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1. "Will you marry me?"
Catra was four when she was first introduced to the idea of marriage.
Sure, her moms were married, and so were her best friend's parents, but it wasn't a concept that had ever been explained to her. Not until she saw it on TV.
"What are they doing?" she asked her mother. The man and woman were standing in front of another woman, holding hands while the second woman said something. There were a lot of people there watching.
"They're getting married," Mama explained, smoothing Catra's hair back and tickling her ears. They twitched, and she laughed.
"What's that?"
"When two people love each other a lot, they make a big promise to always be together."
"Like best friends?"
"Sort of, yeah."
They watched as the man put a ring on the woman. "Why're they doing that?"
"It's a symbol of their promise."
It just so happened that Catra had gotten a ring out of the toy machine at the grocery store that day. She didn't like those rings — they were made for human children, not Magicat kittens — but now she knew exactly what to do with it.
She found Adora outside the next day after breakfast, playing up in her tree house. "Hey Adora!" she called before climbing the tree — completely bypassing the ladder. Adora rolled her eyes at her antics.
"Why can't you use the ladder like a normal person? You're going to fall."
"Nah, I'm a way better climber than you." Catra dropped into the tree house and held out the ring. "Will you marry me?"
Adora tilted her head. "What's that?"
"It's a ring."
"I know that. What's marry?"
"Mama said it's a big promise you make to your best friend. And you're my best friend, and I'm your best friend. So we should get married."
Adora lit up, enthralled with the idea. "Okay!"
She took the ring to put it on her finger. It fit perfectly.
2. "I definitely don't want to marry a boy."
"You can always marry me."
Sixth grade was a weird time when hormones were starting to stir up but not quite there. But boys were asking out girls and saying they were in love and breaking up a week later. The sixth grade dance destroyed longtime friendships. It was ridiculous.
"Do you think that's something we have to do?" Adora asked, disgusted, as they watched yet another couple break up. The third that week. Spring was kind of crazy.
"What?" Catra asked, not looking up from her lunch.
"Date boys. And marry them."
"Probably not? Mama and Mom are both girls, and they're married."
Adora looked slightly appeased by that. "That's true. Good. I definitely don't want to marry a boy."
"You can always marry me." Catra was glad her fur hid whatever blush was creeping up her face. She had known for a long time already that she had a crush on Adora. But Adora didn't need to know about it.
But Adora grinned that big stupid grin that made Catra's heart skip a beat. "That sounds way better," she agreed.
3. "Mmmmm. You should marry me."
Lyra and C'yra sent Catra to Half Moon Academy for high school, rather than sending her to Bright Moon Academy with Adora. She would forgive them for it eventually.
Adora, of course, immediately made new friends, because that was the kind of person she was. Bow was nice enough, but Sparkles absolutely grated on Catra's every nerve.
"I don't really understand why you hate her," Adora said one night while they were doing homework together. "She's really nice."
"Yeah, if you're human." Sure, most people did a double-take when they first saw Catra. It didn't mean anything. But Sparkles had stared a minute too long, and it was annoying.
"She didn't mean to stare, Catra."
"Whatever."
Luckily giant blow out parties at people's houses didn't care what school a person went to, so Catra happily crashed with a few other Magicats she had met. She knew Adora was there with Sparkles and Bow, and she fully intended to irritate Sparkles as much as possible. Including pretending to not know her name.
"Heeeeeeey Adora," she sang as she slid up behind Adora, giving her ponytail a small tug. Adora batted her hand away, laughing.
"I was wondering where you were."
"Fashionably late is the only way to do anything, Adora." She looked at Bow and Sparkles, who were smiling and scowling respectively.
"Hi Catra," Bow said, waving.
"Hi Bow." She nodded to Sparkles. "Glitter."
Sparkles made a high-pitched, frustrated noise. "I know you know my name, Catra!"
"Oh right, it's Confetti, isn't it?"
"Catra." Adora shoved Catra a little, rolling her eyes. "Stop being such a brat."
Catra rolled her eyes right back. "Whatever. I'm going to get a drink."
Catra wasn't a huge drinker, which was probably why it was so easy for her to get drunk. Two drinks in and she was sprawled across a couch, half in Adora's lap. Sparkles and Bow were off somewhere probably making out, which was fine with Catra. She liked when she got Adora all to herself. Especially when Adora was petting her hair and scratching her ears.
"Mmm. You should marry me."
"Oh yeah?" Adora laughed, flicking one of her twitching ears. "You're going to have get me a better ring, at least."
"You don't seem to mind this one," Catra said, flicking the little plastic ring Adora always wore on a chain around her neck. Adora's little fingers had quickly outgrown it, but instead of losing it along with every other symbol of childhood, Adora had found a chain to put it on and kept it on her always. Catra tried not to think too much about why she did that.
"Maybe I should try dating you before I marry you," Catra said thoughtfully, still tugging lightly at the necklace. "Do you wanna date me, Adora?"
Adora was wide-eyed now, all signs of mirth gone. "You're… really drunk, Catra."
"Sure," Catra scoffed, rolling onto her side so she wasn't looking at up at Adora — but she was, importantly, still in Adora's lap.
"Catra…" Adora started to say, then cut off with a sigh. "Maybe we should go home."
Catra tilted her head slightly to look at Adora out of the corner of her eye. "Carry me?"
"Yes, Catra. I'll carry you."
4. "Will you marry me?"
Catra wasn't generally the type to get herself too worked up about things. She had a good life, and a good girlfriend, and was doing really well in school. What more did she need?
Maybe a fiancée instead of a girlfriend.
They were going to their favorite restaurant. It was their anniversary. Catra wasn't usually one to be overly romantic, but all of this felt right. She was going to ask Adora to marry her over their favorite desserts, and Adora was going to say yes, and everything would be fine.
She tried to ignore that Adora didn't seem very into the dinner, or that Adora let her carry most of the conversation. It was almost finals time. She was probably tired.
They paid the check while they were eating dessert. Catra took a deep breath, slipping a hand into her pocket to grab the ring case and squeeze it tight.
"Adora?" She looked up, expression slightly distracted. Catra tried not to let that bother her. She took a deep breath and pulled the ring case out of her pocket. "Will you marry me?"
She was expecting happiness, or at least shock. Instead Adora looked horrified, tears filling her eyes. Wow. Okay.
"Sorry." Catra immediately put the ring case back in her pocket and stood. "Never mind. I'm sorry."
"No, Catra, wait—"
But Catra was already hurrying out of the restaurant. How had she miscalculated that terribly?
It took nearly an hour to walk home, but Catra at least felt ready to face Adora when she let herself into the apartment. Adora was sitting on the couch, puffy eyed and still sniffling. She jumped up when the door opened.
"Catra! Can we—"
"I'm not staying." It was a decision Catra made in that micro-second. She couldn't face Adora. She wasn't ready for this. "I'm just going to change and spend the night at Glimmer's and Bow's."
"No, please," Adora begged, grabbing Catra's wrist as she walked by. "Just… let me explain."
"You don't have to explain, Adora. I get it."
"You don't, though. Please?"
Catra pulled away from Adora, but turned to face her. She shoved her hands in her pocket, ignoring the ring case her fingers brushed against. She'd barely resisted the urge to throw it off the bridge. Adora's arms fell to her side for a moment before she started tangling her fingers together nervously.
"I'm… I'm not going to graduate this year."
"Huh?" Catra blinked a few times, confused. "What do you mean?"
Adora looked absolutely miserable as she explained. "I had to drop the chemistry class. I was failing any way, and I didn't want to tell you because you've wasted so much time trying to help me and I feel terrible about it. But now I'm a credit short, and I'm not going to graduate on time."
Catra still didn't fully get it. "Okay… so what? I mean, that sucks, but you'll finish next semester. It's not the end of the world."
"I know, but I… I'm not good enough for you, okay?"
Adora looked so distressed, and Catra was sure that laughing was not the most appropriate response. But she couldn't help herself. She had to hide her face so she couldn't see the hurt look her girlfriend was giving her.
"Adora. Come on."
"What? It's true!"
"No it isn't." Catra took a deep breath to compose herself and finally looked at Adora again. "You've always struggled with school. And that's fine! Academics aren't the only measurement in life, and they're really not that important at the end of the day anyway."
"That's easy for you to say," Adora muttered. "You're a genius."
"No, I just learn the way school wants us to learn," Catra corrected. "You do fine in environments where you can learn things by doing them, even if you're not academic-minded. And that's fine. Great, even. Sometimes I'm a little jealous of you."
Adora blinked a few times, stunned. "You're making that up."
"Of course I'm not." Catra stepped forward, reaching out and taking both of Adora's hands in her own. "You are good at so many things that I will never be good at, and they're things that count way more than being good at studying and getting good grades on tests."
Tears filled Adora's eyes. "Really?"
"Yes. And honestly I'm glad you dropped chemistry, you were really struggling with it. You can take it next semester and we can both really focus on it and everything will be fine."
"Yeah." Adora let out a shuddering breath, smiling. "So is it um… is it too late to say yes, or…?"
"Absolutely. Now I have to redo the entire thing. This is not going to be our engagement story."
"Catra!"
Catra just smirked, heading to the bedroom to change.
5. "We could get married instead."
Adora wasn't really asleep when Catra crawled into bed with her. She was tossing and turning and not at all peaceful like she was when she really slept.
"You're not supposed to be here," Adora muttered as Catra snuggled into her side.
"Are you complaining?"
"No. Can't sleep without you."
Catra smiled, resting her forehead against Adora's back, between her shoulder blades. And she started purring. She could tell Adora was smiling when she spoke again.
"Any big plans tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I think I'm a little busy. You?"
"I've got this thing, but I was thinking. We could get married instead."
Adora snorted into her pillow. "You think?"
"Might be fun."
It was easy to fall asleep now, wrapped up in the blankets and each other. They slept until the next morning, when Glimmer pounded on Adora's door.
"Catra isn't her room and she better have run away!"
"The twenty-four hour thing is stupid Sparkles!" Catra called back without opening her eyes. "We need each other to sleep!"
Glimmer made a noise that was almost scream before stomping away. "We probably could have just listened to her," Adora said.
"But what fun is that?"
+1. "Marry me?"
A small, mewling cry stirred Catra out of her sleep. Her body still felt heavy and a little out of sorts, but she was immediately awake and alert.
"I've got them," Adora assured her as she tried to sit up. "Go back to sleep."
"Are they hungry?" Catra murmured, ignoring her.
"No I think they just want to be held. Go back to sleep."
"Mmm. C'mere."
Adora smiled as she carried Finn to the bed and slid in to lie next to Catra. Catra poked Finn's little nose, smiling sleepily. "Hey buddy."
Finn made a little mewling noise again, sounding much happier now that they were the center of attention. Adora kissed the top of their head, then looked at Catra, eyes shining with love.
"Marry me?"
Catra laughed, leaning over to rest her head on Adora's shoulder. "Already beat you to that."
“Oh yeah.” Adora smiled stupidly. “Awesome.”
“Yeah. It is.”