Work Text
This was a mistake. It was the hard unvarnished truth, but Adora would be damned before conceding a contest to Sea Hawk. The shame on her whole family!? Adora tried to pick up her pace, which in turn caused the pressure on her bladder to hiss angry warnings at her. She was smarter than this right? Adora had been in what felt like hundreds of stadiums and there was almost always a lack of bathrooms for women. And here, at a shitty little local college nobody field she really should have known better.But Sea Hawk had challenged her to a 42 ounce free refills contest.And when she’d politely declined he had said, and this is a direct quote, “I see that you are too intimidated by the might of Sea Hawk! Ha ha! A common occurrence!”Adora had vowed to bury him.She took another corner giving everyone who glanced at her a tight smile as she passed. That had been an hour and almost two refills ago. She half hissed and half whispered to herself, “I am such an idiot.” Another cold hard truth. But she had gotten to watch Sea Hawk turn almost as green as the slushies they’d been chugging, so that counted as a worthwhile victory.As she made one last turn the bathroom sign finally appeared on the wall, glowing through ancient once white plastic like a beacon of hope and salvation. Better yet, there was no line. Adora decided that this was fate's way of showing that she did the right thing, the good thing, dare she say it…the heroic thing.Risking a jog, Adora’s sneakers squeaked against the floor as she made it in, purposefully ignoring the questionable stickiness of the bare concrete floor in favor of finding a stall stat. A row of peeling red occupied locks met her desperate gaze. She bounced from foot to foot before her resolve solidified. It didn’t matter what the woman fixing her make up thought, or the little old lady with the yellow glasses, or that kid who was literally picking their nose while their mom washed her hands. Adora was going to search for a free stall damn it, she was going to peak very briefly into every crack to make sure someone was actually using it and she was going to pee god damn it!Red, red, red, no sign but clearly occupied, red, occupied, half turned but occupied-THERE!Adora only hesitated for a moment in front of the accessibility stall, the guilt in her heart not enough to out weight her desperation as she pushed on the clearly green marked door.Which was locked. And she couldn’t get an easy non-creeper look through the gaps to see if someone was actually using it before debasing herself and sliding under the door.
Fuck my whole entire life.
“Is anyone in there!?” Adora called, voice cracking slightly as she glared at the pale pink door.There was an aggravated sigh from the stall, “Come back with a warrant!”Soulmates are a funny thing. People who aren’t fated to meet but if they do, the things they could achieve. When Adora was old enough to read and finally understood what the words on her wrist had meant, she had cried thinking about how if she ever did meet her soulmate she was destined to arrest them. To be on opposite sides of the law like that, to have her soulmate be a criminal doing awful criminal things had killed her. In high school she’d tried to get into theater, just in case the words would be spoken in a play or during a script reading. They hadn’t so Adora joined the police academy, first as an aide and then finally an officer.She was a glutton for punishment like that, and far too curious to not at least try. It was her soulmate after all, Adora felt like she owed it to herself to find them. Who knows; maybe she would turn their life around, get them on track and live happily ever after. Maybe they’d team up to take down a gang from the inside! The possibilities were endless!Adora hadn’t given up on finding her soulmate, oh no. She just hadn’t expected to meet them in a public bathroom.She’d already turned to stomp back up to the entrance and wait for a stall when her wrist began to burn. Not unpleasantly, just…warm and tingling and clearly not normal. Adora managed to not trip as she stopped herself, pulling up her sleeve to watch in awe as the plain black mark turned blue and yellow.As she stared she began to hear loud cursing from the stall, a flush, and the frantic clinking of a belt buckle as the woman tried to rush out. Adora was only partially aware of everyone staring at her knowingly as she waited to finally meet the other half of her soul. The cheap stall door clanged against the cinder block wall due to the sheer force throwing it open.The woman was shorter than her although apparently the spirits of 80’s hair lived on in her. Buried in the jagged brown and gray spikes were two fluffy ears, a tail flicking in excitement and agitation behind her. Then, Adora looked at her face properly and could have sworn she’d just been shot. Her soulmate had a smattering of stupidly cute freckles and two different colored eyes. Blue and yellow.“Oh wow,” Adora said, like a complete idiot. She winced but when the other woman gave a set of squeaky high pitched giggles, her heart almost imploded.Then her bladder reminded her that she still had a physical crisis to attend to.“Shit, sorry! Two seconds!” Adora darted into the vacant stall and groaned with relief as she finally got to pee. “Sorry! Way too many refills on that alien jam deal! Please don’t leave!”The woman laughed again, this time louder and with more of a crackling sound. “Yeah, I noticed that princess. No worries, rather meet you with clean washed hands anyways.”Adora laughed, and reached for some toilet paper only to find the dispenser empty. “Uh, can you give me some paper towels, the tp-”“Yeah, empty, I know I was the last one in there.”There was a long pause before Adora called again, “So, uh, about, uh that- that paper?”“I don’t run errands for people I don’t know. I’m guessing you got all brawn genes then, does that mean I’ll be the brains in this outfit?” Adora could see her black boots hovering by the stall door.“Rude but fair. I’m Adora.”“Nice to meet you Adora, I’m Catra.” And with no other warning a handful of wadded brown paper towels came over the top of the stall door. “I’m gonna be outside, meet you there.”Bossy, short, and hot. Well so far Catra was hitting all her types.“Neat!” Adora closed her eyes in pain, and hoped Catra was at least out of earshot as she quickly finished up and washed her hands. All this done while smiling awkwardly at the people congratulating her as if Catra had just proposed to her instead of throwing things at her. Adora scowled at the empty paper towel dispenser and then at the doorway before wiping her clean damp hands off on her jeans.The crowd looked overwhelming and her wrist was still burning, but Catra was nowhere in sight. Adora nervously craned her head trying to spot that distinctive hair or the fluffy tail, maybe just a hint of the red tank top when it happened.“Hey Adora,” Catra whispered in her ear causing her to jump and whirl around to find her soulmate crouched on top of the chili cheese dog stand’s sign. Her smirk was just enough to make up for the prank.“Hey Catra.” Adora grinned, hands on her hips as she looked up at her. “I see that I’ll have to always have extra rolls of tp in the bathroom since you’ll never change it.”Catra rolled her eyes. “At least I didn’t try to force someone’s stall open.”“Who tells an officer to come back with a warrant?” Adora shot back.Catra’s head tilted before she finally jumped down with her hands jammed in her pockets. “You’re a cop? Wait, did you become a cop because of the warrant thing? Dude, that’s lame!”“Shut up,” Adora laughed before offering her hand, “you’re stuck with me. Be nice!”“I’m always nice!” Catra flicked her tail over Adora’s hand instead of taking it. “Maybe you should be nice instead. Ever think about that?”“Sounds fake but ok,” Adora tilted her head to the side, “so, uh, care to walk with me? For a bit?”Catra glanced at the arm Adora hadn’t even realized she was holding out and snorted. She still looped their arms together. “Why not.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Glimmer was Bored. Capital B Bored.Adora had left to use the bathroom almost forty minutes ago, and considering they were only here because Adora had begged them to come it felt unfair. Especially since the game was sparsely attended and the players were clearly feeling the lack of a crowd. Now bottom of the 6th and still a depressing 0-0. How was she supposed to enjoy baseball if she wasn’t: A) Drunk or B) Heckling the players, the umpires, the coaches, and the other fans? It would be alright if Bow was willing to be as catty and petty as she and Adora were, but since he wasn’t Glimmer knew she needed to come up with a game plan stat.However, mission make the day fun while rescuing Adora was not making much headway.“Ugh, I’m just saying that it’s been a while Bow, even if this place had actual stadium lines!” Glimmer grumbled, a small ball of sparkles appearing between her hands before dissipating and then popping back to life. There was some sad piped in organ music as one of the players fouled their fourth ball in a row. Amusing herself was about the only option she had left at this point. “And chucking one of these bad boys is like sending up a signal flare. It’s for safety Bow!”“Riiiight,” Bow rolled his eyes good naturedly as he rubbed soothing circles into Sea Hawk’s back. “But in the interest of not being kicked out by security, let’s not do that ok?”“Did I,” Sea Hawk paused, overtaken by a series of gag coughs before continuing, “did, Did ol’ Sea Hawk ever tell you the tale of the time I, uuurrrrghhh, the time I used smoke signals to call for aid? It was a small village- remote annnndmmmmmmmmmmm-”They both waited for him to continue, but Sea Hawk instead crossed his arms over the faded blue plastic seat in front of him and put his head down to take some deep breaths. Glimmer and Bow watched with disgusted but rapt attention in case he was about to start hurking.Sea hawk sounded far too chipper when he finally said, “Another time perhaps!”“Sounds good buddy,” Bow nodded before taking a bite of his hotdog. “Also, has anyone seen Frosta?”“She, like, did the smart thing and went to get free ice cream.” Mermista called from two rows above them, where she’d moved to distance herself from them. Glimmer was tempted to join her, but Mermista had chose the one awkward seat surrounded by broken ones to make a point. “Free ice cream if you’re under thirteen or something.”“...Frosta’s seventeen.” Glimmer shouted back.“Duh, but, like, she looks way younger you know?” Mermista said before pulling a mouthful of beer into the air with her powers, too lazy to lift the cup.“Glimmer it’s for ice cream, it’s a good cause!” Bow nodded sagely.“I wasn’t saying free ice cream is bad, I just don’t get how she gets away with it when I can’t!” She huffed, arms crossing tightly over her chest. Glimmer still got carded every time she bought a damn drink, and had legitimately once had a woman ask her if her parents were home. The least her pudgy face could do for her was get her free ice cream!“Glimmer,” Bow lifted one perfectly shaped brow at her, “Frosta doesn’t curse.”“Well, fuck.”They waited in silence for a few minutes, well besides the five second music clips and the staticky sound as she created sparkle balls of course . No escaping those at the moment.“Ok, backtracking here, I still think we should call her at least. OH!” Glimmer flipped sideways in her seat to face Bow. “Bow we should tell security and do a sweep! Force them to make an announcement on the speakers!! Oh my goodness, do you think we’d make the local news!?”“What? No! Glimmer, it’s not that big of a deal,” Bow’s concerned Mom Friend look would have had better impact if he didn’t have mustard smeared on his cheek. “Besides, if she doesn’t show in the next say tw- See! There she is, so can we stop panicking please?”Glimmer spun in her seat again, the plastic creaking alarmingly enough that she almost teleported a few seats over to avoid falling. Sure enough Adora was hiking back up the stairs. Well, Adora was actually bouncing up the stairs two at a time and then pausing to wait or double back a few steps, non-stop smiling at the stranger slinking behind her.The woman, a cat hybrid, was about two decades too late for the look she’s wearing, but Glimmer would give her aesthetic points for rocking it. She also couldn’t say anything considering she went full pastel and at least half punk on her life. The woman’s ears were both alert and focused on their little group even if her gaze barely left Adora. Glimmer has to say, the fact that her smirk went soft and fond each time Adora returned to check on her, well, that was interesting .“Adora you’ve been missing in action for, like, EVER! I thought you needed a rescue!” Glimmer popped another sparkle ball into existence, only to drop it when the mystery woman flinched. With far less conviction she soldiered on, “I was gonna send up emergency flares girl, what the hell?”Adora laughed, waving a hand aimlessly before twirling around to drag her new friend up the last few steps to their row. Adora was practically vibrating as she motioned at the strange woman beside her, “Hey guys, SO, no big deal or anything but wow do I have some great news! This is Catra!!”“Sup,” Catra said jerking her chin upwards a hair in greeting.Glimmer’s ability to contain the burst of snorting giggles that tried so valiantly to escape was frankly worthy of an award. Who does that!?Adora coughed, blushing terribly as she clearly expected more excitement from the rest of them. “Anyways, so, we met in the bathroom-”Mermista scrunched her nose, cutting Adora off with a single but emphatic, “Ew.”“That’s not,” Catra started, voice strangled as she squinted at Adora incredulously, “why the fuck would you open with-”Sea Hawk, unfortunately, had caught his second wind by this point. “I TOO-urp-have, have met manymanyfffine women near restrooms-NNNHHHGGG-mySELF!”Mermista saved them all from further embarrassment by pulling the water out of their water bottles to throw on Sea Hawk. “Stop. Talking.”Catra snorted loudly and stage whispered to Adora, “Dude, these are your friends? They’re bigger dumbasses then you.”Ok, Glimmer decided to take back her cautious friendly curiosity. Nobody calls her friends mean things! Bow grabbed her arm (halting her sparkle fist of friendship) at the same time Adora awkwardly cut in, “ANYWAYS SHE’S MY SOULMATE! Haha, ha, ha...a-hem, yay for us...right?”There was a pause as they stared at Adora, who continued to point at Catra with her jazz hands and a strained smile.Bow gasped, his hot dog slipped between his fingers before hitting the ground. The wet thud filling the stilted silence. It was anyone’s guess if he was tearing up over wasting good food or because of the announcement. His deafening screech of “Best friend squad pile!” was definitely due to Adora finding her soulmate.Glimmer knew in her heart of hearts that she is incapable of: 1) Resisting the chance to dog pile one of her friends and 2) Refusing her friend’s happiness just because she has the cactus of soul mates. So she did the mature thing, and teleported to drop on Adora’s back while laughing, “Adora you jerk! That was the way better opening line!”“Hey, congrats or whatever,” Mermista shrugged, patting Adora’s head instead of joining in the group hug. She looked over at Catra before adding, “welcome to the madhouse. Scream if you feel like it. Not that it’ll help.”Bow had half lunged to hug Catra when she jammed a hand in his face, bringing their celebration to an abrupt end. She opened her mouth to say something only for Sea Hawk to burst out from behind them and scramble to the nearest trash can.Where he proceeded to vomit violently.And repeatedly.Adora grinned and pumped her fist in the air, “Ha! I win again! Pay up Hawk!”Catra glared incredulously at Adora, one ear twitching with the sound of each of Sea Hawk’s hurls. “Ok, let’s get this out of the way I’m not a hugger. Or a touchy person. Like, five foot radius thanks. So none of that. Also, thanks, I guess. And you,” Catra pointed at Mermista, “I like you.”“Amazing right!?” Adora, apparently unaffected by Catra’s prickly behavior, half screeched in excitement. “Turns out I wasn’t destined to take down the mob from the inside after all!”Catra laughed loudly, punching Adora’s shoulder as she said, “Oh my god, you’re a fucking goober you know that right?”“Who still says goober?” Glimmer asked rhetorically and she thought quietly enough just for Bow to hear her, but Catra turned to glare so quickly that she knows she was heard. Awkward. “How did this all go down anyways?”“Well-” Adora barely started when Catra cuts her off.“Officer Loser over here tried to bust my stall door down-”“I did not bust the stall open!”“So I told her to shove off, my arm burned and bam buff girlfriend acquired. Also it’s really embarrassing to have people congratulate you when you’re washing your hands after a shit.”“Embarrassing is almost falling on your face in excitement in front of your soul mate and the judgy make up lady.” Adora hissed, red faced but still smiling.“Then I went outside to wait for her to finish-”“Where you practically jumped me from the chili dog sign, who climbs on TOP of the chili dog sign you jerk?”“Which was hilarious!” Catra flailed her arms, fake jumping as she wailed, “CaaAAAAHHHTra!”“Shut up!” Adora punched her in the arm hard enough that Glimmer heard the impact. “I did not sound like that!”“Uh, you kinda did.” Catra snickered.“Don’t listen to her, she’s jealous that I’m taller than she is.”“I will kick your knees in babe.”“Isn’t this awesome!?”Glimmer squinted, head hurting and nearly spinning from looking back and forth during their rapid fire explanation. Bow elbowed her hard and Glimmer yelped, “Totally! Amazing! Wow, well we’re so happy to meet you Catra.”“Pfft, no tell me how you really feel sparkles.”“Happy for Adora and sad for the rest of us, but I’ll live.” Glimmer made it a point to smile as brightly as possible as she said it despite Bow elbowing her harder . She was not getting bossed around by anyone thanks. Even if Adora looked scandalized, Glimmer knew she’d get over it in, like, five minutes. “Anyways why are you here? Your screamo band off today?”It was worth the final bruising elbow from Bow and seeing Catra’s eyes widen comically.Instead of getting up in her face, Catra laughed, strolled over to bump their shoulders together roughly as she passed Glimmer into the seats. “You’re alright Twinkles, and I’m here because my best friend is playing.”Catra pointed down to the field where a behemoth of a woman was helping the batter up after tagging him out. As soon as he was up she scanned the crowd, apparently finding them before waving like an excited kid would. That or she was just waving to everyone in the crowd?“KILL THE NEXT GUY TOO SCORPIA!” Catra suddenly howled, causing Glimmer to teleport just a few feet to the left. Scorpia pointed both her massive claws over towards them, winking and posing as she walked off the field as the teams switched positions.“Go Horde!” And with her mandatory cheering out of the way, Catra turned her back to the game and shrugged. “Anyways what are you doing here? I’d come up with a witty place for you but I’m not sure what pink and sparkly is actually supposed to represent. The mall? Fuck if I know.”“I like making fun of everyone at baseball games, and Adora invited me.” Glimmer shrugged, “Besides, I’m full up on unicorn shirts and glossy chapstick for now.”There was a pause before Adora asked, “You have unicorn shirts...and you’ve never let me steal them? Glimmer I thought we were friends!”Catra leaned back in her creaky seat, eyeing Sea Hawk’s still half full Alien Jam refill, before looking back at them. “Adora, she’s being facetious. Also are you admitting that you would steal something? Scandalous. I’m calling the police!”“Shut up!” Adora grumbled and flopped down next to Catra, before patting the seat next to her. “Glimmer, come over here. I’m tired of getting picked on so let’s make fun of someone else now. Like on the teams or something.”Glimmer popped herself into the seat in a quick show of sparkles. “I thought you’d never ask!”
“Uuuup next is number 13, KYYYYYYYYYYYLLLLEEEE!”
“Is...is his walk on song the macarena?” Catra asked, ears pinned back against her head.“This is too easy,” Adora huffed, “This is like kicking a puppy guys. We can’t, look at him, he’s a stick! He’s a baby!”Glimmer waited until he fumbled the bat before shouting, “Way to go Kyle!”“I wish I had a butterfingers to throw at him,” Catra said.Adora watched in mute horror as Kyle managed to biff his entire attempt and the organ played him out. “Oh...oh wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone strike out this fast.”“Adora, you were right, that was sad.” Glimmer nodded, “But if Catra had thrown candy it would have been amazing.”“Thank you!” The two fist bumped behind Adora’s head.Bow laughed from his seat, “Adora, sweet heart, I think you’ve just created a monster.”Adora couldn’t sell her response, considering how wide she was still grinning, “What have I done? Oh no, oh- OH, hey Sea Hawk, you gonna finish this?”The man in question had slid down the side of the trashcan at some point, but flashed a thumbs up. “Have at!”
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the SEVENTH INNING STRETCH presented by Mysticor Incorporated! Please stand as you are able, and join us as we sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game!
“Already?” Mermista squinted at the field, where Scorpia was high fiving each of her teammates on her way back out to first base, only to then duck groaning behind her hat as Sea Hawk found his true second wind and sprung to his feet to sing. Glimmer would always give him style points, especially as he posed dramatically on the railing. He waited, perched in the split second silence that followed.Then the organ struck in and Adora threw her arms around both of them, swaying back and forth as she started to scream sing completely off key. Catra’s singing, shockingly good and on point, was not lessened by her disgusted glaring at her soulmate. Who had yet to release either of their necks despite standing and pulling them side to side. Glimmer laughed, poking at Adora’s ribs as she tried to out shout her friend only interrupted by Catra flicking her ear with a smirk behind Adora’s back.Bow enthusiastically threw fingers up as they counted. “Cause it’s ONE, TWO, THREE strikes YOUR OUT at the oooooold baaaaaall gaaaaaaaaaame!”Not how she expected to spend the stretch, but honestly, Glimmer had to say Catra was going to fit right in. She chuckled as the next batter went up and actually managed to connect with the ball.“YOU HAVE TWO BRAIN CELLS LONNIE USE THEM!” Catra howled as a woman in the outfield fumbled the ball.Oh yeah, she was going to fit in no problem.