They pulled into the school's parking lot a good two hours after they'd left. Once again, Catra whipped into the first spot she found and put the SUV in park. She didn't turn off the engine right away, she just sat, glazed eyes staring unseeing out of the windshield. Adora waited a moment, awkwardly fidgeting with her uniform coat's navy sleeve. When Catra didn't budge, Adora leaned over and waved her hand jokingly in front of her face.

"Earth to Catra, come in, Catra..."

"Sorry," she said, shaking her head as if to deflate her swollen thoughts. "That was just… crazy. I can't believe you knew he was there. I can't believe we found him. You have, like, magical powers or something."

"I'm just glad nothing worse happened to him," said Adora, blushing a little at the weird compliment, wondering where this was going. "He could have hit his head or broken a bone. A sprained ankle was nothing short of a miracle."

"Kinda gives you perspective, huh?" said Catra, giving Adora a sad half-smile.

"What do you mean?" said Adora. She didn't mean to be purposefully obtuse but she wasn't too used to conversations with Catra. She felt she had a lot to learn.

"Makes you think about all the things you regret or whatever," said Catra.

"What do you regret?" Adora asked despite herself, heart beating sickenly fast. With those words she felt she had opened a door she wasn't ready to see beyond.

But she needn't have worried, for Catra only said: "Why would I tell a maggot?" Again the word sounded like an endearment, especially when Catra grinned sideways at Adora when she said it.

Another gaping pause. Adora knew they should get back to the competition and see if they had missed the slot for their unarmed duel, but she was frozen to the plush leather seat. It felt like there was still this chasm between them and she didn't know what would bridge the gap. She reached for something to say, but the thoughts swirled in her head, making her dizzy. Then-

"Hey, Adora?" And her thoughts suddenly became still. Catra had just thrown it out there, no big deal. So why did it make Adora's stomach lurch?

"Catra?"

"I think I'm gay."

"Oh," said Adora and her breathing hitched.

Another moment of silence, then Catra let out a belly-laugh, louder and more manic than Adora had ever heard.

"Shadow Weaver sent me to an all-girls school," Catra gasped between each cackle. "What an idiot!"

And then Adora laughed too and it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

They laughed until their sides were sore, until they were red in the face and breathless. Once the mirth began to subside, Catra finally stopped the engine and turned to face Adora, who could only smile back dopily. That old something seemed to swell between them once again. Adora clenched her jaw, suddenly nervous.

But then the moment was gone and Catra, still with a gleeful smirk, was opening the driver's side door. "We should probably get in there so we can get reamed by Huntara, your stepdad, and Shadow Weaver all at once."

"Sounds fun," said Adora, releasing a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Why couldn't she breathe properly anymore? She followed the cadet captain's lead and also exited the car, hoping she had not left any dirt from her soiled uniform on the fancy SUV's pristine interior.

I think I'm gay. The phrase reverberated on repeat inside Adora's head as they made their way back into the school. I think I'm gay.

They were overtaken as soon as they rounded the corner into the classroom hallway.

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?" Huntara was charging at them like a raging bull. The pair stopped dead, and Adora literally gulped.

"It's a long story," said Adora, as Huntara came to a halt in front of them. Adora realized, too, that Entrapta and Scorpia were on her heels.

"Adora's dad is safe," said Catra snippily. "Thanks for asking."

"Glad to hear it," said Huntara, though she didn't sound glad at all.

"You're on deck!" said Scorpia nervously, not ever wanting to be the bearer of bad news.

"What?" said Catra. "We've been gone for over two hours. No way they'd let us perform the duel."

"I convinced them to let GWMA go last," said Huntara, urging them toward the gym. "Now, go!"

"But their uniforms!" wailed Entrapta. She was frantically waving her stain remover pen, Scorpia holding her back.

"There's no time!" said Huntara, "you have to go on NOW!"

Without further ado, they made their way onto the gym floor and marched into their starting positions, back-to-back, as the announcer introduced them.

"Representing the George Washington Military Academy, Cadet Captain Catra Stone and Cadet Adora Collins in Unarmed Competition."

Adora had no idea how well they were about to do. From the rescue mission to the coming out, as well as the swelling something, there were way too many distractions for either of them to be at peak performance. Adora looked into the crowd and saw Bow, Glimmer, Angella, and Octavia waving. Hordak was sitting stoically and Adora wondered if he knew they had left the competition. The state of their uniforms surely gave them away.

Shadow Weaver was nowhere to be seen.

These were, of course, major distractions but when Catra called the starting "atten-hut!" Adora became laser-focused, ready to show off this newfound love of drill with the help of her newfound comrade.

It was like a fluid dance, the stomps, claps, snaps, and marching like second nature to Adora at this point. When she made eye contact with Catra as they crossed each other's paths, it was electric. The uniform cap hid her eyes, but Adora could see a smirk lighting up the lower half of Catra's face. It was like the entire year had been leading up to this moment in which she and the cadet captain, the first person Adora had met at GWMA, were aligned in perfect sync. It was just as Hordak had said, just like those YouTube videos she had watched months ago… only this was so much better.

And all at once, Adora came to the realization that this was everything she had needed. The transition to military school, although jolting at first, had culminated in a pride in herself that she'd never take for granted. Not only that, but she finally felt a kinship with her stepdad - trying out for the drill team was the best thing she had ever done.

And Catra - she might have to leave GWMA after this. Shadow Weaver could transfer her to another school because she left the competition to help Adora find Micah. But not even that was a bother in this perfect, harmonious moment.

As they neared the end of their moveset, the finale Huntara had planned came speeding closer and closer; and so did Catra. They locked eyes as they marched toward each other, coming ever nearer. Then, they hit their end pose, each saluting the other, breath coming in pants from the effort of their performance. The crowd erupted into applause; Adora could distinctly hear Bow and Glimmer howling their praise and her eyes raked the front row in search of them.

Before she could find The Best Friend Squad, however, Catra captured her attention by leaning forward toward her ear, as if wanting to say something. Adora, not thinking for once and overwhelmed by the moment, turned toward the cadet captain's oncoming face and caught Catra's lips with her own.

She didn't know how long they stayed like that, lips locked and arms raised in a salute. When they pulled away, Adora realized that the noise from the crowd had changed; it was still as jubilant but it was less obligatory and more of a real cheer, like when strangers got engaged in a public setting.

Adora looked back at Catra and saw that the cadet captain had flushed a deep red, a goofy smile creeping onto her face.

"You're such an idiot," she said, but she didn't sound angry.

"We should probably go," said Adora, also grinning from ear-to-ear.

Adora let Catra lead them off the gym floor; that's when she finally caught sight of Bow and Glimmer. Bow looked as though he was about to fall out of his seat. Glimmer looked livid but Adora knew that it was a front. She got angry when she was confused or feeling left out.

When they had pushed through the doors into the hallway outside the gym, Adora skipped forward to take Catra's hand in her own. Catra jumped but didn't pull away.

"I might be gay, too," said Adora as nonchalantly as she could.

"You don't say," Catra snorted. "I'm not sure if that's exactly what the judges were looking for."

"Who cares?" said Adora. "It's what I was looking for."

Catra dropped Adora's hand but turned to face her, cat-like fingers coming up to snatch the cap off of her head and clench both fists around its brim.

"This is serious, right?" she said earnestly, eyes pleading. "I- I don't know what I'd do if this wasn't- Adora, I've seriously thought about nothing else since you tripped me that first day on campus."

"I didn't trip you, you ran into me," said Adora, who couldn't help but make a joke in her own nervousness. She regretted this immediately, however, upon seeing Catra's embarrassed, defeated look. She quickly backpedaled, not wanting to jeopardize this now, so soon.

"Hey, I am serious." She came and tugged on Catra's sleeve, discouraging the ravaging of her cap. "And I keep my promises, remember?"

Catra's next words came out in a rush. "Adora, I'm sorry. For… everything."

There was so much weight to those words and Adora knew what she meant.

"I'm sorry, too," she said. Then, slowly, as though approaching a caged tiger, she stepped forward and wrapped Catra up into her arms. At first, she was stiff as a board, not even raising her own arms to return the embrace. But slowly, very slowly, the stone-hearted cadet captain melted into Adora, her hands eventually coming up to hook themselves into the back of Adora's collar, her face nudging itself into the crook of Adora's neck.

They stayed like this for several minutes, but it felt like hours. This would not undo all of the things they had done to each other, nor would it undo a childhood of trauma… but it was a start. Especially for someone whom Adora suspected had suffered from touch starvation for a very long time… It was definitely a start.

They heard footsteps approaching and broke apart. Catra ducked her head, turning away, and Adora saw her wiping at her cheeks with her sleeve.

"Well that was certainly a spectacle," came Huntara's voice. She stopped in front of them and crossed her arms. Catra snapped to attention and Adora followed suit.

"Ma'am, I thought it went off without a hitch, ma'am!" called Adora, holding back a smile.

Catra could do no such thing; she snorted in amusement.

"I'm glad you think it was funny because I, on the other hand-" but Huntara was unable to finish because just then, Bow and Glimmer burst into the hallway.

"Adora!" they said together and began sprinting at her.

"Excuse me for just a minute, ma'am," Adora managed just before being tackled by the Best Friend Squad.

"Adora," said Glimmer, scandalized.

"You little tart," said Bow, grinning. Then he addressed Catra. "Hi, I'm Bow."

He held out a hand. Catra ignored it.

"I know who you are, I've seen your little action figures," said Catra, looking like she was wanting to flee at any moment. Adora could practically see all the hair standing up on the back of her neck.

"Do you realize what you just did in front of your parents?" continued Glimmer, unable to be distracted from her beratement of Adora.

"I can do damage control later," said Adora. "You should hear what Catra and I did before the duel…"

"Oh, she's not Captain Stone anymore?" Glimmer mocked, raising an eyebrow.

"She gets like this sometimes," Bow stage-whispered to Catra behind a hand.

"Excuse me," said Huntara sternly, stopping the proceedings in their tracks. "I need to have a talk with my team members if you don't mind."

Bow and Glimmer finally noticed Huntara and quailed under her glare. She was a good foot and a half taller than Glimmer and had much more muscle mass than even Bow.

"Sure," said Bow, his voice cracking in fear. "Glimmer? Let's go…"

Glimmer shot Adora one last fierce glare before letting herself get dragged away down the hallway and back into the gym.

"Your friends are really annoying," said Catra when the door had shut behind them.

"For once, I agree with you, Stone," said Huntara. "Anyway…"

But she was interrupted again when the door to the gym opened once more and this time it was Entrapta and Scorpia who entered the hallway.

"I KNEW IT!" shouted Entrapta, scurrying up to them and looking between Catra and Adora. She practically had heart eyes. "I shipped it so hard."

"I don't even want to know what that means," grumbled Catra, whose cheeks were practically glowing red.

"Wow!" said Scorpia, apparently at a loss for words. Adora suddenly had a swoop of guilt as she faced Scorpia, whom she'd once given a gift card to use on a date with Catra. That felt like so long ago.

"That duel was something!" Scorpia continued, swinging her arms and clapping her hands together in front of her awkwardly. "Some teamwork!"

Then she scooped both Adora and Catra into a big hug, picking them up and swinging them around in a tight circle. "Sorry, I'm a hugger!"

When she put them back on their feet, all awkwardness was gone. She smiled down at them in genuine happiness and any pending animosity seemed to have disappeared.

Huntara sighed. "I guess I can't really fault you too much after seeing all these people so happy for you two."

"I am sincerely sorry that we didn't perform as well as you had hoped," Adora told her. "It doesn't make you any less of an amazing drill captain if your team was constantly undermining your plans."

Huntara chuckled. "Thanks, Collins. You all performed remarkably. But I will be disappointed when we don't place in the last competition of my time at GWMA."

"We still might place," said Adora.

"I like your optimism, Collins," said Huntara. "I'll see you at the awards ceremony."

As Huntara walked away, Scorpia gave both Catra and Adora another (more gentle) side hug.

"Can I use my stain remover pen now?" Entrapta asked, edging toward Adora. "I upgraded it with laser technology of my own design."

"Go ahead," said Adora, holding up her arms to give Entrapta more of a purchase on her uniform.

"I'm gonna head to the changing room," said Catra. This was her out and Adora knew she had been itching to flee for a while. Honestly, Adora was impressed with how long she'd held out at all.

"See you later?" said Adora, panicking despite herself.

Catra gave her a small half-smile and rolled her eyes. "You've spent all day with me and you still want more?"

"Yep!"

"Fine." She pretended to be annoyed about it but Adora was starting to see through her mask, slowly but surely. "See ya later, maggot."

The drill teams from all the different schools lined up on the gym floor to listen to the announcement of the awards. To the surprise of literally everyone, especially Adora, the duel she did with Catra came in second in the unarmed competition. She followed Catra up to the podium to accept their trophy. Guess their chemistry was good for something.

The overall winners of the competition proved to be a different story. Holding their breath, the GWMA team listened as the 3rd and 2nd place winners were named Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln Academies respectively.

Adora watched Huntara's face carefully when it came time for the announcement of the winning school. When Rahway High School was announced to have won first place, Huntara didn't even flinch. She was a true military kid.

Other cadets on the GWMA team were not as well-mannered. Catra let out a hiss and Scorpia let her head drop. They were all just human after all.

Once all the teams were dismissed for the day, the team converged on Huntara.

"Good work, all of you," she said, not a trace of disappointment on her face. "It was a privilege being your captain this year. I would like to announce that next year's drill team captain will be none other than Cadet Captain Stone."

The team began to clap to congratulate her but Catra shook her head and snapped, "I won't even be here next year."

Adora piped up. "How do you know? Did Shadow Weaver say?"

"Not yet, but she's about to," said Catra with a grimace. She nodded to something behind Adora, who turned to find the imposing Shadow Weaver sweeping straight toward the gaggle. An involuntary shiver went down her spine, but it was nothing compared to the look on Catra's face, which was nothing short of terror.

"Catra, get your things, we're leaving," Shadow Weaver snapped when she neared. She stood before her daughter and removed her facemask to display her scar to great effect; the cadets around them recoiled. "And what in the world happened to your uniform? Do you have any idea how much I pay for those garments?"

The other cadets shrank away from this confrontation, but not Adora. She and Catra alone held their ground. Adora could hear how shaky Catra's breath was, but was proud and amazed that she was staying put and even holding eye contact with such a formidable opponent.

"Well?" said Shadow Weaver again. "Didn't you hear me, child? I said we are leaving. If this school cannot even win a drill competition, it is clearly not the place for you."

"We won second in unarmed," said Catra steadily. The volume was low, but there was intention at least.

"Speak up, child, I cannot hear you when you mumble," sneered Shadow Weaver, snapping her fingers.

"She said, we won second in unarmed," said Adora, her temper rising. Shadow Weaver finally spared her a glance.

"Oh yes, you. What was the name again?"

"I'm Cadet Adora Collins. Catra's duel partner."

"Ah yes, the one my daughter was making a fool of herself with in front of the whole gymnasium. What a mockery. All the more reason to go, Catra, you don't want to be canoodling with the inept Commandant's stepdaughter."

"He is not in-" started Adora, but Catra held up a hand to shush her.

"I'm not going anywhere, Shadow Weaver," she said, voice louder but still shaky.

"I told you never to call me that," she snapped, leaning in close to Catra and possessively clenching a knobbly gray hand down on her shoulder. "And you will do whatever I say, for I alone know what's best for you."

"No," said Catra, prying the hand off her shoulder and throwing it down, "you don't."

There was a terrible pause as Shadow Weaver seemed to ready herself for a big explosion. Before she had the chance, however, Catra let fly what seemed like everything she'd ever want to say to her mother.

"The only one who actually knows what's best for me is me. I'm staying at GWMA. I belong here. I've excelled here, despite your lack of notice or praise. I was just named drill team captain-"

Shadow Weaver began to interject but a voice said, "With all due respect, I would let her finish. She's a bright girl and can speak for herself."

It was Hordak, flanked by Octavia, Angella, Bow, and Glimmer. They all had their arms crossed or their hands on their hips. It was an intimidating sight and Adora's heart swelled.

"I have friends here," Catra continued, gesturing to Hordak and company, to Scorpia, Huntara, Entrapta, and last of all, Adora. Each person indicated took a step forward and Shadow Weaver's eyes followed them all until they landed on Adora, who tried to her best not to flinch at the eye contact.

"Friends? Yes, I saw as much during your duel," Shadow Weaver said in a disparaging tone.

"Maybe more than friends," said Adora boldly, reaching over and taking Catra's hand in her own. She could feel Catra's breath hitch at the contact. This last act of defiance seemed to give Catra the push she needed to end this right here and now.

"I'm not letting you transfer me," said Catra, metaphorically putting her foot down.

Another pause as Shadow Weaver eyed Adora up and down, as if determining her worth.

"Fine," she said. "You will stay at GWMA next year, Catra. But…"

Shadow Weaver swept past Adora and took Catra's chin in her long, gray fingers. "Do not let this girl become a distraction. And if you love that school so much, perhaps you can stay there for summer break too."

It was meant to be a slap, but the hit didn't land because Octavia said, "She is always welcome at our home."

"And ours," said Angella.

"I'd have to talk to my dads…" said Bow, hesitantly. Glimmer elbowed him in the ribs and he grunted out, "but I'm sure they'd be cool with it too!"

"So be it," said Shadow Weaver. Then she released Catra's chin and practically floated away through the crowd without so much as a goodbye. They all watched Shadow Weaver apprehensively until she disappeared, then Catra let out a huge breath.

"I can't believe I did that," she said, shell-shocked.

"You did it! You're staying!" yelled Adora. She brought Catra into another hug, jumping up and down in excitement. It was a small win, but a win nonetheless.

"That woman scares me," said Entrapta from somewhere in the crowd.

"Me too," said Hordak, right into Adora's ear. She released Catra and fell immediately into a hug with both him and Octavia instead.

"Congratulations on placing second in unarmed," he said. "How did I know you two would be a good match?"

"I don't believe you thought that at all," said Octavia disapprovingly. "Men and their egos." She rolled her eyes at Adora, who giggled, then addressed Catra. "We would love to have you over for dinner again. Please say you will. I'll make your favorite."

"You don't have to…" said Catra, obviously remembering the last time she'd had dinner at Adora's.

"I insist," said Octavia, and her tone suggested that she was thinking the same thing. This was her making amends.

"Okay, thanks," said Catra. "And thanks for sticking up for me, all of you."

A chorus of what are friends for's, and of course's, and no one deserves that's rose up among everyone and Catra blushed involuntarily. Adora guessed that the cadet captain was not used to being publicly addressed in this manner.

Octavia turned to Adora. "I never saw Micah. That's not like him."

"Oh yeah…" said Adora, catching Catra's bi-colored eyes; amusement sparkled in them from their secret. "That's a long story. Tell you later." She didn't want to know how much trouble she would get in for that whole rescue adventure.

"I guess I gotta make Catra a mini-figurine too, huh?" said Bow, coming up beside Catra and throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"I don't know, you might be getting a little ahead of yourself, Bow," said Glimmer, side-eyeing Catra. It was unsurprising that it would take Glimmer some time to warm up to the cadet captain that Adora had spent half the year complaining about. Friend loyalty was no joke to Glimmer.

Just then, Huntara tapped Catra on the shoulder.

"Well? Will you accept the drill captain position?"

Catra's face broke into a huge grin and she snapped to attention, saluting. "Ma'am, yes, ma'am!"

Adora couldn't help the lurch of her stomach she felt gazing at Catra looking so happy and proud. At least she understood what the lurch was now.

Life at GWMA was just going to get better and better wasn't it?