promise?
----
Glimmer
Bow and Glimmer knew that Adora was overworking herself without any breaks. They knew about how Adora was refusing to take any breaks and not sleeping or eating much anymore.
Catra had told them a few weeks ago. They were both surprised at first that Catra had confided in them for something worrying her but, to be fair, who else would she talk to about something like this?
If Catra hadn’t told Glimmer and Bow about this, there was no way they would’ve noticed. That’s not to say they’re bad friends, but Glimmer and Bow have only been friends with Adora during a war which they spent most of their time planning. Her and Bow have only seen Adora as this hardworking soldier that plans everything. They have nothing to compare her worrisome behaviour to.
Catra, on the other hand, has grown up with Adora. She knows all of Adora’s habits and has seen her at her weakest. She’s also seen the carefree version of Adora that only existed when she was young, that Glimmer and Bow never saw.
When Adora excuses herself early from dinner after a couple of bites to keep working, Catra, Bow, and Glimmer glance over at one another knowingly.
When Adora is the first one up in the morning, already working ahead of everyone else, Catra, Bow, and Glimmer know it’s not because she’s just an eager early bird.
When Adora is the last one to leave the war room late at night despite Catra asking her to go to sleep, she, Bow and Glimmer sigh and leave Adora to work for a few more hours before she can barely make it back to her room.
They had hoped that, over time, Adora’s habit of working until she dropped would eventually stop, but it only continued to get worse. She was eating less, getting fewer hours of sleep, and taking fewer breaks. Bow wanted to get Adora to take a few days off from work, but this plan was quickly scrapped. It wouldn’t solve the problem, just delay the inevitable.
And it’s not like they haven’t tried talking to Adora. They’ve tried. Countless times. She just denies anything is wrong and keeps working, or she’ll change the subject and move on as if nothing happened. It’s like she’s refusing to acknowledge that she needs even the slightest bit of support.
They decided that they would either wait until Adora couldn’t handle all the weight on her shoulders and asked for help, or they would plan an intervention with just the four of them.
Today, there’s a princess alliance meeting that Adora is invited to. Glimmer is the first one in the war room waiting for the princesses. There’s still fifteen minutes left, but she’s waiting for a specific blonde to show up first.
Ten minutes pass and Adora still hasn’t shown up and Glimmer starts to get frustrated. This isn’t the first time Adora has skipped a meeting to keep working, whether that be in the Fright Zone or Salineas or even just filling out documents in Brightmoon. Glimmer let it slide at first, but now it’s starting to get ridiculous.
She groans in annoyance and teleports in front of the door to Catra and Adora’s room. There had been one too many incidents where Glimmer had teleported directly into their room and seen stuff she wished she could erase from her mind forever. She definitely wouldn’t be making that mistake again.
She knocked on the door loudly so the couple would know she was coming in before she pushed the door open a little too aggressively. She glanced around the room for the two.
Catra was in the room, reading a book with a blanket covering most of her body on the bed. The blanket was a little suspicious in Glimmer’s eyes since Catra was rarely ever cold in Brightmoon, but she didn’t say anything about it.
“Where’s Adora? The meeting is starting in 5 minutes.”
“I don’t know, Sparkles. I think she said something about helping a nearby village an hour ago. She’s busy, so just go do your Princess meeting without her.” Catra’s smug attitude only works to make Glimmer angrier.
She is about to teleport out of the room when she spots a strand of blonde hair underneath the blanket. “Wait a minute…” she begins walking over to the blanket. Catra’s smugness melts away into panic. “Glimmer, wait-” she tries, but it’s too late.
Glimmer rips the blanket off, revealing a sleeping Adora curled into a ball in Catra’s lap. It would’ve been absolutely adorable if she wasn’t fuming right now.
Catra sighs, and Glimmer begins to go into a lecture, “Are you kidding me? I know the meetings are boring, but Adora can’t just avoid them to hide in-” she stops when she sees the redness around Adora's closed eyes and the streaks of dried tears staining her face. She’s obviously been crying, and a lot by the looks of it.
All of Glimmer’s anger washes away at the state of her best friend, and she looks up to Catra. They share a look of sad understanding, but Glimmer asks the question she likely already knows the answer to.
“What happened?” It’s almost a whisper, as not to wake up the blonde.
Catra looks down at Adora, running a clawed hand through her blonde hair, “She said she had a bad day. I don’t know what happened, but it must've been bad.” She looks up at the purple-haired girl, “Just… give her a break today, okay? You know how tired she’s been lately. We’ll talk to her when she wakes up.”
“Okay…” Glimmer nods. She does know how tired Adora’s been lately. It’s obvious by the dark rings under her eyes and the paleness to her face that wasn’t there before.
Glimmer, deciding to change the subject to something other than the sleeping blonde, smiles up at the magicat, “Who would’ve thought, huh?”
Catra quirks her head at the Queen of Brightmoon, waiting for her to elaborate. It’s a very cat-like move.
“That you would be such a kind and gentle person when there isn’t a war to fight anymore.” Catra smiles back. “I never would have expected it,” Glimmer adds. Catra laughs quietly at that. “Well I’m just full of surprises, aren’t I, Sparkles?”
They laugh, quieter than normal, and Glimmer leaves the two to rest, “I’ll be back with Bow in a few hours, okay?” The magicat nods and pulls the blanket back onto the blonde. Glimmer smiles at that and closes the door to head back to the war room.
----
Adora
Adora had been awake for most of the time that Glimmer and Catra were talking, and she’s angry.
She knows that she shouldn’t be, that Glimmer had meant what she said as a compliment, but she still couldn’t help the anger bubbling in her chest.
Adora brings her head up from Catra’s lap, squinting at the sudden light. Catra smiles at her, “Good morning, princess.” Her smile quickly disappears when she sees the look on Adora’s face.
Anger.
Adora doesn’t want Catra to think she’s mad at her. She’s not exactly mad at anyone, per se. So, she puts a hand on Catra’s cheek, stroking her thumb across the thin fur there. Catra sighs in relief, knowing Adora’s not mad at her, but still has a curious look on her face as to what Adora could possibly be mad about.
“Why can’t everyone always see how kind and great you are?” She asks, whispering the next part, “Why can’t people see you the way I see you?”
Catra doesn’t seem to be expecting this and smiles sadly at the blonde. “I wasn’t very nice to them for a while, Adora. It makes sense that they don’t see me that way.”
Adora knows that was Catra’s attempt to comfort her, but it just makes her even more sad and angry. Her eyes shine with unshed tears again, which she wipes away angrily. She’s weak enough as it is, she shouldn’t add to that by constantly crying in front of her girlfriend.
Catra seems to catch on to Adora’s anger at her feelings and grabs her hands, which are still aggressively rubbing at her eyes. “Hey. It’s okay. You’re allowed to show feelings sometimes. It doesn’t make you weak.”
A few tears roll down Adora’s face, “This is what I’m talking about. You’re trying so hard to be better, and people still don’t trust you! It’s not fair.” She whispers that last part, but Catra still hears it.
“The best thing I can do right now is just keep trying to be good and hopefully, people will trust me again one day. That's going to take time. Just knowing that you trust and love me is enough to keep me going.” She lifts one hand that is still holding Adora’s and presses a kiss to her knuckles. It makes Adora giggle, despite the tears in her eyes. It’s the first of Adora’s genuine laughs that Catra’s heard in days.
Catra smiles at Adora’s laughter. She had begun to really miss seeing her happy. It’s been far too long. There’s still some lingering sadness that Catra can see, though.
Adora, who likely doesn’t want Catra to see her cry again, puts her head back down on the magicat’s lap. Catra brushes a hand through the blonde hair in her lap, using her claws to lightly scratch at Adora’s scalp. Adora sighs.
Who knew that finally letting out all those emotions you’ve been hiding could be so exhausting?
Catra looks down at Adora, “Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other.”
Adora smiles from her spot, recognizing the words from her childhood, “You promise?”
“I promise. Everything will be okay if we just stay together.”
Adora closes her eyes, and almost instantly falls back to sleep. Except now, for the first time since the war ended, she doesn’t have a single nightmare. It’s like her brain finally knows it doesn’t have anything to be afraid of, now that she has Catra there.
To protect her.