"Why am I not surprised?" Glimmer muttered as she watched Catra pick the lock to Adora's bedroom, earning a grin from the tan-skinned girl.
"Grow up getting locked outside the house as punishment and you learn a little bit of everything." Catra said just as the lock clicked slightly so she added "If I'm not out in an half hour, you can assume she killed me for breaking into her space."
Catra felt an odd feeling settle in the pit of her stomach when she saw that Adora was curled up asleep on the bed, her face still flushed and wet with tears. She carefully made her way over to the bed, taking a seat and gently putting a hand on Adora's shoulder.
"Hey Adora, wake up for a second okay?" She asked, her voice coming out soft—softer than she usually spoke—and if it had been at any other person it would have caught her by surprise but this was Adora and that was different, after all they had seen each other in far more embarrassing predicaments.
"Catra? What...How did you get in here?" Adora asked, voice hoarse from crying as she moved to sit up.
Catra sent her a Cheshire grin as she replied "I kind of picked the lock."
If Adora was annoyed by this, she didn't show it because instead of really reacting to what Catra had said, she drew her knees up to her chest. "I should have known." She eventually said, as if just registering what the other girl had been saying.
"hey, you know that you can talk to me about anything right? It's not exactly healthy to keep everyone blocked out and you're going to end up hurting yourself worse if you keep taking everything out on your punching bag. That ankle needs rest, you know." Catra said, putting a hand on the blonde's forearm.
"What is there to say? That hospital was obviously shit and there is a very slim chance of Mara coming out of this without permanent damage! I mean how did they not notice that she was hiding medication?" Adora began only to choke back tears once again.
Catra wasn't sure what to say or do in that moment although she felt a heaviness in her chest as she watched the usually strong blonde breaking down. Without even thinking about it Catra found herself pulling Adora into a embrace.
"Don't. You don't have to put on a mask around me. We've been through a lot of shit together...You can just be Adora with me...even if you're still iffy about showing emotion to anyone else. But right now it's just us." she whispered, feeling Adora clinging to her.
There was a silence that passed over them, weighing heavily on Catra who knew she wasn't very good with this sort of thing, although in that moment she wished she was because seeing Adora like this was killing her.
"I don't know what to do. I mean everyone says there is nothing I could have done differently but...I can't help but feel like there is. I could have visited her more, called, or something!" Adora finally said after a while, earning a sigh.
"Adora, I didn't know Mara or anything but I know that mental health is one hell of a something. She saw all kinds of horrors and lost who knows how many friends during her stays overseas. We don't know what kind of hell she was living everyday so don't blame yourself for all of that...Blame the fact that mankind are idiots who has to fight about everything." Catra said, knowing that the words weren't much but they were true enough.
"I couldn't even bring myself to read the last letter she sent me for days Catra! I mean...She just kept getting worse and I just couldn't..." Adora began to argue, only to be cut off by her friend once again.
"Yeah because it fucking hurts watching someone you love losing a fight with any kind of health issue and just because she chose this doesn't mean she didn't care about you. Did she ever say or do anything that made you think differently?"
As she waited on the other girl to answer, Catra thought back to the words that she had just said and for the first time she realized exactly what it was that she was saying and she couldn't help but wonder when it had been that she had became so opened or when she had learned to speak so clearly about matters that dealt with the emotions.
But she didn't dare think too long or hard on that subject, not when Adora obviously needed her to be present both mentally and physically at the moment.
Glimmer couldn't help but to become worried after an half hour passed and neither Catra nor Adora came downstairs, after all could they really trust Catra, who had been nothing but a huge jerk for the first few weeks of school? What if she made Adora feel even worse?
So she headed upstairs but no matter what she was expecting to find, it wasn't to find Adora laying partially against Catra, asleep.
"one word about this to anyone and you're dead." Catra muttered, opening one eye although otherwise she didn't move.
"No one would believe me anyway," Glimmer retorted before adding "I came up to see if everything was alright."
Catra let out a sigh, glancing over at the still sleeping blonde.
"give me a few minutes to make sure I can move her without waking her up and I'll tell you everything."
Catra wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Glimmer anything but then again, Glimmer was one of Adora's close friends and that meant if Catra was going to spend any time around Adora, she was going to have to learn to at least tolerate the walking cupcake so as soon as she managed to slowly pull herself away from Adora she headed toward the living room.
I just hope that I can figure out how to explain everything to them without making them worry. It's obvious that they are worried enough already and like it or not these people may as wells be Adora's family now.