I'm Sorry... (Catradora Fanfiction)

Chapter Five: "Birthday."

The smell of freshly made cupcakes could be smelt through out the entire front tear of the Horde fucility, as the Horde chef pulled out a freshly baked batch just waiting to be eaten.  Around the corner of the kitchen door way, sat a now eight year old Catra, lying in wait.  Her stomach growled, as if it was longing for the sugary treat.  Peeking around the corner, Catra perked her ears, listening for anything that could be around to stop her from getting her hands on one of the cupcakes.  Her mixed eyes scanned around the kitchen, and with no chef in sight, she makes her move.  Quietly sprinting on her clawed toes, she quickly makes her way to the counter, where a hot pan full of cupcakes sat.  They smelt of both chocolate and vanilla, with a hint of spice added in.  Catra's stomach growled again.  Looking around one last time to make sure she was in the clear, Catra reaches for one of the chocolate cupcakes.  The steaming cupcake in her hands was plain with no frosting at all, but Catra didn't mind much.  Just before she ran out, she saw what looked like a box of candles on the other counter.  Lowering her ears, a hint of guilt washed over her.

"Oh dang it! How could I forget that?"  Catra rushes over to the other counter, and grabs a single red candle, and puts it in the plain chocolate cupcake. 

*STEP* *STEP* *STEP*

Hearing the chef's footsteps coming in close, Catra quickly grabs a near by lighter, and rushes out of the kitchen.  As she's running she can hear the chef yelling at the top of her lungs.

"WHERE IS ONE OF MY CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES?!"  Catra's lips curl back into a small smirk as she makes her way back to the bunk room, where a sad and lonely looking Adora sat by herself.  Catra smiles as she lights the candle with the lighter she stole from the kitchen.  Placing the lighter down on one of the bunks, she makes her way to Adora.  She reaches her hand to her just as a thought came to mind.  Quietly moving away from her, she runs into the locker with the still lite cupcake.  Placing the cupcake down on the bench, she opens up her locker and pulls out pieces of paper and crayons.  She folds the paper into the shape of a card, and draws a cartoonie face of both her own and Adora's on top.  And on the inside of the card, she writes "Happy" on one side and "Birthday" on the other.

"There, now she'll have something to remind her that her birthday is still important."  Smiling at her handy work, Catra grabs the card, and cupcake and goes back to find Adora.  She was right where she was before.  In fact, she didn't move at all, it was like she was in a phase or trance, that she couldn't brake out of.  Catra smiles down at the card and cupcake, and walks up to Adora's bunk.  She reaches out to her, and places her hand on her shoulder.  Adora turns around, tears down her face.  Catra offers her a warm smile, before handing Adora the chocolate cupcake.

"Happy Birthday Adora!"  Adora's eyes light up as she sees the cupcake with the red candle.  She gets out of bed, and reaches for it.

"You... You got a cupcake for my birthday?"  Catra blushes slightly.

"Well... More of stole it, but yeah!"  Adora's eyes filled with more tears, and Catra's smile soon faded.

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have..."  Adora hugs Catra tightly, shutting her up.  Catra's smile returns, with a hint of blush across her face.

"I can't believe you stole a cupcake for me..."  Adora wipes her tears away.

"Of course I did.  I still don't get why we don't care about birthdays around here, but I hope this is enough."  She hands Adora the cupcake.  Adora sniffs, and grabs it from Catra's hand.

"It's perfect."  Catra smiles at her friend, before she remembered something.  Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out the card, and quickly adding a small heart to the inside of it.

"Oh! I made you this too!"  Catra holds up the small card. 

"It's a birthday card I made! I thought you could keep it to remind yourself that, even though birthdays aren't a big deal here, it's still a big deal to me.  And then when it's my birthday, we make another card for the same reason, cause I know it's a big deal to you.  Like our own tradition!" Adora gently grabs the card, and puts it on her bunk wall next to her pillow.

"I love that idea, Catra!" 

"Yeah, cause I still remember what you did for my birthday last year.  Remember when you got out of the fright zone, and brought me that blue and purple flower?"  Adora nods.

"Well, even though it wasn't much, it still meant a lot to me.  And I wanted to do something kinda like it."  Catra's face starts to flush at the memory of her last birthday, unknowingly blushing deeper the greater detail she went into.

"The flower was so pretty, and lasted a long time too.  I remember you said you saw it growing right in front of the Whispering Woods.  No one ever did something so nice to me, and it made me feel so special."  Adora starts to blush as well as Catra went on, now looking down at the metal ground.

"It looked kinda blueish purple, with spots and slight yellow in the middle.  I think you said it was a Blue Wonder Toad Lily.  I never saw anything so pretty before, it just made me feel so much more special when you brought it to me for my birthday."  Catra looked up at Adora to see her face was a deep red, making her face turn the same shade.

"B-but, you know, it was just a silly flower!"  Catra turns away from Adora with her eyes closed and arms crossed the blush still covered her face. 

"I'm glad you liked it so much."  Adora whispered quietly, but loud enough so Catra's ears could pick it up.  Catra smiled slightly and turned back to face Adora, who was just bitting into her cupcake.

"Mmmmm. You know, even though the chef isn't a very good cook, she sure can bake."  Catra bites her lip trying not to laugh at Adora's chocolate covered face. 

"What?" Adora raises a brow.

"Oh nothing."  Catra takes Adora's hand and leads her back to their bunk, so she could finish her cupcake.  Taking a seat, one scary thought popped in Catra's mind.  Looking back at Adora, Catra's hold on her hand tightened.

"Please don't tell Shadow Weaver I did this, she'll be so mad if she finds out!"  Adora wipes her chocolate face off with her sleeve, and looks back at Catra.

"Why would I tell her?"  Catra looks down at the bed.

"I don't know... I'm just..."  She pauses.

"I know you never would but, I'm still afraid.  We both know Shadow Weaver doesn't like me."  Adora places her hand on Catra's shoulder.

"I won't say a thing."  She pulls Catra in for a big hug, and pats her back.

"Thank you, Catra."  Catra's face turns deep red once again.

"Happy Birthday, Adora."  Catra whispers quietly to Adora as they hold on to one another, hearts beating fast, faces flushed, and feelings strong.  Catra couldn't understand what she was feeling, but every time Adora was around her, she felt she had to be the best she could be, as if she was afraid Adora would leave her other wise.  But the warmth of the hug reminded her other wise.  Smiling, she hugs her friend tighter, not wanting to let go, even if it did get weird at some point, at that moment, nothing mattered to them but each other.

Author's Note: 

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