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Thunder crashes once. Twice.
Adora watches as Catra buries her head further into the pillow. She reaches out for her hand, closing her fist around her companion’s warm skin. Catra sniffs slightly and squeezes back.
Adora guiltily eyes the towering stack of paper on her bedside table. Glimmer probably won’t notice that she had given up on her paperwork for the fourth time this week, but she still feels bad.
It’s not entirely her fault. One could only focus so much with their cute girlfriend’s head resting in their lap.
“Adora?” Catra mumbles, tossing the pillow off her head and shuffling around to face Adora. “Are you done writing boring stuff yet?”
“Uhhhmmm…” Adora trails off. She has two options: tell the truth, that she hasn’t finished the paperwork and needs more time, or lie to her girlfriend about it and have more time to spend with her. Adora chooses the second option for obvious reasons.
“Yup,” she says, not suspiciously at all. “I’m all done.”
Catra raises an eyebrow but sits up and does a cat-like stretch, her tail flung out and her jaws open wide. Adora feels a patch of heat growing on her cheeks. It’s not like she can help it. Catra can be very adorable at times.
Almost instinctively, Adora pulls her girlfriend halfway onto her lap and kisses her softly on the cheek. She’s surprised to find Catra giving her nothing more than a shy, slightly embarrassed smile. Usually, her former enemy will jump at the opportunity to “beat” her in kissing or telling the other how much you love them.
But today, as the rain patters forcefully against the Bright Moon windows and lightning flickers far away in the sky, Catra remains still and silent.
“Is everything okay?” Adora asks, the smallest bit worried. After everything the two of them have been through, sometimes they just need a moment to be quiet and… remember. But something in her lover’s eyes clues her in to believe her silence has a deeper meaning behind it.
“Yeah,” Catra says, her voice sounding distant and distracted, like she’s much farther away than she actually is. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Hmm…” Adora hums, stroking Catra’s beautiful fluffy hair. Her girlfriend purrs quietly, nuzzling her neck. Adora carefully wraps her arms around the other girl, trying to shield her from whatever is going on in her head.
“Catra, I know something’s not completely alright,” she says, choosing her words carefully as though there’s a punishment to come with the wrong ones. And the truth is, there could be. Adora knows all too well that her girlfriend struggles with being open and vulnerable at times when it could really help her. “You don’t have to tell me, but maybe it would make you feel better if you did?”
Catra freezes again, and then pulls away from Adora’s grip.
“No, Adora it’s-” she chokes and looks away. “It’s fine.”
Adora decides that it’s best if she gives her girlfriend a moment to breathe and process her emotions. Cautious not to make it too obvious, she runs her hand lightly up and down Catra’s back in attempts to comfort her.
Catra doesn’t pull away, but she doesn’t turn back toward Adora either.
“Catra…” Adora says, hesitating before continuing her sentence. “I think you need a hug. Is it okay if I give you one?”
Her companion faces her with a practically emotionless expression. Adora sighs mentally. She shouldn’t have thought that would work.
“...Okay,” Catra says, her tone sad and vulnerable. She lets out a small chuckle as she adds, “If that’s what you think would work best, Doctor Adora.”
“That’s my Catra,” Adora smiles, earning an enchanting blush from the girl sitting beside her on the large white bed. It might sound strange to most people, but she’s happy to hear Catra teasing her again. Though it can be annoying sometimes, Adora knows it’s one of her girlfriend’s main love languages, and she’s grown to appreciate her silly insults like they’re compliments.
“C’mere,” Adora giggles, wrapping her body around Catra’s and giving her a squeeze. Catra hugs her back and leans her chin on her shoulder. Her breath is so soft and warm on Adora’s neck that it sends a weird tingle down her arms and legs every time she feels it. It’s probably because, even after a childhood spent play-fighting, a few years spent actually fighting, and two months dating, the feeling of Catra’s body pressed against hers never gets any less special.
A few moments later Adora and Catra are still sitting almost directly in the middle of the bed, hugging tightly in a sitting position. Adora’s legs wrap themselves around her girlfriend’s smaller body and Catra settles in between them.
Adora places a kiss on Catra’s lips, which she returns passionately. She lets her tongue lay softly against her lover’s mouth, only applying the smallest amount of pressure, and then brakes it off to pull her into an even closer hug. She can only hope she’s helping.
Catra may act like she’s invincible and doesn’t care about anything, but she knows that her girlfriend carries much more inside than she lets on to most people.
She’s gotten used to holding Catra, massaging her shoulders and comforting her with sweet words during the nights where her darkest memories come back to haunt her. Adora hardly has any nightmares of her own, but when she does, Catra is always there to protect her as well. The two of them are lifelines to each other. Not shields, not swords to fight the others’s battles with, but their lighthouses in the dark. Adora knows that wherever she may go, she will always be able to find a home and shelter in Catra.
With lots of love, Adora begins to kiss the base of her girlfriend’s neck delicately. Catra’s heart rate increases and beats hard against her chest, but not in a bad way. She can tell, because Catra smiles into her shoulder and brushes her legs with her tail. Her body vibrates with a lengthy purr.
“Adora…” Catra whispers, soft as a feather.
“Yeah?” Adora says between kisses. She raises her head to better hear her girlfriend’s quiet reply.
“Thank you for loving me.”
Adora releases her grip on Catra to look her in the eyes while she glances downward sheepishly. Tears spring into Catra’s eyes as she mumbles a quick apology and tries to bury her face in her hands, but Adora catches them and slides her arms around her lover’s back.
“Catra,” Adora starts seriously. “You don’t need to apologize for anything. That was very sweet.”
“But I do!” Catra cries out, holding back sobs. “I did so many bad things, Adora. You know that. I ruined your life and kept trying to hurt you over and over, just because I had some stuff I could never get out of my head. But you… you never stopped fighting for me, and you even fell in love with me. And I don’t deserve it. Adora, I’m so, so sorry for everything, I - ”
She breaks into heavy tears and curls up into a ball.
“Catra, Catra,” Adora murmurs lovingly, letting her own eyes leak. “I forgave you, remember? And I still forgive you for everything. That’s all in the past now.”
“B-But-” her shaking girlfriend stutters.
“You don’t need to worry about it, my love,” Adora interrupts gently. “You’re here now, on the good side, hugging me, trying, and succeeding, to do so much better. I love you very much because of who you are and everything you’ve done to make up for the mistakes of the past. That love will never fade, understand?”
Catra sniffles and calms her breathing. She looks up at Adora with eyes so wide, hopeful, relieved, and happy that she can barely withstand not kissing her in this exact moment.
“You really mean all of that?” Catra asks quietly, almost testing.
“I really do,” Adora smiles. She places her hands on her girlfriend’s cheeks and wipes her tears away. The two of them resume their tender hug, foreheads bent together and noses brushing.
Catra’s lips touch against Adora’s so lightly that she can barely feel them. They slowly, simultaneously deepen the kiss, giving each other breaks to breath and being careful not to be too rough. It’s a sweet, pleasant moment, not too strong, but full of love nonetheless. It’s exactly the kind both of them crave at this moment.
Minutes later, when the cloudy skies start to lighten for the evening and the two Etherian girlfriends cuddle up together against the backboard of their bed, Catra seems to have one more thing to say.
“I, uh, noticed that you called me “my love” earlier,” she says, the heat rising very obviously on her face.
“Was that all right?” Adora asks, anxious that she crossed a line.
“Mhm,” Catra mumbles into her shirt. “I was, um, wondering if you could maybe keep calling me that? I like it.”
Adora is filled at once with an intense surge of joy. She leans down to kiss her feline girlfriend on the forehead and lets out a laugh.
“Of course, my love.”