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Catra thought that maybe someday she would get used to Shadow Weaver making her feel less than, but years had gone by and there were still many nights when she would lay awake at night thinking about the scoldings she had received just hours earlier. She came to realize that was something nobody should or could ever get used to. Sometimes she wished she could be ignorant to it all like the rest of her peers only to relieve herself of some of the pain.
It was one of the nights where it didn’t matter how exhausted she was, there wasn’t a single chance of getting herself to fall asleep with these thoughts plaguing her mind.
She whispered as quietly as she could in case anyone else was awake, “Adora.” The word was followed by silence and this time she half-hissed out, “ Adora .” But that didn’t stir her best friend awake either.
With a sigh, she pulled her blanket back and leaned over the edge of the top bunk and whispered the girl’s name again. This time she got a soft hum from the blonde, but she still didn’t wake up. Normally, Catra would give up at this point, but it was different tonight. She needed the comfort her friend could provide. She’d never admit it out loud, but it was the truth.
While laying back on her bed and staring up at the ceiling, she could feel a lump start to form in her throat and immediately scrunched up her face. Catra did not cry--not anymore at least. Tears and feeling sorry for herself only made her feel weak.
She clenched her fists, claws digging into her palms, and finally released them before she could draw blood. With a sigh, she pulled her blanket completely off and quietly got down from her top bunk. Her plan was only to curl up at the end of Adora’s bed and try to sleep there, but the creak of her bed frame stirred the blonde awake.
“Catra?” Adora’s voice was scratchy with sleep, causing Catra’s heart to flutter.
She was frozen at the end of her bed, not really sure what to say now that she was caught.
Adora yawned before asking, “Can’t sleep?”
Catra relaxed slightly and nodded at her question. Despite Adora never being upset with the fact that Catra often slept at the end of her bed, she still feared that one day she’d wake up Adora and be told she should sleep in her own bed.
To Catra’s surprise, the opposite happened when Adora lifted her blanket and invited Catra to sleep next to her instead. Catra was hesitant for a moment as she processed what Adora was offering. They had been close plenty of times before, but never in such an intimate way and it made her nervous. But when Adora raised her brows at her silently asking, “What are you waiting for?” she crawled under the blanket and made sure to keep a space between them.
But Adora clearly had other plans. Her arm wrapped around Catra’s waist and pulled her in close as she nuzzled her face into the crook of her neck. Catra was sure Adora could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Her body was tense until she felt Adora’s breath against her chest as she exhaled and Catra finally relaxed.
It would probably still be a while until she could actually fall asleep, but being close to Adora made her not mind it so much. She gently began running her fingers through Adora’s hair, causing the blonde to pull her even closer.
Adora whispered with a soft laugh, “I didn’t know you could be so soft.”
Catra laughed softly with her, but warned, “You better not tell a single soul about this. It’ll ruin my tough image.”
“Your secret is safe with me.” Adora tilted her head to press a soft kiss under her chin and she pulled back slightly so she could look into the other’s eyes.
Catra’s heart nearly stopped then, feeling like this was all escalating so quickly. She easily could kiss Adora then and wanted to so badly, but the fear of what that would mean was keeping her from taking that leap.
Instead, she just smiled at her and continued running her fingers through Adora’s hair. The way Adora was looking at her made her think that she was possibly disappointed that Catra didn’t kiss her, but even then she was still too scared. After a moment, Adora returned her head to the crook of Catra’s neck with a soft sigh.
It wasn’t long before Adora fell back asleep and eventually the even sound of her breathing lulled Catra to sleep.