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‘We should get a tv.’ Catra says, while she’s eating some pasta from the couch. She’s staring in front of her, where a television could be. There’s not even a painting, so she’s forced to look at the greyish wall.
Adora looks up from the super healthy, no-cook wraps she’s making in the kitchen. ‘Agreed.’
Catra hadn’t thought that it would be so easy, but it was. Lucky her.
***
And so their quest begun. What was also way easier than she’d expected. Adora read a ton of reviews and did some other research to know what made a good tv, and then they went to a thrift store.
Many trinkets filled the walls and shelves, but they eventually found what they were looking for. Just a couple bucks and an awkward bus trip later, they were installing their new television.
Well, Catra’s friend Entrapta did that. And did a lot more than that. Within a couple of hours, they were hooked up with cable, streaming and some other stuff. Catra didn’t want to ask question if any of that was legal. She knew Entrapta and ignorance was bliss after all.
It was so easy. A little bit too easy.
***
The real hardships came that following Friday night.
After dinner, Catra wanted to use the tv for the sole purpose she had bought it. To game.
Last Christmas she’d picked up her game console from home. She’d gotten Hollow Knight amongst other things and it was the catalyst to her new pastime.
Yeah, she could play it from her switch, but the art and music were too good. A tv would bring so much more life to the game.
Catra sat on the edge of the couch after she’d set it all up. The game was loading and it only made her anticipation grow. . She has enough water on hand, she’d pee already, and there were enough snacks to keep her fed.
Soon she saw words appear on the screen and a cutscene started. A little dude looked over to a city and then fell down.
She tried the game mechanics and it felt amazing. Catra was grateful that Adora was always such an overachiever. The graphics were insane and the sound quality of the music only added to that.
In their dingy living room, she was fully submerged in that virtual world, jumping around and smashing stuff.
It was in the middle of collecting her first soul that the trouble started.
‘Hey Catra, can I have the tv?’
‘Uhhh…. no?’
‘Please?’
Jumping up and down to kill a big, weird mosquito, Catra responded.‘No way, I’m busy.’ She could feel Adora staring at her, but she didn’t care. She almost had it.
‘What even are you doing?’
‘Pro gaming.’ Adora couldn’t exactly disagree with that. She didn’t know a lot about games, but Catra made it seem easy.
‘How did you even get a switch?’
‘Snatched it from home. Game came from Christmas. Why do you think I wanted a tv?’
‘Can’t you just like, pause it for two hours?’
Catra did in fact pause the game, but only to look at Adora in shock. ‘Two hours?!’ It was confirmed. Adora’s a mad woman.
‘I just wanna watch my show, real quick!’
Catra scoffed and continued her game again. ‘Two hours isn’t quick. And it’s probably stupid anyway.’
Adora huffed. ‘You did not just say that The Bachelor is a stupid show!’
‘Maybe you should check your hearing.’
After that, Adora threw one of the cushions on the couch, walked into her room and grabbed her laptop. She put the volume as loud as she dared, the goody two shoes still being mindful for the landlord.
Catra however, also raised her music until it drowned out the sounds of a heteronormative reality show, that was faker than Adoras hairline. She went to collect the next soul and called it quits.
***
The next time the Bachelor was on, Adora prepared herself. She was ready.
Most important of all, she had a plan. The last week she’d spent studying Catra’s gaming schedule. Basically, every day after dinner she’d play games for maybe an hour, because it was a week day.
But now, this Friday, it was Adora’s time to shine. She was already seated and watching the tv when Catra walked in. It was 45 minutes before The Bachelor begun, but that didn’t matter.
‘Excuse me?’
‘You’re excused.’ Adora said.
‘Can I have the tv tonight?’ Catra wanted to make some serious progress today, but that can’t be done when Adora’s watching something about animals.
‘No.’
‘But it’s more important than your stupid show.’
‘It’s not stupid! It’s fun, and chaotic! Besides, I’m already using the tv, so get wrecked Catra.’ Adora blew a raspberry at Catra. How mature.
‘Well, I don’t care.’
It was Catra’s idea to get a television, so also her rights.
Right?
She walked over to the tv and plugged the Switch in, making the lion that was on the screen disappear.
‘You can’t just-’
‘Well I did!’
She turned to look at Adora and stared her in the eyes. Adora in turn opened her mouth and closed it again. This was not fair on so many levels. She wanted to just watch her show once a week ansheit couldn’t. ‘We both can use the tv.’
‘Yeah, but not at the same time, smartass.’
‘Well, it’s my turn now!’
Catra narrowed her eyes. ‘You could’ve used the tv any time you wanted, but after dinner is my time.’
‘We haven’t even made a schedule!’
‘Well, that’s the schedule for you!’
They were both raising their voices and Adora was pretty sure their neighbours could hear it.
Catra held even more intimidating eye contact. Adora’s jaw was set, her eyebrows were in a frown and her hands were in fists. Were those tears in her eyes? Catra thought.
‘Fine. If you want to be immature, so be it.’ It took one huff and Adora was off the couch walking to her room and not looking back.
Counting to ten in her head after she saw the door close with a slam, Catra found it in herself to move again. Damn.
She started Hollow Knight again and the empty eyes of the character were staring at her soul. She scoffed. ‘Not my fault she has a bad taste in shows.’
She started her gameplay again, but shredding through the world felt less satisfying than before. Catra felt… guilty. Adora had also paid for the tv. And she only wanted to watch one show, even though it was a shit show. It wasn’t in Catra’s right to deprive her from that, especially since Adora almost never wanted anything. Sure, they don’t always get along all the time, but even she knows that Adora is one of the most selfless people ever.
Catra groaned. She’d talked too much to her parents and sister over break, lamenting over her annoying roommate. (Of all the things, she didn’t mention how annoying she found it when Adora made her heart beat quicker when they did get along.)
They said that Catra needed to give her some room to breathe too.
Before she did that, she needed to breathe some too. A big inhale, a big exhale and some relaxing scenes she made up in her own head.
She wanted to talk to Adora without lashing out again. The guilt was heavy enough on her shoulders.
Catra looked at the clock. Ten minutes before The Bachelor began. She grabbed her Switch and knocked on Adora’s door.
No response.
Just as she’d expected. She talked anyway. ‘Hey Adora. You can use the tv if you want. I… I was a real shithead.’
There was nothing. No sound. Not even a sound of her roommate moving or anything. ‘I’ll be in my room if you need me, or anything.’
One minute. Catra waited for a response in front of Adora’s room for one whole minute, and she still heard nothing. She went to her room and sat on her bed, Switch limply in hand. What if Adora hadn’t heard her?
Then she would be gaming on a tiny screen for no reason at all.
She shook her head. She shouldn’t be thinking like that. Even if Adora didn’t take the tv this evening, Catra still wanted to give her a choice. They’d bought the television together, after all.
When it was time for The Bachelor and she heard the softest sound of a door opening, she knew it was worth it.
***
‘Wanna make a schedule?’ weren’t the first words Adora expected to hear on this fine Saturday morning. ‘You can fill it in first and then I’ll work around it.’
Adora was still deciding if she should dignify that with an answer, so she opted for taking another bite out of her smoothie breakfast bowl. Still chewing the fruit, she raised an eyebrow.
‘It’s the least I can do. I… yesterday.’ Catra winced a bit and looked sheepish to Adora.
Knowing her roommate, this was the best apology she was gonna get. Catra confused her in a lot of ways. She could be a bit of a hot head now and then, but almost as quickly regained her chill. And then, out of nowhere, she was more compassionate and almost soft.
She didn’t hate Catra or anything, they just had their moments.
Adora took a sip of her water, ready to start off with a clean slate. ‘Let’s make a schedule then.’
***
As next Friday came along and it again time for Adora’s show, Catra stopped playing on the switch. She’d already turned the tv to the right channel and then Adora plopped on the couch next to her.
She stood up from the couch and said, ‘Yeah, this is my que to leave.’
‘Wait, Catra. Could you get the popcorn out of the microwave?’
She grumbled but walked towards the kitchen. While discussing the schedule, Catra had made some comments how many lame ass shows Adora watches. Okay, maybe a bit more than some. But who in the right mind watched shows like Married at first sight, Master chef and worst of all, The Bachelor? There were so many great shows on other streaming services that Entrapta gave them.
Needless to say, the blonde pouted at Catra’s harsh but truthful criticism. She felt kind of bad again, damn her conscious, so she decided to make up for it. Just a little bit. By getting some snacks for Adora’s shows every now and then.
Honestly, it was not even a minor inconvenient since Adora often didn’t really ask.
She’d grabbed the fresh and hot bowl of popcorn and brought it to Adora.
The moment she walked away again, she heard the tv and Adora half cackling on the couch. ‘You took all the shrimp!’ This was followed by more backtalking and the sounds of feral women screaming.
About shrimp.
Of course this peeked her curiosity, so she turned around.
She meant to only glance, but her face got stuck.
‘What the fuck is happening?’
Adora managed to laugh even louder. She tried her best to get the words out, but it seemed impossible. She kept bursting of laughter.
Catra decided that it would be more comfortable to sit on the couch while she waited for Adora to regain her composure, and was proven right five minutes later.
‘Look, she-’ she pointed at a blonde woman on the screen, ‘took like nine shrimp. And the others also want shrimp.’
On screen there now was a different woman trying to serenade a man. Very badly. The singing was off-key and lyrics were even worse. Catra had never ever heard such a disaster before and she frequently heard Adora adlibbing in the shower. The man only chuckled dryly.
Catra lost it.
She sat next to Adora, also half lounging on the couch like a sack of potatoes. ‘What in the hell is going on?’
‘I thought you weren’t interested in this kind of stuff.’
‘I’m not. My brain’s just trying to comprehend what I just saw.’
Adora hummed, clearly not believing her. She put the bowl of popcorn from her lap to in between them on the couch. ‘Just watch it.’
She was about to protest, but Adora shushed her. ‘Look, the bachelor’s about to get drunk!’
Indeed the man that was serenaded too had drunk his glass of wine in one go, already grabbing the bottle for more.
Maybe this show was amusing. Still stupid, but amusing. To not let Adora make her feel like she won something though, Catra grabbed her phone to scroll through it.
If by the end of the show Catra yelled with Adora at the tv that the bachelor was a big old red flag because he forgot the names of most of his contestants, than that was nobody’s business.
***
The next Friday she had a rare free day from uni. Catra wasn’t complaining, she was free to do anything she wanted today.
After sleeping in and brunching, it was time. Catra felt like playing some Super Mario Odyssey for a change.
She tilted her head to the left, right and cracked her knuckles. She put the switch on again and loaded her game.
How fast could she speed run getting all power moons?
It had been a while when she played it, but she had faith in her own skills.
***
Around two hours into her gameplay, Adora walked into the living room. Catra hadn’t even noticed she was gone, but that did explain the serenity in the apartment.
Which Adora was actively ruining now, by pacing back and forth.
She finally settled on sitting on the couch next to Catra. She was relieved for a second, until she noticed that Adora’s restlessness manifested itself in her leg, that was bouncing up and down.
Catra glanced a look at her. She was hugging a pillow and looked uneasy, but her gaze was fixed onto the screen.
Catra figured that it wasn’t her place to ask what’s up, so she let it be. They were both looking at the tiny Mario on screen, moving around worlds.
But five minutes in, she couldn’t take all that restless energy anymore. It was severely killing her good vibes. She paused the game and looked at her roommate.
‘Don’t you have anything better to do?’
Adora bit her lip, and her leg bounced even harder. ‘No.’
‘You can watch something? Meet-up? Go to the gym?’
‘I’ve already done all of those.’
‘How do you have so much energy left?’
An eyebrow quirked up and instead of answering with words, Catra put a hand on the bouncing leg.
‘Oh.’ The bouncing at least stopped, and Adora sat straighter. ‘I can go?’
Catra sighed. Adora could stay if she wanted to, she only wanted to know what was going on. But it checked out. Her roommate always had trouble with relaxing, especially on free days. Knowing her, she’d also already cleaned her room not once, but twice and way more other stuff.
‘We can play co-op if you want?’
‘What?’
‘Corporative, or together.’ Catra rolled her eyes, but already went to the menu to select that. It would be more fun to game together than speed run, anyway. She gave one of the consoles to Adora and she only blinked at her. ‘If you want to?’
‘I- yes.’ She gave Catra a small smile and looked at the screen again. ‘Can I play as Peach?’
Catra barked out a laugh. ‘Typical.’ Before Adora could splutter out a comeback, she spoke again. ‘Sorry princess, but you’re doomed to be Mario or Cappy.’
‘Cappy?’
‘His hat.’
‘I can play as a hat and not as Peach?’ A brief glimpse of sadness washed down on Adora’s face.
‘Don’t disrespect Cappy like that.’
Adora contemplated before she perked up again and rolled her shoulders backwards. Her face was set with determination, because of course she would take a game this seriously. ‘Let’s do this. How does it work?’
‘You just gotta jump and stuff.’
Adora looked at the buttons in front of her, worrying her lower lip.
Catra rolled her eyes. ‘Look, just try something. It won’t kill yah.’
The blond looked at the buttons of her console another time, inspecting every single one. She pushed one and the Mario on screen jumped.
Adora’s mouth went open from amazement and there were sparkles in her eyes. ‘Look Catra! He jumped!’
She hummed. ‘Can you go there for a moment?’ She pointed over to the tutorial ghost that would introduce them to the game mechanics. Adora took her time reading everything one by one, way too focused on the game.
At least it was working.
‘Check this out.’ Catra said. She pointed at the tv with a head nod and Cappy on screen flew from the left and right.
Adora audibly gasped.
Was it cute to see Adora be so amazed over a hat? Yes. Was Catra ever going to admit that? No.
With that settled, the two went on to game.
***
Catra laughed as Adora fell of the world again, and Adora checked her with her shoulder. They had played for about the whole midday just about now.
To her credit, Adora wasn’t actually terrible at the game. Even taken in consideration that she’d never gamed before.
When the last sounds of Catra’s laughter died again and Mario respawned, Catra looked at the clock.
‘Hey princess?’
Adora hummed, focussing on trying to nail the jump on the platform again.
‘I know this is fun, but… isn’t it time for your stupid show.’
She looked at the clock. ‘Oh shoot, you’re right!’ One cocky as hell eyebrow shot up. ‘Also, I thought you didn’t like the Bachelor.’
‘I- I do not!’
‘Of course you don’t, that’s why you’re reminding me.’
Catra plugged the switch out to make the television ready. ‘I’m just a thoughtful gal.’
‘Uhu.’
‘Just shut up and point out and make fun of them with me.’
‘And tell me exactly how you were gonna do that without watching the show?’
Catra stood in front of the television. ‘I swear I’ll put yoghurt in your bed.’
‘Fine, fine!’ Adora patted the spot next to her where Catra had sat not too long ago. ‘Sit next to me?’
Folded arms, scrunched eyebrows and a scoff later, they were watching the show clearly didn’t like.
And they were both definitely not agitated when one of the contestants already had a partner at home, because Adora might care about this show, but Catra does not.