Two weeks. It had been two weeks since Adora brought back a dirty, hissing bundle of fur and teeth and claws from a mission on the outskirts of Bright Moon. She'd washed it, brushed it, cooed over it and generally tried to befriend it despite receiving nothing but bites and scratches in return. Glimmer gave the thing a wide berth, and even Bow had the sense to look a little tentative around it.

Naturally, the blasted creature wouldn't leave Catra alone.

No matter how much she avoided it, refused to look in its direction, or cursed it with all the colorful invectives she could conjure; it still kept finding its way into her quarters, laying on her clothes, or winding its way obnoxiously around her legs when she was trying to walk.

Adora, on the other hand, had spent a full week desperately trying to coax the creature into friendship (or at least tolerance of her presence) before finally backing off when the little monster lashed out with its claws a little too close to her eye. She now regarded the creature sadly, but from a distance.

Catra tried not to think too hard about the allegory there.

Adora had walked around the castle for three days with a ridiculous bandage on her face before She-Ra's healing powers kicked in. The thin, pink marks on her cheek lingered just long enough for Catra to wonder if She-Ra didn't heal scars before they, too, faded away, leaving Catra with an unexpected and guilty sense of relief.

A low rumble distracted Catra from her thoughts. The creature had somehow gotten in her room again, and was now curled in a self-satisfied ball atop the rumpled pile of shirts she'd left on the floor. The corner of her lip lifted in a snarl, and she grabbed the thing by the nape of the neck and lifted it in front of her.

"Stay. Off. Of my things," she hissed.

It blinked affectionately at her, paws dangling in the air.

She dropped it, and it landed lightly on its feet before scampering off to resume its previous position on the shirt pile. The purring resumed almost instantaneously.

"Ugh."

Catra bounced the tip of the quill pen in a staccato rhythm on the blank paper before her, willing the words to come. They evaded her. (They had plenty of practice; they'd been doing just that for the past twenty minutes.) The aggravated tapping grew to a crescendo until the tip of the pen snapped off, leaving a sizable blotch of ink on the otherwise empty paper.

With a frustrated cry, she snatched up the ruined paper, crumpled it into a ball, and flung it across the room.

Going on scouting missions? Productive, engaging. Writing scouting reports? Purgatory. Torture.

Awakened from its slumber, the creature bounded across the room after the wad of paper and now held it in its jaws, shaking its head rapidly as if to break the paper's nonexistent neck. A piece tore free in its mouth and the rest of the ball flew a short distance away. The beast pounced on it, tearing it to shreds with its tiny, needle-like claws.

Catra smiled viciously. "Good cat."

Reports were stupid enough, but she'd been willing to send a perfunctory sentence or two in the Queen's direction in the name of cooperation. She hadn't even thought the queen would read them. Apparently, she had. Catra unfolded a copy of her latest submission.

"Was boring. nothing much happened. Killed a Horde patrol somewhere in the woods. found a rock that looks like glimmer's head."

Catra didn't understand the issue. It was clear, concise, and held all the necessary facts. Certainly not "alarming in its utter lack of detail," or "juvenile in tone and content." Catra sulked. It wasn't like she hadn't offered the patrol a chance to surrender first.

Maybe the queen hadn't liked the part about the rock.

A knock came from behind her, and Catra's ear twitched back toward the sound before she swiveled to identify the intruder. Adora stood on the threshold, holding a stack of papers.

Catra hated how tentative she looked. Hated how even now, a month after joining the rebellion, she still felt a swell of defensiveness instead of affection upon seeing her oldest and closest friend.

Catra hated a lot of things. She knew now Adora had never really been one of them.

She glanced down to the papers Adora held cradled to her chest. "If those are for me, I swear I'm going to jump out the window."

Adora laughed, tension dropping as she stepped into the room. "Don't worry, these are mine. Light reading from the last strategy meeting." She dropped them with a solid thunk on the edge of Catra's desk, then glanced around at the broken pen and shreds of paper littering the floor. "What are you up to? I thought I heard a shout."

Catra folded her arms and slid down in her chair with a scowl. "Queen Angella doesn't like my scouting reports."

"Oh."

Adora's lip quivered as though suppressing a smile, and Catra's eyes narrowed.

"You read them, didn't you."

"Just the last one," Adora said, raising her hands in defense. "It was a little... brief." The smile was fighting its way free onto her face.

Catra had been annoyed before, but now she felt strangely embarrassed. She slid further down in her chair.

"I'm not good at this kind of thing," she grumbled, hating how pathetic she sounded.

"Hey, don't say that," Adora said, smile forgotten as she leaned earnestly forward. Her hand started toward Catra's shoulder, then fell back down to her side.

Catra hated that Adora had pulled back, and hated the relief she felt when she did.

"I, uh," Adora started. "I was really bad at writing reports when I first got here, too."

Catra raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly the same problem," Adora admitted, her face reddening. "My reports were a little too long and too detailed."

Catra snorted. That, she could see. She imagined Adora earnestly bent over her report, meticulously cataloging whatever her surveillance team had eaten for lunch and precisely how many minutes it took them to consume.

"One of the guards gave me a template to work from," Adora continued. "It helped a lot. I could give it to you, along with some of my better reports. If you want, of course," she tacked on hurriedly.

Well, it certainly couldn't hurt.

"Yeah. Thanks."

Adora beamed.

The cat suddenly jumped up onto the desk, nearly knocking over the ink pot in the process. Catra scrambled to steady it and gave a low growl in the creature's direction. It was soundly ignored. Instead, the thing was sniffing the stack of papers Adora had dropped on the desk, and then began rubbing its face against the back of Adora's hand where it rested on the papers. She stood stock still, a look of disbelieving glee frozen on her face.

"Catra!" Adora whispered, as though any sound might frighten the creature off. "She's letting me touch her!"

"Looks more like she's touching you," Catra observed languidly. She couldn't imagine why someone would be happy to have the little nuisance rubbing up against them. She'd do anything to make it stop.

"Do you think I..." ever so slowly, Adora moved her hand out from the stack of papers. The cat continued to industriously rub its face against her knuckles. Slowly, tentatively, she raised her fingers and traced them across the soft fur of the creature's head to scratch behind its ears. It purred.

Adora looked like she was going to explode from happiness.

Catra found herself fighting back a smile and looked away. Adora's enthusiasm was stupidly infectious.

"I'm running a patrol in a few days," Adora said conversationally a moment later, still running her fingers with gentle adoration across the creature's head. "Could use your help, if you're interested." Her tone was so casual it almost hurt.

"Why?" Catra internally winced. "I mean, what do you need me for? You've been running those solo just fine." She winced harder. That was not an improvement.

Adora shrugged. "Two pairs of eyes are better than one. And two pairs of hands, in case things go south."

Catra bit back a remark about how she was sure She-Ra could handle things just fine on her own.

"Okay."

The pressing weight of Adora's forced casualness receded, and she visibly straightened.

"You know, after we get back from that, there's a festival in the next town over. Glimmer and Bow have been talking about it for days, and it would be great if you—ow!" Adora snatched her hand back with a cry after the cat suddenly sank its teeth into her palm.

Catra reached for her hand and pulled it forward. "Let me see."

"I'm fine," Adora insisted, looking somewhere between surprised and embarrassed. "It's not even bleeding."

Catra ignored her and inspected the mark. The bite was hard enough to leave a purple indentation, but Adora was right—it hadn't broken the skin. Satisfied, she released her hand. Adora rubbed the mark.

The creature was now laying upside down on the desk, the picture of fluffy innocence. "Guess that was a little much, huh?" Adora said toward the cat.

It's all right, I'm sorry, I want things to be normal again just as much as you do, please just give me a little more time-

"Guess so."

"Well," Adora said, forcing cheerfulness into her tone as she picked up her stack of papers, "I have a lot of reading to do. See you around?"

"See you around," Catra mumbled in response. Adora was almost at the door.

"Hey," Catra said, still looking at the desk. Adora stopped and turned back toward Catra expectantly.

"When do you eat breakfast?"

Adora looked confused for a second. "After morning training," she said. "In the kitchens."

Catra nodded. "See you there."

A small, warm smile spread across Adora's face. "See you there," she repeated.

Her step was lighter as she left the room.

The cat started to rub its head against her hand where it rested on desk, and Catra let it. She even scratched under its chin a little.

Winter was coming, heralded by colorful leaves and crisp days. Night came earlier, with a chill that drove people to crackling fireplaces, animals to their barns—and the creature into Catra's bed. (Apparently, the pile of shirts that it had claimed for its own was no longer warm enough to satisfy it.)

The first time she woke to find it curled against her side, purring contentedly, Catra had stared in shock for several seconds before lifting it by the scruff of the neck and dropping it onto the floor. It yawned, stretched, and wandered off in search of breakfast.

Catra felt... oddly well-rested. Her side was still warm where the little beast had been curled against it.

She was sure the two events were unrelated.

The next morning, she was a little slower to evict her uninvited tenant. The thing had stretched out in its sleep beside her, front paws resting gently against her upper arm as it dozed in a patch of morning light. It gave an inquisitive mrrpt as she lifted it off the bed and... placed, not dropped, it on the floor.

Over the following days, Catra slowly became used to waking up with the thing laying on her chest, sprawled across her legs, or curled up in a ball against her side. Not fond, but... accustomed. Once, when she jerked awake from a nightmare while it was sleeping near her foot, she had accidentally kicked it clean off the bed. It landed with a soft thump and a disgruntled mewl, deciding for the first time in quite a while to spend the night on a pile of clothing instead of curled up next to her.

She actually felt kind of bad about it.

The next morning, it silently hopped up onto the table where she and Adora were sharing breakfast and padded over, rubbing its head against Catra's cheek for a moment before stealing one of the small fish off her plate.

She let it.

The worst part about being in Bright Moon wasn't the endless pastel walls, or the glittery princesses, or the naïve and twitchy inhabitants of the city. It was how Catra couldn't sleep.

She'd been doing just fine sleeping in the wilds, but as soon as she got under the same (enormous, pastel purple) roof as Adora, her body suddenly remembered what it was like to sleep in the Fright Zone—and repeatedly, firmly informed her that This Was Not It. There was no clanking of metal or hissing of steam. There was no gentle snoring of several other cadets.

There was no warm, steadying presence sharing her bunk.

It was fine. Scouting missions kept her busy, and the more missions she took, the more exhausted she could get until she was finally able to crawl into bed and fall asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.

That was the best way, honestly. The more tired she was, the less she dreamed.

As much as she hated to admit it, the furry creature had made it easier for her to fall asleep on days when she hadn't exhausted herself to the point of almost passing out. Its warm little presence wasn't quite right—too quiet, too small—but it was... something.

Catra passed the castle library, sparing a glance through the half open door as she walked by. She froze, then backtracked.

There, sitting in a chair illuminated by a golden patch of late afternoon light, was Adora: fast asleep, the book she had been reading dropped open on her chest, and the cat sprawled across her lap and purring loudly.

It was... well, it was kind of cute.

Catra hadn't realized she'd walked closer until the cat lazily cracked an eye open at her approach. It adjusted its position slightly and resumed purring.

Adora somehow looked even more exhausted asleep than she did awake. The dark circles under her eyes had only deepened in the time since Catra had come to join the rebellion, and some small part of Catra wondered if Adora was having the same difficulties sleeping as her-but no; no, of course not. She stayed up late studying, got up early to train, and went on missions nearly every day; of course she was tired. Anyone would be.

The book was starting to slip. Catra reached out and gently removed it, marking Adora's place with a scrap of paper and setting it neatly on the table beside her.

The little beast watched her movements, but made no motion to get up.

"Good cat," she found herself whispering.

Catra left silently, closing the door softly behind her.

It was midnight. No, that's when she'd started this ill-fated expedition. It was far, far past midnight now. Catra wasn't sure what annoyed her more: that the miserable cat had been missing from all its familiar haunts when she returned, tired and bedraggled, from a particularly miserable solo scouting mission; or the fact that she actually cared.

After all, they weren't that far from the Whispering Woods. There were all kinds of predators in there that ate little cats for breakfast. And it wasn't like she could trust the Bright Moon guards to guarantee none of those creatures snuck into the castle; she knew firsthand they weren't an overly observant lot.

"Come here, you stupid little monster," she hissed into the empty halls, loud enough for her and the cat to hear, but quiet enough not to wake the human occupants of the castle. "You're supposed to be shedding all over my blankets and stabbing your little needle claws into my arm while I'm trying to sleep. Quit hiding."

Catra held still for a moment, ears twitching slightly as she listened for any hint of movement.

The castle was absurdly, impossibly silent.

She growled. "I swear if I don't find you in the next five minutes, when I do find you, I'm gonna turn you into a furry hat."

It was her second pass through the castle, and she lingered for a moment at the door to Adora's room. The door was shut, but… the cat was very small, and it finally seemed to have take a liking to Adora (to the latter's great delight). It might be worth checking. Catra swayed tiredly, frustration rising as she realized that, despite her exhaustion, she wouldn't be able to sleep until she found the miserable beast.

Catra put her hand to the knob and was only slightly surprised to find it unlocked.

She was also only slightly surprised to see the infernal creature curled in a satisfied, comfortable ball next to Adora as they both slumbered peacefully. Catra reached for the scruff of the cat's neck, then paused. It didn't seem right to disturb two creatures when they were sleeping so peacefully. Especially when Adora looked so tired all the time, and stressed, and the only time she'd seen her actually look this relaxed in her sleep was when she was with that stupid cat-

Catra swayed again in her exhaustion.

She was tired.

Really tired.

Oh, forget it.

Her limbs moved of their own accord. This bed was shorter than the bunks in the Fright Zone, but wider. She carefully crawled next to Adora, on top of the blankets, and curled up on her side facing away from her. Her back felt warm.

She'd leave in the morning, she promised herself, before Adora woke.

It was easy to relax as the familiar rhythm of Adora's soft, steady breathing lulled her to sleep.

Adora woke slowly, coaxed gently to consciousness by the warm light on her face and the soothing sound of contended purring. She smiled as she remembered how the small cat had leapt up on her bed in the middle of the night, stepping across her stomach before curling contentedly against her side. Shed been thrilled. Honored, even.

She took a deep breath and slowly stretched in place, eyes closed, flexing muscles still sore from the previous day's exertion. Her left arm felt a little sluggish, she thought absently. Oddly warm, too.

She turned her head and opened her eyes a crack to smile happily at the little creature, which still dozed in a warm little ball against her side. Its purring seemed extra loud today.

"Morning, kitty."

"Mmph," came a disgruntled sound from her other side. Adora jumped, her shoulder impacting something soft and resulting in a quiet yelp.

"What are you trying to do, break my nose?"

Adora's mind came to a stuttering stop.

"Catra?"

Catra. Catra was there, next to her, wrapped around Adora's arm the same way she'd seen small children holding a stuffed animal to their chest. Her nose was almost pressed to Adora's shoulder.

"Yeah, duh. Who else would it be." Catra's eyes closed as she apparently tried to burrow deeper into the mattress. "Go back to sleep. 's too early." Her words trailed off as she began to follow her own advice.

Her initial astonishment wearing off, Adora found herself unable to do anything other than stare and smile. She'd hoped Catra would eventually feel comfortable enough to regain some of their former closeness, but... She hadn't expected this so soon. Or this close, she thought, regarding her trapped arm with no desire to reclaim it. With Catra's mask off and her face relaxed in sleep, smoothing away the worries of recent months, Adora could almost imagine they were children again.

A yellow eye cracked open. "Quit it."

"Huh? I wasn't doing anything."

"You've got that look," Catra mumbled discontentedly. "The annoying one." Her complaint might have carried more weight if her face wasn't still practically buried in Adora's shoulder.

A teasing remark rose to her lips. "I was just wondering what the rebellion would think if they knew that the fearsome Catra, former second-in-command to Hordak himself, likes to cuddle in her sleep."

Both eyes opened momentarily to deliver a malevolent glare.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Blue and yellow eyes rolled, then closed again.

The cat at Adora's other side batted playfully at her hand, and she rubbed its head. Sure, maybe things weren't perfect between them. Finding a new normal would take time. But this... this was progress. She gave another fond glance to the figure at her side before giving a quiet, contented sigh and letting her eyes slip shut.

"I missed you too," she whispered.

There was no answer. The pressure on her arm increased for a moment, then relaxed.

"Get over yourself," came the eventual, mumbled response. The words may have been abrasive, but the tone in which they were delivered was anything but.

Adora smiled and settled back into her pillow with another small sigh, giving in to the warmth and her lingering tiredness.

Healing might take time, but this morning, they had all the time in the world.

FLUFF!

Man, I had a hard time with the ending for some reason-ended up re-writing it it a few times. Hopefully it didn't end up too bad. The rest was surprisingly fun to write, lol! Catra trying (and failing) to write mission reports was such a funny idea to me.

Sidenote: Catra is definitely the person who holds the cat overhead while saying "stinky b*st*rd man" while Adora's in the background going "noooo!"

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you liked it!