Chapter Text
The champagne glass almost fell over the wooden table when Adora’s elbow accidentally bumped into it. She hissed, both in excitement and in fear of leaving more evidence of her illicit presence behind, but that hint of anxiousness quickly faded away as she felt another long and rough stroke teasing her sensitive spot in the most perfect of ways.
Ordinarily, Adora wouldn’t be caught dead doing something so risky, but nothing about her sex life with Catra was ordinary anyway – and after reluctantly admitting that she had, in fact, lost their five dates bet, she was at her lover’s mercy.
In this case, quite literally, I’m afraid.
Adora was close – very close. Close enough to almost not care if she was being too loud in a semi-public space or if she was making a mess at someone else’s office table. She bit her own hand to muffle a moan from sounding too desperate, her legs locked around Catra’s neck, her arms weakly sliding over furniture until her back was lying flat, long strands of messy gold hair scattered on the table. And as Catra rode her steadily towards orgasm, Adora wondered how on Earth could a feeling like that ever qualify as losing.
But just then, as if reading her twitches and spasms, as if she had graduated in Adora’s body language, Catra interrupted her ministrations.
“Mmm?”
She let out a surprised – and frustrated – whimper of disapproval at the sudden lack of stimulation. She straightened herself back up on the table, leaning over her forearms with a puzzled expression on her face, to find Catra staring at her with a mischievous glint in her eyes, smirking smugly and very much aware of the kind of disappointment she was causing.
Oh, that fucking tease.
Somewhat impatiently, Adora used her forearms as leverage to push her hips against Catra’s mouth with a challenging grin, her knees hanging on each of Catra’s shoulders. Catra playfully pulled her head back, making Adora idiotically chase after her.
“What was that, princess?”, she sang, placing a kiss on Adora’s knee. “Did you need something?”
One of Catra’s many kinks was driving Adora to the very edge, then keeping her there – on that agonizing, torturous border of almost, balancing on the tightrope of nearly there, until the blonde caved and admitted that she couldn’t take it anymore.
She didn’t make it to see Adora beg or to deny her satisfaction, though. It wasn’t about Catra being in control, really. It was more about making Adora lose control – maybe even about corrupting her a little. Adora was so used to put everyone else’s needs in front of hers, Catra enjoyed getting her to the point that she would be willing to claim her own pleasure, demand it, actively pursue it.
Catra knew that she – and only she – had the ability to unleash that irrational, uninhibited part of Adora, the part of her that wasn’t polite or considerate, the part of her that was willing to be authoritative and put herself first.
And she got off on it.
“Get yourself back there”, Adora ordered gravely, but her voice was too wrecked to sound as commanding as she had intended it to be. Her hands ran through Catra’s hair, pulling her head towards her while bucking her hips in the opposite direction.
“There”, Catra praised, and Adora shuddered at the word. “Was that so hard?”
Adora didn’t answer, because Catra’s face disappeared under her dress, that warm tongue and those hungry lips dutifully working between her thighs, and thoughts or words became too difficult to process. With each lash of Catra’s breath against her, with every flick of Catra’s talented tongue, with every suction, Adora allowed her noises to become louder, pushing herself across the table with shameless need.
Yes, only Catra could ever do that to her – strip her of all self-discipline and sense of responsibility, then put her in a position where she was free to want and just take whatever she desired without feeling guilty or wrong for it.
They had to be quick, if they wanted to finish before their absences were noticed at the reception. But that wasn’t much of a challenge for any of them – when Catra had her worked up like that, Adora didn’t have to put any additional effort to let go. Her legs held Catra firm in position while she brazenly pressed herself against her tongue, increasing the friction on her skin; her head fell back, hanging from her neck, her eyes shuttered closed. Then she proceeded to softly ride Catra's face until completion – fast, slow, fast, fast, slow –
When it came, it came strong and unrestrained, washing away every single moment of Adora’s life when she felt inadequate or unworthy or not enough. When it came, it came as a reaffirmation of her love and happiness, a whisper that reminded her that this was it – this was probably as good as life could ever get.
And she deserved it.
Adora’s back fell on the table as she covered her mouth with one hand, biting her thumb while the other hand turned into a fist and slammed the table. Then her legs and arms unclenched, and every other muscle in her body followed. She laid still for a moment, her chest moving up and down from her heavy breathing, lazily riding that blissful high as her senses slowly resurfaced.
Catra rose from between her legs, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, a wicked, delicious smirk on her face, her eyes heavy-lidded from her own arousal. Adora raised her arm to reach for the other girl’s hand, still too limp and ruined to sit up. Catra chuckled and bent over her, taking her hand and placing a kiss on her lips.
“Everything okay there?”, she joked tenderly, caressing Adora’s cheeks.
“Fffuuuuck”, Adora huffed with a dumb grin on her face as Catra kissed her jaw. “That was… Hah—Fuck”, she snickered. “Do you think someone heard it?”
“Do you really care?”, Catra sneered, standing up and collecting her tuxedo from the floor. “Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about it. Music’s loud and everyone’s too busy staring at dumb photographs to care about us”.
“They’re not dumb photographs”, Adora replied with a meek and childish smile, watching Catra zip up her pants and button her shirt, her tie loose around the collar of her shirt as she gathered her strengths to get back to an upright sitting position and not-so-gracefully pull up her panties from her ankles.
“Come on, evening’s just getting started”. Catra grinned, arching her eyebrows and offering her hand to Adora.
Damn, she looked so hot all dressed up like that, it made Adora wish they could start all over again. But the night was young and there was no need to hurry, so she settled on pulling Catra by the tie to give her a gentle kiss, her legs around Catra’s torso, squeezing it softly, her hands on the back of Catra’s neck to grab a fistful of her hair, which was long enough for her to pull by now.
“Ugh”, Adora pouted. “Wish I could take you home with me right now”, she said, fixing the knot of Catra’s tie.
Catra laughed that squeaky, wonderful laugh of hers, cupping Adora’s cheek with one hand to caress it – Adora found that she shivered more easily whenever Catra’s touches turned from lustful to tender.
“I wouldn’t mind going for another round”, she replied smugly. “That is, if you can take it, of course”.
“Oh, believe me, I can take it”, Adora answered competitively, “but I guess we should get back, though. It’d be selfish of me to keep you all to myself on such a big night”. Adora tilted her chin to kiss the palm of Catra’s hand.
“Like I care about socializing”, Catra snorted, helping Adora to the floor. “But, yeah, you’re probably right, let’s get this over with”.
Champagne glasses in hand, they sneaked past the gallery’s security guard and went back to the cocktail party at the ground floor. Well, they didn’t really sneak past anyone, exactly. Adora just liked to tell the story that way to sound more like a badass. Catra had previously cleared with Swen, the curator of Peek Gallery, that she could have the keys to one of the gallery’s private offices to keep her personal belongings or in case she needed the bathroom, being one of the photographers who were having their work on display.
Of course, they went to the bathroom with the sole purpose of cleaning themselves up after fucking each other’s brains out on Swen’s table, hah, but technically they had every right to be there. That wasn’t going to stop Glimmer from calling Adora a horndog – but, in that particular instance, they would all agree that she had a fair point.
Ever since Adora confessed her love for Catra – and, in her own way, Catra did the same – three weeks had already passed. There went Christmas and new year’s, busiest time of the year for a photographer, and Adora started a new work project of her own, motivated by Catra.
Along with Mara and with the brilliant help of Entrapta, they launched their own independent journalistic platform – called Alliance – to publish stories based on the investigation of sensitive material released by whistleblowers. As they continued to release compromising and reliable information about Minister Prime and his associates’ crimes, the project drew a lot of attention, even attracting a few funders.
Meanwhile, although they saw each other frequently for sex, cuddles and the occasional sleepover, Adora and Catra fifth real date had to be delayed until that night – which, in Adora’s opinion, was the perfect night for it to happen anyway.
Peek was a prominent fancy gallery in Thaymor, which was known for giving opportunities to young promising artists show their work. The particular display opening that night was a collective exhibition named Failsafe, featuring selected photographs of twelve photographers based in Etheria – Catra among them. This would be the first big public display of her work.
The show would remain open to the general public until the end of March, but the opening night was important if Catra had any ambition to sell her art or be seen by curators from other galleries or museums. In addition to that, Catra also planned to use that opportunity to find a space that would be interested in hosting her first solo exhibition, with the photos she took at her childhood home – she had already developed some of the images over the past couple of weeks and the ones Adora saw were simply breathtaking, in her humble opinion.
So that evening was kind of a major deal for Catra’s career.
Needless to say, Adora was ridiculously proud to be by her side.
This was not only because Catra was insanely talented and deserved to have her work recognized, but also because she had invited Adora to go with her as her plus one. And to be the one person asked to be a part of such an important moment of Catra’s life meant a whole freaking lot to Adora.
While their relationship remained unnamed, and therefore still unofficial, it had a lot of substance to compensate for the lack of title.
It’s not that words didn’t matter to Adora. They did – a lot. It may seem a little stupid, but they made her feel safer, more confident and reassured about what she should or should not expect. Words helped her organize, prepare, plan ahead. They gave less room for random speculation or paranoid rambling – and when you’re an anxious person like Adora, that’s something you learn to value.
But even if she had not used the specific words, Catra admitting that she had feelings for Adora, asking her to spend the night at her place and, on top of that, choosing her as the person with whom she would share that important work achievement… That carried more meaning than any entry in the dictionary ever could.
Adora was learning that she cared about meaning much more than she cared about words.
After all, words could be empty – and what she and Catra were building together definitely wasn’t.
Still, that night, Adora sensed that Catra was, in fact, a little rattled by the vague terms of their ongoing affair.
She noticed how Catra’s ear twitched every time she introduced Adora to one of her artist acquaintances, how she would rub the back of her neck and stutter a little just before choosing terms such as “my date” or “my plus one”, until finally settling with just “Adora”.
“This is Adora, mmm—uh – she’s a journalist”, and with that, she finally seemed to relax for the rest of the evening.
The fact that they didn’t know what to call each other was a little off-putting, yeah, but not necessarily in a bad way – if anything, it just meant that they would probably have to talk about it somewhere in the near future. Aside from that, their date was running pretty smoothly, and Catra was actually nailing the networking thing, even though Adora knew how much she hated that stuff.
All and all, Adora couldn’t be happier.
She was getting a champagne refill while Catra made conversation with a potential funder for her solo exhibition. Before rejoining them, she browsed through the photographs on display, strolling across the gallery halls.
She left Catra’s work for last, then paused herself to admire it for a moment.
Adora was already familiar with that image – the long-exposure photograph of Entrapta she had hung at her apartment wall, which made her friend look like a monster, a Greek gorgon, a Medusa creature or something of sorts. But it was impressive how she would catch another different detail every time she took a good look at the photo, depending on the lighting, the positioning or even on how her mood was.
She took a small sip of her champagne glass and approached the wall to read the label below the image – “System Failure, by Catra Lima”, the note said. It also had a purple stamp, indicating that the photograph had already been sold. Fuck! That was excellent news! Catra would be so pleased, Adora couldn’t wait to tell her. She was beaming, her chest growing with pride, as she ran her finger through the stamp, stroking it gently.
“Adora?”
Adora’s eyes widened in recognition of the voice that was calling her from behind. She froze in place and creased her eyebrows before turning around, trying to prepare herself for what would most likely be a very distressing situation.
She took a deep breath and smiled a little awkwardly at the sight of Starla.
“Starla!”, she gulped, “Hey!”
They stood there in uncomfortable indecision, unsure if they should hug or kiss on the cheek, but then they both started to chuckle, silently agreeing to a hug. They held each other for a moment, then released, Starla gazing at her with her trademark friendly, relaxed demeanor.
“It’s been a while, huh?”
Yeah, it had been a while since Adora last saw Starla. Almost three whole months had passed, actually – they broke up in the end of October and we were already in the middle of January of the following year.
A lot had happened since then. Many volleyball games at the beach, Glimmer’s birthday, Christmas at Angella’s, a new work project, new year’s at Lance and George’s, Bow proposing to Glimmer – say what?! And meanwhile, four (and a half) dates with Catra, a love confession, loads of fantastic sex and glorious rounds of that delicious Brazilian dessert Catra knew how to make.
Oh, and Bow’s pet caterpillar Kowl turned into a butterfly.
Just to let you know. I assumed you needed that information.
“Yeah – pffft, tell me about it”, Adora said, trying to act casual. “Oh, did you hear about Bow and Glimmer?”
“I did! I’m so happy for them. Bow’s just ecstatic. And I assume you’ll be Glimmer’s maid of honor”.
“They can’t decide if I should be her maid of honor or his best man”, Adora grinned. “I’ll probably just wear a tux and make them both happy”.
“Best man of honor, right?”, they laughed for a while, then Starla continued. “Oh, by the way, I’ve been following Alliance”, Starla said, referring to Adora’s new project. “Pretty ballsy, congratulations”.
“You have? Well, uh—thank you”, Adora said, trying not to sound smug.
“That creep is going to spend the rest of his life in jail, you know, and it will be all because of you”.
“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way… He had it coming. He’s paying the price for all the wrong things he did to a lot of people”.
“No, Adora, people like Prime don’t pay like the rest of us do. If he’s going to pay, it’s because you had the guts to take him. It’s… Inspiring”.
Adora’s cheeks went hot and red, she swallowed.
You see, after Adora’s meeting with Prime’s attorney in the first few days of December, she decided she was done hiding and waiting for justice to magically happen to bad people.
So, that same week, she did two things: filed a lawsuit against Hordak for wrongful termination and discussed with Mara her idea for Alliance. The project began small, with just a series of posts and stories on social media exposing previously unreleased evidence against Minister Prime. Of course, in retribution, they suffered a whole new wave of attacks promoted by Prime’s lackeys – but this time, they were ready for it.
Adora’s return to being active on social media was part of a combined strategy with Netossa – the assistant district attorney prosecuting Prime’s case, as you may recall – which basically consisted of Adora serving as... Bait.
In order to catch a rat, they needed to spring a trap. So, they set one up of their own – gee, that line sounds oddly familiar, I wonder why.
Adora recreated all her social media profiles and drew a whole lot of attention to herself by posting as much damaging content about Minister Prime as she possibly could, anticipating the inevitable backlash she would receive in return.
When the hateful e-mails, death threats, defamatory blog posts and slanderous tweets started coming, Netossa’s team of investigators went to work to trace their source. It didn’t take too long before they found concrete indication that Prime was directly linked to the fake news campaign targeting Adora and Mara. They even discovered that he used money from his office’s budget – i.e, public money – to pay off his allies for publishing positive press about him.
And when one of Hordak’s secret bank accounts popped up in the middle of Prime’s associates, giving irrevocable proof that Hordak and Prime were connected, the evidence that finally cleared Adora’s name and showed that she had been wrongly terminated…
Well, that was just like taking out two vultures with the same fucking stone.
So, in addition to being tried before a grand jury, Prime was now facing an impeachment process for abusing his office to persecute his personal enemies. If he ended up being voted out of office – and he would – his political career would be over, forever, even if he managed to get out of prison someday.
And all of his associates, including Hordak, were going down with him.
“Well, I had a lot of help”, Adora said modestly, thinking about Catra’s role in all this story. Ultimately, it was Catra’s bravery that encouraged Adora to take matters into her own hands, to fight for herself, to claim back the narrative of her own storyline. If it wasn’t for her, Adora would still be working exclusively as head of communication of Brightmoon Hospital. “I didn’t do any of this alone”.
“Sure, I know that, but still. You’re like a modern-day hero, Adora”.
Adora exhaled in relief, so grateful for having her achievements recognized, especially by someone who had all the reasons in the world to hate her.
Speaking of which…
“Listen, Starla, I’m so sorry --” Adora started to say, after a moment of thought.
“Hey, no, no, no, you don’t have to go there. This… Doesn’t have to be weird, you know? It’s okay. Really. I wouldn’t be talking to you if it wasn’t okay. Just… Water under the bridge, let’s move on”.
Adora gazed at her suspiciously at first, but the reassurance in Starla’s voice disarmed her. Her muscles unclenched, and she quickly scanned the room to search for Catra in the crowd, trying to signal where she was just in case she was wondering. But alas, Catra’s back was turned to her and she looked pretty engaged in conversation with a group of artists. She turned her eyes back to Starla.
“Alright. Thank you, that’s so—Anyway, how have you been?”.
“Pretty good, thanks! You?”
“I’m great, you know, considering everything”.
“Your girl’s quite talented, from what I can see”, Starla continued, nodding at Catra’s photograph on the wall. “You must be proud”, she said with an honest grin.
Adora glanced at the picture for another while and couldn’t keep her lips from turning into a dumb, loving smile. A light giggle escaped her throat.
Yeah.
Catra was Adora’s girl.
“She is, isn’t she?”
Her girl.
“Swen tells me she could be a hit, like an artist to watch out for or something like that”.
“Wha—Wait, you know Swen? Swen, the gallery curator?”
“Yeah, we’re seeing each other. Since… Well, right after we broke up, as a matter of fact”, she admitted with a sly grin and a little roll of her eyes. “That’s actually the reason why I’m here. Do you know them?”.
Oh, no, Adora and Swen were never formally introduced – but Adora was just eaten out in their office like an hour ago.
How the world turns.
Adora tried to suppress a giggle, but it didn’t work as well as she thought it would. “Pfffn-no, but, uh— ahem, Catra does. She tells me they’re great. Good to know you’re together”.
“Yeah, funny how things find a way to work out for the best, right? I mean… You look great. Happy. Much, much happier than when I met you, that’s for sure”.
“Yeah, you know what? I am”, Adora confessed with a small but honest smile, much more relaxed now. “I truly am”.
She felt a familiar presence near them and turned her head back, her smile growing wider when her eyes met Catra’s. Adora’s grin faded when she noticed the dubious look on the other girl face and her posture, standing with arms crossed, clearly tense.
Adora reached out for her.
“Catra! Come here!” Catra took her hand and came closer, shooting suspicious looks at both of them – especially at Starla. “I was wondering about you”, Adora added gently.
“Weird, because I don’t remember going anywhere”, Catra poked, almost in a whisper. “Except to come look for you”, she finished with a smirk.
“Duh, yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry”, she answered apologetically. “I got distracted taking a look at the exhibition and then I ran into Starla”.
“Hey, Catra”, Starla said with a timid wave of her hand. “I was just telling Adora how much I like your work, congratulations”.
“Hey”, was all that Catra replied, putting her arms around Adora’s shoulder a little possessively. “Thanks”.
Adora couldn’t help but laughing – on the one hand, the situation was awkward as fuck, but on the other… Catra was just so cute when she was jealous.
“Catra, Starla is dating Swen, she’s here as their plus one”, Adora explained, and almost immediately she felt Catra’s muscles slackening around her.
“Oh”, she said, a little more relaxed. “Alright. Swen’s cool”.
“Yeah, have you seen them, by the way? We got lost after a trip to the bathroom”.
“I haven’t, but you should check out their office upstairs”, Catra said, and Adora almost burst out laughing. “
“Alright, I guess I should go find them”, Starla said before turning to Adora. “But it was great seeing you, maybe we could all catch up some other time”.
“Yeah, sure”, Adora nodded. “I’d like that”.
“And tell Glimmer I’m sorry I missed her birthday”, she said as she walked away from them. “I’ll make it up to her”.
“You better, otherwise she won’t invite you to her wedding”.
When Starla was far enough away from the two, Adora turned to study Catra’s face, her hands going around her date’s waist. There was a pout on Catra’s lips and death-glare in her eyes, but she managed to open an uneasy smile when Adora’s eyes met hers. Adora pulled her to one of the gallery’s corners and then kissed her passionately.
“I missed you”, she said when they parted.
“Yeah, I can see that”, Catra said dismissively.
“Catra”, Adora hummed, her eyes firm on Catra’s face again. “You know you have absolutely no reason to be jealous, right?”.
“As if I was jealous”, she scoffed and Adora just glanced at her with a you’re full of shit look. “I’m—Ugh, fine, whatever, I’m just surprised we ran into your ex in the middle of our date, that’s all”.
“Not the best of coincidences, I agree”. Adora smiled lovingly. “But I didn’t plan it, either. Besides, it doesn’t matter, I’m here with you, she’s here with her date and that was pretty much it”.
“I know”, Catra said weakly.
“I know you know, but let me reassure you anyway, okay?”.
“Not like I can stop you”, Catra said, rolling her eyes with snark. Adora held her tighter and pressed her lips to Catra’s neck.
“I’m here for you, idiot. You’re the one I’m going home with tonight. You”.
A small smile turned into Catra’s lips and her expression softened. She put her arms around Adora and kissed her again, pressing them closer together. When they stopped to catch their breaths, Catra was looking at her with so much warmth and love in her mismatched eyes, it felt like she had actually said the words Adora had been eager to hear.
“You’re the idiot”, she said instead. “And technically, I’m the one going home with you”.
“That’s your comeback? Ouch… You’ve gone soft, dude”, Adora said with a sneer.
“Dude? Did you seriously just call me dude?”, Catra’s voice cracked.
“Yeah, dude, what happened, selling your first photograph made you lose your badass mojo?”, Adora mocked.
“No, I just let a dumbass into my life”, she teased, poking the middle of Adora’s forehead with her index finger.
****
Clothes to the floor, back to the wall, hushed kisses between dirty whispers. Brown locks and blonde strands of hair getting mixed up together on the bed, Adora’s hand gripping the fabric of the sheets, pulling it tight. That would be the first time Catra would spend the night at Adora’s place, and perhaps that took her arousal to the next level.
There was something different about Catra, too, and Adora could feel it. Her touches were filled with so much urgency, her face looked dangerous and grave. And the sultry tone of her voice when she said things like “looks like you’re mine, now”, so close to her ear, her hands already feeling Adora’s wetness – one, two, three fingers pushing in.
Adora’s knees between her thighs, her lips and tongue on Catra’s tit and – oh. Adora just wanted to tell her that she was right. That, within the limits in which one person can reasonably belong to another, she really was hers.
Only hers.
So, she did. As she pressed her mouth to Catra’s breast, as she kissed her stomach and licked her way to Catra’s crotch, as she positioned her face beneath her and tasted Catra’s slick, so hot on her tongue, she managed to leave the most inaudible mutters of I’m yours against her skin.
But when Catra came on her mouth – after fucking her mouth so roughly that the bed lightly creaked, her knees on each side of Adora’s head, her hands against the wall so she could hold herself in an upright sitting position – she was the one who cried, repeatedly, I’m yours, trembling frantically until her body settled.
They tired themselves out until they fell asleep, tangled into each other’s arms and legs.
“I’m in love with you”, Adora whispered in her ear, holding her from behind as they both laid on their sides. Catra was quiet, breathing sharply, then kissing Adora’s fingers, still moist with her own slick.
As her eyes closed, she almost thought she heard Catra weakly saying “me too”.
She woke up at five in the morning, a little earlier than her regular hour. As soon as her eyes started to function, she missed Catra’s presence by her side.
Adora narrowed her eyes.
At first, she thought the previous night had been a dream – and that maybe Catra didn’t come home with her, maybe she didn’t spend the night. But as her thoughts became clearer, as the memories from earlier events started to come back to her and she noticed how very much naked she still was, fear and anxiety started to take over.
Catra was gone.
Fuck.
Adora gasped, jumped up and sat on the bed, her heart raced.
She sensed that things were a little off. The tone of Catra’s voice when she was introducing Adora to her friends, her tension when they ran into Starla, her neediness during sex… She didn’t think that much into it at the time, but now…
Maybe she freaked out about how real it all had become between them.
How fast.
One of Adora’s worst fears.
But no, that couldn’t be right. Catra wouldn’t just leave like that.
Would she?
She wouldn’t.
Adora decided to just breathe and not panic until she checked around her own house, like any normal person would, and trust her gut on this one. She put on her panties and an old shirt, then practically crawled out of her bedroom, peeking from the door like a nervous child.
Then that distinctive smell of cigarette smoke filled her lungs with relief.
She smiled, feeling silly.
She found Catra in the terrace, leaning against the balcony rail and having a smoke, her back turned to Adora.
“Hey”, Adora said lazily. “Why are you up so early? For a moment there, I thought you were gone”, she admitted, coming closer to her.
Catra turned to face her, wearing a thoughtful – and tired – expression.
“Couldn’t sleep”, she tried a smile, “sorry”.
“Really? After the work out I gave you last night?” Adora approached her and gently pressed her against the balcony, leaning in for a kiss. Then she felt Catra turn a little stiff beneath her. “Something wrong? Does my breath smell?”
Catra chuckled. “No, nothing wrong. Just…” she let out a long sigh. “Overwhelmed, I guess”.
Ah.
So, it was too much for her.
“Oh. Okay”, Adora loosened her grip around Catra to give her more space, then pulled a chair for her to sit on. “Well, if you want to talk about it…”
“I do, but… Maybe later”, she said with a humble smile. “You should go back to sleep”, she continued, her expression filled with care. “I didn’t mean to wake you”.
“You know you didn’t, that was just my own regular biological clock, heh”, Adora grinned awkwardly. “You’re the one who always sleeps in”.
“Yeah, I know, just… Not today”.
“Okay, how about that, I’m gonna make some coffee, do you want some?”, Adora said, already standing up and bumping her hip on the balcony table in the process. “Also, ouch”.
“Adora… Fuck”. Catra smiled, taking her hand to Adora’s hipbone, massaging it lightly. Adora looked down and noticed how her skin had already turned pink around the wound. “You’re seriously going to injure yourself one of these days, you know that, right?”
“It has happened on occasion”, she snickered.
“Yeah, I’m not taking anyone to the hospital, so unless you want to bleed to death, be more careful with yourself”. They stayed like that for another second, Catra taking care of Adora’s wound, lightly pressing her fingers to her hips. “How is that?”
“Good, thanks”, she arched her eyebrows and wore a stupid smirk on her face. “And know, if you keep this up, it might get even better”.
“You’re even dumber in the morning”, Catra laughed, taking her hand back to herself and leaning in to kiss Adora’s temple.
“Oh, yes, mornings are known as the dumbest hours of my days”, Adora lightly pushed Catra’s chest.
“I didn’t think it was possible”, Catra sneered, taking a drag of her almost-forgotten cigarette then putting it out.
“So, coffee?"
“Sure, coffee sounds fine”, and just as Adora turned around to head for the kitchen, Catra grabbed her hand and pressed it tight. “Shit, uh, okay. Adora, do you ever wish you were with someone more, uh…” Adora turned to face her again. “Someone more ready? I mean… For this dumb dating, relationship stuff or whatever”.
“Mmmm? What exactly do you mean?”, Adora asked, creasing her eyebrows in confusion.
“Well… We never really talked about our, uh… About what we’re doing here. And I know you care about that stuff and that’s what you had with Stardust or whatshername and I—uh. I’m not – used to be like that”.
Oh, so that’s what was bothering her.
She wasn’t being weird because Adora was too much for her, but because she was afraid of not being enough for Adora.
So cute.
“I know you’re not, but that’s okay”, she said with a reassuring smile. “The only person I wish I were with is you, Catra”.
“But… Aren’t you afraid that I may never get there? That I can’t give you what you need?”
“You already do”.
“You say that, but…”, she leaned herself against the rail and glanced straight at Adora. “I know it bothers you. Not knowing. Not putting a name to it, I mean”.
Adora paused and leaned against the arm of the couch in the living room, crossing her arms.
“Well, to be perfectly honest, sometimes it does bother me, yeah”, she said gravely, and another hint of care appeared in Catra’s mismatched eyes. “It matters to me, you know, having our relationship… Well-defined. It helps me with my anxiety, it makes me feel safer”.
“Yeah… You know what? I think I get it”, Catra simply said, crossing the threshold between the terrace and the living room and approaching her.
“But we’re making this together and it has to work for both of us. And I don’t want to push you into a conversation you’re not ready for. The last time I tried, it didn’t go well”.
“Adora… I get it. I--”, she took another step closer to Adora.
“So, I’m trying to be patient, you know. I can put those needs on hold, because what we have is new, and we’re just getting started, but it’s already so much better than anything I’ve had before, and I’m in this--”. Then she noticed a very annoyed Catra staring at her with crossed arms and puffing. “Oh, sorry, I’m rambling here, and I interrupted you, heh, go ahead”.
Catra sighed. “I get why it matters to you now”, she said, bashfully avoiding any eye contact. “And I think I get it, because… Shit, because it matters to me too”.
“Huh. It does? Really? So, do you want… Does that mean…”
“It means I want you to be my fucking girlfriend, alright?” She spurted a little heatedly, finally looking into Adora’s eyes. “It means that, for me, you already are, but I guess it really makes a difference to be able to just say it or whatever”.
“Oh, my God”, Adora said slowly, already using her best teasing tone. “You want me to be your girlfriend?”.
“Stop it”, Catra hissed, trying to suppress a smile.
“That’s so embarrassing for you”, Adora joked.
“Yeah, well, I guess I have a thing for dumb princesses after all”.
“Oh, I’ll show you who’s the princess, girlfriend”, Adora said, pulling Catra to her, then taking her into a long, deep kiss – screw morning breath, a situation like that kind of demands a good kiss, right?
“Get off me, your breath stinks”, Catra whined chuckling, but didn’t push Adora away. On the contrary, she searched for her lips again, for another kiss – more heated, this time.
“You know… Mornings also happen to be the horniest hours of my day”, Adora whispered when they parted, her hands stroking Catra’s thighs.
“Okay, that’s… A little scary, I have to be honest with you”, Catra smirked. “But also…”
“Do you still want that coffee?”, Adora asked, her finger already between Catra’s legs, stroking over her underwear.
“Mmmm, what coffee?”.
And the day, very much like them, was just beginning.
***
Minister Prime was impeached on January 19th – thus giving Adora the best birthday present she could ever get in her life. Less than a month later, he was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years of prison, with no chance of parole. Hordak got seven years of jail for money laundering and tax evasion – but also had to pay a shitload of money in damages to Adora after she won the civil lawsuit against him for wrongful termination. As for Alliance, Adora’s organization with Mara, it grew much faster than they both anticipated, especially after a quirky old lady named Razz decided to finance it. She never found out who DT really was, but they still chat every now and then.
Catra donated her old property to Scorpia’s mothers, so they could turn it into a shelter for homeless teenagers in the Black Garnett – similar to the one they already owned and where Catra took shelter when she needed. She found a gallery that was inclined to host her first solo exhibition, which she called Corridors, and the feedback was being very rewarding. The money Catra earned from selling her photos went to renovating the house, as the money Adora got from winning Hordak’s lawsuit. It would take a long while before the place was done, but at least Catra’s heart was finally at ease with that part of her past – therapy was helping her a lot, too.
It was the middle of March when Catra asked Adora to go with her to the Black Garnett, so she could see her mother’s grave. Catra looked a little introspective at first, quiet even. But after a long moment just staring at her mother’s name, she wiped away her tears, cuddled up in Adora’s arms and led them both to the exit. The weather was getting warm again, the ever-relentless change of seasons, a new chapter of their lives was starting.
It had been a while since they had any first time in their fresh committed relationship, but this one I wanted to save for last.
They were walking through the graveyard on their way out, talking about how great Scorpia and Perfuma’s new place was, and Adora was saying something about how hard it was to beat them at karaoke, because they had so much synergy. Catra agreed, really glad that her best friend found each other who took her just as she was.
Much like Adora took her.
Adora laughed hysterically while describing Glimmer’s reaction when she saw Scorpia and Perfuma’s score after singing Eternal Flame, her arms around Catra’s shoulder. Hopefully, she said, Bow and Glimmer wouldn’t have karaoke at their wedding, otherwise that could end up in “complete disaster”.
Catra let her head fall on Adora’s shoulder, Adora turned to the side to kiss her forehead. And the words fell out so naturally, like a light warm breeze caressing her ears before making its way to Adora’s heart.
“Thank you for coming with me today”, Catra said, and Adora just smiled. “I love you”.
Although Adora already knew that for a while, although Catra’s actions reaffirmed that to her every single day, even when they argued or fought about some silly thing, it turns out that Catra had been right a few months ago, when she asked Adora to be her girlfriend.
It really made a difference to be able to say it.
Or, in Adora's case, hear it.
“I love you, too”, she replied, tightening her grip on Catra’s shoulder.
And for a long time, each moment Catra said that to her – and even when she didn’t say it, but instead just gazed at her with a soft expression and that shy smile on her face. Every time she made Adora laugh until her stomach ached or made her come so hard that she thought she would die. Every time she pushed Adora’s buttons until she lost her temper or pretended that she wasn’t jealous. Every time they danced, fucked, fought, laughed together or cried together.
They all still felt like the first.