When Catra opened her eyes that morning, the first thing she saw was her girlfriend Adroa lying next to her, or rather she was lying on her.
Her legs were in a position Catra couldn't imagine being even a little comfortable. Adoras head resting on her torso, drooling a little on Catra's stomach. With a little sigh, she looked out of the bedroom window and saw snowflakes slowly making their way towards the ground.
Catra always loved the winter. Not so much the cold, no she hated that part with a burning passion that always got a laugh out of Adroa every time she complained about it, and if it hadn't been for school or her job she wouldn't want to leave the house at all.
What she did enjoy however was the feeling of crawling into bed cuddling her girlfriend under the blankets while "A Christmas Carol" is on TV. Also, she loved how Adora got all wiggly with excitement for Holidays. She loved the moment when shed gone to bed, waking up a few hours later from a nightmare or to get a glass of water, seeing that it had snowed and the streets were coated in a white layer as if someone just spilled powdered sugar everywhere. Seeing this always hold a special place in her heart, as if she was the only one allowed to witness it. What Catra didnt like about the winter, besides the cold, was Christmas.
Well, not Christmas itself but rather the fact that everybody had to have the perfect, expensive Christmas gift. It had always made herself feel inadequate. Damn, she was a broke College student! How on Earth could she afford a pair of fancy earrings, or new fancy game console for Adora when her job could barely cover her rent and living expenses? ( Both rather shitty suggestions from Scorpia and Entrapta respectively, when she asked them what she should get Adora as a gift this year).
Catra sometimes thought that Adora could do better.
A girl who wouldn't wake her up in the middle of the night to console her after a particularly bad dream.
A girl who did have the money to buy her the ultimate Christmas gift.
Or at least a girl who's at least got an idea on what to get her? Well, she still had a few weeks to think about what she could gift her, so Catra closed her eyes again and hoped that she could doze off again until it was time to get up.
--
"So, got any idea what to get Adora for next week?"
Catra sat on a table in the middle of a big cafe. With the black coffee in her hand, she looked away from the door in which Adora and Perfuma vanished and glanced back to the girl sitting across from her. Scorpia had her elbows propped on the table and looked at her expectantly.
At least once in a fortnight, the whole group would meet up in Perfuma's cafe. Not everyone could come every time, so this particular morning it was just them and Glimmer.
Adora had just gone to the kitchen with Perfuma because something got...stuck? Catra didnt really listen to what Perfuma was saying but Adora, nice as she was, jumped at the prospect of helping out. So while she was gone, Scorpia probably thought it was a good chance to interrogate Catra about her little Christmas problem.
She sighed and took a gulp out of her Coffee. "I got absolutely nothing". Glimmer looked at her horrified and obviously had problems keeping her face straight. "Christmas is in like a week, and you still got no gift?", she said and took a sip of her own hot chocolate. "You should hurry because lemme tell ya', all the good gifts will be sold out in the next few days!"
Catra scoffed at her and rolled her eyes. Like she didnt know that already.
"Well, time isnt actually my problem, rather the money it costs to buy the good stuff."
She knew of course that Glimmer probably never had to worry about money, her family being as rich as they were. To be honest, Catra couldnt even imagine that Glimmer knew the definition of broke.
Now Glimmer was the one sighing, "Why didnt you save some money or something like that. Christmas is every year and not exactly a surprise..."
"Glimmer, Its not easy to save money when you dont have anything to save," Catra said, leaning backwards in her chair.
"Why dont you make her a gift yourself? That's always a sweet idea! Like… draw her a picture or make a coupon! Yes, a coupon is a great idea! Everybody loves my hug-coupons!" exclaimed Scorpia loudly and giddy. Catra just watched her and her antics. That was a bad idea. There werent 5 anymore, where you could pull off a drawn picture of them both together as a sufficient gift for a Christmas.
Suddenly Glimmer's eyes widened and she made a sound like she just had an epiphany. Her head turned towards Catra, "You could knit her a sweater!! I mean you know Adora, when its cold she just wears like three different Shirts on top of each other and calls it a day! I dont think she even owns a sweater," she said it as if it was the brightest idea of mankind since the discovery of fire. That idea didn't even sound bad but there was one problem. How was she supposed to learn knitting in a week?
Glimmer tried to ease her mind, saying it was relatively easy to learn and that she would teach her. Even Scorpia thought it was a good idea. "And if that doesnt work you could still make her coupons!" Catra smirked at that and leaned back into her Chair.
"Yeah, but I would probably make them a whole lot dirtier."
"EWW, I didn't need to know that!!"
Oh, how Catra loved to rile Glimmer up.
--
Well, that didnt work as planned.
It was the 24th of December and Catra sat on the couch in the living room of her apartment. Adora was at work and Catra had finally enough time to work at the last kinks for her Christmas gift.
She looked at that... thing in her hands. It was a sweater, certainly, but she didnt know what she did wrong. The sleeves were different lengths and it somehow was a few sizes bigger than she wanted it to be and could probably fit them both if they squeezed together.
Catra sighed. She even used that weird sizing technique that Glimmer showed her, but somehow she still screwed up.
She stared at the sweater as if her intense gaze could magically make it better. With a grunt, she tossed the Sweater next to her on the couch and laid back. What was she even doing? Like Adora would actually like something so stupid. Stupid Glimmer and her stupid idea and her stupid knitting course. She wanted to rip the dreaded sweater into pieces but then she would have nothing to show for tomorrow morning and she would rather be dead than to not be able to give her girlfriend a present.
She stood up making her way into the kitchen. Maybe a coffee would help her and at least she knew how to make those. Before she actually got to the kitchen she heard a key rattle and the door openening. Adora was back from Work. Early. And that blasted Sweater was still lying on the couch.
Catra pounced back at the sofa, tossing the throw blanket over it. From Adora's perspective, it must have looked suspicious because she just stood there, still the in the door, watching Catra with big eyes.
"I just hope you're not hiding an affair under that blanket." She said chuckling. Catra rolled her eyes and smirked at Adora, " Yeah, there's a stripper under there who just gave me a lap-dance" Now Adora was laughing out loud while coming through the door. "Should I leave you two to it then for a few hours?" She hung her Jacket and her purse on the hook at the door "Or should I just go to the bedroom for a minute so you can hide my gift?" she said with a wink. Catras face fell, "How did you-" Adora interrupted her and leaned forward to the couch to give Catra a kiss. "Well, it IS the 24th. And since that lump there is too small for an actual stripper, I used the power of deduction to conclude that it is a Christmas gift that you don't want me to see." Adora was excited about her gift, that much she could see in the way Adora's eyes twinkled at her. "Love you" Adora said over her shoulder while leaving for the bedroom. "Yeah, Yeah, love you too" grumbled Catra quietly. She sighed and put her head in her hands.
What should she do?
--
When Catra woke up from a tumultuous sound in the kitchen, she was alone in bed. She looked at the clock on her nightstand. 7 am. What the hell? Why was Adora awake? Catra could hear muffled singing from the living room, which sounded like Christmas music but…
Oh right, Christmas.
She stood up and opened the bedroom door just enough to look at what was going on. She saw Adora standing in front of their tree (if you could call it that) with headphones in her ear. "-snow is high so come inside
I wanna hear you say to me!
It's a very, very, merry, merry Christmas.
Gonna party on 'til Santa grants my wishes.
Got my halo on I know what I want
It's who I'm with.
It's an extraordinary merry Christmas!"
Adora was evidently a very good singer. She probably wouldnt win The Voice with it but Catra loved it all the same. She would have been content with just standing there, watching Adora sing for the rest of the day, but with a swirl, Adora was facing Catra and froze. She hastily got the headphones out of her ears and smiled at her. "Hey, Adora" Catra looked at her with amusement. "Why are you up already?"
Adora arranged a few more Christmas lights on the tree and then walked towards Catra. "Well, duh, its Christmas. I've been up since 5AM, and couldn't go back to sleep so I thought I could make us breakfast, but that didn't go as planned" She chuckled embarrassedly "But whatever, go freshen yourself up, I'm gonna make us some hot chocolate and then we can exchange gifts!" Adora shoved Catra towards the bathroom, but just for the fun of it Catra made herself heavier so Adora had to use all of her strength to move her.
"Chop, Chop Catra, we still have that Dinner party with the others, we ain't got all morning!"
An hour later both of them sat on the couch, snuggled upin blankets with each a mug in their hand. Adora seemed radiant with excitement at the prospect of exchanging gifts. Catra... not so much. Both of their presents were sitting on the couch table. Catra had to hold down a giggle because Adora was positively the worst giftwrapper in all humanity. Her gift looked like a 3 Year old wrapped it, or she just threw wrapping paper at it and tried to close it all with a huge amount of duct tape.
Yeah, that's probably what happened.
Catra looked at her own gift. She still felt bad about it, but there was no turning back now. Adora would certainly not break up with her over a silly gift, right?
Catra sighed. She wanted this to be over and done with.
She looked back at Adora who was bouncing on the couch with excitement. "I want to give you my gift first!" she said and with a speed, Catra didn't know she even possessed, Adora pushed her gift in Catras hand. Before she could even think about it, Adora said "Do not shake it Catra! I mean it. I don't want you to break it!" Catra just stuck out her tongue and laughed "Geez, Adora, Im not gonna break it" she said while starting to unravel the present. When she was done she was holding a Polaroid camera in her hand. She just stared at it in shock. "So, do you like it?" Adora asked, suddenly sounding unsure " I saw it at this shop and you always take a lot of pictures with your phone so I thought why not a camera where you can have the picture instantly so you don't have to use your laptop all the-" Catra cut her off with a kiss. "Stop rambling Adora, it's perfect!" And it really was perfect, just like the Sweater Catra made for her.
Not.
Catra wanted to scream or run away. Or maybe both?
Why couldn't she come up with a better idea than some random sweater when she couldn't even knit properly. She looked at Adora again who just smiled lovingly. "So you like it? I'm glad!" She pointed at the other gift on the table. "May I?"
Catra wanted to say no, wanted to burn that wretched gift or throw it out the window but she just gave a defeated nod.
Well, here goes nothing.
While Adora unpacked that unholy thing, Catra took a sip from her hot chocolate.
I hope that's not the last time I drink Adoras hot chocolate...
"Did I ... gain a few pounds or why did you buy me a sweater 3 sizes too big?" Catra nearly choked on her drink. Adora looked at her with a questioning expression.
"WHAT?! No! No, you didn't! I'm just.." Disdain formed at Catra's face,
"..really bad at knitting."
Adora just gaped at her, mouth and eyes wide open and a look of wonder on her face. " So you did that yourself?! Like... yourself? Did you knit that? Oh my god, I didn't know you could knit!" Now Adora was full of laughter and held the sweater in front of her. Catra wished a gate to hell would open at her feet so she could jump into it. This was probably the most embarrassing moment of her life. Adora must have realized Catras change in demeanour, so she quickly said "Oh no, Catra, it's perfect. This is undoubtedly the best gift I have ever gotten!" Catra raised an eyebrow at these words, not for a minute believing that they were true, especially because Adora was still having a laughing fit. But Adora's laugh was not demeaning or degrading, but sweet and benign and a few moments later they both sat on the couch, laughing so hard that there were tears on their face.
--
In the evening Catra, again, sat on the couch, while Adora was in the bedroom. They've just come home from the Christmas party at Glimmers and she was tired. All this mingling and conversing was so exhausting for her, but Catra still had a smile on her face. Dancing with Adora had surely made up for it.
"Hey Catra"
Catra turned her head towards Adoras voice and stared at her. There she stood, wearing nothing but that large, ugly sweater. It was so big that Adora seemed to drown in it and there were holes where she seemed to have missed a few crochets. The right sleeve was actually nearly perfect length, while the left sleeve was at least 6 inches too long. The whole thing stopped just barely over her knees. Catra nearly had a hysteric laughing fit again. "Oh my god, it's even worse than I imagined it to be!" Adora rolled her eyes and walked towards the couch. "Stop it!" She shoved Catra to the left, nearly throwing her off the sofa, so she could sit beside her. "I actually like it. It's super comfy and you tried really hard and it was such a cute idea" Adora laid her head in the nook of Catras shoulder. Catra looked down at her and smirked. "Oh Adora, I'm always cute." Adora punched her softly and both started to laugh faintly.
"Catra?"
"Yeah?"
"Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas Adora"
A/N : hey guys. this is the first time I wrote something! i hope you like it! if not, please leave a comment on how to improve!
thank you!