You're Such An Idiot

Chapter Four-Adora

I hold Catra tight until she stops shaking. I hold her tight until I stop sobbing. I can't seem to hold myself back, lately. Not since I rescued her from Prime's clutches. I just keep having this urge to hold her, it's like I can't get used to the fact that she's really here. I've spent so much time thinking about having her near while we were apart that now this feels just too good to be real. And yet, it is.

Catra eventually stops shivering, as a quiet purr vibrates through our touching bodies. It's the most comforting sound in the whole world. I love it.

"Let's go to sleep" I smile, caressing her cheek. In return, she trills fondly: it's been ages since I last heard this cute sound, something like a closed-mouth meow. It's so tender I start looking at her with heart-shaped eyes. I know she hates that, but she's gotta face the consequences of being so cute.

"I follow you, dummy" she replies, nudging my shoulder.

When we finally get to my room⸺our room, now?⸺I can't help feeling quite tense. I've been sleeping in this room all alone for so many nights, dreaming about her. Nightmares, mostly. I was not used to that, at first. Sleeping without Catra, I mean. As long as I could remember, she had always slept curled up on my bed, since the very night she got to the Fright Zone. I have missed that, so much. I've missed having sleepovers with her, staying up all night whispering about our future life together. It's always been our future, we never questioned that. I still can't believe I let this happen. Growing apart. I knew she needed me. I knew she had nobody else. And I did it anyway. I broke my promise, I couldn't protect her. But things will be different from now on. I'm never going to leave her again.

"This is where you've been sleeping all this time?" she exclaims in awe as I open the door. "Now I see why you got used to being a princess so quick"

"Not really" I reply with a smirk. "I just couldn't fall sleep alone, you know? I even sneaked into Glimmer's bed the first night⸺"

I freeze, realizing how dumb I am for saying that out loud. I turn around to find Catra frowning down at me. Her ears are flattened.

"Uh, I mean..." I add with a nervous laughter. "I didn't actually sneak into her bed. I mean yeah we slept in the same bed but we weren't even that close and⸺"

"Adora, relax" she snaps, looking away. "I don't care what you did with Sparkles"

I can't help giving her my best teasing face, raising my eyebrow while sneering. "Are you jealous?"

"What?!" she screams, her tail wildly puffed up. "Of course I'm not!"

"Oh my god you're jealous!"

"I said I'm not⸺"

"I can't believe you are actually jealous⸺"

I don't manage to finish my sentence because Catra leaps towards me and knocks me down in a matter of seconds, straddling me. She's always done that, straddling me after knocking me down. But right now I feel there's something different. We're not kids anymore, we're not playing. We're not enemies either, we're not fighting. That's why, for the first time ever, I can't help blushing as she stays on top of me. She widens her mismatched eyes, probably feeling the same as I do. We stay still, just looking at each other, for maybe five seconds, before Catra quickly jumps back on her feet, her face as red as mine.

"I'm sorry, I got angry" she grumbles. "It's⸺"

"Something you're working on, yeah, I know" I finish with a smile, getting up. "I'm not sure you should apologize for that, though. It was... nice"

She lifts her ears up a bit, smiling. "Yeah... whatever. And why is there a fountain in here, anyway? What kind of bedroom has a fountain in it?"

"Yeah, that struck me too when I first got here" I chuckle. "You'll get used to it"

"And what is that?" she asks pointing at my gigantic bed covered in equally gigantic pillows.

"Well that's just my... our bed, yeah"

"I can't believe this"

"You know, I actually tore the mattress up the first time I tried to sleep in there"

"You what?" she bursts out laughing. I realize it's been ages since I last heard her laughing like this. "You're such a disaster, Adora. No wonder you kept losing to me when we were fighting"

"Wo wo wo!" I snort. "When exactly did I lose to you? It seems to me that you were the one I kept letting escape"

"Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that, princess"

"Princess is not an insult, you know that, right?"

"It definitely is!"

"So you're saying you have a problem with me turning into She-Ra? Because last time I did, you seemed to like it a lot"

"You⸺Get over yourself!" She pushes me, laughing. I respond locking her neck with my arm, trapping her. She hates when I do that.

"Just admit you like She-Ra" I tease her.

"I don't!" she protests, still laughing, setting free from my grip.

I raise my eyebrow, hands on my hips. "Are you always going to be so stubborn?"

"Are you always going to be so annoying?"

I snort, shaking my head. "You're hopeless. Let's just get to bed"

I literally let myself drop on the bed, realizing how actually tired I am after this insane day. I stare at the ceiling while Catra timidly sits on the mattress, her tail nervously wagging.

"I can't believe this is over" I whisper, letting my thoughts flow. "I can't believe we brought peace to Etheria. Prime is gone, the Horde doesn't exist anymore. And we..."

My eyes shift from the ceiling to Catra. She looks tense. I can tell it's because she's too afraid to curl up next to me in bed. She thinks I wouldn't like that. She actually thought I didn't want her, all this time. I'm not good at showing my feelings, I get that, I'm more into punching them out really, but still I find it hard to believe that she never realized what she means to me.

"Come here" I smile at her, patting my hand on the mattress. "It's okay"

I spot her tail quivering, as she curls up next to me, visibly grateful.

I let my arm rest on her waist, eyes still locked on hers.

"I've missed you" I whisper so quietly I can barely hear myself saying it. "So much"

"I've missed you too" she replies, her voice cracking.

I smile, letting this strange, warm feeling fill my entire body. Catra gently brushes her tail against my legs and starts purring, closing her eyes. This moment is so perfect I can't believe I haven't spoiled it yet. All I want to do is just... oh, come on, just do it, Adora. You got this.

I lean closer to Catra and lightly press my lips on her forehead. She's soft. Catra suddenly opens her eyes, taken by surprise. She smiles back at me, with the exact same face she did when she said I was such an idiot, back at the Heart, right before I told her I love her, right before we...

My thoughts crumble into pieces when Catra reaches for my lips. The world might as well end right now, honestly I wouldn't even notice. Every cell of my brain is melting, that's what it feels like to kiss her. I place my hand right behind her ear and gently stroke her hair, kissing her back, drifting off to sleep. Just like that.