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The kiss at the Heart of Etheria was a big thing. For Catra and Adora, that is. Technically for the universe too, but most of them didn’t know that. They just knew that Catra had saved She-Ra, allowing her to, in turn, save the universe. So the law decided to give her a free pass on all the… evil stuff.
Didn’t mean people liked her. Just meant that they decided not to like, put her in jail or anything.
Who knew if that would stick or anything. They could change their minds at any moment and just decide to throw Catra directly into the sun.
Adora says that’s not gonna happen.
Furthermore, there’s another little problem.
There were a bunch of people.
Idiots, really.
Who thought that She-Ra shouldn’t have friends or connections.
That they just held her back from reaching her destiny.
The people talked about She-Ra’s friends the same way your parents would talk about your cell phone if you were getting bad grades.
And that was a problem.
Because Adora (not She-Ra, that’s a dumb name) was dating Catra.
Now, imagine.
If the asshole citizens were miffed that She-Ra had a completely platonic friendship with the fucking queen…
How would they react if they knew that she was also fucking the bad guy who destroyed reality that one time?
Not well.
Not well at all.
So Catra made a decision.
“Hey Adora,”
“Mm?”
“So. What if we kept the fact that we’re smooching… a secret?”
“Um, sure? Why?”
“Politics.”
“Okay!”
Keep in mind. I am paraphrasing. The actual conversation included a bit of crying, and Catra saying something along the lines of “You deserve to be loved and respected, what if I ruin that for you?” And Adora being like “I don’t care about that stuff I just want you” and then Catra reminding Adora about how important She-Ra was for Etherian Culture, and then asking Glimmer about a very specific scenario in order to get a second opinion.
Stupid Glimmer said that a war hero (such as, hypothetically, Adora) dating one of the major players on the opposing team (hypothetically, Catra) would (hypothetically) ruin the credibility of the war hero (which, in this scenario, would be Adora) and anyone associated (the rest of the Princess Alliance(hypothetically)) and that they (hypothetically) shouldn’t date, and if they did there would be torches and pitchforks.
So they decided to keep their relationship a secret. (For the good of Etheria)
Fortunately for you, dear readers, they were terrible at acting.
~~~
Glimmer had had the whole “I love you moment” with Bow. That was a thing now, she guessed. They’d never really talked about it. Nothing had really changed since then, and nobody brought it up. Also they did the whole sex thing one time in outer space, but that was like, a heat of the moment thing. Nothing more. What prevented it from being more? Why not just smooch him whenever she wants?
Catra.
She’s just… Hot. That’s the problem. Also, catgirl. That’s a thing. And she saved Glimmer from space-jail, that’s also a thing. That’s the whole reason Princess Peach fell for Mario. And Catra was much, much sexier than Mario.
Glimmer can’t believe she actually thought those words with her own brain.
So when Catra and Adora show up, looking distraught. And talk about an absurd hypothetical scenario. That JUST SO HAPPENS to include the pros and cons of the two of them dating. Glimmer, as anyone would in such a situation, lies.
“Oh no. If you two (hypothetically) wound up dating it would monumentally fuck things up and then there’d be another war.” Sometimes Glimmer can’t believe how smart she is.
Now both Catra and Bow are viable options. When she can finally figure herself out, she’ll be able to just… pick one.
But that’s the problem. She thought that her little intervention would make it so that Catra and Adora wouldn’t date.
These two loons were dating. But secretly. This was a problem. Because Glimmer had so many evil plans that involved Catra.
For instance. Glimmer is bored of being queen. And Catra has a history of usurping her bosses and taking their place. So Glimmer decides to appoint her as advisor, a position well known for being chock-full of evil usurpers. This way, by following Catra’s advice to the letter, she will eventually wind up falling into a deviously cunning trap that lets Catra take the throne. Brilliant!
But… that doesn’t happen.
Glimmer’s had a higher approval rating than ever. The nation is flourishing under her reign. There is free public healthcare. Gas prices are the lowest they’ve ever been. (what the fuck is gas?)
This is Adora’s fault.
She turned Catra good. Now she’s never going to steal the throne!
So Glimmer needs to find a way to quit being queen. So exhausting.
~~~
Queen Angella was in between dimensions. Now, to most people, that meant she’d be dead. To Angella, though, that meant something else. It meant she could observe reality at any point in the past or present without being detected. At first it was lonely, but she distracted herself by getting invested in the story of Adora’s life, starting from when she first left the Horde. As she watched, she grew attached to her adventure.
But, curiously enough, she found herself looking more and more at Hordak’s second in command. Catra had inexplicably become her favorite character. Perhaps it was because of how similar she was to Glimmer, or maybe it was because of her tragic backstory. Maybe it was because she’d known how Light Spinner had hurt her Micah and couldn’t help but applaud anyone opposed to that witch.
Maybe it was because most people’s love for Adora was conditional. Not everyone, Bow was okay. But most. Angella herself had done it. “I’ll love you if you save us, I’ll love you if you fix our problems, I’ll love you if you’re perfect, I’ll love you if you save the world,” while Catra’s condition was “I’ll love you if you stay.”(still too much to ask, because the Horde was blowing up people’s houses and killing people and stuff, but you know. It’s a romantic sentiment.)
Maybe it was just because she was a cute kitty and Angella was biased in favor of fluffy things. It was probably that.
Either way, she found herself rooting for this enemy soldier. Cheerign for her successes, mourning her failiures, even though she was in opposition to the former queen’s goals and morals.
When she learned that it was Catra who activated the portal, Angella couldn’t even be mad. Just sad that Catra could no longer be redeemed.
But then Catra got redeemed. She saved Glimmer from Prime’s ship. And then, right at the end, Angella saw what happened at the Heart of Etheria. (she also saw Shadow Weaver teleport away while pretending to die, but that’s a whole ‘nother thing)
“These bitches GAY, good for them.”
~~~
Mermista isn’t as pissed about Salineas as she used to be. She was all on board with the whole “Heart of Etheria” plan for that very reason. When the planet was balanced, the princesses got a huge powerup. She had summoned a massive whirlpool to drown all the Horde ships in her nation. Hearing their screams for mercy felt… kinda bad actually.
It felt kinda worse when the heart activated.
She learned her lesson about vengeance.
So she didn’t attack the stupid clone on sight next time she saw her. Or the stupid cat.
There was one time she sorta considered it.
So Sea Hawk was having a party on one of his boats. The Dragon’s daughter 32. Don’t ask. And there was alcohol. Because of course there was. And Catra and Adora didn’t know what alcohol was. So they got fucking SMASHED. It was wild.
Then they smooched. It was… smooching.
But really? Right in front of my alcohol?
Catra and Adora suddenly seemed to forget something important. They forgot that there were other people in the room. Either that or they forgot that they aren’t supposed to DO certain things with other people in the room.
Don’t worry, it wasn’t at all what you’re thinking. Nothing explicit. Clothes were technically still on. They weren’t doing the do. But still!
Mermista resisted the urge to drown the two chuckleheads right there and instead elected to spray them, like Netossa had suggested. They both hissed and scampered away.
Fucking Cat’s a bad influence.
~~~
Scorpia and Perfuma have been inseparable since the fall of Prime. They already have engagement plans. On one hand, a hasty marriage could be a disaster. On the other hand, they’d seen what happened to Catradora because they waited too long to reveal their feelings and neither of them were willing to risk it.
I mean, sure. Those two were the sweetest now. It was painfully obvious that they were in love. It was practically written on their faces! And after that party with Sea Hawk, it was literally scribbled on their foreheads in permanent marker. (‘propurrrty of Catra.’ ‘I smooch Shera.’)
Which, weirdly enough, was not permanent when applied to skin. Huh.
Anyway, it was great that Catra and Adora could be happy together after everything. But Scorpia didn’t want to have to fight an intergalactic war because she was too scared to take things any further with Perfuma.
The wedding (Scorpia’s) was in a few months. Catra was going to be the Maid of Honor for Scorpia.
Perfuma still didn’t know that Catradora was a thing. She thought other people’s love lives were none of her business and refused to listen to rumors or make wild guesses.
Which meant she didn’t get to participate in the betting pool Netossa had set up.
~~~
Netossa had set up a betting pool based on figuring out when Catradora had gotten together. The two were still trying and failing to keep their relationship a secret, so nobody knew when exactly they had started dating.
Hordak had bet that they had gotten together back when they were both cadets.
Frosta thought they were sneaking across enemy lines for romantic rendezvous-es back when Catra was evil.
Bow thought it might have happened on Darla, after Adora had saved Catra from Prime.
Scorpia thought they probably had a heartfelt conversation after the fall of Prime and learned about their feelings for each other then.
Double Trouble thought they were still in denial but very much in love. (wait how did DT get in here? Netossa chased them out with a broom three times already.)
King Micah thought that they had probably eloped offworld during the weird interplanetary roadrip.
Another betting pool was opened based on how far along Catradora’s relationship had gone: Just friends, mutual pining, boinking but not dating, dating but not boinking, dating and boinking, or secretly married.
Netossa knew she was going to be a very wealthy woman after this. Just enough to buy Spinny that anniversary present next year.
~~~
Horde Kids Reunion was awkward to say the least. Adora had tried to kill them and Catra was just a DICK. I mean, they could understand sorta. The Horde did turn out to be evil, so they could get Adora leaving. And they could sorta see why Catra was such a jerk, after taking shelter in that weird beacon place with the ghost named Light Hope who called Kyle ‘He-Man’ and then promptly showed them Catra’s whole backstory for some reason. Didn’t make it OK, but they weren’t that mad at her.
But there’s a thing.
Kyle is dating Rogelio. Rogelio is dating Lonnie. Lonnie is dating Kyle
The only people. Not in a relationship. Would be Catra and Adora.
Right?
WRONG.
They didn’t outright say they were dating. But the way they looked at each other. Similarly love-filled as before, except this time. No embarrassment. Or shame. That was the look of two idiots who had confessed.
The fact that Imp had hid in the shadows and recorded the sounds of them smooching so that he could embarrass them at the meeting didn’t help their case.
“Aw, do you like Adora?”
“No! Gross! I don’t like her.” Catra said. Adora, who was drunk because Double Trouble spiked the punch while nobody was looking, started crying. Catra spent the next fifteen minutes apologizing and cuddling her.
So yeah. The Horde Kids Reunion party didn’t go as planned. But there was ice cream and potato chips so.
All things considered, everyone was looking foreward to the next reunion.
~~~
Entrapta had been observing the two losers for a while and could come up with only one answer that could explain their behavior.
Nothing else made sense. It could only be this.
Catra’s entire demeanor changed whenever she was in a room with Adora. She actually started purring sometimes, which is a feature that Entrapta didn’t actually know she had until that time on Darla. This seemed to be a trait that correlated to Adora-time only.
They would often seek to be alone and unmonitored with one another, often making up excuses to do so. It wasn’t very subtle.
They seemed to seek to be as close to each other as possible, and Catra would not only accept but initiate physical contact with Adora. Everyone has learned about Catra’s boundaries the hard way, except for Adora, who Catra has literally leapt into the lap of.
This isn’t to say that it’s always okay for Adora to touch Catra. She still has boundaries, even when it comes to Adora, but Adora seems to have those boundaries memorized and never crosses them without an invitation.
The subject of Catra’s boundaries and the nature of consent in Etherian culture is a different matter. Stick a thumbtack in it and come back to it later.
ANYWAY. Catra and Adora. Being weird.
There was only one explanation. She checked with her lab partner Hordak, with Imp, with her psychological evaluation AI program.
They fuckin.
~~~
“Wait, so you all knew?!”
“Yup.”
“You weren’t exactly subtle about it.”
“But where were all the torches and pitchforks? Glimmer said there would be torches and pitchforks!” everyone looked to Glimmer.
“Okay, so I might have fudged the truth a bit. I didn’t want them to date because I…” She mumbled the last bit so nobody could hear her.
“What was that?” More mumbling. “Make it a bit louder please?”
“Okay fine! I had a crush on Catra, but I’m over it now! And it was all fine in the end. They got married, didn’t they?”
“I for one am surprised, but very happy that they’re happy!” Perfuma said gleefully. “Wait. Was this why you volunteered for that weird political marriage thing?”
“Yeah, it’s ‘cuz we actually wanted to get married. That was just an excuse we came up with so nobody would figure it out. Everybody figured it out already, I guess. Good job on the pointless subterfuge.”
“Thanks. But is it just me or was the sneaking around… kinda hot actually?”
“Yeah, but this is so much better. We can smooch whenever we want!” Adora moved in for a kiss.
“Ohp they’re gonna smooch again." Everyone (Catradora excluded) grabbed onto glimmer and were teleported somewhere safe, giving the two lovebirds the room to themselves.