Horse Girl Everyone - TippenFunkaport (2024)

Chapter 1: High Horse

Chapter Text

"Adora? Are you almost done in there?"

"Uh, need like three more minutes!" Adora called back, tossing another pitchfork of muck into the bucket.

"What is taking so long?" The brim of Glimmer's helmet peaked over the door to Swift Wind's stall, the sparkly stickers glinting in the light. "You're not even tacked up yet? We're going to miss warm-ups and Netossa is going to kill us."

"I'm almost done!" Normally she'd have finished in plenty early, but after spending most of the afternoon with her dad grilling her about early decision applications, she'd needed some extra horse cuddle time.

Glimmer appeared fully, hooking her elbows over the stall door. She was way too short to actually see over on her own, so she had to be tippy toeing the bottom of the door frame. Probably made for a funny image from the other side. "Why are you mucking his stall now, anyway? He's not even going to be in there for another hour!"

"Because then he'll have a nice clean room to come back to so he can just relax after all his hard work." Adora gave her furry best friend a pat on the neck. Swifty didn't even pause in chewing his lump of cud, but she knew he appreciated it. They could read each other's minds that way.

"Dork." Glimmer said, but it was affectionate. She shook her head, the neat pink bun at the base of her neck bobbing along. "You know you don't actually have to do that, right? Your rental fee, includes—"

"I like to do it, okay?"

"Suit yourself. But you're still going to make us late!" Glimmer disappeared back over the edge.

"I'll be ready!" Adora called after her.

They'd had this argument just about every week since they'd started riding here together in middle school. She'd had it with Mara too, who'd tried to argue if she was going to spend this much time helping out around the barn, she should at least officially become an employee, but Adora didn't want coming to the barn to become yet another of her long list of obligations. And maybe it was weird to willingly shovel sh*t when it was part of her boarding fee, but she didn't mind, and it gave her an excuse to spend more time with Swifty.

Besides, their lesson fees covered basic horse care, but most of the students still helped brush and tack before and after lessons, even if they were only riding the school horses. It was just that kind of place! Everyone helped, even people like Glimmer whose family was so rich they'd literally donated the land the barn was on. And, sure, the place was a little run down, especially compared to what they had over at Crimson Academy, but the pealing paint and rusted wheelbarrows gave it charm!

It was going to be weird switching to a new barn for college next year. Of course, that assumed that her parents would actually listen to her concerns about finding a horse friendly school or that she'd have earned enough to buy Swifty outright by then. Two huge "ifs" at this point. She exhaled, taking out her frustration on the soiled bedding. The closer it got to college, the more it felt like she was being pushed down a narrowing funnel of her parent's expectations. And she was rapidly running out of time to figure out how to come out the other side without leaving everything Adora shaped behind.

As if he could read her mind, Swifty let out a soft knicker. One thing at a time, Adora. And he was right, of course. Her horse could be a real goof, but he was the only one she could really talk to about all this stuff, even if neither of them said anything aloud. Kinda like they had a sacred bond.

"Move it, big butt," she nudged him with her shoulder so she could get to the wet spot under his hindquarters. Swifty shifted easily, turning to snuffle his muzzle into the back of her neck while she threw the last few forkfuls of nast into the bucket.

There. Done! She sprinkled some lime and kicked the fresh bedding over it. When she opened the door to replace the can of lime, she found Glimmer waiting for her. Enchanta was already tacked and ready to go, the horse's dappled head leaning casually on Glimmer's shoulder like the two of them were browsing her phone together.

"Finally!" Glimmer said, tossing her phone back into her bag. But she groaned as Adora grabbed Swifty's tack and ducked back into the stall. "Are you kidding me? You're still not ready?"

"It'll take like five seconds!" She threw it on Swift Wind's back, blankets and all. The hackamore took even less time. Why use a bit her baby hated when they could read each other's mind anyway?

Glimmer pinned the stall door back for her while she finished tacking.“Do you think Light Hope is like... a killer robot from the future?”

Absolute undefeated queen of non-sequiturs.

"W-why would I think that?"

"I don't know. Just my latest working theory. I mean, you heard what Mara said about why she missed the start of summer picnic, right? 'It's raining so Hope can't come out.' I mean, why's that, Mara? Because your girlfriend will short circuit?"

Adora rolled her eyes as she checked her tack. "The director is not dating a robot."

"Can we be sure of that, though?" Glimmer asked, leaning into the stall. "She talks weird."

"Maybe English isn't her first language!" Adora wasn't sure why she was so defensive about it. Speculating about why they'd never actually seen the director's partner in all these years was just a running gag at this point. But something about Glimmer making jokes about the only lesbian couple Adora actually knew annoyed her, even if it was irrational.

All tacked, she clucked Swifty toward the stall door, but he didn't budge, tapping his muzzle against the top of her head.

sh*t, right. Good call, buddy. She grabbed her hunt cap, snapping it on as she stepped onto the sidewalk.

"Maybe she's talks like that because she’s taking her time, trying to get it right."

"Or maybe she's complex AI assembling words from a vocal database." Glimmer brought Enchanta up alongside of Swifty and did her Light Hope impression. "'Affirmative, Mara. The day is a moderate 65 degrees. Nice, as you say.'"

Adora snorted. They'd only heard Light Hope in snatches from when Mara had her on speakerphone, but she had this stilted way of talking that did sound a lot like a computerized voice. But Mara was like the big sister Adora never had and, even though Glimmer was only goofing around, she felt obligated to add, "That's not very nice."

"But am I wrong?" Glimmer asked as the two of them led their horses out into the stable yard. It was a flurry of activity at this hour, two other classes prepping to go out besides theirs.

"You're not," Adora conceded, "but they're happy!"

"And I'm happy for them! Maybe she has the right idea. I'll try propositioning Alexa tonight. She'd probably make a great girlfriend!"

"She's certainly eager to please!" Adora grinned, feeling some of her earlier stress dissipate. Just being here, in this place she loved, hanging out with her horse and her best friend? This was her happy place. "Dating your smart speaker AI. Maybe it's a loophole."

"I wish. At this rate, my mom's not going to let me date until I'm 30." Glimmer had already mounted and navigated Enchanta away from the mounting block so Adora could have a turn. "And in the meantime, she's just going to send me here every week to torture me."

"You don't enjoy riding?" Adora asked, so startled she missed the stirrup and almost fell off the block entirely. Swifty snorted judgementally.

"I love riding!" Glimmer clarified, her focus somewhere across the stable yard, and Adora could breathe again because if Glimmer stopped riding here, she wasn't even sure if her parents would let her come anymore. "It's the more the ban on dating and how the English Riding Dress code was designed to kill me personally. All these hot girls in skintight pants, with crops and dominatrix buns, and thigh muscles like crush me, please."

Adora snorted, so loud she started Swifty. "And every single one of us smells like sh*t."

"Speak for yourself!"

"Whatever. A couple of hours of Netossa's legwork, you'll be sweating your ass off like the rest of us."

"Excuse me, I do not sweat. I GLOW."

"Mmhmm." Adora finally got herself seated and started adjusting her stirrups, a challenge when the half the holes on the school saddles were so stretched out it was impossible to get a good fit. Not for the first time, she wished she had her own saddle like Glimmer did, but the cost of having Swift Wind was already so steep, even before you thought about the money.

Adora cast a guilty look over at Glimmer, grateful her attention was still somewhere across the yard.

“Hmm. New girl,” Glimmer remarked. “I wonder if that's Catra.”

"Who?" Adora asked, glancing up from her stirrups. She spotted Mermista and Perfuma already trotting around the ring and finally caught Glimmer's panic about being late for warm-ups. Netossa could be a sweetheart, but she could also be terrifying if you weren't taking her class seriously.

“There’s a sign-up list by the office for people interested in the new show team,” Glimmer said. “There was a 'Catra' on the list with all the regulars. Could be her."

Ugh, not this again. Ever since Mara announced this new competition show team, it's all anyone could talk about. Part of some grand plan to raise Bright Moon Stable's profile, change this place from a simple riding school to a prestigious riding academy. And while Adora wasn't opposed to change and could appreciate that Mara was trying to run a business here, it still felt like they were changing her favorite place out from under her. Some new big deal instructor, exclusive advanced clinics, talk of renovations. And now, after years of riding with the same girls every Friday since she was fourteen, there was someone new in their class?

Adora finished getting herself settled and scanned the area, trying to figure out who Glimmer was talking about. The class before theirs was just letting out, a flurry of detacking and grooms handing out horses to the kids’ class that rode the same time as theirs. Lots of people and horses milling around, a sea of helmets and haunches that made everyone blend together so Adora wasn't sure what she was supposed to be looking at until—

Holy. sh*t.

"I overheard Mermista talking about some ringer they were bringing in specifically for the show team. So if that's Catra, she's not just new, she's good. So that's one slot taken already when they're only taking six girls to begin with. Ugh. They've barely announced this thing, and it's already— Adora?"

"Wuh?" Adora responded intelligently, her brain temporarily replaced by a load screen that was all gibberish where the only readable word was GIRL. It took her several long seconds to realize that a) Glimmer was talking to her and b) everyone, Glimmer included, had already started to walk towards the ring and she was still standing here like a dumbass staring at the new girl.

She quickly encouraged Swifty into a trot to catch up with Glimmer, who was still working herself into a spiral about this show team they still knew basically nothing about. And as much as Adora wanted to be a supportive friend, it was impossible to focus on what her friend was saying with what was easily the hottest girl she'd ever seen in her life standing only a few feet away.

Yeah, Glimmer definitely had a point about the dress code. Adora wasn't watching the new girl mount up on her silver and black mount on purpose, but she also wasn't not watching. Those maroon breeches left very little to the imagination, but Adora's was giving it her best shot anyway because, my god.

"Are you even listening?" Glimmer asked and Adora was forced to remember that there were more people in the world and she was not at leisure to stare at the new girl's magnificent calves all day or the way she held herself atop her horse with the casual grace of a lioness.

"Yeah," she lied, trying to focus on her friend and not the way the new girl's dark braid bounced against her back as she trotted past them.

Glimmer was the only person Adora knew who could make it sound like her hands were on her hips, even when both hands were on the reins. "Then what was I saying?"

"You were talking about the show team. But I just like to ride for fun." The last thing she needed was to turn the one activity she did just for fun into yet another thing measured in goals and points.

"So you're not even going to try out?"

Adora hadn't been planning to, but she hesitated before saying so. Because if Glimmer was right and the new girl was really someone they hand-picked to be on this new show team, well, that suddenly made it a lot more appealing.“I’m not sure yet.”

Glimmer, meanwhile, was glaring at Catra like she’d stolen her regular seat in the cafeteria. "Do you think she's really that good?"

"I..." Adora searched around for something to say and then decided if anyone would appreciate her truthful answer in this particular situation, it was her bisexual best friend. "I think she's hot?"

Whatever worries Glimmer was having about the team evaporated and she let out a cackle so loud Netossa whipped her head around to glare at them. The two exchanged a guilty look and decided by mutual assent they better start their warm-ups before they got in trouble. They took off for opposite sides of the ring.

Adora tried to concentrate on getting her and Swifty limbered, but her head was buzzing with questions. Like who was that horse Catra rode that she'd never seen before? Was it hers? Because it sure wasn't one of the good old familiar school horses.

Her heart sank a little at the thought. Because, yeah, she wanted to own Swifty more than anything, but she was also keenly aware that a teenager owning their own horse was Not Normal and if Catra did, it meant she was probably f*cking loaded. And, alright, so was mostly everyone at this barn, none more than her best friend, but Adora had learned early that Glimmer was the exception rather than the rule when it came to rich girls and their willingness to hang out with girls who, well, weren't.

Adora tried to surreptitiously tuck her collared T-shirt into her denim jodhpurs, wishing she'd thought to throw on her trusty red barn jacket. Sure, it was way too hot for a jacket because it was only late June but summer was already being an asshole. Plus, the jacket itself was super cheesy with the logo of the barn on the back, but at least it would cover all the filth on her white shirt and the big splotch from where she'd spilled Swifty's thrush meds. The dress code was pretty lax for weekly lessons and she was technically fine, but a lot of the girls in their class dressed like it was finals at the Olympics every week.

Mermista trotted by on Sea Harp, long dark hair collected at the base of her blue velvet hunt cap into a gorgeous braided bun without a single lock out of place. Across the ring, Perfuma wore a pale green dress coat over a pink ratcatcher that looks freshly pressed. Even Glimmer whose bedroom regularly looked like a pop star's wardrobe had been vomited up all over it always can to lessons in a pressed collared shirt, pristine lavender breeches, and polished boots, her pink hair netted neatly into a small bun under a purple bow. And while the stickers on her skull cap weren't exactly standard, she only wore them for lessons, and had a proper blue velvet hunt cap for barn shows.

Meanwhile, Adora’s own ponytail had nearly come loose of its tie, sweaty wisps of hair glued to her forehead and the back of her neck. And it wasn't like Adora didn't have a nice dressy set of breeches and a jacket for shows, because she did, but she only had one. She couldn’t just wear them every week, especially when she was mucking around in the stalls or spread hay in the pasture. Everything would get wrecked! And no one ever said anything— they were all too nice— but she knew the others noticed.

"On your left."

Adora moved Swifty to the side to let Glimmer canter by, her friend sticking out her tongue at her as she passed. Adora returned the gesture, feeling a little better already. Their friendship may have started under ethically questionable circ*mstances, but whenever Adora felt out of place here, it was nice to know she had at least one person in her corner.

Especially with a new variable throw into the mix.

Even when warm-ups had ended and they started with the lesson, Adora still hadn't caught the new girl's attention. Because she was being friendly, that's all! But Catra was all business, eyes straight ahead the whole time. They were doing figure eight to practice their flying changes— without stirrups because Netossa was evil— and she didn't so much as crack a smile when she executed a seemless lead change.

God, she was just perfect.

Or, uh, just that her form was perfect. Everything by the book, seat glued to the saddle like she'd been born in the leather, legs like steel. Adora wasn't a terrible rider, especially with Swifty making her look good, but she knew she was too much bulk and brawn for the average English show judge. Not that she was interested in showing or anything, but—

"Control your lesbianism, woman." They'd lined up to take turns through the mini dressage course and Glimmer took the chance to pull Enchanta up alongside Swifty. "You're practically drooling."

Adora shushed her because while she wasn't exactly in the closet, she wasn't exactly out either. "Just admiring her two-point."

"Yeah, I'll bet you were," Glimmer teased, though she kept her voice low. "She is pretty hot. Little intense, though."

"Maybe she's just nervous."

"Maybe." Glimmer fell silent as Perfuma took her turn, following Catra as she moved back to the end of the line. "Still... dibs."

"Wha—" Adora managed before Glimmer trotted up to the course, blatantly stealing her turn.

She had to be joking, right? Adora saw Catra first! Well, alright, Glimmer saw her first, but Adora had called her hot first and wasn’t that basically calling dibs? A kind of pre-dibs, surely? Besides, Glimmer called dibs on basically every girl they saw. The whole dibs thing was probably more like another running gag at this point than a real thing. It wasn't like Glimmer would really stand between them if Adora wanted to date Catra.

Not that she was thinking about that or anything! She didn’t even know Catra! Just that, obviously, Glimmer's dibs didn't really mean anything when she wasn’t even allowed to date in the first place and—

sh*t. Adora was so deep in her head she nearly missed her turn. By the time she'd finished an absolutely disastrous run and returned to the back of the line, she'd convinced herself she was being ridiculous. Even if she had the time to date, which she absolutely did not, she wasn't even technically out to her parents yet. And ultimately all she was doing was working herself into a frenzy about a girl who, thus far, hadn’t so much as made eye contact with her.

"Lot of glowing going on," Adora teased, bringing Swifty up next to Enchanta for the cooldown. Netossa had been absolutely brutal with the legwork tonight and they'd all be paying for it tomorrow.

"Tell me about it." Glimmer wiped her face with the edge of her sleeve, her pale blue shirt already soaked through with sweat. "I am so disgusting right now."

"I'm sweating like a f*cking pig," Mermista announced from behind them.

"Please, ladies." Perfuma brought Butterflyer up to join their little group. "We don't sweat. We perspire!"

"Well, then I'm perspiring like a f*cking pig," Mermista countered, and they all laughed.

Adora turned, hoping to include Catra in the moment, but the new girl had already dismounted and was headed back towards the barn without so much as a look back. Adora hopped off to follow, but by the time she'd loosened Swifty's girth and gotten her stirrups up, Catra had a substantial lead.

They were the last class of the day, so it was much quieter in the stable yard than it had been when they went out. Adora didn't even bother tying Swifty to the line because she knew he'd stay, just stopped back at his stall to throw on her jacket so she looked at least a little more presentable. Glimmer tossed her a sponge from the bin on the way back and the two went together to fill their buckets.

Adora slopped her bucket back to the line and had Swifty out of his leathers before she realized Catra wasn't with them. She was standing at the edge of the yard with her horse still fully tacked, holding the reins between two fingers like they were something disgusting.

"Do you need some help?" Adora asked brightly, heading Catra's way. She held out her hand for a handshake, but before she could introduce herself or explain the usual post-lesson routine, Catra shoved the reins into her hand without so much as looking her in the face.

"Thanks." And then she was gone, walking toward the barn like she couldn't stand to spend another second here.

"What the actual f*ck?" Glimmer had her saddle resting on her hip but looked half a second from throwing it to the ground and punching the new girl in the face.

"It's okay!" Adora moved to intercept her best friend before she attempted some vigilante justice. The thing about Glimmer was she was fiercely loyal but had the tendency to take standing up for her friends WAY too far and the last thing Mara needed was a fist fight right now when parents were still picking up their kids from lessons.

"It's f*cking NOT okay? What a nightmare! Who does she think she is, treating you like you're some groom?"

"There's nothing wrong with being a groom! Mara's offered me the job a few times. I do a lot of the standard groom stuff. I could be a groom!" But she wasn’t, and it was a distinction that she was having a hard time convincing herself didn't matter.

"It's not like she just wandered into the stable yard! She was just in our class! It's different!"

It was different, but Adora didn't want everyone's attention on her about this, mostly because she already felt like she wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Having Glimmer turn it into a whole big scene wasn't helping.

"It's fine!" She checked the lesson list for Catra's name to figure out the name of her horse. "'Silver Storm' and I have never gotten to hang out before. I'll take care of him while I do Swifty. It's no problem."

Glimmer still looked like she wanted to fight, but thankfully took the pleading look in Adora's eyes as a hint to drop it. "I'll help you. Just give me a sec to put this away. But for the record? I retract my dibs. You can have her."

Adora laughed, though she felt like crying. "Gee, thanks."

-

Catra threw herself down into the front seat of Hordak's sh*t bag car and slammed the door, hard enough that he nearly dropped his issue of Practical Horseman.

"Hey." It came out more of a snap than a greeting, but that was because she was about to vibrate out of her skin and wanted to be anywhere but here in close quarters with f*cking Hordak of all people. Entrapta would have been vastly preferable, but then she'd have to ride home on the back of Emily’s Kid Sister and after how much tinkering Entrapta had done to that scooter, there was no way in hell Catra was getting on it unless it was a life or death situation. Hordak may be bad at emotions and talking and... life in general, but at least his ride wasn't at risk of exploding.

Hordak studied her for a moment before closing his magazine. Could be annoyed. Could be neutral. It was hard to say with Hordak. There were so many creases in his tanned face he looked like he was permanently scowling. "I was not expecting you so soon."

"Lesson ended at 6." Catra realized she was bouncing her leg so hard the car was shaking, so she forced it to be still.

"Indeed. Was there..." Hordak cleared his throat. "Are you..."

"You are under no obligation to ask me about my feelings."

"Very well." Hordak looked relieved, fishing out his keys. That was one of his good points. Knew when to shut the f*ck up. Never tried to parent her. It was one of the biggest highlights of this whole sh*tty arrangement between the two of them.

"Thanks for the ride," she mumbled.

Hordak just grunted as he rolled up the ancient windows. Catra crossed her arms and dug her nails into her skin to stop herself from apologizing for snapping at him. This wasn't some favor he was doing her to be nice. It was basically a business agreement. And as soon as she'd repaid him, she was out of here. Would have been long gone already if she hadn't been a sentimental idiot and gotten herself trapped.

"Was the class satisfactory?" Hordak asked, as the car slowly sputtered to life.

"It was fine," Catra answered. "Netossa's a decent teacher, way better than you'd think the way the rest of them were flopping around up there with legs like wet noodles."

"Any standouts?" Hordak asked with professional curiosity, far preferable as far as Catra was concerned than him prying into her feelings.

"Nope." Annoying, really. Not much of an opportunity to get better when the rest of the class was so far below her skill level. "Total amateur hour. But what did you expect from a place that stores grain in the public bathroom? Concrete disaster that looks like they filmed a Saw movie there and THAT’S the part they expect paying customers to see!"

Hordak exhaled but said nothing, merging onto the highway. If Catra cared, she'd ask him why he'd taken this job. She'd seen the box of medals in his office. From what the old witch had said, he'd been hot sh*t back at Primus, the waiting list for his clinics over a year long. There was no way those clowns at Bright Moon Stables with their little sh*tty, falling-apart barn were paying him anywhere near what those clout chasing Karens could for a private lesson. And yet here they were, in the middle of f*cking nowhere, when it was clear neither of them wanted to be.

Hordak switched lanes and there was a tremor in his hand as he switched off the turn signal. Catra turned her eyes back to the road and pretended she didn't notice.

"Mara recommended several of the girls from that class for my fences clinic."

Great. Just f*cking wonderful. "Is that sparkly pink haired bitch one of them?"

"I have only seen the roster. It does not note hair color." Hordak glanced at her. "Did you get into an altercation?"

Catra tensed. The old guy wasn't big on facial expressions, but her mother hadn't been either, and Catra had gotten good at reading into every twitch. It became this terrible waltz they did every day where she tried to guess Weaver's moods and what would set her off. Like a flash, she could see the way Weaver used to ask if she'd gotten in a fight at school, dripping with disgust and faux concern, the punishment coming no matter the answer, but she forced herself to push the memory back with the rest.

Stop. Hordak isn’t accusing you of anything. He’s just curious and overly blunt in that same awkward way Entrapta is. She slowed her breathing, forcing her heart rate to go back to normal.

She wanted to tell him to butt out of her business and probably would have if this was about school, but it was going to be impossible to keep barn drama from him when they were both going to be working with these people for the rest of the year.

"I was nothing. I handed my horse off to the groom after class and Sparkles was a bitch about it for no reason." Catra had almost let her have it. She’d stood in the barn for a moment, hands clenched at her sides, listening to the girl shriek, knowing full well there was no way a cupcake like that could fight like she could, how she easily she could shut her up. But she’d promised herself she wasn’t going to be that girl anymore.

Except now, as she replayed the moment in her mind, she regretted not knocking her f*cking lights out.

“Hmm. At our last meeting, Mara indicated students typically take care of their own horses after class,” Hordak said. “It seems to be a kind of social ritual, particularly with the older students.”

Well, f*ck. How the hell was she supposed to know that? That's not how it worked back at the Primus! You finished your lesson, you handed your horse off to a groom. That's what the grooms were there for!

Well, whatever. Sparkles still overreacted. Clearly, nobody else had an issue with it! The groom had reached out for her reins and everything!

"I detest unwritten rules," Hordak offered, probably trying to commiserate in his own awkward way. They had turned into their neighborhood, and Hordak took advantage of a stoplight to consider her. "Though perhaps you should participate next time. Social rituals can be essential for forming bonds."

"I'm NOT here to make friends."

Hordak hummed, which could mean anything, and Catra didn't care enough to figure it out. "I arrived in time to observe part of your lesson. What did you think of the blonde?"

"The groom?"

"The blonde in your class. White collared shirt. Rough around the edges, but with considerable natural strength from what I could see. I am considering scouting her for the show team."

"Didn't notice."

Hordak lapsed into silence as they started down the long dirt drive that led to the house and Catra tried to remember what girls had been in her class. She'd been trying not to look too closely at any of them, because getting attached to the competition was just another distraction she couldn't afford. Sparkles had been memorable, with the pink hair and all those stupid stickers on her helmet. There had been at least two blondes that she remembered, a willow-y one with a braid that was too timid with her leg and the one with the sloppy ponytail who— now that she thought about it, might have had a white shirt.

sh*t. Catra's stomach turned. The groom had a sloppy ponytail too. No white shirt, but she could have thrown the red jacket over it and— f*ck.

That was another student? She'd handed her horse off to another student? She dug her fingers into her arm as she realized she'd had all that righteous indignation at the little pink bitch and she'd probably been just defending her friend.

f*ck it. It still didn't make Catra like her. Or any of them, for that matter. So they thought she was rude? Fine! Then she’d be rude. The last thing she wanted was to be friends with any of those princesses.

Though she did kind of feel bad about the blonde.

Chapter 2: Horsin' Around

Chapter Text

"So... sleepover?" Adora asked as the two of them trudged back to the barn half an hour later, half soaked with sweat and bathwater. Storm hadn't gotten along with the other horses at all and getting all three bathed and fed had taken much longer than expected. Which was just horses for you, but somehow felt like yet another of Adora's personal failings.

“Can’t. Grounded,” Glimmer replied, stacking her bucket with the others. “Mom wasn’t happy I stayed so late to help with the farrier last week. She only let me come tonight because she’s happy I’m doing a ‘sport.’”

Glimmer said the last word in a perfect mimic of her mother’s posh accent and Adora grinned half-heartedly, wondering, as she often did, about why Angella seemed to punish her daughter indiscriminately for doing both bad and good things. Glimmer had gotten the exact same amount of punishment for the time she punched a guy for grabbing a girl’s ass in gym class as she did for the time she'd accidentally sort of on purpose glitter bombed their math teacher's office for giving her a bad grade. As much as Adora’s own parents drove her nuts sometimes, at least there was some kind of underlying logic in their household rules that the Moons just didn’t have.

“When’s your sentence up?” she asked.

“Tomorrow, thank GOD,” Glimmer said dramatically, like being trapped in the mansion that was her house was some kind of terrible hardship. “So we could do something then if you want! Assuming you’re not doing one of your five billion activities that look good on your college resume.”

“Hey! It’s only like… three billion,” Adora retorted, giving Glimmer a shove as they went to their cubbies. “And I have stuff tomorrow, but not all day.”

“Oo, really? Because if you wanted to come over, we could do makeovers!” Glimmer squealed and Adora felt like she’d just accidentally set off a trip wire trap. “I just got this new nail polish kit with, like, a bazillion colors! I could give you a mani pedi!”

"Eeeeh," Adora hedged, and then pretended to be very engaged in reading the assorted notices posted outside Mara's office. Sometimes Adora let Glimmer go ham with dresses and make-up and glitter because it made her friend happy and she didn't really have anyone else to do it with, but the makeovers were not really Adora's favorite thing.

As much fun as they had together, sometimes Adora felt like maybe she wasn't the right best friend for Glimmer. Just another way she was constantly letting everyone in her life down. Well, except for Swift Wind, who'd finished his dinner and was living his best horse life. She could see him from here, throwing his head back and forth in the window of his stall like he was head-banging to the ancient radio the grooms left on.

Adora zeroed in on the interest sheet Glimmer had mentioned earlier. Not a surprise to see most of the girls from their class already signed up, as well as a few names she didn't recognize, probably from the other classes. There were a couple of columns for names and even though the first few weren’t even filled yet, Catra had signed at the very bottom of the last one. Like she didn't want to be associated with the rest of them and even her name had to be as far away as possible.

Adora ran her finger over it. Her handwriting was cool. Neat but, like, in an edgy way?

Or maybe she was reading way too much into this.

"You thinking about it?" Glimmer asked, reappearing from the bathroom to see her still staring at the list.

"Probably not." Riding was the only thing in her entire life that hadn't turned into something structured around points and winning. It would be stupid to ruin that.

Except she kept staring at that name at the bottom of the sheet, standing all on its own, like a challenge.

“Come on, please?” Glimmer leaned her chin on Adora's arm and fluttered her lashes at her. "If you don’t do it, who will keep me companyyyyy?"

Adora rolled her eyes. "Maybe I'll come to the meeting with you, just to check it out."

"Yessss!" Glimmer cheered, and Adora wondered if she would even try out at all if Adora wasn't doing it with her. Glimmer didn't exactly have a lot of friends period, let alone at the barn. They were probably closest to Mermista and Perfuma of everyone, but that wasn't saying much since even those two were barely acquaintances.

"Oh, and mom asked if you want a ride." Glimmer brandished her cell phone, the rhinestones on the case twinkling in the light.

"Yeah, actually. If she doesn't mind." Adora had actually been counting on Glimmer to give her a ride since she been assuming they’d be doing their usual weekly sleepover, but would scrounge up cash for an Uber before she imposed.

“Of course she doesn't mind! My parents love you. You need to chill.” Glimmer rolled her eyes. Easy for her to say! Adora had been hanging around Glimmer's house regularly since they were in middle school and her mom was still one of the most intimidating people she'd ever met. “Besides, it's dad doing the actual driving.”

Okay, whew, that was a lot less pressure. Glimmer’s dad was easily five billion times more laid back than his wife. “So, about hanging out tomorrow… are you free early?”

Glimmer looked up mid text and narrowed her eyes at her. "Define early."

"Uh, 7 am?" Much later than she'd planned on getting out, but Glimmer didn't really do mornings.

"On a Saturday? I will die!"

"Come onnn." Adora whined as they headed back out of the barn. They were the only people in the stableyard, save a lone groom turning out four horses at once. "There are too many bikers on the trails if we go later in the day. Plus, I have volunteer work later and if I don’t take this chance for alone time with Swifty, I’ll barely have time to ride until after tutoring on Monday. Pleeeese? I'll buy you breakfast!"

"I can buy myself breakfast!" Glimmer grumbled. "Besides, who am I even going to ride? I don’t own a horse, remember?"

"How about Arrow?" came Mara’s voice from above them. Adora startled and looked up to find her standing in the doorway of the hayloft. She and Glimmer stepped back automatically as Mara tossed down two bales at once. "He could use the exercise. You'd be doing me a favor."

"Really?" Glimmer's eyes practically twinkled.

"Sure." Mara gave the two of them a grin and tossed down another bale. Adora grabbed the nearest one and stacked it against the back wall. "You know, you could probably ride him for class sometime if you wanted. I’ll mention it to Netossa. I'm always iffy with letting students ride the boarders, but I think you'd do a great job with him. He'd probably enjoy the change of scenery after all this time cooped up."

Glimmer squealed. "Yes yes yes! I would love to! And if you ever needed someone to like... come by on extra days to ride him, like say after school..."

Glimmer was laying the charm on so thick she nearly got hit by the next bale of hale.

"Maybe. Let me check the schedule." Mara wiped the sweat off her brow and then hefted another bale like it was nothing. Adora was only looking at the way the sweat glistened on the woman’s muscles respectfully. "Shouldn't you girls be heading home?"

"We're just making social calls!" Adora called, stacking the last of the hay along the wall.

"Alright. Just make sure you lock up on the way out if you leave after Rogelio."

"Yes, ma'am." Adora saluted, and Mara shook her head fondly. "Oh, hey, Mara? Can I ask you a question real quick?"

"Shoot."

"Silver Storm. Is he a new school horse?" Not that it excused it, because people who rode the school horses still usually took care of them after lessons, but it would at least make a little more sense why Catra had handed him off.

“Ah. No. He belongs to our new instructor. ‘Night ladies!”

Adora exchanged a look with Glimmer as Mara closed the door of the hayloft. Hordak was supposed to be some big deal pro they'd brought in to teach the advanced clinics. And it made sense that he'd bring his own horse along, but why was Catra riding it?

"Wait, so is Catra Hordak's daughter?" Adora had only seen Hordak once and from a distance, but there certainly hadn't been a family resemblance.

"Don't know, don't care. All I can think of is I get to ride my babyyyyy!" Glimmer was trying to keep her excitement to a minimal level since Mara’s apartment was above the barn itself and she’d still be within earshot, but she was failing completely. “I just can’t believe she suggested it! Has she ever let anyone ride him before? It’s got to be a first, right? Like she must have a lot of faith in me to trust me with a horse that the barn doesn’t even own, it’s basically like an honor or something to…”

Glimmer babbled on, bubbling over with excitement, but Adora was lost, her churning over and over as her broom shushed against the sidewalk. The two of them had started sweeping up the loose straw automatically. Just another way everyone here helped each other out as a matter of course.

Which was why, the more Adora thought about it, the more pissed off she got about the whole Catra situation. It was like she didn't even CARE about her horse! How could you be a rider and not love horses? It didn't even compute! She'd been afraid this whole new riding academy thing would attract the kind of people who were more interested in shiny trophies than the beautiful animals this whole thing was really about and, of course, the hottest girl she'd ever seen in her life, the first one that made her think maybe she'd risk asking her out was one of THOSE riders. Just freaking typical.

Adora exhaled, kicking a clump of straw. It didn’t matter! She barely knew her! But the realization that Catra was probably just another one of those spoiled privileged kids this sport already had so much of hurt and she wasn’t even sure why.

Catra launched herself from the car as soon as Hordak pulled to a stop.

"Will you be doing any additional training this evening?" Hordak called after her.

f*ck. She hadn't planned on it, but maybe she should be, especially since now Storm was housed back at the barn and her only regular practice was going to be with those cupcakes. All she wanted right now was to peel off all these stupid clothes and shower today off as fast as possible, but this was her end of the bargain, and that obligation was like a weight around her neck.

She exhaled, trying not to let her frustration show. "Did you want to do some legwork?"

Hordak looked puzzled for a moment before shaking his head. "I wanted to know what time would be optimal for dinner."

"Oh, is it my night?" They had a somewhat haphazard rotation of who made dinner between the three of them. Catra didn't mind cooking and was pretty decent at it, but right now she was still keyed up from the first lesson at the new barn and in absolutely no mood.

"No. I was merely ascertaining whether I should begin preparations." Hordak's cooking wasn't exactly great, though it was usually edible, if a little bland. Which was more than you could say for Entrapta's. "There is no need for anyone to cook. The Scorpionis sent over a casserole."

"Great." The best possible option, honestly. Actual good food she didn't have to cook or shell money out for herself.

"They are out of town this evening, so their daughter will be joining us."

Ah, there it was. The f*cking catch.

"Yeah, sure. Then I guess we can eat whenever then." Might as well get it over with as soon as possible. Catra threw the comment over her shoulder as she yanked open the front door. If she was quick, she could get to the laundry room before anyone else realized she was even home and actually get a few moments of peace.

The living room was clear. Well, clear of people anyway. Every surface was covered in the usual a mishmash of wires and half-finished projects. Entrapta was some kind of tech genius and while she apparently had some billion dollar lab at the university that was the envy of the scientific community, her house was always in some state of absolute disaster.

Catra could see the laundry room from here and made a beeline for the open door. The whir of motors was such a constant that she didn't hear Emily approaching until it was almost too late. She screamed, flattening herself against the curio of miniature ceramic cats just in time to avoid getting shanked by the world's most malicious robot vacuum.

"Die, bitch," Emily intoned,. She turned around for a second pass, the small circular saw mounted to her front buzzing menacingly.

"What the f*ck?" Catra screamed to no one in particular.

"Welcome back!" Entrapta's voice came through the ancient answering machine speaker she'd repurposed as an intercom system. "You'll probably want to disarm Emily before she causes any lasting damage to property or person. But if she does get you, do me a favor and note your pain rating on the form provided!"

"Why did you arm the vacuum in the first place?" Catra yelled in the general direction of the intercom, jumping as Emily came by for another swipe.

"Presumably she is testing Emily's security capabilitYYY—" Hordak had to pull himself up onto the back of the sofa as Emily turned on him.

"Taste steel, motherf*cker." Emily's voice box was a clone of Alexa and the voice was far too calm for the words coming out of it. "I am the bringer of pain."

"How do you turn it off?" Catra asked, with the increasing feeling that she was surrounded by crazy people.

"She! Don't misgender my death roomba." Entrapta herself appeared in the kitchen doorway, coveralls already stained with oil even though she couldn't have been home from work for more than twenty minutes. "And honestly? I forget."

Emily made another swipe at Hordak. He jumped higher to get out of the way, causing himself to flip over the back of the couch. Entrapta cackled, calling the robot a little minx, and Catra decided this was her cue to get out of here with her ankles intact.

"I'm changing for dinner," she called, mostly as a formality because she was fairly sure neither of them actually cared what she did and definitely sure they were too occupied with Emily the foul-mouthed electrical menace to hear her.

The laundry room was a little more than a closet, but it was the room with the least fire hazards, probably because laundry was more Hordak's domain than Entrapta's. But even with everything neatly stacked and tucked away in compartments, there still wasn't room to open the washer door all the way. The whole house was like that. Entrapta liked to talk about it like it was historical and cozy and so cute, but as far as Catra was concerned it was old and cramped and sh*tty.

She couldn't help but think of the house she'd grown up in, sterile and stark, pristine whites and blacks with everything picked to impress. A lovely exterior to hide the fact that inside there was nothing but rot.

Catra exhaled and looked around the tiny laundry room again, trying to see it through her own eyes and not Weaver's judgmental stare. There was a cheesy painting of kittens playing in a wash basket, a wall cabinet that someone had inexplicably painted a bright red that matched nothing else in the room, a growing collection of "laundry challenges" that Entrapta had singed or stained while working and Hordak was determined to salvage.

Fine. Maybe it wasn't sh*tty. Maybe it was just a little house filled with too much stuff and not enough people who cared about keeping it tidy. At least under all the clutter, there were people who wouldn't rip your heart out for a crumb of power, even if they were a bunch of f*cking weirdos.

Catra stripped off her riding clothes to stop herself from doing so much thinking, tossing them directly into the washing machine to deal with later. She'd vastly prefer to just jump into the shower and wash the horse stink off her entirely, but if they were eating soon, it would have to wait. Entrapta and Hordak had relocated to the kitchen, so she ducked into the hall bathroom to wash her face and hands, not particularly caring if either of them saw her in her sports bra and boyshorts. The one blessing to having to wear long sleeves and pants to ride in the summer was that at least there was only the dust on her face and hands and the rest of her was just sweaty and generally gross instead of actively smelling like sh*t. Still, she grabbed the scented body wash from the shower and gave her exposed skin a scrub, trying to cover up the awful smell of HORSE.

A slam. Catra tensed automatically, but relaxed as it resolved into the familiar sound of someone letting the porch screen slam and Hordak getting in a tizzy about it. Guess Scorpia was here. Catra dove out of the bathroom as their neighbor greeted Entrapta and yanked down the stairs, ducking into the attic before anyone noticed her.

There was a spare bedroom downstairs, but Hordak used it as an office. It was orderly and quiet, his sanctum from the disorder of the rest of the house. The garage was mostly finished too and already fitted with electricity and plumbing. But it was a workshop, filled with Entrapta's different projects, so many the larger ones spilled out into the yard.

Would either of them have surrendered their private spaces for her to use as a bedroom if she'd asked? She honestly wasn't sure and hadn't particularly wanted to find out. Catra had gotten this far in life by making herself small and surviving on whatever scraps no one else wanted, and she wasn't about to change that now, not when she was so close to real freedom.

So she'd claimed the attic as soon as they'd moved in and if this conflicted with anyone's plans for how this living arrangement was going to work, no one voiced it. In those dark early days, when she was full of grief for her grand plans of escape and fury at herself for trapping herself here in this strange little house full of even stranger people, it had felt like her prison. But when she tired of playacting as the sad, unwanted child in a children's book banished to the attic, she'd started to see the merits in the space.

Catra had never really had a space that was hers before. Sure, she'd had her own room back home, but considering how much time she spent away at school or how often Weaver took her door off the hinges because of some bullsh*t or another, it hadn't exactly felt hers. She'd relished the chance to decorate her dorm each year, even if all she had to call her own was just whatever sh*tty corner of the room her roommates didn't want.

But this? It was all hers. Sure, it was small. It was honestly a blessing she was so short— her head just missed whacking the exposed beams over her bed every morning— but it was cozy. Quieter too. The chaos of downstairs a distant thing that barely reached through the maroon rug she'd found second hand and loved despite the tear she'd hidden under her bedframe. The lamp was terrible, a black and chrome chandelier from the 60s that looked like the designer had been yearning for the renaissance and space travel simultaneously, but the kind of terrible you couldn't help but love. Her bedspread was some grandma nightmare, a patchwork of red and purple kittens that she'd found somehow oddly compelling. No matter how many times she washed it, it still smelled vaguely of something floral, the ghost of someone else's soft home, and she found she didn't hate that.

Nothing in the room matched. Every wall was a different color, paint she’d pilfered from the leftover cans in the basem*nt. Everything was second hand, found somewhere or even garbage picked, collected without rhyme or reason other than Catra had seen it and found it appealing. But it was all hers that she'd chosen herself and she could breathe easier when she finally stepped inside.

Her bed and its small mountain of mismatched pillows called to her, but she was too gross. Instead, she used the dresser to vault herself up to the slanted window, bracing herself on the sill to push it open. She stepped out onto the roof, feeling almost relaxed for the first time all day.

This was all hers, too. This little perch above the world, nothing but trees and field stretching in front of her as far as she could see. The Scorpionis lived on what must have been a good-sized farm at some point, though it hadn't been active in decades, the fields mostly overgrown. Catra wasn't entirely sure what the family did now, beyond the fact that it was important and they traveled a lot for business. She suspected that was part of why they had been so willing to let Entrapta have this place despite the chaos she brought, a way to guarantee someone was there for their daughter when they traveled. Scorpia and Entrapta had an easy rapport that said they'd spent a lot of time together, even before Catra got here.

She could see the Scorpioni manor house from here, huge compared to this tiny place. A little run down compared to a lot of the places out here, like it had been built in a time of great wealth and the family hadn't been able to keep it up when the money dried up.

No. Wait. Catra recognized that as Weaver's voice again and pushed it out. It was a nice house, and they were a nice family. Not that she ever took Scorpia up on her offer to go over there. That felt like a level of friendship she wasn't quite ready for. But it looked like a comfortable enough place from a safe distance away. Their meticulous lawn with all its lovely flowers was certainly nicer than the disaster they had over here with browning grass and Entrapta's projects all over the backyard. Gutted machinery and rusted out vehicles littered the land around the house, enough that Catra felt the Scorpionis had to be saints to let them live here with how they had to be pulling the property values down.

Or maybe they didn't think like that. Maybe they were just generous people who were happy to help and didn't care about the mess. It was harder than she’d expected to stop thinking like that, to remember that the rest of the world wasn't always sizing every opportunity up for profit and power.

Catra let out a frustrated breath, sick of feeling like she was arguing with herself all the time. What the hell was she even doing here? She didn't fit here anymore than she had with those princesses back in the barn. What she should be doing is taking whatever she could carry and running far far away from all of this. Getting out there and becoming everything that old bitch had never believed she could be.

For a moment, the urge to bolt was overwhelming, as strong as it used to be back in those tumultuous days when they were bouncing her between foster homes, before Hordak showed up and offered her a chance at escape. And she'd planned to take it. Planned to play along just to get child services off her back and once everything was nice and signed, take the money left from Weaver and disappear. Except when she'd had her moment, when freedom was right there, she'd done the stupidest possible thing she could have and now she was trapped.

There was only one clear area on the entire property. The thing stood within, surrounded by a crooked fence, watching her like it could see straight through her soul. Giving her a look that said it knew she wasn’t going anywhere.

Chapter 3: Out to Pasture

Chapter Text

Dusk finally settled, providing much needed relief from the heat. Adora wasn't usually at the barn at this hour of night and she enjoyed the stillness of it. Though she'd been enjoying it more before Rogelio shooed her away, scolding her with a grunt for trying to distribute all the new hay herself. She'd consoled herself by turning Swifty out before the groom could beat her to it and raking neat lines into the gravel dust before going to find Glimmer.

"I gave Swifty his apple already, don't worry," Glimmer assured her as they made their way down the row of stalls. Distributing post lesson treats was a ritual for the two of them, bestowing delicious favors on their favorites as an excuse to sneak in a little extra horse time. "I could never forget my horse nephew."

"I like how this implies he's my son."

"Isn't he? You already have a brother. Though Swift Wind would be an upgrade over Adam."

"Mean!" Just because Adora was allowed to talk sh*t about her twin did not mean that anyone else could. "But also not wrong."

She loved her brother, but Adam was kind of a doofus sometimes, especially when he had a crush. He'd “flirted” with Glimmer by picking her up without asking a few too many times and paid the price. You'd think getting kicked in the balls would make the man take a hint, but instead he pined even harder, just from a safe distance away.

"I didn't realize they were going to put me on Enchanta today. I should have brought more treats. Barely have enough to hit all my besties." Glimmer broke a carrot in half, splitting it between Sundancer and Moonbeam, two of the horses she rode the most often. Moonbeam snuffled at her shirt, looking for more, but she held out her empty hands. "Sorry, buddy, that's all I've got."

"Wow," Adora deadpanned as they walked away and Glimmer pulled another full sized carrot out of her waistband. "Lying to a poor innocent horse. Low."

"Please, he has gotten a billion carrots from me and he will get a billion more. I had to save something for my baby." Glimmer practically skipped down the long row of stalls towards the end where it shifted from the school horses they used for lessons to the private boarders. Adora ran her finger over Swift Wind's door as they walked past his stall, hoping he was having fun out in the pasture with his horse buddies.

"Arrow, baby, I brought you—" Glimmer climbed up onto the edge of his door and peaked in. "Oh. I guess he's out already."

"It’s not like he has much else to do." In the year since he'd moved into to the stable, she'd never seen Arrow do much of anything except hang around his stall unless Mara took him out for an exercise ride.

"It's weird, isn't it? The way no one ever rides him." Glimmer stopped to refill Arrow's water bucket. Silly since the morning shift would take care of it anyway before they let him back in for breakfast, but Adora wasn't exactly one to talk when it came to spoiling her favorite. "There's got to be a story there, right?"

"On the trail of a new case, Encyclopedia Pink?" Adora teased.

Glimmer shot a stream of water at her, and Adora only narrowly jumped out of the way. "You're the one who wanted me to stop speculating about Light Hope!"

"Alright, but just get ready for the truth to not be very interesting. Some people just own a horse as a status symbol." Her mind went immediately to Catra then got annoyed at herself for even giving her the space in her head.

"Sure, but look at his nameplate." Glimmer gestured with her head while she rolled the hose back up. "Someone really loved this horse. And then dropped him cold, apparently!"

It took Adora a minute to figure out what Glimmer meant, but she hadn't spent nearly as many hours fussing over Arrow as her friend had. Most students had minimal interaction with the privately owned horses, but one of the reasons they loved helping out at the barn so much is it gave them a chance to get to know everyone, even the privately owned horses. Which was how she'd fallen in love with Swifty and jumped at the chance to lease him as soon as he was available.

All the horses had something to identify their stalls on the wall alongside their door, usually just a simple laminated card. Some rentals had engraved signs of polished bronze, the text embellished with filigree, like the one with the unicorn she'd gotten for Swifty. But Arrow's was the most elaborate one she'd ever seen.

It was polished wood, the edges hand-carved into a complex pattern that looked almost like the fletching on an arrow. The horse's name wasn't just a word, it was a work of art. The lines and curves transformed into shafts and points, with feathers so intricate it looked like they should flutter in the breeze.

"Maybe something bad happened. Like his owner had an accident," Adora suggested, her fingers tracing the letters on the sign. Someone had spent hours on this. Why all that time and care on the sign for a horse they couldn't be bothered to even come visit? "They might even have died."

"They better have! Because if they're just sitting around somewhere and ignoring my baby? I will finish them off myself." Glimmer gestured with the carrot like it was a knife and it was so incongruous with the dark thoughts Adora had just been having, she had to laugh.

“I’m afraid on their behalf,” she joked as the two ducked under the fence.

It wasn't the first time Adora had seen the pasture after sunset, but summer nights just felt different. Would it still feel like this when she was older, like the summer stretched on forever, their entire lives ahead of them?

They were interrupting some kind of important horse conference. The horses clustered around the water trough turned as one to glare at them as they passed. Swifty trotted up as soon as he saw Adora, but after quickly frisking her for treats and coming up empty, went back to his horse buddies. They had a few visitors, but Glimmer had stuffed her carrot into her shirt so they weren't mobbed like they could have been. It helped that Mara had just refilled the hay racks and most of them were too consumed with ripping apart the fresh flakes to do more than glance their way.

They found Arrow all the way in the back of the pasture by himself, staring into the woods.

"Arrow! Hey baby!" Glimmer crooned, and the horse turned immediately at the sound of her voice, his ears perking up. "How's my handsome boy?"

Arrow wasn't anything special, horse wise. Just a basic chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail. Though he was big, bigger than most of the school horses. A good size for heavier riders, especially the guys who came for the adult classes, but Mara didn't like to let just anyone ride someone else's horse. Adora was honestly surprised and slightly jealous she'd even agreed to let Glimmer ride him, particularly because as much as she loved her friend, she'd never thought of Glimmer as a particularly good rider. Which maybe wasn’t fair, now that she thought about it, since they were in the same level class and it wasn't like Glimmer had any less experience than she did since they’d started riding together at the same time.

"Oh, I missed you!" Glimmer was short, easily a foot and a half shorter than Adora, and there was something hilarious about watching someone so tiny marching up to this horse that towered over her, cooing about how he was her baby. Though Adora understood. Horses, at whatever size, were baby. This was just a fact.

"I brought you a present!" Glimmer produced the carrot and Arrow slurped it up as Glimmer patted his neck. "And tomorrow morning, nice and early, we're going to on a trail ride with your buddy Swift Wind. Won't that be fun?"

"Oh sure. You'll get up on a Saturday for Arrow, but not your best friend. I see how it is."

Glimmer would have probably had some smart remark to make about that, but she was too distracted by Arrow snuffling at her head, his muzzle making her pink hair even more of a mess than having it squashed into a sweaty helmet had.

"Oh, you are just a goof!" Glimmer said, kissing the horse's muzzle. "See? This is why it makes me so mad his owner abandoned him. He's the sweetest cutest most playful handsomest boy ever! Aren't you? Yes, you are!"

Actually, Swift Wind was the sweetest cutest most playful handsomest boy ever, but Adora restrained herself from pointing that out.

"My parents are always trying to buy me a horse. And I refuse because the school horses are fine, but if I could find Arrow's jerk owner, convince them to sell, I'd do it. I even made my mom ask about it once, just to see, but Mara got all weird about it. Wouldn't tell us anything except he’s not for sale."

Adora stood in silence while Glimmer babbled at Arrow, mindlessly stroking the horse’s neck and thinking about how crazy it was that Glimmer's parents just casually had a standing offer to buy her a horse. Like she could say yes and immediately they'd find the best horse money could buy and pay for everything to board him in style and she'd never have to even think about it. And Glimmer wouldn't let them, because she had a whole chip on her shoulder about doing things for herself and not just letting her parents hand everything to her, but she didn't seem to question how weird it was that her parents could, in a blink, gift her this thing that Adora wanted more than anything.

And it wasn't like Adora's parents didn't have money! They were very solidly upper middle class, way better off than most people. But hanging around here had taught her that the horse world was a rich person's hobby and upper middle class and rich might as well be completely different worlds. And that no matter how much she loved all this, she'd never really belong.

"You alright? You went all quiet." Glimmer and Arrow were both watching her, like they were equally concerned.

"Just thinking."

"Anything critical?"

"Nah. Just... life."

"Ugh, that’s dad." Glimmer pulled her phone out of her waistband, typing a response. "He's waiting. We've got to go."

Glimmer gave Arrow a goodbye kiss and a promise to see him tomorrow. Ever the gentleman, he walked them home, trailing along beside them as they walked the length of the pasture. Swift Wind trotted over and joined on Adora's side, making it feel like they were VIPs with a pair of horse bodyguards as their escorts. Adora put her hand on Swifty's neck as she walked, trying to dispel this weird mood that had settled over her.

"Look, if this is about that new girl thinking you were a groom, forget about it," Glimmer said, suddenly. "She's clearly just some stuck up rich bitch who's not worth your time. Trust me. Takes one to know one."

"You're not a bitch."

Glimmer waved her off. "I am. It's fine."

"You don't act like you're better than everyone!" Or, rather, she did sometimes, but only to cover for the fact that she was wildly insecure about everything. Glimmer was… complicated. But given the dubious circ*mstances of how their friendship had begun, Adora felt oddly defensive of her friend’s social shortcomings.

"Which is big of me, honestly, because clearly I am!" Glimmer said dramatically and Adora felt a surge of affection.

Her best friend was a mess of constrictions, but it all made a lot more sense when you realized that sometimes acted like she was queen of the planet to to hide that underneath she was a mess of self-doubt. The thing about Glimmer was she cared, hard... maybe sometimes too hard. And even though Adora felt this weird urge to defend Catra, she appreciated her friend's unwavering loyalty about this.

"She's new. Probably just a misunderstanding. Give Catra a week and she'll be palling around with us just like everyone else!"

Glimmer didn't respond, no doubt thinking the same thing as Adora. That the others in their class were friendly enough with them, but certainly didn't seem to consider them friends. Mermista regularly flaunted that she and Perfuma hung out outside of the barn and slept over at each other's houses without ever actually inviting the rest of them along. So was that really the best they could hope for from Catra?

Maybe they were just always destined to be on the outside.

“You ready to head out?” Glimmer asked, as they reached the gate.

“Just give me one second to talk to Swift Wind about something.”

Glimmer rolled her eyes, but otherwise made no comment. “I’m going to run over to dad so he doesn’t get bored and try to befriend Rogelio again.”

“Good idea.” Adora smiled at the memory of Rogelio, a guy who seemed to prize himself on getting through the day with as little words as possible, facing the full frontal assault of Micah Moon at his most chatty.

Arrow watched Glimmer duck under the fence and jog across the stableyard to the barn. Then he turned to the hayrack with all the enthusiasm of someone saying, “Meh, might as well eat” and headed over to help himself to a flake.

“Hey Swifty,” Adora whispered, pressing a kiss against the flat of his face. She nodded in Arrow’s direction. “Keep an eye on that guy for me, will you?”

When she’d left the pasture, she glanced back and saw Swift Wind standing next to Arrow, so close that their faces were almost touching, just staring. Arrow kept stealing nervous glances at him and trying to put some distance between them, but Swifty was undeterred, clearly taking his mission very seriously. Adora laughed to herself as she headed out of the barn. Of course her horse son was just as socially awkward as his mom.

"Adora!" Sometimes it felt like Glimmer's dad was more excited to see her than her own. "How was horse time?"

"It was great!" Adora started to get into the backseat and then hesitated, keenly aware of how disgusting her clothes were and how nice Mr. Moon's car was. "Uh, did you want me to put down a towel first or..."

"Nah, get on in there!"

Glimmer had already settled herself into the front seat, but Adora took a moment to surreptitiously scrape some of the worst of the muck off the bottom of her boot on the cement parking block before gingerly getting in. There was some kind of corollary of levels of wealth where her father wouldn't even let her think of getting into his car after being at the barn without wrapping every inch in plastic vs the Moons who just let her and Glimmer get into their car while completely disgusting with barn grime without a second thought.

Did they have a housekeeper for their car? A carkeeper? Adora had never thought to ask.

"So, have fun horsing around?" Mr. Moon said as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Daaaad," Glimmer groaned like her father hadn't been making this exact joke every time he’d picked them up since they were twelve.

“Alright, alright. I'll rein it in. Don't want to saddle you with all my foaling around. But I'll have you know some people consider my jokes the mane event. Real centaur of attraction. Got a real colt following.” Micah gave Adora a wink in the rear-view mirror, as Glimmer made sounds of anguish as if her dad’s puns were causing her physical pain.

Adora exhaled, setting back into the seat. There was something comforting about the familiar rhythm of Glimmer bickering with her parents. She tried to hold on to the peaceful feeling of having been at her happy place and tried to convince herself she was alright with this all being temporary.

🐎

Catra dragged her feet getting to the kitchen, trying to steel herself for the hurricane force social blast that was Scorpia. Catra's feelings toward their neighbor were complicated. The Scorpioni's daughter was... a lot. Too much sometimes. Not as bad when Entrapta was there too as a buffer, but when it was just two of them, she could be a little... intense. Not great on boundaries either, which was a problem because Scorpia seemed uncomfortably obsessed with her sometimes. Clearly nursing a crush which wasn't nearly as exciting a prospect to Catra as maybe it should be.

Giant muscly beauty crushing on her that lived next door? It sounded like the stuff of every lesbian’s cottagecore fanfic dreams. But it was impossible to forget that Scorpia was an obligation as much as winning or the chore rotation. No one had to spell it out that money was tight and the Scorpioni's were letting them all live on their property for next to nothing so "be nice to our socially awkward daughter who doesn't seem to have any other friends" was part of the deal.

Finally Catra’s stomach got the better of her and she actually moved towards the sound of Scopria’s endlessly chatter. The kitchen was as old as the rest of the house with peeling wood cabinets and a stove that was almost certainly killing them all slowly with gas. The cabinet doors were each a slightly different shade of green, like a battery indicator. Entrapta's idea of a good joke. Heavily modified appliances lined the counter and while the toaster tried to kill her at least once a week, the coffee maker made the best damn cup Catra had ever had in her life, so it was a fair exchange.

Everyone was already seated, Scorpia so intent on her story she didn't even notice Catra standing in the doorway.

"...and so my teacher's is pushing me on it. Saying maybe I should switch to jazz or ballroom, but I don't know... I like ballet! The floofy tutus, the sparkly eye makeup, the pretty twirls. I don't care if I never make it into the touring company or anything. It's just for fun! But, gosh, it sure feels like I'm being shut out. It's ribbon dancing all over again! I should probably just give up, switch to softball or wrestling or something like coach is always saying."

And just like that, Catra felt a flash of loyalty so fierce she can't stop herself from saying, "f*ck 'em. Do what makes you happy. And don't let anyone tell you something's not for you."

Hordak glanced up, his face narrowing in that way it did sometimes when Catra swore, as if he was weighing whether he had some obligation as her legal guardian to tell her to watch her language against how much he really didn't give a sh*t. He settled back on his dinner without comment. You could say a lot of things about Hordak, but one of his biggest selling points was the man knew when to shut up.

"Wildcat! There you are!" Scorpia was big, not only much taller than Catra, but muscular. It was no wonder the wrestling coach kept trying to scout her, honestly. Farm life agreed with her. She looked like she could crush Hordak's skull with one of her biceps without even realizing it. She jumped to her feet, sliding her chair over as if to make room even though the chairs were adequately spaced as they were and, if anything, she’d only moved her chair closer to Catra’s. "You look... just, wow. You look great!"

Catra did not look great. She smelled like sweat, horse sh*t and stable dirt. Was warninga T-shirt Entrapta had gotten free at some tech conference that was easily two sizes too big and the humidity was making a nightmare of her hair. When she'd caught a glance of herself in the bathroom mirror earlier, her curls frizzing out of her careful braid and she looked like she hadn't slept in about three quarters of a year which, considering that was how long she'd been living here, seemed about right.

Catra elected to ignore Scorpia's comment, not sure whether it was just social awkwardness and the desire to be liked from a girl who didn't have a lot of friends, or if she was trying to flirt. In a moment of weakness, when she'd first gotten here, Catra had accidentally come out to Scorpia who'd promptly done the same. Which certainly seemed plausible given that undercut and the fact that she had two moms, but Scorpia was also so eager to agree with everything she said Catra didn't rule out that possibility that she'd only said she was a lesbian simply because Catra was.

The girl made her wary. But also kind of protective? Catra found Scorpia annoying, but if anyone else called her annoying? She'd knock their f*cking lights out.

See? Complicated.

Scorpia grinned at her, undeterred by Catra’s obvious silence. "Oh, hey! We should play board games tonight! What do you say, Wild Cat?"

Catra winced at the unapproved nickname and looked automatically at Hordak. She wasn't sure what it said about her that the grumpy old guy was the one she could relate to most in this moment, but he looked equally desperate to avoid games night. By mutual unspoken assent, they had just agreed they urgently needed a few extra hours of leg work tonight after all, when Entrapta came to their rescue.

“I can't.” Entrapta sighed, her usual frantic energy as dim as Catra had ever seen it. “I'd been hoping I could play it loosey goosey with my advanced seminar this fall, but the university wants a full curriculum by the end of the month.”

"Oh, man! But you like organizing stuff, right?" Scorpia was great to have around for moments like this because she had just enough lack of self-awareness to ask Entrapta everything about her work at the university that Catra felt too stupid to ask herself.

"The issue is not organization. It's that they want a predictable structure! And I tried to explain that the scientific process doesn't work that way— especially not robotics at this level! And the rest of the department gets it, but the new dean started going on about academic metrics and measurable progress and… I've just never seen someone so bad with data!"

As Entrapta settled into a rant about the university administration and their lack of respect for the educational value of failure, Hordak busied himself with passing around the food, looking everywhere, but at his partner. There was some kind of complex dynamic here, one Catra didn't want to care about, but found it impossible not to feel responsible for. Keeping her voice low wasn't Entrapta's strong suit, and you didn't need to be a robotics genius to know that Entrapta’s new role as classroom professor instead of only research professor had everything to do with money and the fact that there was an additional person living here now.

At least this food had been free. Catra helped herself to a serving of the casserole as it came around, realizing as she did how hungry she was. Lunch wasn't anything formal in this house, everyone just fended for themselves, which meant most of the time Catra tried to avoid eating anything at all. She'd probably need to get better about that once she started working, but that meant either adding the stuff she needed to the household shopping list or going to the store herself to get stuff for sandwiches that she could stash in her room and both ideas were equally unappealing. Neither of her guardians had ever objected to paying for anything she'd needed money for, whether it was toiletries or stuff for riding. She could probably just ask them to get her some stuff for lunch and they’d probably just do it. But she was indebted to them enough and the last thing she wanted was more attachments and obligations, especially when she was going to be gone once show season was over.

Scorpia passed her the bread basket and Catra lifted the cloth napkin to see what looked like crescent rolls, except at 1/4 the normal size. She took one and passed it to Entrapta who stopped mid sentence to shriek with delight about how they were “SO cute!”. Hordak pretend to be very interested in his casserole so that no one would see the rare smile inching up the corners of his mouth.

Catra rolled her eyes as she chewed her tiny roll. Old people love was gross, and she didn't want to encourage them. But she couldn't help how the corners of her mouth snuck up as Entrapta and Hordak exchanged a look over the table. They were freaks, but they were each other's freaks. And, fine, maybe it was a little cute.

Oddly enough, it had been Entrapta that helped her finally start to settle in here. Entrapta, the biggest variable in this arrangement, the one thing that she'd never thought to consider before getting here. When Hordak announced they were moving in with his partner, Catra had barely registered it. She'd never actually been planning to move in with him anywhere, so why worry about some mythical girlfriend she’d never meet?

But then life had thrown her a thousand pound curveball and suddenly here she was, living under the same roof as the most brilliant, utterly ridiculous woman she'd ever met in her life. But whether Entrapta had set out to befriend her new housemate on purpose as part of one of her social experiments or she simply didn't register how openly hostile Catra was in those early days, she just kept including her, not taking no for an answer.

It became… well, if not a friendship, certainly some kind of amiable partnership. Those early days, Catra never would have left the house if Entrapta hadn’t insisted on dragging Catra along to help her scour garage sales or sometimes just openly dumpster dive for whatever half broken appliance she was excited to gut and make into something else. It took about a month before Entrapta didn’t even have to ask, Catra volunteers to tag along as a matter of course. If you’d asked, she have insisted she only came along because someone needed to save Entrapta from herself rather than admit she’d enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. And maybe the company too.

Entrapta wasn’t like anyone she’d ever known in her old life, but there was there was something infectious about her endless curiosity and thirst for knowledge, even if Catra didn’t know what she was talking about half the time. It helped that sometimes Entrapta seemed more like a peer than a proper adult. Catra had had narrowed down her age to a range of somewhere between 23 and 58. Her skin had some mileage, but it was hard to say how much of the wrinkles were from the way she always worked out in the sun for all hours or the way she made exactly zero effort to take care of herself unless Hordak forced her to. There were moments, especially when Entrapta was hanging around with her and Scorpia, where she seemed only a few years older than they were, though that didn't add up with how long she'd been working at the university or how long she and clearly greying Hordak had been together. It didn't help that she had the decorating tastes of an 80-year-old grandma, the sleep schedule of a college kid and the questionable ethics of a 15-year-old hacker. For that matter, Catra wasn't entirely sure how old Hordak was, beyond the fact that his Olympic career was long behind him and his whole thing screamed "grumpy old man."

What she did know is that Entrapta had been working at the university for years, but mostly with grad students and advanced research projects designed to bring prestige to the school. But the structure of being in the classroom was new and even though classes hadn't even started yet, she was already chafing against the university's expectations when she was used to doing her own thing.

Catra didn’t want to worry about her happiness or Scorpia’s ballet lessons or the way Hordak’s fork trembled in his hand so badly sometimes it took him three tries to get the food to his mouth. Didn’t want to get attached to these people that were just a stepping stone to where she really wanted to be. But telling yourself you didn't care about someone was a lot easier when you weren't staring at them across the kitchen table every day and sharing a bathroom.

And it would be a hell of a lot easier to harden her heart if these idiots weren’t almost… likeable.

Chapter 4: Horse of a Different Color

Chapter Text

Adora arrived home to find her brother in his natural state: lounging on the sofa in just his boxers while eating peanut butter directly out of the jar.

"Sis!" Adam called with genuine delight the moment he spotted her. Adora couldn't help but grin that her twin always greeted as enthusiastically as if they'd been living in separate universes, even if it had only been hours since they last saw each other. Truly a human golden retriever. "How was horsey time?"

"Good. Swifty says, 'Hi.'" She did not bother commenting on his state of undress. It was common knowledge that Adam was morally opposed to wearing clothing.

"Does Glimmer?" he asked, with the eagerness of a man who did not value his reproductive organs.

"She does not," Adora said pointedly. "Give it up, dude."

"But she’s so cute and angry," Adam sighed and helped himself to another spoonful of peanut butter. "If we got married, you two could be sisters!"

That thought had crossed Adora's mind before, too. But as much as she loved Glimmer, her best friend could be A Lot, and she wasn't sure she wanted to sign her brother up for all that. Not that Glimmer was interested in Adam beyond some light window shopping.

"If it makes you feel any better, her taste in guys is like... super narrow. She's never called dibs on any of the guys at school, only like... celebrities."

Sometimes Adora wondered if Glimmer had ever called dibs on her. They joke flirted all the time. It wouldn't be completely out of nowhere! Not that it mattered, since Glimmer’s parents didn’t allow her to date and Adora didn't have time to date even if she was officially out. But given how easily Glimmer crushed, Adora might actually be a little offended if she'd never at least considered it.

This was the kind of thing she'd love to talk to her mother about. Maybe not the Glimmer situation specifically, but just the sort of general life / crushes /everything talks they used to have all the time when she was younger. Just the two of them eating pretzels at the kitchen counter and gossiping about how everyone Adam had every met across the gender spectrum had a crush on him at one point and he was completely oblivious or her mom dishing about the interpersonal drama between all her co-workers at NASA. Back then, it always felt like she could tell her mom anything, even the big stuff she was a coward about. But these days Marlena Grayskull’s star was on the rise (sometimes literally!) and it felt like there was never the right moment between prepping for the next big thing or catching her breath from the last one when they could just BE.

"Is mom home?"

Adam shook his head. "Tomorrow. Buzz Aldrin was down for a seminar, and the director invited her to dinner with him and a bunch of the bigwigs. It wasn't like she could just say, 'No.'"

"Wow! Yeah, fair." Adora exhaled and tried to be excited. She should be happy that her mom got to do so many cool things and not jealous that she hadn't chosen a nothing special Friday dinner at home over a chance to chat with the second person to ever walk on the moon. Not that their dad couldn't be fun or wasn't perfectly capable of keeping the house running! But the house just felt so much warmer when mom was here. "Is dad out?"

"I am here, hello!" her father called from the kitchen in a harried voice that said he was attempting a recipe far above his skill level. "Can't talk, many steps!"

Adora exchanged look with her twin. Her dad was actually a pretty good cook and had taken on most of the household chores since his fall from political grace but he'd had a tendency to use the nights when his wife wasn't home to experiment with recipes he could impress her with upon her return. Which was cute from a romance standpoint, but it meant that she and Adam were often the victims of his culinary attempts. And while sometimes it meant they got to try something amazing, other times? Not so much.

After all that leg work out in the heat, all Adora wanted to do was collapse onto the loveseat opposite her brother, maybe polish off the rest of the jar of Nutella. As if he could read her thoughts, her father called, "Remember, no sitting! Touch nothing until you've showered!"

Ugh.

"Busted," Adam said siblingishly.

Adora gave her brother the finger and trudged upstairs. Her father had set a plastic garbage bag on her bed for her to put her riding clothes in. If Randor Grayskull could get a full hazmat suit so he didn't have to touch her horse clothes at all, he probably would. Not really worth being irritated about, but it was just yet another stupid thing at the end of a frustrating day.

She dropped her duffle bag on her desk with a heavy thud. An unholy sound yowled from underneath before a greyish green comet streaked across the room.

"Oh, Cringer, baby, I'm sorry! I didn't know you were under there." Adora felt guilty for scaring him, but she couldn't help but laugh. Her brother's cat was the biggest scardey in the world. She searched for him on the way to the bathroom to give him apology pets, but he was long gone, off to his next hiding spot.

Clothing safely contained for her father's protection, Adora was about to jump in the shower when she caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror and realized for the first time what the new girl had been seeing when she handed her those reins.

There was something almost comical about the contrast between the golden filigree around the edge of their bathroom mirror and the disastrous portrait she made in the center. Big crusted yellow splat across her front, stable dirt dusted up her arm, her ponytail lopsided with blonde hair sticking out in all directions. A red line across her forehead where her helmet stopped, which just highlighted the divide between the clean and the disgusting part of her face.

It shouldn't matter. She shouldn't care. The point was to have fun and hang out with Swifty. That's it. What was the point of dressing nice just to shovel literal sh*t? But sometimes it felt like she was making a fool of herself, a mere commoner trying to keep up with a bunch of princesses, and nothing she'd do would ever be enough.

She tried to drown the thoughts with a hot shower. Things seemed a little brighter once she was clean. As she took the bag of clothes to the laundry room, she debated whether she'd just collapse on the loveseat like she'd originally planned or see if Adam wanted to get his ass kicked in Smash Brothers for a while before dinner. But she could hear her father still banging around in the kitchen, and it was impossible for her to relax when she knew someone was working.

"Hey dad," she said, taking stock of the situation in the kitchen and deciding the most useful thing to do would be to set the table. "Whatcha making?"

"Steak Roulade Rolls with homemade garlic basil sauce," he said, with a flourish. He looked like he had control over the situation so long as you ignored at the huge pile of dishes in the sink or the fact that there was a small chunk of tomato hanging from his beard. "Pinterest promised it would be easy."

"They always do," she replied, setting out the dishes. "Smells good, at least."

"A promising sign!" he gave her a grin and Adora smiled back. When he wasn't on her case, her father wasn't half bad.

Unfortunately, he was on her case a lot.

Adora pushed one of the chairs in a little so she could refill the napkin holder and heard another anguished yowl.

"Oh no, Cringer, did I get you again? I'm so sorry!"

Cringer bolted out from under the table and flopped dramatically onto the tile floor, going for the Academy Award of most pathetic and put upon kitty to ever live.

"He's fine!" Randor rolled his eyes. "Tell her, Battle Cat."

"He's not a Battle Cat," Adora replied, scooping up Cringer like a baby and giving him the concerned coos he wanted. "He's just a scardey baby Cringer boy who needs cuddles. Aren't you? Yes, you are."

"You both spoil that cat!"

"Because he deserves it," Adora replied, giving Cringer a scritch under his chin. If her dad thought how she treated Cringer was bad, it was a good thing he'd never seen her with Swifty. Cringer, meanwhile, flopped in her arms, doing his best impression of a fainting Victorian woman with the vapors. "So mom's coming back tomorrow?"

"Yup. Thought we'd all take a family ride tomorrow," Randor said, which sounded nice for about four seconds until he added, "Do some college visits."

Right. Of course. "After 10 though, right? Because I have plans with Glimmer before then."

"Glimmer Moon? Nice work!"

"We're taking Swift Wind out," she added quickly, figuring the mention of horses would dampen her father's enthusiasm. Randor held up a finger like she'd just reminded him of something and went for the paperwork drawer to pull out his checkbook.

Ah, right. Quarterly rental check for Swift Wind. Due next week, and this conversation had reminded him. Not a direct one-to-one transaction, not really, but the timing still didn’t feel great.

"Thanks." Adora took the check and Cringer bailed out of her arms like he wanted nothing to do with this whole situation.

"Hope you two have a good time tomorrow!"

"Thanks." Adora shoved the check into her pocket without looking at it, feeling like she needed another shower.

Probably her father only paid by paper check every month instead of electronic auto-payment because he was old-fashioned and kind of tech hopeless. But sometimes Adora wondered if it was so she couldn't possibly forget their arrangement.

"Food?" Adam appeared in the doorway like a hopeful puppy. He’d "dressed" for dinner in the sense that he had at least thrown on a shirt and put shorts on over his boxers, though considering the shirt was a crop top that barely covered his nipples and if anything his shorts were shorter than his boxers had been, it wasn't that much of a improvement.

"I need a few more minutes! You cannot rush art!"

"Oh god, it's going to be one of those meals," Adam slumped down at the table.

Dinner was surprisingly good and dad was in great spirits, actually asking after Swift Wind and pretending to be interested in her brother’s DnD game, despite the fact that Adam and his friends had been running the same game since freshman year of high school and the story had gone completely off the rails. Adam had actually built her into his character’s backstory so she could join in sometimes. Which was fun— because she got to be his long-lost warrior sister from a parallel universe that was raised by an evil sorceress— but Adam’s friends could be a lot, so she kept She-Ra’s visits to just the occasional crossover. But dad usually teased Adam as much about how much time he and his buddies spent “playing pretend” as he did her for spending time with Swifty so it was nice to see him taking a non-judgmental interest for a change.

It was such a pleasant meal that Adora was almost sad when she’d dried the last dish and realized there was nothing left for the three of them to clean up. She was still trying to think of an activity she could suggest that might prolong this moment when dad had to go and ruin it.

“And now, who’s up for some vocab practice?”

Adam and Adora groaned in unison.

“Dad, it’s summer!”

“School isn’t for months yet, let alone the SATs. You already have us enrolled yet another in a prep class and even that’s not until August!”

“It is never a bad time to expand your working vocabulary,” dad said, going for the dreaded SAT prep book he’d been torturing them with since they were sophom*ores. “Come on. Just a few of the tricky ones. It’ll give you an edge over the kids who can afford those fancy tutors.”

Glimmer could afford fancy tutors and she sure as f*ck wasn’t running vocabulary on a Friday night barely two weeks after school ended. No one was!

Adora exchanged a desperate look with Adam while her dad went for his reading glasses.

“He’s old. We could take him,” Adam whispered, pointing at one of his amble biceps.

Adora snort laughed. He was right! They could take him! Not even physically, they could just say, “No.” Tell their dad that they weren’t doing it and walk away. What would he even do? Their parents had never, ever hit them, weren’t the type to yell. If they refused to do this, the worst that would probably happen is dad would be disappointed and that would be that.

But Adora couldn’t do it. And one glance said her brother couldn’t either. Their parents had a plan for them since they were kids, a plan they’d set in place out of love, and it’d be ungrateful to fight it. They exhaled as one and slumped back down at the kitchen table to await their fates.

“Buck up, Grayskulls!” dad said, returning with his reading glasses, three tennis balls and an air horn. The twins exchanged a doubtful look. “No long faces. We’ll make a game of it. It might even be fun!”

It wouldn’t be fun. But it would be fine. It was easier to study with Adam than it was by herself anyway, mostly because it activated both their competitive sides and they got way too into it. Half these review sessions ended with the two of them wrestling on the floor over something as meaningless as who remembered to say the umlaut first until their dad gave up on them entirely and they made some popcorn and all watched some mindless superhero movie together.

Adora loved her family and enjoyed spending time with them, even if it was doing something annoying. There was comfort in the routine of it, the way family expectations were neatly mapped out. None of the erratic whims of Glimmer's mom, the stormy moods or unwritten rules so many friends from school complained about. She and Adam knew exactly what to do to not rock the boat, what was expected of them, and their whole lives neatly organized so they'd have smooth sailing. They were incredibly lucky.

But then why did she feel like she was drowning?

🐎

Catra was the first to finish dinner, mostly because she was the only one not really talking, and she went to take her dishes to the sink, nearly crashing into Hordak as she did.

"I can do the dishes," she said. "It's my night."

"That will be unnecessary," Hordak responded, turning on the sink. "I have it."

Catra frowned and grabbed a rag, wiping down the counter because it felt stupid not to be doing something. After a lifetime of having a set list of exactly what chores she was supposed to be doing and at what time, the haphazard way they did chores around here (or didn't do, as was more often the case) messed with her head. When Entrapta didn't ask her to do something, it was easy enough to just say she hadn't thought about it, the scientist's mind on a million things at once. But when Hordak did this kind of thing, refused to let her do the dishes when it was clearly her night, it made her antsy and she couldn't even figure out why.

She took it back. Hordak's silence wasn't a good thing. It was too easy to fill in the blanks with a million different things it might mean and it made her nuts. What she really wanted to do was explode at him, get up in his face and tell him to f*ck off just to see what he'd do. Demand to know what cursed deal he'd made with Weaver that had made him volunteer to take her when no one else would. But the ground she stood on felt tenuous enough these days, especially since she wasn't the only creature here who needed this place to survive, and she bit it back, coiling it all so it fit with the other mess of emotions she'd buried to survive.

Eventually, there was nothing left to clean and Hordak wandered off to his office. Catra considered slipping away too, but Entrapta had distracted herself with an idea so good she had to drop everything and work on it Right Then so Scorpia was just standing awkwardly around the kitchen and it felt unchivalrous to not at least offer to walk her back home.

The walk to the big house was a dirt path, flanked on either side by overgrown fields. Scorpia babbled about how her moms used to rent them out, but there’d been no takers in years. Catra let her talk, enjoying the day much more now they'd gotten a break from the heat. It felt like the days lasted longer out here than they had in the city, but that was probably only because the nights were brighter, less light to compete with the starts.

This wasn't the country exactly— they were too close to half a dozen strip malls for it to really qualify— but sometimes, on nights like this, it sure had that feel.

"So, how was the new barn?" Scorpia asked, when she'd exhausted herself on the topic of fields.

"Eh. Bunch of princesses who think they're too good for everyone." Well, most of them. She couldn't stop thinking about the blonde and her kind blue eyes. Not that she had any chance of a connection there after how badly she’d wrecked things already.

"Oh, well, f*ck 'em!" Scorpia said with a passion that surprised her. "Who needs a bunch of princesses when we've already got a bond that can never be broken. Right, best friend? They don't get people like us."

Catra made a non-committal noise, not really sure about that unbreakable bond or what Scorpia meant about people like them. Lesbians? Misfits?

Maybe she just meant losers. And in that case? Yeah, okay, fair enough.

"Gosh, I'm glad you moved here," Scorpia said, giving her a look that could only be described as beaming. "I mean, Entrapta's great and Hordak is... well, he's certainly there, isn't he? But I've never had a real proper best friend before."

Catra exhaled and wondered if she should be nipping this "best friends" thing in the bud now. She'd been dreading confronting Scorpia about the touching without asking thing, but it had actually gone pretty well and she hadn't pulled her into a bone-crushing hug against her will since then. Maybe she could get her to see that it wasn’t personal. She just wasn’t looking for roots in this place. No friends at all, let alone best ones.

It was only after she'd seen Scorpia off and refused what had to be her millionth invitation to come in and hang out, that Catra wondered if maybe she was wrong. If they were being literal, Scorpia probably was her best friend here. Maybe the best friend she'd ever had, if she was honest with herself, since Scorpia was leagues better at actually listening and caring about her than you know who had been.

Catra got on pretty well with Entrapta, but, as the girlfriend of her legal guardian, she was never sure if she was supposed to think of her as more of a step-parent than a buddy. If anything, her brain had categorized Entrapta somewhere between roommate and co-worker. It was a slightly warmer designation than, say, Hordak who she thought of as more of a state mandated babysitter.

Except that wasn’t true either.

She spied the uneven beams of the pasture fence in the distance and decided to take the long way back. Trees lined the outer edge of the Scorpioni’s property and she could peer into the darkness between them and tell herself she was the only soul around for miles. Her hair tie took some wrestling with, but she finally got her braid undone, combing it free with her fingers until her curls flew loose in the summer breeze, her roots still holding the leftover ache from being tied up for so long. The first fireflies flickered to life around her and she watched them blink along the long abandoned fields, spreading their glow.

She didn't want to love this. Didn't want to feel peace in this place she'd never planned to actually stay. Certainly didn’t want to feel at home amid these strangers and this complicated mess she’d made for herself. But was it so bad that, in moments like this, she did a little?

Catra’s feet took her to the edge of the pasture because of course they did. She leaned against the edge, trying not to get any splinters. It really was a sh*tty fence, crooked and lopsided, but considering the rush they'd built it in and how neither of them had ever built a fence before, it was alright. She and Hordak worked surprisingly well together while at emotional rock bottom. Something to be said about keeping your head down and focusing on the work to be done instead of how your life had got straight to sh*t.

It came without even being called, like it had sensed her there. It sniffed at her and she presented her empty palm guiltily, wishing she'd thought to grab a treat.

"Sorry, Melog. I didn't bring you anything."

It nuzzled its soft muzzle into her palm anyway as if the touch was all it had wanted in the first place, then held her in its steady gaze with a peace that seemed otherworldly. Catra pulled herself up to sit on the fence. Melog stepped forward to meet her and she buried her face into its mane. It had some real length now, enough that she should probably think about pulling it soon. Crazy to think that when they'd found it, the thing had been near bald, what little hair it had left matted over with sticks. She stroked its soft side. So much better than when it had ribs jutting out of fur patched over with bald spots, its hooves overgrown to where it could barely walk.

It wasn't supposed to be alive. Not after how long it had been abandoned. It had only been chance when an old teammate had called Hordak about a dying horse right after he'd picked Catra up. Chance that the dilapidated barn had been on the way to Entrapta’s, so it only made sense for them to stop. Chance that, emaciated as it was, Melog had slipped away from them just enough that Catra glimpsed it when she'd been trying to make a break for it. All her careful plans for escape and she'd taken one look at this creature, the last thing left alive in of its dying, overgrown world, and felt an immediate connection.

Then she was begging Hordak— this stranger she'd only ever intended to use to get free of the foster system, someone she had never ever planned to be indebted to— for this massive favor. In the end, he was so bewildered by the sudden display of emotion for a horse that wasn't expected to live out the month from a girl who hadn’t spoken three words to him before now, that he agreed, probably just to stop the tears. All her plans, all the money from Weaver she'd planned to use to start her new life, gone in a flurry of vet bills, special food, and whatever else Melog needed for a second chance.

Catra dried the tears she couldn't seem to keep from falling on the fur of Melog's neck and immediately regretted it. Melog must have been rolling in the mud to cool down because it was a mess. Dried dirt caked its normally dark brown coat. Chocolate flaxen is what Hordak called its coloring. An unusual combo of dark fur on its body but with a mane and tail so pale they were almost blonde. It looked so much better now, but it was impossible to forget how Melog had looked when she first saw it. Shrunken and overgrown at once, like an alien thing with its proportions all distorted.

"You're a mess, buddy," she teased, using the edge of her T-shirt to wipe the dirt off her face. She hopped down from the fence, heading for the storage bin build into the small shelter they'd set up at the end of the pasture, Melog watching her all the way. She grabbed a rubber curry and went to work on the mud, the circular motion throwing up a cloud of dust she'd have to scrub off her own arms in the shower later.

Melog watched her, giving her a soft nuzzle whenever she came close enough to its head. When she'd gotten the worst of the mud off, she decided she might as well do a full grooming, ears to hooves. Not for any particular reason other than she knew the horse enjoyed the attention, and she wanted it to be comfortable. The nits had been giving it hell since it got hot and she wondered if it would tolerate one of those full face fly masks that went over its ears. Another stupid thing to buy, another withdrawal from her future fund, but somehow it was always easier to spend money on Melog than on herself.

"What do you think, buddy? You mind looking like an idiot if it means nothing flying into your ears?" she asked. "I'll find you a pretty color."

Melog just watched her like it was casually staring clear through to her soul. She'd trapped herself here for this thing and yet, even now, she knew she would do it again in a heartbeat. Leaving it would feel like leaving behind her own inner child, and she just couldn't do it.

It had been a lost cause. Hordak had warned her, over and over, as she poured everything she had in her savings into Melog's recovery that the horse would probably not make it. That the road to recovery would be long and even if it recovered, Melog would probably never be more than a pet. Certainly not fit for riding.

And Catra recognized Hordak had a lot more experience with horses than she did, but she didn't give a f*ck what he said. She and Melog would make it here together or they wouldn't make it at all. The first week was the worst, days getting it to trust her enough to help, coaxing it to eat, finally laying with its head in her lap on the nights when it seemed like it might not make it. She'd missed so much school those first few months that Entrapta had finally pulled some strings and convinced the administration to let her home school her so she didn't fail the entire year.

Recovery had been slow and inconsistent. Periods of progress marred by random backslides. These days Melog seemed almost normal, if you could ignore the way it watched Catra every time she left the house like it thought she might never return. Normal enough that Hordak had finally agreed to turn its care over to Catra entirely, no doubt expecting it to live out the rest of its days peacefully grazing and watching the world continue on without it.

But Catra knew Melog. Knew this creature better than she knew herself, like they were one. And a peaceful retirement would never be enough for either of them.

She glanced back at the house. There was the familiar sound of Entrapta puttering around in her workshop in the garage. Catra walked along the edge of the vehicle graveyard until she could see the light on in Hordak's sanctum on the opposite side of the house. Just far enough that he couldn’t see them from here.

"What do you say, Melog?" Catra asked, pinning the gate back. "You want to be bad?"

Melog said nothing. Of course it didn't. It was a horse. But she understood its restlessness all the same. Hordak kept insisting Melog's riding days were done. He backed it up with all sorts of articles and science and numbers. And Catra would never do anything to hurt Melog.

But sometimes, on nights like this, it felt like maybe she and Melog knew better what they needed than a bunch of books.

They'd eased into it, careful walks and then tentative trots on the lounge line, testing its limits, even as Catra had sensed its restlessness, how it wanted more.

So they'd started slow. And built from there. Until almost every night she could get away, they tried a bit more. Their little secret.

It was nothing to use the fence to pull herself up onto Melog's back. No helmet, no saddle, nothing but its mane to hold on to. She didn’t need anything more. Her legs settled into Melog's side like they were made to fit there and it look only the barest touch of her leg to get them moving.

She'd only asked for a walk, but it took off at a trot, the energy bursting forth like Melog had been waiting for this all day as much as she had. She tried to slow it town, urge it to wait to let loose until they were at least far enough from the house that no one would hear, but it was too excited and Catra finally just elevated her seat and let it set the pace.

"What do you think, buddy?" she asked. "You want to fly?"

Melog was ready. The barest touch of her leg on its flank and it broke into a canter. The Scorpioni's land felt massive on nights like this and they tore between abandoned fields, no one to see them but fireflies and the summer night. Melog picked up the pace, its hooves pounding the dry dirt, every moment of suspension like they were rocketing across the ground.

Melog's stride was nothing like Silver Storm's. Storm was all nervous energy, a high-strung show horse, and riding him felt like she was controlling a tornado, fighting to keep him in line so he didn't destroy them both. But riding Melog was like dancing, joyous and light.

They moved like one, flying across the dirt paths. Catra whooped as they picked up speed, trusting her leg and throwing her hands out. The air rushed between her fingers, her hair whipping all around her, and she forgot everything but the rush of freedom.

Two sad, forgotten creatures taking their second chance to feel alive.

Chapter 5: Horse Sense

Chapter Text

It was just an interest meeting. Open to the public, nothing binding or set in stone. Just a chance to hear a little more about what this whole show team thing was about and officially meet his Hordak guy. Not a big deal at all. Especially since there was basically no way Adora’s parents would even let her do it, even if she was interested. And she wasn’t interested!

She’d only come an hour early because she was curious.

If only she could stop freaking out about it. Her anxiety about it had grown steadily throughout the week until she’d actually taken a dodgeball to the head while volunteering at the community center earlier today because her brain was everywhere but on what she was doing. It didn’t help that it was all anyone at the barn could talk about, even her daily text exchanges with Glimmer taken over by speculation about it until she was vibrating out of her skin.

Mara had conscripted her into setting up folding chairs, a sea of neat rows in the barn. There with a small screen in the front and Adora had tripped on the projector cord at least twice just going in and out simply because her brain didn’t expect it to be there. She really didn’t do well with change and having her very favorite place all… different was making her so antsy. She just wanted to scream at everyone to get out of here with this whole stupid Riding Academy thing and leave things how they were!

It was only as people started to file in for the meeting that it occurred to Adora that while she’d been thinking of this as just another day at the barn, everyone else had clearly come directly from their normal lives. Parents in suits evidently just from work, kids dressed for camp or hanging out. Normal people clothes.

There was a willowy long-haired blonde in a flowered sundress stepping into the barn with an old lady with a bitching buzz cut and it took Adora a ten full minutes of appreciative staring before she realized it was Perfuma. sh*t, a person she’d seen every week for years and she hadn’t even recognized her out of horse mode. Was she actually wearing makeup?

Should she have worn makeup? She didn’t, usually, unless Glimmer forced her, but seeing everyone so in street clothes was messing with her head. Thank god her shirt was at least clean. Tiny smear on her jodhpurs, but at least it was mud and not manure. She debated ducking into the bathroom to wash it off, but considering she’d have to walk past everyone she knew at the stable and their parents, she decided good, honest dirt was preferable than a giant wet spot on her pants.

The most she usually saw in the barn were a couple of kids milling around in hunt caps or adult riders chatting between lessons while they chugged their Gatorade. Seeing all these normies crammed into that same space, not to mention the crush of sound from all these people was an assault on Adora’s peace. She scanned the rows of already filled seats and considered just leaning against the wall near Mara was standing with an aura of overseeing until she realized the flash of pink she kept seeing out of the corner of her eye was Glimmer, waving her over from the second row.

"I was wondering where you were!" Glimmer said, moving her purse from where it had been saving Adora's seat for her. "Who are all these people?"

“f*ck if I know!” Adora answered carelessly and then immediate cringed as at least three parents turned her way. She ducked a little lower into her folding chair, wondering if she smelled bad. The problem with hanging out at a barn all the time is you stopped noticing horse smell and while most of these people hung out at a barn too, they all currently smelled very different from how they normally did.

Glimmer, for instance, smelled like lilacs. Her best friend in street clothes was at least a familiar sight, but somehow still jarring given the context. Though why she'd bothered to put on a fresh coat of pink lipstick with a skirt and fishnets just to come to the barn was beyond Adora. Unless that was the point. To show your friends who normally only saw you all gross and sweaty that you could actually be cute if you wanted to, thank you very much. Another one of those weird social moments everyone seemed to understand but her.

Then again, maybe all Glimmer was thinking about was that she’d called dibs on half the girls in this room and she wanted to be ready in case the chance arose to shoot her shot. Adora watched as a gorgeous girl in a beaded top and black lipstick strolled in, draping her arm around Perfuma’s chair with an air of ownership. Maybe she should attempt to shoot her own shot a little more.

“Do you think one of these people is Arrow’s owner?” Glimmer asked, scanning the crowd like she was expecting to see a family resemblance between one of these strangers and a literal horse.

“I think if Arrow’s owner doesn’t care enough to come visit their horse, they don’t care about this meeting.”

“I don’t know. I overheard Mara on the phone before talking to someone. She was all sad and dramatic about it. Like, ‘Of course, as long as you need.’ What if it was about Arrow?”

“Or what if it was about literally any of the other billion things going on at this barn at any given moment?” Adora could barely keep the exasperation out of her voice. She should encourage Glimmer to go back to the Light Hope mystery if she was going to be this weird about someone else’s horse.

Glimmer scowled at her. “You’re no fun. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Yes. You, basically daily.” Adora kept her voice low, because there were a lot more hot girls in here than she ever remembered seeing around the barn. Not that there weren’t guys too, but the balance of every riding class she’d ever been in had always skewed heavily female. Not that she was complaining. “Lot of people I don’t recognize. You think they’re new?”

“Maybe,” Glimmer whispered back. “Though they could just be from the other classes.”

Adora scanned the room, hoping at least some of these people were new, for Mara's sake. As much as she wasn’t eager to see Bright Moon Stables change, anyone could see it was struggling. The classes were shrinking, and they hadn’t had enough interest for a barn show in years. Even the number of boarders had shrunk. When Adora had started riding here, most horses had been stabled doubled, even tripled-up, but now nearly every horse had their own box stall to themselves with a few empties converted to storage.

Maybe it was because, like Mara always said, “Kids today are too busy with their TikToks to ClipClop!”

Or maybe it was because horseback riding was an expensive hobby and these days everyone was struggling.

It was no wonder Mara wanted to try something new.

Adora was trying to be open to change. She really was. But she didn’t like how some of these people were looking at her barn. Their glares made her see it through the eyes of someone who didn’t already love it, who hadn’t been going here every week since they were a kid. Which wasn’t fair! When you got to know the place, you realized things like the ancient fly strips swinging overhead in the light breeze or the moldy spot on the wall behind the refrigerator was part of its charm.

Glimmer elbowed Adora back from her thoughts. "You think that's him?"

Adora followed where she was gesturing to see a man talking to Mara. Hordak. A tall, thin man, his dark skin patterned with vitiligo. Some kind of big deal from a long line of big deals, probably the reason half these people were even here today. Everyone kept throwing around the fact that he was an Olympic medalist, but he didn’t look like much to Adora. Wasn’t much older than her parents, which surprised her. Still plenty fit enough to still be riding and competing, which raised the question: then what was he doing here?

Hordak shifted his weight as he replied to Mara, splaying his hand at his side in a kind of stretch, and Adora wondered if he’d retired because he wanted to or whether his body had decided for him.

"Why is his hair blue?" Leave it to Glimmer to zero in on the randomest thing possible. Though his hair WAS blue. Or rather… it was probably just a very pale gray, but it sure looked kinda blue in the cheap barn fluorescents. “I don’t like him.”

This seemed rich from a girl whose hair was currently a vibrate mix of pink and purple, but Adora felt it too. I mean, who was this guy to come in here to HER barn and act like he was some kind of horse expert just because he had some shiny medals? OK, sometimes Netossa gave one person extra praise or a harder time, but there were no rankings, no one was better than anyone. But now this guy waltzes in from a whole different world, decides he’s superior, and they’re just supposed to let him take over?

I mean, what kind of a name even was Hordak? Was is his first name or his last name? This was information she could probably easily access via a quick internet search, but if his name didn’t suck she wouldn’t have to because it would be obvious!

Adora slumped back into her chair and crossed her arms over her chest as Mara stepped up to the front and greeted everyone. Lot of talk about the new riding academy rebrand, how the show team was only the beginning. Rogelio dimmed the lights and flipped on the projector to show the proposed models, awkward 3D renderings crude enough Adora could believe Mara had made them herself. Renovating the main barn to upgrade the bathrooms and include a lounge, expanding the stalls into a second row, adding an indoor ring so they didn’t have to cancel lessons every time it rained. A whole marketing campaign to raise the barn’s prestige so they could actually compete with Crimson Riding Academy.

Mara’s enthusiasm was infectious and there was no doubt some of these changes sounded amazing. But as Adora watched a dusty spiderweb swing lazily back and forth over Mara’s head, casting a thin shadow on the projection screen as she talked, she wondered how just adding one new teacher was supposed to get them from where they were now to all these fancy models.

Mara launched into a list of Hordak’s many credentials which, outside of the Olympics, meant exactly nothing to Adora because she’d never really followed the competition side of riding. She wondered how many parents had brought their kids here today because they were dreaming of Olympic medals and a case full of trophies. Probably a good thing she hadn’t even mentioned any of this to her dad or he’d be throwing himself at Hordak just for the clout of being associated with greatness, even if he had no idea what was happening.

Hordak himself came up next, starting with a bit about his history, the waiting list for his private lessons and his plans for some new advanced fences clinics but he had this low sort of droning voice made for explaining technical manuals and Adora's brain immediately checked out.

Someone behind her dropped their phone with a thunk and a full head of curls in the front low turned to look. Adora’s heart stopped as she recognized Catra. At their lesson, she’d braided her hair so tight it could double as nautical rigging, but today it was loose, waves of dark curls down her back that were the most beautiful thing Adora had ever seen. For a second, their eyes met and Catra frowned slightly before turning back to pay attention to Hordak.

Hordak, whose private horse she rode for lessons. And here she was, in the very first row for his meeting. Maybe she really was his daughter. Either that or this mysterious ringer he’d apparently brought with him for the show team. Either way, there was clearly some connection between them, especially since Hordak kept glancing at Catra as he talked, giving her a small nod at certain parts like he found the familiar face grounding.

Any chance of Adora paying attention was gone as she became entirely consumed by staring at the back of Catra's head. Lost in the thought of running her fingers through those curls, wishing she'd look back this way so she could memorize her face. She got her wish a moment later when Catra turned back to glance at her again, a trill since no one had even made a noise this time! But Catra only frowned deeper when she caught Adora looking and turned immediately back to the front.

sh*t. Had she ruined it by staring? Adora tried to focus back on what Hordak was saying, but it was impossible. Something about try outs and a competition schedule and Catra was sitting so still, just like when she was on horseback, but somehow even hotter because of the way she had her legs crossed. It was so casual, but there was something refined about...

sh*t, she really needed to stop staring at this girl and pay attention.

But by the time Adora pulled her useless brain together, Hordak had finished. Mara hopped back up front to point out the sign-up sheet and hawk shirts with the new riding academy logo. Meanwhile, a small mob of parents ignored her entirely and beelined immediately for Hordak who’s eyes went wide as he looked like he'd rather die than talk to all these people.

First relatable thing he’d done, honestly.

"Well, that was short at least," Glimmer said when they were some of the only people still sitting.

"So, what did you think?" Adora asked, hoping she could trick Glimmer into giving her a recap of everything she’d missed by being too gay for the new girl.

"I don't know. Netossa can be scary, but at least she's nice. Hordak looks like he could be a real hardass. Plus, he's got a bit of an ego, the way he was talking about all his medals and stuff?"

"Well, he is an Olympic medalist, pretty sure he's earned it." Adora didn't know what she was defending Hordak when she’d already decided to dislike the guy and his whole thing. Except Catra was somewhere nearby and the last thing she wanted was for her to catch them talking sh*t about this guy she clearly had some connection to.

“Maybe, but I’m not— Oh, hey, there’s Mermista.” Glimmer waved at the girl with the black lipstick— and wow, yeah, that was Mermista now that Adora took a better look— but Mermista ignored her entirely. Probably not a deliberate snub, but with Mermista you never knew. Adora was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt since she’d already discovered several times today that it was hard to recognize someone you only knew from the barn out of context and everyone looked really different all cleaned up in street clothes but as Glimmer yanked her hand down, Adora knew her friend was going to take it exactly the worst way.

“Hey, so maybe we should—“ Adora said quickly, trying to head off the inevitable scene.

“Oh, Adora, you are so hilarious!” Glimmer said, putting on a fake laugh that was loud enough people turned to look.

Please, please don’t do this. Adora gave her a strained smile back, trying to play along, but internally dying. Glimmer added another fake laugh and flipped her hair, another one of her gestures she only did when she thought she was being watched. And they were being watched by several people now, including Catra.

And suddenly Adora needed to be literally anywhere else than with her awkward best friend making a fool of herself while the most beautiful girl she’d ever seen watched them with narrow eyes.

"Oh, hey, I forgot I need to pay Swifty's rent, actually," Adora rose, desperate to get away from Glimmer and her too loud laugh. "Let me go slip the check into Mara's office while I'm thinking of it."

"I'll come!" Glimmer said, digging her fingers into Adora's arm with a drowning level of panic.

"No!" Adora said sharply, and now it was her making the scene. She continued more quietly. "Sorry. You're just not allowed to. Because of security."

This was a load of bullsh*t because Mara didn't even leave her office locked half the time, but Adora just needed to get away from Glimmer and her inability to be normal about anything, ever. Fortunately, Glimmer seemed to buy it and released her death grip. Adora jumped out of her seat and dove into the crowd, only thinking of getting away.

"Hey. So, like, you want to... go grab dinner or something?"

It took an entire minute for Adora to realize that Mermista was even talking to her. Mostly because she'd appeared out of literally nowhere and was looking at her nails like she couldn't even be bothered to participate in this conversation that she'd started in the first place. If Perfuma wasn't hovering vaguely behind her, watching the exchange with an air of support, Adora probably would have assumed that Mermista was talking to someone else entirely.

Still, Adora couldn't stop herself from asking, "Me?"

"I mean, like, sure. If you wanted to. Whatever." Was Mermista blushing? Perfuma stifled a giggle and Adora felt herself blushing too because, like... what was this? Uncharted territory for sure.

Sure, Mermista and Perfuma hung out all the time outside the barn, but they'd never in all these years invited Adora or Glimmer to join them. She thought of the way Mermista had suddenly jumped into their conversation on Friday, like she’d been trying to get their attention, and suddenly wondered if maybe...

But no. That couldn't be it. She forced her stupid gay brain to get it together. Obviously, they were just being buddies, asking if their classmates wanted to hang out to discuss the meeting they'd just had. That was what a normal person would assume.

"Uh, sure. We'd love to hang out with you guys!" Adora glanced back to where she'd left Glimmer for confirmation and saw her friend sitting by herself in the sea of empty folding chairs. She had her arms crossed over her middle, losing the battle against not let cry and Adora immediately felt like sh*t for abandoning her.

Mermista's brow wrinkled slightly and she followed Adora's gaze. "Oh. Yeah, sure. Glitter can come too. Because Puma's coming too. Obviously."

She threw a look behind her to Perfuma that Adora couldn't see but it apparently communicated something because Perfuma took several subtle steps forward and stood alongside Mermista as if she'd been part of the conversation all along. Mermista gave her friend an inscrutable side eye that Perfuma answered with an indulgent smile and Adora had the distinct feeling she was missing something here.

Should she not have answered for Glimmer? Were they purposely not inviting her? That gave Adora a complex mix of emotions. She hadn't even mentioned it to Glimmer yet. Maybe she wouldn't. She could just go with them and leave Glimmer out of it entirely. It wasn't like she hadn't come over here specifically to avoid Glimmer and her too loud laugh because she'd been being annoying.

But then a second thought, fiercer than the first popped up that was furious at herself for even thinking that. You don't just abandon the friends that have been with you all along because a better deal comes along. Glimmer was her best friend, damn it, and if these bitches wanted to hang out with her, they were a package deal.

"So we'll hang? You guys and Glimmer and I?" Adora asked, putting just the hint of challenge in her voice.

"Sounds like fun!" answered Perfuma, giving her such a warm grin Adora wondered if she imagined whatever the weird vibe there had been before.

"Yeah, it's cool," Mermista held up her car keys, a sequined mermaid tail dangling from the ring. "I can drive us whenever so let us know when you and Pinkie are ready to go."

"I just need to tell my Nonna," Perfuma said, going up on her tip toes, no doubt searching for the small old lady she'd come in with in the crush of people still milling around the barn. "Now where'd she go?"

"Probably chatting up some honey half her age," Mermista said, giving Adora a look that implied she'd seen things. "She's gonna be glad you're going out so you don't wreck her game."

"Misty, hush," Perfuma said, batting her friend on the arm. "I'm going to go find her."

"Yeah, I'll help. We'll find you later," Mermista added.

"Uh, sure." Adora watched them go, feeling somewhat bewildered, particularly when Perfuma gave Mermista a pat on the arm and Mermista swatted her away. She spun back towards the office, hoping to just quickly drop off the check and then go back and tell Glimmer about their unexpected social windfall when she crashed fully into Catra, rendering all coherent thought impossible.

"S-sorry."

"Don't apologize when someone runs into you, dummy." Catra was so much prettier up close, Adora couldn't help but stare at her unusual eyes, a mismatched gold and blue. "They're supposed to apologize to you."

"Oh, uh. Alright," Adora responded, thrown by the cute smattering of freckles across her nose how her tone sounded aggressive but somehow the words were nice? Sort of? "Well, then I retract my sorry I guess."

"Good." The side of Catra's mouth quirked up a little and Adora wondered if maybe it was too early to propose marriage. "And I apologize for crashing into you like a dumbass."

"You're not a... I mean, I was the one you basically..."

"Just take it, ponytail."

"Ha. OK, yes. Accepted." And then she saluted for reasons she couldn't even begin to explain and was just wondering if perhaps Swifty would mind if she crawled under the bedding of his stall to hide for the rest of her life when Catra laughed.

"I'm Catra, by the way."

"I know. I mean, you're in my class. Not that I was stalking you or anything, just that we've all been in the same class together forever so as soon as there was a new name we were all like oh hey, new person's name is Catra." Oh my god, shut up. What was she even saying right now? Adora blinked at Catra for a couple of minutes, trying to figure out if it was some kind of product she'd put in her hair that smelled like a perfect cup of warm tea or if that was just somehow her before she realized Catra was waiting for her to introduce herself. "f*ck! I'm Adora!"

"Did you forget who you were?" Catra teased.

"Sorry, spaced for a second there. Happens a lot." sh*t, don't tell the pretty girl that! She'll think you're a disaster! Which, you are, but Catra doesn't need to know that! "Wait, sh*t I apologized again. Pretend I didn't say that. Anyway, yes. Adora. Hi."

"Hey, Adora," Catra said, giving her a half grin. "Sorry for bumping into you."

"So are you also going to apologize for throwing your reins at her like she's your f*cking servant the other day?"

Adora startled, wondering exactly how long Glimmer had been standing there like a tiny pink demon of judgement. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was glaring at Catra and normally Adora appreciated Glimmer's fierce loyalty but right now it had felt she was interrupting what had seemed like kind of a moment?

Catra tensed immediately, her face twisting into a scowl. "I thought she was a groom!"

"Pretty f*cking rude way to treat a groom too."

"Okay," Adora said quickly, hold up her hands to encourage peace. "Glimmer, it's fine, I--"

"What's it to you?" Catra said, taking a step closer to Glimmer.

"How about Adora is my friend and you have no right to treat her like crap?"

"Well maybe your friend shouldn't dress like crap if she wants to be taken seriously around here."

"She can dress however she wants. It's a f*cking barn where we ride horsies, not wall street!" Glimmer responded and it was a blessing that there was so much conversation going on because they only get a few concerned looks. "I knew you were just some stuck up rich bitch."

"Me?" Catra said, her voice raising in pitch. "You're the one who... you people do this whole stupid... f*ck this."

And with that, Catra shoved past the people milling around the vending machine and out the back door without so much as a look back.

"God, what a nightmare! I can't believe we're stuck with her every week now," Glimmer said, putting her hand on Adora's arm. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Adora answered, the response coming out sharper than she'd planned. It was taking everything to not just rip her arm out from Glimmer's touch. She balled her fist at her side, trying to stop herself from exploding at her best friend when she'd only been trying to help.

"I still haven't handed in my check," Adora said. "I'll be right back."

She pushed forward without waiting for Glimmer to respond, needed a minute alone to calm down before she exploded. It didn't even make sense why she was so keyed up. Glimmer was right! Catra had been completely out of line the other day and that stuff she said about how she dressed hurt, like all those things her inner voice had told her people were saying about her come to life. What she should be is grateful to her best friend for standing up for her, but instead all she had was anger at Glimmer for driving Catra away when it had felt like they were making a connection.

It wasn't like Catra didn't have a point. She did dress like crap! By design, really, since why the f*ck would you dress up to shovel literal sh*t? And, sure, maybe it wasn't helping her case that she was also dressed like crap today, a day when everyone else had apparently decided to dress up, but whatever. And the thing was, this should be simple. She should be realizing that Glimmer was right, Catra was clearly just some shallow rich girl, and she should just writ her off. It didn't matter how hot someone was, if they were ugly on the inside. it wasn't like Catra hadn't spent every second of her time in this barn sneering at everything and everyone like she was better than all of them.

Oh, but before that, when it had been just the two of them it had seemed like... Ugh, but who was she kidding. She was willing to forgive Catra anything because she was hot. But she needed to get over it. The chances of anyone at this barn asking Adora out was zero.

"Greetings."

Adora stopped dead in her tracks, surprised to find Hordak standing in the center of Mara's office, studying the faded photos on the wall like they contained some great secret. He was taller than he'd looked from the front of the room and Adora saw immediately what Glimmer had meant about him being intimidating. He loomed and she had the strangest urge to apologize for being in his space and scurry away.

"What are you doing in here?" Adora asked, before realizing that sounded super rude and she was not making a great first impression here. "Uh, sir."

"Hiding." Hordak answered truthfully. "I'm afraid I have reached my social limit for the evening."

"Oh." A weird thing to say but she appreciated his candor. Adora set her check on Mara's desk and went to make her exit. "Well then I'll just leave you to it then."

"Just a moment. You ride in Catra's class, do you not?"

Catra. Exactly the person she was trying not to think about right now. "Yeah. I'm Adora."

"So you're Adora. A pleasure. Mara has spoken highly of you." Not a surprise, but nice all the same. Adora found herself turning back into the room, not as eager to escape as she was a moment ago. "I did not see your name on the sign up sheet for show team try outs."

"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm not interested. I mean, I just ride for fun, you know? Because I love horses, not because I'm interested in a bunch of meaningless trophies and stuff," she gasped as she realized what she'd just said. Wow, maybe she should just stop talking today. "sh*t! Uh, I mean shoot. Not trying to insult your medals and stuff, sir, just I just meant like--"

Horak waved her off. "Showing is not simply about the medals. It is about demonstrating superior horsemanship. You've been given inadequate training, but I believe you have tremendous raw potential. Should you choose to participate, I believe together we will be able to greatly increase your skills."

"Yeah?" Adora didn't love the way his compliment was a kind of backhanded insult to the way Netossa taught, but she was more than a little flattered that he thought she was good. There was a part of her, the part that her father had long encouraged, that yearned for praise and the idea that she might be not just good but better than the others at this thing that she loved, well, that was very appealing. Not that it changed anything though. "Thank you, for staying that but there's no way my parents would let me even do it. I start my senior year this fall and they are kind of laser focused on my future and all this college stuff and they already see all this horse stuff as a waste of time. I can't imagine them agreeing to even more of it."

"Perhaps it would ease your parents' worries to know that many prestigious universities have excellent riding teams and often send agents to local shows specifically to scout for their schools. Should you place at Regionals, an offer of a full ride would be almost a guarantee."

Adora's brain was buzzing and all she could offer in response was a small, "Oh."

"Consider it. A full scholarship is nothing to discount. Though," here he gave a small, almost fond smile, "you'll have your work cut out for you. Catra has her sights on the same prize and her skills are exemplary. Perhaps the two of you could train together?"

Uh, yeah, she didn't see how that was going to happen. "Maybe."

"Consider it. Mara has mentioned your love for this place. It is no secret that this riding school is in dire financial straights and having a winning team is essential to reverse its fortunes. I say this with no small amount of of personal stake in the matter as my continued employment at this facility depends on building a successful show team this year. A partnership in this matter could benefit us both."

And with a small nod of his head, Hordak was gone out the office door and Adora was left alone in the office, her thoughts buzzing.

Chapter 6: Gift Horse

Chapter Text

The barn had mostly cleared out by the time Adora went to find Glimmer. She'd hoped to find her with Perfuma and Mermista already, just to ease the awkwardness of the new social situation a little ahead of time, but she was by herself, leaning against the wall by the tack room.

The first thing Glimmer said when she noticed Adora was a mumbled, "Sorry for being a freak."

And, just like that, it was impossible to be annoyed at her.

"You're not a freak, you're just... you're human." Adora offered diplomatically. "And I know you were just trying to look out for me, but I’d appreciate if you just let me handle the Catra thing myself."

Glimmer gave a tiny huff that meant she didn't agree, but was at least going to try not to meddle. And at this point? Adora would take it.

"My mom's here, if you need a ride." Glimmer offered.

"sh*t, I should have told you before. Mermista and Perfuma asked if we wanted to go grab dinner with them."

"Really?" Glimmer asked, looking as shocked by the invite as Adora had been.

"Yeah. Mermista's driving. So, do you want to go?"

Glimmer hesitated for long enough that Adora debated whether she could still go anyway without Glimmer getting upset all over again. Surely her best friend would see that it wasn't actual ditching, just a strategic move to better both their social lives. Adora wasn't even sure if she wanted to be better friends with Mermista and Perfuma, but it was one of those social nightmares where not going out this time might be totally chill and they could just do it again next time or might mean this was their one and only chance to join their friend group and if they blew this, they'd be locked out forever.

And she’d be lying if she didn’t wonder at least a little if she was so eager because it meant scoping out the competition for the show team.

"Let me go check with my mom real quick," Glimmer said, heading for the back door.

Adora followed her, trying to stay a respectful distance away as Glimmer approached the intimidating figure of Angella Moon, already leaning against her car with the air of someone who’d been kept waiting.

"Hey," said Mermista, appearing at her side. She jingled her keys. "So we going or what?"

"Glimmer's just checking with her mom."

Come on, Angella, for once in your life, just be cool. Adora tried to beam the thought to Glimmer's mom, because even if Glimmer didn't lose her cool— which was always a pretty big if— her mother's moods could be just as volatile. Perfuma joined them and the three of them watched in awkward silence as Glimmer tried to navigate the teenage minefield of talking to an irritated parent in public without making a fool of yourself by getting yelled at.

When Angella finally returned to her car with a shake of her head and Glimmer gave them a thumbs up from across the parking lot, Adora finally let herself breathe again. As much as she wanted to believe Glimmer's mom wouldn't actually ground her for asking to go out with her friends, it unfortunately wouldn't be out of character for the Moon matriarch.

"Sorry that took so long," Glimmer said, once they were all settled and Mermista was navigating her car out of the barn parking lot.

"We didn't mind waiting," Perfuma said, turning to give them a smile from the front seat. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, my mom is just weird. She was all like," Glimmer put on a British accent in what was actually a pretty spot on impression of her mother, "'Glimmah, why can’t you simply invite your friends to come back to our house instead of going out to where you could die in a car accident or be killed by axe murderers? So disrespectful, the way you won’t change your plans to exactly what I want so I can meddle in every aspect of your existence until you have no life whatsoever!'"

"At least she cares if you die," Mermista said, with enough of an edge to her voice that Adora wondered what that was about.

"We would love to see your home if you wanted us to, wouldn't we, Misty?" Perfuma asked, earning her a side eye from Mermista that Adora couldn't see from back here, but could well imagine.

"It's not that I don't want you over. Just... we already had plans." Glimmer crossed her arms over her chest, clearly feeling defensive. Considering Angella had probably been pushing for them to hang out at Glimmer's house so she could interrogate these new friends and dictate what they talked about, Adora didn't blame her for not wanting to subject Mermista and Perfuma to that. Adora had been around the Moons for so long that Angella had finally dialed back the intensity, but there was a reason they spent most sleepover sequestered in Glimmer's room and it was that Angella was absolutely eavesdropping on them constantly when they were in the common areas.

After a small discussion of where they should go, which devolved into Adora and Glimmer exchanging glances as Mermista and Perfuma bickered like an old married couple, they ended up at a local Italian place whose assets apparently included "amazing vegan buffalo wings" according to Perfuma and "calamari that f*cks" according to Mermista.

The food must be good, if the size of the dinner crowd was any indication. As they waited for a table, they settled into chatter about the new riding team, the barn, and eventually the more mundane details of the rest of their lives.

It was funny how you can see someone every week since middle school and still not really know anything about them. Mermista and Perfuma had both attended Salinean, that fancy private school Adora had ridden by on the way to away meets and were both likely as loaded as Glimmer from how they casually talked about trips to Aspen and Jamaica the way her family talked about trips to the grocery store.

They also already showed casually, which surprised Adora, even more so than the revelation they rode at Crimson sometimes. Mermista talked about getting onto the Bright Moon show team as if it was a mere formality and not a thing she was stressing herself sick about. Now that Adora thought about it, Perfuma and Mermista both got a fair amount of praise from Netossa during lessons.

Ugh! Why was it that the less likely it seemed Adora was going to get on this stupid team, the more she wanted it? She tried not to think about it, but she couldn’t relax, taking mental notes on every extra detail she learned about the two of them, like she was sizing up her competitors.

Mermista's mom didn't seem to be in the picture, possibly because she'd left or maybe even died. Her dad was some big deal events coordinator who was away a lot, leaving her to do basically whatever the f*ck she wanted. The vibe Adora'd picked up on in the car plus a few of the asides Mermista tried to play off as jokes gave Adora the distinct impression that her relationship with her father wasn't the greatest. She felt suddenly grateful that, while her dad could be a pain in the ass and her mom might not be around as much as they wished she was, Adora had at least never doubted her parents loved her.

Perfuma lived with her grandma, Terra, who'd apparently been a legendary pinup star back in the 60s. That detail came from Mermista, who had to be physically restrained from showing them the centerfold pictures she had on her phone for some reason, until Perfuma firmly redirected the conversation to the family florist business. They had a staff, but both girls were still regularly roped into helping with big orders and events. Mermista spent several defensive minutes complaining about how Perfuma was always stifling her creative process while Perfuma rolled her eyes and derided her negative energy.

The two of them had the weirdest energy Adora had ever seen. Sometimes they seemed so in sync it was like watching two halves of the same person and other times Adora wondered if they were exes.

Especially when they finally got a table and Mermista asked with absolutely no preamble whatsoever, "So, are you bitches queer or what?"

Adora's eyes went immediately to Glimmer because excuse me? They barely knew each other! But whatever solidarity she was expecting, she didn't exactly get as Glimmer simply sat up a little taller and said, "Yeah."

"Uh, me too," Adora answered, the simple admission feeling like a rush.

It wasn't like she'd never come out to anyone before! More like she'd only come out to exactly one person, and it was her twin brother and it was only after he'd drunkenly admitted he'd let Dwayne Johnson have his way with him, but wouldn’t anyone? Glimmer knew, of course, but that was more because her best friend had just assumed and by the time Adora had actually gotten up the courage to tell her it had been more of a “no duh,” moment than some big revelation.

Mermista elbowed Perfuma. "Told 'ya."

"Are you?" Adora asked, feeling incredibly awkward but, at the same time, like it was only polite to return the question.

"I mean, clearly!" Mermista answered, giving Adora a look that was almost... leering? She was grateful for the server arriving with the menus so she could hide her blush.

"Perfuma?" Glimmer asked once the water had left.

Perfuma picked up the menu, giving a pert, "Or what."

Mermista leaned over the table and stage whispered, "She's in denial. Doesn't want any complications to throw her off the ‘straight’ and narrow path she's had planned out since she was ten."

"Misty..." Perfuma warned over the top of her menu.

"Alright, shutting up! Don't kill me! Adora and Glimmer don't even know how scary you are." Mermista grinned at them like they were all sharing a good joke despite Perfuma looking half a second from losing her sh*t. "Why do you think they call her Puma? Looks all cute and fuzzy, but piss her off and she'll rip your f*cking face off."

Perfuma rolled her eyes. "'They' don't call me Puma. YOU call me Puma. Normal people just call me Perfuma, as it is my name. My grandma calls me Daisy."

"Aww, that's cute," Glimmer said and Perfuma gave her a grin before sticking her tongue out at Mermista.

Mermista only bit her lip at her in return and Adora tried to figure out if this was flirting or normal best friend behavior and being gay had just totally warped her sense of what was normal between friends.

"So are you and Glitter, like..." Mermista did not even get to finish her sentence or the completely unsubtle gesture she was making with her fingers before they both gave a resounding synchronized "No."

"Alright, jeez," Mermista grinned at their reaction and Adora wasn't entirely sure if she was pleased about the response or if she just enjoyed getting a rise out of people. “So, how are you two feeling about all the show team stuff?”

"Not sure. Going to give it a try at least," Glimmer said. "Or, at least, I am. Adora's still deciding."

“Yeah?”Mermista raised an eyebrow at her.

"I've just got a lot going on. Not sure if I have time for something else," Adora hedged. "Only five slots on the team, anyway. Probably wouldn't even get in."

Except Hordak had sought her out personally to encourage her to try out. Well, maybe not sought her out personally so much as "happened to be in a room she walked into," but still. He'd known her name, talked about her like she'd made some kind of impression. That had to count for something, right?

Unless he was just being nice. Though Hordak didn’t really seem like the type to do things just because they were nice.

"Five slots on the regular team, only two for regionals. Plus alternates, of course. But try outs aren't about the team," Perfuma said. "It's to see who gets into the advanced clinics. They're going to run throughout the summer and Hordak's going to pick who gets on the actual team from the people in the clinics. Even if you don't make the team, it'd be neat to train with a professional all summer either way!"

"That's what I was thinking," Glimmer said.

"Wait. So the tryouts aren't for the team?” Adora asked. “The tryouts for the clinics… which are the real tryouts?"

"I mean, yeah, if you want to say it in the most confusing way possible," Mermista drawled. "Weren't you paying attention at the meeting we were literally just at?"

Honestly? No. She'd been too busy being gay for Catra.

🐎

Catra paced the lower floor of the house, wishing Hordak would just go into his study already so she could sneak out and ride Melog. But Hordak had come home from the interest meeting and gone immediately to his little garden to recharge his social battery and she couldn't even properly enjoy her rooftop retreat when she could see him down there in his big stupid sun hat humming to his tomatoes. Not that she had any objection to Hordak beyond her usual list of grievances, just that the sight of him reminded him of this whole stupid show team thing and that made her think of the stupid blonde and what an absolute fool she'd made of herself again.

What is wrong with her? Why did she have to immediately jump to the meanest thing she could think of as soon as she felt threatened? She kicked at the unusually clean sofa, wishing she could boot the memory as easily. Gods, she hated that little pink nightmare. Coming at Catra, like SHE wasn't the one who kept acting like she owned Adora.

It wasn't like Catra hadn't planned on apologizing! She was just working up to it! They’d just been bantering a little first! It had been a whole thing!

And Adora. What a dumbass. Did she just wear that stupid red jacket everyday then, like a cartoon character with only one outfit? But Catra grinned despite herself. Such a dork, but it was kinda endearing? Not that she'd ever want to talk to her again with five foot bitch screaming in her ear. But she'd been kind of cute in a disorganized way, like a dog whose ear was inside out.

Ugh, what did it matter? If Adora was there for the meeting, she was thinking about signing up for the team and that meant she was competition. And Catra couldn't afford any distractions when all that mattered was winning. Winning and using the old witch's own game to help herself to the life she'd never believed she could have. No one was getting in the way of that, no matter how cute their smile was.

Catra paused, hearing the faint whir of Emily on the hunt. Oh, hell no. She was in no mood for a near death experience right now, thank you very much. Instead of turning for another circuit around the piles of stuff in the living room, Catra cut into the kitchen, darting out the back door. She'd go hide from Emily in the garage workshop for a while. It'd be empty since Entrapta was attending a lecture tonight. Or maybe giving a lecture? Honestly, it didn't really matter either way since the sum result was that she wasn't here and at least there'd be more room to pace and something at least approaching privacy.

As she stepped outside, she heard a familiar but unexpected voice. “Little sister!”

"Uncle Ron?"

Catra was not anyone’s sister any more then Uncle Ron was her uncle, but she’d decided that if life wanted to hand her an eccentric gay uncle who treated her like a little sister, she might as well just roll with it. It took a minute to find him in the advancing dusk, especially with her eyes still adjusting from the indoor lights, but finally she spotted him in the makeshift junkyard that was their lawn. Hordak's twin brother was lounging on what looked like the passenger seat from one of the half rusted vehicles. He’d propped it up between two stacks of tires, so the effect was not unlike reclining in a proper beach chair. He wore a tailored pastel summer suit that made Catra think of some person in a movie standing on a yacht and saying things like, "Ciao, baby!" while making million dollar deals.

Which, knowing Uncle Ron, might well have been exactly what he'd been doing before deciding to come slum it with them.

"Are you staying?" Catra asked, the lack of junk on the sofa suddenly making a lot more sense.

"Just the night this time." Uncle Ron sighed in a way that made it seem like he thought it was a genuine shame it wasn’t longer. Funny, since Entrapta and Uncle Ron got on great, but Hordak acted like spending time with his brother was some terrible penance the universe had inflected on him. Catra didn't really get what their deal was. Sure, Uncle Ron was Hordak's opposite in every way— which was slightly freaky since they had the exact same face— but the guy was a genuine delight.

Uncle Ron patted the seat. “Join me!”

Catra shrugged and climbed up next to him on the upturned backseat, the entire apparatus making a slightly terrifying lurch as she settled in. Once she was confident the whole mess wouldn't collapse, she leaned back into the cushion to look at the sky and had to admit that this wasn't completely terrible.

"Does Hordak even know you're here?" Catra asked, because Uncle Ron could do that freaky silence thing that Hordak did if you wanted him too, but he was way more fun once you got him talking.

"Not yet!" Uncle Ron asked with an unmistakable twinkle in his eye as he winked. Then he produced what appeared to be a pina colada from literally nowhere and took a mischievous sip. "It's a surprise! I was in the area for work and how could I not stop by?"

"He's gonna be grouchy about it," Catra said, still hung up on where exactly in this house he'd found stuff to make a pina colada and whether he was cool enough of a fake Uncle to let her have some. "Not a huge fan of surprises."

"He's grouchy about everything," Uncle Ron dismissed it with a wave of his hand, then leaned over conspiratorially. "But it's all an act, you know. Underneath? A puppy!"

"If you say so." If Hordak was anything underneath the scowl, Catra was pretty sure it was some kind of mangy alley cat that would scratch out your eye. But considering Weaver had once described HER in exactly that way, she kept it to herself. "What kind of work were you doing all the way out here?"

"Client's opening a new club. Very eclectic. Country-house fusion. They're calling it YEEDM. So, of course, they needed some retro decor for the themeing, a few statement pieces. Very trendy, the vintage stuff, when you know what people want." Uncle Ron listed it all off like it was all very boring, but Catra was dying to hear more. "Cup holder, by the way."

"Yeah?" Catra reached around the side of the seat cushion until she felt the car's cup holder. There was a small insulated bag inside which unzipped to reveal a plastic straw cup filled with something still nice and cold. She took an eager sip. Not a real pina colada then, but some kind of smoothie approximation he'd concocted out of yogurt and whatever fruit they’d had handy, but it was cold and tasty enough that Catra didn't care.

"And you know a place to get stuff like that?" Catra asked, sipping her fake pina colada next to her fake uncle on their fake lounge chair and having a genuinely good time.

"That's why they pay me the big bucks, little sister!" he winked at her again.

"What did you major in for school for that? The stuff you do, I mean?" Catra hadn't figured out exactly what she wanted to do after college, but Uncle Ron's life sure didn't sound too bad.

"Oh, I never went to college. Picked most of it up just by talking. People love to talk about their stuff. What they love about it, what they hate, the stories behind it." He took a sip of his drink, and Catra wondered how Hordak was such a recluse while his brother was a social butterfly. "But I'm only the one that knows which one piece fits a space when I have a stack in front of me. Before it's all cleaned up and displayed, I can't tell trash from treasure. Just don't have the eye for it."

Catra wondered sometimes if she had an eye for it. Dumpster diving with Entrapta had given her a new appreciation for old stuff. There was something about looking at something somebody else had already discarded as worthless and saying, “no, actually, this still has value” that appealed to her. Maybe more than a little as a f*ck you to Weaver.

"Sometimes Entrapta and I go looking for junk," Catra commented. "And I'll see something and think, 'You know, if I could clean that up and get a good picture, I could probably sell that.'"

Might be a way to make a little extra cash. But she didn't say that part because there was, of course, a twenty-dollar bill tucked into the insulated bag where she'd just found her cup that Catra was studiously ignoring until such time that she could sneak it back into Uncle Ron's stuff. Then he'd give it to her again, and she'd give it back because he knew damn well she didn't take charity or handouts, not even from fake family. They'd carry on like this until he left for home and Catra would find a twenty or sometimes even a fifty somewhere she'd never thought to look and she'd finally just give up and keep it, at least satisfied for having worked for it.

"Just for something to do, mostly," she said, when she noticed him studying her. "Something that was only mine, you know?"

Uncle Ron exhaled, and she wondered how much he knew about her deal with Hordak. The two brothers weren't exactly close, but he had to know something, even if only from Entrapta. Was it so terrible that she hoped he didn't? That maybe this could be the one person in her life where the relationship wasn't transactional?

"Or maybe I just need to get out of the house more," she laughed, trying to turn it all into a joke because Uncle Ron's silence was freaking her out. "If I spend all summer just going between this place and the barn, I'll lose my mind. Maybe I should just get a job or something."

She'd thought about it before. It might be nice to have some ready cash, to buy things for Melog or herself without feeling like she was mooching off Entrapta and Hordak. Nice too to have something that had nothing to do with the show team and barn drama, where she could get some time away and maybe figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. But, as always, when she thought about this, she ended up dismissing the idea as impossible.

"You want a job?" Uncle Ron asked, looking genuinely surprised.

"Well, yeah, but what job am I even going to get? I don't have a car, so it would have to be walking distance from either here or the barn. Flexible enough that they'd be alright with me bailing on show days. Oh, and someplace that has all that and is also cool with hiring someone with a record."

"I think I know just the place!" Uncle Ron announced cheerfully, typing something into his phone. But before Catra could ask what he was talking about, Hordak’s silhouette loomed before them.

He considered his twin, looking at displeased as someone in red polka dot gardening gloves and a flowered apron can possibly look. "You are here."

"I am!" Uncle Ron responded, unfazed by the reception. "Just the night though, brother, so you don't have to look quite so put out."

"You can afford a hotel."

"Yes, but then when would I get to spend time with my shiny new little sister?" he winked at Catra.

Hordak sighed, ceding the point and moving on to the next. "Your hair is pink again."

"Hmm, more of a coral this time, wouldn't you say?" Uncle Ron turned to Catra for confirmation. It was too dark by now to really distinguish the color of his undercut, but she nodded in agreement and sipped her pina colada, mostly because annoying Hordak was fun and there was no safer time to do it than with Uncle Ron on her side. "Oh, come now, brother. I'll go to a hotel if you really want, but is it so awful that I want to spend time with your sour puss every now and then?"

"We will have to come up with something for dinner," Hordak announced and, without further comment, he disappeared into the house.

"Told you he'd be grouchy," Catra mumbled, embarrassed somehow for the both of them at once.

"He does care, in his own way," Uncle Ron offered by way of apology. He set his empty cup back in the holder, looking out at stars peeking through the darkening sky. “Understand, we had an unconventional childhood and I remind him of it. Fame and pressure and nothing you could call comfort at home. Hordak bore the brunt of it and it’s made him hard.”

For a moment, Catra felt almost sorry she’d never thought to care about Hordak’s backstory until Uncle Ron casually added, “Well, that and he's killed a man.”

Catra nearly spit out her drink. "He f*cking what? Are you joking?"

Uncle Ron winked at her, which meant exactly nothing because it was his favorite facial expression. Then he clapped his hands together in delight and squealed, "Oo, we should order pizza!"

🐎

The calamari did, indeed, f*ck. Adora monitored everyone's body language, trying to determine if the others were finished and it was cool for her to grab the last bit. There was one tantalizing fried ring of deliciousness left on the plate and she was trying to figure out if she and Mermista were in a dramatic standoff over who got the last one or if it was up for grabs.

Just as she'd finally decided maybe it was cool to just go for it, Mermista reached out and snagged it without so much offering it to anyone, leaving Adora feeling deeply betrayed and maybe a little impressed.

Adora sunk back into the greasy vinyl booth. "If they don't delivery our pizza soon, I will literally die."

"It's a busy night and the staff are doing their best," Perfuma said in a tone that was definitely scold-y, but with an undercurrent that said Perfuma, too, was about half a second from chewing through their menus. Glimmer jabbed idly at the ice in her empty cup because that refill they'd all asked for still wasn't here.

"I'm with muscles over here. This is taking forever." Mermista drawled. "Where's our server?"

"There." Both Glimmer and Perfuma said so quickly that Adora turned to look at them. Glimmer shrugged as Perfuma remarked. "He's hot."

Adora followed their gaze and was too lesbian to confirm or deny one way or the other, but there was no mistaking the way the other two tracked him around the room. He was built like a football player, messy black hair and tattoos down the side of one substantial bicep. Far too much beard going on as far as Adora was concerned, but that was presumably something you'd be into if you liked guys. Probably her brother's type, Adora thought, smiling to herself.

"We're apparently the only ones here immune to his charms."

Adora looked over to see Mermista smirking at her. Did that mean Mermista was also a lesbian? Adora had kind of been wondering after the queer comment, but didn't feel right pushing for the answer. Misty certainly seemed really flirty with all of them, but it was hard to say how much with her was real or an act.

Perfuma rolled her eyes. "She likes guys. He's just not her type."

"What is your type?" Adora asked, genuinely curious. From the way most of the woman and some of the guys were watching Hot!Waiter, he seemed to be almost everyone who likes guys type.

"I like my men fruity and pathetic," Mermista said, like it was a joke, but there was a distinctive blush visible even under her dark skin that made Adora wonder how much she was kidding. "If he's not the biggest f*cking loser you've ever met in your life, I'm not interested."

"Mmhmm," Perfuma remarked, clearly withholding commentary.

"Also, facial hair? Hard pass." Mermista added, suddenly very interested in getting the fold of her napkin just right. "Anyway, I think we should discuss how we all could be eating right now if Glitter had just let us go to her house like her mom wanted instead of starving while we wait for Beardy Tightpants to remember we exist."

It was an absolutely naked bid to get the attention off of her and also what Adora was pretty sure what just a joke, but Glimmer immediately tensed.

"I just wanted us to hang out without my mom hovering!"

"Your mom can hover over me all she wants," Mermista leered.

"Stoppppp ittttt!" Glimmer whined, collapsing onto the table.

Adora smiled into her lap. She was 95% sure Mermista was only keeping up the "Glimmer's mom is hot routine," because it was annoying the sh*t out of Glimmer. The more time they spend together, the more Adora got the idea that bullying was sort of Mermista's love language and that the fact that she kept giving Glimmer non-stop sh*t about her mom, her clothes, her hair and basically every aspect of her life was because she'd decided she liked her and wanted to be her friend. But unfortunately, either Glimmer simply didn't realize that was what was going on or did and still didn't like because things between them were getting increasingly strained.

Besides, while Adora had enough sense to never, ever say it to Glimmer... her mom was seriously hot.

"There is nothing to be ashamed of, Glimmer!" Perfuma said in that same too calm voice that was really starting to grate on Adora's nerves. "Your mother is a very lovely woman! I'm sure your father is too."

"Yeah, Glitter. I'm sure your father is a very lovely woman." Mermista smirked as Glimmer made a pained sound.

"Alright, leave Glimmer alone," Adora said, feeling protective. Because as funny as Mermista's comments could be sometimes, Glimmer had a tendency to take things really personally, joke or not. And while their new friends couldn't possibly know about all of Glimmer's hang ups about her body and appearance, years and years of subtle digs people had made comparing her to Angella that went straight to her heart, it meant that what Mermista probably thought of as gentle ribbing, was actually hitting on everything that Glimmer was the most insecure about.

"Oh, is that the new girl from our class?" Perfuma asked, saving the moment.

"Ughhh, look who it is," Glimmer said, as she turned to look.

Adora whipped her head around, knowing exactly who she was going to see when she turned just from the disdain in Glimmer's voice.

There was Catra, leaning across the To Go counter, and Adora was trying to be a normal person and not stare at her ass, but it was impossible the way she’d leaned all the way over to get the cashier's attention. Whatever she was here to pick-up, it clearly wasn't ready yet, which wasn't surprising given how crazy crowded this place was. Catra screwed up her face before leaning against the back of one of the plastic booths to wait.

Adora did a double take at Catra's companion, not because of the pink hair or neat pastel suit, but because he looked almost exactly like Hordak. At least until he leaned over to Catra to whisper something and gave her a very un-Hordak like wink. Catra cackled, whispering something back, and Adora could only stare, unsettled by how strange it was to see the serious girl so clearly at ease.

"Her name is Catra," Adora offered, though no one had asked.

"Oh, do you guys know her?" Perfuma asked.

"Not really," Glimmer said. "Unless you count her being a bitch to Adora on the first day."

"It wasn't a big deal," Adora blurted, "She just assumed I was a groom because of my jacket and tossed me her reins."

"And then just left Adora to bathe and untack her horse. Then didn't even apologize tonight at the meeting, though she had every chance to."

"Well, yeah, but she give me a stern talking to about not apologizing when someone bumps into you," Adora offered, trying to show that Catra was clearly a caring person who was looking out for her and trying to encourage her to be assertive but apparently doing a terrible job from the look on the other's faces.

"Wow, so she's just a full on bitch then," Mermista said, in a tone that implied she thought that was a good thing. "And she's hot too."

"Also an excellent rider,” Perfuma added. “Did you see her seat during those flying changes the other day? Like glue!"

"See what I mean about denial? What are you, as a 'straight woman,'" Mermista gave it exaggerated air quotes. "Doing looking at another woman's seat?"

"Oh my god, Misty, we're not doing this," Perfuma said, turning bright red. "I was commenting on her horsemanship!"

"Jeez, I was just joking."

"Yeah, well, I don't find it funny. Which you know because we've talked about this before!"

Adora and Glimmer exchanged a look as their bickering turned into an outright fight. For all her calming voice, Perfuma looked half a second from exploding while Mermista was acting like it was all some joke that she didn't even care about while obviously caring very deeply. This was clearly some kind of longstanding tension between them, compounded by the strain of having waiting so long for their food and being so hungry. But trapped in this booth with them as they were, Adora felt like someone needed to do something before everyone at the table lost their sh*t at each other.

Though what compelled her to pick this specific distraction was unclear even to her.

"I have a crush on her," Adora announced before her brain caught up to what her mouth was doing. "Catra, I mean."

This comment ushered in a solid three minutes of dead silence before anyone said anything.

"That's nice," Perfuma said, indulgently while Glimmer just stared at Adora like she'd just run over her puppy.

Adora braced herself for Mermista to make some kind of smartass remark, but the other girl just blinked at her, looking somewhat stunned before she shook her head. "Yeah? So your taste is just like... assholes then? Cool cool."

"Well, we don't know for sure that she's an asshole," Adora offered, knowing she was not really making her case well or why she was even telling them this. In fact, before she'd opened her mouth, she hadn't even fully realized that's why she'd been so fascinated by the new girl.

"No, no, I like my women evil too, it's fine." Mermista flipped her braid over her shoulder, an unmistakable blush darkening her skin.

"Well, Adora has dibs," Glimmer added which very loyal of her considering she looked like she wanted to kill her right now.

Mermista looked between the two of them, sizing the situation up, and then pulled back her chair. "I'm going to go get her number."

"Excuse me?" Adora spat. “We just established that I have dibs!”

"Is she seriously going to ask for her number? Just like that?" Glimmer asked, watching Mermista march through the crowded restaurant with a combination of disgust and awe.

"If she does, it's only to be a little sh*t." Perfuma was one of those people who made swear words sound cutesy. She reached across the table to pat her arm, and Adora realized her mouth was still hanging open in shock. "If it's any consolation, Misty's already interested in... someone else."

Not as much of a relief as it could be when Mermista had just reached Catra and was actively hitting on her. Did no one around here respect the sanctity of dibs? Though it was a slight comfort when Catra immediately tensed as Mermista got her attention, all her earlier ease twisting into a scowl. Mermista made a show of holding out her phone and Adora dug her fingers into the vinyl of the booth.

She wanted Catra's number, damn it! Not that she would even begin to know what to say to her if she had it, but it was the principle of the thing! Adora dug her fingers into the vinyl cushion as Mermista talked to Catra wearing that infuriating smirk. At some point, she called Catra's attention to their booth, and Adora couldn't breathe as Catra's scanned disinterestedly over Glimmer and Perfuma until her eyes settled onto Adora with what felt like heat vision the way they burned directly through her.

Then stupid Beardy Tightpants got in her way, finally delivering their pizzas. The other two immediately went for the food, but for the first time in her life, Adora wasn't that interested in eating. She debated going over under the guise of telling Mermista the food was finally here, but before she could do anything, Beardy had called Catra's number and her and the fashionable Hordak clone were walking out the door with a stack of pizza boxes without a single look back.

Though there was at least some solace in the fact that Beardy had tried flirting with Catra as they paid and she'd had exactly none of it. Though she was pretty sure her companion had given him a wink on the way out.

"Oh, yeah, she f*cking hates us," Mermista said, her words in contrast to the sh*t-eating grin she wore as she slid back into her chair. "Certified bitch on wheels, that one."

"Did you get her number?" Adora couldn't stop herself from asking.

"Chill, I just said that to mess with you. Just made some small talk, pretended I needed to check something about tryouts. Didn't get a single juicy detail we didn't already know, so you can stop getting your dumb little hairpoof in a twist, blondie, your dibs are safe."

"Well, but who was that guy she was then?" Adora asked. A stupid question because clearly he was related to Hordak, and it was none of her business, but she couldn't stop herself from needing to know everything there was to know about Catra. “The one with the pink hair.”

“More of a coral, no?” Glimmer asked of no one in particular.

Mermista shrugged and helped herself to some pizza. "Either her uncle or her brother."

"You're not sure?"

"I'm not sure *they're* sure," Mermista said, taking a bite.

Adora waited for an explanation of that confusing sentence and, when it was clear she wasn't getting one, finally let her hunger get the better of her and reached for a slice of pizza.

"We should do this again sometime," Mermista announced as she pulled up to Glimmer's house.

"I'm game," Glimmer replied, as Mermista took Glimmer's driveway in one shot without so much as slowing down. An incredibly ballsy move, honestly, because there were these stone columns on either side of the entryway that Adora had always considered terrifying and easy to hit.

"Sure!" Perfuma chorused.

Adora looked between the three of them, feeling more than a little bewildered. From where she sat, this evening had been at best awkward, at worst a nightmare. But maybe now that everyone wasn't hungry enough to tear each other's faces off, it looked rosier in hindsight. Not to mention that once their food had arrived, the full frontal assault of Mermista's teasing was suddenly squarely on Adora and she had a better understanding of why Glimmer hated it so much. Turns out, when someone is joke bullying you about everything you're sensitive about, it feels a lot like real bullying. At least Adora didn't have to wonder if she was going to regret telling the others about her crush on Catra, with Mermista making her regret it in real time.

"Oo! We could make it a regular thing!" Perfuma suggested from the front seat. "Every Friday after lessons!"

Oh, that would never fly. Fridays were a longstanding besties sleepover night. Glimmer froze halfway out of the car, no doubt thinking the same thing, but she was still mad enough at Adora that she didn't look her way.

sh*t, what if she was so mad at her she didn't want to be best friends anymore? The bottom dropped out of Adora’s stomach as she realized how much she’d lose. But before either of them could say anything one way or the other, Mermista announced, "Eh, maybe some Fridays. I have better sh*t to do than hang out with you people every week of my life. Besides, Puma and I have our own Friday thing."

"So not Fridays then," Adora said, feeling more than a little relieved. "But, generally, we agree to spend more time together?"

"Yeah." Mermista caught her eye in the rear-view mirror and gave her a half smile. "You know me, I’m up for anything."

Chapter 7: Horse to Water

Chapter Text

Adora cut through the water, the rush of it against her ears blocking out everything but her thoughts. Tryouts were in two days, and she still hadn't decided what she was doing. Hadn't talked to her parents about the team at all either, mostly because her mom had only been home a few days before having to leave on another trip and this felt like one of those things she'd have better luck with if she caught them bother together.

The one thing she had going for her was that she was actually free on Sunday anyway. She could leave for the barn as if it were any other day off that she spent visiting Swifty and her family would think nothing of it. Sneak over, try out, then figure out how to deal with telling her parents when she got in.

Or... if she got it. Because it wasn’t a given. She kept forgetting that part.

A voice in her head, the one that sounded an awful lot like her father, said of course she’d get on the team. Obviously, she’d be one of the best! She was a Greyskull after all, wasn't she? Surely she’d get into the clinics, get onto the team, win the scholarship. Somehow it was all too easy to think that once she decided to do it, everything else would fall immediately into place as a matter of course.

Except— she thought as she pushed off the wall again, churning the water as she reversed the lap— did she want to do it? Horseback riding was the one thing in her life that wasn't scored or graded or defined in wins and losses. And look at her, already working herself into a hype about winning and being the best before the whole thing had even started.

Adora flipped onto her back for the next lap, focusing on the sky as she pushed her backstroke to the limit. She didn't need a scholarship, not the way someone might need it whose parents didn't have the money hers did. If she didn't win, they'd still pay for her to go to school. And so what if maybe taking her parents’ money for school meant signing up for the life they'd planned for her? Was that really so bad, to have people you loved pick out a nice life for you?

She growled as she flipped forward again, needing to see the water as she cut it, shoving waves out of her way as if they’d wronged her. Not so bad wasn't the same as good, though. It just wasn't! And if she could pick what she wanted... but she couldn't! That was the whole problem! She would never live the life she wanted unless she wrested control of her future back from her parents and if she won this, she could do this. She could win her freedom and maybe get to choose what she did next.

Something ached in her side, but she ignored it, pushing off the wall for another lap. Horses were her thing! Was she really going to let there be this big horse thing, a horse thing so big that it might change the fate of the barn that she loved, and not be a part of it? Her parents pushed her, yes, but it wasn't just them. She might not like running vocab on a Saturday night, but Adora liked being the best. And she loved winning.

In the end, it didn't matter what whys there were or whether the prize at the end was real or imaginary. The moment Hordak had told her she could win, she had already decided that victory was hers and woe to anyone who stood in her—

"Adora!"

Adora paused as she reached the wall, stopping to catch her breath and turning to where was Glimmer peering at her over her pink tinted sunglasses and looking for all the world like some glamorous movie star lounging between projects... apart from the fact that her raft was bobbing dangerously in all the waves Adora had churned up with her laps. Oops.

"Sorry." Adora considered adding that she had been so lost in thought she’d completely forgotten Glimmer was even there, but since this was Glimmer's pool in the first place, that seemed rude.

"You are terrible at relaxing," Glimmer said, replacing her sunglasses back over her eyes.

Adora debated continuing her laps for half a second before realizing she should probably give it a rest before she couldn't move her arms tomorrow. But what else was there to even do in a swimming pool if you weren't doing laps? If only the Moons had a basketball net or pool weights or something so she could at least make all this lounging around feel productive!

"What's with you today?" Glimmer asked, ruining the movie star look by flopping on her side so awkwardly she almost capsized herself. "You're all intense."

Adora hesitated, not sure how to answer. This was the most Glimmer had said to her since the ill-fated night at the pizza parlor, unless you counted her announcing as if to no one in particular things like "There are drinks in the fridge" or "I'm going in the pool."

Adora pulled herself out of the water and sat on the edge. "Just thinking about the tryouts."

"So you're signing up now?"

"Pretty sure I am, yeah."

She expected Glimmer to say something. Maybe ask her what made her change her mind or tease her about taking so long or even some good old-fashioned trash talk about how she was going to kick her ass. But what she wasn't expecting was for Glimmer to say absolutely nothing.

That they were even still having their weekly sleepover had been a surprise and no small relief, especially considering Glimmer had barely spoken to her all week. She'd fully expected to show up for lessons on Friday only for Glimmer to give her the cold shoulder or act extra chummy with Mermista and Perfuma just to shut her out. What she hadn't expected was for Glimmer to give her a muted "hey" as soon as she spotted her and then just hide away in Moonbeam's stall until it was time for lessons.

Glimmer was clearly still mad at her. Or... annoyed at her, at least. That much had been obvious when she'd absolutely shut down halfway through their hang out at the pizza place. But the problem with Glimmer is that you couldn't ask her point blank what was wrong, because she'd never tell you, and if you apologized for the wrong thing? Well, that was usually worse than not apologizing at all.

Since Adora had not been born with the ability to read minds, she usually just kinda played dead until the whole thing blew over or Glimmer exploded at her and at least she knew what she was supposed to be apologizing for. It wasn't a great system. Sometimes the angry, stubborn part of Adora that hated having to swallow stuff back just to keep the peace fantasized about really letting loose, having it out with Glimmer once and for all, because as much as she loved her best friend there was a long list of ways she drove her nuts too. But it wasn't like that could really happen, not with things the way they were.

"It's because of Catra, isn't it?" When Glimmer finally spoke, it was like an accusation.

"What? No! Catra has nothing to do with this."

"Bullsh*t." Glimmer shook her head. Adora couldn't read her expression behind the shades, but that Glimmer wasn't even looking her way was a pretty sure sign she was either furious or trying not to cry. "You weren't even interested in any of this until you found out she was part of it. You can't sign up for something because your best friend asked you to, but you'll do it because you're trying to impress some girl you barely know who's done nothing but treat you like sh*t!"

"That's not true." Or, at least, it wasn't entirely true. Okay, sure, finding out Catra was going to be on the team had made her think about it more, but, if anything, it was Hordak telling her about the scholarship had given her the biggest push, especially the way he’d talked her up. "And we still don't know anything Catra's done was deliberate! She could just be confused or shy or—"

“Oh, sure.” Glimmer did an exaggerated rich girl accent and an anime villain cackle, "'Oh, miss, won't you please buff my saddle for me? It's so nice that they let the help come to these things.'"

"Alright, she wasn't THAT—"

"Oh, come on, Adora!" Glimmer said, whipping her sunglasses off and sitting up so quickly she almost flipped the raft. "I was there when she tossed you those reins, okay? And I was there at the meeting when you let her talk down to you and still not apologize for any of it. It's one thing to joke about wanting a pretty girl to step on you and another to let her walk all over you because you're so desperate for her to like you."

"I'm... she's... you're just..." Adora sputtered uselessly for a moment before getting up to take a sip from her water bottle, not wanting Glimmer to see how much the comment bothered her.

Was she letting Catra walk all over her? Because sometimes she was too eager to please, Adam called her out on it all the time. Same with putting her own feelings last, never more so than with Glimmer herself because of the crushing weight of guilt going on there, but that didn't mean that was what was happening with Catra too, did it?

"What are you hoping?" Glimmer asked from the pool. "That you get on the team and then finally she respects you enough to treat you with basic human decency?"

"You're jealous!" Adora spat back before her brain could stop her.

"Jealous? What could I possibly be jealous of in this scenario?"

Honestly? Now that the comment was out there, even Adora wasn't sure.

"Of Catra," she hedged. "You said she was hot that first day."

"Because she is. And then I found out she was a nightmare and no f*cking thanks. It's one thing to window shop, but I'd have to be a masoch*st to sign up for that! You really think I'd be jealous of some girl who's getting off on making my best friend make a fool of herself?"

"She's not..." Adora began, but realized wasn't sure how to answer the question. She had this gut feeling that Catra was a good person, but Glimmer wasn't wrong that none of her actions so far had shown it. Which made it feel less like Glimmer was unfairly biased against Catra for no reason and more like Adora was deluding herself, her crush coloring everything with the elaborate fantasy version of Catra she was building up in her head.

Glimmer sat up, staring at the water. It was hard to read her expression, but Adora knew her well enough to sense something vibrating just below the surface. "It's just... she was so mean to you!"

Adora blew out a long breath, regretting even saying anything about it. "It's just a crush, Glimmer. It's not like I'm proposing tomorrow."

"Whatever. It's fine. Crush on whoever you want! I don't care!" Glimmer said, clearly caring harder than anyone had cared in all of human history. "I mean I have known you for most of a decade and you have never EVER mentioned a crush before even though I've told you about every celebrity or random person I thought was cute ever because that's what best friends DO and then you finally have a crush and it's CATRA of all people and you don't even tell me, you announce it to Mermista and Perfuma who we barely know! Are they your new best friends now?"

Oh. That's what this was about.

"Making new friends doesn't mean I'm replacing you!" Adora snapped, having the sense that this moment involved a gentler touch but being far too irritated by the entire conversation to care. She had to bite her tongue to stop from pointing out that Glimmer was being utterly ridiculous right now because that would only blow things up farther and what she was supposed to be doing was making peace, not making things worse. What even did Glimmer want from her with this? To agree to some kind of crush information exchange? Because it wasn't like she hadn't had crushes before, so much as Glimmer had spent so much time crushing on everyone it hadn't really felt like there was room left to talk about it. Was the problem that she hadn't told her first or that she hadn't told her all the other times? Was she mad she had a crush at all, or that it was Catra?

This was what Adora couldn't stand about Glimmer. How as much as she tried to fight against becoming the stereotypical rich kid, spoiled brat, she hadn't so much as attempted getting past the only child thing and realized that the universe did not revolve around her alone. And maybe there was some magical way to make her actually care about her friends and not take them for granted, but Adora sure didn’t know what it was. She felt guilty enough every time she made Glimmer upset. She huffed and took another drink, trying to swallow down her frustration and figure out what magic thing she could say to just end this stupid fight and get them back to normal when Glimmer gave a suspiciously wet sniff.

And of all the dozen things Adora was expecting Glimmer to say, what she said next hadn’t even made the shortlist.

"It's just... have you ever had a crush on me?"

Adora nearly spit out her water. "Glimmer, what the f*ck kind of question is that?"

"I don't know!" Glimmer was definitely crying now, tears sliding down her face and into the water.

Adora's stomach flipped, feeling a weird combination of panic and excitement. She glanced back at the house, but neither of Glimmer's parents were home, so if there was a time to talk about this, she supposed it was now. But, wow, was this going to suck.

Adora set herself back at the edge of the pool, her legs curled up against her chest. "Glimmer, you are my best friend in the whole world and I care about you so much but, I'm sorry, I don't feel like that about—"

Glimmer laughed outright then, incongruous with her face wet with tears. "Oh my god, Adora! Please tell me you don't seriously think I have a crush on you."

"You don't?" Adora asked, relieved but also a little... offended at Glimmer's reaction.

"No! You're Adora!" Glimmer said her name like she thought of Adora as the wacky neighbor on the sitcom of her life, which... ouch?

"You're really not jealous?" Adora asked. "Because you seemed kinda jealous."

"Well, I am, I guess, but not about that! It’s just… You're supposed to be my best friend, but apparently now that's Mermista and Perfuma because they're cooler and… and now you're apparently looking for a girlfriend but you didn’t trust me enough to tell me and… I’m never anyone’s first choice and I'm going to be left all by myself!"

"Holy sh*t, Glimmer,” Adora said, as her lunatic best friend dissolved into sobs. “You're still my best friend. Am I at Misty or Puma's house right now?"

"No." Glimmer's lower lip trembled, and she gave a wet sniff.

"And the Catra thing... it's just a crush on a girl I barely know. It's not like anything is going to happen there anyway. And even if it did, I'm not going to just ditch all my friends if I get a girlfriend!" Adora stretched her foot over to Glimmer's raft, pulling her closer to the edge so she could look at her. "And not telling you before I announced it to the others, well, I don't have a good answer for why I did it. I don't think I even realized I was crushing on her until I blurted it out and that was just when my mouth decided to break the news to the rest of me. It doesn't mean I don't trust you."

Glimmer was silent for a moment and then flopped into the water so quickly Adora wondered for a moment if it had been intentional until Glimmer surfaced, her sunglasses held neatly above the water so they wouldn't get wet. She swam up to the wall where Adora was sitting and leaned her arms against the edge.

“You think I’m a psycho.” Glimmer folded and unfolded her sunglasses, avoiding looking at her.

"Nah." Adora nudged her affectionately with her foot. "This is still well within my standards for normal Glimmer drama level."

Glimmer laughed and splashed her legs. "I'm sorry I'm so f*cking annoying. I love you. I support you and your terrible taste in women."

"Stop calling yourself annoying or I will kick your ass!" Adora said, kicking water back.

"But I AM! The worst part is can feel myself doing it and the whole time it's like stop, you're being a weirdo again, but then my emotions take over and it's like... Ifreak out." Glimmer groaned. "You know I don't have a lot of friends. Not good friends, anyway. And sometimes there's this terrible little insecure voice in my head that thinks even you don't like me and you're only hanging out with me because you're forced to or something."

"Oh, uh. Haha. Yeah," Adora said, watching the water slosh around her feet and feeling seasick. “That’s... that’s crazy.”

"Why am I the only one who's like this?" Glimmer slumped down onto her arms. "You’ve got everything so together with school and life and your future. Mermista is so confident, the way she flirts with everyone all the time, like she'd have no problem asking out anyone. Perfuma stays steady in who she is, even with all of Mermista's ribbing. And then there's me. Literal walking train wreck."

"Stop it. Believe me, you're not the only one who feels like a disaster." Adora pushed off into the pool so she was leaning on the wall next to Glimmer. "Now stop being mean to yourself before I have to kick your ass. I will tolerate anyone talking sh*t about my best friend. You're cute and sweet and you're loyal..."

"Mmm, realllly sounds like you're describing a dog," Glimmer said without moving her head, but there was a smile in her tone.

"Wait, I can salvage this!" Adora continued through her laughter, because once you'd pictured Glimmer as a tiny murderous purse dog, there really was no going back. "And you're badass and take no sh*t—”

"Little better."

"And anyone who knows you should be damn honored to have you on their side because I sure am."

"Nice recovery." Glimmer lifted her head, giving her a grin. "And that was really sweet, thank you. I'm glad I've got you too."

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes before Adora's curiosity got the better of her and she had to ask, "OK, but you’ve really never had a crush on me?"

Glimmer gave her an irritated side eye. "Is this going to be a thing now?"

"It's not an arrogance thing!" Adora clarified, though if she was honest with herself, it maybe was, just a bit. "It's just... you have had a crush on basically every girl we've ever met at some point. So, you know, just purely statistically, you would think..."

Glimmer sighed, her cheeks coloring. "Look. When you first moved here, I thought you were... attractive. Remember, we were in the same gym class and doing a unit on weight training you were like... I don't know. In that moment, you were like this shiny new golden muscly she-ra goddess to swoon over and if that's all I’d ever known you as, it totally could have developed into a crush. But then I met you and we started hanging out and... you're just Adora, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess." Adora answered, though she felt like maybe she was still a little offended. "But then, why did you ask me if I ever had a crush on you?"

“Well, because you were so weird when we first met. So eager and trying SO HARD to be my friend when it felt like we had nothing in common.”

Oh, sh*t. Adora swallowed, feeling ill.

“And, at first, it freaked me out a little. Like why were you trying so hard to be friends with loser Glimmer when no one else wanted anything else to do with me? Was it some trap where you were only doing it to make fun of me or bully me or... I don't know. But then when I realized you were gay I thought, oh, okay. She has a crush on me.”

Glimmer shrugged and Adora considered sinking directly to the bottom of the pool and never surfacing again.

"Which was why I started doing the whole dibs thing, honestly. Because I adore you, you know I do, but I don't like you Like That. So I figured if I told you every time I saw someone I did like, you'd understand that I wasn't interested without making it super awkward. Except then it became kind of a running joke, you know?"

Adora just nodded and considered sinking directly to the bottom of the pool and never surfacing again. "So you really weren't crushing on me at all then?" Glimmer answered with just enough of a hint of worry that Adora was overwhelmed with guilt.

"I guess I was," Adora answered because there was no possible way she could tell Glimmer the truth. "Plus I was new to the school and you seemed so cool." "Um, there is literally nothing about me that is even remotely cool?"

"Are you kidding? You had that blue to purple fade in your hair back then. Nobody else had hear like that in middle school. It was so f*cking cool," Adora grinned at the memory. "I can't believe your mom even let you do it."

"Oh, she absolutely did not 'let me.' But by the time she found out I'd already gotten dad and Aunt Casta on my side so she was mad enough to ground me for doing it without permission, but not mad enough to make me dye it back. It was a battle for years until I finally wore her down to just let me look how I want." "See? That's so badass!" Adora said and it wasn't lying to say she'd absolutely admired the sh*t out of Glimmer for the way she wasn't afraid to stand up to her parents or call them out on their sh*t. If it had been Adora in her shoes, no friends, all alone and insecure, she'd probably done whatever she could have to try to blend in but Glimmer had got the complete opposite direction, made her self stand out even more.

Adora glanced at Glimmer at of the corner of her eye, trying to imagine what it had been like if they'd just met, no weird baggage or obligations between them. Glimmer certainly wasn't unattractive. It wasn't that hard to imagine things shifting between them. Especially since Adora couldn't help but notice that when Glimmer talked about her ideal partner, Adora herself had most of those attributes.

"We'd work on paper," Adora offered, because the crush thing was still sitting there between them and it felt like someone needed to address it head on. "We get along pretty well."

"Do we? I was really pissed at you for most of this week." Glimmer didn't say it with any malice. More like she was considering it as much as Adora was.

"True." That was the catch. The secret unsaid trait Glimmer really needed in a partner was infinite good humor and the patience of a saint and Adora was pretty sure she was not the woman for that job. "What do you think? You're the big gooey romantic."

"I think there's supposed to be, like, sparks?" Glimmer offered. "Or something. I don't know." "Hearts floating over your head like cartoons?" Adora teased. "Yeah, I guess. Something like that." Glimmer sighed and Adora had been forced to sit through enough cheesy romance movies with her to know that Glimmer absolutely wanted someone to shower her with affection and sweet her off her feet. "But maybe that's childish. Sometimes I wonder if the whole breathless, heart racing all consuming LOVE thing is a romance novel invention and relationships are just supposed to be two people who get along well enough together and then they figure out the rest as they go."

"That works for a lot of people."

"It does. But I'm not sure it'd work for me. Maybe it's cheesy, I'm still kinda holding out I'll meet that person someday and it's like BOOM. Cupid's arrow. You know?"

"Yeah," Adora had been thinking that a lot lately, especially since she realized she had a crush on Catra. Because her and Glimmer clearly got along better than she and Catra did. But there was something about Catra, a spark, that she just didn't have with Glimmer and that had to mean something, didn't it? "So just besties?"

"Yeah." Glimmer looked sheepish. "Sorry. I feel like this whole conversation got weird." "No, you're fine. I think it's normal. Neither of us have ever been in love before. We have no idea what it feels like. And when you're queer there's this whole extra mess of trying to suss out when it's friendship vs attraction anyway. I think it's good we talked about this, help us both figure stuff out." Adora nudged Glimmer's shoulder. "Besides, you're too good for me anyway. Terrible taste in women, right?" Glimmer snort laughed as she flipped her hair. "Damn right I am!"

Adora grinned. That was the Glimmer she knew.

"Hold on, one more thing, and then we'll talk about something normal, I promise." Glimmer held out her hand. "A deal. We don't let anything get between our friendship. Not girlfriends or parent nonsense or school stuff or horses--"

Adora pulled a face. "Horses, huh? That one's going to be..."

Glimmer glared at her.

"Alright, fine." Adora offered her hand to shake on it but Glimmer pulled her back.

"Hold on. I don't just mean horses. I mean this whole team thing too. You have to promise you won't be weird if I get on the team and you don't or something."

"Sure," Adora offered, holding out her hand again and trying not to laugh at the idea of Glimmer getting on the team while she got left out and not the other way around. They shook on it and Glimmer seemed almost relieved, which made Adora wonder how much she'd been worrying about this.

"Good," Glimmer said, pulling her hand back. "Now you're stuck with me."

"Now, see, 'stuck with me' implies I don't actually want to hang out with you which I think qualifies as talking sh*t about my best friend. And since that is your third strike, I'm pretty sure I have to kick your ass now."

Glimmer only managed to scream before Adora leapt on her, dunking her underwater.

Chapter 8: Horsepower

Chapter Text

"Laugh all you want, my ankle still hurts! I would have beat you easy if you hadn't fought dirty!" Glimmer insisted as she hefted her saddle off Arrow's back.

"Sure you would have," Adora taunted, already tucking Swifty's bridle or her shoulder and balancing his saddle on her hip. Yesterday's pool wrestling had eventually spilled out into the lawn leading to a decisive Adora victory that Glimmer had spent their majority of their morning trail ride contesting. "I'll grab the buckets!"

Adora grinned as she walked back to the barn to stow the tack. As awkward as that conversation in the pool had been, it felt like their friendship was the better for it. Last night had been one of their better sleepovers, Glimmer even indulging Adora and letting her spend the better part of an hour analyzing every one of the handful of words Catra had ever said to her in exchange for letting Glimmer paint her toenails. Then she'd humored Glimmer by listening to the results (or lack thereof) of her efforts to cyberstalk Arrow’s owner though, at this point, Adora couldn't help but be a little intrigued by the mystery herself. Overall, a good night. It felt like they'd cleaned air Adora hadn't even realized needed cleaning and it was a relief to feel like there were no more secrets between them.

Well, no more secrets until that specific one that Adora was taking to her grave, obviously.

Adora spotted Hordak walking down the line of stalls, peaking in at each one, and she wondered if he was doing something official and teacher-ish or if even serious horse-types liked to say good morning to all the horsies just like she did. He was here almost every day now, teaching private lessons, and Adora was sure some of the adults in the barn where waiting for him specifically. He gave her a nod as he caught her eye and she couldn't help but feel like it was a vote of approval.

The barn had been empty when they left for their trail ride but now it was a buzz of activity, parents snapping on helmets before lessons, adults milling around and waiting for their lessons to begin.

Weirdly, having so many people in the barn made Adora feel less visible than she had in earlier this morning when they had the place to themselves. She set the buckets down by the old bulletin board and looked at the sign up list.

There was a pen tied to one of the pushpins that held it up and Adora grabbed it before she could change her mind. There was plenty of room in the column under Glimmer's name, but instead Adora found herself going to the very last column, empty but for one name, signed at the very edge of the line as if it didn't want to be associated with the others.

Adora signed her name directly under Catra's, so close her neat letters nearly touched the looping scrawl.

It felt like a challenge.

🐎

"Entrapta?" Catra called again, but still nothing. The house was only so big, and she'd already checked all of it. Though, if it turned out Entrapta had a way to move through the vents, that wouldn't even surprise her at this point.

When she didn't get an answer, she stepped outside, hoping she'd find Entrapta in the garage because she was running out of places to look. The woman seemed to come and go on a schedule known only to her and would often disappear for hours. It was 50/50 whether she'd return in a crisp lab coat from her fancy lab at the university or covered in grease, triumphantly holding the guts of some machine aloft while cackling madly.

"Entrapta?" Catra called again as she got closer to the open garage door because Entrapta startled hard when she was deep in concentration and she didn't want to be responsible for an explosion.

"Die, bitch."

"Argh!" Catra dodged Emily who'd darted out of a bush, twin blades— who gave her a second one???— whirring.

"Die. Die."

"Emily! Manners!" Entrapta called from inside.

"Kindly accept your death," Emily corrected, coming back for another swipe and it did not escape Catra's notice that she was moving WAY faster than she'd been yesterday. "Please accept this delivery of fresh pain."

"Why is she outside?" Catra asked as she dove into the garage, slamming the door behind her. Emily thudded against the wood, muttering curses in her deadly monotone.

"Oh, she's gone free range," Entrapta said, as if that answered anything, and then went back to whatever she was spot welding.

Catra had at least a dozen things to say about that and the whole Emily situation in general, but she bit them back because she was here to ask for a favor. "Hey, so, I need a ride."

"Emily's Kid Sister blew a tire when I tried to deploy her spikes. She's out of commission until I get a replacement."

Ah, f*ck. Hordak had started teaching private lessons during the week and so he wasn't around either.

"It’s just… I've got a job interview tomorrow."

Entrapta turned to look at her, which was downright unnerving with the full face welding mask on. "I don't require you to contribute financially to the household."

"Okay." As far as Catra was concerned, this whole thing was a business deal, an obligation that led to an end. The money thing kept it impersonal, and that was how she liked it. Besides, she needed money of her own now that the stuff leftover from Weaver was almost gone. “I’m still gonna do it.”

Maybe then she could actually get a car and not have to constantly bother Hordak and Entrapta for rides. That was one of the main selling points of this place Uncle Ron had found. The grounds butted right up against the back of the land the stable was on so she could just ride with Hordak when he went to teach his morning lessons and then walk the rest of the way herself. Well, that and it sounded like something she might genuinely enjoy, assuming wanted her and her absolutely zero experience.

And, yeah, she could shell out the money for a rideshare, but she was oddly nervous about this whole job situation and, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she wanted a friendly face along for backup. Which, for better or worse, Entrapta was.

Catra took a breath, thinking of Entrapta’s words to Emily, “Can you give me a ride tomorrow, please?”

"If it's tomorrow, I can take you in Darla!" Entrapta said, gesturing towards the gutted shell of a car in the corner it had never once occurred to Catra worked, mostly because its hood was completely empty, engine guts strew all about the room.

"Does that actually run?" Catra asked.

"I can make anything run," Entrapta said dismissively, and Catra didn't doubt it. "You want more horsepower? Give me a few extra hours and I could take you in that!"

Catra followed her gaze through the window to the rusted tank in the yard, which looked older than all of them and also like it had been neatly seared in half with some kind of super laser. Apparently, she'd been thinking too small when she thought about getting herself a car. She wondered if Hordak would let her drive a tank. She pictured herself rolling up to the first day of senior year of high school in that thing and decided she liked that image very much.

"Alright then. Tomorrow. Thank you," Catra said, glad to have it settled and feeling slightly more optimistic about her job and transport prospects. "In the meantime, do you need help to get it together or—"

Suddenly, the door flung open, slamming against the wall. Emily whirred in the open doorway. Between her twin blades was a stick she’d fashioned into a tool to open the doorknob.

"Life finds a way, bitch," she intoned, jabbing her makeshift tool into the dirt like a spear.

Catra had never been so terrified in her entire life, but Entrapta just lifted her mask to give Emily a delighted smile. "Clever girl."