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They’re halfway through a game of Sorry! and Catra looks like she’s primed for the kill, eyes half-lidded as she regards her lone piece, five spots away from home. Bow’s shaking in his boots and doing a pitiful attempt to hide it.
It’s Adora’s turn now though and she draws from the deck of cards in the center. She draws a four–and all of her pieces are far from home but there’s one conveniently placed 4 spots behind Catra’s. She cracks her knuckles once before hovering her hand above the piece, poised like she’s waiting to strike. Catra’s eyes follow her across the board.
“You wouldn’t,” she says, voice silky smooth. Goosebumps split across Adora’s skin as she picks up the game piece, hefting it in her palm.
“I totally would actually.”
“You won’t because you love me and you would never do anything ever to hurt me.”
Time grinds to a screeching halt. Adora’s fingers turn cold and numb, the piece fumbling out of her grasp and rolling across the board with a deafening thud. She watches the exact moment the realization hits Catra in the gut, the way shock flits across her face, then guilt and anger before finally settling on disappointment.
“I gotta go,” Catra says, standing up abruptly. “I have to, uh, do something.” It’s a bold-faced lie considering all four of them have their schedules marked free for the rest of the day–it was a logistical nightmare wrestling a 2-hour slot out of Glimmer’s schedule–but Catra’s face is panicked as she races for the exit. Adora watches all the stages of her shutdown like they’re in slow-motion–first, the dullness in her eyes, then the tight line of her mouth and finally the pronounced pinch in her shoulders.
Catra turns and flicks her tail across the whole board in the process. Bow yelps, scrambling to try and catch the pieces, and Adora snaps back into her body like a rubber band drawn tight.
“Catra, wait!” she hollers, half-tripping over herself to get upright but the only one left to hear her pleas is the empty doorway.
Adora tries to tell herself that it’s fine when Catra doesn’t return to their room at night.
She tells herself that it’s fine when she doesn’t cross paths with Catra for the whole day, despite the fact that that hasn’t happened since they fought Hordak Prime.
She tells herself that it’s fine when she goes her seventh meal in silence, even picking through dessert when she normally leaves it to the side for Catra to polish off.
She tells herself that it is fine up until she sees Catra tromp off with Bow, of all people, for private archery lessons.
“Do you even know how to hold a bow?” Adora shouts, shaking her fist. Apparently this whole place is warded so she can’t even make it past the threshold of the archery range without proper permission. Screw Bright Moon.
“Better than you.” Catra sticks her tongue out at her and Adora feels blood rush to her face in spite of everything. She switches targets instead.
“And you!” Adora points one trembling finger at him and tries to conjure up some sort of good insult but nothing comes. “You–are you serious?”
“I’m sorry,” Bow says and he at least looks the part, clapping his hands together in apology. “But she’s like way scarier than you!”
Adora huffs at that, propping her hands up on her hips.
“I-I can be scary when I want to be! I’m She-Ra!”
Bow makes wide puppy eyes at her and a giant pitiful heart with his hands before they round the corner.
“I love you, Adora, but you really can’t!”
“You can’t avoid me forever!” Adora hollers at their backs. “This castle is not that big!”
The castle is admittedly bigger than she thought.
On Monday, Catra’s busy learning how to tie different knots from Netossa. On Tuesday, she’s doing gardening with King Micah because gardening is apparently how she spends her time now that Hordak’s gone. On Wednesday, she’s learning box steps with Spinnerella. On Thursday, she’s going over new legislation with Glimmer.
Honestly, Adora would be thrilled at Catra’s sudden climb in social activity if it didn’t come at her expense. As it is, she’s less than pleased.
“Et tu, Brutus?” Adora hollers when she corners Glimmer that evening, one accusatory finger jabbed up at her face. Glimmer barely bats an eye as she moves her hand.
“I’m sorry, if I had more time–and less self-preservation–I would try and mediate this fight between you two but my hands are full,” she says apologetically. “And besides, Catra actually had some really good ideas about trade routes. She’s definitely got a unique perspective.”
“It’s not a fight,” Adora replies automatically, crossing her arms. “Pretty sure we have to both be present to fight.”
“Fine, then. A spat.” Glimmer tips her head to study her, really study her in the moonlight and sighs. “I got a few minutes before my next meeting. Wanna talk about it?”
Adora sighs, running her palms up the sides of her face.
“I mean, ughhhhhh. Of course I care about Catra! I’ve always cared about her. It’s just… hard. Love is what Shadow Weaver used to reward us with when we did something that pleased her. She said she loved me when she appointed me Force Captain. And when we made her upset, she would withhold it from us. It just has such a complicated past and–CATRA!”
It’s barely a glimpse but Adora spies her at the end of the corridor and full-on bolts. Catra’s eyes blow wide at the sight and she takes a quick look around the hallway before inevitably settling on the window, climbing out onto the walls.
“Oh no you don’t!” Adora reaches the windowsill in a few quick strides and hardly thinks before vaulting herself over the windowsill.
In retrospect, throwing herself out of a window in Bright Moon’s castle wasn’t her brightest idea. While Catra has claws to at least try and carve footholds in the stones, Adora only has her human hands and is left scrabbling against the rocks. She’s flat against the stone as the wind whips by and her foot knocks a piece of rubble loose, sending it tumbling against the wall.
The sound makes Catra turn from where she’s perched on an alcove. Her pupils dilate before blowing wide, the shock written clear across them.
“ADORA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!”
“I,” Adora huffs, reaching for another stone. She’s going to reach that alcove or die trying. “Have something to tell you!”
“Then tell me later!” Maybe it’s the wind or just the sheer audacity of the situation but Catra’s voice comes out shrill and high. “Get down from there! You’re not She-Ra right now!”
“No!” Adora hollers, inching further up. Just a couple more feet and she’ll be there. “I have to tell you now!”
Her feet kick off another piece of rubble–hopefully Glimmer won’t mind, honestly this place is overdue for a makeover–as she crawls up another foot. Just one more brick and–
Adora reaches for the next piece but only ends up swiping at air. The miss knocks her off-balance and she feels her stomach pitch backwards as she starts to fall. In hindsight, this may not have been her most brilliant idea. Adora’s eyes slip closed as she’s tipping back and back and–
And then there’s a sudden weight on her arm, nearly wrenching her shoulder out of her socket. Catra’s got one hand wrapped around her wrist and her claws hurt like hell but with some pushing and tugging, she manages to haul her onto the alcove until they’re both flat against the wall, heaving in and out in unison.
“Idiot!” Catra hollers when she catches her breath. “Knucklehead! Bonehead! Dumb–”
“I love you,” Adora blurts out and she swears she’s never seen Catra’s jaw drop faster. “I love you and I’m sorry I didn’t say it before. The only person who’s ever said that to me was Shadow Weaver and the way she treated love, the way she used it was… was messed-up. But I’m done letting her ruin my life. She’s already taken my past, I refuse to let her have my future too.” Catra’s still staring at her wide-eyed and Adora wrings her wrists in the wind. “I love you, Catra. I always have and I always will and I’ll keep saying it for as long as you’ll let me.”
Catra’s cheeks are bright as a tomato and she keeps her eyes glued to the ground even as her voice turns coy.
“No need to be so dramatic, Adora. And uh, I guess I love you too, no biggie.”
Adora snorts as she stares behind her.
“Your tail is literally sticking straight up.”
The smile falls right off of Catra’s face.
“I hate you actually,” she says but she’s grinning again.