The One with Frosta & Catra

Catra had been minding her own business. Really, she had. She had just been sitting at a table in the food court, minding her own damn business.

Yeah, maybe she had been alone at the time. It was her day off and her friends were busy.

She had just been sitting around in the food court waiting for some of them to finish up their shifts so they could hang out. Nothing more to it. All that mattered was that Catra had been keeping quiet and not causing any trouble for once.

In fact, Catra had nothing to do with the trouble that started. She had been minding her business eating one of those big soft pretzels.

But the fact of the matter was, regardless of Catra, trouble started.

She ignored it at first, the mocking jeers and taunts, the snarky answers back. She just kept eating her pretzel and looking at her watch. Maybe she got there too early because there was still over an hour until the two would be done with their respective jobs, and that was if they weren't made to stay later because of something happening.

By the looks of it, most everyone else was also ignoring the apparent bullying going on in the food court. A few people would glance in the direction of the voices and quickly look away. Not wanting to get involved.

Catra couldn't blame them.

Eventually, though, curiosity got the better of her. Taking a bite out of her pretzel, Catra turned around in her seat to look and see just what was going on.

Surrounding one of the tables was a group around her age, a couple looked a little younger, one looked a bit older. Leather jackets and snakes on the back, Catra recognized Lashor's gang easily. What really took her by surprise was that they were circling and taunting Frosta of all people.

Now, Catra couldn't say the twelve-year-old was a friend of hers. No, Frosta was more of Scorpia and Adora's friend. Sure, Catra was friendly enough with the kid, as friendly as one ought to be to someone in your friend circle who's not your friend in particular.

Hell, the most they've done that went beyond simple hellos was when Frosta punched Catra in the face last week. Not that Catra could blame her. She was more impressed than anything, the kid had a good right hook.

Frosta's parents owned a winter gear store on the second floor of the shopping center, and the kid spent a lot of her time just wandering the mall and hanging out with people older than her, so seeing her wasn't unusual by any means.

No, what was odd was that Lashor's gang was picking on a twelve-year-old.

Finishing off her pretzel, Catra stood up and slowly made her way to their table, her tail swishing back and forth and her ears twitching a little.

She wasn't doing this for Frosta, she wasn't doing this to be a hero, of course not. That just wasn't her style. She just didn't like Tung Lashor and if she fucked up some of his goonies, that'd piss him off, and boy she got a kick out of pissing people off. Had nothing to do with her not liking grown ass adults picking on a kid.

"What, gonna cry?" hissed the bigger of the five, a bulky reptilian who spoke with a hiss. He leaned on the table and snatched fries that Frosta had probably been eating, downing them all in a single bite.

Another, a slim woman with goat horns cackled as she leaned against a shorter individual. "Cry for mommy and daddy?"

Frosta, for her part, was red in the face with embarrassment and rage, her hands shaking as she glared at them. "Go away before I make you." It probably would have been more intimidating if Frosta wasn't so small and so young. Instead of scaring the group off, the thugs just started laughing at her.

"Oh man, is this kid for real?" one of them wheezed, resting his elbow on her head. "Go away before I make you! Ah, that is hilarious."

Catra smirked as she sauntered up, leaning against the table and looking at the gang, "What's so funny?" she asked innocently, arms crossed over her chest and tail curling behind her. The laughter stopped when she spoke.

Now that Catra was at the table and getting a proper look at the group, she recognized two of them, the goat-woman and her small four-armed companion. Two people Catra had already beaten up and earned respect from. For those two, they clammed up as soon as Catra had spoken, backing away a little. The others, though? Not quite as easy to chase off.

"Aw? A kitty coming to the rescue?" the reptilian mocked, looking down on Catra. "You think you're tough, how adorable."

Catra smiled, raised a hand and let her claws extend. "I can show you just how tough I am if you want."

She knew his kind. He was all talk, the type who relied on his intimidating appearance and bravado to scare people into submission. Catra knew how to deal with that, it was to show that you weren't scared and that you were confident in your ability to take him down. She smirked, eyes locked on his as she let her claws slowly dig into the table, leaving deep scratches in the surface.

Almost a minute passed before the thug broke her gaze, taking an uncertain step back as he glared and glowered. "She's not even that much fun, anyway," he muttered as if to protect his own pride, and began stalking away with his entourage following.

"While you go, tell Lashor hello for me," Catra called after with a laugh, they flipped her off which only made her mood that much better.

"I didn't need your help."

Ah, there it was.

Catra was still smirking as she turned to look at Frosta, meeting her glare with amusement. Frosta, so prideful, so reluctant to rely on help. She reminded Catra of herself in a way. Catra faintly remembered Adora talking about how Frosta treated her when they first met, trying to act like she was mature and capable when really she was just a kid.

"I'm sure you could have," Catra said, sinking into a chair.

Bristling, Frosta moved to stand. "I could have dealt with them on my own! I didn't need you to interfere, I didn't ask for you to help me!"

"Hey, who said I was helping you?" Catra asked in response, watching Frosta and chuckling a bit when Frosta looked absolutely confused. "If anything, I was just saving those idiots. If I hadn't stepped in, they would have been leaving in an ambulance once you got through with them."

Ah. There it was.

Frosta smiled. Well, it was less of a smile and more of a smug grin. "Well, of course. I was just waiting for the right moment to punch them in their stupid faces," and as if to accentuate the point, she balled her hands into fists and raised them up to the air.

She couldn't help it, not really, but Catra grinned and laughed. "Their faces are pretty dumb looking."

Leaning back and glancing to the ceiling, Catra hummed, her smiling falling as she started to think. She could just leave right now. She stepped in, Lashor's gang backed off, Frosta could take care of herself from here on out. But… well… Catra kind of didn't want to? Sure, Frosta wasn't her friend, but…

"I've still got some time to kill before Lonnie and Scorpia are done with work, want to hang out?" Catra asked, not really looking to Frosta. "I'm sure Scorpia would love to see you once she meets up with us, too. Better than just loitering about on your own, at least."

"Depends," Frosta said, bringing back up that ice queen façade, but Catra could see the cracks in it. "Can we play laser tag?"

Catra grinned, and it felt nice seeing Frosta smiling too.

Needless to say, the two of them were an unstoppable team once they geared up.