As Long as We're Together
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Catra
Adora smiles weakly at her. She can hear shuffling behind her and a hushed conversation between Angella and her daughter. Catra doesn’t care about that, though. Not when Adora is looking at her like that.
Eventually, everyone in the apartment leaves, saying something about ‘giving the two of them privacy’. Glimmer doesn’t seem thrilled about leaving Adora but agrees to go begrudgingly.
Catra waves them goodbye and, once the front door closes, turns to look at a very sleepy-looking Adora.
The blonde peeks her eyes open and her small smile comes back. Catra grins down at her as she tightens her grip on her hand.
Adora rubs her thumb on Catra’s hand, “You’re here.” She sounds genuinely shocked at that, which only works to make Catra feel even more guilty. In spite of her guilt, Catra nods lightly, “I am, Princess.” Adora giggles at the nickname.
Her eyes flutter shut again, “Okay, I’m gonna take a nap now, mkay?” If Catra weren’t worried about Adora’s health right now, the absolutely adorable sight of Adora napping while holding her hand would’ve made her heart melt.
Catra places her right hand, which isn’t currently being held, on Adora’s shoulder and shakes her lightly to wake her up, “No, Adora, you can’t go to sleep. You have to eat right now so come on, wake up.”
Adora groans, “Noo, I don’t wanna eat! I’m not even hungry anyway.”
As if on cue, her stomach rumbles loudly. Catra chuckles at Adora’s obvious lie, “Adora, you just collapsed at work. You definitely need to eat, and you’re definitely hungry.”
Adora sighs, defeated, “Okay.” She looks almost sad at the idea of eating again after five days of going without it. No, that’s not it. Scared, maybe?
“Ok, how about this. You tell me you’re favourite food in the world and I’ll get it for you, then we can eat it together. How does that sound?” Catra’s never heard her voice sound this gentle before.
Adora ponders this for a moment before nodding with a smile, “Okay.”
Catra grins, “Great, so what’s your favourite food?”
The smile on Adora’s face vanishes and is replaced by a slight frown, “I-I don’t have one.”
The brunette tries a different approach, “Okay, so what was your favourite food when you were a kid?” Her eyes widen when she remembers where Adora grew up. That was one of the dumbest things Catra could have possibly said.
Surprisingly, Adora chuckles quietly, “Well, the food options in the Horde were either brown protein bars or grey protein bars. The grey ones were so much better, though.” Adora looks up at Catra expectantly, with a frown. Catra knows immediately what Adora is expecting from her. She’s expecting a pity party from Catra and for her to say something like “I’m so sorry you went through that.” Catra, knowing that Adora would hate for her to say that more than anything, goes for an entirely different approach.
“Well that just won’t do, will it.”
Adora scrunches her brows in confusion. Catra elaborates, “Ok, so here’s the plan. I’m going to order one thing from every take-out place that I know and you’re going to try them all and see which ones you like the most. Does that sound good to you?"
The blonde’s eyes almost sparkle in excitement at trying so many new foods, “It sounds great.”
Catra stands up and calls every take-out place in Brightmoon she knows, ordering one thing that she thinks Adora will like from each and every one. She sits down on the single couch with a proud smile on her face.
Just then, Adora scoots over so she’s mostly sitting up and pats the empty space beside her wordlessly. Catra stands up and gently sits down on the larger couch beside Adora. As she looks over at the blonde, she notices that she’s shaking from the exertion of holding herself up to leave space for Catra.
The brunette sighs at the act. It’s a lot like Adora to put herself in a difficult situation just to make other people feel better. But not today.
Catra extends one arm out in Adora’s direction with an unsaid request. Adora hesitates, “Are you sure?” The tattoo artist smiles at that, “Yes, I’m sure. Now come on, dummy.”
----
Adora
Adora grins and crawls over so that she’s leaning on Catra’s shoulder, with Catra’s arm around her. Adora feels Catra rest her head on top of hers. The two sit in comfortable silence as they wait for their food.
The silence ends with Catra’s voice, “I’m so sorry, Adora.” She feels a tear fall into her hair. Adora burrows further into Catra’s embrace, hoping it’ll relax her, “For what?”
“For pushing you away. You didn’t deserve that.”
Silence passes for a few moments, then, “So… why did you do it?”
“Because… Because all I do is hurt you. I want you, but I don’t want you to have to put up with my problems. It’s not fair to you. So, I pushed you away.” More tears come out, and she sniffles.
At the sound of Catra’s sniffle, Adora sits up as she looks Catra in the eyes with growing concern. “That’s not all you’ve done. You’re kind to me, and I don’t just put up with you, Catra. You’re one of the best people I’ve met.”
Catra grows frustrated at that, “How can you say that, Adora?! I was such a bitch to you, I ruined your dress at Princess Prom, and then I left you when you kissed me. I’m a terrible person.” It breaks Adora's heart to hear that Catra thinks that.
Adora places her hand on Catra’s cheek and wipes away the tears there. They’re replaced immediately after. “Sure, you were mean to me when we first met. But you changed, and you grew, and you’ve done nothing but do what you think is best for me since. You only left me because you thought it would be better for me. A bit of a dumb decision, if you ask me,” Catra giggles at that, “but I know that it was with good intentions.”
“I don’t want to drag you into my issues, though.”
“You won’t, and if you do, I’ll stay. If anything, I’m dragging you into my issues.”
Catra places her hand on top of Adora’s on her cheek, “No, you’re not. And… I want to stay, too. Even if that means dealing with our issues. As long as we’re together.”
Tears form in Adora’s eyes, too. “Okay, then we’ll stay. Together.”
The tears continue to pool and, eventually, fall down Adora's face. This is the first time someone has told Adora that they'll stay with her. That they won't leave. She's been waiting her entire life to hear someone tell her that. All those years spent wishing one person wouldn't leave her, and her wish finally came true. Adora knows immediately that Perfuma was right. That being vulnerable really was worth it.
Their heads inch closer and closer together.
This time, Adora makes sure to ask Catra with her words to prevent any more miscommunication, “Do you want this?”
Catra responds by kissing Adora.
This kiss is a lot gentler than the first one, and way longer. Eventually, Adora is the first to pull away with a giddy smile. Catra has an almost identical smile on her face, too. They’re both blushing bright red.
Before either of them can say anything, the doorbell rings. Catra groans and stands up to get their food.
Slowly, over the next hour or so, the rest of the take-out food arrives. Dumplings, tacos, pizza slices, fries, burgers, and other fast food assortments are piled up on the dinner table in styrofoam containers and paper bags.
The two stand up and arrange all of the food to make a mini buffet of a variety of foods. They grab a couple of places and sit across from each other as they look at the options. Adora is almost scared to eat anything from the options. Catra decides to give her a helping hand.
She places down her utensils and looks up at Adora, “Okay, so what are we starting with?”
Adora looks up, grateful for a distraction, “We?”
Catra nods, “Yes, we. I said we would eat together, didn’t I? Now come on, pick anything that you’re curious about and we’ll try it together.”
Adora looks around at the dishes as she hums in consideration, “Uh… those things.” She points to the dumplings. Catra snickers, “You mean the dumplings?” Adora blushes sheepishly, “Yeah, those. They look good, can we try them?”
Catra’s teasing smile turns soft, “Of course.”
Catra takes the first dumpling, and then Adora follows. Catra lifts up her fork, “You’re supposed to use chopsticks to eat these, but those might be a little hard for you to use on your first try, so we’ll use forks.”
Adora sighs in relief as she nods. There's no way she would know how to use those. They both put their fork into their dumpling and raise it up, keeping it above their plates so the soup will drip back into it. Adora stares at the dumpling as if it's wronged her personally in some way. She tries, so hard, to eat the dumpling, but she can't. She doesn't know why she can't, but she just can't. Maybe her brain wants to punish her for making Catra think she was a bad person. Maybe she deserves to not eat. Adora continues to stare until she sighs in defeat, “I can’t do it.”
Catra smiles sadly, “It’s alright, Adora. How about I take a bite, and then you follow me.” Adora thinks for a moment before nodding shyly. She’s very embarrassed that she can’t eat right now, and Catra can tell. Catra extends a hand out in the direction of Adora’s other hand, “Hey, it’s okay that you’re struggling. It doesn’t make you weak.” Adora smiles and nods again, taking Catra’s hand in hers.
Catra raises the fork to her mouth and takes a bite of the dumpling as Adora watches nervously, knowing her turn is next. While Catra is still chewing on the food, she looks at Adora expectantly.
Very slowly, Adora raises the dumpling to her mouth and takes a small bite. Her facial expression morphs from a look of fear to delight at the taste of the dumpling. She chews faster. Catra seems to forgive her, so maybe Adora should start to forgive herself. Maybe she can start by allowing herself to eat.
The tattoo artist smiles at the blonde, “Good job, Adora. I’m proud of you. Let’s keep going, okay?” The praise makes Adora smile as a light blush dusts her face.
The couple continues to go through everything that Catra got for them to eat. Every time they finish a dish, Adora will rate it out of ten. The more they go through the food, the more Adora will talk and the happier she’ll look. Throughout the entire meal, Adora has been holding onto Catra’s hand as much as possible, as if it’s the only thing tethering her to the table.
Once they’re done eating, the two stand up and start to clean up all the plates and garbage. They sit back on the large couch in the same position as before, with Adora leaning on Catra’s shoulder and Catra’s arm slung tightly around the blonde.
Adora groans from her place snuggled under Catra’s arm, “I’ve never eaten that much before.”
Catra chuckles and presses a kiss to Adora’s forehead, “Do you feel better, though?” The small show of affection brings butterflies to Adora's stomach.
Adora lifts her head up and grins brightly, “Yes, I do.” Catra uses the hand wrapped around Adora to lightly ruffle her hair, which makes her giggle.
The blonde looks into Catra’s mismatched eyes, “Hey, what… are we?”
Catra raises a brow at that, “What do mean?”
Adora blushes, embarrassed, “Well, I mean, are we friends or uh…”
Catra laughs loudly at that, “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, Princess? We kissed on this couch an hour ago.”
The blush on Adora’s face reddens significantly, “Uh-well-You-Uh… Yes?”
The smile on Catra’s face softens, “Of course I’ll be your girlfriend, Adora. Would you like to be my girlfriend?” She tries to hold in her laugh, but it slips out slightly at how ridiculous she sounds.
Adora starts laughing, too. “Yes, I would.”
They both lean in until their lips touch. Despite not being as strong as their other two kisses, this one is definitely Adora’s favourite. It’s lazy and relaxed and feels like it’ll go on forever.
Well, it would’ve, if they weren’t so rudely interrupted by the front door slamming open. They quickly pull away until they’re not touching at all as they look over to see a very panicked-looking Glimmer run in and inspect the apartment. Adora notices that Bow looks like he has heart eyes as he smiles at the couple. He definitely saw part of what just happened, but Glimmer definitely didn't.
Catra chuckles, “Is there something wrong, Sparkles?”
Glimmer turns and, upon seeing Adora, runs up to her and pulls her into a tight hug, “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay, Adora!”
Adora laughs as she pats Glimmer’s back, “Why wouldn’t I be, Glimmer? I was awake when you left, wasn’t I?”
Glimmer pulls away from the hug to inspect Adora, “Well yeah, but then we all left! Left you with- with”
Catra interjects before Glimmer can finish that sentence, “What did you think I was going to do? Hold Adora hostage in her own apartment?”
The purple-haired girl crosses her arms with a huff, “Maybe! What did you do, anyway?”
A smug, proud grin plasters itself onto Catra’s face, “We got a bunch of take-out and had a little buffet. It was very fun, and I think Adora here would agree.” She says all of that like some evil villain announcing their plan, even though that’s exactly what happened and she never had any ulterior motives.
Glimmer doesn’t seem to notice that Catra’s just teasing her and begins flailing her arms around as she yells at the smug brunette, “What does that even mean? What did you do?! I swear, if you hurt Adora, I will-”
Adora laughs loudly, “Glimmer, she didn’t hurt me! We actually did just eat some take-out. It was great, I got to try SO many new foods!”
The shorter girl places her arms down beside her, “Really? That’s it?”
Bow comes over from the front door, ready to ease the situation, “What Glimmer means to say is that we’re so happy you’re okay now, and we’re grateful that Catra was here to help you. Right, Glimmer?”
Glimmer mutters a yes as Catra stands up, “Well, this has been fun but I’ve got other things to do besides be here. See you guys later.”
Catra stands up and walks over to the door, putting on her shoes. The blonde remembers one last thing she wanted to ask Catra. Adora stands up and runs out of the door just as Catra turns to go down the stairs. Adora grabs Catra’s hand lightly before she can make it down one step.
Catra turns towards the blonde. Adora lets go of her hand and begins fidgeting with her own, “You’re not… going to leave, right? You’re staying?”
Catra seems to knows exactly what Adora’s talking about, “I promised you that I would stay, and I will.” Catra turns fully and places Adora’s fidgeting hands in her own.
“I’m not going anywhere, Adora.”
Adora smiles brightly, “Okay, good. I want you to stay.”
Catra smiles and, before Adora can say anything else, she pulls her into a soft kiss.
As they pull apart, Catra places a hand on Adora’s cheek.
“Then I guess I’m staying.”