An Unlikely Match (Catradora AU)

Chapter 8

Catra told Bow and Adora her version of the breakup story which involved a lot of personal discussions and surprisingly no mention of Adora. Adora sat quietly and listened, grateful that Catra wanted to share with her at all and hoping, that if the time came, Catra would tell her the full truth. The three were sitting on the floor with a blanket wrapped around their shoulders. They were all leaning against the couch and had their legs on top of each other's like a human pretzel. When Catra finished her story, the three sat in silence, with Catra nuzzled between the two and sniffling quietly. Bow seemed to finally take a breath when Catra told them Scorpia was staying in the band.

Adora couldn't remember the last time the three of them had spent time together let alone like this. Despite the nature of today's events, Adora found herself happy to be with the others and wrapped her arms around them under the blanket. Catra allowed it and leaned back into her, resting her head on Adora's arm. She blushed and hoped that they would assume it was because Catra was a human furnace. Which she was. Bow looked like he was about to cry and was staring at the two of them.

"What?" Adora and Catra said together. Catra peered back to Adora, who gave her a small smirk.

"I'm just so happy you two are getting along," Bow said, his tone just a little too excited. Catra groaned and shuffled slightly away from her, leaving their legs in the current tangle.

"Great, you ruined it," Catra said, giving him a snarky smile. Bow seemed unphased. "So... were you two doing something before I showed up?" Catra furrowed her brows, looking between them. Bow looked to Adora.

"I actually slept here last night," Adora admitted, although she assumed Catra could guess that from her outfit. "Rough night, ya know?"

Catra chuckled. "Yeah, I know," She agreed.

"I think something is wrong with us," Adora said.

"Oh, for sure," Catra agreed. The three giggled.

They found there was an easiness to this group that they had forgotten about. Once they started talking, the floodgates opened, and they tried their best to catch each other up on their current lives. This mostly consisted of Catra making fun of Bow and Glimmer and Bow batting his eyes at the thought of his tiny girlfriend. Adora stayed quiet, allowing Bow his time to share with his friends. Despite their open discussions, Adora wondered if New York would be a sensitive subject for them and decided another time would be better.

Hours flew by and Catra had had enough of sharing time. Instead, she made them move on to her coping mechanism, music. Adora laid on the floor humming while Bow quietly tapped out a beat on his drum set. Both were watching Catra furiously writing across a piece of paper with a look of complete concentration. Adora had forgotten what it was like to be in Catra's presence while she wrote and imagined it was similar to how she looked when she delved into her art. When she worked, it gave her a sense of calm like all of her emotions could be poured out on paper. Watching Catra now, she could feel that same energy coming off of her.

Catra peered up from her work and caught Adora's eye. They both turned away quickly.

"I need more time," Catra announced finally, crumpling up the paper. Bow gasped and ran to grab the paper away from her.

"That's fine, but don't throw it away!" He yelled, trying to uncrumple it. Catra groaned.

"I should be in lyrical heaven right now."

"We'll try again tomorrow," Bow said but Catra ignored him, looking put out. "Do you two remember when we used to play together? Before the Fright Zone?"