Catra was lazily lying on the couch, listening to some music from her playlist she had put on shuffle. She came home twenty minutes ago, she finished classes for today and right now she was waiting for her girlfriend to come home, they planned a movie night. And the brunette was kinda excited for it. It was the end of the semester, they were both studying hard for their exams, and even if they were sharing a student flat they didn't really have time to see each other.

Clic

The brunette barely had the time to get up when she felt strong arms grabbing her waist to hug her, lifting her up.

"Hey, kitty." Said Scorpia, strongly hugging her. "I missed you." She pecked her cheek.

"Hey, babe," Catra chuckled, the soft kiss her girlfriend gave her on the cheek tickled her. "C'mon, you saw me, like, 3 hours ago."

"T'was already too long.." mumbled the tall lady between two chaste kisses on her lover's lips.

They were now in the kitchen, preparing the dinner. They both decided to cook a pizza, it was easier to do -and to eat in front of a movie. Catra was in charge of stretching the pizza dough. Once it was ready to, she placed it on the plate and generously spread some tomato sauce -Scorpia had made before, on it. Scopia then placed some mozzarella and other cheeses, adding spices on top of it, then putting the plate in the oven. Of course, she took a picture of the pizza to put it on her story. No need to question it, she just loved to share what she cooked because sometimes she was just proud.

Almost an hour after, they were both chilling on the couch, eating the delicious homemade pizza they just did together. Catra's legs were resting on Scorpia's laps as she was listening to her girlfriend's talking about her day.

Catra actually loved how her life turned, dating someone like Scorpia was simple. She was carefully doing everything to make it easy, to not overwhelm the brunette or anything. She was always kind to her. This thought made her heart squeezed a little in pain. Catra was everything for her girlfriend, but we couldn't really tell it was the same for the catlike lady.

Catra was totally absorbed by the movie when she saw her phone's screen turning on, catching her attention. She could see the notification : " She_Ra wow, wish i was there to eat it !". She grabbed it to open the message, chewing her inner cheek. Of course Adora had to say that when she didn't know she was, in fact dating someone. Now she saw the message, she had to answer it. She couldn't just ghost her, it was unfair. She was her best friend.

Yeah, best friends.

That's what they were, right ?

wildcat : wish u were there too

She_Ra : how r going the exams ?

wildcat : hm, fine, ig ?

She_Ra : cool !

The brunette waited. Ten minutes actually, but Adora said nothing else, neither did Catra.

[...] Catra was at work, waiting -bored. She was part time working at a fast food drive, but in a small town, it wasn't really busy late afternoon. She sighed. She didn't really like having free time like that alone, when she couldn't really do anything other than waiting. It left plenty of time for her brain to go crazy and to start overthinking. And overthinking wasn't the best thing to do.

The brunette started to date the white haired woman not so long ago, and they were already living together. Because she just started to.. date her roommate. It wasn't like she didn't like her or anything. Scorpia was doing everything to make the brunette happy, and she knew it obviously. Scorpia was kind, attentive, soft. She was always doing everything to understand the best Catra, to brighten her day when she was having dark ones -and there were plenty of them. Even though before they officially started to date.

So, things went how they went with her. The tall lady started to crush on her roommate, the brunette didn't really mind her presence, and they started dating. It was just easier this way.

Yeah, easier.

But, she couldn't really get out the stupid buff blonde out of her head. Her best friend. For a... very long time actually. Adora decided to move far from the city they both grew up in because she was accepted at the pretty famous university she wanted, abandoning her, like that. Like she was nothing.

"Catra…" Said the softest voice ever, blue eyes looking deep into her mismatched ones. "I.. I have something to tell you," she took her hands between hers, her eyebrows arching sadly. She waited a bit, but the brunette didn't respond, listening.

"So.." started Adora again. "I'm accepted at, you know.. the school I wanted, and…" The blonde closed her eyes, breathing. "I'm moving in two weeks,"

"What ?" Simply answered Catra, like she couldn't believe what she just heard. "You.. what ?!"

She swore she could have heard her heart slowly crackling before it completely broke when she finished to process what Adora just told her. So, she's leaving. Like that. Like it was the easiest thing to do. Like it was nothing at all. And that's it ? Hands softly holding her shoulder called her back in reality.

"I'm sorry."

Catra stepped back to avoid any touch from her best friend and closed her eyes, trying to hold her tears that were threatening to fall at any moment. "Don't touch me." Her voice cracked.

Adora looked down at the ground, biting her lips, guilty. She knew it wasn't going to be easy to tell that to her best friend, but she had to. She waited, longer than she should actually have to- but it wasn't just possible to tell her sooner, make it concrete, make it real. When she looked back at Catra she was crying. And it broke her heart as well.

That was the reason Adora waited until the last moment to tell Catra. Because she knew how their goodbyes would be hurtful. To be honest, even if she prepared herself, imagining all the scenarios, she didn't think it was going to be this painful, this.. heartbreaking.

"Hey," a soft hand perfectly fit the shape of her cheek. "I'm not abandoning you. We'll stay in touch and I'll come back every time I can." Her glowing mismatched eyes looked back at her, analyzing her face.

Catra froze at how Adora's hand was soft, shaking, full of hesitation at this instant. She was touching her like she was afraid to break her in pieces, like she was a fragile small porcelain doll. It made the brunette's chest warmth.

"You promise ?" She finally asked, vulnerable.

"I promise." Adora smiled.

The brunette shook her head to drive away those thoughts. The restaurant will close soon, so she started to frantically clean the drive space, just to make sure her mind was occupied enough to not think about that day anymore. The day where her heart got broken, stabbed.

When she came home that night, she couldn't sleep with Scorpia. She absently took off her shoes and drank a glass of water before heading to her old bedroom -she left it real quick actually, even before they started dating, because Catra couldn't sleep alone by herself. She curled up in the blankets, holding her knees to her chest, miserable. Tears started to roll automatically on her cheeks, her heart was heavy, hurtful. Why can't she just move on, be happy ? She had the perfect girlfriend everyone was dreaming of. What the fuck was she actually doing, crying for someone that threw her ?

Every time she closed her eyes, she was seeing that smile. That fucking damn smile, the last one she really saw on Adora's face. The blonde promised her to come back, to stay in touch with her, but it wasn't really the case. She barely received texts from Adora. If she was lucky, sometimes, she would comment her insta photos or stories. Once a month, she will ask how things were going in Catra's life, and that was all.

It was hard every time she had messages like that from Adora, leaving her hoping, hanging. That was the real reason behind her decision to accept Scorpia's feelings, being a couple. She lied to herself that it would be ok this way, that she could forget everything, throwing her feelings on someone else. But it wasn't working- in fact, yes, it was working. It was working so so much. But not with the right person. Not with the one she wanted.

It had been a year since she was gone, and Catra was still hoping to open her door in the morning to see Adora clumsily cooking -burning something in the kitchen instead of Scorpia perfectly dressing the table with perfect looking pancakes, perfectly toasted slice of bread...

Everything was perfect,

And she was still sad, hurt.

She gasped when she heard footsteps approaching the room, pausing in front of the door. With her wrist, she quickly wiped her tears. She clearly didn't want to see Scorpia right now, not when she was having a Adora crisis™.

Too late, she heard the door opening slowly and she tried to hold her knees closer, disappearing in the sheets.

"Catra…?" Breathed a voice that calmly entered the room. "Are you… okay ? I heard you coming home but you didn't come to bed, so…"

"I'm fine," She bit her lips, searching for an excuse that could fit. "I didn't want to wake you up."

"O… kay." She felt lips on her temple and she turned to face her girlfriend. "That's sweet of you." Scorpia whispered at her, arching an eyebrow.

Catra softly placed her hand on her girlfriend's cheek, to reassure her girlfriend -and mostly herself. "I'm sorry I worried you."

The taller one always had been so soft to her. She came to check if everything was ok. But her heart couldn't feel more empty right now. She opened her mouth to say something but she quickly closed it. She wanted to ask for a hug -even though she wasn't the most tactile person ever she needed one. She decided to not ask one, she already felt guilty enough for everything.

She couldn't explain what was really going on to Scorpia, even if she had wanted to. The shorter one mentioned Adora previously, but she didn't say much about her, avoiding the subject to not say anything she would regret to admit. On the other hand, she didn't really tell Adora about Scorpia. She wanted to keep it secret, for both of them. She didn't even know why. Maybe because, like that she could keep Adora as close as she could be with her without having to justify who she is talking to with Scorpia.

Catra drove away her thoughts to focus back on reality again. She smiled at her girlfriend, moving her body closer to the edge of the bed, creating a space for her. Like that, the other girl will be facing her back. Who can blame Catra for liking being the little spoon, after all ?

"Come to bed dummy, you'll be tired tomorrow."

Scorpia crawled up on the bed, under the sheets, hugging the brunette from behind, being the big spoon. For a moment, Catra believed it was Adora behind her, holding her strongly against her chest and she closed her eyes, sighing in relief.

"Good night, kitty." The voice reminded her it wasn't.

Catra was the first one to wake up. She hardly opened her eyes due to the sun, which was bathing the room in a beautiful morning soft light. Scorpia looked gorgeous under this light and it directly reminded how awful she was herself. She softly kissed her girlfriend's forehead and carefully got out of the embrace. She quickly checked what time it was on her phone and sighed. It was too early to be up, but she had things to do today -studying. Again. At least, it will keep her mind occupied from her intrusive thoughts of a certain person.

After taking a quick shower and putting whatever clothes came first -she wasn't in the mood to make efforts to look presentable today, she sat at her desk and put her headphones and music on, starting to focus on her notes she had taken about the book she rode for class. She was supposed to write an essay about it for her final test which was in two weeks, but she couldn't really focus on it.

Of course, the teacher had to choose a book about whatever tortured man chasing his friend that he was deeply loving, for a long time. And that he kinda lost because time passed and they started to live their own life. Apart.

She sighed. Couldn't she have one day without thinking about the other idiot ?

Her phone buzzed. She ignored it.

It buzzed again, and again.

She rolled her eyes and dropped her pen, unlocking her phone :

She_Ra : C

She_Ra : A

She_Ra : T

She_Ra : R

She_Ra : A

wildcat : u can just send one msg yano

She_Ra : i know but

She_Ra : i'm free next month, for two weeks. Ur exams will be finished, right ?

wildcat : yep. why tho

She_Ra : so i was thinking to come to visit you

Fine. Perfectly fine

Catra's heart skipped a heartbeat when she rode the message. She didn't want to trick Scorpia or Adora. She wanted to hate Adora, but she couldn't really convince herself to do it. Because Adora always had been… well, Adora. The situation was already complex, but she decided to make it more terrible anyway,

She proposed that she stay over at her place for the few days she will visit. It sounded a bit fucked up but she knew Scorpia would be gone, visiting her mothers'.

Yeah, it was actually very fucked up.

She didn't want to hurt Adora,

She didn't want to hurt Scorpia.

The brunette loved both of them- affectionate both of them.

Adora just finished her workout session, sitting on one of the gym bench while she was resting a little, drinking her shaker of whatever proteins she had put in it -at this point, she just had too much variety of proteins to recall which one she had put in the shaker that she prepared this morning. She lazily watched instagram stories when she stopped at Catra's one, her stomach growling in pain. She was hungry and damn, this pizza that she just posted looked good. She quickly texted her.

The blonde wasn't the best to talk a lot to people through messages. She sure was talkative when she was hanging out with her two best friends, Bow and Glimmer, but to stay in touch with people far away, it wasn't really that. She missed Catra. A lot. But she didn't know what to talk about with her. Everyday life ? No, too boring.

Maybe she shouldn't have trusted that her relationship with Catra was all built up, like it was something unbreakable. But.. she didn't know why it was this hard to text other people like that, even her. They sometimes called to see each other's faces, but not that much. Last time they called was for Adora's birthday. Three weeks after she left.

Right. Maybe she should work harder on how to stay in touch with people she loved. Because she was missing to fucking much the brunette since she moved to another city.

Back in the living room after the longest shower ever, Adora was stretching all her body to try to avoid the pain of her workout session tomorrow. She gasped and almost fell while stretching her leg as she saw a shadow pass behind her, in the kitchen. "Glimmer… is that you ?" She asked, a bit afraid.

"Almost," responded a lower pitched voice than her friend's one. "It's Bow actually. I was just taking a glass of water, sorry I scared you !" He laughed, drinking his glass.

Adora put a hand on her heart that was beating faster in her chest, trying to calm her down. Damn, Bow scared her on that. She didn't expect anyone to be up at this hour.

"I wanted to talk to you about something actually." Continued Bow who was stepping closer to the blonde. "Since we know we're free after the exams, you planned to see Catra ?"

"Well, I-" Her heart stopped. How was she supposed to answer that ? She didn't even know how to text her, she couldn't just appear like that, saying she will come to visit her. Not after all this time. Not after barely talking to her. "... I don't know." She admitted, chewing her lips.

"Why tho ? You talk about her every time, you must miss her at this point." He reassuringly put his arm around Adora's shoulder, softly hugging her.

"Yes, true. But.. I don't even know if she will be happy to see me." It wasn't a lie : she didn't even know if Catra was missing her. Adora wasn't texting her often, but Catra didn't text her as well. Sometimes she was sending her a song or two she liked, but not so often. Maybe Catra was happy like that, after all. Maybe it'll just be hurtful to both of them to see each other at this point-

"I'm sure she will. You are both close friends, since you're kids," He smiled at her, squeezing her shoulder. "Plus, you'll come back all happy. And I wanna meet the sappy Adora." He grinned.

Right. Maybe she shouldn't have told her friends how close friends they were. Since it slipped out of her mouth during a game night, they couldn't stop teasing her about how gay she was when she talked about Catra. Maybe that was true, but she was trying to push down these feelings. She didn't even have questioned if Catra could have felt the same about her, she just didn't want to. It was easier to be friends like that, not risking that thing they have -had ?

There was nothing more than a strong friendship between them, and that's all she needed. At least, that was what Adora tried to convince herself. But Bow got a point here. She got this. She could go and see the brunette. It's been so long.. It'll be good for both of them, right ? She had to try.

"Do you have any advice on how I should tell her ?" She paused to wait for an answer, but she reminded immediately that Bow can take advantage of that and tease her more. He started to open his mouth, but she cut him off. "On how I should say that I can visit her." She crossed her arm, looking at him with the corner of her eyes.

The boy sighed at the missed opportunity. "Just be yourself, you got this." He winked at her.

In the morning, Adora got up early, as usual. She had a strict morning routine. 6h30 : She was starting to get up from the bed, heading out to the shower. 7h00 : she was dressed, cooking her breakfast full of fruits, vitamins and proteins. 7h45 : she put the shaker in her sports bag and she was going out of the apartment, going to the gym for her morning workout before heading to class. Yes, she was doing sport everytime, almost every day. It helped her keeping her mind occupied, avoiding to overthink about the dumb things that could cross her mind.

On the way to the gym, she started to think about how she could text Catra. Hey, sorry for being a piece of shit and not knowing how to stay in touch with you but i'm free next week ! It wasn't really the right way to do it. Was she even supposed to be the one excusing for not talking when she wasn't the only one doing that ? It'll just bother Catra.

She sighed and took her phone out of her pocket and straddled against the wall, staring at the screen. She had a short break between two classes and this was the moment to send the message. Before she knew, her fingers started to type on the screen.

wildcat : sure. U can crash at my place if you want

Adora's heart melted when she saw Catra's answer. After all this time she was still accepted in her life, at her place. She planned to go to the hotel or whatever when visiting, but it was better this way. A sappy smile crossed her lips as she continued living her day.

The only thing to do now was hoping the month would pass fast so she would be able to hold Catra's in her arms again. Soon.

Catra put back her phone, the screen facing the wood of the desk. She took her face in her hands and sighed heavily, closing her eyes. She couldn't help the warm slowly burning in her chest at the idea of seeing Adora again. She was deeply in love with Adora for a long time now, but she was dating Scorpia. Adora was far away now, in another city. It will be too complicated for both of them to have a distant relationship– not like there was a chance that the blonde felt the same about her.

She had to focus right now. She was with someone, she was taken. Adora will come, they will act like they always did, like the two best friends they were. Nothing else. It's not like there was something going on between her and Adora anyway. They were friends, nothing else. She could see her dumb face for a few days and then be back at trying to forget her with Scorpia-

Wait. It was terrible to say it this way. Even if it was actually the truth. Scorpia was kinda a bandage relationship : she was dating her to bury her feelings for Adora, to move on. She bit her lips and tried to focus back on her essay.

Her palm holding her head on her cheek, she was writing down on the paper. She was writing a sketch, a draft of her essay,

Nikos depicts the constant need, the constant privacy. He wants, wants, and wants but he never takes. Never dared to, too anxious for it. All the "what if", the little details weren't correctly put together to make a move, even the smallest one. That's why he decided to trap down his feelings, all this time. Now, he lost it all, and all he can do is-

Catra growled. It was shitty. She couldn't really express the things she wanted to, and it was frustrating, really. She was in constant fear or failing what she wanted to express when she was writing and she decided to study literature anyway. She was deeply passionate about it, she always loved to read, letting her mind escape into whatever story she was reading, writing.

She was close to graduate and she was freaking out that she will fuck this all -as she always does with everything. A soft smile crossed her lips when she recalled that Scorpia existed, and she was there to have her back, more than herself -than anyone honestly. She felt hands barely touching her shoulders before crossing around them. She raised her hand to take out her headphones and smiled a little.

"Morning, sweetie. You hungry ? Because i'm on my way to cook an omelette right now." Scorpia softly pressed her lips on Catra's hair.

Yep. She was with someone now, and she had to focus on that, be happy in this relationship, because it was how things were now. She had to forget Adora. She will see her, tell her about Scorpia. She closed her eyes. What could go wrong this way, they were just friends, after all. Everything will be fine, right ?