The Sword and the Flowers
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Adora
She starts her morning off like most days since she’s become friends with Catra.
Wake up. Grab her phone. Text Catra “Good Morning!” Go wake up Bow and Glimmer. Continue texting Catra throughout her morning routine.
It still surprises her how well her and Catra get along. They could talk for hours about nothing at all, or the most interesting subjects in the world, it doesn’t matter. Adora’s never met anyone like Catra before.
After the whole Shadow Weaver situation, Adora waited until Bow and Glimmer got back to tell them what happened. They were beyond worried for Adora, but the blonde explained how the Horde employees helped her. Bow and Glimmer promised her that any time they go out of town together, Adora’s coming with them from now on. They also practically showered her in support, which Adora couldn’t be more grateful for. They ended the discussion with a teary-eyed Best Friend Squad hug.
Today she has work so, after her (interrupted) morning run, she gets ready and goes downstairs with Bow and Glimmer. They’re still pretty early, but they could always have a small snack before starting their shift.
Conveniently, this is also the time that Catra and Scorpia exit their apartment and head down their stairs which are directly beside the coffee shop.
Scorpia immediately runs over and pulls Adora, Bow, and Glimmer into a tight hug, “Good morning! Oh, it’s so great to see you guys! We should really hang out mo-” Her introduction is cut off by the other three’s wheezed breaths due to being crushed in the hug.
Scorpia lets them down with a sheepish smile and talks to Bow and Glimmer. Adora walks over to Catra, who saw that entire encounter.
Catra smirks, “Morning, dummy.” Despite the insult, her voice sounds friendly and inviting. Not at all like how she sounded when Adora first introduced herself.
Adora chuckles, “Do you have any nicer nicknames for me?”
“Well, it’s either that or Princess. You choose.” Catra shrugs.
“Dummy it is, then.”
They continue talking until Bow and Glimmer remind her that they have a job to get to. Adora quickly waves to Scorpia, then turns to Catra.
She can’t decide how to end their interaction, though. A wave? A high-five? A fist bump? Why is she thinking about this so much? She never has to think about these things with her other friends. Adora settles for giving Catra a hug. It’s definitely not a tight hug, loose enough that Catra could escape at any time.
She doesn’t, though.
Eventually, Adora pulls back and smiles at a now red-faced Catra, “Ok well, bye!” She runs over to where Bow and Glimmer are smiling at her.
The three walk into work, with Bow and Glimmer actually not teasing Adora on the slightly awkward interaction.
Yet.
----
Catra
She’s still blushing profusely when she turns to see Scorpia looking at her with stars in her eyes and a proud smile. The look only makes Catra redden more.
“What?”
Scorpia’s holding her fists close to her chest, as if she’s looking at a newborn baby. “It’s just… you two are so cute!
Catra huffs, “No we are not! We’re just two regular and NOT cute friends.”
Scorpia crosses her arms, “I never said you weren’t friends.”
Catra stays silent this time, so Scorpia adds, “You know, Wildcat, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have a little crush on Adora.” Surprisingly, this is the first time Scorpia’s ever said anything about Catra and Adora’s friendship.
Catra turns around towards the shop, “No I don’t! We’re just friends, Scorpia!” Scorpia laughs as she walks in with Catra.
When the two walk in, they immediately notice how empty the store is of customers, which is the usual on a Thursday morning. Not many people plan on getting tattoos on a Thursday morning.
Catra walks in and makes a beeline for the bulletin board with her drawings scattered on it. She already knows which one she’s picking today. The one that Adora said she liked the first time she came here. The sword.
Ever since she and Adora reconciled, Catra felt that the drawing was missing something. After weeks of not being able to find anything that fits, she finally figured out what would make the sketch so much better.
Flowers!
She takes off the drawing and brings it to the counter, along with a pencil and eraser.
Last night, she searched online for flowers that she thought would match with the sword and eventually she found two flowers that are perfect. Red Camellia and Daffodils.
She begins sketching the flowers into the sword drawing, making sure not to put too many.
----
Adora
After the initial morning rush of people going to get coffee before they go to work, there aren’t many customers at Brightmoon Café. Today, Mermista is at the register while the rest of the group is making the drinks.
Mermista turns around and looks at Adora, “So… How’s it going with Catra?”
Adora looks up from what she’s doing with a raised brow. The way Mermista said Catra’s name was very suspicious.
“It’s going great, actually! I think we’re pretty good friends.”
Everyone sighs at that, which only works to make Adora more confused. “What? What’s wrong with that?”
Mermista responds again, “Adora, it’s so obvious that you both have feelings for each other.” At least it’s a straightforward answer.
Perfuma adds, “Yeah, Adora. There are some serious vibes between you two.”
Adora’s face reddens, “What?! No way! We-I- Me and Catra?! No. Nope!” She flails her hands around as she emphasizes her complete lack of attraction towards her friend.
Glimmer crosses her arms, “What about that hug earlier today? That was way too long to be considered platonic.”
‘I knew the hug was too much,’ Adora thinks inwardly.
“That was just a hug, guys! Friends can hug, right? I can assure you Catra and I are just friends.”
Everyone gives her an incredulous look, especially Bow and Glimmer, who have had to deal with seeing Adora and Catra be idiots the most.
Okay, if Adora were really being honest with herself, she’s thought about it. Sometimes, Catra and Adora will be talking and Adora will get this sudden urge to kiss her but she’d never act on it, of course. Why mess up a perfectly great friendship over some little feelings? Besides, it’s not like Catra actually feels the same way, right? Adora would know if Catra felt the same way, right?
Right?
Her thoughts are interrupted by a customer. The group doesn’t discuss Adora’s cluelessness again, which the blonde is very thankful for.
----
Catra
She looks up at the clock beside the door.
Seven-forty five in the afternoon.
Apparently, Catra was so busy drawing and finishing up appointments that the entire day passed by in what felt like a second.
She sighs as she looks down at the drawing. A smile creeps up onto her face as she looks at it. She was definitely right about there being something missing before.
Scorpia walks over to the counter, “Ooh, whatcha got there, Wildcat?”
Normally, Catra would be hesitant to show her work to others. It feels so… personal to her. Like something she needs to keep to herself. But she really does like this piece, so she turns it over so the taller woman can see.
Scorpia gasps and takes the sheet of paper in one of her prosthetic hands. “Wow! It’s beautiful, Catra!”
The brunette blushes, “Thanks, Scorpia.”
Scorpia places the paper down gently and is about to speak when the front door jingles open.
They both turn to see who it is. The store is about to close and they’ve finished all their appointments, so it’s probably someone buying something else from the store.
Instead of a customer, Adora is standing at the front door with a nervous smile. “Hey, guys.” She says this while only looking at Catra, though.
Scorpia doesn’t seem to read the room, and immediately starts happily talking to Adora, who seems to be cheering up just from talking to Scorpia. Her happiness is almost contagious sometimes.
Catra looks down and tries not to eavesdrop on their conversation. She looks at her drawing again, inspecting it for mistakes.
It seems that she’s so distracted by her work that she doesn’t notice the blonde now standing in front of her. Catra looks up to see Adora’s almost glowing smile. Catra’s always loved Adora’s smile, but she’d never say anything about it.
“Hi Catra!”
The brunette tries to maintain some of her dignity through her nonchalance, “Hey, Adora.”
Her smug attitude makes Adora blush slightly, for some reason. Adora suddenly looks down at the drawing before Catra has time to hide it. “You changed it,” she says matter-of-factly.
Catra nods, “Yeah, I added some flowers behind the sword. You like it?” She slides the paper closer to Adora so she can further inspect it.
It’s surprising how open Catra is with Adora, despite only having known her for a few months. Maybe it’s because she still feels like a shitty person for being so mean to Adora for weeks but regardless of what the reason is, Catra knows she’s never acted like this so soon after meeting someone. Then again, she’s never met anyone like Adora before.
Adora picks up the drawing so gently that it’s almost falling out of her hands. Her eyes trail around the thin sword, the Red Camellias that make everything pop, the Yellow Daffodils that make the sword look like it’s glowing, and Catra notices her mouth opening more and more in shock as she looks at the drawing.
Catra smiles at Adora’s speechlessness.
Eventually, Adora regains the ability to speak. “Catra… This is amazing! The flowers changed everything! I mean, it already looked beautiful but you made it a million times better.” She continues babbling on about all the different little things she loves about the artwork.
Catra’s smile gets bigger and bigger the more Adora talks about her work. It’s rare that people will come in and actually tell Catra they like her drawings, usually opting to just stare and then walk away. She practically tears up from how happy the support makes her, especially coming from Adora.
Catra’s really the luckiest girl on the planet to have met someone as amazing as Adora.
Eventually, Adora looks back up at Catra and abruptly stops when she sees the brunette’s glassy eyes. She gently places the paper back down onto the counter and lifts her hands up in front of her, as if she’s waiting for Catra to allow her to touch her. “Oh no, I’m so sorry. I knew I shouldn't have said anything. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Catra. Oh sh-” The words keep quickly tumbling out of her mouth.
Her second rant of the day is cut off by a watery chuckle from Catra as she places her hands on Adora’s bigger ones to put them down onto the counter. She keeps her hands on top of Adora’s as she speaks.
“No, no, I’m okay, I promise. I just… Thank you. For being so nice to me. I don’t deserve it.” That last part is a meek whisper, but Adora still hears it as her brows furrow.
Adora flips her hands upwards and interlocks her fingers with Catra’s. “You do deserve kindness, Catra. You deserve all of the good things in your life, and more.”
Catra looks down at their intertwined fingers, “You really think so?”
Adora smiles, despite Catra not being able to see it, “I know so.”
Catra looks back up to Adora’s eyes. Now, both of their eyes are glistening, but neither because of sadness. They smile warmly at each other as their heads move slowly towards each other.
It would be so easy to just…
Right before their lips can touch, Adora quickly jerks backwards with a nervous look on her face.
Catra is about to ask her why they stopped, because she really wanted to see where that was leading, but is quickly interrupted by Adora’s voice.
“I want to get a tattoo!” She blurts it out so quickly that Catra barely hears it.
Catra raises a brow, “What?”
Adora repeats, stuttering a lot more this time, “I want to get a tattoo. That tattoo. I want to get that drawing as a tattoo. On me.” She points to the sword drawing.
Catra’s other eyebrow raises, too. “Really? You want to get my drawing tattooed onto yourself? Are you sure about that, Adora?”
The blonde nods eagerly, “I’m certain. I’ve loved this drawing since I first saw it, and I’ve always wanted a tattoo, anyway, so why not?”
Catra’s still a little skeptical, but goes along with it, “Okay… So where do you want to put it?”
Adora pauses. She never thought about that. Well, to be fair, she did just decide to get a tattoo a few seconds ago. Of course she doesn’t know where to put it.
It doesn’t take long for an idea to pop into Adora’s head. She’s a little anxious about the location, but she’s sure that she can handle it. Besides, this will cover most of the evidence of her… past.
She points to the inner forearm of her left arm.
Catra looks down and frowns, already seeing the issue, “Are you sure you want the tattoo… there? It’ll hurt a lot more.”
Adora frowns with her. The one thing she hates the most is people treating her like she’ll shatter at any second, and she hoped that Catra wouldn’t treat her like that. Seems she was wrong.
Catra senses her discomfort with the subject and smiles sheepishly, “Okay, okay, I’ll do it. But it’s gonna hurt like a bitch, I hope you know that.”
Adora giddily jumps up and down in excitement, “I know, it’s going to look SO great, though!”
Catra’s previously sheepish smile turns warm at Adora’s excitement to have Catra’s artwork permanently etched into her skin. She can already feel the sweat on her hands from just thinking about that. ‘It’s just one tattoo,’ Catra tells herself inwardly, ‘I can do one tattoo.”
Adora runs over to a black leather chair and sits down, still practically vibrating with pure joy.
Catra grabs her equipment and sits down in the smaller seat next to Adora as the blonde takes off her winter coat and pulls her hoodie sleeve up to reveal her scarred forearm. Before she begins covering up the raised lines with ink, Catra gently runs her hand across them as if she’s wordlessly apologizing for the pain that she’s about to inflict.
She pulls out the equipment, and the colours she’ll need, and gets to work.
As Catra expected, Adora winces throughout the entire process. It’s a lot less than she expected but, then again, Catra does have a tendency to underestimate Adora.
Catra makes sure to apologize quietly every time Adora winces especially loud, but the blonde always tells her that it’s okay.
----
Adora
Okay, she’ll admit that getting this tattoo is hurting a lot more than she thought it would. She’s seen people get tattoos that are the same size as Adora’s, and they didn’t wince nearly as much as she is.
Catra keeps apologizing for hurting her, but that only works to make Adora more frustrated at herself for acting weak enough that people notice.
After Catra pricks an especially sensitive spot on her arm and Adora winces loudly, the blonde huffs angrily.
Catra immediately looks up at Adora, worried. Adora’s face immediately softens, “Sorry. I’m just frustrated that I’m being so loud. It’s not even that big of a tattoo, I don’t know why I’m being such a baby.”
Catra smiles, “Adora, I’m pricking fifteen tiny needles into skin that’s already been damaged a lot. It’s obviously going to hurt more than a tattoo on normal skin would. And trust me, you’re not being loud. I’ve had people scream when I came within 1 meter of them with the needle gun.” They both laugh at that, with Adora sounding relieved.
Adora nods once they’ve stopped laughing, “Okay. You can keep going, by the way.”
Catra continues her work. It’s almost done at this point, just some more colouring and a few touch-ups. “Don’t think that just because we’re friends, you’ll get a discount on this. I’m expecting full payment for this appointment.”
The word ‘friends’ leaves a pit in Adora’s stomach.
Despite that, Adora chuckles, “Of course I’ll pay full price for this, Catra. It's a masterpiece.”
Catra blushes slightly at the praise and brings her head down a little further so that Adora doesn’t see. ‘Too late,’ Adora thinks with a grin.
They keep chatting, with Catra checking up on Adora throughout the process, until the tattoo is complete. After the work is done, Catra applies a little ointment into the fresh tattoo, then wraps the tattoo in a plastic wrap. The entire time while Catra was gently rubbing the ointment onto her arm, Adora’s face was beet red, but she managed to get the blush under control before Catra looked back up at her.
That extremely embarrassing fact would go with her to the grave.
Once Catra wraps the tattoo, she looks back up at Adora with a grin, “All done.”
Adora looks down at the plastic wrap covering half her arm. Through the clear wrap, she can clearly see the vibrant reds and yellows of the Red Camellias and the Daffodils, the lighter gold and silver of the sword that looks like it’s almost glowing, and just how breathtaking the entire piece looks.
The tattoo looks so amazing that Adora can hardly even notice the raised scars that overlap the skin there. You'd have to look really carefully to notice them.
Every time she looked at her forearms before, there was always that constant reminder of her weaknesses facing her. Judging her. Now, though, all that’s there is Catra.
Catra, one of the first people to not treat her like she could shatter at any moment.
Catra, who helped show her that maybe she doesn’t need to hide her scars to be strong. That maybe by showing these scars, she is being strong.
Catra, who’s trying to be a kind and gentle and good person despite her past of being cruel to others.
She feels tears prick her eyes but keeps her head bowed down so Catra can’t see. She’s cried in front of Catra enough.
Adora hears her giggle at her shock. She loves Catra’s laugh, and she wants to hear it as much as she can.
The brunette’s giggles come to a halt when Adora still doesn’t lift her head, “Hey, you okay?”
Adora sniffles, and Catra’s smile quickly turns into a very concerned frown, “Adora…” The tattoo artist places her hands on either side of Adora’s upper arms and slowly rubs up and down to coax the blonde into looking up at her.
Adora shakily lifts her head to give Catra a teary smile, “ Thank you.”
Catra smiles back, but her eyebrows are still slightly furrowed. Instead of responding, Catra pulls Adora into a soft hug.
Adora reciprocates by hugging her tightly and hiding her face in the crook of her neck and shoulder.