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Adora's world was monochromatic. It always had been. For eighteen and a half years of her life, she had seen the world in exclusively shades of grey. She had never before experienced the difference between black and white movies and color ones, or been able to look in the mirror herself and say that whatever she was wearing matched to the color seeing eye. Most of the time she just took a guess and went with it, whether she was confident in it or not. Both of Adora's best friends had seen color before. They said that the shift in their world was unimaginable, and they couldn't wait for the day that more colors would appear. Adora couldn't help but be jealous. Eighteen years old, and she had never seen any color on the spectrum. Was there something wrong with her? Did she even have a soulmate at all? Was she destined to live out her days ambling around in a bland, loveless life? She couldn't help but worry. Everybody on earth is born with a sort of invisible timer ticking away inside of them. At any given time as the countdown ticks closer to the moment that unlocks the final color, a kiss with your soulmate, you begin to see the other six. Most people see their first color between the ages of twelve and fifteen (Adora's cause for concern in this case) but the rest were entirely unpredictable. Everybody's timer is different. Some people see their first color from the moment they are born, but wait decades to attain their second. Some go through years with six colors waiting to find the peson who will unlock their seventh. Some gain their colors over the course of months, years, or even their entire lives. Adora's colors rushed abrubtly and vibrantly into her eyes in just one crazy week.
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A mix of juxtaposing feelings swirled unpleasantly in Adora's gut. She was off to college, the next big adventure in this game we call life. On one hand, the girl was ecstatic to be out of her boring middle-of-nowhere hometown. She had always hated the place. There was never the fun she had heard about in bigger cities, with tourist attractions and strange and exciting restaurants and sometimes downright outlandish people. Where she came from, the only thing anyone was interested in was cow wrangling and plowing crops. Such a party, right? Adora figured a bigger city would be good for her. On the other side of things, a strange sort of doubt kept a firm grip on her internal compass. She had moved four states away from any sort of family or familiarity she had, to somewhere with crime rates substantially higher than anywhere she had ever lived before. But then again, that wasn't exactly a comparison. She was probably just wasting her time worrying anyway. Surely nothing would happen. Adora thought briefly back to the article she had read on her way up to the dorms, the one about a previously unknown criminal mastermind who had been convicted of stealing over $3 million worth of goods from a myriad of different companies, then reselling it for ridiculous prices. The article was short, but did contain a single mugshot of the criminal involved. The woman had been atrractive, in a rough sort of way, with sharp mismatched eyes, warm brown skin marred with scars from who knows what, and an explosion of spiky brown hair which looked like it had been cut straight out of an 80's magazine. Well, besides those streaks of jagged warm grey which hung down just below her jawline. What made this memeory pop abruptly and unpleasantly into Adora's mind? Why, the fact that the woman had been arrested and was currently being held in the very city she had moved to, of course. The arrest was swift once all the evidence had built up, and Adora couldn't imagine that the woman was enjoying her time behind bars. Well, that wasn't her problem. Just one less criminal on the streets for her to worry about. Her phone buzzed suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts. She glanced down at it and saw that it was a text from Glimmer. 'I can see you from the fourth floor window. Stop stalling and get up here! We're already making new friends!' The blonde haired girl snapped her head up, and sure enough there was Glimmer, waving excitedly at her from one of the mid-length windows. But Adora's feet stayed planted firmly on the ground for another second or two before she shot her friend a quick smile and began to make her way inside. Her two best friends, Glimmer and Bow, had moved out to college right along with her. The hell why, Adora couln't tell you. As far as she coud tell, there was no reason other than fun and moral support. The decision hadn't surprised her, it was common for the two to throw themselves into unfamiliar or sometimes downright dangerous situations for the sake of adventure. Why, just last month Adora had been invited over to Glimmer's house, and upon arrival she had opened the front door and had been promptly greeted with the sight of Bow chugging a bottle of apple cider vinegar while Glimmer shouted, "Do it for the vine!" Adora didn't bother mentioning that vine had shut down quite a while ago. They knew, they just didn't care. So, in a sense, they themselves, "did it for the vine". Yes, it was sufficiently safe to say that they were complete dumbasses. After entering the doors Adora made a beeline for the elevator, but not before catching an eyeful of the day's first disgustingly cute couple. The two women were linked arm-in-arm, gazing into each others' lovestruck eyes. The shorter of the two, a dark skinned girl with half-shaven poofy hair, stood on her toes to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek. The many metallic silver jangles looped around her wrists clinked against each other as she did so. The taller, a full-bodied woman with fair skin, soft features, and thick tied-up hair, giggled and gave her partner a playful shove. Adora felt something acidic crawl up the back of her throat. The world really loved to rub it in, didn't it? She thought about letting herself gag, but decided it was for the better just to go about her way. She had amost made it to the metal doors when something about her, maybe it was her bright red shirt, or the slightly suspicious way she slinked over to the elevator, caught the couple's eye. "Hey! You're Adora, right?" She groaned. "We met your friends earlier. We're on the same floor!" The blonde turned to the two girls, who had made their way over and were now smiling at her eagerly. As inconvienient as it was, Adora supposed she had to respond, for the sake of common courtesy at least. "Oh, Glimmer and Bow? They're a handful, aren't they?" She hoped it sounded convincing enough. It must have, because the taller girl laughed, a full, deep laugh, and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Oh yeah, but they're so fun I think we'll be able to let it slide. Oh, forgive us. I'm Spinnerella, and this is my forevermate, Netossa." "Nice to meet you! You seem close, have you known each other for very long?" Netossa wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's waist, her eyes softening as she glanced up at her. "Yeah, we've pretty much been friends our entire lives, but we didn't develop feelings for each other until a few years ago. We'd been looking into our soulmates' eyes our entire lives and we had no idea." Adora chuckled, ignoring the frustration bubbling in her chest. "Must have been a shock when you found out." "Oh, yeah, it would have been for anyone." Spinnerella glanced down at her watch, a twinkling silver band with rose-red rubies decorating the edges. "Well, we've better get going. We're supposed to meet our friend Perfuma for coffee in a few minutes. She's on the same floor as us, I'm sure you'll love her." The girls said their goodbyes, and before Adora knew it they were out the door and she was stumbling into the elevator at last. She pressed the button for the fourth floor, watching it light up a bright red. She felt a twinge of guilt in her gut. Who was she to be mad at those girls over something they couldn't control? It wasn't their fault that her first color was abnormally late. They didn't deserve for her to be angry with them. With a sigh, Adora pushed her emotions down, and tried to think positive. The girls seemed sweet. They'd probably turn out to be great friends. ***** Catra sat in a small, cold cell, pissed off like never before. She just had to go and get herself caught, didn't she? She tapped her long fingernails rythmically against the metal beframe, her glossy black nail polish glistening. The gaurd coughed outside her cell. In about thirty seconds he would walk away to make the evening rounds. Catra had been keeping track, relaying the information back to her partners in crime through a tiny contraption hidden in the bush that was her hair. She only had a couple more hours, she reminded herself. Entrapta and Scorpia would be on their way tomorrow evening, and she'd be back out into the real world before she knew it. Of course, she'd have to take some time off, just to play it safe. She'd been in that cell for under two weeks, but she was determined that she would return again over her cold, dead body. It's true, she thought, running a hand through her jagged brown hair, wildcats aren't meant to be caged. And as she reached down to play with the fabric of her tattered-up shirt, she couldn't help but notice with a bloom of hot anger in her chest that it was still entirely grey.
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Adora yelped as a plastic bullet whistled by her ear, hitting the wall with a deep thud and ricocheting to her left. Why had she ever agreed to this? Almost the second she had set foot on the rough carpet of the fourth floor, her two best friends had swamped her with introductions. Before she knew it, she had unintentionally made friends with a jewelry bedazzled girl named Mermista, a pigtailed girl named Entrapta, and a man with a bandana around his neck who had presented with the very unfortunate name of Sea Hawk. Adora thought she'd murder her parents if they had given her a name like that, but he seemed surprisingly okay with it. And now here she was, cowering behind a tipped over table, listening to her friends scream in delight as they participated in an all-out competitive Nerf war. As it turned out, everything Adora had heard about college was true. She was a fool to think people would be more sophisticated here. "DON'T MESS WITH ME! I HAVE THE POWER OF GOD AND ANIME ON MY SIDE!" Sea Hawk let out his best battle cry and launched himself across the fourth floor lobby, promptly rocketing into whatever the group had rearranged into the center of the room. Adora couldn't remember what it was, and she wasn't about to put herself into the line of fire to look. Great, she groaned internally. He was practically a replica of Bow and Glimmer. She couldn't imagine she would go a single day without hearing some sort of meme referene or another. Well, at least she knew those three would have a good time. Soon enough, as quickly as it had started the Nerf war had come to an end. They all rearranged the furniture into something that somewhat closely resembled a circle, and plopped down for some relaxation time. Bow had run to his room and returned generously with some Zebra Cakes, which everybody gratefully accepted. And somehow, among the crinkling of plastic and the tumbling of sweet crumbs to the floor, they got onto the topic of their colors. "I have four," Sea Hawk mentioned. "Red, yellow, green, and purple. What about you, Mermista?" "Five." "Woah, you're really close!" "Yeah, but who knows. I might not get my sixth 'til I'm like, seventy or something." Glimmer slumped forward in her chair. "Come on, you guys are lucky! I can only see two! And they're red and green, so until I get my third I'll just forever be 'Christmas Girl'." Bow scoffed. "Um, are you forgetting something? I can only see yellow." The short haired girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever Mr. Self-Pity. Entrapta?" Across the circle, Entrapta was tinkering with some sort of technology the rest of the group couldn't begin to recognize. She didn't look up as she answered, her eyes laser-focused on the inner workings of the contraption. "I can see three. Blue, orange, and my personal favorite, purple. The moment I first saw it, I fell in love. It's basically all I wear." The group fell into a comfortable silence but Adora soon grew more and more unnerved as time passed. One by one, the group's eyes trailed over to her, a look of curious anticipation present. As soon as Bow and Glimmer noticed, they sat up with alarm. Bow opened his mouth to say something, Adora assumed to attempt to bail her out of the situation, but before he could get the words out Sea Hawk interjected, "What about you, Adora?" The sunflower-haired girl averted her gaze, fidgeting uncomfortably. She felt a flush of embarrasment rise to her cheeks. "Well... I don't have any..." For the first time since they sat down, Entrapta forced her gaze away from the device in her hands. "Wait, really?" Adora's blush deepened. "Y-yeah..." "No need to be embarassed, there's nothing wrong with that." Adora cringed. Was she that obvious? "Yeah," Mermista chimed in. "My older cousin didn't get his first color until he was nearly twenty-five years old. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, Adora, don't let it get your ponytail in a knot." The blonde fidgeted in her seat. Their words had helped a little, admittedly, but it was almost second nature for her to feel embarrased about her colors. She would have to work on it, she thought, but she had absolutely no idea how. Luckily for her, she didn't have to think about it for long, because Sea Hawk decided to present an idea of his. "Say, we've got a week before our classes start. We should use that time to have some fun. Whaddya say we go out as a group and do something together every day before school starts?" Adora didn't know the group very well, but she had to admit that from what she had seen of them so far, she thought it could be fun. The rest of them, judging by their smiling faces, seemed to be thinking the same thing. Glimmer nearly jumped out of her seat at the idea. "We could go and play laser tag tomorrow! I saw a place on the way in, and it has great reviews!" Mermista raised an eyebrow. "The one by the froyo shop? That sounds great, but how will we cover the price? That place is like, super expensive." Glimmer ran a gloved hand through her pale hair, smiling awkwardly. "Oh, don't worry about it. Really, I've got you covered." Adora had to force back a laugh. Their new friends might not know, but it was no secret back home that Glimmer's family was absolutely loaded. The cost of the laser tag would be like pocket change to them. She wouldn't bring that up, though, Glimmer would tell them in her own due time. The girl had always been scared that her money would influence people's first impressions, rather than her herself. But in the long run, she was good at weeding out the fake friends. Mermista shrugged, her golden jewelry glinting in the light. "I mean, if you insist. What do you guys say, tomorrow evening?" There was a general agreement around the circle, other than Entrapta, who mentioned that she wouldn't be able to make it. They offered to reschedule, but the purple-haired girl was quick to reassure them that it was okay. "Nothing against you guys. I just have family plans all day. I'll try my best to be there the rest of the week, don't worry." And so, the date was set. The evening dragged on, and the group eventually began to retreat back into their separate rooms, saying polite goodbyes as they parted ways. Entrapta nearly dropped her invention when her phone buzzed suddenly in her pocket. It was a message from Scorpia, inquiring about the state of current events. 'How's the plan coming? Still go for tomorrow night?' Entrapta was quick to respond. 'Things are perfect so far. If anything changes, I'll keep you updated. See you tomorrow night!' She couldn't help but laugh as the door swung closed behind her. Her hair bounced energetically with the motion, and she heaved a peaceful sigh. "Catra, here we come. Those guards won't know what hit them." ******* It was getting late, but our main trio still managed to squeeze themselves into Glimmer's tiny room to talk for a little longer. "Sorry I couldn't bail you out of that earlier, Adora." Bow apologized. Adora took down her ponytail, allowing her sunshine hair to cascade down her shoulders. "Don't worry about it. They were all super reassuring about it anyway, so don't feel guilty." She yawned. "God, the trip up here was exhausting. Oh, I forgot to mention I ran into two more of our dorm mates in the lobby. Netossa and Spinerella, they said their names were." The other girl in the room smiled. "Oh, yeah. Aren't they the sweetest things?" Adora nodded. "Almost disgustingly so. I nearly - Hm? Bow? What's with that look on your face?" Bow jumped a mile in the air, blushing a deep red. "Oh, nothing! It's just... I accidentally ran into this guy on the way in. He's staying on the third floor. He was really kind, and thoughtful, and his eyes were the most beautiful shade of cool grey and-" he abruptly stopped. "Bow?" Glimmer raised an eyebrow. "You alright?" Bow's eyes were wide in shock, an intense stare fixed directly on his golden-haired friend. She started to think maybe she had something on her face when he let out a shaky whisper. "Yeah, fine... It's just, Adora... your shirt is the most beautiful shade of red..."
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As mentioned before, the cost of the laser tag was barely even pocket change to Glimmer's family. So, at approximately 5:30 that Sunday afternoon, the group of four, along with the lately invited but invited nonetheless Perfuma, Netossa, and Spinnerella, were gathered inside the building getting fitted for their laser-sensor vest and laser-emitting guns. afterwards, they were promptly divided into two teams and before they knew it the game was on. The rules were simple, get hit by a laser and you were out, hit someone else with a laser and it was the other way around. You could recharge and make your way back into the game by visiting the starting point at your team's base, which could also end up being your team's downfall. It's pretty much nothing but a giant target, and with enough direct hits it will shut down, causing your team to lose the game. Simple. And so naturally, Adora's first instinct was to duck down under the nearest wall, safe and sound far away from the enemy team. She could hear Sea Hawk screaming as he dashed closer from behind enemy lines, the rest of his team following closely behind. On her team's side, Perfuma and Netossa flew by her, giggling with excitement, or nervousness, or maybe a mixture of both. Bow took a second to stop, crouching down behind a barrier parallel to Adora's. "Come on Adora, isn't this the same thing you did during the Nerf battle yesterday? It's nothing but a game of laser tag, it's fine. Take some risks, have some fun!" And with that, he was gone. Adora sighed, trying to settle her nerves. He was right. She needed to stop worrying, enjoy herself for once. She knew her team would have her back anyway. If Bow was as good with a laser gun as he was with, well, a bow, their team would have nothing to worry about. And Netossa and Perfuma were both strong girls with a bulldog mentality, so they'd most likely be fine. With a shaky breath, Adora counted to three and threw herself out into the line of fire. She weaved in and out of walls and barriers, catching passing glimpses of the game as it raged on around her. Bow landed a direct hit on Gimmer, who let out a scream of frustration. Perfuma giggled as she dodged in and out of Mermista's lasers, not a care in the world. Spinnerella and Netossa, though sweet and gentle as soulmates, were absolutely ferocious towards each other when they were competing on opposing teams. Later on Bow had run off to who knows where, but Adora couldn't help but hear as Sea Hawk screamed distantly, "YOU BETTER STOP!" Make that meme reference number three, she counted. "HE NEEDS SOME MILK!" Nevermind, make that four. At least she knew where Bow was now. Adora thought back once again on Bow's words. It was time to make a move. Leaping across enemy lines, she fired a shot at the thoroughly furious Mermista, scoring a direct hit to the center of her vest. "Perfuma, quit dodgi-AAAGHGH! DAMMIT ADORA!" The guilty party only giggled, watching Mermista's vest blare. Maybe this whole laser tag thing could be fun after all. Suddenly, Bow hopped out from her left, shots firing. Adora yelped, throwing herself backwards. She tumbled to the ground, the gun flying from her hands. Bow smirked at her, and she leapt for the gun, narrowly dodging two more beams. She took cover behind a short barrier, forced to kneel down for full coverage. She squeezed her eyes shut as shots raged past her. What should she do, what should she do? She couldn't run, that would be too risky, but she couldn't just stay here either. Bow was getting closer by the second, and her pulse was quickening every step of the way. She had to make a decision. Make a decision, make a decision, make a de- Adora shot to her feet, pulling on the trigger of the gun over and over again in rapid fire. Suddenly, an alarm rang out from someone's outfit, and a small portion of the fire ceased. Bow's vest flashed. She had hit him. She stared at him for a few seconds in what seemed to be pure shock. Then, she threw her arms in the air, screaming and laughing with joy and adrenaline. "Never celebrate too early, my lighthearted friend!" She blinked, her eyes following the voice. Sea Hawk. Adora had gotten put out by the hands of Sea Hawk? Was it wrong for her to have assumed he would have been the worst player from either team? "You better get back and recharge, your team will need your help!" ******They played six games in total, and by the end of it all Adora had turned out to be the best player there. Her stats, which had been taken track of digitally, were off the charts. In total, her team had won four games, and the other had one two. Both teams had a blast, but it was still a mystery to Adora how easily the group's resident sweet female couple could make the transition from friends to enemies and back again. ****** Three, two, one. The guard walked away from her cell, and Catra stood to stretch her legs. Alright, you two, where are you? Just then, a mechanical buzzing noise emerged from just above her right ear. She plunged a hand into her bushy hair to retrieve the device, a small metal chip barely the size of the flashdrive. Entrapta's voice crackled over the speaker. "Hey, Catra, you clear?" In the cell across from hers, a fair skinned woman with white-blonde hair scrambled to her feet, eyes wide. "It's this new technology I developed, never before seen by anybody else. Get this- teleportation." "...Teleportation?" "You heard me. You'll be in and out of here before you know it. The key is in that little chip I got you to sneak in. It connects to all the bigger parts, and zaps you right out of there. Oh, but close your eyes before I send you off. You might go blind if you don't." The girl with the icy blonde hair gripped desperately at the bars. When she spoke, a sharp Boston accent lilted her words. "Hey, you're getting outta here?! You gotta help me out man, I can't live like this!" "Alright Catra, all systems go. Sending you off in three.." "Please, please, get me outta here!" "Two..." "Come on, PLEASE, PLEASE!" Catra squeezed her eyes shut. "One." "PLEASE, PLEA-" A red-hot shockwave pulsed through Catra's body, and electric blue lightning buzzed behind her eyelids. Then, as soon as it began, it was over. She gasped frantically, trying to pull the air back into her lungs. She was the back of a van, her two friends sitting in the front. Scorpia and Entrapta twisted around in their seats, grinning. "See, what did I tell you? Just like that!" Catra let her eyes wander the walls of the van, which were covered wall to wall with equipment and technology of all kinds. "Wow," she said between breaths, "You guys... really have this place... decked out..." Scorpia waved a dismissive hand at her as though it were nothing. "Yeah, yeah. We can get back to that later. We need to figure out where you're staying. The only way back to your place is past the prison, and we're not chancing that. Not when they're on high alert five minutes from now." "She could stay with me," Entrapta offered. "The authorities still don't know that there's anybody else involved with the crimes, so they'd have no reason to think Catra would be anywhere near the dorms. All I've gotta do is sneak her in. Here." Reaching into the glovebox, she pulled out a baggy hoody and tossed it in her dark-skinned friend's direction. "Wear this."****** Catra rested against the wall of the dorm room stairwell, eyes focused on the flowing pigtails of her friend. "Alright, we're clear. My room is the second door on the left." "Thank God. I hate having to push my hair down like this. Why do you think you've never seen me with a hood up?" They made their way through the open door and tiptoed down the hallway. Entrapta was putting her key into the lock when suddenly the door to their right swung open, and Adora stepped out donning her best rubber-ducky pajamas. Catra hissed. "Dammit." "Oh, Entrapta! Is this a friend of yours? Say, you look familiar, do I know you from somewhere?" The pigtailed girl responded in place of the woman in question. "Oh, yeah, I've known her forever. I would stay and talk, but we've got really important family buisness to attend to." "Family?" "Oh, we're, um, cousins. Anyway, see you later!" The door slammed shut behind her, and Adora was left blinking in confusion. Was it her, or was that weird? Oh well, she shrugged, making her way down the hall, she was sure there was no reason to worry. That girl really did look familiar, though. Her eyes were absolutely beautiful. Where had she caught a glimpse of those eyes before?" And as she turned the corner down the long, thin hallway, for the first time in her life she stared in amazement as the carpet glowed a vibrant blood red.
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The smell of fresh coffee wafted around the dining hall, mingling halfheartedly with the early morning chatter. "Ugh, why are we up this early?" Netossa asked nobody in particular. Most of the table mumbled their disgruntled agreement, but Sea Hawk would have none of it. With wide, eager eyes, he leaned forward and responded, "Why? Well, my sleepy-eyed friends, I'm about to tell you why! We're going to the movies! ...Actually, we could have done that later, but there's a theatre here that opens up super early, and I heard if you get there within the first few hours the place is basically yours." Mermista glared. "Are you kidding me? We literally could have gotten up any time later?" "No, I'm not kidding, and yes, we could have! We leave in forty-five minutes!" Everybody groaned. Suddenly, Entrapta pushed herself away from the table. "I'm gonna go work on my tech until then. Somebody might have to come get me if I fall asleep again." To her credit, what she said was halfway true. She WAS going to work on her latest inventions- while she checked in on Catra, who was still bouncing off the walls after the previous night. "Yellow! My eye is yellow!" This had been proclaimed after a quick glance in the mirror, followed by excited yelping and jumping for the next thirty minutes. Afterwards, Entrapta thought Catra must have stayed up until the early hours of the day just staring out the window at the lights of the city. The memory brought a soft smile to her face. She knew she was supposed to keep Catra in the dorms until things cleared up, but there wasn't much sunshine in the pigtailed girl's room to look at and she didn't know if she had it in her to keep her buddy locked up in a state like that. It was a terrible idea to even let her leave the dorms, the room really, but if Entrapta was anything, first and foremost she was a friend. And directly after having that thought, she had another- God, I'm an idiot. So, Entrapta trotted away from the table, pigtails bouncing behind her. Adora watched her go out of the corner of her eye, barely even reacting when her phone buzzed in her pocket. In the end, though, she fished it out and let the light of the screen wash over her pale face. The headline was clear: "Mastermind Criminal Catra Escapes From Prison". And there, right in front of her, were the eyes. The ever so familiar eyes which had peered out at her from underneath that oversized hood, and had left her wondering where she'd seen them. The ever so familiar eyes which she had even thought were beautiful in their own way. The ever so familiar eyes which she had completely forgotten about when she saw red. She almost screamed. She tried to, in fact, through a cup of sugary-sludge coffee, which very promptly exploded out through her nostrils and all over the table. "Oh my God!" "Adora!" "Auughghh!" "What happened?! What's wrong?!" Adora swiped the coffee away from her face, all traces of slumber gone from her eyes. She threw herself to her feet and sprinted out of the dining hall. Bow and Glimmer rushed out after her, but somewhere along the twists and turns of the campus they fell behind, and as Adora's feet pounded up the steps to the dorms, they were nowhere to be seen. The next thing Adora remembered when it was all said and done was rapidly slamming her fist against the red-brown wood of Entrapta's door. "Entrapta! Entrapta! Entrapta, open the door!" And open, ever so slightly as it might have been, the door did. One worried eye peered throught the crack, strands of voluptuous thick hair falling through into the hallway. "Adora? What is it?" "Let me in." Entrapta's eye widened. "What? Why?" "I'll explain after you let. Me. IN!" Adora threw an arm out in an attempt to push her way through, but the girl on the other side yelped and was quick to slam her shoulder against the wood in retalliation. "ADORA! CUT IT OUT!" "NO! LET ME IN!" "I CAN'T!" Entrapta bent her legs and sprung forward, the door slamming shut and shaking the thin walls. She quickly locked it, and soon heard Adora jiggling the doorknob from the other side. "Entrapta! Open the door!" "Go away, Adora! It's staying shut!" "You can't keep it closed forever! Not with your hair caught in it like that!" She blinked. Her eyes fell down to her hair, which, sure enough, was firmly stuck in the door. A lot of it, too. She sucked in a deep breath, threw open the lock on the door, and made an attempt to yank her purple locks back into the safety of her room. Just then, the other girl burst violently through the door with the strength of a thousand bulls and a roar to boot. Entrapta's head thudded painfully against the side of her desk, and she took a minute to regain her composure. That girl HAD to have taken a running start for that one. Her blood was still pounding in her ears when a glowing phone screen was thrusted brusquely in front of her nose, causing her to wince. "What's the meaning of this?!" Raising a hand to rub her forehead, she felt her heart jump in her chest. She raised her eyes and racked her brain for a response, but Adora wasn't looking at her. She was looking at Catra, who was frozen in surprise behind her. "You're her! You're Catra, aren't you!" Nobody answered, but their silence spoke volumes. "I knew it! I knew it!" Entrapta began to rise to her feet, a steady hand raised defensively in front of her. "Please, Adora, please, you can't call the police." "And why shouldn't I? From what I hear, Catra here is a convicted criminal, and from what I see, you're in kahoots with her!" It would have been a great time for Bow and Glimmer to add in that they wanted to kashoot themselves. Too bad they weren't there. "Adora, please, give us one day." "One day to do what?!" Catra took a few hard steps forward, her narrowed eyes glinting venemously in the light. Her voiced seethed with red-hot anger. "To do none of your buisness, blondie. You're not gonna tell anyone about this." Adora scoffed. "Oh yeah? And tell me, why not?" "Because I have money and connections like you could never even dream of, and if you so much as breathe in the PD's direction I will hurt you so bad you'll never-" "Catra, cut it out!" The panic was evident in Entrapta's voice, and it coaxed the other two girls into submission. There was a moment of silence in the room after that, but a feeling of hostility still hung like a wet blanket over their lungs. The odd girl out moved carefully forward, as though she expected the two to fly into a full-on fistfight at any second. "Adora, you have no reason to help us. I know that, and I understand that. But please, just hear me out. Getting your first color is one of the most monumental points in a person's young life. Catra got hers yesterday, and she's been bouncing off the walls ever since. Please, if anything, just give her one day to get a look at the outside world. One day, that's all we're asking." Adora pondered this. A lot more than should have been necessary, if we're honest. Catra had gotten her first color the night before? Just as she had? She had known for a long time that it was possible for soulmates to have matching internal timers, but it was incredibly rare. Besides, just because she got her color at around the same time as Catra had, it didn't mean that they were directly connected in any way. But what if they were? She was grasping at straws, and deep down she knew that. She had spent eighteen years of her life as a hopeless romantic, a useless lesbian crushing all the girls she couldn't have, and now she was getting her hopes up on the one in a million chance that this absolute lunatic that would probably spend the rest of her life rotting away in a jail cell MIGHT be her soulmate. It was absolutely ridiculous, and she was aware. She wished she wasn't, because here she was about to make a horrible decision that she was already feeling guilty about. "Fine. One day. But how, may I ask, do you plan to sneak her around?" "Oh, you know, the usual."****** Adora settled herself down into the cushy seats of one of the movie theatre chairs, doubt twisting unpleasantly in her gut. Most of the group had sat four or five rows ahead of her, but she and Entrapta hung back for obvious reasons. Just as a commercial for some new video game began blasting through the nearly empty room, Catra sauntered in, face pale white with makeup and eyes masked a cool violet by colored contacts. Under her arms, in her hands, and in the front pocket of her hoodie she carried a jumbo-size bucket of popcorn, two of the biggest sodas Adora had thought she'd ever seen, and boxes of every different kind of candy under the sun. She plopped down in the seat next to Adora's, yanking her hood down and letting her hair burst out of it. "God, I hate keeping my hair pushed down like that. Good thing your friends chose quite possibly the most dimly lit location on Earth for today's casual outing." She handed one of the sodas over to the blonde, who took it in surprise. "Oh, thanks. Wait, did you bring a wallet? How'd you pay for this?" "Stole it." Said with no shame and through a mouth of buttery popcorn. Adora rolled her eyes. "Of course." But, she drank it nonetheless. A few more commercials rolled by, and without quite intending to Adora blurted out, "I got my first color yesterday, too. What's yours?" "Hm?" Catra leaned back into the seat, letting her straw fall from her mouth. "Oh, yellow. Love your hair, by the way, despite what I might have implied earlier." "Thanks! I've never actually seen it in color myself, just heard from other people. I guess I don't really have a choice other than to trust them." "So, what color did you get?' "Red. It's amazing!" She paused. "Love your sweater, by the way." Next to her, the bushy-haired girl smirked. "I suppose it's safe for me to assume what color it is?" They laughed together, and before they knew it the movie was starting. It was a comedy, and an incredibly good one at that. They spent the entire movie trying to catch their breath, and Adora would be lying if she said she didn't think Catra's laugh or the way her eyes tinkled in the dim light were even slightly attractive. That was normal, right? Sure, Catra was a horrible person with no human semblance of a moral compass, but attractive's attractive... right? Nothing wrong with it. When the movie ended, the group down front exited first, but were soon followed out by the three girls in the back. As they stumbled through the dark exit hallway, it was hard to see much of anything. They opened the doors and their retinas were hit with the initial shock of light, making them wince. Then, two of the girls gasped. Entrapta arched one eyebrow at the two, glancing up from her phone. "What's up with you guys?" They said it in unison, voices breathy with disbelief and hearts fluttering with childlike excitement. "Orange..."
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The sight of orange the previous day had been shocking, and incredible in every way. On top of that, Adora and Catra had gotten along much better than either of them had previously expected they would. Even so, Adora couldn't help but be surprised when she awoke to a text from an unknown number reading, "Hey, it's Catra. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out this evening? Ya know, grab some ice cream or something?" Adora pondered it. Morally, she knew she should probably say no. But she wasn't scared to admit that the other woman's threat from earlier, the one about things such as "money" and "connections" and "hurt" had definitely frightened her a little. And maybe Catra was just fun to talk to. And maybe she was kind of cute. In a non-crush-like way at all. "Sure. How did you get my number?" "Entrapta gave it to me. The Coldstone down the street at 8 this afternoon? It would have more convienient lighting for our current situation." Adora slanted her eyebrows. Our? Whatever, she'd let it slide. "Let's hope that's not necessary. Meet you there!" Adora put her phone face down on her desk and slipped back into a blissful slumber. ****** The blonde awoke again around noon, but in all honesty she didn't do much until about three that afternoon. Mostly she just binged some Netflix shows, reminding herself that once her classes started it would be a long time before she would be able to do that again. She met her friends downstairs, and they went out for a quick but enjoyable lunch. When she was done with that, she feasted on Little Debbie's snacks (Yes, she was well aware that she had just eaten) and squealed over fluffy slash fic until she happened to glance up at the clock and see that it was time to go. When she arrived at the quaint little ice cream shop a few minutes later, the mesmerizing scents of sweet deligths and candy toppings greeting her nose, Catra was already seated at a brightly colored table for two. She waved Adora over, her eyes lighting up. "Hey, I actually brought some money today, so treats on me! Get whatever you want." The other girl blinked awkwardly. "Oh, you don't have to-" "I know. I want to. Go ahead and order." So they ended up seated across from each other, Adora enjoying a coffee-flavored ice cream, and Catra nibbling on a pre-sliced caramel apple. They made friendly conversation, giggled as they tried each others' desserts, and just generally interacted as friends do. However, Catra lost her breath for a second when the other girl threw a playful wink at her, and Adora's heart skipped a beat when she felt another hand intertwine with hers under the table. They would even go as far as to say that in the moment, it was perfect. The girl with the sunshine hair took her friend's hand gladly, and in that moment it was the first me she wasn't afraid to admit it. She liked Catra. Like, really liked her. Who cared if she was a criminal? It seemed a trivial detail as she gazed into the other girl's mismatched eyes, leaning closer and closer and closer until- "Dammit." Catra pulled away, and the girl on the other side of the table whimpered in disappointment. "Catra-" "No, it's not you. The police just pulled up." Adora glaced over at the window. It was true. the police had parked outside, and one of the officers was writing a ticket for a frustrated man while the other waited in the car. He finished writing, handed the ticket over, and the girls began to think they were off the hook. Then the other officer exited the police car, and they both made their way right up to the store and right inside without a care in the world. Catra, even though her hair was pressed down under her hood, and her face was white with makeup, hunched down towards the table and tried her best not to exist. "Adora," she whispered. "Avert your gaze." One of the officers reached into a pocket and pulled out a photograph. He held it up to the girl working behind the counter, who peered at it curiously. "As you may have heard, a criminal by the name of Catra Stretson has recently escaped from a prison in this area." Under her hood, she cringed. "We've recently recieved an influx of reports claiming to have seen a woman around here with a similar appearance. Eyewinesses say that she appears to be wearing pale makeup, but the resemblance is striking. It it possible that you could tell us anything about this? Have you seen her perhaps?" The girl behind the counter, her bubblegum pink ahir trimmed into a vibrant bob cut, answered rather indirectly, But as always proves true, things don't have to be upfront to do their fair amount of damage. She gazed over the officer's shoulder, and Adora's heart jumped into her throat. "Um, well..."The two men arched curious eyebrows at her, then turned around, and their eyes widened. "Hey, you're-" Catra rocketed to her feet, one hand still linked with Adora's, and dragging her along. She whipped out a pocketknife, and almost as if it were second nature she threw her arm out in one quick slash, grazing one of the men on the cheek. Luckily for him, his reflexes saved him from a deeper cut. The women sprinted out the back door, Adora nearly tripping over herself every step of the way. When the gunshots began exploding behind her, she screamed. At one point a bullet whizzed right by her ear, and her blood ran cold in a mix of fear and adrenaline which she had never even dreamed of before that moment. And as they dashed along the would-be delightful city street, they mucked it up into something deadly. The blonde, ponytail bouncing behind her, hoped she never felt terror like that again. She watched Catra's spiky hair billow out around her as she ran, and the thought she had next brought tears to her eyes. They overflowed, and she cried in a way that she had never quite cried before. And the more she thought about it, the more she felt herself crumble. She didn't want this. She didn't want to be chased by the police and feel her blood pumping in her ears and almost die because she felt like going out for a bite of ice cream. She didn't want any of it. She didn't want to like Catra anymore. ****** Eventually, they lost the police. Catra led the other girl to an abandoned building, in a part of the city Adora wasn't exactly wild about. She didn't say anything, though. She hadn't said much of anything since things had calmed down. "It used to be a laboratory owned by Entapta's family," Catra explained. "They expiremented with robots and stuff like that, but then they bought a new building and they just kind of left this one for dead. I crash here sometimes when I don't have anywhere to go." Adora sniffled. "Adora?" "I can't do this anymore, Catra." "What? You can't-" "I said I can't do this anymore! I let myself get closer to you, and start to be your friend, and even start to like you a little, because I thought that there was a chance!" The words ripped out of her throat, forceful and gutteral, muffled by the tears. "Our colors lined up and I got my hopes up because I htought maybe you could be my soulmate! Because I've been desperate for color for so long, to feel loved, that I just wanted my turn! But now that all just seems so far away, and I feel ridiculous! How could I be soulmates with someone like you?! You steal, and you lie, and we were getting shot at, and I ALMOST DIED, AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!" Her shoulders heaved with every sob, and hot tears dripped to the ground. She clenched her fists so tight she thought her fingernails might draw blood. "I can't... I can't keep falling for you, Catra..." Nobody spoke for a while. "Please, Adora... at least stay here for the night, just to be safe. It wouldn't be good for you to walk home alone." She hid it so well Adora almost didn't see the tears brimming the corners of her the other girl's eyes. "Adora, it'll be okay. It's gonna be okay." "...I think we both know that's a lie."
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The place would have been cozy, surprisingly. It was set up almost like it was Catra's own house, with a bed and a kitchen and a bathroom, and even cable TV, so Adora assumed it was safe to say the other girl had been forced to hide out there on more than a few occasions. But she wasn't focused on that. She just wanted to leave. She had crept silently out of the door of the room they had both slept in-separately, thank you very much-and tiptoed down the hallway, and the first flight of stairs. Catra had chosen her hideout to be on the fourth floor, because she said she liked being just one flight of stairs away from the roof, where she could sit and look out and think about whatever happened to be on her mind that day. Adora had nodded in response when Catra told her this, but she still wasn't speaking much. After going down her second staircase, Adora assumed that she was more than safe to travel as usual. She relaxed her shoulders, and let her footsteps fall heavier. She was going to get away, and be on with her life like a normal person. Almost as soon as that thought passed through her mind, a voice sounded behind her. "Where are you going?" Uh oh. Adora knew that voice. She turned slowly, grasping for words to say. None came to mind. "You want to leave, don't you? Let me guess, try to go back to your normal life, like everybody else?" She narrowed her eyes, but her normally venomous gaze wasn't there. Her eyes shown with a dull pain, a small glimpse into what was happening internally. "I have to, Catra! I've worked hard to get where I am, I can't throw it all away so I can ride off into the sunset with someone I just met!" Someone who's not worth the trouble, Catra thought, more like it. "My friends are worried, I have to let them know I'm okay!" That was halfway true. Her friends WERE worried about her, she had woken up to about 50 texts each from both Bow and Glimmer questioning where she was, if she was okay. She was quick to respond and tell them everything was fine, make up a quick excuse, and say she'd be back soon. They knew perfectly well she alright, but she wasn't about to tell Catra that. "Adora, I understand that, but you need to think about what you really want before you go out there. It's not safe for you right now." "And how long are you going to keep saying that?! Yesterday, it was 'it's not safe for you tonight' and today it's 'it's not safe for you right now', what's it gonna be next?! 'It's not safe for you this week, month, year, who knows how long'?!" Suddenly, a look of realization dawned on Catra's face. "Is your phone dead?" "What? Why?" "Just answer me. Is it?" "Yes! Now what's the problem?!" There was no lie to be found this time. It had died shortly after she had texted back her friends, at about six that morning. But that was almost three hours ago-she had fallen back asleep. Catra pulled her phone out of her pocket, its case a radiant red. She tapped on it a few times, and then held it up to Adora, stepping closer for her to see. "At about eight this morning, last night's escapade hit the news. the cameras inside the shop caught us both. I meant it when I said it wasn't safe for you, you can't be seen right now. I'm sorry, Adora." That was the first time that it really hit hard. She had cried before, felt a little guilty, let her spirits drop, but in her mind it was always something, that, in the end, she could run away from. Now, she was stuck. ***** The blonde had reluctantly returned to the fourth floor with the other girl, but the moment they reached Catra's main hideout she collapsed onto the couch and sobbed. For hours she layed there, drifting in and out of sleep, crying on and off, and neither girl said a word to one another. Sometime in the afternoon, Adora had gotten up to go to the bathroom, but on her way back she took a detour from her path. She found a puzzle on the table, new and unopened. She needed to pass some time, so she thought, why the hell not? She started to pull the lid off the box, and from her spot on the bed Catra piped up, "Oh, the puzzle? Those aren't really my thing, so I never started it. I can get you more if you want, Entrapta gave me, like, six." Adora didn't respond.***** Evening came, and soon the sun was setting outside. Adora had returned to the couch, leaving the puzzle halfway finished. She gazed across the room at Catra, who was still lounging on the bed, watching some sort of forensic show on TV. She thought she was gorgeous, and she hated herself for it. Had she not learned her lesson? What was wrong with her? Why, after all this time, was she still letting herself fall for her? It couldn't be right. What if their colors didn't really mean anything at all? What if she really COULD just walk away, live a normal life. As normal as she could manage, with her best efforts, at least. "Catra, how do we know which colors are which when we first see them?" She hadn't thought before she said it, it had just kind of came out. Across the room, Catra glanced over to her in surprise. It was the first thing Adora had said to her since that morning. It startled her, in a way, but she was quick to regain herself. "Well, nobody really knows. Some people say it's instinct, and others say it might be magic. Don't even get me started on the religious side of things. But as far as scientific evidence goes, we're not really sure." "Do you think our colors mean anything?" "Like, ours together? Us two?" "Uh huh." "It's hard to say... I hope so." She cringed almost as soon as she said it. Adora obviously didn't feel the same way. Well, she tried to comfort herself, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Catra started to get angry with herself when Adora didn't respond, but she soon saw the makings of a smile tugging at the corners of the other girl's lips. She decided to take another risk, and go on. "I know I said it earlier, but I'm really sorry, Adora. I don't know how to make this up to you, or if I even can. I'll find a way to get you out of this, or die trying... It's gonna be okay, Adora." There was that same sentence..."It's gonna be okay"... The blonde still wasn't quite sure if she believed that, but she snuggled into the couch, and let herself yawn. The "contagious" myth turned out to be true, because across the room Catra yawned as well, and sunk down into her matress. Adora let herself drift off to sleep, and just before her eyes closed for one last time, she caught a glimpse of green. Her dreams danced with new spring grass and apple flavored licorice twists. Catra felt her eyelids get heavy, and just before she closed her eyes for one last time, the paint on her walls flashed blue. Her dreams flowed with the tranquil waters of the Carribean, and gemstones of cornflower blue. The fantasies were comforting, and each new image brought only serenity. Blue scales glinting in the sunlight as peaceful fish swam by. A lime green bird with foot-long feathers drifting across the sky. Electric blue flowers swaying in the breeze. A giant, leafy tortoise, who was said to live forever. Endless skies of cerulean, and candy apple green.
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Soon the morning came, birds chirping and rays of sunlight peeking curiously in through the cracks in the blinds. Adora yawned, drawing herself upwards into a sitting position. The TV sounded softly from its place against the wall. Catra must have forgotten to turn it off. It was playing an advertisement for a history museum she had seen downtown on her way in. Maybe she'd take Catra there when they got out, she thought. And if she ever got brave enough, maybe introduce the other girl to her friends. She felt a little guilty as she remembered them. She had stayed out for another night, even though she told them she'd only be out for one. On top of that, she might have to stay there for another night or two afterwards. She figured they must have already seen the news by now, though. Nonetheless, she figured they'd be worried sick, and it was the least she could do to send a quick, "Hey, I'm alright. Be back soon." "Catra…" After stumbling across the room(her legs hadn't quite woken up yet), she shook the tan-skinned girl gently by the shoulder. "Hey, do you have an iPhone charger I could borrow?" "Hm? Oh, yeah... In the desk, second drawer down..." "Thanks." "Oh, and you can borrow my hairbrush from the bathroom if you want." She said it with a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips, drowsy eyes still half open. Adora raised a hand to her hair, and frankly wasn't surprised to feel that it was sticking out all over the place. "Or maybe don't." Catra's eyes slipped closed, and her voice dropped so that Adora almost couldn't hear her. "I like that messy hair look on a girl." Adora turned bright red.***** Later on, sometime towards noon, Catra awoke once again and was dissapointed to find that Adora had, in fact, brushed her hair after all. She was in the kitchen, pulling ingredients out of the cupboards and assembling cooking utensils in a neat row. She read something off of her phone, then searched through a few cabinets before pulling out a bag of brown sugar and plopping it down onto the counter. "What are you doing?" "Baking a cake. I hope you don't mind?" "No, not at all." "Great. Well, in that case, do you wanna help out?" The blonde hummed a tune as she trotted to and fro, her voice mesmerizing in Catra's ears. She spent a good while just standing in the doorway, her eyes tracing the edges of Adora's face, her arms, trailing down over her hips and waist. Where did she know that song, she wondered absentmindedly, she knew she had heard it before. It was something about a bird, she remembered, always seeking but for what it didn't know. Very bittersweet, really. Ah, well. She'd figure it out another day. She moved farther into the kitchen, taking her place beside her friend. "Don't worry about my friends. I told them I'm okay. I don't know if they'll agree that it's good enough, but at least they heard something from me." Adora felt a little bad about being so curt with them, but she had been trying to avoid her phone as much as possible. It seemed as though every time she opened it all she could do was worry about seeing an article with her face plastered on the front. She was sure that if she heard a news station covering it on the TV she'd throw the thing out the window. "Adora, I'm-" "I know." She didn't say it was okay, or give a word of forgiveness, just simply ackknowledged that she knew. "How long do you think it'll be before I can walk the streets after this without having to worry about being arrested?" It was supposed to be a joking comment, but Catra bit her lip, guilt flashing across her face. Hurriedly, the blonde tried to make things right. "Ah well. It is what it is." Catra wasn't sure how to respond to that, and they fell into an awkward silence for a while. Adora pulled a bowl down onto a counter and began pouring ingredients into it- flour, sugar, vanilla- but after only a few minutes she paused, and then laughed. "I thought I'd remember more of this, but I guess I'll have to look up a recipe after all." As she began to tap away on her phone screen, Catra leaned up against the counter and asked, "Do you bake a lot?" "Used to. Pretty much as long as I've known Glimmer- she's one of my best friends- I've practically lived at her house. And most of the time, probably once or twice a week, we'd gather up ingredients, and her mom would teach us how to bake. Well, teach me, mostly. Glimmer kind of just stood off to the side and watched. Tasted the batter, if she wanted to get really active." This brought a laugh out of both of them, and as it died down Adora mumbled, "She had the most delicious angel food cake recipe. Too bad I can't remember it." She clicked a link, and her eyes lit up. "Ah, here we go! Not the same recipe, but it'll suffice." And it did suffice, fairly well in fact. They got all the ingredients put in, and Adora went to stirring away at the batter. Catra must have gotten bored, though, because at one point she decided to take a turn with the spoon, and after that they had more bowl than batter. That wasn't inherently a bad thing, though, because even though the mix splattered all over both of the girls and the floor below, forcing them to take their own showers and mop up the tile, they both got a good laugh out of it. Soon, what was left of the cake began to smell delicious from inside the oven. Before they knew it they were pulling it out of the oven, and they left it on the counter to cool. In the meantime, the girls decided to make some buttercream frosting. After a quick rummage through the kitchen, Catra managed to retrieve some food dye and a couple containers of sprinkles. The decorations had to take their turn, though, because Adora hadn't quite finished mixing their frosting up yet. Once they did, and they had gotten a quick taste test, they decided it was time to put them to use. Upon closer inspection, Adora came to the realization that the food coloring was the same brand that Glimmer's mother had always used. She also noted happily that of the four colors in the box- red, yellow, green, and blue- she could now see two. And although the new colors still roused butterflies in her stomach, she suddenly remembered Bow, and decided to make the frosting yellow. It was an important color to him, after being the only one he could see for so long. So, she opted for the lighter of the two still-greys in the box, and squeezed a few drops of it out into the frosting. Next to her, Catra reached over for a sprinkle shaker, choosing it at random, and placed it next to the bowl. By then the cake had cooled, and so they slathered on loads of thick, sugary icing, and doused the overly-sweet monstrosity with sugar crystals. They turned to get a knife, and a couple plates to put the slices of cake upon, and as they turned back they almost dropped both of them right onto the floor. The frosting glowed buttercup yellow under Adora's gaze, and the cherry-red crystals twinkled at Catra under the kitchen light. They stared for a couple seconds at the cake, so ugly, yet in the moment so stunning. "It's gonna be okay, Adora," Catra whispered breathlessly. Her friend didn't respond. She wasn't quite as sure. Still, she smiled softly and wrapped an arm around the brunette's shoulders.
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The day after they had made their cake, Adora coaxed Catra into finishing the rest of the puzzle with her. The pieces all came together quite nicely in a rainbow of bright colors (or the ones they could see anyway). They stood over the table for a few minutes to admire it but were then again faced with the challenge of figuring out what to do next. At once, a lightbulb went off in Catra's head and she plunged into the closet, moving things here and there and dropping them onto her feet with a distant mumble of, "Ow, dammit." Adora assumed that the other girl would have been looking for a board game or two, another puzzle (surprisingly, they had both enjoyed their time together finishing the last one), or even Twister. Adora would be lying to herself if she said she wouldn't be up to a good old fashioned, close-quarters game of Twister. But instead, the bushy-haired girl emerged with markers, glue, construction paper, and a plethora of craft products of the like. A smile pulled at the corners of Adora's lips. "How old are you again?" "Turned 20 last month. Why?" And so, as any good-hearted, mature adults would, they sat down and got to work on their crafts. Adora made a solid attempt to use Elmer's glue and loose glitter to make a dazzling photograph of her friend across the table, but it came out looking a little goofy, to say the least. "Oh, I do NOT look like that." Adora giggled. "Are you kidding? This is your exact likeness, I'm practically the next Picasso." "Picasso was a surrealist, dumbass." "Oh, like you're one to talk! Anyway, look at what you've got in front of you!" Catra feigned offense. "How dare you, Bianca is beautiful." "Bianca? That thing has a name?" Catra crossed her arms, grinning. "This THING is a beautiful, independent tree woman, and her name is Bianca." "Then what is that?" Adora extended an arm to point at a section of the round, green blob where Catra had scribbled on a thin layer of white crayon. "It's snow! She's immortal, and the snow barely breeches her senses. She's a badass bitch!" "Then why wouldn't she be an evergreen tree?" Catra scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Evergreens? The wannabe coniferous jocks of the nature community? I don't think so." They both burst out laughing, and they were just about done when they got all riled up again. They didn't say anything particularly funny, but every second they spent laughing the situation seemed to get funnier and funnier until eventually, Adora fell out of her chair, and they both started crying. A few minutes later, Adora hoisted herself up, and they both wiped at their eyes, heaving in deep breaths. As they began to get back to their crafts, Adora added a top hat to her Catra portrait and asked, "Do you mind if I ask a little bit of a personal question?" The dark-skinned girl shrugged. "I don't see why not." "I was just wondering... with all of the stuff you stole... what did you do with it? Did you resell it? What did you do with the profit?" Catra smiled a little. "I mean, obviously, I kept some. So did Entrapta, and Scorpia. You haven't met her yet, but she's cool. As for the rest of it, it went out in anonymous donations." "Anonymous donations?" "You know, homeless shelters, cancer research, climate change and pollution prevention, stuff like that." "So you do good things under the mask of it being bad? Why hide it? You're a good person Catra, just admit it!" She punched Catra playfully on the arm, grinning. "I don't know about that. In fact, I've thought about it a lot. I suppose I might be, but there's a lot of moral grey area to be discussed. I only steal from big companies, but I think a lot about the employees." "Employees?" "Yeah, like, I'll worry I'll steal something and then the employees will get fired for letting it happen. And what if they're working their job as a last resort to feed their family, and I just screwed it all up." Adora bit her lip. She had never thought about that. She didn't know how to answer Catra, so she pulled her into a hug. "I think you're a good person. Is that enough?" Catra let her eyes slip closed along with Adora's as she returned the embrace. "To soothe my guilt? I don't know. To make me crush on you a little harder? Possibly?" Adora's heart jumped in her chest. She froze for a second in the embrace, a warm, tingling sensation beginning in her chest and making its way through her body. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know what, and her voice caught in her throat. "I know how to make paper flowers," said Catra. "I can show you if you want." "Maybe tomorrow. I think I'm done with crafts today." "Alright." "And Catra?" "Hmm?" They pulled away, and both girls had an identical starstruck look in their eyes. "Can I make my flower blue and yellow? I want it to be the same color as your eyes. I can finally see them both now, and they're stunning." "Yeah, and I can make mine green. I just saw it for the first time in that plant behind you." They gazed into each other's eyes, taking in every detail. "Adora... I... I think I'm falling for you." "I think I'm falling for you too... and have you noticed our colors have been coming at the same time? I think we might be... be..." The two girls began to draw closer, their eyes dancing over each others' lips, hands trailing softly over smooth arms and soft thighs. They glanced back up for a moment, eyes locking together, clouded with desire. They drew closer, closer, closer still. Their eyes slipped shut, and they let themselves fall deeper into their lovedrunk state. Adora could feel the other girl's breath hot against her lips, intoxicating. They drew closer, closer, closer, and... Adora jerked abruptly upwards, planting a soft kiss on Catra's cheek. She pulled away, gazing at the other girl awkwardly as the warm, comforting sensation in her body quickly gaze way to an also warm, yet much more unpleasant embarrassment. Catra looked at her worriedly. "What's wrong?" Adora shook her head. "It's stupid. It's just... my whole life I've looked up to the moment, that one kiss that would change everything forever, but now that I'm actually here... I'm worried it won't be you. I'm worried it won't be you, because I love you, Catra." Soon enough, a pair of warm, tan hands swept up to her face and wiped away her tears. Catra placed her hands at the base of Adora's jaw, tilting her chin upwards until the blonde could see her smile. It was reassuring, and Adora could see the love in the other girl's eyes, but her smile was bitter nonetheless. Because she must have been worrying about the same thing. Worrying about how you never really know 'til you know. "Rain check, then?" she asked as she wiped the tears away from Adora's blue eyes. She nodded and sniffled, her sunshine hair bouncing. "I love you too, Adora. And I'm scared just like you are. But I still believe, and I don't know how many times I've told you this, I still believe that it's gonna be okay." The blonde raised one hand up, delicate yet firm, and placed it over Catra's. And although she still felt that nagging worry in her stomach, for the first time, part of her believed it.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The paper rustled. Adora's hands fumbled with it awkwardly. She folded it in the wrong place, then quickly realized, and pulled it back. "Here, let me help." And then Catra's hands were on hers, guiding her along. Just yesterday her heart would have jumped, but today she was calm. The feeling of the other girl's hands against hers was still incomparable, but it felt more comfortable, more normal, more... right. In the quarter of the time that it would have taken Adora to do it on her own, her girlfriend- yes, she was quite comfortable calling her that now- had folded and twisted and ruffled the flower into perfect form. Then she took some scissors and snipped a little to get rid of the angular bits, making it look a bit more organic. Or as organic as paper can look, at least. Catra pulled her hands away and left Adora to marvel at her creation. It was bright blue and yellow, just as they had planned, with layers of rounded paper petals held together by a cheap pipe cleaner. "How did you do that?" "I mean, it's not that hard." "Oh, whatever! And how many of those have you made?" "Probably thousands. I've been doing this since I was a kid." In her own hand, the tan-skinned girl twirled another flower, this one green, the ends dipped in neon pink glitter. As it spun, the glitter flew off in all directions and Adora groaned as a thick coating of it dusted her clothes. "Catra! This stuff's gonna be on me for the next, like, eight years." Her girlfriend smirked. "Good. It'll look like you were at a strip club, make you less desirable to the other ladies." "Ugh, no, I wasn't desirable to begin with, I don't need to look like a perv to help." Catra giggled. There was a lull in the conversation, during which Adora took her chance to say, "Alright, your turn.""My turn for what?" "I told you one of my old hobbies, you tell me one of yours. Other than paper flowers, of course." Catra thought for a minute. "Hmmm... well, I used to write a lot. Still do, I suppose, just not as much. I don't have as much time as I did as a kid, but I try to make some here and there." "I don't think I've ever really written much, outside of creative writing papers for school. I assume that's what you like? Creative writing?" "Yeah, I'd take it over any other kind of writing any day. It's way more fun." Adora ruffled the corners of her flower, thinking. Then, she said, "What do you like most about it?" "The most? I'd gotta say..." Catra gazed up at the ceiling, leaning back in her chair in a way that would have made Adora's teachers scream. "I like describing things. Sometimes, it's fine enough to just use existing words, but what's really fun is making up new ones. Like, if you were describing that gross feeling you get in your throat when you're sick and stomach fluid comes up, you could say, 'The acid-slick bile in the back of his throat', or if you were describing how you could see rain under the light of the streetlight, you could say, 'The rain-shine droplets fell in pattern', or something like that." "You can just do that on command?" Catra shrugged. "Then show me. Take me up to the roof, and point things out for me. Make up new words for them, show me how it's done. Come on, it'll be easy. The sun is even setting right now, that should give you even more to work with." It was true. They had slept until after noon, and then played board games for a few hours before sitting down to make their flowers. So, Catra agreed. They trotted up the stairwells and soon found themselves at the door to the roof. They walked through and looked around for a bit before deciding to have a seat at the edge of the roof, their legs dangling off the brick. "So, give me some descriptions." Catra smiled. Pointing outwards, she said, "That building over there. The one with the glass roof. It's a greenhouse. The reflection of the sunset dances off it like sun-fire." She pointed out to the bridge, distant, but close enough that they could make out the figure of a woman walking. "Or that girl on the bridge with wavy brown hair. The wind blows around her, brushing it out into a billowing cascade of earthen silk." Adora raised her eyebrows. "Okay. Now for a real test of talent. Every book I've ever read has described eyes as either, 'sky blue' or 'emerald' or 'chocolate' orbs, and I don't know if I quite believe you writers are capable of anything else." Catra snorted, "Oh, I see how it is. And yes, I'm sure I could come up with something. Let's take your eyes, for example. Give me a second." She took her time and the blonde enjoyed staring into the other girl's eyes. Catra smirked. "The girl had bluebell eyes, with pupils like a midnight cat. And as she looked up into mine, excitement danced through them like butterfly's wings." Adora let herself smile, part happiness, part embarrassment. "Am I that obvious?" Catra drew closer. "I hate to tell you this, A-cakes, but yes." Adora's eyes flitted down to Catra's lips. Her voice came out as a breathy whisper. "I think I'd like to cancel that raincheck now..." Catra's eyes slipped shut. "I think I would too..." They leaned closer, the space between them ever diminishing, and this time it was cut off. Their lips connected, soft and warm, moving gently against each other. The warm, tingling feeling returned, blossoming in both their stomachs and quickly finding its way to the rest of them. They got a little more brave, deepening the kiss and wrapping their arms around each other fingers tangling in strands of long hair and loose shirt fabric. Then, they pulled away, eyes opening to lock onto each other, hot breath dancing over their lips. And out of the corner of their eyes, they both saw the same thing and turned their heads outwards to the city. One of the buildings, its trim and roof a pure, pristine white, stood proud, its bright paint radiating a pastel lavender. Its windows gleamed with sun-fire light, just like that of the greenhouse. Catra turned to the city, leaning her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. Tears brimmed the corners of her eyes. "God. So we really are." Her shoulders shook as she let out a happy sob. "Hey, hey." Adora wrapped her arms tighter around the bushy-haired girl. "I love you, Adora. I love you so much." This time Adora was the one who sobbed. "I love you too. I love you too..." They held each other like that for a while, crying tears of joy, and Adora wondered what they'd do with the rest of their life. They'd get married, she was sure of that, but kids were still a maybe in her mind. She had never liked kids. She assumed it was different if they were yours. She laughed. Oh well, maybe she was getting ahead of herself. The first question, more realistically, was probably what were they going to do with the rest of their evening? The police reports had died down, and the news, as far as Adora knew, was barely still reporting on the whole ordeal that had gotten her into this situation to begin with. Maybe they'd head back for the day, perhaps Catra could spend the night in the dorms. Adora had no idea what everybody at school, or the school itself, for that matter, would have to say about the news. She'd worry about that later. Right now, she just wanted to leave this building and start her life with her forevermate. She could even think picture asking Entrapta to bring up a motorcycle, or even just a bicycle, so that she could wrap her arms around her girlfriend's waist and bury her face in her hair as they rode off into the sunset. Hell, maybe she'd even ask Entrapta to throw some leather jackets into the mix to complete the scene. But right there and then, she let herself cry. And as they leaned into each other, pulling together for another kiss, they both had a singular thought, the exact same and in perfect unison- 'It's gonna be okay...'