughed knowing exactly what the post was referring to. 

“Hey, they’re coming out on the field!” Bow nudged Glimmer. The group looked up from their spot, Entrapta got out her phone ready to record the moment they spotted Adora or Scorpia on the field. 

For the first college home game, they would always announce the player’s name, number, and year in school as a way to introduce the team to the crowd. It was a pageant of sorts, the announcer would call their name in alphabetical order, and the player would run on the field wave, or do some sort of fun greeting to get the crowd hyped up. 

After the first couple of names were introduced, Scorpia’s name came up on the big teleprompter. 

“Announcing player Number 3 Freshman at Center Full-Back for BU, Scorpia Garnet!” the announcer said, 

The group stood up and erupted in applause as Scorpia took the field and gave everyone a double wave as she crossed. She spotted the group and her eyebrows raised in excitement and gave them a direct smile. Catra smiled seeing her friend so happy and excited for her first game. Scorpia looked around and saw her girlfriend Perfuma in the stands as well and was sure to blow her a quick air kiss. Once she was clear off the field Adora’s name took the place of Scorpia’s on the teleprompter. 

“Announcing player Number 6 Freshman at Center Half, Adora Greyson!” the announcer boomed again. 

The group cheered once again along with the other fans in the bleachers. Adora came running out in her white and red BU soccer uniform. The shouts from the crowd fueled her confidence as she made her way across the field. She spotted the group immediately and something about seeing her group of friends cheering her along all together made her heart melt. She did a quick wave and shot them finger guns, Glimmer and Catra shook their heads but Bow returned the sentiment. All of a sudden Adora heard a voice shout her name from the noise of the crowd. She looked from her friends towards the right side of the bleachers and saw her mom, Hope to cheer her on. She didn’t even know she was coming to her first game, but Hope had never missed one in the past. Adora smiled some of her nerves returning at the thought of her entire support system watching her on the field now. She gave her mom a quick wave and took her place on the field. 

Catra looked a few rows across to see what Adora was looking at only to see Hope Greyson yelling and cheering like she was at the World Cup. 

“Aw, Adora’s mom made it that’s awesome!” Bow said, 

Catra smiled sadly, she was happy that Adora had so many people cheering her on today, but she couldn’t help but feel a little pinch of jealousy when she saw Hope cheering for her daughter. Weaver wouldn’t be caught dead at one of her track meets, debate championships, or anything that had to do with Catra. 

“You okay?” Glimmer nudged her arm, her eyebrows furrowed with concern. 

Get yourself together, today is about Adora. You always make everything about you. Catra thought as she forced a smile on her face. “Yeah just really loud, haven’t been to one of these in a while is all,” 

“They’re starting!” Entrapta said “But Adora and Scorpia are on the bench so I’m going to look up the other player’s stats and determine whether we’re likely to win today,” She put away her phone and brought her laptop out of her bag. 

“How can you possibly have wifi out here?” Glimmer asked, 

“I make my own wifi network, it’s not that hard,” Entrapta said not even bothering to look up from her computer screen. 

The game went on without incident both teams were evenly matched according to both Entrapta’s research and the tied scoreboard 1-1. Scorpia was subbed in and had a great block, preventing the center forward from a close second goal. Adora cheered from the bench hoping Coach Netossa would send her in. The first half came and went and the score was still tied.

The second half began and the opposing forwards nearly made another goal pushing past the half-backs. 

“Alright Greyskull, I’m putting you in,” Coach Netossa said. “Make sure to remember to run back to defense or so help me I will yank you off that field myself,” 

Adora grinned and ran out on the field, her friends and family cheering.

“Entrapta put the laptop down! Adora’s been put in!” Glimmer said.

Entrapta shut her laptop and got out her phone instead and began recording again.

The game started again with a throw-in made by Mermista. Adora was sidestepping an opposing midfielder, she made eye contact with Mermista. Mermista shifted her eyes to the right and Adora nodded.  Mermista threw the ball downfield and Adora sprinted up to it passing the opposing midfielder who was guarding her. She began dribbling down the field about to go head to head with the center fullback. Adora knew she had two options, outrun the full-back or pass the ball back and let the forwards handle it. She only had an instant to make a decision, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She could do this. She ran straight to the full-back getting closer and closer until at the last minute she flicked the ball to the right, and ran right around the full-back. She was nearly at the penalty box line when she saw the goalie running at her from an angle. She couldn’t get a clear shot so she clipped the ball to Flutterina who had an opening on the left. Flutterina kicked the ball immediately and it swished into the back corner of the net.

Catra yelled happily as Glimmer wrapped her arms around both her and Bow. All of them lost in their cheers as Entrapta was shouting with the camera still in hand.

Adora’s team swarmed her and Flutterina cheering as they piled in on them a huddle of sweat and joy. They were in the lead. Adora gave Flutterina a high five running back to the start-up position. Catra saw Adora wipe the sweat off her brow with the bottom of her jersey, exposing her midriff. Her hair was in disarray with whisps blowing in the wind. She radiated confidence and smiled so brightly up at the stands it made Catra’s mouth go dry. 

“See something you like D’riluth?” Glimmer teased her. 

“Shut up,” Catra said but with a smile. “I’m just appreciating the sport is all,” 

The rest of the game followed without incident. Scorpia had some good blocks in there and Adora manage to run back and forth between offense and defense without difficulty. Catra had to give it up to the coach, Adora was born to be a half-back. The final whistle blew and the score ended 2-1. The group made their way down the bleachers to the side of the stadium where they waited patiently for Adora and Scorpia to finish up in the locker room. 

The group had settled in on their phones until they heard a familiar voice. 

“Hey, guys!” Scorpia said trotting up to the group, “Thanks for coming, Adora just got out she just needed to talk to her mom for a second, Can you believe that goal?” 

“I know! The first five minutes on the field and she made an assist! That’s amazing!” Bow said. 

“Hey you stopped some goals from going in too, Scorp,” Catra added, 

Scorpia blushed at the compliment, “Aw come on maybe like one or two,” 

“Actually it was six!” Entrapta chimed in patting her friend on the back. “

Scorpia laughed “Okay okay maybe I lost count but still, thanks guys can’t believe Adora and I got to play in our first game, I have to find Perfuma but I’ll see you guys later,” She walked off to go find Perfuma and celebrate. A few minutes passed and finally, Adora was able to greet her friends outside the stadium. She walked slowly and she looked more stoic than she had on the field. The adrenaline was gone and she looked tired but her mouth curled into a soft smile at the sight of her friends. 

“Way to go She-ra!” Glimmer yelled and hugged her friend fiercely. Adora laughed and hugged her back “Haven’t you heard? It’s Greyskull now,” Adora joked. Glimmer shrugged “I like my nickname better but whatever, you’re still Adora, and you still kicked some major ass out there,” 

Bow hugged her as well and Entrapta began showing her all the videos that she took stating Adora could use them as research to increase performance, or just to have fun. 

Catra finally waltzed up to the athlete and gave her a small smirk, “You got faster,” she admitted. 

“What? Not going to comment on how you could have outrun that fullback in half the time? Or how that goal was a lucky shot on my part?” Adora asked.  Catra thought about teasing Adora over the game. There were a few missteps she had taken, a couple of passes that didn’t stick, but overall a good first game. Catra couldn’t help but feel like something had happened between the end of the game and her joining the rest of them. Something that dimmed the light in Adora’s eyes that Catra had grown fond of when seeing her in her element. So she said what she thought would bring a little of that fire back. “Usually I would but have to admit it, you had a good game, Adora, they’re lucky to have you,”

Catra’s mission was accomplished as the blonde grinned and pulled her into a hug. Catra stiffened in surprise but quickly eased into it as she had always wanted to. Adora was still a little hot and damp from the game, but Catra could care less. Adora hugged her with all that she had like she did with everything else and Catra didn’t want it to end.  Adora finally let go and realized she was still a little sweaty, “Oh my gosh I’m sorry I’m probably so gross right now,” 

“You’re good Adora, you can shower when we go back to the dorms then we can study?” Catra asked. She hated to admit it but she had been looking forward to their study session all weekend. 

Adora’s smile faltered a bit and she looked down towards her feet, “My mom was wanting to take me out for ice cream, I told her I would ask you first since we made plans-”

“Go hang out with your mom,” Catra said trying to keep the aching in her stomach and chest at bay. “We can study when you get back,” 

Catra had almost forgotten that Adora had someone to celebrate with. A mom who always made it to her games. A mom who was supportive and caring. Catra was happy for her really, but she couldn’t help but wish she had something remotely like that. She just needed some time alone to sort out all these feelings then she could just go back to hanging with Adora and maybe Adora's friends too.  

“Are you sure? You can come with us for ice cream too,” Adora said hoping Catra would say yes with all of her might. 

“I’m okay, I’ll see you back at the dorm okay?” Catra said starting to head out towards the exit. She had to get out of there now before Adora or anyone could sense anything was wrong. 

Get out of here now or else you're going to ruin this whole day. 

“Don’t you want a ride back?” Bow asked, slightly concerned. 

“I’m good thanks, I’ll see you guys later,” Catra waved them off leaving her friends behind. 

****

Catra made it back to the dorms, the walk did not help clear her head like she thought it would. She slammed the door shut in her room and sat down on the floor and tried to breathe. She knew her mom was not worth all this pain and tears but Catra couldn’t help but want to call her. Even if she did all she would receive was judgment, yelling, or even worse silence. She had blocked her number for this very reason but it didn’t make it easier. Catra felt so alone and so out of control. She felt the tears racing down her cheeks as she rubbed her arms to comfort herself. 

“You can handle this, you can handle this, you’re better off without her you’re better off without,” Catra repeated again and again hoping her mind would follow in suit. She needed a distraction something that would get her mind off of all these thoughts something that would need her full attention, something that she could control. She shakily stood up and walked to the bathroom, she looked in the mirror, her tear-stained face glaring at her in the mirror. Her hair was sticking out in all directions and slightly tangled.  

She recalled memories of when Weaver forced her to brush it and straighten it in that headband every day. When Catra had wanted to get it cut short and Weaver commented on how short hair was unbecoming and how she needed to stop being lazy about taking care of her long hair. This memory gave Catra an idea. Catra wiped the tears from her face and went into her room and grabbed a pair of scissors from Entrapta’s desk. It was time for a long-overdue haircut.

She went back into the bathroom and took a couple of strands of her hair and began cutting the inches off. She felt the weight fall with every lock that hit the floor. She breathed slowly and the tears finally stopped, the freedom she felt from cutting her hair brought her an odd sense of peace. She had no idea what she was doing, but she got to have control over what she did to it. She didn’t care that she might have to explain to Adora or Entrapta when they got home. All that mattered was that she wasn’t thinking about Weaver, and she finally got to make a decision that was hers. If she fucked it up real badly it would always grow back. She put the scissors down and looked in the mirror.

The cuts were choppy, and she would need some help trimming the back. Her hair was now nearly a pixie cut just barely ghosting her ears. She still had her bangs and it was still a little messy but she loved it. It definitely needed some fixing but the length made her heart feel full and like something had finally clicked. She smiled back at her reflection, feeling like she had lost years of stress and pain in one ten-minute cut. She felt more like herself than she had in a long time. She got her phone out and saw that a group chat had been formed. 

Best Friend Squad 🐱🏹✨⚽️💻🦂 

Glimmer🤬✨: Bow made a group chat

Unknown: Just checking in! We’ll be over at the dorms in a few! This is Bow! We thought we could crash your study group and we'll just wait for Adora to get back. 

Adora ☀️: Woo! Group chat!! Mom and I should be back in an hour. 

Adora ☀️: Also Catra why did you text me Grey?

Glimmer🤬✨:Part of a bet, guessing her favorite color and I won! 

Glimmer🤬✨: I have a math midterm on Tuesday, Is anyone taking Stats? 

Catra smiled and began typing.

Catra 🐱😈: I'm taking a stats class for psych majors maybe there are some things I can help with 

Entrapta: I'm in Stats! I can definitely help!

Catra 🐱😈: Also may have fucked up my hair anyone good at cutting hair specifically the back? 

Adora ☀️: 😱😱😱 

Glimmer🤬✨: I gotchu ✂️

Adora ☀️: I’m sure it looks great can’t wait to see it!!!!!!!

Scorpia: Can’t wait for the new cut wildcat! 

Catra 🐱😈: It's short... like really short

Arrow Boy: You would definitely rock short hair

Adora ☀️: LOVE THAT

Glimmer🤬✨: YES SHORT HAIR FAM

Catra smiled and wiped away any remnants of her tears, she was going to be okay. She had her own support system now and it was a pretty damn good one. 

Chapter Text

Bow and Glimmer stood with Catra and Entrapta in the bathroom. All eyes were on Catra, her hair ¾ of the length it was this morning. The front was a little choppy but the back was even more so as they circled her. Bow was looking intently at her with his arms crossed trying to find a kind but an honest statement about the self-done haircut. 

“Don’t you dare laugh,” Catra said, the statement mostly directed towards Glimmer. Her glare shifted between the two looking for any sign of a smirk or a chuckle.

“It's not that bad,” Bow said quickly.

Catra covered her face with her hands, admitting defeat.“I fucked up Bow, it’s okay you can say it,” 

“You had so much hair,” Entrapta said looking down at all of Catra’s stray locks that were on the bathroom floor. 

“You’re one to talk Entrapta,” Catra replied, flipping one of Entrapta"s long pigtails.

Bow uncrossed his arms, “You didn’t fuck  it up just needs to be evened out a little—“

“You gave yourself an uneven mullet,” Glimmer stated without any malice nor amusement in her voice.

“Glimmer!” Bow objected, but Catra started to laugh, it did kind of look like an uneven mullet. She stopped laughing and looked at herself in the mirror and was able to get a clear side profile of herself. The back was longer than she thought. Shit, she gave herself an uneven mullet “I don’t want a mullet, I don’t care how short you need to go just fix it already!” 

“Oh calm down I’m going to fix it,” Glimmer said looking back at Catra. “Honestly you did great for never cutting your hair before. First time I did it I gave myself bangs and it was way worse than what you did” Glimmer began getting her scissors out. She stood behind Catra, Catra was still a little taller than Glimmer. “I’m going to need you to sit down,” 

Catra smirked as Bow grabbed her desk chair from her room into the bathroom, “What having trouble reaching?” 

“You really want to be messing with the person who has the scissors in her hands?” Glimmer asked holding up the scissors and giving them a little shake. 

Catra sat down quietly her smirk a little smaller than before resisting the urge to pick at her nails. “Just don’t mess it up more than I already did okay?” 

Glimmer’s expression softened. She put a hand on Catra’s shoulder. “It’s going to be short but I promise, it’s going to look great.” 

“Yeah! Glimmer’s great at cutting hair, you’re in good hands,” Bow said earnestly. 

"And I'm sure Adora will love it, if that helps," Glimmer mentioned as she brushed some of the stray hairs off of Catra's shirt.

Catra felt the heat rise from her neck until it finally settled in her cheeks. She hadn’t thought what Adora might think when she saw her with most of her hair gone. Glimmer began getting to work, giving her entire focus to Catra.

“Thanks…” Catra mumbled quietly. 

“No problem,” she replied with a smile. 

***

Adora sat with her mother at the ice cream shop downtown. It was the 50s themed with big red booths and black and white tiled floors. Adora had barely taken any bites of her cinnamon swirl and vanilla ice cream. 

“Everything ok?” Hope asked, taking a small bite of her mint chocolate chip ice cream. It had been a couple of months since Adora had seen her. They had been texting and calling on the phone but it was different having her here in person. It was as if they were in a movie, but neither of them had been given a script on what to say to one another. Adora was still thinking of their previous conversation at the stadium, but she was hesitant to bring it up. She didn't want to ruin the day.

“I’m fine,” Adora said, “just have a lot on my mind, midterms, and stuff,” 

Hope nodded, “Well you’re handling everything well, and it looked like your friends were excited to see you play,” 

Adora smiled at the thought of her friends. Seeing them yell in the stands, giving her hugs afterward. She had hoped Catra was doing okay. She seemed to take off at the end and then texted the group chats about cutting her hair. Adora wished she would have just gone to study with her but her mom was in town, and she didn’t want to disappoint her. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Hope asked breaking Adora out of her thoughts, “Is there something you want to talk about?”

“Yeah, I just…” Adora began to wonder if she should bring up what was bothering her. “Why didn’t you congratulate me on my goal?” 

After the soccer game, Adora was on cloud nine. Her teammates were jumping and singing in the locker rooms. She couldn’t wait to see her friends and her mom and have them be just as excited for her. But when she ran out of the locker room and greeted her mother with a big hug she wasn’t met with the same level of excitement that she was expecting. 

“It was a really good first game,” Hope had said, “You’re going to get that goal next time, I just know it,” 

She then went on about Adora needing to work hard to earn her spot as a center forward. 

Hope stared at her daughter from across the table, unsure how to respond. “I thought I did,”

“You said it was a good game and I’ll get the goal next time. Even though I did get the goal,” 

“You helped get a goal and you should be proud of that! Honey I didn’t mean anything by it, I just know you love center forward and you scored the most goals when you were in that position,” 

Adora stirred at her ice cream in her paper cup. “It’s not always about scoring mom, I had one of my best games today and all you could think of was how I could be better,” 

“Adora where is this coming from?” Hope asked honestly. Adora could feel the frustration running through herself the more her mother spoke. Her hand now clenching her spoon.

She never gets it. Adora thought, She never understands that I’m working hard every day at everything and it never feels good enough. 

“I’m sorry if I’m pushing a little hard but I just don’t want you to settle—,” 

“I’m not settling!” Adora exclaimed, a few patrons had noticed the outburst and were trying their best to keep their eyes off the two women. 

“I’m not settling,” Adora said again but quietly. She was so tired physically and emotionally. All she wanted to do was relax and not have to think about her expectations. “I’m sorry it’s been a long day and I need to study for my midterms,” 

“I understand,” Hope said but knew there was little truth to her statement. She wished she was better at this, better at knowing what Adora wants her to say. Instead, she sat quietly finishing her ice cream before she could say something else that might undermine her daughter’s day. 

The ride back to the dorm was a quiet one, like most of their drives together. Adora felt the guilt weighing her down as she gathered her stuff from below the passenger seat. 

“Adora,” Hope said as if Adora’s name would give her the courage to continue speaking. “I know I’m not —I’m not the best with talking about well I’m not great at talking about a lot of stuff, but I don’t want you to feel like you can’t talk to me or to anyone else about how you feel, I’m sorry if I –I’m sorry,” Hope paused and Adora saw the composed and clearheaded woman she had grown up with try and do something out of her comfort zone. Being open about her feelings. “You had a great game today and I loved seeing you play, and I’m sorry if I made you feel like I didn’t.” 

Adora smiled, it wasn’t eloquent, but it was definitely a start. “Thanks, mom, I’ll save you a seat next time you want to come down,” 

“I won’t embarrass you too much?” Hope joked, 

Adora shook her head and leaned over to give her mom an awkward but loving hug. “Remember when Mara brought an airhorn to my first varsity game? Nothing will ever embarrass me more than that,” 

Hope laughed, “I begged her not to, but she said it was important that you knew we were there,” 

Adora rolled her eyes, “The whole damn stadium knew you were there,”

“Language,” Hope said but with a smile, “I’ll text you when I get home, okay? Have a fun study date,” 

Adora, bit her lip nervously at the mention of the word date. “Not a date, Glimmer Bow and Entrapta will be there too,”  

Hope raised her eyebrows at her daughter, “I’m going to say something, and we never ever have to talk about it again unless you want to, okay?” 

Adora nodded as Hope turned off the car for a second. She turned in her seat so she was facing Adora straight on. “Don’t wait two years like I did tutoring a girl in French, until one day she asks, in perfect French I might add, Are you going to ask me out or do I have to teach you Spanish for me to get a date with you?” 

Adora groaned and got out of the passenger seat but leaned on the outside of the open passenger seat window. “Yup never talking about this again,” 

Hope smiled, “I’m just saying not as many women are as…blunt as your mom was. If she didn't tell me she liked me, I probably wouldn’t have told her how I felt and I would have kicked myself over it. But luckily she did and we made each other very happy. My point is, I know how hard it is being open like that, but don’t stand in your own way, that’s all.” 

Adora sighed, too stubborn to let her mom know she had hit her feelings right on the head. “Ok will do, are we good?” 

Hope sighed back, “We’re good, awkward parent talk over, I’ll text you when I get home, have fun,” 

Adora stepped back and waved as Hope left the dorm parking lot. She saw her mom raise a hand back and she couldn’t help but smile and think, if Mara could do it, maybe sometime soon she could too.

***

Adora opened the door to her dorm finding her friends scattered all over the floor with textbooks, laptops, and pens. They all greeted her from their spots as she came through the door and she was honestly grateful not to come home to an empty room. Glimmer was copying some notes from Catra’s notebook and Bow was 600 words into a five-page essay about the history of computers. Entrapta seemed to be modifying Glimmer’s bed into a high rise(which did not look like it followed the Housing Code of Conduct). after Glimmer spoke about not having enough room for her art supplies.

 Adora looked over and saw Catra who had glanced up from her laptop with her new haircut and Adora’s heart almost stopped in its tracks. It was a pixie cut shorter than Glimmer’s but that only revealed more of Catra’s lovely face. Adora liked Catra’s hair in any fashion and this new cut just secured that fact. Adora could tell she was a little nervous, but under that, she could see the joy peeking through her eyes. It was the happiest she had seen her since moving in.

“Well don’t just stand there, Adora,” Catra said her eyebrows furrowing defensively, but her eyes looked away. Adora still was silently gaping making Catra more nervous and frustrated. “Glimmer didn’t have a lot to work with alright? And it’ll grow back, but I kind of like it like this so maybe I’ll keep it, I don’t know but you don’t have to stand there and—” 

“You look beautiful,” Adora said the words bursting out of her like a cannon. For once she had stopped Catra’s rambling rather than the other way around. All of those worries of not being good enough took a back seat in her brain for the few seconds it took for those three words to leave her lips. It didn’t matter if her friends heard it because Adora meant her words and it felt good to finally say it out loud. Then again maybe she should have waited until they were alone “I mean you look great in any cut,” Adora said as she felt her confidence slipping through her fingers. She cursed herself thinking she may have just messed up everything right in her life “You look great, Glimmer did a good job, way to go Glim…”

It was now Catra’s turn to silently gape. She was expecting Adora to maybe make a lighthearted remark about the dramatic cut, or maybe just politely say it looked nice but beautiful? Catra would have never guessed those words would be uttered about her from Adora’s lips. It made her feel like a firework had gone off in her chest and all the little sparks were flying to her toes and her fingertips. She was feeling way too many things today, and she couldn’t help but wish everyone in this room would disappear for ten minutes, so she could talk to Adora alone. 

“Hey, Entrapta maybe you could show us the updates you made on Emily?” Bow asked answering Catra’s prayers in hopes of giving the two some space and privacy. 

“Oh yeah! I would love to see if she can lift the desk like you said you were trying to do,” Glimmer added taking Bow’s lead. 

Entrapta popped her head up from underneath Glimmer’s bed, “Sure, but that might delay the additions to your bed,” 

“That’s fine! We’ll be back in a few minutes, or maybe longer who knows, we’ll text the group chat,” Glimmer said ushering Bow into the bathroom to get to Entrapta’s room. 

Now finally alone, Adora felt the need to apologize but for once she couldn’t bring herself to do it without knowing Catra’s reaction. Catra’s silence continued filling the room, but she didn’t seem upset. Catra wanted to run, but Adora’s eyes held her in place. “I…what the hell is going on?” Catra asked. 

Adora was so caught off guard by the blunt statement she almost laughed, “I don’t know, I’m sorry I just thought you looked you know..good more than good but you know that and shit, I’ve ruined everything, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to embarrass you or–”

“Adora, breathe,” Catra swore it would be her new catchphrase if they were able to get through this. She held Adora’s hands in her own and gave them a gentle squeeze, “What you said, made me feel…I liked that you said it, okay? It was nice to hear,” 

“You did?” Adora asked hesitantly as if someone was about to pull the floor out from under her.

“Yeah, I did,” Catra said softly stepping closer to Adora. Catra’s boots were touching Adora’s messy soccer cleats. Her hands felt warm and soft as Adora fiddled with one of Catra’s rings on her hand. “I just–” Catra hesitated, this is all she wanted but she was scared to finally have it. Scared that Adora would change her mind, or they would ruin the friendship they already had. 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Adora asked as she took a step back to give her space but kept a firm hold on the brunette’s hands.

“I’m a mess, Adora, I nearly had a panic attack today because I missed my awful mom, and you don’t need to deal with that right now, you already take on so much” Catra could feel the tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “I’m insecure and defensive and…I’m not…I’m not good I’m just not–,”

“I like you, Catra,” Adora said blatantly. “I’ve liked you since I called you a dumb face in debate freshman year because you caught me so off guard. I like you because you’re smart like that. I like that you make me laugh, even when I’ve had a hard time, and I’ve been having a really hard time lately, but you have been one of the reasons why I feel like it’s going to pass because when I’m with you I feel good. 

So if I can make you feel half as wonderful as you make me feel then that would be good enough for me.” Adora’s breath felt shaky but there was no turning back now, she stepped closer to Catra. “Even if it’s just as your friend, it would be hard, but I could do it and move past it because it would mean I get to have you in my life in some shape or form. But I need you to know if I got to be more than just your friend...then I…I would be the luckiest woman in the world because you are good Catra, and I can wait for as long as you need me to, for you to see that,” 

Adora finished her speech feeling like the weight of the world had been released from her shoulders. She felt like she was still on the field with her heart racing in her chest, but she finally was able to say the things that had been swarming in her head and her heart for months. Catra’s face had a single tear mark on her cheek but nothing more as she soaked in everything Adora just said. “Maybe I should let you babble more often if you’re going to say things like that,” Catra said cocking her head to the side trying to make light of the situation and waiting for Adora to give her the punchline, but Adora only smiled back nervously still waiting for Catra’s real reply. Catra leaned in back to their original position, Adora looking at Catra, Catra looking at the floor. 

“Okay,” Catra finally said quietly. 

“Okay, what?” Adora asked, 

Catra finally looked up into those grey-blue eyes she had been avoiding for years and said firmly, “Okay, we can give this a try, but I’m going to need this to be slow, okay? I still have shit to figure out and I need my own space sometimes and I can’t just drop everything—” Adora pulled Catra close into the warmest embrace Catra had ever imagined. It made their hug at the stadium feel like a spark compared to a blazing fire. Catra found herself nestling into Adora’s shoulder as Adora’s arms held her close, one hand cradling the back of her neck gently while the other was firmly on the small of her back. Catra nearly sighed out loud as she let herself wrap her arms around Adora‘s strong back, ghosting her fingertips along her spine soothingly. Adora could feel Catra smile in the crook of her shoulder and she couldn’t imagine a place she would rather be. 

“Are you two done or can we get back to studying?” Glimmer shouted from the closed bathroom door. 

“Glimmer privacy!” Bow croaked still feeling emotional over Adora’s heartfelt speech. Adora and Catra both had forgotten how thin dorm walls could be, their eyes wide and cheeks flushed but still holding onto each other.

“What? It’s been quiet for a bit so I figured they were done,” Glimmer replied, 

Catra and Adora stood frozen in time.“Maybe if we’re real quiet they’ll just go back to watching Emily,” Adora whispered into Catra’s ear. 

“ Emily was able to lift the desk! By the way!” Entrapta said also through the closed door. 

"It was awesome," Bow responded and blew his nose. 

Catra shook her head and chuckled as Adora released her from the embrace. “I hate your friends,” 

Adora smiled and held her hand again, “Hey they are as much as your friends, as they are mine,” Catra squeezed her hand happily acknowledging that these lunatics had officially grown on her. 

“Some of us have midterms to study for so if you’re done being all romantic and stuff let’s get this study session rolling,” Glimmer said 

“We’ll talk about date plans later?” Adora asked Catra quickly hoping Glimmer wouldn’t break the door down. 

Catra felt like she was in a dream, she was going on a date with Adora. “Sounds great,” Catra dropped her hand from Adora’s. “Alright, you weirdos get in here,” 

Glimmer opened the door head first with Bow and Entrapta behind her. “Okay I can’t wait to hear what you’re planning for the date but first I need Catra to teach me how to make a box and whisker’s plot without wanting to smash my calculator on the floor,” 

The group got down to business all going over their midterm study guides, and finishing up their essays. Joking about how they couldn’t wait for Gen Eds to be done and over with. Amidst the studying and chaos, Adora couldn’t help but send loving glances and smiles Catra’s way, and for once Catra was brave enough to return every gesture.

Chapter Text

The sound of pencils scratching against scantrons filled the bio lecture hall. Catra had guarded Adora’s seat until she arrived after practice. Midterms and finals were the only times that the lecture hall was at actual capacity. Catra had scanned the room and barely saw anyone familiar save the twenty other kids that normally showed up to class. But today it was a frenzy just to find two seats available, so Catra put her backpack on Adora’s usual seat and blatantly told anyone who dared try to ask if that seat was taken to find another spot. 

Adora was relieved when she ran in a minute before the midterm began. The TA was just beginning to pass out the scantrons and Catra made sure Adora’s spot had received one as well. Adora’s face lit up as she saw Catra spot her from across the room. They hadn’t had time to plan a date yet due to midterms taking up their whole week. Adora had one more to take today plus an essay to turn in by the end of the week and Catra had two more on Friday. Catra had been waiting the past 3 days for Adora to at least suggest something, but she seemed preoccupied. 

It wasn’t that Adora was procrastinating on planning a date with Catra. If anything, it took up half or more of the space in her brain. She wanted everything to be perfect which led to overthinking, which led to spiraling, which led to eating nothing but sweets, and complaining to Glimmer about how she was screwed. 

“It’s been 3 days! She lives next door!” Glimmer said the night before in the most exasperated whisper that had ever been uttered. Having Adora’s potential date being only a thin wall away made Glimmer’s pep talks a little tricky. “You already know she’ll say yes so just pick a place to go!”

“I can’t!” Adora whispered back, “What if I pick a place she hates? Or what if I pick something she likes but I know nothing about so I’m all awkward and I end up using the wrong fork or something,” 

Glimmer’s look could cut glass. “It’s Brightmoon Adora, where do you think you’ll be eating where they will have more than one fork? You’re not having a date on the Titanic for god sake!” 

Next door Catra and Entrapta were having a talk of their own. 

“I just don’t get it? It’s been three whole days, she’s responded to the group chat, so why the hell hasn’t she asked me out yet?” Catra said, pacing around her dorm trying to keep her voice down as well.

“We are in midterms, maybe she’s been busy?” Entrapta said as she finished setting up her audio equipment. Her headphones were around her neck as she began turning the knobs on her stereo to get the best frequency. 

“Yeah I guess, I just-what if she changed her mind?” Catra asked, her voice cracking at the thought of the answer to her question. 

“Shh I can’t hear,” Entrapta said over her shoulder. 

Catra's face fell into a frown, and she skulked to her bed and wrapped the covers around her body like a burrito of protection. “Excuse me for expressing my feelings and distracting you from your—what the hell are you even doing?” 

Entrapta groaned and took off her headphones, “I’m trying to hear what Adora is saying about your date but you keep talking over it!” 

“Entrapta!” Catra yelped, absolutely mortified and mildly touched. “I did not ask you to do that!” 

Entrapta shrugged,” I thought it would make you feel better,” 

“Well thanks but I don’t think spying on the girl I sort-of-kind-of-like, is going to do me any favors,” Catra said putting the covers over her head.

“Okay I’ll stop then, sorry” she turned off her power supply and put her headphones on the table. 

“You didn’t happen to—you know—hear anything they said though right?” Catra asked, poking her head out of the covers and side eyeing Entrapta, hoping the answer was yes. 

“It was a little muddled but I think I picked up the words date and on the Titanic?” Entrapta explained as she looked down at her notes quizzically, “Does that mean anything to you?”

Catra flopped herself back to facing the wall “Noooo, I have no idea” she groaned as Entrapta patted her knee in a “there, there” fashion.

To say last night’s altercation made Catra even more confused was an understatement. So after talking with Entrapta and an almost convincing self pep talk in the bathroom mirror while Adora was at practice this morning, she decided to finally break down all her pride and come up with a plan of her own after the bio midterm. 

Catra had absent-mindedly brushed Adora’s arm and dropped a note when she had gone down to drop off her test. Adora looked up to see Catra’s familiar smirk only for her to turn on her heels and place her test on the professor’s desk. 

Adora was almost done with her test so she placed the note in her hoodie pocket. She finished the last few questions and dropped her test off. When she walked out into the hallway she unfolded the note. 

See you at Darla’s around 3 pm or whenever you’re done with the last midterm, text me if we need to reschedule 

-Catra

P.S. This is me asking you on a date dummy if it wasn’t obvious. 

Adora’s eyes widened as she read the note again to make sure she hadn’t hallucinated the entire thing. She put the note in the front pocket of her bag for safekeeping. Darla’s was a perfect place to start. Why hadn’t she thought of that? She got out her phone feeling the butterflies fill her stomach as she texted Catra. 

Adora ☀️: Can’t wait for our date today💗 Thanks for asking me, promise I’ll plan the next one

She was surprised to see three little dots appearing only a few seconds after. 

Catra 😈: Oh so there’s going to be a second one already? 😏 

Adora smiled at the flirty response and shook her head as she wrote her reply. 

Adora ☀️: That’s the plan 😏☺️💗 

Catra 😈: You mean the plan where you told me you liked me then waited three days only for me to plan the date? 

Adora ☀️: I would’ve gotten there! I just wanted to make it special idk…I got caught up in the details, but Darla’s sounds wonderful and I’m really excited to be there with you. 

Catra 😈: Well I guess I can give you a chance to figure out those details since you’ve spent so much time on it

Catra😈: For the record, I’ll like anything you plan, as long as it means I get to hang out with you

Adora smiled at her phone and she couldn’t help but feel a rush of warmth at the sight of Catra’s text. 

Adora ☀️: Me too

Adora ☀️: That was pretty sweet D’riluth, you must like me a lot 😏

Catra 😈: I will block your number 

Adora chuckled and sent a bunch of heart emojis as a playful apology. The next text she sent was a frantic one to Glimmer and Bow. 

Adora ☀️: Any chance you guys are available before 3 pm today? I got a date and would appreciate some help getting ready. 

Bow🏹: YES ITS HAPPENING

Glimmer ✨: LAST TEST IS AT 12:30 SO ABSOLUTELY 

*****

Adora stood outside Darla’s and brushed down the skirt of her sundress making sure each pleat wasn’t wrinkled. She had paired it with a denim jacket to keep her warm in this fall weather along with some ankle boots. Glimmer and Bow helped her pick the dress out as it was one of the only dresses she owned. It was the dress she wore for graduation although most people didn’t really get to see it since it was under her cap and gown. It was a vibrant red color that reminded her of the carnations that bloomed outside her house. The hem ghosted her knees which she liked because she didn’t have to spend the whole day pulling or prodding it down. It made her feel pretty and made her more open to the idea of wearing dresses in the future if all of them gave her the same feeling that this one did. 

She was adjusting her ponytail for the millionth time when she saw Catra walking toward her. Her short hair was slicked back and she was wearing a black tank top over a black mesh long sleeve top. For once she wasn’t wearing leggings or PJs. In their place were some dark red jeans with rips going up and down the leg. Adora was amazed by how someone could look so put together yet so effortless at the same time. The best part of Catra’s attire was the glint in her eyes when she was looking Adora over. 

Catra had never seen her in a dress and boy did it have an effect on Catra. Adora seemed to sway a bit with the dress. Her movements were less purposeful and more relaxed. It was a fun side to Adora that she had caught glimpses of but never quite got a full view of until today. Adora would look good in anything but seeing her standing there, smiling back at her, looking like a goddess who decided to give Earth a shot, was all it took for Catra’s brain to short circuit and use all its energy to keep her heart from exploding. 

“You look great,” Adora said trying to resist the urge to jump and hug Catra, 

Adora’s voice snapped Catra out of her admirable fog, “Thanks, so do you, I like the dress,” 

Adora nearly turned the same color as her dress as she bit her lip as if that would hold all her feelings in. She finally pulled herself together enough to say “Thanks, I like your jeans,” 

“Ripped them myself,” Catra said lamely, wishing a bolt of lightning would strike her down to end her embarrassment. Who knew Adora in a dress would be her undoing? 

“Everything okay?” Adora asked, being perfectly kind and clueless as to how Catra was 

“Yeah you just…you look nice is all. So uh let’s go inside,” Catra said quickly, taking Adora’s hand in hers. She felt Adora stroke her thumb across hers igniting a tingling sensation that traveled up her arm. Everything in her mind was telling Catra to run but she ignored it and decided to focus on how Adora’s hand fit wonderfully in hers. 

They made their order, Catra had graciously paid much to Adora’s objection. 

“When you plan a date you can pay,” Catra said. Adora got some money out and put it in the tip jar. “So there will be a second date then?” 

Catra rolled her eyes playfully, as they took their seats, “That’s not what I said,” 

“Hm too bad, I was really planning on sweeping you off your feet,” Adora said, taking a sip of her latte and creating a milk foam mustache on her upper lip. 

Catra tried to stifle a laugh, but it found its way out anyway. Making Adora smile in return, “What? Do I have something on my face or something?” Adora said feigning ignorance knowing full well what she looked like. She loved making Catra laugh. She would do anything to get to hear Catra’s full cackle in action, it was like experiencing a blue moon. It didn't happen very often but when it did you couldn’t help but be mesmerized by it. It also helped with the first date nerves. 

Catra amid her laughter handed Adora a napkin. Adora patted away her milk mustache and nodded her head in thanks. 

“How did the bio midterm go for you?” Adora asked, 

Catra shrugged, “It went fine, it was supposed to be my easiest midterm so it’s all downhill from here,” 

“That’s the spirit, I got most of mine done today, just have an essay due on Friday, but it's about how the BMI test is crap and shouldn’t be used to measure health and whatnot so it practically writes itself,” 

Catra groaned recalling the BMI in high school, “I hated that test, it’s so misleading and does more harm than good,” 

“Hey! That’s my thesis statement!” Adora pointed out enthusiastically. 

Catra grinned, “I don’t know saying you hate something as your opening statement? Sounds pretty biased,” 

“Not if it’s backed up by research which it is, my work cited page is a thing of art,” 

Catra shook her head, “I’m sure it is, I’ll make sure to frame it in the bathroom so everyone can see it,” 

Adora threw her rolled-up napkin at Catra, “Throwing things will not get you a second date,” Catra said. 

The late afternoon went on as Catra and Adora sat and chatted about their lives. Teases and smiles ricocheted across the table and everything just felt easy. It wasn’t until the barista started putting up the barstools that they realized the cafe was closing. 

“We should probably head out, but do you want to walk a little downtown?” Adora asked not wanting the date to be over just yet. 

Catra nodded and they took their leave. The sky had turned from day to night and the street lights lit up the sidewalk. The green lawn of the main campus followed their path as they walked slowly in a comfortable silence passing by the university. 

“It looks kind of creepy at night, doesn’t it?” Adora asked, nodding to one of the buildings overhead. The streetlights made her blonde hair glow against the deep background of the night. Even in the darkness, Adora’s smile could illuminate the entire fucking street. 

“I kind of like it, kind of has a dark ambiance to it,” Catra said, hoping it was dark enough to cover up her blush. “Plus it's quiet which can be nice,” 

“I don’t like the quiet,” Adora said immediately.

“No kidding?” Catra asked sarcastically, earning a playful shove from Adora. 

“I don't know, I just feel like it gives me too much space to overthink things, my mind wanders too much,” she said, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jacket. 

Catra hummed in response, “I feel like that sometimes, but most times it’s nice just to have a space where the whole world just slows down and let's you just think about the good stuff, you know?” Adora shrugged not really knowing what Catra meant. Catra stopped in her tracks as an idea began to manifest in her head. She gently pulled Adora’s arm out of her pocket and held her in place. “What are you doing?” Adora asked.

“Here just close your eyes and stand here with me,” Catra said, 

“Okay weirdo,” Adora smiled and held onto Catra’s hands. Adora began to close her eyes but stole a few peeks of Catra before Catra shook her hand in protest. She couldn’t help it, it was nice to be able to look at her from this close. Adora would be content counting the freckles across Catra’s face all night. She wanted to memorize them as one would do with constellations in the sky. 

“I can feel you looking at me, for once don’t argue with me,” Catra said seriously but her lips were fighting a smile.

Adora closed her eyes and listened. She could hear the faint whirring of a car passing by on the street. Some sprinklers echoed off in the distance, crickets were chirping. The cool wind was blowing the skirt of her dress. She could hear herself breathing softly and an unexpected calm had begun to wash over her. Catra’s warm hands felt like a life preserver, maybe Catra was right, silence could be nice. Her mind wasn’t thinking about how strange they probably looked to anyone passing by, or all the things she had to do before Thanksgiving break, she was only thinking of how it felt to be this close to someone. To not even need words and feel at home. 

Adora began to pull Catra closer to her like the world’s slowest magnetic pull. Her hands traveled up to Catra’s arms, Catra’s hands dropped to Adora’s waist. With both, their eyes still closed Adora rested her head against Catra’s. Her hands made their way to Catra’s jaw and Adora could feel the soft sigh that escaped Catra’s lips. Catra finally let herself be pulled into Adora’s orbit and her lips gently crashed into Adora’s. 

It was soft and sweet and over way too quickly, as Catra pulled back timidly, worried she may have overstepped. Adora silently put her mind at ease and quickly chased after her lips and closed the distance between them once more. Catra felt the world spinning but Adora’s hands cupping her jaw kept her in place as she kissed her back and wrapped her arms tight. The push and pull of their lips felt intoxicating but it was done with such care for one another that it didn't feel like a competition. They were in this together, and this was something to be shared. 

They were so enraptured with one another that neither heard the spritz of the sprinkler beginning to start. It wasn’t until Adora felt the cool spray on her legs that she gasped and ended the kiss. Catra joyfully shrieked in shock as she began feeling the specks of water hit her clothes and her hair. Adora grabbed her hand and began running back to the dorms to escape the downpour from the sprinklers. Their laughs cascaded down the street and into the hallway as they got to the dorms. 

Their hair and clothes were slightly damp from the water and Catra could feel herself getting cold again when getting into the elevator. That is until Adora wrapped her arms around her from behind as soon as the elevator doors closed. 

“I know you hate being cold, so I thought I could warm you up if that’s okay,” Adora whispered in her ear sweetly and it made Catra’s face warmer than any heater could have.

“You’re cold too,” Catra chuckled, her breath hitching a bit when Adora’s cold hands reached hers. 

“I'm sorry should I let go then?” Adora squeezed her hands once more and kissed Catra’s cheek. 

"No I guess not," Catra said leaning back into Adora's embrace as she heard the chime of the elevator passing up each floor until it finally reached theirs. 

They walked down the hallway still clinging to one another as if one may fall without the other's support around them. Adora noticed the whiteboard outside her door had a note written on it. She leaned down and saw Glimmer's handwriting taunting her as she read: 

Went to Bow’s for the night and will be back in the morning, have fun ;)

Adora looked over at Catra and smiled sheepishly. “I swear I had no idea she would be out for the night,” 

“Sure Grayson, sure,” Catra said, crossing her arms and relishing in Adora’s bashfulness. 

“Would you want to come in? It’s only 7, we could watch a movie or just hang out,” Adora asked, she knew she was being forward, but she didn't want the night to end just yet. This was becoming one of the best nights of her life and she wanted to keep it going for as long as possible.

“Are you asking me to Netflix and chill with you?” Catra joked and Adora’s reaction was worth a million dollars. Her mouth agape as she laughed nervously trying to process coherent words in her head without showing disinterest but not crossing any boundaries. 

“No no no I know you want to take things slow, I just thought the night’s young, and we were having a good time and I just want to keep hanging out with you,” Adora stammered out feeling her hands tremble from nerves and the cold. “If that means hanging out here alone or hanging with Entrapta next door or standing in those sprinklers until our hands are numb then so be it, if I’m with you then I go anywhere,” 

“Adora…” Catra said feeling herself fall harder and faster every time Adora babbled to her. She couldn’t find the words to show how much she appreciated Adora’s kindness and understanding without diving off the deep end. So instead she held Adora's trembling hands and brought them to her lips giving a sweet small kiss to each and said “I... I guess one movie wouldn’t hurt,” 

Adora lifted her off the ground in response and Catra felt herself get caught up in the blonde’s excitement, “but no funny business alright?” she laughed as Adora put her down.

Adora saluted “Yes mam no funny business here,” 

Catra shook her head, as she couldn’t comprehend how she was falling for such a dork. “I get to pick the movie too,” 

Catra went into her own bedroom and changed into her PJs. Entrapta had asked her how the date went when she walked in to which Catra replied, “Still going,” 

“That’s good, right? Or do you feel over-socialized?” Entrapta asked,

Catra chuckled if anyone told her she would be on a date that lasted more than four hours she wouldn’t have believed them. But in all honesty, Catra still had some energy left in her system. She had made sure she saved up enough alone time for herself before the date and now she felt excited that she got to spend more time with Adora. For the first time she felt balanced and like things were starting to turn around in her favor. 

“It’s good Entrapta, more than good,  I’ll see you in the morning for food after my workout?” Catra asked heading off into the bathroom. 

“See you then! Good luck!” Entrapta said and went back to her laptop.

Adora had changed into her PJs as well the ones with the horseshoes. “You wore my favorite just for me? You shouldn't have,” said scooting next to Adora on the bed. 

“They are super comfy!” Adora argued as she brought up Netflix on her laptop. She was so easy to rile up. Catra leaned forward and felt the soft fabric on Adora’s knee.

“Hey no funny business,” Adora raised her eyebrows with the world’s cockiest smirk. Catra scoffed and swatted her knee as her cheeks burned pink. “Shut up,” 

“Make me,” Adora challenged her and Catra fell right for it. Catra pulled the front of Adora’s shirt and kissed her for the second time that night. It was firm and less gentle than their first, but Adora loved it just the same. When they parted Adora gave a quick peck on Catra’s nose, as a thank you. “So does this mean I get to plan a second date?” Adora asked as she felt Catra nestle in the crook of her arm and lay her head against her chest. Vanilla and honey had never smelled so comforting, and it was beginning to be Adora’s favorite thing in the world.

Catra thought about teasing her back but was honestly so happy and too tired to give it the energy it needed. So instead, she curled her arm around Adora as she had previously on the morning of their sleepover and finally let herself say “Yes,”

Chapter Text

“What if she doesn’t like it?” Adora asked again, losing count of the times she had asked this question to Glimmer since they stepped into the shopping mall. 

Glimmer groaned as Adora held up the twelfth necklace she had considered buying for Catra’s birthday present. This one was a bright blue topaz pendant that had rhinestones surrounding it. Glimmer really liked it, but she knew it probably wouldn’t be Catra’s thing, and honestly so did Adora but she was growing desperate. 

“Adora just pick something we’ve been here for the past hour,” Glimmer begged as she considered sitting on the floor and leaning her back against the trendy display case. This had been the fourth store they had gone into, and nothing was right. The top from the clothing store might not fit, the record from the record store, Catra might already have, and the ring with her birthstone would make it look like a proposal. Adora was able to find something wrong with everything she or Glimmer had picked out. Glimmer had jumped at the opportunity to go on a shopping trip with Adora but if she knew she was going to be this particular then she probably would have stayed home giving full support by asking for pictures through text.

“I know I know,” Adora said putting the necklace back on display, “I just want her to like it, and show her I care about her you know?” 

Glimmer looked at Adora's lovesick puppy dog eyes and couldn’t help but feel her temper cool. She sighed trying to ground herself as she asked the question with as much patience she could muster, “What does Catra like to do, besides acting like a know-it-all, what are her hobbies her interests?”

Adora’s eyes lit up, “She likes baking and cats!” The lights dimmed a bit in Adora’s eyes,” But I can’t give her a cat that’s a huge responsibility and I’m not sure if that’s what she wants right now,” 

Glimmer was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Catra liked to bake. She felt like Catra was made up of two different people at this point. 

“You could take her to a place that has cats,” Glimmer offered, “or say hey do you want to go take a look at the cats at PetSmart, if she’s not ready to adopt one then she can say no but if she does then she can be like Adora this is the best thing ever! Oh my god, who gave you this idea? Was it Glimmer?! I knew it! She is such an amazing friend,” Glimmer stuck her tongue out to punctuate the dramatic statement.

Adora rolled her eyes, “I’d have to ask Entrapta if she’s okay with having a cat as a roommate,” she leaned on the glass of the display counter. The necklaces taunted her as she glared back at them. “I should still get her something in case she doesn’t want to go,”

Glimmer could feel her eye twitching, “Alright, she likes to bake right? Get her a baking recipe book, like one of those fun ones that have themes and stuff,” 

“That could work! She likes to read too, and we can bake at my house over break,” 

Glimmer smirked, “One date and you’re already planning on taking her home to meet Hope? Bold but I like it,” 

What a good first date it was , Adora thought, recalling the night. She couldn’t help going back to the moment when she felt Catra’s lips on hers, the tingles she felt from head to toe only to have Catra pull away and have Adora chasing after her again. She would follow Catra anywhere if it meant getting to hold her and laugh with her. Stars, maybe she was moving fast, but something in her gut told her it was going to be okay. She just needed to let Catra take her time and everything would work out. 

“What? She’s sort of seen my mom before, is that too fast?” Glimmer flicked her hands up in a small shrug in response. “Shit, she’s not going home for Thanksgiving so I guess I got ahead of myself,” Adora said. 

“I mean you had her sleepover, that’s pretty fast,” Glimmer teased. 

“Nothing happened and you know that” Adora whispered blushing as she remembered Glimmer opening the door that morning. Catra and Adora were all cuddled up together on the small bed, Catra’s head on Adora’s chest as she had wrapped herself around the blonde’s waist like a favorite sweater. Adora was half-awake sleepily stroking her hair but the minute Catra heard the doorknob jiggle she nearly lunged out of the bed and slipped into their shared bathroom. 

“Nice try D’riluth, I saw the bathroom door close!” Glimmer had called out until Adora threw a pillow at her for ruining the moment. 

“I know I know, so maybe taking the girl home to meet your mom is a bit fast but how about Friendsgiving?” Glimmer said holding Adora in place. “We could do it the Wednesday of break and have it at my mom’s house, so no pressure?” 

Adora felt every atom in her being relaxed. Glimmer was way too good at this. “You’d do that for me?” 

Glimmer smiled brightly, “Duh, plus it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, we’ll invite Bow Entrapta Scorpia and Perfuma, have some wine maybe if I can sneak it passed my mom, or you know just have sparkling cider?” 

Adora couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have a friend like a Glimmer. “Thank you Thank you,” she hugged her tightly. “Also do you even like wine?” 

“Not sure but something tells me I was meant to try Rosé but we’ll see,” Glimmer chuckled and returned the hug.

“Ok now that’s settled we are going to go to Ulta and you are not going to tell Bow how many bags I walk out with,” Glimmer said taking Adora by the arm and leading her towards the exit sign.

***

Catra stared at her reflection in the gym mirror as other people began taking their spots for the Zumba class. She had a free class ticket that was going to expire and it was either this, water aerobics, or weight lifting. To be honest weight lifting sounded kind of interesting but the class was already full, and she hated swimming so here she was standing next to her gym acquaintance DT, who was currently giving her the world’s biggest I told you so smirk. 

“I’m just saying I know a dancer when I see one,” DT shrugged and began doing some lunges in prep for the class.

“Don’t you have something better to do? Like, run the class?” Catra asked, wondering why DT had joined her in the back of the class,  

“Me? Oh no I just like the class, I run the Water Aerobics on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and I substitute for aerobics once or twice but that’s all Rogelio’s deal. He doesn’t talk much but man can he dance,” they said pointing out the tall man from across the room. Rogelio had broad shoulders and looked more like a linebacker than a dancer, but he held his stern head up with a certain grace that made Catra believe he was not to be questioned. He silently went over to the speaker dock and started the warm-up track. It was a salsa number with lots of trumpets and percussion.

Catra began following Rogelio’s instructions which were fairly easy to keep up with. DT was right, he was a pretty good dancer. Catra let her hips loosen up as she began feeling the rhythm through her body. She smiled to herself, as the steps began increasing and getting slightly more complicated. Her feet didn’t hesitate, they just kept moving along as if they had been doing this dance every week. She did a little turn and DT caught her grinning from ear to ear.

“There’s that smile, I knew you’d love it, darling you’re a natural,” DT said mimicking every move Catra was making. 

Catra rolled her eyes but the smile remained, she had to admit she was having a fun time. “Okay now that I know you can keep up, let’s chat, how was the date?” 

Catra pretended that the flush on her cheeks was from the exercise. “None of your business, DT,” 

They made a dramatic scoff as they shimmied their shoulders a bit with the next set of steps. Catra would never admit that she liked that their unlikely friendship had continued since that day in the park. They were a good listener and often said things that Catra was thinking in her head but didn’t feel confident enough to say out loud.

“Oh come on, you spent so much time pining after this girl, I have to know if it was everything you thought it would be, or if it crashed and burned, either way, we’ll go out for drinks after,” DT said wiggling their eyebrows. 

“Still can’t go to bars,” Catra reminded them, shaking her head.  

She noticed DT practically pouting in the mirror, “I keep forgetting you’re a child,” 

It was Catra’s turn to scoff, “I turn 19 in a week,” 

“Three years during this time is a big difference,” DT explained, “Listen when you’re 22 like me I promise you’ll say the same thing, These next few years will change you but at times it’ll be fun and then terrible, exciting then heartbreaking. All I’m saying is I was a lot different when I was 19 versus who I am today. Some people have little changes, while others go through a whole metamorphosis. You’ve already had the dramatic haircut, I dyed my hair blue the first semester of college and it was a mistake but it was part of the process!” 

“Gee thanks,” Catra said running a quick nervous hand through her short hair. 

“Yours looks phenomenal, I’m just saying that a lot of changes happen during these years...some good some bad, so just enjoy it, but unfortunately, I’ll have to find someone else to have bottomless mimosas with,” they replied. 

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Catra gave them a dramatic sigh “You’ll be the first person I call when I turn 21,” 

“I better be, I’ll probably be in a place like Paris or New York, but I still better get a tipsy facetime at the least,” DT said, catching their breath as Rogelio chose the next song. “So you’re really not going to spill about this date?” They quirked an eyebrow, “playing the old I don’t kiss and tell game?” 

Catra’s eyes widened, and she lightly smacked DT on the shoulder. “OooOoo I got a rise out of you, now I know it’s true,” 

“I will drop this class, right here right now,” Catra whispered angrily. 

The music began playing again, an upbeat electro-pop number that sounded like it could be from a Dance Dance Revolution arcade game. 

“Oh come on, the song has already started,” DT pointed out. “I’m just happy your little fairytale romance seems to be going well, I mean if a girl I liked baked cookies for me—“

“I told you that in confidence and we are never going to bring that up again,” Catra quipped trying to push down the urge to trip her friend. 

Catra had been crawling up the wall when she had revealed to DT a little piece of missing history between her and Adora. Adora hadn’t asked her out on the date yet and she had voiced her concern to DT at the gym one day.

“She’s changed her mind, I know it,” Catra had said on the treadmill next to DT. 

“I think you’re overreacting; you already know she likes you so plan the date yourself,” DT said as if they had just solved all of Catra’s problems in one sentence.

“You don’t understand I’m not nice, I can’t plan nice things out, the only half nice thing I’ve done for Adora is one time in high school I left some cookies on her doorstep when she was going through a rough time and I don’t think she even knows I did that, and I definitely can’t tell her that now, she’ll think I’m some weirdo, hell I bet she doesn't even remember receiving them how embarrassing would that be,” Catra had revealed. She hadn’t even told Scorpia that information, but sometimes it was easier telling your secrets to someone who didn’t know all your friends and your past baggage. 

DT had looked back at her with a devilish smirk, “I thought you said you couldn’t stand each other in high school,” 

Catra groaned stopping her treadmill, she stood leaning on the machine for emotional and physical support, “I couldn't, it’s complicated–-I knew how she was feeling at the time, okay? And I wanted to do something nice for once, but I just couldn’t do it to her face. I just don’t understand how she likes me, so it makes sense to me that she hasn’t planned anything because she’s figured out that I’m not good for her“

“Okay I’m going to stop this self-deprecating train right now,” DT had said barely breaking a sweat as they continued running. “You are a wonderful person, a bit prickly but fun, okay? And it sounds like you’ve liked Adora for way longer than you’d like to admit, so that’s a lot of pressure, I get it. But suck it up, this isn’t high school anymore and it sounds like she’s into you, so plan a date and see what she says, leave your past at the door, and have some fun for once,” 

The music changed again snapping Catra back to the present as she looked over at DT. They were good at giving a pep talk, so Catra could give them room to tease her just a bit. “I won’t tease you anymore today, I swear,” DT said crossing an x with their finger across their heart, 

“Thank you,” Catra said, “it was really good, the date, so thanks for getting me there,” 

“You’re welcome, always knew you had it in you, just remember to thank me in your wedding speech,” 

Catra nearly tripped over her own two feet, as the words made her legs turn to jelly. “You promised!” 

“I’m so sorry,” DT cackled, stopping the dance routine entirely “I’m done, I’m done, I’m serious,” 

"Quiet down back there," Rogelio said sternly. 

Their faces were anything but serious and DT was biting back the urge to comment about how Catra literally almost fell for Adora. Catra couldn’t help but try to hold her own laughter in as she watched DT try to contain themselves. It felt good to have a friend who could match her in wit and humor, even if they were a bit of a menace. 

“Good because your form was getting messy,” Catra said her head tilting in a taunting manner as DT gave her a look of horror, “You take that back!” 

Catra did not in fact take it back and DT certainly broke their promise later in the day. They did buy each other lunch as a form of an apology after their workout. DT even gave Catra a sip of their mimosa for good measure that their friendship was as solid as Catra’s future date plans and DT’s bragworthy pirouette. 

****

Adora was pacing the hallway as she waited outside Catra’s door for their second date. She glanced down at the neatly wrapped present for Catra. The plan was to go out on their date and then return to Scorpia’s for a scary movie marathon to celebrate Halloween along with Catra’s birthday. Adora had settled on a Great British Baking Show cookbook that she had found at Target. She had learned recently that it was one of Catra’s favorite shows to watch when they had settled on watching it at the end of their first date a couple of weeks prior. 

“The show hasn’t been the same since Mary left, but at least the baking is still good,” Catra had commented as Adora watched someone make something called a Victoria Sponge Cake.

Adora loved finding new things about Catra, every day she felt like she was learning something new about someone who she was growing more fond of day after day. Not only that, she got to share a bit of herself with Catra too. She told her dream of becoming a physical therapist to help people regain autonomy without having to necessarily work in a hospital. She talked on and on about spending summers at horse riding camp to which Catra called her a nerd, but she kept asking questions about it to keep Adora talking about the subject. She felt like a fast bridge was forming between them and she couldn’t wait to run and meet Catra in the middle. 

“Hey, sorry I’m late, I couldn’t find my—” Catra’s attention was now on the wrapped package in Adora’s hands. It was wrapped in black and orange wrapping paper that had little black cats all over it. “Is that for me?” 

Adora smiled at her and stretched her arms out to give Catra the present. “Yeah! I wanted to give you my gift before the party, if that’s okay,” 

Catra felt like her heart was being squeezed, “Yeah of course that’s okay, that’s more than okay,” She took the present from Adora’s hands and the only thing she wanted more in the whole wide world was to tear it open. “Can I?” she asked with a little too much excitement escaping her voice than she would have cared for. 

“Of course!” 

Catra tore into the paper and crumpled it in her hands. She looked down to see the Great British Baking Show Cookbook gleaming in her hands in all its glory. She wasn’t used to getting gifts, hell besides Scorpia this was probably one of the only gifts she had received that was so personal. Catra wasn’t even sure where she would even find an oven on this god-forsaken campus, but it didn’t matter. She was going to find one no matter what because this was one of the sweetest gifts she had ever received, no pun intended. 

“I wrote the card in the corner of the book, it’s kind of a tradition in my family when we give each other books,” Adora said pointing at the corner like she hadn’t just turned Catra’s world upside down by a simple gesture. 

Catra opened the inside of the book and saw Adora’s perfect Disney princess handwriting in the corner. 

Happy Birthday, Catra! If you ever need someone to taste test some of these recipes I’m your girl :) I hope you like it and I hope you have a birthday that’s one for the books…get it? Okay, sorry enough puns, I care about you a lot and I’m glad I get to share your birthday with you tonight. 

Adora had agonized for much longer than she would like to admit on how to sign off on the card. She wanted to sign her name with a four-letter word, but she was worried it may cause some too early implications to be made. No matter how much her head and heart were becoming more and more accustomed to the idea. Signing “from” felt too impersonal, and “sincerely” made her sound like she was writing an email. So instead she went with a little heart and her name. It was simple and sweet, but safe. Catra stared at that little heart like it was the most precious thing on this planet. Her astounding silence was making Adora fidget in place. 

“If you don’t like it you can always return it, well I guess you can’t because I wrote in it but–” 

“Stop,” Catra interrupted her and hugged the book to her chest as if the words of returning it would come to fruition if she didn’t keep it close to her. “I love it, everything I–, this is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. So no I’m not going to return it, I’m going to read every inch of it and bake you the biggest Victoria Sponge Cake for you the minute I get my hands on an oven, but until then I’m going to kiss you before this date even starts,” Catra said unapologetically “As long as that’s cool with you,” 

Adora gulped and nodded slowly, “I’d like that a lot,” 

Catra stepped forward and cradled the book in one arm. She put her other hand on Adora’s cheek and brought her closer. She could feel the warmth glowing from Adora’s cheek in her hand when she leaned in and kissed her. Catra was never great at hiding her feelings even though she tried again and again to protect herself. At this moment, she threw every emotional block out the window and made sure she expressed every drop of gratitude and appreciation she had for Adora through this kiss. She felt Adora wrap her arm around her waist and run her fingers through Catra’s short hair as Catra pressed into her, nearly pinning her to the door at this point. Adora smiled into the kiss as she felt her back touch the door her entire body humming with happiness and a longing to stay right where she was. Catra smiled back as Adora caught her breath “What? What’s so funny?” Catra whispered her nose still brushing close to Adora’s. 

“Nothing, I’m just really happy,” Adora said sheepishly, “You make me happy and I like it when you kiss me,” Catra felt a pride stir in her sternum, one she hadn’t ever felt before. One that made her want to kiss Adora again, so she did, this time short and sweet, and said, “Well I would love to continue making out with you in this hallway, but I believe you were going to take me on a date that would sweep me off my feet if I remember correctly,” 

Adora nodded excitedly trying not to turn into a puddle at the thought of making out with Catra again, “Bow let me borrow his car, and I have a backup plan if you aren’t game for it so no pressure, but I think you’re going to like it,”

Catra knew if Adora had planned it, then she would absolutely love it.

Chapter Text

“Do I really have to keep my eyes closed the entire time?” Catra asked, sitting in the passenger seat.  They had been driving longer than Catra had thought they would be. She could hear Adora humming to the music playing on the car stereo. Once in a while, she would mumble a couple of words and go back to humming. The number of love songs that played from the playlist made Catra wonder if she had made the playlist specifically for their date. She had no idea that Adora spent hours cultivating a playlist specifically labeled: Songs that remind me of C.  

“Not anymore! We’re here!” Adora said excitedly as she put the car in park. 

Catra was not expecting to see a half-empty parking lot when she opened her eyes but there it was. She looked around and saw a Michaels, a Target, and a Petsmart. She looked over at Adora with eyebrows raised. “You’re taking me shopping?” 

“Kinda, just listen to my idea and if you don’t like it then I promise we can take a romantic walk through Etheria Park and get ice cream,” 

“Even if I do like it can we still do that second thing? That sounds nice too,” Catra asked,

Adora smirked, “Already asking me on a third date? Wow, you must really like me,” 

Catra gave her a playful shove “Be nice to me it’s my birthday,”

“I’m always nice to you,” Adora laughed and caught Catra’s hand and intertwined it with her own. “Now the idea was…we go into PetSmart. We take a look at some cats, and if you happen to see one that you vibe with then you can take them home, if not then we can just play with some cats and come back sometime in the future, so what do you think?” 

Catra’s eyes grew twice their size, there was nothing more that she wanted than a cat of her own. She had mentioned to Adora in the passing how much she wanted a cat when she was a kid, but Weaver would never allow it. She was already picturing putting a cat tree in her room when she realized some important things needed to be address.

“What about Entrapta? She might not be okay with…”

“I already talked to her she is all on board,” Adora replied swiftly as if she was checking a box off of Catra’s list of concerns. 

“But the dorms they don't allow—“

“They do! You just have to pay a pet deposit or have the pet listed as an emotional support animal. I was very thorough in my research,” Adora grinned, “I know this is a big responsibility which is why I didn’t want to just hand you a cat, but if you’re game then I will take care of the adoption fee and carrier, so what do you say?” 

“You’re getting me a cat?” Catra whispered. 

“Only if you want to, I know it’s a big decision so it doesn’t even have to be today,”

This blonde jock was going to be the end of Catra. Of course, she did thorough research, this beautiful considerate human was asking her permission before getting her the animal she has always wanted since she was five years old. Catra felt so cared for and understood she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She felt the muscles in her face scrunch as the happy tears started to fall. Adora went into action holding her hand and brushing away the tears with the other. 

“Hey hey it’s okay we don’t have to…I know it’s a lot, we can go to the park instead…I’m sorry I didn’t mean to overwhelm you,” Adora said in the sweetest tone that Catra had ever heard. 

“Shut up—shit that’s not what I meant it's just—I it’s amazing, you’re amazing—fuck Adora why are you so good at this?” Catra asked exasperated.

“Good at what?” Adora asked somewhat confused. She honestly was pretty sure making your date cry was not something to be happy about. 

“This!” Catra released her grip and gestured to everything, nearly swatting the steering wheel. “All of it, god Adora you’ve made me so damn happy in just a couple of months, even before the dates,” Catra could feel the words thrashing against her tongue. It was too soon, she knew it but it felt like she was going to break something. “I—“ The words caught in her throat, no matter how much she wanted to say it, it wasn’t enough to dissipate the fear that Adora wouldn’t be ready to say it back. “I’m just really thankful to have you, is all,” Catra said and for now it was enough. 

Adora’s heart fluttered as she stroked Catra’s bangs back and kissed her on the forehead. “I’m thankful to have you too,” 

She wasn’t expecting this big of a reaction, but Adora felt at ease that Catra was happy, she was happy from a thing that Adora did, and that was all that mattered.

Catra sniffed, “Do you have any tissues?”

Adora reached into her bag, “Always prepared!” She said waving the pack of tissues in her hand. Catra gave a wet chuckle and opened up the package, “Of course you are, dork” Catra used the tissues and placed them in the garbage bag that was tied to the backseat. 

“Ready to go see some cats?” Adora asked, 

“Fuck yeah, I am,” 

***

Catra had never seen so many cats in her life. The volunteer had taken them to a back room known as the Free Playroom. The room was covered with cat toys, scratching posts, and most importantly cats. Adora spotted a white cat with blue eyes staring directly at her as it crawled up a scratching post. A couple of young ones were wrestling on the ground while a much older tabby watched from afar with little amusement.

The volunteer stayed in the room as Catra and Adora began to venture further into the room. Adora mostly kept her eyes on Catra. Catra sat in the middle of the floor next to the young ones playing. They began wrestling for her shoelace making Catra laugh and stroke the head of the Siamese one who currently had his teeth sunk into her shoelace. She playfully swatted at him, and he reached out for her hand thinking it was another thing for him to play with. Catra’s mismatched eyes lit up and Adora was smitten, she could watch this all day. 

“I think he likes you,” Adora said, 

Catra looked up at her eyes still shining brightly “More like he likes my shoelaces,” 

“You think he’s the one?” Adora asked, scooting closer and leaning down to pet the little ankle biter. It latched onto her hand claws digging in slightly, Adora winced and lightly shook herself free.

“I’m not sure if I could handle one so young right now, he's barely a year old, maybe one a little older?” Catra said, “But he is cute,” 

“You’re cute,” Adora said, forgetting they were in shared company. 

Catra blushed as if further proving Adora’s point, “You’re ridiculous,” 

Soon the little Siamese cat got bored of Catra’s shoelace and went on to venture towards the cat canopy that had been set up in the corner. Catra glanced around and noticed a dark grey cat with glowing blue eyes hiding in one of the cat towers. She couldn’t see how big he was since he had crouched himself so tight into the little tower. He almost seemed to disappear into the little window. He was glaring, not at Catra but just in general, his blue eyes analyzing the room with a judgmental squint, she could tell he was tired but she couldn’t help but be drawn to him. She took a few careful steps towards the cat tower his eyes darted and bore into her. 

“Hey it’s okay, I like to hide in places too, but you’re okay,” Catra said, kneeling and stretching her open hand out. When Catra was young she used to hide under her bed when she was scared or sad. It was the one place she felt safe and alone, but secretly she wanted someone to find her. Someone to care enough to check in on her but not pull her out into the light to be exact. Just someone who would sit with her in the darkness and eventually come out on the other side. 

“Careful, Melog takes a bit to warm up to,” the volunteer said from across the room. “He’s pretty independent but if you cross his boundaries he tends to fight,” 

‘Sounds familiar’ Catra thought, smiling to herself. “Ok buddy this is your turf, I get it. But you are welcome to come out if you want to,” 

The cat blinked at her for a minute, Catra swore it almost looked like he was contemplating what she had said. A few moments passed and Catra was willing to cut her losses. 

“It's okay, whenever you’re ready,” she said and began to turn and walk back to Adora. 

Adora audibly gasped after Catra had barely made three steps. Adora pointed for her to turn around and Catra looked back at the tower. Melog had left the tower and was now sitting about half a foot from Catra’s feet. He looked up at her, head cocked to one side as if he was still trying to figure her out. 

“Thanks for joining the party, Melog,” Catra said leaning down. The cat took a step back but nothing more. He looked down at her hand again and slowly began to saunter his way towards it. Catra was half expecting him to pounce at it but he merely gave it a little head butt then walked away again, but kept a close eye on her at all times. 

“How old is Melog?” Catra asked, the cat meowed at the call of his name.

“He’s about 6 years old we think, he came in a few years back as a stray,” the volunteer said, “that’s the first time I’ve seen him come out of that damn tower, he’s known for hiding in any place he can find,” 

“He’s perfect,” Catra said, Melog rattled his head a bit as if to say of course I am, about time someone mentioned it. 

***

The rest of the date was spent getting pet supplies for Melog, and boy did they get many supplies. Adora had paid for the carrier and the adoption which wasn’t that much since Melog was considered an older cat, but Catra insisted on taking care of the rest. 

They had bickered about what kind of cat food to get but eventually agreed on organic wet food and regular commercial dry food to see which he would prefer. The whole date felt domestic and comforting. Something Catra had been craving her whole life and now she finally had it. It was as if they had been doing this together for years, so when they came up to the register and the cashier asked, “Do you or your girlfriend have a PetSmart rewards card?” It was easy for Catra to reply, “No, but we probably should get one.” Adora looked at Catra as she gave her information to the cashier. She was waiting for Catra to correct the cashier, but it never came. 

By the time they were in the parking lot, Adora was nearly losing her mind, meanwhile, Catra was too busy doting on Melog in his new carrier to notice. Adora strapped herself in and began driving to Scorpia’s. 

Maybe she didn’t hear the girlfriend part , Adora thought as they continued heading back to campus. But she had said we should probably get one, so wouldn’t that imply—

“You doing alright there?” Catra asked noticing Adora stare blankly at the road, practically white-knuckling the steering wheel. 

“Yeah!” Adora lied, 

“You’re a terrible liar,” Catra replied, “seriously I can see the smoke coming out of your ears what’s going on?” 

“I just—well, I guess I was just wondering…why didn't you correct the cashier?” Adora replied, making an effort to choose her words carefully. It felt like she was diffusing a bomb. 

“On what? Did she give me the wrong change or something?” Catra began looking through her receipt. 

“No no, she asked if you or your girlfriend had a rewards card, and uh you didn’t correct her so, I was just wondering if there was something you might want to talk about,” Adora said. 

Catra looked down at Melog’s face in the carrier to avoid looking at Adora’s face. He gave no answers as she replayed the event in her head. Shit. She had heard it but didn’t even think much about it when giving her reply. She was too happy to overthink the situation and now she was going to scare Adora off. 

“I liked the fact you didn’t correct her,” Adora said, hoping the statement would work in her favor. “if that means anything,” 

Catra nodded, well here goes nothing. “I didn't correct her because I liked the thought of you being my girlfriend,” 

Adora’s entire body relaxed as they stopped at a red light. She took one hand off the wheel and placed it in Catra’s, “not too soon?” She meant it when she said she could wait for Catra, but the thought of getting to call Catra her girlfriend made her think she could take on anything in the world. 

“No, I’m ready,” Catra said confidently. She had never been so sure of anything “I like you a lot Adora, and there’s no one else I could imagine wanting to spend time with as much as you. I might suck at it though, I’ve never been anyone’s girlfriend before so—“

Adora gave her a swift kiss on the cheek and returned to her driving position as the light turned green, “Not possible, you’re good at a lot of things, and I’m sure being a fantastic girlfriend is on that list,” 

“Could we not have my anniversary be on my birthday though? I already have to compete with Halloween,” 

“See you’re already a fantastic girlfriend thinking about anniversaries and stuff,” Adora teased, “Plus I want another day I get to spoil you so how about we make it September 13th?” 

“Why then?” 

“Cause it’s the day we made our friendship pact at Darla’s, which was the place we had our first date, and thirteen is my lucky number,” 

“Isn’t that unlucky?” Catra countered, 

“The number 13? No that’s a myth in some places it means good fortune or good luck, my first jersey number was 13 and it must be true because, on September 13th, I got to have you … so yeah let’s do September,” she replied sincerely. 

“That’s the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard,” Catra said, but soon afterward she leaned over and kissed Adora on the cheek. “September 13th it is, dummy,” 

***

After getting Melog accustomed to the dorm in Catra and Entrapta’s room the pair headed downstairs to Scorpia’s dorm room for a scary movie marathon. It was a tradition that Scorpia and Catra had been doing since they were about fourteen. After outgrowing trick or treating Scorpia still wanted to celebrate Halloween/ Catra’s birthday with her friend, so she invited her over to watch Paranormal Activity, which was awful but the tradition of playing a bad horror movie has gone on ever since. 

Scorpia had never dreamed that Catra would be okay with inviting this many people to the dorm, but Glimmer had been adamant about helping. They decorated the room in half Halloween decor and half birthday decor. The bright pink banner said happy birthday on it was paired with purple and black balloons. Candy bowls were strewn about, and Bow had brought some orange and black cupcakes. It looked like the inside of a dollar tree if it had a split personality. 

“I don’t know guys, we usually keep it pretty low-key,” Scorpia said watching Glimmer set up her projector screen. Scorpia hoped they wouldn’t overwhelm Catra too much with all the decorations. 

“Well she can have one over the top birthday party,” Glimmer replied, “and if it’s too much then we can take some of the stuff down, but honestly with the budget we had I think we’ve outdone ourselves,” 

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and everyone stilled. “Quick hide!” Glimmer whispered.

“There’s nowhere to hide, we're in a small dorm room!” Entrapta said,

“We can hear you from out here just let us in,” Catra said from the other side of the door. 

“Ughhh fine,” Glimmer groaned and opened the door, “Surprise,” she said nonchalantly. 

Catra and Adora looked around the room, it was…a lot, but they could tell their friends put a lot of time and effort into it. 

“Thanks, you guys, you didn’t have to do all this,” Catra said, 

“If it’s too much we can take some of the stuff down,” Bow said.

Catra shook her head, this may have been a bit over the top, but she loved every part of it. “I only turn nineteen once plus I kind of like it, kind of a campy goth vibe,” 

They all got seated for the first film to start, Catra had picked the classic horror movie “Scream,” to start with. Adora was not what you would call a horror movie fan, but she was pretty proud of herself for getting through the film. Turns out it was much easier to watch when it meant getting to bury her face in her girlfriend’s shoulder every time something scary happened. 

“Let me know if it’s too much and we can pick something else,” Catra whispered in her ear. She was holding Catra’s arm like it was a life preserver. 

“It’s all good but maybe before bed, we can watch something a little lighter…just to balance it out?” 

Catra kissed her temple, “Of course,” 

“Hey, no making out during movie night,” Glimmer said from across the room. Catra threw candy corn in her direction missing terribly. 

Catra and Scorpia kept making jokes and commentary throughout the film which also helped diffuse Adora’s terror. Entrapta kept making estimations on who the killer was, she finally got it on her third guess, but Catra and Scorpia didn’t give it away until the end. Catra set up the next movie, she picked Hocus Pocus, something that was still good but lighter for Adora. While she was setting up Glimmer and Bow were checking their phones.

“Yes! I got a C on that stats midterm thank the stars,” Glimmer said holding her phone to her chest. 

“I got a B on my history of computers essay!” Bow said excitedly giving Glimmer a high five. 

Adora knew checking grades was risky, but she and Catra had already discussed that they would not share their scores on the bio midterm with each other. So, what was the harm in checking for her other classes? Adora took out her phone and logged into the student portal page to see if any of her midterms had been posted. She got an A on their bio midterm, no surprises there, her health essay midterm had not been posted yet, but she felt pretty good about that one. It wasn’t until she scrolled down and saw the grade for her hardest class of the term, and one of her major requirements, Intro to Anatomy, was when she felt the air leave her chest. 

Glaring up at her was the letter D. 

******

“You okay?” Catra asked as she noticed Adora completely checking out,

“Huh? Oh uh yeah everything’s fine…” Adora said, even though it was anything but. 

Catra chuckled, “Don’t worry, no more scary movies tonight, we’ll keep it light, I promise.” She tapped Adora’s knee lovingly.

Adora forced a smile, she could do this. She could keep it together for a couple more hours. Maybe the bad grade would all be just a dream. “Thanks,” her hands were getting clammier by the minute. Fuck.

“Are you sure you’re okay Adora, you look like you’re going to pass out?” Bow asked.

Your mom is going to be so disappointed in you. 

How do you expect to graduate in your field if you don’t know basic anatomy? 

Catra’s probably never gotten lower than an A-minus. 

You're so stupid, and everyone is going to realize it

You didn't try hard enough

“Yeah just a little spooked is all, I think I just need some water,” Adora squeaked out, like a rusty door hinge. There was too much going on in her head. The room was spinning and her stomach was so full of knots. Everything felt too hot and too close, the only thing keeping her somewhat grounded was Catra squeezing her hand.

“I’ll get you some,” Bow offered as he went to the bathroom sink to get her some. Catra kept a hold of her now sweaty hand. Catra looked down then back up at Adora, she could see the panic in Adora’s eyes as she tried not to look up. 

“Hey it's okay, it’s not real, you’re going to be okay, what do you need?” Catra asked tentatively, stroking Adora’s back. Her neck was covered in a cold sweat.  

“I’m sorry I don’t want to ruin the night. Can we please talk about it later?” she begged. 

Catra stroked her hand gently with her thumb, “You could never ruin this night, okay? But if you’re not ready to talk about it then that’s okay too, can I try something? It might help,” 

Adora nodded shakily. 

“Scorpia, does your mini-fridge have ice cubes in it? Or anything cold? Like soda?” Catra asked,

Scorpia nodded, “Yeah I think I have a Red Bull in there,”

Catra had figured this trick out online when researching anxiety coping mechanisms. It didn’t exactly work for herself, but the feedback had been overall positive on the experiment. The experiment was that someone feeling anxious could help calm down by holding a very cold object like an ice cube, something that helped intensely distract them physically, so their brain wasn’t fully focused on whatever they were panicking about. 

Bow set down the water and went to hand Catra the cold Red Bull, 

“Now don’t drink it unless you want to have a heart attack,” Catra joked putting the can in Adora’s hand, “Just focus on the sensation of it in your hand okay and try to breathe.” 

Adora nodded as she breathed through her nose and out her mouth. She could still hear the intrusive thoughts bouncing around in her skull like bees in a hive, but she began to zero in on the icy feeling in her fingertips. Her hand began to sting as she clenched the can but before she knew it her heart rate was starting to become normal again. The thoughts were still there but they weren’t the only thing occupying that space.

******

She opened her eyes to see a sea of concerned friends. “You’re doing great Adora,” Bow assured her, turning his attention towards Catra “Thanks for helping her, you’re a good friend,” 

“Girlfriend,” Adora said quietly nuzzling into Catra’s shoulder, as she began to hear the intro music to Hocus Pocus start to play in the background. She lifted her head a bit and looked at Catra with thankful eyes “She’s a good girlfriend,” 

Chapter Text

They don’t talk about it for a whole week. Catra tries to be patient, but watching her girlfriend pretend like nothing is wrong is excruciating. She wouldn’t say Adora was completely avoiding her, but it was close to it. Catra would text her and Adora wouldn’t reply for hours which was very unlike Adora. Catra wouldn’t even have minded the space between their conversations, but it was the fact that Adora was barely responding to anybody. She didn’t get back to Entrapta about hanging out for independent study sessions. She had canceled going running with Bow. She was showing up late to practice and leaving straight after. Glimmer had told Catra her concerns as she noticed that Adora had barely been sleeping.

Glimmer would go to bed as Adora would have her nose buried in a textbook at her desk. Glimmer would awaken in the night to the glow of Adora’s laptop screen in the corner of the room. She would turn on her side and groggily tell Adora to go to bed, to which Adora would insist she would after she finished this round of vocabulary cards. Glimmer would fully awaken in the morning to find Adora’s textbook still open, but Adora has gone to class or practice. The bed looked the same as the night before, untouched. For all Glimmer knew, Adora hadn’t even been in bed for the past few days. 

Catra could tell Adora was drifting off even more in their biology class. No matter how much coffee she brought her. Adora’s eyes were worn and glassy as she took sips of her coffee, she began taking out her vocabulary cards again. 

She started carrying her anatomy cards with her to all her classes. Studied them even if she was in a different lecture. They were practically glued to her hand. Catra knew Adora was studious but this was ridiculous, and she couldn’t hide her concerns. 

“Adora,” she whispered as Adora was busy trying to recall where the pleural cavity was located and its function. She spent hours going through the missed questions on her midterm. Making sure no question would be left unturned in preparation for the final. After every anatomy class, she would take her notes and add them to the list of new cards to be made which were color-coded in green pen, while past midterm questions were in purple. At this point, she had over 72 cards in vocabulary alone. 

It was like she was in a trance, as Catra touched her arm to get her attention once more. Adora’s eyes went wide as she felt the soft touch on her arm.

“Adora, are you doing okay?” Catra asked, as Adora finally looked up to see Catra’s fixed gaze on her. 

“Yeah just need to make sure I get this vocabulary memorized,” she whispered back, returning to her thick deck of cards. Catra stretched her neck to look at them, “Is that for anatomy? Are you having-“

“Yeah I really need to concentrate, sorry, can we talk about this later?” Adora interrupted as she lost her place again. 

Catra frowned and scribbled her notes harshly against the paper for the rest of the class. She took a picture of them and made sure to send them to Adora’s phone since she probably missed half the lecture looking at her cards. 

When the lecture was over Adora was still looking at her cards as everyone else was packing up. Catra swatted her arm lightly, “Hey it’s time to go, want to grab something to eat? My treat,” 

Adora begrudgingly put her cards away in her bag, “I should study before lab today,” 

“You’ve been studying every time I see you,” Catra said, “even when I’m not with you, Sparkles and Bow tell me you have your eyes glued to a book or that flashcard bible of yours,” 

Adora crossed her arm protectively over her chest as she adjusted her bag and stood up from her seat. “I’m just trying to stay on top of things, I have a lot on my plate right now is all,” She hadn’t told anyone about her midterm grade and she intended on keeping it that way. It was her problem and she was handling it. If she studied hard enough she could still pass the class with a high B maybe even an A-minus if she did extra credit, which she had planned to.

They began walking out of the science building Catra striding to keep up with Adora. 

“Then let me help you,” Catra was practically begging at this point.

“I’m fine Catra, There are just some things I have to do on my own, you have your alone time and I have mine-“

“My alone time is to help me recharge, not to burn myself out into the ground, they’re completely different,” Catra quipped, her jaw beginning to clench as her patience was unraveling, she took a pause trying to calm down. A couple of nosy strangers in the quad were taking notice of their argument. 

“I’m not burning myself into the ground, Adora said, lying through her teeth. “I’m trying to give my best,”

******

Your best is never good enough 

“It feels like you are! You’ve been shutting us all out, Adora! God for once can you just listen to me, 

“Plenty of college kids pull all-nighters—,” Adora could not let it go.

“Not for a whole week!” Catra felt like she was talking to a brick wall. Nothing she said was going to break through and reach Adora. “I'm trying to understand Adora, but I can t do that if you won’t tell me what’s going on. Is it really that hard for you to tell me what you need?

“Yes!” Adora shouted back, catching Catra off guard. She took a few steps back to give Adora some space to recover from her outburst. She took a few shaky breaths, “It’s really hard for me to ask help. I’m sorry I yelled and I’m sorry if I’ve been distracted,” Adora said, her voice wavering as she tried desperately to keep herself together. Everything felt heavy, her head, her body even her words felt like they were being weighed down by a gravitational crushing pull. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to shut you out I’m really trying but I keep messing everything up and I don’t know how to ask for help when all I do seems to make things worse. So no I don't know what I need”

Catra’s frustration had dissolved into a concern once again as she noticed Adora’s stance start to falter. Her anxious hands began brushing her arms up and down. Adora’s words were breaking her heart, and arguing about it wasn’t going to solve anything.

****** 

“Hey, it's okay, it’s okay. I know you’re trying your best, I’m sorry I got mad, I’m just really worried, and I got scared, but that's no excuse” Catra said, embracing her girlfriend tenderly. "Can we just find someplace to talk,” Catra asked, “I promise I’ll let you get back to studying I just…” 

God this was embarrassing, Catra thought. The truth was she missed hanging out with Adora. It had only been a week, but the only time she had spent with her girlfriend was when they were in the lecture together. Of course, she had come over to study but Adora was too focused to be present with her. Catra wanted some quality time, but most importantly she wanted to make sure Adora was okay. “I would appreciate it if we could spend some time together, I miss you and I want to hang out with you,”

Adora’s eyes perked up for the first time this week, “You’re not mad?” 

“No, well maybe a little, I’m mad at myself really.” Catra said trying to sort her thoughts together, “I just want to know what’s going on with you, even if it's hard for me to understand, I want to be there for you, but I’m mad because I pushed too hard” 

“You have your stuff to worry about, I don’t want to make you feel responsible for mine,” Adora admitted.

Catra sighed and took her hand, “You look out for me and I look out for you, that’s how this works, so let me do this for once without you fighting me the whole way down, let me take care of you this time, I promise they’ll be plenty opportunities for you to return the favor,” 

Adora smiled tiredly, she was never one to let others help her. But the determination in Catra’s voice and the stirring in her chest were enough to give it a try. “Okay, maybe we can rest at the dorms for a bit,”. 

***

“How have you never taken a nap before?” Catra asked once they were back at the dorms. Entrapta was busy in her lab class, so they had the room to themselves. Adora had always liked their room. Catra had added a few more personal touches to the place. A couple of posters and some pictures of Catra, Scorpia, and Entrapta were up on a bulletin board above her desk. A polaroid picture of Melog was also now present dead center on the board. 

“I’ve just never felt relaxed enough to take one I guess?” Adora said looking at the bulletin board. “We should take more pictures together, I want to be up on this board too,” 

“Technically Entrapta gave me a picture of you that she took when you were on the field but I was too embarrassed to tell you about it, and it didn’t feel right putting it up without asking you first,” Catra admitted. .

She was a bit confused when Entrapta had given her a handful of pictures a few days after her haircut. Entrapta had taken lots of photos from Adora and Scorpia's first game. Some were pics of the group in the stands, a couple others were blurred pictures of Scorpia and Adora on the soccer field. She had given copies of them to the group, but this particular one of Adora was embarrassingly enough Catra's favorite of the bunch.

It was a good picture of Adora. one of the only shots that didn't come out blurry. She was on the field smiling that megawatt smile of hers that could light up an entire city. She had just finished celebrating her assist on goal and Entrapta had caught a snapshot of her about to head back to her position after her teammates had all congratulated her. She stood tall and there was an era of blissfulness that Catra loved to see in Adora, who was usually so in her head. 

It was like holding pure joy in her hand every time Catra would occasionally retrieve it from her bio textbook. She had been using it as a bookmark as she thought keeping it in a drawer would be even more awkward, and her bio textbook was the last place someone would stumble upon it. 

Adora smirked her eyebrows taunting Catra. “Oh yeah? Sounds like you might have a little crush on me, Catra” 

“Shut up,”

“Can I see it?” 

“No, you’ll make fun of me”

Adora pulled her in close from behind resting her chin on her shoulder, “I would never,” 

Catra laughed, “That is such a lie, and we’re getting off-topic,” 

Adora yawned, “Fine but next time I’m here I want to see it on the bulletin board, and I want to take a picture with you so I can have one for my room too,” 

Catra rolled her eyes playfully as Adora began to gently sway while holding her, “Fine, I’ll put it right next to the picture of Melog, happy?” 

“I’d be honored,” she replied, the little rascal himself meowing at his name from under the bed. 

“He may try to swipe at your feet when climbing onto the bed,” Catra warned as she practically jumped onto her bed avoiding the little paws that swung aimlessly from under it. 

“Good to know,” Adora said, hopping in as well but she wasn’t quick enough as she felt Melog bat the tip of her sneaker, she nearly toppled onto Catra in surprise. They laughed as they got into position, Adora lying on Catra’s grey comforter, her head propped up on a pillow. Adora stretched her arm out and Catra clicked into place at her side. Catra placed her head on Adora’s chest she could feel the blonde’s heartbeat racing a mile per minute.  

“Hey…just try to relax, I’m right here,” Catra said, stroking Adora’s arm and giving her a small lazy kiss on her jaw hoping it would help relieve some of the stress she was feeling.

Adora’s cheeks glowed and she couldn’t help but look down at the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. The way she looked up at her through thick lashes. Her soft bangs ruffled against her forehead. The woman was currently looking at her with so much tenderness that it made her heart want to burst. “I’m okay just a little flustered is all, you’re just so pretty,” She leaned down and kissed her softly, “And sweet,” another kiss, “And smart,”

“Adora as much as I love this showering of compliments and affection,” Catra said, as she pulled back slightly. “We came back here so you can rest,”

“I am resting,” Adora replied almost inaudibly as her voice was being taken over by another big yawn. She leaned her head on top of Catra’s. Catra hummed and began tracing lines up and down Adora’s arms with her nails, “You know you can tell me anything right?” 

Adora almost felt more nervous at Catra’s words than when she did during their previous romantic activity. But this was Catra, and she was going to make an effort to remain open with her, “Yeah…I know,” she whispered. There were a few moments of silence until Adora finally found the courage “I failed my anatomy midterm,” 

Catra's eyes went wide in surprise “Failed it?” 

Catra was sure Adora never failed at anything in her life. No wonder she was spiraling. 

Adora shook her head, not being able to look Catra in the eye, “I got a D which basically means failing, I know it’s not the end of the world or anything but it’s important to me,” 

“Hey, it’s okay, a D is not the best but it’s still passing!” Catra tried to be positive but honestly, it wasn’t her strong suit. 

“I need a C overall in the class to qualify for my major,” Adora replied sadly, “which means I need to get at least a B- on the final, which I thought was doable until now! It’s so hard Catra there are so many things to remember in such a short time,”

“Do you know what the class average was?” Catra asked,

“70 percent, so I know it’s not just me, a few people I know dropped the class entirely, but I can’t afford to do that, especially since this is what I want to do. My mom’s going to be so disappointed, I’ve never done so badly on a test Catra what the hell am I supposed to do?” Adora felt the warm tears cascading down her face. 

It hurt Catra to see her like this, but it was better than having everything bottled up. Adora put so much pressure on herself to live up to expectations, Catra couldn’t believe she never noticed how stressful that must be for her. To her Adora was this self-confident, charming, know it all, but she was also just as human as anyone else. 

“Hey now you listen to me,” Catra said, her mismatched eyes filled with determination.  “No matter what you’re going to pull through okay? Even if you have to retake the class, so what? But until then, one day a week you and I are going to study for that class. Then another day a week we are going to do some self-care stuff. Whether that’s going out on a date, watching a movie, or having you kick the shit out of a soccer ball for three hours straight, you name it we’ll do it. You are going to kick that final’s ass and I’m going to take you out for ice cream afterward, got it?” The one thing Catra knew Adora responded to was pep talks. She needed structure and confidence, it's what made her feel comfortable while to some it would feel like being bossed around. The important thing was that Catra knew what Adora needed, and she was going to do everything in her power to make it happen. 

Adora sniffed, she nodded her head, “Okay, thank you” but Catra wasn’t done.

“Do you even know how fucking smart you are?” Catra asked, sitting up from her spot on the bed. “You and I tied for valedictorian, Not only that, you manage to find the bright side to everything, you are good at knowing what your friends need,  you help organize club meetings and fundraisers and you are so considerate and kind. That’s like four different kinds of intelligence right there!” She was losing control of the volume of her voice as she was trying to get through to Adora the only way she knew how. 

Adora chuckled watching Catra get all riled up. It was like watching her debate, she always knew how to be passionate about an argument. 

“I’m getting caught up with my words, my point is—“

“I get it, you think I’m smart,” Adora smiled, and Catra had to fight the urge to go back to kissing that smug smile off her face, but she needed Adora to hear her full concerns.

“It’s hard to watch someone you think the world about see themselves as anything but,” Catra replied.“You are so wonderful, Adora. You’re the best person I know, and that’s not going to change because of a dumb grade,” 

Before Catra could say anything else Adora’s lips were pressed up against hers. Something about this kiss felt different, Adora had a little shyness in the past when it came to kissing Catra. Almost as if she thought Catra would disappear if she pressed deep enough into her. This one was bolder without a hint of fear as Adora held her close. Catra nearly yelped in surprise but it turned into a loving sigh as she felt her way up and down the blonde’s toned shoulders. Her head hit the pillow but Adora’s lips continued their work. She took one of Catra’s wandering hands and intertwined it with her own. Catra could swear she was in heaven when the blonde stopped to pull back and just look at her, really look at her. Even when near exhaustion, Adora couldn't help but take Catra’s breath away. Everything in her grey-blue eyes was warm and full of such fondness that Catra didn’t think she’d ever leave this room again.

“Come home with me,” Adora asked, using her free hand to caress the brunette’s cheek. 

“It's right across the hall, dummy,” Catra said but her mouth felt dry as Adora looked down at her lips again.

“No I mean for Thanksgiving, come spend it with me, I know we are going to Glimmer’s for Friendsgiving but I want you there with me the next day too,” Adora said, “I know it’s fast but I can’t imagine not having you there unless it’s something you’re not ready for, if you’re not then I’m prepared to come back here on Thursday eat gross dining hall food with you, possibly get food poisoning and spend the rest of the weekend taking care of our sick butts if it means I get to spend it with you, it’ll be worth it” 

“You’re so dramatic,” Catra teased but she leaned into Adora’s touch. “Of course, I’ll spend Thanksgiving with you, if you know your family is okay with it?” 

“I think Hope will be fine, but I’ll text her to make sure,” Adora yawned again and laid back down, wrapping her arms around Catra. Adora buried her face into the crook of the Catra’s neck relishing in her honey vanilla fragrance. Catra felt the light kisses Adora left on the nape of her neck until the soothing sound of the blonde snoring filled her ears. She nearly giggled as Adora began mumbling incoherently in her sleep. “I’m so lucky,” Adora mumbled. Catra peered over and settled in as close as she could, “You and me both, Princess.” 

Chapter Text

Hope stared down at the text message from her daughter. Her eyes were wide thinking about how to reply. Of course, her answer was going to be yes but using her words was always a struggle for Hope. Well, saying the right words was more of a struggle than the actual speaking part. She knew she could put her foot in her mouth sometimes. Mara had always been the socially conventional one of the two. 

She knew this day would eventually come but she always assumed that Mara would be there to break the ice. Mara was always likable to everyone. She was like a chameleon; she could flawlessly blend into any group without trouble. She could talk to a stranger like they were old college friends catching up. 

Hope was nothing like that, it was hard for her to warm up to people. She didn’t talk much, but when she did it was done bluntly which was off-putting to some. Hope usually didn’t mind it much, it made her excellent at her job as a financial adviser, and her personality was what drew in Mara. "When I met you, you were this no-nonsense tutor who always seemed to have things together and knew everything and stars, once I got you talking, I never wanted you to stop," Mara had said to her once recalling their first meeting at the library. 

Adora: Would it be okay if Catra spent Thanksgiving with us?

Just say yes, that’s it not a big deal, Hope thought as she stared down at the message for a third time. 

Adora hadn’t mentioned if the two were an item yet, to be honest, she hadn’t had a chance to talk with Adora for almost a week, but Hope was smart. She could read between the lines, and this time it was practically screaming “I’m bringing my girlfriend over for thanksgiving please don’t embarrass me,” 

Mom(Hope): yes that’s fine

Hope smiled down at the text hoping it would lead to Adora forwarding more information. Adora gave a thumbs up in reply, much to Hope's chagrin.

“Our kid is growing up, Mara,” she said out loud, taking a seat at the empty kitchen table. “And I have no idea how to handle it,”

After Mara was gone, Hope began talking out loud to her as if she were still in the house. She would do it in the car sometimes on her way to work, or anytime she was alone. She never did it in front of Adora, for fear of embarrassment or causing any more pain or confusion than she was already going through. But in her moments alone, Hope would occasionally talk to Mara about big events or small grievances. Hope had never been a spiritual person, but this recent ritual of hers had helped her through her grief and had become a weekly routine.

“Remember when you brought me home for the first time?” Hope asked, smiling fondly at the memory. Mara drove her 4 hours up the coast to meet her family when they were about 22, they had only been dating for a couple of weeks, but Mara was adamant about introducing her to her parents. 

“I nearly threw up in the car because I was so nervous that your parents wouldn’t like me. I kind of feel like that now if I’m being honest.

You’d probably tell me what you told me then, calm the fuck down Hope they’re going to love you, and even if they don’t I’ll argue with them until they do. I still think to this day your mother doesn’t care for me, but your dad was always kind and he seemed to like that I had a stable career path,” Shit, she didn’t even know what Adora’s girlfriend’s major was. Or her interests or anything except her name was Catra and she had gone to high school with Adora. 

“She seems nice, I think,” Hope reasoned. “Adora knew her in high school, I remember seeing her at some of the debate championships. She’s smart so that’s good, but I don’t remember her and Adora hanging out during high school. Or maybe they did, and I just didn’t notice? God Mara, you probably noticed before I did, you always do, but anyway, the point is she’s coming over and I feel like I’m going to mess it all up,” Hope looked up at the ceiling as if somehow she could manifest a sign to prove her otherwise. “I know I know, I’m being hard on myself.” She pressed her forehead into her hands. “I’ll just be myself and not overthink it should be simple right?” 

Hope looked down at her messages once again, “Still I should check to see if she has any allergies just to be safe, that wouldn’t be overthinking things, that’s just a safety concern, right?” Hope knew how Mara would answer but she chose to ignore it already beginning her second message to Adora. “I’m going to do it anyway, but maybe…I don’t know if you're paying attention up there you could keep an eye out for me, make sure I don’t embarrass myself for Adora’s sake?”  

Hope finished her text and sat back in the dining room chair. She felt a little out of her mind but a sudden calm had begun to wash over her. She could do this, she had time to prepare. Everything was going to be fine.

***

“Concentrate Adora!” Glimmer yelled from the front seat of Bow’s car as Adora tried to focus on the vocabulary card Catra was holding in her hand. 

They had been going through flashcards for most of the ride up to Glimmer’s house for Friendsgiving. It had been going pretty well studying once a week with them. Sometimes it would be the whole group, other times just Catra, one-time Entrapta, and Adora studied alone together but ended up getting side-tracked by the idea of muscle memory study that went on for hours during the night. After that, Catra usually sat in on all study sessions. But today Catra was feeling like they needed to spice things up a bit. 

They were sitting in the back seat, Catra on the left while Adora was in the middle seat. She had gotten the past 5 cards correct so Catra decided to make it a little more challenging. She turned in her seat adjusted the seat belt accordingly and placed her legs over Adora’s lap. Adora’s eyes trailed down from the vocab card to Catra’s very toned legs. 

“Yeah Adora,” Catra said, her voice not having an ounce of seriousness to it, “Concentrate,” she smiled devilishly as Adora’s face turned a bright crimson. 

“Do you have to put your legs right there?” Adora whispered, still checking to see if Glimmer and Bow had noticed. Luckily, they hadn’t as Bow had his eyes on the road and was happily singing along to music on the radio while Glimmer had decided to put her headphones in to finish her crime podcast episode. Adora playfully glared at Catra, her hand now under Catra’s knee gently holding it in place. 

“What? I’m just trying to get comfortable?” Catra said, biting her lip, and scooting up a bit, nearly sitting in Adora’s lap. “Now what is an Effector?” 

“A structure..” Adora began but was distracted by Catra’s gleaming mischievous eyes and the drive to want to pull her closer. “That um…” 

Catra was enjoying herself far too much, she began going under the strap of her seatbelt to get more movement. She leaned close to Adora’s ear and whispered in her ear, “If you get this one right, I’ll give you a kiss, sound fair?”

Adora gulped then nodded, “You have to go back in your seat belt though, I want you to be safe,” Adora said quietly giving her girlfriend a quick nervous peck on the cheek. Catra was caught off guard by the sweet statement. Of course, Adora would unknowingly knock her off her feet in the middle of Catra’s flirting antics. She carefully went back under the seatbelt in the regular seating position, somehow feeling even more flustered than Adora. Adora’s concern for her would sometimes annoy her because Catra was good at taking care of herself, but somehow Catra couldn’t help the fluttering in her chest whenever Adora would say something so simple and so full of care. 

“Uhm yeah, so what is an Effector?” Catra asked sitting back upright in her position trying to regain her composure.

“A structure that receives output from the control center…” Adora smirked noticing Catra’s physical change. She couldn’t decide what was more appealing. Smooth and confident Catra or flustered and adorable Catra. Adora thanked her lucky stars that she got to have both and for the fact that Bow and Glimmer were still not paying them any mind. She began to lean in closer to Catra, not taking her eyes off the pretty brunette. Two could play at this game. 

Catra folded the cards against her chest making sure Adora didn’t see the answer. Honestly, she felt like hiding behind the cards herself but continued leaning in towards Adora’s orbit. Her breath hitched slightly as Adora put one hand on the topside of her thigh and the other settled on pushing back a stray hair behind Catra's ear. She leaned in closer nearly millimeters apart, Catra could count all the little grey flecks in Adora’s half-lidded blue eyes like storm clouds circling in. “and generate a response. “ Adora finished the answer, but Catra could care less. The only thing she was focused on was the fact that she could feel Adora’s breath on her lips, only for Adora to pull away and go back to her original position smiling like a canary who outsmarted a cat at their own game. 

“Next one?” She asked innocently and Catra couldn’t tell if she wanted to kiss the blonde or push her out of the damn car.

If they were alone Catra would've tackled and pinned her down right here in the back seat, but they were in mixed company so instead, she fumed silently. “That’s enough studying,” Catra scoffed, turning her burning face towards the window. She dropped the cards onto Adora’s lap, only for Adora to grab her hand and intertwine it with hers. 

****

They arrived at Glimmer’s house about thirty minutes later. Catra had never been to the Moon’s residence. Never even passed it on her bike on her way to school, but if she had, she would have known just by the looks of it that this house was definitely Glimmer’s. 

It was a pale purple house with a white wrap-around porch. There had to be at least a dozen windows, and it looked like something you would see in Architectural Digest. Glimmer and Bow made their way up into the house like they had done together a million times before.

“Of course Sparkles is rich, how did I not see that coming?“ Catra muttered to herself as she began to unbuckle. Adora had already raced around to the other side of the car and opened the door for her girlfriend. Catra pretended not to notice, but inside she was basically imagining and replaying their future together where Adora would open doors for her even when they were old ladies at a nursing home. 

“I still haven’t received my kiss yet, you know for getting that card right,” Adora said closing Catra’s door for her. Catra turned and looked her up and down wondering where Adora had gotten the audacity to make such a comment when she already had Catra practically wrapped around her finger. “Oh go kiss yourself, for all I care,” Catra replied, eliciting a joyful symphony of laughter from Adora.

“Catra, no one likes a sore loser, come on,” Adora cooed as she wrapped her arms around her waist. Catra pretended to tousle in her grasp refusing to face that traitorous grin. “Fuck off,” she said but couldn’t help the laughter that escaped with it as Adora peppered her cheek with kisses. They stood still there for a minute, Adora’s hands-on Catra’s hips, foreheads touching like they were in their own little universe.

“I’m sorry no more teasing, but may I remind you that it was you who started it,” Adora said, earning a signature eye roll from Catra breaking the intimate moment, “Now come on, let’s go inside and have a fun time,” 

***

The inside of the house was much simpler than the outside. Stylish but functional furniture in the living room, a staircase, and a dining room table that has scratches from years of use. The house smelled like lemons, not like a cleaning product citrus smell, but like an actual lemon tree had somehow seeped its way into the walls kind of smell. There were bookcases everywhere, some rather messily stacked others were in color-coded order. In the kitchen doorway, there were marks on the frame recording Glimmer’s height over the years. Catra felt the jealousy settle in her chest, but she tried to tune it out. Making an internal list of things she was grateful for, which was the point of thanksgiving right? 

“Glimmer! You’re late,” Angella said walking down the staircase, She was tall and slender, and had an elegant grace about her that looked almost ethereal. She was wearing evening wear and Catra suddenly felt underdressed even though the group of them were all wearing casual wear. 

“We’re like ten minutes late” Glimmer said,

Angella’s stern face broke into a radiant smile, “More like thirty, but I’ll take it, just come here,” Angella reached out to give her daughter a hug, which Glimmer feigned annoyance in but returned all the same. “So since you missed me so much does this mean we can have wine with dinner?” 

Angella hugged her a little tighter, “Absolutely not,” she laughed as Glimmer’s face dropped into a frown on her shoulder. 

Bow and Adora gave their greetings as well, and Catra all of sudden felt nervous for her turn. She wasn’t the best at meeting parents. The only ones she had met were Scorpia’s and they were so over-friendly that Catra really couldn’t mess up if she tried. But besides that, talking to parents wasn’t really in her wheelhouse.

“This is my girlfriend Catra,” Adora said proudly the word still gave her butterflies every time she said it out loud.

“Hi, thanks for uh having us,” Catra said, unsure what to physically do next. 

 Do I have to hug her? Catra thought, unsure of what to do next, They all did it but they’ve been here before, a handshake would be weird right? Well, she is a lawyer maybe.

Angella’s eyes crinkled when she smiled “Wonderful to meet you Catra! Glimmer’s told me so much about you, I heard you’re quite the Grey’s Anatomy fan as well,” 

“Mom!” Glimmer groaned in embarrassment, but Catra laughed and relaxed at the honest statement. She felt more like herself again. “Wow Spar- Glimmer- I didn’t know you bragged about me to your mom, I’m flattered,” 

“All I said was that you’re Adora’s girlfriend, you like Grey’s Anatomy, and that you’re coming over,” Glimmer explained.

“I think Glimmer just got excited since you’re the only one who watches Grey’s with her beside me,” Bow said putting his arm around Glimmer.

This was true, on the days Adora would have a lab, Catra and Glimmer had started rewatching the series regularly on Glimmer’s projector. Catra had knocked on the door to drop off some homework that Adora had left in her room the night before. When Glimmer opened the door she could hear the show playing in the background.

“Is that the episode where Cristina just had surgery?” Catra asked trying to hear the dialogue in the background 

“Yeah, she hasn’t said the sedate me line yet…” Glimmer replied. “I usually watch it when Adora’s at her lab since I know medical dramas aren’t her thing,” 

“She has a lab for another hour, enough time to restart the episode,” Catra replied. Neither one of them asked the other to come to watch, but Catra entered the room and sat on the floor as Glimmer restarted the episode. Soon enough Catra was coming by every week to watch, sometimes Bow would join them and they would explain plot lines to him, and what he had missed.

“Okay yes Catra and I can get along in the same room, now can we move on,” Glimmer asked. 

“I’m meeting your father for dinner so, you’ll have the house to yourselves, just try not to burn the kitchen down, it’s all I ask,” Angella said giving Glimmer a swift kiss on the cheek. “Wonderful seeing you all and nice meeting you Catra,” 

As Angella left as graciously as she entered, the group headed to the kitchen to start planning. Glimmer was not much of a cook, but she knew how to make one thing. 

Dehydrated slaw dumplings, she had already prepped them the night before so all she had to was stick them in the oven, otherwise, Bow was the captain of the kitchen. 

Bow was a kind, gentle soul, but as a cook, he was a little…intense. He was like a well-oiled machine prepping the oven and seasoning and tenderizing the meat. He began instructing Adora to start mincing the vegetables, so she began cutting them with a knife and then crushing them with a spoon much to Bow’s horror.

“I said mince not mutilate!” Bow’s voice cracked as he saw the currently squished zucchini slices. Adora could swear she could see a vein throbbing from his forehead. 

“What?” Adora said waving the wooden spoon around like a wand “I thought mincing was like pounding them right?” 

Catra carefully took the spoon out of Adora’s and shook her head trying not to laugh. “No babe, it’s when you chop the veggies into super small pieces, like this,” Catra put down the wooden spoon and picked up the knife. She chopped the rest of the zucchini into perfect minuscule slices. 

Adora was still processing the term babe when she looked down to see Catra’s work. 

“Wow, you’re a natural!” Bow said, “Okay Catra you’re on mincing duty,”

“Hey!” Adora said defensively,

“Don’t take it personally Adora, I’ve been banned from even holding a knife,” Glimmer smirked looking at Bow.

“You nearly lost a thumb,” Bow stated nonchalantly, turning the burners up. 

“I did not,” Glimmer replied, Catra looked at Adora to get the real answer to which she replied with a so-so hand gesture and a nauseous wince confirming Bow’s side of the story.

“Okay no one’s losing a finger tonight,” Catra said, “Adora, how about when I’m done mincing you can help me by mixing them into a bowl and seasoning them? And maybe I can show you how to chop while we’re at it?” 

“I’d like that,” she smiled at the thought of getting to cook with her girlfriend.

“Bow tried to teach me but I’m a lost cause,” Glimmer shrugged with a playful grin on her face.

Bow turned his body away from the stove, and brought his hand up to his brow “I love you so much, but I have never been so nervous to see anyone with a knife in my entire life after what I saw,” 

“So dramatic, but fine, apparently I’m a child,” Glimmer said, crossing her arms and sitting down on the couch.

“We can always give you those plastic training knives if you really want to help,” Catra teased, earning a chuckle and elbow nudge from Adora. “Hey! Go sit down with Glimmer or else I’ll give you some plastic knives too,” 

Adora rolled her eyes, grabbed the bottle of apple cider and a bottle opener, and sat down with Glimmer. 

“You know I think we actually won the lottery on this one, we both have partners who like to cook,” Glimmer said taking the glass from Adora while lovingly gazing at the scene of their cooks at work.

Adora followed her gaze and smiled, Catra was mincing the vegetables with precision, but she had an aura of calm about her. Bow would ask for some seasoning and Catra would stop for a moment and hand it over, then continue with what she was doing. Adora began picturing future date nights with Catra cooking in the kitchen, Adora trying to help and jokingly being kicked out for taking too many samples of the food before it even hit the plate. 

“Yeah we’re pretty lucky,” Adora replied, catching Catra’s attention. The brunette smiled at the sight of the blush appearing on her girlfriend’s cheeks from being caught. “Alright dummy, stop staring at me and come over here and season these veggies,” 

***

There’s something magical that happens when you share food with others. The first few minutes were spent in a satisfied silence as they all dug into the great food before them, then soon the daily chatter and excitement of being off of school and surrounded by good friends filled the room. Scarpia, Perfuma, and Entrapta arrived with their appetizers in tow. Scorpia and Perfuma had made a vegan casserole, Entrapta brought some tiny cucumber sandwiches, and Catra’s legendary sweet potato marshmallow casserole was on display, along with the turkey that Bow and Catra had spent hours preparing. Something about it made Catra’s heart feel full, maybe it was the fact that this was the first holiday where she felt surrounded by people who genuinely cared about her. She could still feel a part of her that wished she had this with her mother, but for now, this was enough to overshadow any feelings of regret and jealousy.

“Are you ready to meet Hope tomorrow?” Glimmer asked Catra from across the table.

Shit, well the calm was nice while it lasted Catra thought taking a swig of her apple cider wishing for once that there was some alcohol to get her through this upcoming conversation.

“Glimmer,” Adora complained, but she knew Glimmer was not one to dodge awkward conversations. She always wanted to get down to the reality of the situation.

“I’m fine, nothing I can’t handle,” Catra said staring at her glass and resisting every urge to pick at her nails.

"You'll do great wildcat," Scorpia assured her friend, "Just bring this sweet potato dish, she'll easily be impressed," 

Catra grinned at the compliment, it had been months since she had been able to use an oven, and was glad that she hadn't lost her touch. She already had a dessert plan in mind for tomorrow if she didn't lose her nerve to ask Hope for access of the oven. 

“I’m just checking in, Adora’s mom can be kinda intimidating,” Glimmer argued. “I remember when she caught us trying to sneak out of your house and nearly gave me a heart attack,” 

“She thought you were a burglar trying to break in,” Adora laughed at the memory.

Now Catra was intrigued, the only thing she knew about Adora’s mom was that she was ambitious, very supportive, and seemed to stress Adora out. Catra having her own complicated mother-daughter relationship somewhat understood the feeling, but she couldn’t help but feel like Adora’s situation was different than her own. Hope definitely cared and supported Adora, which was something Catra didn’t feel like she had with Weaver. Sure there were some okay memories, but they were bare to none. No matter what Catra always felt like an unwanted stranger in her own home. And from what she had seen, Hope did not share the same sentiment about Adora. 

Adora loved Hope. This Catra knew, but there was an unspoken tension that seemed to hover in the air when her mother was brought up. She could see it when Adora’s jaw would tighten when Hope would call her but subconsciously relax after a few minutes then afterward her brow would crease and she’d feel guilty about even being worried about the phone call. Then she would overanalyze the conversation and ask Catra if it seem like Hope sounded disappointed over the phone.

 Like Catra mentioned, it was a complicated relationship to navigate but when Glimmer had brought up the story Adora’s eyes held nothing but amusement, so Catra couldn’t pass off the chance to hear something positive about the legendary Hope Grayson before their fateful meeting.

Glimmer looked at Catra barely able to contain her amusement,” Picture this, we’re freshmen and I had won tickets to see Lorde—“

“It was Marina,” Adora interrupted, mouth full of sweet potatoes and marshmallows. Catra couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.

"Oh I love her! That was the first concert I ever went to, and she was amazing to see live!" Perfuma said excitedly. 

Adora swallowed and began derailing the topic, "I know right! Glimmer and I were so excited to go when she won those tickets on the..." 

Glimmer shook her head. "Getting off-topic," Adora mouthed an apology and let her friend continue, "yes it was an amazing opportunity, but we couldn’t because the next morning Adora had a-I don’t know some nerd thing going on…”

“It was the night before the pre-SAT’s Glimmer!” Adora said, “you had to take them too!” 

“It wasn’t the real SATs, it was practice for the real one so it wouldn’t have mattered if we had a little less sleep the next day, now Hope and Mara wouldn’t let her go because of this so I was like don’t worry we’ll sneak out and have Bow’s brother drive us, and be back before anyone would notice, so I’m waiting outside for Adora and she texts me saying she’s chickening out,” 

“I did not!” Adora cocked her head defensively, “I am taking over this story before my reputation is ruined, I texted her saying that my mom was still awake and I didn’t want her hearing me leave, I told her she may have to leave without me if she doesn’t go to bed soon,” 

 Glimmer continued, “so way too much has gone into this plan so I decide to sneak into Adora’s house and get her out of there, so I try and go through the back door with the hidden key that was under the welcome mat, and I slowly open the door and close it, well Hope’s supersonic hearing must have gone off because by the time I am sneaking to Adora’s room, I turn into the hallway and there’s Adora’s mom with a bat,” 

Catra’s hand goes to cover her mouth in shock, the rest of the table is just enthralled with the story even though most have heard about this tale before. 

“Of course, I wasn’t expecting her to be there, and she wasn’t expecting me to be there so we both screamed out of surprise and Hope dropped the bat on her own foot. Adora and Mara run out into the hallway to see me crouched on the floor with Hope apologizing profusely giving me hugs which are unheard of. Mara’s asking what happened and Adora comes clean about the whole thing,” 

“Hope felt so bad about scaring Glimmer that she ended up taking us to the concert, and then I was grounded for a week after,” Adora said finishing the tale. 

“Moral of the story is, Hope can be a little tough when you first meet her, but she’s so sweet when you get down to it,” Glimmer said, “just don’t sneak into her house whatever you do,” 

Catra gulped not sure whether to feel reassured or even more nervous for tomorrow’s meeting. But the way Adora’s hand made its way into her own from under the table, made her feel like she could do anything. 

“You’re going to be fine,” Adora assured her, and for the first time that day, Catra believed she would be.

Chapter Text

Adora and Catra waved Bow goodbye as he dropped them off in front of the Greyson residence. Catra remembered the outside of the house well, the red porch, the white-painted house, the typical white picket fence. She hadn’t been here since she dropped off those cookies for Adora all those years ago, but the house remained the same. Catra herself only lived a couple of streets down, but the thought of Weaver catching her walking near it sent shivers down her spine. She missed her old room though, she had packed all she could carry when piling into Scorpia’s SUV for college. Her mother had watched her do it from the dining room table, reading some articles on her iPad. She didn’t even look up when Catra had finished and stated she was leaving and never coming back. 

“I’ve done all I can, if you choose to disobey me, I can’t stop you,” Weaver said “Don’t expect me to be back here waiting for you,” 

Catra stood frozen in her doorway, seeing Scorpia’s jeep in the driveway. Her chariot to a new beginning, but part of her wished Weaver would’ve stopped her. She had an odd sense of hope that she would yell and beg Catra not to go. She wished Weaver would cause a scene, show her that she cared with yells or her tears, something that Catra had never seen her do. She wanted a reaction, but all she was the top of Weaver’s head refusing to rise and meet her with any shred of respect and concern. 

“I won’t, I don’t need you, and I’m going to prove it,” Catra replied glad her back was facing Weaver as tears threatened to take over. 

“You always make me seem like the bad guy Catra, it’s not fair, I don’t deserve this–” 

“No, I’m the one that doesn’t deserve this,” Catra said and slammed the door before Weaver could get the last word in like she always did. 

“You okay?” Adora asked snapping Catra back into reality, this was going to be different. Adora’s mother loved her kid, and no matter what, Catra was determined to at least have Hope think she was relatively decent by association. 

“Never better,” Catra said, but Adora could hear the confidence in her voice waver. 

“It’ll be fine, we’ll eat, you’ll hear some embarrassing stories, my mom will excuse herself to get some work done, and we can end up snuggled up on the couch watching a movie,” 

Catra couldn’t think of anything that she would rather be doing. “You’re right,” 

Adora smiled, “Of course I am,” 

Catra rolled her eyes, “Alright don’t get a big head, you won’t be able to fit it through the door,” 

Adora scoffed and they headed up to the front door, for what they both hoped would be the first of many times together. 

***

The smell of a burning turkey was the first thing Catra noticed when entering the Greyson residence. Her nose wrinkled and Adora ran to the kitchen following the cloud of smoke that had started swarming the living room. The sounds of the fire alarm blaring and Hope coughing alerted Adora into hero mode as she went into the kitchen to see her mother cursing and whipping a dishtowel to move the smoke away from the fire alarm. 

“I may have overcooked it a bit,” Hope yelled through the alarm. Catra had many expectations of what Adora’s home would be like, and she had to admit, that chaos was not on the top of her list. 

“Mom just take down…” Adora hacked, trying to reach for the screeching alarm. “Unplug it!” 

Hope reached up and took it down trying to shut it off, but it persisted in its scream of terror. Catra couldn’t take the noise any longer, she grabbed the alarm from Hope’s hand and smashed it to the ground, the back piece broke off with a clang, and finally, the noise ceased. 

Adora and Hope looked down at the shattered piece of machinery. The noise had stopped, the only sound was the clearing of their throats as the smoke continued to swarm the room. Adora started to laugh at the sheer look of mortification that appeared on Catra’s face. Catra smoothed down her hair and cleared her throat to look at Adora’s mom. She was taller than Catra expected, nearly standing a head taller than Adora. 

 “I’m Catra, it’s nice to meet you,” 

Hope stared blankly at the young woman who had just destroyed her fire alarm. This was not something she was prepared for, and Hope was always prepared. She straightened her posture and brushed down her hands on the fabric of her trousers. “I’ll go open the window, nice to meet you too” 

Hope opened the kitchen window as Adora brought a stand-up fan from the hall closet. 

“I’m not much of a cook, as you can tell,” Hope said, letting the burnt turkey rest outside on the window sill. “But pancakes I can handle, why don’t you two get the table ready and uh we’ll have a bit of an unconventional thanksgiving sound good?” 

“Sounds great, mom,” Adora said, happy to get some alone time with her girlfriend. They began setting down the plates and silverware. 

“So I have a surprise for you,” Catra said, setting down the last napkin.

Adora smirked, “Are you going to throw another home appliance for me?”  

Catra scoffed and playfully pushed Adora away from her a teasing smile gracing her lips. “I panicked,” Adora snickered “Nooo I thought you were completely calm, really Catra, Perfuma could take some zen lessons from you,” She put down the fork and spoon next to each other on the left side of the plate.  

“Quit it or you won’t get your surprise,” Catra said rearranging the silverware correctly. 

“Fine go ahead,” 

“Well I thought if your mom is okay with it I could bake you something,” Catra replied, “It can be anything you want within reason since going to the grocery store will be a fight in itself, but I have most of the basic ingredients I need to make you something. So what will it be?” 

Adora wasn’t sure what she had done to deserve this, but she was thankful all the same. If you were to have told her a few months ago that Catra would be over at her house, teasing her and offering to make her sweets, she wouldn’t have believed them. The woman whose glare could preserve ice on a sunny day was now looking at her with such warmth, she couldn’t believe it took her so long to see it. “You’re such a softie,” she said pulling Catra closer to her. 

“I am not!” Catra argued, and Adora could almost physically see the warmth leaving her gaze, a defensive barrier glossing over in its place  “I just want a reason to use your oven is all but if you’re going to make a big deal out of it then—“

“Catra,” Adora interrupted Catra’s rant, placing a hand against her cheek stunning her into silence. It wasn’t fair someone could have this much of an effect on her. All Adora would have to do was say Catra’s name, and touch her tenderly and Catra knew she was a goner. Adora could tell her she had robbed a bank, but if she came running back to her and held her afterward she’d start up a getaway car like nobody’s business. “I like that you’re soft, you don’t have to be embarrassed. You’re also tough and, you don’t let me forget it,” Adora chuckled, Catra’s eyes never leaving hers. “I like all parts of you Catra, so stop trying to hide it,” She kissed her on the forehead.

“I like all parts of you too,” Catra murmured, the words hanging comfortably between them. Everything with Adora felt comfortable. Expressing herself, having fun, and even the more severe conversations were comforting. It was simple in the best way possible because most things never came that easily for them. 

“Even the obnoxious parts?” Adora challenged.

Catra rolled her eyes, and smiled “Unfortunately for me, yes” 

Hope arrived with pancakes in tow, and they all began to sit down for dinner. Hope tried to keep her eyes on her food but couldn’t help but occasionally glance up at the two across the table. Adora was busily cutting her pancakes and filling her mouth swiftly, happy to again have something different than campus cafeteria food. 

“Adora, slow down you’re going to get hiccups,” Hope said.

Adora rolled her eyes but complied as she swallowed her bite down. Hope looked over at Catra who was carefully cutting her pancakes into small neat piles. She didn’t dare to look up, as she kept replaying in her mind throwing the smoke detector. Adora’s mom probably thought she was crazy now was all Catra could think about. 

“So Catra, what are you studying?” Hope asked. After days of planning, she figured it would be the safest opening question. 

“Psychology and I’m thinking about minoring in math since I’m planning on getting a bachelor of science.”

“That’s great! Are you planning on getting your docterate then?” Hope asked,

 “Not really, unless I need to, I want to be a counselor or a therapist for queer youths, I’ve been looking into non-profit organizations to possibly intern with,” Catra replied cautiously. She hadn’t told anyone about her career goals other than Adora and Scorpia. Both of which were extremely supportive.

 Telling your best friend and your girlfriend was one thing but sharing it with someone she just met made her want to crawl under the biggest rock and hide. She couldn’t help but expect Hope to brush it off, or make a remark that it would be a hard job, meaning it would be too hard for Catra to do. This is what Weaver would have said if Catra ever got the courage to tell her of her future endeavors, but Hope was not Weaver. 

Hope’s face instantly lit up, her smile was soft and reserved, but still warm. “That’s wonderful, we need more people in that field,” 

“Yeah I’ll need to do a lot of research and studying before I know if it’s the right place for me but I don’t know it’s just-” Catra was struggling to find the words to explain without the risk of sounding like broken cliche record. 

“It’s something you’re passionate about,” Adora said saving Catra from having to utter the same words. “And I think you’d be amazing at it.” 

“I’m sure you will be too,” Hope encouraged, “At least from what Adora’s mentioned about you,”

Catra couldn’t believe she was awake right now. It felt so good that her goals were being recognized and encouraged. This didn’t sound like the Hope she had come to imagine from Adora’s phone calls, but Catra knew this was only their first meeting. She needed to take things with a grain of salt, but right now she couldn’t help but feel relieved that another adult believed she could do something right. Catra began settling into the conversation as dinner continued most of it was spent reminiscing high school stories, Hope even mentioned some stories with her and Mara. It wasn’t till the end of the dinner when the conversation somehow circled back to school.  

“I bet you two are glad to be done midterms at least, I know majoring and minoring in STEM can take a toll,” Hope mentioned steamrolling through all of Catra's sense of security. Catra looked over at Adora to see her frozen in place, not daring to look up from her plate. Adora tried to continue eating like nothing was wrong, so Catra tried her best to derail the subject. 

“Oh yeah it was rough, but we’re making it through just fine, so Adora told me she’s been to horse camp did you or Mara do that when you were kids or was that specifically Adora being obsessed with horses?” 

Hope smirked, “A little of both, I did it when I was younger and loved it. I even competed in a few show competitions, and Adora had seen one of my pictures and asked for lessons. She was a natural, of course.” 

“I wasn’t a natural, I fell off my first ride,” Adora said. She began moving the crumbs around her plate making squeaking noises from the fork piercing the plate as went. 

“Well yes you did, but you got back on and weren’t scared of trying it again, that’s what mattered,” Hope explained, trying to get back to her point. “And after that you were perfect and we were so proud,”

Adora picked up her empty plate silently and went to the kitchen to take out her frustration on washing her dish in the sink. Hope looked over to Catra as if she could explain what had happened to make Adora leave so abruptly. The sound of the sink was running as Catra tried to think of what to say, but before she could the water shut off, and Adora began making her way back to the dining room. 

 Adora had returned, her frustration had burnt out and instead was replaced with a cloud of exhaustion. “I’m sorry, I’m feeling tired from the drive I think, I’m going to try and take a nap,” 

“You never nap,” Hope said.  

“Well I do now,” Adora replied curtly and turned to go down the hallway and into her childhood bedroom. Catra watched Hope as she struggled to decide whether or not to follow her daughter. 

“I’ll go check on her, thanks again for the food it was great,” Catra said, Hope's smile was tight but she nodded and began clearing up the table. 

“It’s the last door on the left,” Hope said, 

Catra began to make her way down the hallway, but she got distracted by the photos that decorated the walls. It was like walking through a time machine. Pictures of Adora at her junior soccer game, a portrait of Adora from high school graduation, but Catra’s favorite was the last one right before Adora’s room. Adora must have been barely fourteen, her smile shining from the braces that decorated her mouth, in front of her was a pink and purple iced birthday cake with candles.  She was sitting between Hope and Mara who were smiling up at the camera with her. Catra was smiling when she made it to Adora’s door. She knocked lightly and waited for a response. 

“You can come in,” Adora said quietly unsure if it was Hope or Catra coming to comfort her. 

Catra opened the door and Adora breathed a sigh of relief, “I’m sorry, she mentioned midterms and I just froze,” she tried to explain as Catra shut the door behind her. 

The room was perfectly Adora, even though Catra knew some empty spots were missing from what Adora had taken to their dorm room. The walls were painted a cheerful yellow but were covered in posters and photos. A horseshoe lamp was next to Adora’s bed, probably something she had asked for when she was younger. Her desk was empty save for a couple of loose boxes from their move. 

“It’s okay, do you want to talk about it?” Catra asked as she sat next to her girlfriend on the bed, the covers smelled like they had just been cleaned. 

“Not really, I just need a distraction I think,” Adora admitted.

Catra nodded, “Okay what do you want to do?” 

“I don’t know, I’m sorry,” Adora said her hands stroking the tops of her legs as she tried to focus on something other than her racing thoughts. 

“Sometimes I like to run when things get too much, it helps clear my head,” Catra explained, “Maybe we could do something like that? I know we just ate but maybe a walk might do some good?” 

Adora nodded thankful for the suggestion, “I’d really like that,” 

***

Adora and Catra began walking down the street of their shared neighborhood. Catra had borrowed one of Adora’s simple grey sweatshirts. The wind was causing their cheeks to flush as they continued their silent stroll. They passed by some trees that had been there since Catra could remember, leading their way to the public library. She didn’t realize they lived so close to one another this entire time. Catra’s house was only a couple of streets away, but she had no plans of making a pit stop. Adora was staring straight ahead wondering if she should say something, it was a habit of hers to keep talking when things weren’t going the way she planned. 

“Did you know I fell off my bike right at that corner?” Catra pointed to the corner that lead to the crosswalk up ahead. “I was eleven and lost my last baby tooth,” 

Adora’s addictive laughter came crashing in as she imagined an eleven-year-old Catra absolutely eating it on the corner. “I’m sorry that’s…not.. not funny” 

“Laughing at a child falling, that’s pretty dark Adora,” Catra said as a bubble of pride filled her chest at being able to elicit such a reaction. 

“I lost my last one when a kid kicked a ball during kickball and it hit me directly in the face,” Adora said tears of laughter filling her eyes.  

“You really lived up to the Grayskull name, Princess,” Catra said. 

Adora looked over at Catra, the backdrop of their neighborhood brought a sense of nostalgia as she recalled all the times they had interacted before. Battling through school and sports only to come back here together as a unit. She always knew Catra added something to her life, she made things better, even if that meant challenging her at times. Flashbacks of high school swirled inside Adora’s head and at the forefront of those memories was Catra. 

“Adora? You okay?” Catra asked, and the only thing that Adora could see was how much love was in her mismatch eyes.  

“Yeah, definitely” Adora said continuing to turn the corner of the connecting street. As if the realization of how much in love she was with the woman standing next to her hadn’t hit her like a ton of bricks.

******

Catra was too busy paying mind to Adora’s change in mood she didn’t recognize the familiar surroundings of the street. She looked up and a rush of adrenaline began to make its way through her body as she recognized where they were. She could see her childhood home at the end of the culdesac, Weaver’s car plagued the driveway causing Catra to feel like her stomach was going to turn in on itself. She could hear the muffled sound of Adora’s voice, but the thought of seeing Weaver at any moment drowned everything out. She felt like she was a child hiding under her bed all over again. 

The next thing she knew Adora was pulling her away by the hand away from the street, the sound of cars whirrling, Adora’s voice, Catra’s thoughts all began blending into one another until Catra felt Adora’s arms around her. Adora squeezed gently and and it brought Catra back to somewhat solid ground. 

******

“Its going to be okay, it’s going to pass, I’m right here,” Adora whispered and Catra felt the weight of the universe lift just enough to finally let herself cry. 

Chapter Text

The thing Catra hated most about crying was once she got started it was very hard for her to stop. Even with Adora’s arms wrapped tightly around her like a life preserver, the tears were continuing their never ending fall. She wanted to run, she tried to get as far away from this place as possible but her feet were frozen to the ground. Adora was hugging her so hard as if she could squeeze the warmth and life back inside Catra. Enough for her to keep moving, but instead, they stood in place. Adora’s shoulder was damp as Catra rubbed her face on the soft fabric of Adora’s hoodie, realizing she was probably making a mess of it.

“Sorry,” Catra blubbered into her shoulder, as Adora stroked her hair. “It's okay, I don’t like this hoodie much anyway,” Adora said, eliciting a wet laugh from Catra.

“That’s it,” Adora said. She eased out of the embrace to look at Catra. Her eyes were red and blurry, cheeks marked with freckles and tears. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Catra was looking up trying to get her tears to cease. Instead, she shook her head no, hoping Adora wouldn’t press her further.

“Do you want to walk somewhere else or do you want to go back to my home?” Adora asked,

“Could we walk somewhere else please, I don’t want your -“ Catra’s voice caught at the word “mom”. She couldn’t even say it without wanting to cry again. “I don’t want anyone else to see me like this,”

Adora nodded and backed away while keeping one hand intertwined with Catra’s. She gently pulled her along, breaking Catra’s frozen stance like a statue from the ground.They walked in the opposite direction, Weaver’s house getting smaller and smaller or at least that’s what Catra imagined since she didn’t have the nerve to look back. Catra’s crying began to slow as she wiped her eyes, her red nose sniffled.

They followed a pathway to a nearby park, it was nearly abandoned during the cold months. Adora pulled Catra to a nearby bench near the entrance, so she could calm down. Adora reached into her pocket until she felt the crackling of plastic and pulled out a pack of tissues offering it to her girlfriend. Catra stared at the delicate package.

“Told you, always prepared,” Adora said a soft smile on her face that made Catra believe everything was going to be okay.

Catra took the package in her hand and blew her nose. She stuffed the tissue into a ball and threw it in the garbage that stood next to the bench. A comfortable silence set in and Catra realized Adora was giving her what she wanted. A quiet place to feel and think.

“She never came to a single thing I did,” Catra finally said what she was thinking out loud. Her fingers chipped away at the almost gone black nail polish “She would drop me off or argue that she was busy with work or I was making her feel bad for her not being able to go, but that was all a lie.” The words were spilling out of her like a floodgate. Adora patiently listened, trying her best not to interrupt.

“She just cared more about herself than she did about me. There would be times I would come home from a track meet and she would be asleep on the couch or have friends over for dinner, so how was it that she had time for that, but not enough time to see one fucking track meet? Or debate championship? Or my goddamn graduation?” Catra felt her chipped nails digging into the palms of her hand. Adora reached out and took Catras hands in hers. Catra squeezed them as she felt more tears begin to form. “It was never enough, no matter what I did, I was never enough for her,”

“You didn’t deserve that.” Adora said, “I can’t go back in time and fix everything your mom did, but I can tell you that I am so happy to have you here with me, and I will spend every day reminding you how important you are,”
Catra was nearly shaking as the words came tumbling out, “I’m not important, I feel like shit for being jealous of you and your mom. I mean who thinks like that?”
“Catra it’s okay—“
“No it’s not!”
“You’re being too hard on—“
“Why do I ruin everything good for me? Why is she able to make me feel like this? She’s not even fucking here!” Catra’s body was on fire as she thought of every single argument, every single pang of jealousy, and every single missed opportunity began to run circles in her head. “She’s never here!” Catra cried out again. She didn’t care if she startled the whole neighborhood. She hoped Weaver could hear her from their spot and feel racked with guilt.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Adora said her arms enveloping Catra in a comforting embrace. “I got you, I’m not going anywhere,”

Catra only cried harder as Adora tried to imagine what she was going through. Even if Hope and Mara had their moments, they never stopped showing how much they loved Adora. She may not get along with Hope and feel constricted by her expectations, but at the end of the day, she knew she was loved. Even if she didn’t always feel good enough for them. Adora knew they loved her, but she was worried they would stop if they found out that she wasn’t perfect. But here was Catra who never felt like she had a chance at being loved. This beautiful intelligent woman who made Adora feel like she could be someone without all the competitions and grades. Adora was going to make sure Catra never had to question if she was loved anymore.

“Can I say something?” Adora asked nervously as Catra’s sobs began to calm. Her breath slowly returned to a healthy rate. She felt lighter somehow, like when she cut her hair on her own accord. She had cried away all the hurt she had been carrying for a long time.

“Considering I just dumped out all my problems on this park bench to you, yeah I think you can tell me anything,” Catra joked, wiping away the remaining tears on her cheeks.

Adora smiled hearing the familiar snark in her girlfriend’s voice. She swallowed trying not to pay any mind to the buzzing feeling in her chest. “I just—I need you to know how much I-“

“I’m sorry,” Catra interrupted, causing Adora’s heart to plummet into her stomach. Maybe this had been a mistake, maybe it was too soon. “I think I know what you’re trying to say, and I need you to not freak out for a second because I can already see the wheels turning in that head of yours,” Catra poked the middle of Adora’s forehead earning a nervous smile from the blonde.

“I feel the same way,if its what I think your saying,” Catra continued, making Adora’s heart return back to its original place, “A hundred times over, but I don’t want the first time I hear you say those words to me to have anything to do with her. I want it to be when it's just about you and me.”

Catra held Adora’s hands between hers like it was the first time all over again. “I want to hear it when you can’t help but blurt it out because you are so ridiculously happy or I end up beating you to the punch because honestly, I’ve been fighting myself to not say it since the day your dumb beautiful face lit up when you saw me after your first game.”

Adora laughed as her own happy tears began to fall. Her hands gave Catra a reassuring squeeze to keep going. “I’ve thought of it every day I’m with you, every time I’m alone, and every time I think of what’s to come, you’re there and I feel so… loved, Adora. That’s how you make me feel, every single day,”

Catra leaned forward closing the distance between them. Both their cheeks were cold from the air and crying, but all Catra could feel was the warmth that radiated from Adora’s lips. The lips that had become so familiar to her, like a favorite book that she would reread over and over again. It wasn’t some fairytale kiss that magically undid every bad thing that ever happened, but it was magical in the sense that it made everything look a little brighter. Made their chests feel lighter with every touch and smile that came in between. It gave them hope for the future, they were going to be okay.

Adora leaned back to see Catra’s gorgeous face smiling softly at her. A smile that Adora knew was reserved just for her. “Are you ready to go back home?” Adora asked pushing a loose strand of Catra’s hair back.

“Yeah I am,” Catra said, knowing she was already where she was meant to be, holding Adora’s hand.

****
When Adora and Catra walked back into the Grayson residence, Hope was on the couch, looking at her phone for the millionth time, checking for any indication of her daughter’s whereabouts. She stood up when she heard the door open.

Catra noticed the worried look on Hope’s face as they entered the room. She noticed the lines on her forehead for the first time. Even though they weren’t blood related Catra could have sworn she had seen the same look on Adora’s face before. It would have made Catra laugh if she hadn’t been crying and pouring her heart out for the last hour.
“I think I’m going to lay down for a bit, I’m feeling kinda tired from the walk,” Catra said and went down the hall to give them some privacy. “Thanks again for the pancakes,”

When they heard the door shut, Hope stared at her daughter. She couldn’t tell if Adora was about to cry or yell or what. All she knew was that suddenly Adora looked younger, like the day she came into their home at the age of thirteen and made it feel whole. She looked like the same scared child who was prepared to fight her away out of anything. It hurt to see that defensive look return once again after so many years.

“Adora honey whatever I said—“

Hope didn’t finish her sentence as she felt Adora’s arms around her middle. She squeezed her tightly like she hadn’t done since she was younger. Hope gently wrapped her arms around her daughter, she stroked her hair and sighed contently. It wasn’t until she felt Adora's breathy shakes that her smile returned to its naturally worried line.

“What’s wrong?” Hope asked, “What happened sweetheart?”

Adora’s hands were now clutching the back of Hope’s sweater for dear life. She thought about her time before Hope and Mara, she thought about Catra and how Catra’s mother never gave two shits about what she did. She thought about Mara and Hope cheering her on in the stands. How Hope would wake her up at 6am to take her to morning practices. The shared plate of cookies they enjoyed after Mara’s departure.

“I’m just—thank you, thank you for just being here,” Adora confessed, holding her mother tight as if she would disappear into the floor if she didn’t.

“Adora, what’s this about?” she asked, still not understanding where this was coming from.

Adora muttered something incoherently into Hope’s sweater. Hope asked her to say it again only to have Adora bury herself deeper in her sweater. She didn’t want to admit she had failed. That she had done something wrong. That she was trying her best to fix it but knew Hope would be so disappointed in the first place.

“I didn’t catch that,” Hope said.

Adora could feel her nerves bubbling up to the service. She wished she would say the words quickly like she would ripping off a bandaid. Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth as she finally found her voice.

“I failed my midterm,” Adora said solemnly, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “I really tried my best but its been so hard and all I can think about is how I’m not smart like you and Mara and how I’m disappointing you and myself and I just can’t do it anymore!”

Hope felt like she had been struck. As if Adora’s words were so powerful they formed in mid air and pierced her heart. She wasn’t sure what was worse, Adora’s words or the look of dread on her face that followed them.

“I love that you come to my games but I feel like you’re expecting someone else when you show up.” Adora broke away from her mother and began stroking her own arms to regain the comfort she was so desperately needing. “Like no matter what I do I’m not what you pictured in your head. I should be better and I’m sorry I’m not-“ Adora looked up to see the tears streaming down her mother’s face. She almost rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. Hope brought her hand up to her own mouth trying to stifle a sob. It was like nothing Adora had ever seen before. “I never wanted to make you feel like that, I never—“

Hope was hugging her again and Adora released a breath she had been holding for what seemed like forever. Hope took Adora’s head in her hands and made sure she was looking at her. She kissed her forehead and wiped away Adora’s tears.

“You are my favorite person on this earth, I love you so much and I’m always proud of you, no matter what.” Hope said “do you understand?”

Nothing could have prepared Adora for that simple declaration. They were words that she desperately wanted to hear. No matter how badly she messed up, no matter how hard things would get, Hope still loved her just the same.

“ I know I can be…well a lot at times, but I never want you to think that I am not thrilled to have you as my kid. I’m so lucky Adora, and I’m sorry that I suck at expressing it.” Hope joked trying to relieve herself from the emotional outpour that was taking place. “It's just a class, sweetheart, and you’ll bounce back from it, and if you don’t then we’ll figure out something else,”

“Can I tell you something?” Hope asked, and Adora nodded her head.

Hope brought her to the couch and they sat together. Hope wrapped her arm around her daughter. Her mother looked down as if questioning how much detail she should go into about what she was trying to say. Hope heard Mara’s voice in her head, ‘just tell her the truth, love.’

“I didn’t have a good relationship with my mom, even before I started dating Mara. So I promised myself I was going to be everything she wasn’t, but I think I may have gotten carried away,” Hope explained. “My mom hated anything I did that was unconventional at the time. So I promised no matter what you were into I was going to be a hundred percent supportive of it because I didn’t want you to feel the way I did. She wanted me to be someone I wasn’t and somehow I made you believe something similar to that. When you came into our life I wanted to make damn sure that you knew you could do anything you set your mind to, and that got twisted into thinking you had to do everything. I’m sorry Adora, you are more than good enough just being who you are,”

Adora sighed into her mom’s embrace, a kind of closeness she had not accepted for a long time. They sat there in silence for a few moments but it was not like their past awkward pauses. It finally felt like they were on the same page, and there was no need for words when you already understood what was going on.

Adora smiled at her mom,”If it makes you feel better, I did end up starting a study group with my suitemates like you said,”

Hope chuckled, “I assumed when I saw the flash cards on your bad. Anatomy is a tough course, Mara had to retake it when she was in school,”

“She did?”

Hope smiled looking up as if the memory was playing on a projector on the other wall. “Oh yeah I remember her shutting herself up in her dorm room for hours. I nearly camped out in the hallway until she finally let me in and let me help her prepare for it. Your mother tended to feel like she had to do things all on her own. She was very independent like that, but everyone needs help once in a while. Even the strongest of us,”

Adora smiled thinking of Bow printing out diagrams for her to memorize and making a fun game out of it. Glimmer and Entrapta making sure she went to bed early and help make a study schedule for her. Even her teammates had joined in. Mermista was in the same course and also flunked. So they spent the class sitting next to one another and giving each other notes if they had missed anything. She remembered Catra spending her time going through flashcards with her. Her eyes lit up when she would get a question right. She had all the help she needed right here.

Chapter Text

Adora wakes up to the smell of cookies, a smell she hasn’t woken up to since childhood. She reaches out an arm but is met with only a cold fluffy sheet. She groans sleepily wondering where the hell her girlfriend is at this hour and why she isn’t in bed holding her. She blinks the sleep away from her eyes and slowly makes her way to the kitchen. The smell of snickerdoodles leading her the whole way until she is met with the most heavenly sight. 

Catra is humming to herself, wearing Adora’s high school hoodie and a pair of pj shorts. Her short hair is messy with sleep but her smile is what catches Adora’s eye the most. She looks utterly content, just standing in Adora’s kitchen. Adora wonders if she is still dreaming when Catra is taking out the last batch of cookies. The heat from the oven floods in as Catra carefully places the sheet on the stove. She sees Adora in the doorway and the humming ceases. It is replaced with Catra’s raspy morning voice saying “Hey Sleeping Beauty,”

Adora is too surprised and in awe to respond. Her mouth hangs open as if she is about to speak but nothing comes out. Catra‘s cheeks warm with embarrassment, maybe she should have asked to use the oven or to take Adora’s clothes. She really didn’t think it would be a big deal but Adora usually isn't one for surprises. 

“I should have-“

“I love you,” Adora says quickly and the words wrap around Catra like a warm blanket. There are no butterflies or sparks, just a warmth that settles into Catra’s bones. She is loved, and she can’t wait to tell this beautiful, competitive, and sweet human that she is so in love with her she can barely contain herself.

“You told me to say it when I’m incredibly happy to be with you,” Adora jokes hoping Catra will say the words back. “And I am, I want to wake up to you all the time,” 

Catra takes the oven mit off her hand and walks over to her girlfriend. She holds her in an embrace. Adora’s smiles sheepishly and Catra has to hold back on wanting to kiss it. “I love you too,” she says the words feel freeing to say out loud after months of keeping them tied down. 

“You do?” Adora asks and Catra chuckles at how Adora’s eyebrows raise in excitement. Catra kisses her sweetly and Adora sighs into it, relieved and in awe of how lucky she is. “Always have,” Catra whispers when they part. 

“How embarrassing for you,” Adora jokes, causing Catra to playfully swat at her arms, breaking the embrace. Adora chases after her and lifts the brunette up like the suave romantic she is. Catra laughs despite herself and looks down to those beautiful grey blue eyes. 

“Say it again...please,” Adora asks and Catra feels that warmth again. She tucks a loose strand from Adora’s ponytail back. She then lifts her hand up like Adora had so many months before at Darla’s. “Let it be known that I, Catra D’riluth, am deeply, hopelessly and incredibly  in love with you, Adora Grayson,” 

Adora’s smile nearly breaks the universe in half. She sets Catra down and she just hugs her, its tight and full of love and makes Catra wonder how someone can make you feel this good with just their arms. A few moments pass and Adora releases her and raises her left hand. “Let it be known that I, Adora Grayson am deeply, hopelessly, intense-“

“Incredibly,” Catra corrects her and Adora rolls her eyes. “Fine intensely and incredibly in love with you, Catra D’riluth” 

Catra smiles at the dork that she has professed her love for. “You ready for some bomb ass snickerdoodles?” 

Adora shakes her head and Catra hands her a plate of cookies that have already cooled. Adora takes a bite and she is transported back in time, like that food critic in Ratatouille. She feels like she’s 16 again the comfort of cinnamon and nutmeg filling her mouth. She remembers her eyes being puffy as she inhaled the wonderful scent of the cookie. Adora’s eyes well up as the past feelings and memories return. She looks back at Catra who looks slightly concerned but her expression eases when Adora smiles. They share a knowing look and it doesn’t need to be said that Adora knows she has had these cookies before. 

“Thank you,” Adora says and Catra knows it has more strings attached then it should. Catra smiles brightly at her anyways and simply says “No problem,” 

***

Adora is packing up her things as she hears another honk of the horn from Bow’s car. She doesn’t have to look out her window to know its Glimmer honking the horn from the passenger seat. She’s running a bit behind as Catra sits in her desk chair waiting for instructions on how to move things along faster. 

“Can you please tell Glimmer to knock it off,” Adora says with a smirk on her face. She stuffs another pair of socks in her bag as she frantically tries to find the last missing pair.

“Gladly,” Catra smiles wickedly from receiving permission to yell at Glimmer. 

“Be somewhat nice about it, they are driving us,” Adora says realizing they could end up without a ride if Catra is not provided boundaries.

“I’m always nice,” Catra says the fake innocence hangs off of every word. 

Adora gives her a look and states “I love you, but we both know that is not true,” 

Catra shrugs, gives Adora a kiss on the cheek and goes to open the window. She leans out staring daggers at Glimmer. “You honk that horn one more time Sparkles and I will make your life a living hell!

“You already fucking do!” Glimmer yells back, as Bow tries to awkwardly wave to break the tension. “Just tell her to hurry up already. I only have two episodes of Crime Junkie left,” 

“So Glimmer may commit a murder if we are not in the car soon,” Catra says closing the window. Glimmer flips her off from the car and Catra enthusiastically returns the gesture with a dopey mocking smile om her face.

Adora laughs at the interaction “I think the whole neighborhood heard,”

“Well she’ll have to wait a bit more because there is something we need to do first,” Catra says taking her phone out of her pocket. “I believe my whiny but lovely girlfriend complained about not having a photo together,” 

“I do not whine!” Adora insisted proving Catra’s previous statement. Catra rolled her eyes playfully and stood next to her girlfriend. She put the phone camera to face them so they could see the picture as they were taking it. Catra snapped one of Adora’s dazzling smiles while Catra gave the camera a smirk. Adora wasn’t having it so she took the phone from Catra and posed for another photo this time kissing Catra’s cheek as she clicked the button capturing a surprised but smiling Catra in the shot. 

“That’s the one I want on the wall,” Adora said pointing at the picture on Catra’s phone. Catra blushed and tried to sputter out a “we’ll see,” 

Adora went back to packing as Catra stood looking at their recent pictures. Someone was becoming sentimental, and Adora loved it.

“Why don’t you head to the car since you’re packed, I’ll be down in a second, just please don’t kill Glimmer before I get down there,” 

“I will make no such promises,” Catra smirks and leaves the room with her bag in tow. 

Adora’s eyes light up as she finds the last missing pair of socks that have found their way under her bed. She hears a knock at her bedroom door and turns to see her mom. She has her hair in a low ponytail and looks almost relaxed for once. Her smile doesn’t seem forced and has a wonderful sense of ease as she looks at her daughter all grown up. 

“I assume you’ll be bringing Catra for Christmas?” Hope asks leaning against the doorway.

“She’s actually spending Christmas with Bow’s family but she will be with us for Christmas Eve,” Adora said. “But do you mind if my friend Entrapta comes? She isn’t much into the holidays but I think she would appreciate having a place to hang out,”

Bow had texted the group chat yesterday asking if Catra would like to spend Christmas with him and his brothers since they worked so well on Thanksgiving dinner.

Arrow Boy 🏹: I brought leftovers to my dads and they are obsessed with Catra’s sweet potato casserole 

Catra🐱😈: Yeah right…

Arrow Boy 🏹: I’m serious my brothers were fighting over it! You gotta come back for Christmas and show em how to make it.

Adora ☀️⚽️: Wow Bow stealing my gf for the holidays that’s low 😂

Sparkles ✨ 🤬: I was there they were actually fighting over it

Arrow Boy 🏹: Come ooooon Catra, my dad makes a lemon meringue pie every year for Christmas 

Catra 🐱😈: you had me at lemon meringue 

Catra 🐱😈: Adora says your stealing our first Christmas 

*Catra sends a photo of Adora pouting on the couch*

Arrow Boy 🏹: Tell her she can have you on Christmas Eve and New Years. 

Sparkles✨🤬: Hell tell her to stop by on Christmas I’ll be doing the same. No way in hell I’m missing out on Lance’s pie.

So it was settled, Catra would be with Adora on Christmas eve and then head over to Bow’s for Christmas dinner. Adora could tell Catra was secretly excited to be surrounded by people who loved to cook and bake as much as she did. 

“That sounds wonderful,” Hope replies trying to get used to the idea of Adora bringing friends over again. “I just want to thank you for our talk last night,” 

“Its not a big deal,”

“It is and it isn’t,” Hope replies, “Anyway I’m glad it happened and I can’t wait til your home again.” 

Adora gives her mom a hug and feels like she could do anything. “Let me know if you need any help, okay? I’m just a phone call and three hour drive away,”

“I know,” Adora says smiling as she releases her mom. She felt like this had been the closest they had been for a long time. Instead of feeling nervous about coming home after finals, Adora felt like no matter what was to happen…Hope would be there no matter what. 

“Adora!! Get your ass out-“ Glimmer’s voice stops short as she sees Hope appear at the window. “Oop Hi Mrs. Grayson!” Catra cackles in the back seat as Glimmer slips down into her own seat. 

“Hi Glimmer,” Hope shouts back and gives a little wave. “She’s heading down now, drive safe you all,”

“Will do Mrs. Grayson!” Bow calls out as Glimmer is too embarrassed to speak, nearly turning the color of her hair.

“Better get down there,” Hope smiles and gives Adora one last hug. 

“See you at Christmas,” Adora murmurs into her mother’s shoulder.

“ Text me when you get home,” 

Adora rushes towards her friend’s car turning back to give one final wave to her mom. Hope feels a pang in her chest but also a feeling of pride as she waves goodbye once again. Adora would hate to admit it but Glimmer was right, things may not change overnight, but she knew this was a really good start. 

****one month later****

Adora can’t sit still if her life depended on it, as she kept her eyes glued to the screen of her laptop. She should be packing for winter break but final grades were supposed to be posted at 12pm today and it is currently 12:03 and nothing had appeared no matter how many times she refreshed the page. 

“Adora you’re going to go blind,” Glimmer says. She is sitting on top of her comically large suitcase as both Bow and Entrapta were fiddling with the zipper to make it close. 

“I don’t understand it’s 12:05 why haven’t they been posted?” Adora replies,still keeping her eyes on the screen. She felt a gentle pull of her ponytail forcing her head slightly up. Staring back at her are two gleaming mismatched eyes that she could never get enough of.

“Love, the results will be there when you finish packing,” Catra says sweetly leaning down to give Adora a quick kiss on the forehead. Adora blushes at the nickname. It was a new thing Catra had been trying out and it had almost the same effect as Princess. 

“But what-“ 

“No buts, time to get packing,” Catra silences her, releasing her ponytail. Catra’s own hair has grown quite a bit in the last month. It has begun to be a bit shaggy in certain places but Adora loves pushing it back to reveal more of her love’s face. 

,”Okaaaay  but let me refresh it one more time,” Adora knows she’s whining but she doesn’t care. She knows Catra will give in and least let her try one more time.

“Fine,” Catra relents and Adora has never clicked so fast in her life. Suddenly something new is on the recently blank screen. In bold black letters reads:

FINAL GRADES FALL SEMESTER GRAYSON, ADORA

This is it, one click on that link and Adora would know whether or not she would have to retake Anatomy. Catra,Bow, Glimmer and Entrapta all huddle around her as they see her expression change. 

“Well open it!” Entrapta urges her.

“I don’t know…maybe you guys are right maybe I should pack first,” Adora replies suddenly, feeling her nerves get the better of her. 

“Adora no matter what happens it’ll be okay,” Bow says. His smile gives her encouragement as Glimmer pipes in, “I can press it if you want,” 

“Would it be weird for me to close my eyes and have someone press it and read it?” Adora asks. 

“Not at all,” Catra insists and scoots the mouse towards Glimmer. Adora closes her eyes, she feels Bow’s hand on her shoulder, Catra is holding her hand as she hears Glimmer click the mouse. Adora feels like her chest is going to explode.

“Adora look!” Bow says. 

She knows Bow wouldn’t force her to look at anything bad, so the news must be good. She’s still hesitant though as she peaks through her lashes and slowly flutters her eyes open. 

Next to the word Anatomy 101 is a blue letter C. She passed, just barely, but she did.

Adora has never felt so relieved for a C grade in her life. 

“You did it!!” Glimmer shouts amd wraps her in a big hug that nearly knocks her off her chair. Bow and Entrapta start cheering and Catra gives her hand a squeeze. 

“Knew you could do it,” Catra tells her, and Adora knows she couldn’t have done it without any of them. She receives a text from Mermista who had also passed with a C and she wishes her congratulations. 

“Okay final grades are done lets get packing and get the hell out of here!” Glimmer says dragging her heavy suitcase behind her. 

“Please let me help you before you throw out your back,” Bow begs as he tries to wrestle the handle away from his girlfriend.

“I am a strong woman I can do it!”

“Emily can help! She can lift up to fifty pounds,” Entrapta says bringing Emily into the hallway. 

Bow Entrapta and Glimmer continue their chatter through the hallway. Adora chuckles as she gets the last of her stuff together. She kneels down to zip up the last part of her suitcase.She looks up and sees Catra standing at the doorway with her hand reaching out to her.

“You coming?” She asks and Adora falls for her a little more. She was so nervous about being alone and not making any friends in college. Yet here she was with friends, and a beautiful girlfriend wrapped up in one whole semester. She couldn’t wait for what was to come.

Adora took Catra’s hand in hers and stood up to meet her girlfriend face to face. She gave her a quick peck on the lips

“Definitely,”