Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“So are you ready?”, Bow said as everyone was making their way to the tables outside; so they could have lunch together; the day was sunny, just some clouds here and there. Bow was walking next to Adora then turned his face towards the blond as he did his question.

“For what?”, Adora questioned back, a smile on her face; she was excited that they were starting classes again, ready to give everything in her second year of college. School for a lot of people was just a nightmare but necessary to be someone in the world, but to Adora it was different, she had always liked it, the opportunity to learn new things was great and college wasn’t an exception, because now she wasn’t just learning basic human stuff, it was about what she loves the most.

“In five days it’s your birthday”, Glimmer said next to Bow, joining the conversation

“Oh… right”, Adora's smile vanished for a moment before returning, Catra who was at Adora’s left side just squeezed her hand and sent her a tiny smile, just to let her know she was there for her.

“So what do you want to do for your birthday?”, Glimmer asked her as all of them were grabbing a seat by the table

Catra sat next to Adora, and in front of them were Bow and Glimmer. The four of them were at a lunch table just outside the law campus where Glimmer studied, she was the last one with a class in the morning, and their free hour matched each other. When they found out about their schedules, they were so happy knowing they would have lunch together.
Adora was socially anxious so making new friends was most of the time a challenge, Catra could make new friends but she didn’t like most of the people, always relying on Adora, Glimmer could also make new friends but she had the attitude to make people go away, Bow liked to make new friends but he liked his group so he wanted to be with the best friend squad on his free time.

“I don’t know”, Adora answered while shrugging, because, in reality, she didn’t know, this was her first birthday with a large group of friends. Adora usually didn’t do anything on her birthday besides dinner with Catra and her mothers, Cyra and Elena. Adora’s birthdays weren’t great before, her mother just treated this date like any other day, and her dad used to give her a present in the mornings while saying happy birthday after that she’ll be ignored by him for the rest of the day.

To Adora, that day was simply just any other day, maybe the thing that sometimes made it special was that Catra would write her a big letter, this tradition started when they were six years old after the blonde gave her best friend a letter for her birthday, since then, they would give each other a letter on their birthdays, Adora has her letters in a box that it’s in her room at Catra’s house.

“What do you say if we make you a party?”, Glimmer asked, in her eyes was excitement, she was almost jumping in her seat, Bow by her side, looked equally excited.

“Sparkles…”, Catra said in a low tone, with a little warning in her voice that made Glimmer turned to her, with a frowning on her face, but before Catra could finish, Adora interrupted her

“Uh, I’m not sure, I’m not a big fan of parties but I’ll let you know later okay?, Adora answered with uncertainty in her voice and another shrug, her look was distant, focused on a point at the table. Glimmer and Bow shared a look to then turn around and send a confused look to Catra, but she was focus on her girlfriend, “Dor, are you alright?”, her voice tinted with concern and understatement, she knew why Adora didn’t like parties or this day in general, Catra has been there a long time, long enough to know why Adora was acting so distant.

Adora just nodded her head before putting it on Catra’s shoulder to try and hide her face in her girlfriend's neck, then she proceeded to put her arms around Catra’s waist.

“So... guys how was your first day at school”, Catra asked to change the topic while looking at Adora sideways, she knew her friends must have many questions but if Adora wasn’t ready to give any answers, Catra wouldn’t give any either. Glimmer caught the sudden change of topic and decided it was best to follow that conversation than the last one. As Catra was caressing Adora’s hair, Glimmer responded, “Eh… it could be better, you know it was just introductions, very boring introductions”.

After that, the best friend squad tried to make the conversation flow, but it wasn’t easy given that one of them was really quiet but as time was passing Adora started to join the conversation, but it was just short phrases, her head never leaving Catra’s shoulder, not that the brunette was complaining.

When it was time to return to their classes, the squad said goodbye so everyone could go to their campus. Adora was the first to stand up and leave, she simply waved as a goodbye and went walking to her campus, not giving time for Catra to question if the blonde was alright. Glimmer and Bow were still worried about Adora, but Catra assured them that she would be fine, she was going to talk to her later and if Adora needed anything she would let them know.

When Catra and Adora returned to their home, the blonde went straight to their room. She left her backpack by the door and grabbed some comfortable clothes to be in the house, a top and shorts would be enough, when she finished dressing she went to her bed, laying down on her back, her mind was a mess just as her feelings, they were confusing and overwhelming and sadder. The remainder of her birthday nagging in her head, this day in previous years were never good, before she left her parents house her birthday consisted of her dad ignoring her while her mother said things about her just making that day, not the best.

When she left at the age of 17, things were getting better, but never as she wanted, Cyra and Elena were amazing just like Catra, and they tried their best so every year Adora could have the best birthday, but deep down on her, things were already destroyed, years and years suffering, with only one person having your back it’s not good, and even more, if you feel like a burden to that person. As years passed, without the influence of her mother, Adora was getting better, she could appreciate better the love around her, but her birthday was a bitter reminder of her life with her parents.

Catra knew how her girlfriend felt about this day, Adora had confessed a lot of things to her months later after she had moved to Catra’s house. One day Adora had stumbled onto Catra’s room crying telling her that she couldn’t keep it anymore, that all of her feelings and thoughts were eating her up. They had stayed up until late, Catra hugging Adora as if she would disappear one day, not wanting to let go, that and so many other nights they fell asleep hugging each other with an immense force.

Now, Catra tough this would be a better birthday, having more friends would have helped Adora to like more her birthdays, but she is starting to think that’s not the case. Catra and Adora met all of their friends just a year ago, days after Adora’s birthday, so they never knew how she could get these days, and knowing Adora she would try to pretend everything is fine.

Catra entered their room, she went to the bathroom not before grabbing comfortable clothes, so she could change. When she returned, she went to the bed and sat down, her back reclined on the headboard, putting her hands on her lap, she turned her head down to the right so she could see Adora, waiting to see if the blonde needed to talk or needed something to distract her.

When Adora didn’t say anything, Catra started to talk, she wanted to see if her girlfriend would want to celebrate with their friends, or she didn’t want anything, maybe this time would be different having more friends could help with that. Catra just wanted to know how her girlfriend was feeling, and what did she need, silence was never a good sign in Adora, her mind always was working and thinking about something, and most of the time she would say what was on her mind so it wouldn’t be flooded with thoughts.

“Dor… how are you feeling?”, Catra started, she tried to talk with a low voice so it would freak Adora, sometimes the blonde could be so deep in her mind that she didn’t notice what was happening around her, and Catra was so used to that, so she knew how to act, move and talk around Adora.

Adora didn’t jump when Catra talked so that meant she wasn’t that deep, but she took several minutes to respond, maybe she was preparing what to say or was organizing her thoughts, “I’m fine, just… I was in shock, I forgot that my birthday it’s in less than a week”

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”, Catra grabbed Adora’s left hand and brought it into her lap

“I know, and I’m okay, seriously, it was just the shock of the moment”, Adora said as she squeezed Catra’s hand

“Okay”, Catra sigh, her look went to their front, “So do you want to do anything, Glimmer probably would ask again tomorrow”

When Adora didn’t talk, Catra kept talking, “If you don’t want something then I would tell Glimmer, and don’t worry, they won't get mad at you if you decided not to do something”

“I’m going to do it, maybe it going to be better than past times but I have a condition, I’m not organizing it”, when Adora finished talking she had a tiny smile, now looking at Catra

Catra turned to Adora and shared a smile of her own, she nodded before she continued talking but changing the subject, she considered the birthday talk was ended and thought it was better to rest the evening, “Do you want to watch something, or do we take a nap?”

“A nap would be nice”

Catra went and closed the curtains of their room and after, the door, with that done, she went again to the bed, but this time she lay down on her right side, looking at Adora, the blonde also turned to her right side, so Catra would be spooning her, most of the time Adora liked to be the little spoon, she felt secure around Catra’s arms and the brunette didn't mind, she liked to have her arms around Adora, she felt like she could protect her girlfriend from any harm of the outside world. After they embraced sleep came to them, that nap helped to race down their minds, there would be time later for them to worry, but for now, they could have just peace.

The next day, as the best friend squad was making their way to the cafeteria after some finished classes, Adora was the first to talk after a comfortable silence, surprising everyone with just one phrase, “Glim, you can organize a party if you want”

At this Glimmer stopped walking and by default, Bow, who was grabbing Glimmer by the hand, when the first two stayed still, Catra and Adora also stop walking noticing that their friends weren’t by their sides. The blonde just raised an eyebrow, as if she was asking what was the problem, this seemed to wake Glimmer from whatever trance she was in, and asked nervously, “Are you sure? I mean it’s your birthday after all, do you want a party?”

Adora flinched when Glimmer was at half phrase but try to cover it, “Yes, I talked to Catra yesterday, and we agreed that a party would be fine, but not a massive one just us and a couple of more friends”

Glimmer squealed with happiness, her eyes were bright like they had stars, and after a mini celebration from Glimmer and Bow they kept on walking until they arrived at an available table, immediately after they sat down, the enthusiast duo started to plan the party, in between phrases it could be heard balloons and types of cakes, besides decoration stuff.

Catra turned to Adora, but her girlfriend was watching their friends with amusement and shock on her face, maybe it was the fact that nobody has ever planned a birthday party for her, and it’s not that Catra or her mothers hadn’t thought about it, but the girls never had any friends, it was just them against the world, so Adora preferred a dinner with her found family, then a big party with strangers.

Adora turned to Catra as she felt like someone was watching her, and in Catra’s face it could be seen affection and pure love, Adora felt butterflies in her stomach, and her heart was beating quickly, it was the same feelings Adora would get when she was thinking about Catra, it also felt just like the moment Adora realized that she was in love with Catra. Adora gave her girlfriend a smile that made her cheeks get puffier and get creases around her eyes.

In front of the couple, their friends were still deep discussing how they were going to organize Adora’s party, they were writing down on a piece of paper what cake and decorations to buy, who to invite, and how to decorate Catra and Adora’s backyard, they look so excited that Adora promised herself to enjoy that day and show everyone that she was having fun not taking importance on the path that her thought would go.

Maybe it would be better.

Maybe from now on, that day was going to be the best as it was supposed to be from the beginning.

Maybe now she can be happy and enjoy that day with people who really love her.