Princess Prom
----
Adora
Instead of her usual alarm to wake her up in the early morning, Adora wakes up to Bow and Glimmer yelling in her face excitedly. She’s too tired to understand the words coming out of their mouths.
Adora lazily lifts up her hands to move her two friends away and groggily sits up. “Why are you yelling in my face at,” she pauses to look at the time on her phone, “six in the morning? We don’t have work today.”
Bow and Glimmer exchange a look before they answer at the same time. “Today is Princess Prom!”
They must have been expecting Adora to react to this in some way because deafening silence follows this announcement since Adora has no idea what they’re talking about.
“The what?”
Neither of them reacts to Adora’s morning moodiness and Bow repeats his answer with a little more of an explanation, “The shops on our street all attend this party every year as a little get-together. It’s called Princess Prom because this street is called Princess street. This year it’s being held by this ice cream shop down the street. We all get dressed up and go to this banquet hall across town and have fun with our work neighbours.”
Adora’s brow furrows, “How did I not know about this? I’ve worked at the café longer than you guys.”
Glimmer and Bow stop their excited little dances, “Well, probably because you never talked to anyone here before we came.”
“Oh yeah…” Her confusion turns into guilt.
Glimmer frowns at her friend, also feeling guilty but not for the same reason as Adora. She tries to change the subject as she pulls Adora up by her hands.“Now, come on! We have a busy day ahead of us.”
Adora grumbles angrily at having been woken up this early on her day off for a little party. Sure, she probably would’ve woken up soon anyway, but at least it would’ve been to a nice alarm and not her screaming friends.
Her annoyance quickly transforms into hunger at the sight of the dinner table covered in breakfast for food.
She quickly walks over and sits in her usual spot while her jaw hangs open, “How did you have the time to make all of this?” They both look a little sheepish at that. Glimmer answers Adora’s question this time, “We didn’t actually make any of this. It’s all takeout.”
Glimmer looks embarrassed, so Bow lightens the mood for her. “Hey, it doesn't matter where the food came from. Let’s eat!” They all agree with Bow’s statement and start going through all of the greasy food that they have in front of them.
----
After eating an ungodly amount of bacon, the Best Friend Squad finally finishes eating. Adora feels like she could cry from how delicious everything was. Bow and Glimmer, on the other hand, looked like they’re seconds away from going into food comas. They may have overdone it with the food, but it’s too late to go back now.
Eventually, after sitting at the table for what felt like an eternity, Bow and Glimmer seem to awaken from their grease-induced comatose state and their energy for today quickly returns.
Adora checks the time on her phone. Seven-thirty in the morning. Her eyes widen at that. Did they really spend an hour and a half just eating?! Adora almost laughs to herself, imagining what kind of punishment she would receive in the Fright Zone.
Before her thoughts can go further down that rabbit hole, Glimmer stands up hard enough to almost push her seat back onto the floor. “So, are you ready for your makeover? This year’s theme is Winter Wonderland since Frosta’s parents’ ice cream shop is hosting this year.”
Adora’s nerves for finding a dress are quickly overrun by the overwhelming anxiety that she doesn’t know any of the other people who work on this street and the fear that she’ll embarrass herself or Bow and Glimmer in front of everyone.
She immediately begins thinking of a plan to avoid this. Glimmer is still talking about her outfit and makeup while Adora begins obsessively googling every store in the street. Bow’s listening to Glimmer, so she doesn’t notice Adora sigh to herself. The notes app isn’t a very adequate place to put organized information like this. Suddenly, she remembers that there’s a small corkboard in her room that came with the small desk Glimmer gave her.
Adora quickly stands up and runs to her room. Bow and Glimmer glance over at each other with confused looks.
Glimmer crosses her arms. “What was that about?”
“Maybe she’s getting ready?” Bow shrugs.
----
Adora, one hour later
She was definitely not getting ready when Bow suggested that, and she still isn’t getting ready.
It has been an hour since Adora began her research and it's going well. She has a ton of information on the stores that participated in Princess Prom.
There’s Frosta’s Ice Cream Parlor. They’re hosting this year at some small banquet hall across town. The owners, Alice and Tom Snow, named the store after their 15-year-old daughter, Frosta. All three of them work at the ice cream store.
There’s Brightmoon Library. It’s run by George and Lance Archer, who are the dads of Bow Archer (Adora is still convinced that’s a fake name, but Bow showed her his passport one time to prove it). The library mostly has history books in it, as George and Lance are both historians.
There’s Salineas Plumbing. The owners are Mea and Mitchell Salineas, and they’re Mermista’s parents. Mermista refuses to work with them because she doesn’t want to deal with ‘gross pipes’, so she works at the café instead.
There’s Spinerella and Netossa’s Garden Supply. The two namesakes of the store, Spinerella and Netossa, are the married couple that run the flower shop. They’re older than any of the employees at the coffee shop, and they’re basically everyone’s moms at this point.
There are a few others that Adora’s about to add to her practically full bulletin board of information, but she’s quickly interrupted by her door slamming open to reveal a fully dressed Bow and Glimmer.
Glimmer is in a frilly, short purple dress and Bow is in a pastel-coloured suit that doesn’t have a cummerbund so that his abdomen can be seen. Adora raises an eyebrow at the clashing outfits. Glimmer huffs, already knowing what Adora’s about to say.
“What’s with the mismatching outfits? I thought you two were going together.”
Bow smiles at her, despite the smaller girl's obvious anger,” Oh, I’m going with Perfuma!”
Adora’s other eyebrow goes up as she looks back at a pouting Glimmer. So it’s not anger on Glimmer’s face but… jealousy?
Before they can discuss further, Glimmer looks up at the board behind Adora with confusion all over her face.
“Uh, Adora… What’s that?”
Adora immediately stands straighter and smiles, as if she’s about to present a project. She goes through all the information quickly as Bow and Glimmer’s jaws fall open more and more.
At the end of her presentation, Adora hands a stack of flashcards to Glimmer, “Ask me anything.”
“Frosta.”
Adora somehow manages to stand up even straighter as she answers almost robotically, “Frosta Snow. Parents are Alice and Tom Snow. They own Frosta’s Ice Cream Parlor down the road and are hosting this year’s Princess Prom. She’s friends with the Star Siblings, who are friends with Mermista, but not Sweet Bee who is dating Peakablue as you can see by the string here. Up means friends, down means enemies. I’m feeling good! I’m prepared for any and all scenarios. I am so ready for this ball.”
Glimmer glances back at Bow to see him also wearing a concerned look. Glimmer turns back to Adora and smiles slightly, “Great. So what are you wearing?”
Adora deflates. She hadn’t thought about that. She looks down at what she’s currently wearing. A white high-neck compression shirt, grey leggings, and the red jacket she came with that she couldn’t bring herself to throw away. “Uhh… I-um…” She continues stammering until Glimmer gasps theatrically.
“You know what this means?”
“That clothes don’t matter and I should keep studying?”
“It’s makeover time!”
----
Catra
She slouches further into her desk chair as she scrolls on her phone with a sigh. Usually, at this time, she would be working in the parlour, but today work was cancelled for some event Catra didn’t care about. Something about princesses, maybe?
Speaking of princesses, Catra hadn’t stopped thinking about Adora since their interaction yesterday.
Was Catra too harsh on her? She quickly shook that thought out of her head. She didn’t feel guilty for yelling at Adora yesterday. That girl looked like she needed a reality check, anyway, and Catra was more than happy to give it to her.
She glances out her window. It faces the building next door to them, so the only view she gets is a brick wall and a bit of a view into the neighbouring apartment. As she’s looking, she notices a sparkly speck of red swish past in the window across from her. Normally, she wouldn’t pry into other people’s businesses. Frankly, she doesn’t really care about what most people are doing with their lives, anyway. Something pulls her to go see what's on the other side of the glass.
Catra walks over to her side of the window and peeks over. Her eyes widen when she realizes what she’s looking at.
Adora’s standing in the middle of her room, looking at something in front of her, probably a mirror. She’s wearing a floor-length red high-neck dress with no sleeves. She’s spinning and twirling the dress as she stands, a bright smile on her face. It looks like she’s wearing a dress for the first time.
Catra finds herself captivated by the sight. Adora looks almost ethereal in the flowing red dress as her bright smile practically lights the room. She looks like a princess, or like she’s magical. A magical princess. Yeah, that makes sense.
Her brain starts actually processing what’s happening. She’s standing at her window, watching someone in the privacy of their bedroom. Catra blushes a bright red and aggressively pulls her blinds closed.
Once she’s closed the blinds and her breathing has evened out, she begins asking questions to herself.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I’m supposed to be angry at Adora. Why am I staring at her in a dress?
Should I move?
Why is Adora wearing a dress on a Tuesday afternoon?
That last question sticks out to her, so she ponders it. She remembers hearing someone from Brightmoon Café mention something about a party. Catra wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but their coffee is amazing and she tries to sneak in whenever she can.
Catra continues to try and put the puzzle pieces together. Princess. Party. Dance. Dress.
Princess party?
Princess dance?
Suddenly, she remembers what the person at the coffee shop called it.
Princess Prom!
Catra groans as she remembers what Princess Prom actually is. A lame excuse for everyone to dress up and chat. She almost shudders in disgust at that last word.
Although she really doesn’t want to go, she does want to embarrass Adora. It’s only fair since Adora got to see Catra in her pyjamas yesterday. The only issue is that the party is invite-only, and she didn’t get one. Everyone else says it’s because ‘she has bad manners,’ and ‘she almost blew up someone’s house that one time,’ but Catra thinks it’s because the party would be over the second anyone saw how hot she looks in a suit.
Catra quickly stands up and walks confidently to Scorpia’s door. She slams it open with a mischievous smile on her face.
Scorpia looks up from a small paper in her hands, “Oh! Hey, Catra! What’s up?”
“Wanna ruin Princess Prom with me?”
Scorpia doesn’t seem to be expecting this and it’s obvious in her facial expression. “What?”
Catra decides to try a different approach, “I want to go to Princess Prom.”
Scorpia practically has stars in her eyes as she engulfs Catra into a tight hug, “Really?! Oh man, this is so exciting! Come on, let’s get ready.” Catra groans, partly because her ribs are being crushed and because she really doesn't want to get ready.
Catra is pulled by a very excited Scorpia back into her room to find an outfit to wear.
----
After an almost excruciatingly annoying hour of getting ready, Catra and Scorpia are ready to go. Catra’s in a maroon suit with the bow tie undone, and Scorpia is in a tight black dress that only had a sleeve on one side. Scorpia has on a maroon-coloured belt that perfectly ties together her and Catra’s outfits so that they match subtly.
Before they leave, Catra also places the special surprise she planned for the party into the trunk of the car. This was going to be so much fun.
They get into Scorpia’s car and head to the address given to Scorpia in her invite (Catra was very angry that Scorpia got one and she didn’t). Catra imagines what Adora’s face will look like when she shows up.
----
The three of them have just spent the last two hours getting Adora ready.
Two. Hours.
It would’ve been much faster if she wasn’t as stubborn, but she was just very specific about her appearance. She and Glimmer went back and forth for practically an hour choosing a hairstyle that Adora is comfortable with and is also suitable for a party.
Then came the Dress Situation. Adora had bought some dresses when they went shopping a couple of days ago, but Adora was reluctant to wear any of them. She would find any excuse not to wear them, and it almost got to the point where Adora was running around the house while being chased by a dress-wielding Glimmer.
Eventually, she decided on a red floor-length dress that went up to her neck and didn’t have any sleeves. Comfortable, while also not making her feel out of place. Glimmer and Bow left her alone in her room to clean up the mess they made searching for stuff while they went and cleaned their similarly messy rooms.
Adora looks at herself in the mirror. She looks… pretty? Adora never thought she looked pretty, but in this dress, she feels like she might be.
She spins around a little to get a better look at the angles of the dress. A large smile platers itself on her face. This is the first time she’s ever worn a dress.
Ms. Weaver always said that ‘dressing up’ was silly, and that Adora wouldn’t enjoy it. Instead of dresses, Adora wore torn and dirty clothing as she watched movies of people dancing and dressing up on the old worn-down TV that the Fright Zone had. She didn’t think that would ever happen for her, but a girl can dream, right?
Mr. Weaver was wrong, though. Adora does enjoy wearing the dress now. Maybe at first, she didn’t like it and felt uncomfortable, but now she feels more confident in it.
Adora’s smile only gets bigger as she starts to clean up her room.
When she’s finished, she heads out to see Bow and Glimmer ready for her. She looks at the time on her phone.
Twelve-Forty Five in the afternoon. The party starts at around 1:15, since most people are working tomorrow and they want to function with sleep.
They put on their shoes and, after going downstairs, pile into Glimmer’s car and drive to the hall.
----
Catra
The closer they got to the hall, the more Catra’s mischievous excitement turned into anxiety and stress. She forgot that, for the majority of the time, she would actually have to participate in this party.
Scorpia sends her some reassuring words as they pull up, and Catra looks around at the people there as they get out. Mostly random people she had never seen before. She saw a young girl with a blue bob pass by them, and Catra remembers seeing her face on the invitation in the form of a cute cartoon logo. ‘That must be Frosta,’ she thinks.
As they walk around the hall and Scorpia socializes with others, Catra hears a familiar voice behind her. She turns to see Adora and Glimmer come in. Catra pays no attention to Sparkles as she focuses on Adora. She looks even better than she did earlier, with the blue lights hitting her perfectly. She’s smiling as she looks down at Glimmer. Catra feels something tug in her chest at the sight, but she quickly squashes that feeling.
Catra blushes slightly and flees somewhere, anywhere, else.
She speed walks further down and accidentally bumps into someone, who goes flying onto the ground.
Catra groans in annoyance, “Can you watch where you’re go- Entrapta?” Her anger quickly fades into confusion. The second person least likely to attend a party on Princess Street is Entrapta, but not for the same reasons as the brunette.
Catra doesn’t go because she’s known for pranking and being an asshole for no reason.
Entrapta doesn’t go because she’s known for experimenting on her friends and usually spends most of her time in her room doing lab work.
“Hello, Catra! Are you here to see the social experiment, too?”
Catra raises a brow, “Social experiment?”
“Different groups are forced to mingle. Hierarchies form and break. It's the perfect place to observe behaviour. And they have tiny food!”
“Well, what behaviour have you observed so far?” Her tone is sarcastic, but Entrapta doesn’t pick up on it.
“Oh! For starters, I know that you’re only here so you can pull a prank.”
Catra does a double-take, “What? How do you know that?”
“Because you never show up to events unless you want to cause a problem.”
Catra thinks about that. Hm, it seems that Entrapta’s right. Catra nods agreeing, “Touché.”
They continue talking about the ‘behaviours’ of all the attendants of the party. Catra thinks it hilarious that Entrapta has so much information on these people who don’t even know her.
----
3 Hours Later…
Catra groans so loud that some people turn their heads in her direction.
Entrapta stopped talking a while ago to experiment in complete silence, so Catra got bored and left.
She went to go find Scorpia, but she was talking to some tall blonde girl. I thought that blonde came with Arrow Boy, though.
Huh, it turns out listening to Entrapta has its perks.
Catra looks around for a man in a cropped suit but turns up empty. The party was coming to an end in an hour, so some people already left. Despite not finding Bow, she does find Adora. She’s dancing with Glimmer on the dance floor as loud, upbeat music plays. She looks… happy, and carefree. The two times Catra has interacted with Adora, she ends up frowning or crying. That’s kind of on Catra, though.
Catra smiles to herself.
It’s time to execute her plan.
She quickly scurries to Scorpia to borrow her keys so she can unlock the car.
Upon unlocking the car, Catra opens the trunk and lets out a quiet squeal of excitement at what greets her.
Two water guns filled to the brim with food-colour-dyed water so that it’ll stain all the attendants’ outfits. It’s a low blow, ruining everyone’s dresses like this, but Catra doesn’t care. Besides, she was mostly going to be aiming for one person. One over-excited, bubbly, annoying blonde that was getting on Catra’s nerves.
She grabs them both and hides them underneath her jacket.
After unlocking the car and giving the keys back to Scorpia, Catra goes to the spot on the second level of the hall to hide. It can’t really be considered an ‘upper level’. It’s kind of like an indoor balcony that overlooks the first floor. Perfect for hitting people without them ever knowing it’s her. The spot she’s in is also a blind spot for the security cameras around the property.
She takes out one of the water guns. This one has green-coloured water in it. She aims for Adora, who’s now talking to someone near a table. Catra hands the other one to Entrapta, who’s only doing this to see the reaction it gets out of people. Catra doesn’t care what her motives are.
Steady…
Aim…
FIRE!
The two begin spraying all of the people below them. The guns are extra strong and very big, so the water is hitting practically everyone. Entrapta is wildly swinging the gun so it can hit as many people as possible, while Catra is aiming for a certain blonde and only moving to hit other people for a few seconds.
Most people quickly exit the building, but Adora freezes and looks down at her now completely soaking and ruined dress.
Nobody spots the two shooters on the second floor, and Catra wants to make sure it stays that way. She quickly grabs Entrapta’s gun and throws them into a nearby trash can. As she stands there, Catra looks down to see Adora staring directly at her with a furious glare.
Catra smirks and walks down calmly. If it were anyone else, she might have been nervous. But Adora’s probably harmless, right? She’s just some spoiled idiot that doesn’t know how to fend her herself.
Right?
----
Adora
She looks down at her previously red dress, which is now more of a maroon-brownish colour. Her hair looks like a pale mix of green and purple now.
People are quickly leaving the hall to avoid getting more colourful water on themselves, including all her friends, but Adora refuses to leave until she finds out who did this.
She looks up into the upper level and spots Catra throwing two water guns into the garbage.
Adora is fuming. She glares at Catra harshly until she turns and looks down at her, but Catra only smirks at Adora’s anger as she calmly walks downstairs. This only works to make Adora angrier as she storms over to Catra with a determined look in her eyes.
Catra has her back turned to Adora when she reaches her.
Adora shoves Catra unforgivingly onto the floor. She tried to give Catra the benefit of the doubt, but she’s sure now that Catra is just a piece of shit for no reason.
Catra quickly stands up and looks at a water-drenched Adora with a panicked look on her face. It seems she wasn’t expecting Adora to react like this.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Catra tries to act annoyed, but her panic is notable.
Adora chuckles darkly at that, “What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you?!”
Catra crosses her arms and looks sideways, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Adora can feel her anger rising at the brunette’s nonchalance. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Why’d you do it?”
Catra turns back to her, and shrugs “I thought it’d be funny. And it was.”
Adora steps closer to Catra, “So you just like to be a piece of shit for fun? As a joke?” Adora hasn’t heard herself sound this angry in years. She doesn't like it.
Catra actually chuckles a little at that, “What? I ruined your little dress so now you’re angry at me? What are you going to do, complain until I say sorry? Not going to happen, princess.”
Catra's condescending tone is the last blow that breaks down the dam of Adora's emotions and she punches Catra in the eye hard. Catra, not expecting this reaction again, goes sprawling onto the floor. She lies there for a few moments, and Adora thinks she’s unconscious before she begins moving again. She opens her one eye to look up at Adora in fear.
If Adora weren’t overwhelmed with anger right now, she would have felt bad for her.
But she was, so she didn’t.
“It’s not ABOUT the fucking dress! It’s about you being a total asshole to me for NO REASON! WHY?! What did I do to you, huh?”
Catra continues staring up at her with an open mouth.
“ANSWER ME!”
Catra tries to say something, but all that comes out is stutters, “I…” Adora can see her entire body shaking. In fear or something entirely different, Adora’s not sure. She doesn’t know if she wants to know, anyway.
It’s not until that moment that Adora stops and takes in her around her surroundings.
She looks around at the banquet hall that has colourful water splashed around it and then turns back to look at the cowering girl below her. She’s still shaking, and her right eye is a dark blue colour.
Adora remembers being in situations identical to this countless times, except she didn’t stop those times. She kept going until the other person needed to go to the ER.
She remembers pushing people away so much while in the Fright Zone to the point where nobody would even eat near her.
She remembers all of the people she’s seen scared of her because she beat them or someone they know up. Because they thought she was dangerous and would hurt them.
Adora had promised to herself after leaving the Fright Zone that she would never get into another fight again. That she would never have to see someone cower in fear because of her. She broke her promise.
Her anger immediately shifts into something else.
Guilt. Shame. Disappointment. Disgust.
She looks down at Catra, who is still looking up at her, but the fear has morphed into something that looks like concern. Her breath hitches at the sight and practically stops.
No, that’s not possible. She couldn’t be concerned for me. I just punched her in the face. I should be concerned with her. I’m such a terrible person.
Adora’s vision begins to tunnel significantly and she can faintly feel her breathing pick up speed. Her heartbeat is loud and fast in her chest.
She can hear someone call her name, but she can’t do anything about it. All she can do is continue to spiral deeper into panic.
Adora stumbles towards the doors hurriedly. Her hands are out in front of her since she can’t see much of anything except what’s directly in front of her. Everything else is just a blur. She manages to get outside, where people are still standing and waiting to meet up with other people to leave.
She thought that getting away from Catra would help her calm down, but it only makes it worse. She just punched her in the face, left her alone, and she’s the one that’s crying in a parking lot?
Wait, crying?
She lifts a weak, shaky hand to her face and, sure enough, there are tears quickly running down her cheeks.
She looks around to see a couple of people glancing over in her direction, worry etched into their faces.
The thought of people seeing her right now causes her to slowly collapse onto the floor, leaning on a wall as she pulls her knees up to her chest to bury her face in. She curls into a tight ball and continues trying to calm down to no avail. If anything, it’s only getting worse. She needs- She needs- She doesn’t know what she needs. She doesn’t know what she wants. She doesn’t know what she’s doing.
Her thoughts pause momentarily when a yell nearby alerts her, “Adora?”
She doesn’t lift her head up from her knees as she continues shaking with her tears.
A moment later, the voice is much closer than before and barely over a whisper, “Adora? Can you look up for me, please?”
Adora slowly lifts her head up to look at Glimmer and Bow, who both look so concerned for her. At least the tunnel vision has cleared, and she can breathe a little now.
‘They wouldn’t be concerned if they know what you did,’ a familiar voice in her head tells her.
The words only make her cry more.
Glimmer speaks up this time, “Tell us what you need, Adora.”
Adora swallows thickly, “Get me out of here.”
Glimmer and Bow glance over at each other with a quick nod as they hoist Adora up and rushedly put her in the backseat of the car.
Adora doesn’t put on her seatbelt or do anything, really. Glimmer gets in beside her and puts it on for her, as well as putting on her own.
Adora looks out the window to see people staring in their direction. All of the progress she was making with her breathing vanishes in a second at the thought of people knowing how weak she is. Tears come out of her eyes again.
Bow drives them home as Glimmer comforts Adora in the backseat.
“Can I touch you?”
Adora nods after a second.
Glimmer places a hand on her shoulder, “I need you to breathe with me, okay? Like this,” she rubs her hand slowly up and down her shoulder in time with her even breathing.
Adora tries a few times, breath catching every time, until she finally takes one big breath of air. She feels frustrated with herself for taking so long to do something as basic as breathing, but it makes her feel so much better.
Slowly but surely, her breathing evens out and her heartbeat slows. She turns to face Glimmer slowly. Adora’s face is blotchy-red, her eyes are bloodshot, and dried tears stain her cheeks. She must look pathetic right now.
Adora expects Glimmer to laugh at her, but instead, she just looks heartbroken at the state of the crumbling blonde. Adora’s not sure which is worse.
She tries to speak clearly, but it sounds more like a rough whisper, “I’m sorry-”
Adora is cut off by Glimmer lifting a hand, “Do not apologize for having a panic attack. That’s not your fault. We’re just glad we could be here for you.”
Normally, Adora would’ve put up a fight at that, but she was so drained right now she could barely keep her eyes open. She slowly leans her head down until it rests on Glimmer’s shoulder and falls asleep immediately.
Adora falls into a nightmare-filled sleep, but at least she’ll have Bow and Glimmer with her when she wakes up.