Chapter Text
Adora loved college. She loved the freedom she had to be herself and make her own decisions. She especially loved the new friends she made on the field hockey team. She couldn’t have asked for a better set of teammates.
Adora’s only regret was not spending more time with Catra. She had accepted the sports scholarship at Bright Moon University to be with her best friend, after all, but they had recently been growing apart. Adora was spending more time with her teammates, which had somehow caused Catra to retreat in on herself.
It hurt, to see the way Catra’s face fell whenever Adora told her she would be spending time with her teammates. She still remembered the first time it happened, about a month into college.
“So what movie do you want to watch tonight?” Catra asked, referencing their Saturday night movie night tradition. Which neither of them had missed since its inception sophomore year of high school.
“Oh Catra, I’m so sorry,” Adora rubbed the back of her neck nervously, “But… I have a team dinner this Saturday. Coach says we need a more supportive team environment. I don’t really know what that means, but she--”
“--You’re missing movie night?” Catra demanded, cutting off Adora’s rambling. Which was probably for the best, as once Adora started rambling it was difficult for her to stop.
“Yes?” Adora confirmed hesitantly. She honestly had no idea how Catra would take it. She knew her best friend had little in the way of other friends, so the lack of Saturday plans might leave her feeling lonely.
Catra’s eyes widened in what could only be described as panic, “You can’t just skip this dinner thing? It sounds lame anyways.”
“Well, it’s technically not mandatory, but…” Adora trailed off as she saw the hope on Catra’s face. Hope that quickly turned to confusion as Adora didn’t finish her sentence.
“But what?” Catra demanded.
“But I really should go,” Adora finally finished, not looking Catra in the eyes, “I’m one of the newest members of the team, so I should really be making an effort to get to know everyone else better.”
“What, you don’t know enough about them from your three hour practices every day?” Catra snapped. Adora was determinedly staring at the bookshelf next to her in an effort to avoid looking at Catra, but she could hear the defensiveness in her friend’s voice.
“Catra, that’s different. We’re practicing, not talking to each other or becoming friends,” Adora explained, “Look, it’s not going to become a weekly thing. It’s just this once, okay?”
There was an awkward silence as Adora finally forced herself to look back at Catra. Her friend was staring at her with an expression Adora had never seen before. She almost looked betrayed.
“Fine. It’s not that big of a deal anyways,” Catra finally huffed in a way that implied it was in fact a big deal, “I should really be studying for my chemistry test.”
“I promise I’ll make it up to you next week,” Adora reassured her friend in an attempt to make it better.
But the problem was, the next week Glimmer invited Adora to a party and Adora really wanted to go. She had never been to a party before, and she wanted to see what it was like. And then the week after that, Perfuma invited everyone to help her pick out some potted plants for the team’s locker room. And then the next week Mermista invited everyone out for a night on her boyfriend’s boat, which was amazing.
So it was actually a month before Adora was able to make good on her promise to make her flakiness up to Catra.
“So I was thinking tonight we could watch Pirates of the Caribbean?” Adora asked as she and Catra compared notes for their one shared class (Spanish). The movie was a peace offering; it had been their shared favorite since they were kids. Adora enjoyed the sword fighting and love story, and Catra had always had a crush on Kiera Knightly.
“What are you talking about?” Catra snapped, not looking up from Adora’s atrocious notes.
It was Saturday, right? Adora wondered as she confirmed on her phone, “You know, for movie night? It’s Saturday…”
That got Catra to look up, “What, you don’t have anything better to do?”
“Catra, it’s not like that. I just had some team stuff come up these past few weeks, but now I’m free again. I’m sorry.”
“Well sorry to disappoint, but I have plans,” Catra glared at her from across the table.
“You… have plans?” Adora asked carefully. She racked her brain for what Catra’s plans could possibly be. To her knowledge, the other girl wasn’t in any clubs and spent most of her time studying. Adora wasn’t even sure if Catra had made friends since they had arrived at college.
“Yeah, I do,” Catra confirmed, refusing to elaborate. Why is she being so difficult? Adora fumed internally.
“What are your plans?” Adora asked nonchalantly. She was glad her friend was getting out there more and making plans with other people, but a small part of her was sad she would knowingly make them on Saturday.
“Entrapta’s hosting a movie night for some of the STEM majors on our floor. If memory serves, she said something about a supportive department environment?” Catra smirked, emphasizing the last words in an obvious echo of Adora’s earlier excuses. Adora knew how petty Catra could be, but it was different when it was directed at her. She didn’t care for it at all.
But seriously, a different movie night on Saturday? And one for STEM majors, that Adora--who was a reluctant business major--was explicitly excluded from? That hurt, coming from Catra. It was as if her best friend was trying to push her away.
“Oh,” Adora tried her best to not sound offended. She should be supportive of Catra’s sudden interest in making new friends, even if it made her sad, “Well, have fun then. Next week?”
Catra shrugged, “If I don’t have plans.”
Something about Catra’s behavior didn’t add up for Adora. She could understand that her friend was hurt about cancelling the last couple movie nights, but now it was as if Catra wanted nothing to do with her. In fact, now that she thought about it, Adora had been seeing much less of Catra on campus. Had the other girl been avoiding her?
When she brought it up with her mother, she assured Adora that this was completely normal. People changed and grew in college, and that often led to growing apart. But that just didn’t sit right with Adora. Maybe normal friendships would grow apart, but her and Catra? There was no way. They had been best friends for as long as Adora could remember.
---
Throughout the year, they continued to grow apart. Adora was getting even closer with her team, and Catra seemed to have made friends with the other STEM majors on campus. They still texted occasionally, but it was mainly about classes.
Adora really missed her best friend. She loved her teammates, but they didn’t grow up with Adora like Catra did. Catra understood her better than anyone else, and Adora missed having the other girl to talk to about her day, about what was stressing her, and about her doubts regarding her major. But if Catra’s general silence was anything to go by, it was pretty clear she didn’t want to hear it.
Adora was snapped out of her internal monologue by the sound of her phone chiming. It was the custom text tone she had set for Catra--because she wanted to be there whenever the other girl wanted to talk, okay?--so she lunged for her phone frantically. Maybe Catra wanted to make plans, or maybe she had a funny story to share.
>>Hey, what did you get for question five on the practice test?
Adora’s heart fell. She didn’t know what she was expecting, after all they hadn’t had a conversation about something other than classes since they came back from winter break. Something inside her still hoped that Catra longed to reforge their connection like she did. No such luck.
<<I haven’t done it yet, sorry!
>>Adora, the test is tomorrow…
<<No it’s not
>>Yes it is
>>Read the syllabus
>>And it’s on the portal
>>And why else would she give us the practice test this week??
<<Okay I get it!
<<I’m so screwed I haven’t studied at all
Adora groaned, earning her a glare from her roommate. She had never been the best at school, she had only gotten into Bright Moon University because she was a recruited athlete, so the transition to college was a struggle for her. Not to mention she hated the major her parents had picked out for her, so even showing up to class was a struggle. Her GPA was suffering, and the last thing she needed was a bad grade in her elective, too.
>>Do you need help?
<<YES!!!
>>K
>>Meet me at the library in 20?
<<Will do
<<Tysm Catra
>>Don’t be late
As promised, Adora was in the library 20 minutes later, with all of her class notes and practice material in hand. She thanked whatever higher power that was out there that she actually enjoyed Spanish, so her notes were actually, for the most part, legible.
Adora was actually pretty good at Spanish. There was something about languages that she found intriguing. Of course, she wasn’t as good at Spanish as Catra, who spoke Spanish with her parents before they died. Catra was fairly young when she was adopted by Adora’s neighbors, so she had lost her fluency by the time the mandatory high school language classes came around. Even so, her pronunciation was worlds better than Adora’s.
Adora made her way to her and Catra’s normal table to find Catra already there. She flashed Adora a hesitant smile.
“Hey, Adora,” She greeted. It had been a few weeks since Adora and Catra had talked face-to-face, and Adora had missed the casual lull of her friend’s voice more than she cared to admit.
“Hi, Catra. Thanks for helping me,” Adora smiled back as she sat down.
Catra shrugged, “I need a study partner too.”
They got to work practicing their tenses and pronunciations of their various words. As they talked, Adora realized how much she had missed spending time with Catra over the past couple of months. Sure, Catra was as prickly as ever, but they still made a good team.
“So I should probably get to sleep. I have morning practice tomorrow,” Adora finally announced, cutting their study session short.
Catra nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I have an 8 am tomorrow. See you in class or whatever.”
“Wait, Catra!” Adora called as her friend walked away. She had just had an amazing idea to reconnect with her best friend, “Do you want to reinstate movie night after class tomorrow? I don’t have practice in the evenings.”
“Sure,” Catra agreed casually, her face difficult to read. She had gotten better at hiding her emotions since the last time they talked, Adora noted. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.
---
Their impromptu study session definitely helped Adora much more than she cared to admit. The test focused on things that Adora herself wouldn’t have thought to study so intensely, so normally Adora would have been completely screwed. Luckily, Catra had stressed the importance of those sections, so studying with the other girl had saved her grade. Adora made a mental note to thank her friend during their movie night.
Adora was running through the best way to express her appreciation without making it weird when Catra walked out of their classroom. The other girl had always taken longer on tests, choosing to use the time after she completed the test to check her answers. Adora had never bothered with that, although maybe she should.
“Catra! Wait up,” Adora called as Catra started walking away. She wasn’t about to let Catra get out of movie night now.
“What are you still doing here, didn’t you finish your test like half an hour ago?” Catra asked, slowing down her breakneck walking pace to allow Adora to catch up.
Adora shrugged, “Yeah, but I wanted to wait for you! You’re done with classes now right?” She hated to admit it, but she still had Catra’s schedule memorized from when they had compared over winter break. Now if only her brain could devote the same level of focus to marketing strategies.
Catra nodded, “Why? Scared I’m going to run off on you?”
“Kind of?” Adora admitted. Catra wasn’t the kind to flake on plans, but things were weird between them now. She wasn’t really sure where they stood anymore.
“I’m not going anywhere, Adora,” Catra said, the intensity of her tone out of place in such a casual conversation. Adora got the sense that Catra wasn’t talking about the movie night anymore.
“Great! My roommate’s visiting her boyfriend this weekend so we can hang in my room without the usual judgemental stares,” Adora offered. Adora’s roommate wasn’t exactly thrilled the first time Catra had come over for movie night, and she and Catra seemed to have some sort of unspoken disdain for each other. Which was pretty common when it came to introducing people to Catra, but was still annoying.
Unfortunately, Catra’s two roommates were on the opposite end of the scale. They were both extremely friendly and affectionate to the point that Catra and Adora’s movie night was expanded to the room’s movie night. It was fun, but Adora had wanted to spend the time with Catra, not with Entrapta and Scorpia.
“Oh thank God,” Catra sighed in relief, “Scorpia is getting on my last nerve. This morning she was singing in the shower at 6 am. Who even does that! And then Entrapta’s ramen blew up in the microwave during lunch so the whole place smells like shit.”
“Sounds like the perfect time for a movie night!” Adora beamed at her friend. She was glad they would get to spend time together, and hopefully she could get her friend to vent to her. Catra always felt better after a good rant.
They made their way to Adora’s dorm. As a freshman, she had the worst housing at BMU: Two twin beds, two desks, a mini fridge, a microwave, and access to a communal bathroom. Adora missed the simple things, like a door between her and the world and a sink. Maybe next year.
“Man, I forgot how shitty your room is,” Catra observed as she sprawled herself across Adora’s bed. Adora had always found Catra’s inability to sit like a normal person endearing.
“Like you’re one to talk,” Adora shot back, “Don’t think that just because you have a bathroom means you’re so great. You still have to share your room with two other people.”
Catra pouted at her, “Don’t remind me. I never thought I would miss doors this much, but if I don’t have something to slam next year I think I’ll lose it.”
Of course that’s why Catra would miss doors. “What are your plans for next year?”
“Honestly, I don’t know yet,” Catra shrugged, “All I know is I can’t take another day living with the ‘Super Pal Trio.’ Maybe I’ll splurge and get a single or something.”
“Do you have the money for that?” Adora asked. Singles at BMU were notoriously expensive. Adding that on top of the hefty tuition would be a tough financial burden, and Catra wasn’t exactly rolling in it.
Catra rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands in exasperation, “Probably not. But I don’t have anyone else who would be willing to room with me. I’m not winning any popularity contests anytime soon.”
“I could room with you,” Adora offered. She was honestly surprised that Catra hadn’t asked her about rooming together earlier. They had been planning on rooming together freshman year, but university policy required all freshmen to go random.
“You’re not rooming with your teammates?” Catra stopped rubbing her face to look at Adora in confusion, “I thought you were all ‘best friends squad’ now or whatever.”
Was that jealousy in Catra’s voice? Adora wondered. It’s not like Catra had anything to be jealous about; from the sound of it Catra had her own squad of friends now. Adora must be imagining things.
“I love my teammates, but Coach doesn’t want us to live together,” Adora explained, “We’re supposed to take time away from the team occasionally, which is hard to do if you live with them. Not to mention, roommate disputes could lead to issues on the field.” Adora would definitely enjoy rooming with Glimmer, or Perfuma, or maybe even Mermista, but she understood where her coach was coming from. Also, Adora would much rather room with Catra, even without her coach’s restriction.
“You’d want to room with me?” Catra asked, something akin to confusion evident in her voice. Insecurity, Adora decided.
“Um, yeah? We’re friends,” Adora said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it kind of was. She wasn’t really sure why Catra was making such a big deal out of this. Just because they had both been busy didn’t mean they couldn’t still be besties. Right?
Catra smiled for a moment before rearranging her face into a scowl, “Okay, let’s room together. But I want two singles. And doors. And a kitchen.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Adora nodded in agreement. She decided not to point out that rooms with kitchens were more expensive. At least they would be able to go off of the meal plan. Although, did Catra even know how to cook?
“To be clear, this is because I can’t deal with 6 am singing, not because you’re my only option,” Catra proclaimed, “I could definitely room with Scorpia and ‘Trapta if I wanted to.”
“Oh, of course,” Adora said teasingly. She wasn’t sure why that distinction was necessary, but she let it slide. Whatever made Catra comfortable rooming with her.
“Soooo… What are we watching tonight?” Catra asked, motioning towards Adora’s laptop.
“Pirates?” Adora asked. Their plan to room with each other had her feeling nostalgic, and she was pretty sure Catra felt the same. And it had been a while since she’d seen a love story that made her feel the way Will and Elizabeth made her feel.
Catra’s face lit up and she sat upright, “Oh fuck yes. You know I’d never pass up an opportunity to watch Kiera Knightly being a badass.”
Adora laughed, remembering the first time they had watched Pirates of the Caribbean together. She wasn’t sure if Catra had known she was gay before she watched that movie, but it was most certainly the first time Adora had seen Catra openly crushing on someone else. It was cute, the way Catra’s eyes widened whenever Elizabeth was on screen and how she wouldn’t stop talking about her for days after. It was still cute, the way Catra cheered and made comments under her breath during the movie.
Adora got her laptop out and they settled next to each other on her bed. Catra, who had always been tactile, sat flush against Adora and rested her head on Adora’s shoulder. Adora had missed Catra’s cuddly nature more than she cared to admit.
As the movie started, they quoted most of the lines word for word. Catra usually said Elizabeth’s lines while Adora said Will’s lines, and they switched who said Jack’s lines. It was like normal again; Catra still commented on how good Elizabeth looked after every costume change (her favorite costume was the British Navy uniform) and Adora still melted over the bandage scene. Adora hoped that some day she would have a romance with the same level of yearning and devotion.
After the movie ended, the pair spent some time reminiscing over their high school days.
“Remember the first time we saw that movie and you practically drooled over Elizabeth the entire time?” Adora asked playfully.
“Shut up, I was not drooling,” Catra protested.
“If you say so,” Adora shrugged, “Was that like your gay awakening?”
Ironically, Adora and Catra had never actually had this conversation. Adora had been the first person Catra had come out to during their freshman year of high school. In fact, up until college orientation, Adora had been the only person Catra was out to. The other girl remained closeted at home because of her religious adopted parents. Due to the emotional nature of Catra’s situation, Adora had never pried into it; she wanted Catra to give her information on her own terms.
“No, not really,” Catra shook her head, “I had already known I liked girls before that. Although, she was one of my first celebrity crushes.”
“How did you realize you were a lesbian then?” Adora asked, genuinely curious. If Adora was being honest, she had never really been attracted to anyone. She assumed that she was straight because she was attracted to fictional men and celebrities, but she had never developed a crush on someone she knew in person. She had always attributed that to the lack of eligible boys in her high school. High school boys were gross.
Catra hesitated before responding, “I don’t know, I guess I just noticed that girls were more attractive than guys. Whenever I had crushes, they would be on girls, and the idea of having a crush on a guy made me feel disgusting.”
Crushes? Catra never talks to me about her crushes. “Wait, who did you have crushes on?”
“Um… girls in the grades above us mainly,” Catra stuttered, eyes widening in surprise. There was something she wasn’t telling Adora, but Adora didn’t want to pry. She knew it was hard for Catra to talk about her feelings, especially feelings like this.
“Yeah, there really weren’t very many attractive people at Horde High,” Adora agreed, thinking of their former classmates. Although, there were definitely more attractive girls than guys, so she was a little surprised Catra hadn’t developed a crush on someone in their class. Maybe none of the girls were her type.
“What time is it?” Catra asked abruptly, putting a clear end to the conversation.
Adora looked at the clock, “It’s almost eleven. Wow, that’s much later than I thought it was going to be.”
“Yeah. Listen, I need to get going. I have to meet some people for a project tomorrow morning,” Catra looked at Adora apologetically as she stood up.
“Oh yeah, of course, you should get going,” Adora nodded, ignoring the sinking feeling at the news that her best friend wouldn’t be staying the night like she did so often in high school, “See you soon?”
“Yeah, dummy,” Catra smiled back at Adora lightly before leaving.