A/N

I didn't really plan to write this but I could not resist. This is just a short, funny (hopefully) one-shot for the honor of Catradora 😁 Not much real drama here, mostly humor and some fluff. A short, pleasant distraction and I'm coming back to Fangrai.

Have fun!

Cute

"That's so cute!" Bow exclaimed bringing both his fist up to his chin, a delight flickering in his wide-opened eyes.

"Oh, you think that's cute?" Adora asked in an extremely cocksure tone just before her exaggerated laughter tore through the silence of the Whispering Woods. It ended with a few snorts and left a huge blatant smile on her face. "Then you should hear how she purrs whenever I get close." That earned a collective gasp from the crowd that gathered around her and she was visibly starting to enjoy it more and more with every second. Her grin grew even wider.

"She does?!" Glimmer gave voice to her astonishment.

"Yup." Adora confirmed straightening her back and pushing her chest out proudly. "Every. Time." Except for pronouncing the words exceptionally slowly and clearly, she wiggled her brows for an additional effect. The princesses, along with Bow, Sea Hawk, and Wrong Hordak looked at her in amazement.

"I don't want to ruin all the fun but they're back." Mermista said in a slightly exasperated tone, looking in the direction of Catra and Scorpia coming back to the group.

"Hi again, we've collected some more wood so everyone will get warm and cozy." Scorpia's enthusiasm was answered with a deafening silence. Everyone's lips were pressed together in a little bit unnatural smile. All eyes, opened wide in delight, were on Catra. "Right. I guess I'll just go put that down." Then Scorpia went to the side and started putting all the branches and logs into a neat pile.

At the same time, Catra's brows went high in surprise and anxiety started to spill all over her body. "Guys? What's going on here?" She asked suspiciously looking around to acknowledge that every pair of eyes was on her. The fact that everyone suddenly went silent at the exact moment she and Scorpia joined them didn't help with the growing irritation. The longer they stayed silent the more restless her tail started to become. "Why are you all staring at me?!" She yelled and they started to avert their gazes one by one busying themselves in some petty activities. Finally, her eyes reached Wrong Hordak.

"It's definitely not because of all the endearing stories Adora told about you while you were gone with Scorpia to provide us all with more wood so we can keep our body temperatures in the convenient range." Wrong Hordak finished the sentence with his trademark wink and smiled clearly proud of himself. It earned a disheartened groan of Mermista followed by a face-palm and a little bit nervous laughter from Adora.

At first, Catra's eyes went wide but they quickly narrowed along with her palms balling into fists. "Adoraaa…" She muttered through clenched teeth and a tiny embarrassed blush appeared on her face.

"Hehe… heh…" One more nervous laugh escaped Adora's mouth when Catra's eyes met with hers. "Whaaaat? Nooooo… I was just telling how much we liked to punch things back in the Fright Zone!" She threw a punch into the air and one of the bottles fell to the ground spilling its contents on the grass. "Whoops…" She leaned down to pick it up and wobbled a little bit.

"Just how much did she drink?" Catra asked the rest of them and Entrapta was the first one to come with an immediate and precise answer.

"Two and three-tenths of a bottle in the last forty-seven minutes. This fuzzy drink seems to influence her behavior and physical capabilities with fifteen minutes of delay. That means it hasn't reached its peak yet! This is fascinating!" Entrapta clutched her fists in excitement and kept watching Adora with her eyes big like saucer plates.

"Pfff nooo, I feel goood!" Adora's denial meant nothing in combination with a silly grin and a dazed look on her face.

"Adora, can I ask you for a minute here, please?!" Catra tried hard to keep her voice even and not raise it too much despite her obvious irritation. She did quite a good job with keeping it at bay, still, the request came out more like a demand. To tell the truth, it was intended to be nothing less than demand.

"Fine…" Adora got up with an intention to come over to Catra but when she was getting close she stumbled over a log and started falling headfirst to the ground. Catra caught her mere inches before meeting the grass.

"Awww…" Reached their ears from the direction of the group and Catra glared at them, trying to identify the exact source of the sound. But then Adora distracted her again.

"You've got me." She said with a slightly mocking voice and when Catra turned her head back, she witnessed one of these terribly smug smiles of her. "You're not letting go." Her smile grew even wider and even smugger.

"Argh!" Catra growled and took back her hand letting Adora fall the remaining few inches to the ground. "Get over yourself!" She crossed her arms and waited until her drunk girlfriend stopped chuckling. It took a few more seconds and a few more snorts before Adora made it to her feet.

"Just what did you say them?" Catra's question came out as a hiss since she didn't intend for the others to hear the conversation. The embarrassment was already tingling at her consciousness enough. Adora seemed to have other plans though.

"Whaaat?" She used her best stage whisper. "I can't hear you!" Her drunk face with half-lidded, unfocused eyes looked even dumber than before but Catra wasn't in the mood for jokes right then. Her tail was moving on its own angrily and she grabbed Adora's shirt threateningly.

"Stop playing games, Adora!" The drunk girl didn't seem threatened at all though and the fist in her shirt seemed to be the only thing holding her straight on her feet. Her head fell back and she laughed some more before giving up finally.

"Fiiine. I just told them thiiis and thaaat, and how you used to sleep at my feet back in the Horde…"

"What?!" Catra cut her off in shock but Adora didn't seem discouraged.

"And generally how cute you tend to be..."

"I'M NOT CUTE!" Catra roared at Adora with her palms balled into fists, all furious and embarrassed because of her girlfriend's betrayal. Her brows rose in surprise when she got distracted from her anger by a collective gasp reaching them from the direction of their friends.

"Adora's right!" Bow squealed with his voice all airy and pointing straight at Catra. "Her tail puffs up so much when she's angry!"

"No, it doesn't!" Catra denied, smoothing her tail with a swift movement of a hand. Her adamant denial managed only to make Adora burst into laughter.

"Oh, it does! And your ears stand up at once and get sooo pointy!" She reached with her finger to the tip of Catra's ear but it was batted away immediately.

"You're completely wasted!" Catra growled at her but somehow managed to keep most of her anger at bay. "We're going home while you can still walk…"

"Noooo, I'm goooood. We can't go just yet. Look it's a greeeeat bonfire right there." She pointed in the direction where once the fire tongues had been illuminating the dark night vividly. Now there was a barely smoking pile of logs, the fire completely smothered by the amount of wood.

"I'm not going to drag you latter. Common." Catra grabbed the blonde's wrist narrowing her eyes and staring at her expectantly.

"Or what?" Adora asked with an evil smile plastered to her face and suddenly her voice got way deeper. "You're going to leave another scratch marks on my back, kitten?"

Catra's eyes shot wide, her lips parted in silent bewilderment and a warm blush crept slowly up her face. Her eyes skimmed to the side just for a moment to see if anyone heard that. Fortunately, most of them had enough common sense to avert their respective gazes, pretending that they didn't listen at all.

That was just too much. To make things even worse, the patronizing way Adora called her and the pressure she put on it combined with her smug smirk was the final nail to the coffin. Catra's eyes narrowed even more than before and she gritted her teeth with a silent growl. She looked to the side after a while.

"Whatever. Do what you want…" She turned and walked away into the dark forest.

"Oh, common…. Catraaa!" She called after the woman glaring into her back and saw Melog rushing after her. Eventually, Adora rolled her eyes and came back to the group being in just as good mood as before. The rest of them seemed a little bit perplexed though. Especially Wrong Hordak who was slowly recovering from being startled to death by Melog that jumped to its feet and rushed away in the middle being petted by the clone.

"Did she... leave?" Glimmer asked Adora skimming her eyes between the blonde and the darkness of the woods.

"Nah, I've got it under control." She put her hands cockily on her hips. The smug smile quickly came back on her dazed face and she raised her index finger up trying to make a point. "She'll be back before I finish counting from ten to zero."

"Umm… you sure about that?" Bow asked exchanging a concerned look with his girlfriend, queen of Bright Moon.

"Pfff… Yeah! Don't worry about that." She waved her hand dismissively and cocksure laughter left her mouth. After that, she started the countdown.

"Yeah, she's right." Scorpia joined the discussion. "Catra would never leave her friends like that. Besides, she hasn't even tried the sausages yet." She pointed in the direction of Wrong Hordak holding a stick with sausage over the barely smoldering pile of wood. He waved charmingly and then winked at them with even more charm. "Yea…" Scorpia scratched the back of her neck. "It may take some time."

"Oh, I may have a solution to that!" Sea Hawk exclaimed and disappeared from everyone's view. Before Adora got back to counting, they all heard the wild shout 'ADVENTURE!' and the pile of wood burst into fire. Mermista, with an exasperated groan, put down the little flame that started to consume the wisp of hair that was left on the top of Wrong Hordak's head. He didn't seem to acknowledge it at all. He was too preoccupied with glaring at the charred sausage with a huge pout and tears threatening to break free from his eyes at any time.

Adora reached five in her countdown and the conceited grin on her face was starting to falter. She laughed nervously. "Chill! She'll be right back..." On 'three' she started to look around nervously but her kitten was nowhere to be seen. "Two…" The grin completely gave up and more and more anxiety was gradually taking its place. "One…" She gulped loudly and got two shades paler than usual. "A half…" She muttered weakly, her eyes wide open in dread, a bead of nervous sweat started forming itself on her temple.

Adora jumped to her feet completely panicked and threw herself in the direction when she saw Catra disappear. "Catra!" She shouted desperately. In her frenzy, she stumbled over the same log again a landed face first in the grass. "I'm fine!" She exclaimed and raised her hand up to calm the others. Then she scrambled on her feet and rushed into the forest.

Glimmer and Bow looked at each other wide-eyed and bewildered by what just occurred before their eyes. It might be even funny if Adora wasn't in a state that demanded someone to watch over her.

"Shouldn't we… go after her?" Glimmer asked staring blankly into a place that Adora disappeared.

"We definitely should." Bow answered and they rushed after her.

A few minutes later they teleported back to the camp. Nowhere any sign of neither Adora nor Catra.

"Argh! Why does she have to be like this?!" Glimmer let her irritation flow freely. "How were we supposed to catch up with her in the pitch dark?!"

"I'm sure she'll be fine and back soon. She's… you know, She-Ra. There is nothing in the Whispering Woods she couldn't deal with… right? " Bow tried to convince Glimmer but the fact that he himself didn't seem to be convinced, didn't help at all. The queen glared at him doubtfully. "Yeah, you're right…" He scratched the back of his head nervously. "We should keep looking for her."

They were about to go again when the spoken blonde girl emerged from between the trees. She stopped before them not really looking at them, fell to her knees, and sat on her heels hopelessly. Her eyes were wide open in fear and completely unfocused.

"She's gone…" Adora said weakly, still tethering on the edge of disbelief. Bow and Glimmer were at her sides at once.

"What do you mean that she's… gone." Glimmer asked precariously. The tense dread started to spread between the three of them.

"She… left."

They exchanged confused glances and put their eyes back on Adora. Glimmer shook the blonde's shoulders gently, trying to get some of her attention.

"What happened? Did you find her? Did you try to talk to her?" She insisted, full of concern for her beat-up friend.

"No. I told you she's gone. She wouldn't be gone if I found her, would she?" Adora exclaimed as if that was the most obvious thing in the world and both her friends suddenly seemed relieved somewhat. They let out their respective sighs and Bow even smiled reassuringly putting his hand on Adora's shoulder.

"She'll be back, eventually. No need to freak out about it. You know, this is Catra. She needs some space from time to time."

Suddenly, Adora's widened eyes focused on Bow. She grabbed his shoulders in a bruising grip and stared him frantically into eyes.

"You think she's gone into space?!" Her agitated voice demanded an answer. She was nose to nose with much-confused Bow who was gently trying to get back into the safe distance. Before he even got a chance to answer, her eyes got completely unnerved and tears appeared in their corners, threatening to fall anytime."I'm never going to find her out there!"

"Umm… Adora… I meant that she sometimes needs some time alone."

Adora exited Bow's personal space and sat back on her heels with a small pout. "But… I don't want her to be alone…"

Bow and glimmer looked at each other utterly endeared by the view before their eyes. This small pout and the sad tone of her voice almost beating all the cuteness of Catra. They could barely contain their smiles.

"We have to find her!" Adora raised her clutched fist, finding some newborn determination in her and startling her friends in the process. "We need to check Catra's favorite places." She put her hand on Glimmer's shoulder forcefully. "Let's go Glimmer! Teleport us, I'll point the way!" She extended her hand, pointing adamantly with her finger. When nothing happened, she looked back at Glimmer.

"You can't point the way… It's not how teleportation works." She was pinching the base of her nose in frustration. "I need the exact location."

"Hehe… right." Adora laughed nervously, scratching the back of her neck. "Well… there is such a tree in the Whispering Woods…"

"Adora! There are millions of trees in the Whispering Woods!" Glimmer shouted throwing her arms into the air with exasperation.

"Heh… Nevermind. Let's start with our quarters in Bright Moon."

Glimmer sighed tiredly and they disappeared.

After half an hour they appeared back in the camp and Adora feel to her knees again.

"She's really gone."

"Nah, she's probably playing hide and seek." Scorpia raised her from the ground and started crushing her in a strong embrace. "Common, it's nothing the great hug can't fix, right?"

"Can't breathe…" Adroa whizzed and Scorpia put her back to the ground.

"Oh, I'm so sorry… Gosh, all that freeing the magic of Etheria put some new might into these old pincers."

Adora caught a relieved breath but even Scorpia's great hug didn't help with her anxiety. "We looked everywhere…"

"Now, you don't worry about that! My beloved Mermista can find anything that once went missing! Like in the 'Mermysteries of the Burning Ship'!"

"Ughhh…" Mermista groaned in exasperation hiding her face in her palm. "You've just made it up… Besides, I left my detective hat and the writing pad back in Salineas so unless Glimmer teleports it for me, I can't start the investigation."

They were all interrupted by Frosta riding the wave of ice, jumping out of it with a somersault and landing among them.

"Scouting around the camp completed! There was some old erring Horde bot that I SMASHED into pieces with the ice hammer!" Then she crushed the ice hammer into the ground and the pieces of ice burst in every direction illustrating just how the bot was shattered.

"Frosta!" Adora seemed unnaturally happy to see her. "Did you see Catra somewhere out there?"

"Nope! And that's good because I still don't like her ugly face after she ruined the princesses' prom!'

Adora crossed her arms on her chest upset mostly by lack of news about Catra… but not only. "Her face isn't ugly…" Her eyes grew unfocused for a second and a small, dreamy smile nestled on her lips. "Actually, it's…" She bit her lip and a little blush started to adorn her cheeks.

"Did someone say Swift Wind?" She-ra's legendary steed appeared out of nowhere startling everyone as always.

"Swifty! Yes! You're just what I need." Adora's eyes shone with a new brilliant idea. How was it that Swift Wind had always so great timing? Well… almost.

"Ha! I knew that! That's because of our sacred bond." He said proudly giving everyone a meaningful look."

"I need you to try to find Catra from above."

The horse stood there staring at the blonde doubtfully. "You want me to spot a cat among the trees, from the sky, during a night."

"Ummh… Yeeeah?" She smiled apologetically but didn't resign from the idea. Swift Wind snorted in answer.

"You don't pay me enough for this…" He exclaimed with a sigh but obliged anyway jumping into the air and started flying over the trees looking for Catra.

"Do I…. pay him?" Adora whispered to Glimmer in utter confusion. "Like… at all…?"

"Oh, he gets apples."

"Riiiight, apples." Adora laughed to herself but quickly her shoulders slumped again. "What if he doesn't find her?"

"Adora, you need to get rid of all these negative thoughts." Perfuma kneeled before her with an encouraging smile and took her palms into hers. "You just need to breathe and let all this negativity go away. Common, follow my lead. Close your eyes and take a deeeep breath." Adora did as she was told. She closed her eyes just like Perfuma and took a slow breath. "Now exhale." They both exhaled but Adora's body was just as tense as before, maybe even more. With her eyes closed, she couldn't help but see Catra's back disappearing among the trees. During another inhale, her chin started to tremble and she could feel tears pulling into her eyes even though they were shut close.

"I drove her away." Her eyelids shot up in panic when she sobbed desperately. "I'm such an idiot!" Catra's laughter started ringing in her ears. Such a beautiful and terrifying sound. All in one. Adora clutched at the sides of her head in complete despair. "Argh! I can even hear her laugh in my head! I think I'm going nuts!" Catra's laughter reverberated even louder.

"Umm… Adora. I think we can all hear her laughter." Said Bow pointing up with his finger and the woman looked up in complete bewilderment.

"Hey Adora." Said Catra in so typical for her mocking tone. She was slacking there on a branch of a tree propped against the trunk leisurely, her leg hanging down loosely, swaying gently. She jumped down finally, deciding that Adora had enough.

"Catra." She responded the same way as she always did seeing her in the least expected moment and staring at her.

"I can't believe you really fell for that." Catra laughed again.

"You've been there the whole time?" She got to her feet still baffled by the sudden turn of events.

"Duh! You should've seen your face. 'Noo! She left me!'" Catra made her best exaggerated expression of Adora and couldn't help another wave of laughter shaking whole her body. It made her bend in half clutching at her belly. Catching a breath was a real challenge then. "'You think she's gone into space?!'" She kept on bursting out with laughter and wiping the tears of joy. "Seriously, Adora?" Her voice was so strained and breathless that Adora could barely make out the words. "You're such a dork sometimes."

Adora narrowed her eyes slightly. A little bit of irritation was nagging at her but, still, she couldn't help a corner of her mouth turning up just so. The view of Catra laughing like that was getting to her too. The amusement seemed contagious. Even if her girlfriend was laughing at her it was quite a view for sore eyes. After all they'd been through, every moment of Catra being so carefree and just simply happy was precious and extremely heart-warming.

The laughter was slowly getting quieter and, finally, Catra managed to take a full breath. Her eyes met with Adora's slightly reprimanding ones. "You really thought I'd leave you, dummy?" She added still grinning toothily but her voice grew much gentler. This fleeting moment didn't last long, though, as the mischievous sparkles shone again in these heterochromatic eyes. "Tell me just…" A pinch of evil poured back into Catra's voice and Adora grew watchful as the woman walked slowly passed her, getting her tail wrapped around Adora's waist. Soon her chin appeared on the blonde's shoulder from behind. "When did you get so soft, princess?" She whispered mockingly into her girlfriend's ear and got half a step away, watching as Adora's eyes first widened and then narrowed on Catra, obviously responding to the bold mockery. Her palms balled into fists but Catra held her gaze challengingly and wasn't going to let go just yet. "You should've known already you'd never get rid of me."

Adora's hand shot forward and she grabbed Catra's collar before the cat could even react. At once, her body tensed automatically, ready to fight, still remembering the times when they were enemies. A cocky smirk answered Catra's surprised expression. It grew even more surprised when she was pulled closer and Adora caught her lips in a kiss. She needed a moment to shake off the initial tension and relax into the pleasure, closing her eyes and responding to the eager lips. Her hand cupped Adora's cheek gently, not wanting the kiss to end anytime soon. And she felt as if she was melting inside. A warmth spreading across her chest made the loud, satisfied, very cat-like rumbling start there. Somewhere in the background, she heard a collective gasp of their friends but she just wasn't able to care. She would deal with all the mockery latter.