up all night

"Stay up all night whispering about... whatever"

AN: Hi guys, this is kind of based off of some catradora artwork i saw on pinterest, but i cant remember it now so if anyone can find it that would be great !! Anyways, this is what I like to think Catra was talking about when she and Adora were having sleepovers in the Horde.

Adora sighs as she hauls up her thin blanket onto the spot. Catra is already sitting there, eyes unfocused as she stares into the distance.

"Wow Adora, I knew you were slow but this is sluggish, even for you." Catra laughs, a playful smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth. 

Adora sighs, a fond smile also crawling across her face, "and I knew you were mean but this is just cruel, even for you."

"Aw, you know nothing's too cruel for me." Catra drawls, mock sympathy evident in her voice, She laughs, her voice high and cracking, and Adora takes a moment to revel in the sound of it.

After she has finished, Adora tosses her blanket on the platform in which Catra was perched on and hauls herself onto it. She walks over and sits next to her friend, legs dangling off the edge of the platform and into the abyss.

"Do you really think that one day we're gonna be force captains, leading armies into battle and ruling the world together?" Catra asks, eyes misted over as she stared into the wasteland before her (more commonly known as the Fright Zone).

"I hope so," Adora replies, "then you'll finally live your dream of blowing up everything in sight."

"Yeah, and then we can conquer the world and everyone will be under our control!" Catra exclaims, delighted at the idea of world domination.

"...Yeah...okay." Adora agrees with uncertainty. Uncertainty which Catra picks up on.

"What, are you bailing on our plans we've had since we were both old enough to want things?" Catra jokes, however there is an edge in her voice, perhaps insecurity, which Adora notices.

"Of course not! It's just... don't you ever want more to life than simply conquering the world?" Adora asks, turning to look at Catra.

"...No not really." Catra replies, glancing at Adora for a split second and then quickly diverting her eyesight to her hands, which were fidgeting uncomfortably in her lap.

Adora itches to press further on the topic, but doesn't, seeing how unsettled her friend seemed by the idea of wanting more.

After a few seconds of silence, Catra's soft voice cuts through the air, "But i do want to see whats out there."

"What?"

"You know, beyond the Fright Zone. You don't seriously think it's the same all over the world?" Catra finally looks at Adora.

"No, of course not! I want to see the world as well... with you." A small pink blush forming across Adora's cheeks and nose.

Catra chuckles, "Alright, good to know we're on the same page here."

Adora smiles slightly, and the next few minutes are filled with comfortable silence, unlike the one mere seconds before. Suddenly, Adora's smile grows wider, as if she is remembering a fond memory.

"What? What is it Adora?" Catra questions, smiling as well at the sight of her friend happy.

"Oh, it's nothing!" Adora smiles, dragging the 'g' in nothing.

"Really? So my best friend just smiled like an idiot at 'nothing'?" Catra says fondly, leaning in towards Adora.

"Okay fine you got me, it's just... Lonnie called me pretty today." Adora says, smile growing even wider as she repeats the memory aloud.

Catra's smile drops, and suddenly the warm feeling in her chest is replaced with a cold, angry one. She hates Lonnie now even more than she did before.

Adora notices her smile's disappearance, "It means like, when you find someone's appearance pleasing to look at-"

"Yeah I know what pretty means," Catra cuts her off, frustrated that she cannot see whats right in front of her, "I just don't understand why she would say that to you."

Adora looks at Catra in confusion, not seeming to understand what she meant.

"D-do you think she likes you?" Catra's eyes go back down to her hands, which had resumed fidgeting in her lap.

"Um, I'm not sure... maybe? Or maybe she just thinks I'm pretty. Do you think I'm pretty, Catra?"

Catra looks at her for a long moment before saying, "I don't care for pretty. Pretty isn't gonna conquer the world for us." She flops down backwards, onto her itchy cyan blanket which was laying beneath her, and stares into the starless sky, a thick blanket of darkness covering all of Etheria.

"But, if I HAD to give you an answer... yes, I do think you're quite pretty." She finally agrees, her voice barely a whisper, but it's enough for Adora to hear. Enough to make her smile reappear wider than ever and her eyes glitter like the moon on a clear night.

 Adora flops down beside Catra and turns to look at her. She never really noticed how pretty Catra was too. It was like she always knew, but never stared at her long enough to take in the way her nose twitched when the breeze grew slightly stronger, or the way her freckles sat on her rosy cheeks like constellations. Not that Adora had ever seen a constellation in real life. She also never truly noticed the way her eyes glowed slightly in the dark, or how the cerulean blue of her left eye was unlike any blue she had ever seen in her entire life. Catra was unlike anything Adora had ever seen in her entire life.

"You're pretty too, Catra. Even if you don't care." She whispers. For a second Adora is unsure if Catra even heard what she said, but after a second her cheeks grow even more red, and a small  soft smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. Adora's heart flutters at the sight of it - of Catra, blushing at something she had said. But the sight of her smiling into the darkness is so warming to Adora that if she could bottle it up into wine and get drunk on it every night, she would.