Chapter Text
CHAPTER 3 - the drunk mess of a girl
Sophia drops her hand and lets her head roll back to stare at Catra again. The room, or rather, the massive forest canopy, is spinning a little bit, giving her that floaty, unbothered confidence that only comes from a lingering hangover. A goofy, completely unfiltered smile spreads across her lips as her eyes roam over Catra.
God, she is hot.
Like, Sophia knew she was animatedly attractive, but up close? The way the dappled sunlight catches the different colors in her eyes, the sleekness of her dark fur, the way her pants just rest perfectly on her hips... it was entirely too much for Sophias currently compromised, drunk system to handle. A goofy, completely unfiltered giggle bubbles out of her lips, making Catras ears flick in irritation.
"Okay, WOW, if Im hallucinating from alcohol poisoning, my brain did a fantastic job with the render," Sophia slurs happily, leaning her head on her hand, her gaze entirely locked on Catra. "You are just... ridiculously fine. Seriously? That jacket should be illegal on you. You look like you could punch me in the face, and I'd probably say thank you. Not even probably, I would"
Sophia reaches out a hand, lazily gesturing in the air as if shes trying to trace Catras sharp jawline before her hand drops heavily into the dirt. "Absolutely perfect. Tenth grade me would be passing out on the floor right now. Honestly, eighteen-year-old me is about to join her."
Catra freezes mid-step, her tail completely stiffening behind her. Her ears twitch wildly, the faint red tint spreading just a little bit further down her cheeks. She quickly pulls her jacket collar up slightly and glares back at Adora, trying to look completely unbothered, though her voice lacks its usual sharp bite. "What did you just call me? And what is a tenth grade? Adora, tell me this girl isnt entirely out of her mind."
"She's totally delirious," Glimmer whispers, stepping a bit closer while keeping a cautious eye on Sophias messy, uneven pink pigtails and pink pajamas. "Either that, or she's trying to throw us off by acting completely unhinged so we dont interrogate her."
"Wait, look at her device!" Entrapta suddenly squeals, her purple hair extensions snatching Sophias phone high into the air. While Sophia is busy trying to balance a small twig on her index finger, murmuring under her breath about how "the physics engine in this nightmare is way too realistic," Entraptas prehensile hair is rapidly tapping against the glass screen. The girls chipped black polished fingernails hadnt been the only thing left behind in the dirt: Her phone was completely at the princess' mercy.
A sudden, sharp ding echoes through the quiet woods. A notification banner drops down from the top of the lock screen, a routine daily reminder from a preinstalled notes app. Entraptas hair taps the notification instantly, bypassing the lock bcs she tries the first thing that comes to her mind when asked for the code: "ilovecatra" just as the screen switches. It opens up a massive, incredibly detailed document right at the top of the app, titled in bold text: WHY I KIN THEM (EMOTIONAL DISSECTION).
"Fascinating! Truly fascinating!" Entrapta murmurs, her purple eyes scanning the glowing text at supersonic speed as her goggles click down over her face. "The interface responds to localized pressure and heat conduction. And the data stored within it... wait. Hold on."
Entrapta stops tracking the screen with her hair. Her usual chaotic, high energy bouncing suddenly drops away, replaced by a sudden, eerie quietness that feels completely wrong for her. She blinks, her eyes widening behind her goggles as she reads the lines over and over again, her mouth parting in pure shock. "Entrapta? What is it? Is it a blueprint or something?" Bow asks, taking a step forward and picking up on the sudden shift in Entraptas mood.
Entrapta slowly lowers the phone, her gaze drifting from the screen over to Sophia, who is currently lying flat on her back in the grass, staring up at the leaves and whispering to herself about how she hopes her apartment landlord doesnt evict her while shes trapped in a vodka coma.
"It's... an analysis," Entrapta says softly, her voice carrying a rare, heavy gravity that makes Adora and Catra instantly tense up. "Of us. All of us. Our personalities, our flaws, our deepest behavioral patterns. Things... things we have never told anyone outside of this squad. It has a whole list about you, Catra. It talks about attachment wounds, and pushing people away first so abandonment feels controlled instead of unexpected."
Catra snaps her head toward Entrapta, her eyes flashing dangerously as her defensive walls immediately fly right back up. "What? Give me that! Who the hell wrote that about me?"
"No, look at the top," Entrapta insists, holding the phone closer to her face so the others can see the glowing screen. "It lists us as 'characters.' It details something called a 'season five finale'. It treats our entire lives, our war, our trauma, like it was a structured story. A show." Entrapta looks up, her eyes wide as she stares at Sophia with a profound, breathless realization. "She isnt a Horde spy, Catra. She isn't even from Etheria," Entrapta quietly explains, her hair gently holding the phone out toward Adora. "Her tech, her clothes, her vitals... shes from an entirely different dimension. And in her world, we arent even real. Were just a story she watches to feel safe...".
"Let's see here..." Entrapta continues, her hair scrolling down the digital note while her eyes dart back and forth between the screen and Sophia every few seconds. "The data matrix is categorized by subject names. Oh, look! Catra, you're first! It says: pushing people away first so abandonment feels controlled instead of unexpected... intense emotional reactions that come out as anger, sarcasm, or defensiveness... struggling to trust love even when it is genuine."
Entrapta pauses, glancing over her shoulder at the feline. "Wow. That's incredibly accurate. Remember when you did that literally two minutes ago when Bow called you cute? The text completely predicts your behavioral patterns!"
"Shut up, Entrapta!" Catra snaps, her tail lashing so hard it thwacks against Adora's armor. Her ears are practically on fire now, the dark crimson flush spreading all the way down her neck. She crosses her arms tightly, trying to look imposing, but her heterochromatic eyes keep darting back to the pink-haired girl on the ground.
Sophia, completely oblivious to the psychological autopsy happening right next to her, rolls onto her back with a content sigh. She spreads her arms and legs wide, sliding them back and forth against the damp green grass as if she's making a snow angel. "Man, this grass texture pack is wild," Sophia slurs happily into the sky, a dizzy grin plastered across her face. "Best dream ever. Honestly, if this is what alcohol poisoning feels like, 10 out of 10, no notes. I'm just gonna stay right here on Etheria forever."
"Yup, shes definitely still drunk," Bow whispers with a faint smile, watching Sophia happily wave her arms in the dirt. "But... how does her little glowing brick know so much about us?"
"Let's check the next data set!" Entrapta chirps, her hair scrolling past Catra’s list. "The next subject is... me!" Entrapta smiles widely, expecting a fun breakdown of her tech or her hair modifications. She starts reading the bullet points out loud, her voice fast and bouncy. "Deep hyperfixation on interests to the point of emotional immersion... analyzing people, stories, and systems in extreme detail... difficulty with social cues..." But as her eyes track down the next few lines, Entrapta’s voice suddenly falters. The bouncy, energetic cadence of her words completely dies out.
Getting excited in ways others misinterpret as too much... prioritizing curiosity and understanding over social expectations... being misunderstood as weird instead of just differently wired... never having anyone stay... The forest falls into a heavy, suffocating silence. Entrapta stops reading entirely. Her hair drops slightly, lowering the phone as she stares at the glowing screen.
For the first time since the Best Friend Squad had known her, Entrapta looks completely struck dumb. The ambient whirring of her mind seems to freeze. She looks up from the screen, her magenta eyes locking onto Sophia. She scans the girls messy pink pigtails, her oversized pink tank top, the tiny, uneven way she’s curled her toes in the damp grass.
Then she looks back down at the phone. It was all right there. The parts of her that made her feel like an alien among her own people. This strange girl from another universe hadnt just observed her; she understood her. She felt the exact same way. Entrapta had spent her entire life surrounded by data, bots, and wires because people were too complicated to figure out, but right here, in a random text file, she had never felt so entirely, completely seen.
Without saying a word, Entraptas hair quietly moves forward. Instead of handing the device to Adora or Bow, the purple locks extend straight toward Catra, presenting the phone to her in total, uncharacteristic silence. Catra eyes the glowing glass suspiciously, her ears pinning back. "What? Why are you giving it to me? I don't want to read whatever weird sci-fi nonsense this girl wrote."
Entrapta doesn't blink, her expression incredibly serious as her hair jiggles the phone closer to Catras hand. With a heavy, defensive growl, Catra snatches the phone from the hair extensions. She glares down at the screen, her eyes finding the very top of the note where her own name is written in bold, messy digital text. Her swallows hard, a visible, heavy lump moving down her throat as her heterochromatic gaze tracks down the list..
- breaking down once nobody is there
- wanting affection deeply but acting like you dont need it
- difficulty believing you are worth staying for
- wanting to be chosen, but expecting not to be
Catra feels a terrifying, overwhelming wave of vulnerability crash over her, a sensation so intense it makes her feel completely exposed, like someone had peeled back her armor and left her raw in the middle of the woods. She has never, ever felt so deeply seen in her entire life. Her heart hammers violently against her ribs. Desperate to find a distraction from the crushing weight of the analysis, her thumb twitches against the screen, accidentally swiping backward.
The app returns to the folder menu, and Catras eyes instantly lock onto another document right beneath the first one. It's titled in chaotic capital letters: CATRA ESSAY (DO NOT DELETE READ WHEN SAD). Before she can stop herself, Catra clicks it.
What pulls up on the screen is a massive, towering wall of text. A huge, unfiltered, deeply passionate rant that flows across the screen like a tidal wave of pure emotion. It is an intense defense of her entire existence, screaming through text about how much Catra deserved love, safety, and kindness after everything she had been through. The note dissects her childhood, calling her the absolute scapegoat of the Fright Zone, raging against Shadow Weaver's psychological abuse, and weeping over how devastatingly sad it was that every single person she had ever loved or trusted had eventually abandoned her.
Catra’s throat goes dry as her eyes hit a line typed out with frantic sincerity: ...and it literally breaks my heart because if I was there I would NEVER abandon her. Like actually never. I would stay through everything. The text keeps going, spiraling into a massive, breathless rant about just how completely perfect Sophia thinks she is. It details exactly how Sophia would treat her right, how she would hold her through every single nightmare, give her endless forehead kisses, wrap her in warm hugs, and literally marry her on the spot if she could.
And then come the descriptions, gushing over how ridiculously hot, beautiful, and absolutely divine Catra is, leaving paragraph-long rants about her sharp jawline, the perfect fluffiness of her ears, and her athletic, muscular build. Catra stands completely rooted to the spot, the phone trembling slightly in her hand. The dark red flush that had started on her ears has now taken over her entire face, burning hot against her fur. Her tail is completely frozen behind her, curled into a tight, shocked question mark. She looks down at the text, then looks over at Sophia, then looks back at the text, her brain entirely short-circuiting.
Adora, seeing the absolute shock and the bright crimson blush completely paralyzing Catra, steps over and tries to peer over her shoulder. "Catra? What is it? What does it say? Your ears are turning red."
"Nothing!" Catra suddenly shrieks, her voice jumping an entire octave as she violently yanks the phone away from Adoras view, clutching it tightly against her chest like it’s a state secret.
At the sharp, high-pitched sound of Catras sudden shriek, Sophia’s grass-angel movements halt. She blinks lazily, the loud noise piercing straight through her pleasant, vodka-induced haze. With a heavy, dramatic sigh, she pushes herself up onto her elbows, sitting up just enough to look at the group. Her long, messy pastel pink pigtails fall slightly out of their uneven ties, draping over her face. She reaches up with a slow, clumsy hand to brush a stray strand behind her ear, tilting her head completely to the side as she squints up at Catra. The movement is so entirely unprompted, so soft, and so unfiltered that a collective wave of endearment washes over the group. Her big, expressive eyes are filled with an open, sleepy vulnerability, her brow furrowing and her lips into a pout that makes her look incredibly sweet, safe, and small against the massive backdrop of the forest.
"AWWW," Bow whispers under his breath again, his hand clutching his chest. Even Glimmers suspicious posture softens completely, a faint, defeated smile tugging at her lips because the girl is just entirely too endearing to look at. Sophias gaze drifts from Catras wide eyes down to the glowing rectangle clutched tightly against the feline's chest. A slow, knowing, and very tipsy smirk spreads across Sophia's face. "Wait..." Sophia slurs out smoothly, her head tilting even further to the side as she points a lazy, chipped black polished fingernail at Catra. "Did you... did you just find the essay? Did you read the rant about how perfect you are? Hm?"
Catra stiffens, her eyes widening to the size of saucers as her ears pin themselves flat against her head. She opens her mouth to snap a denial, but her throat completely locks up. Sophia lets out a soft, amused tsk sound, shaking her head in mock disappointment. "Knew it. Caught red-handed. Literally. You're so red." She lets out another airy, dizzy giggle, her posture instantly slumping as the effort to sit up becomes too much for her tipsy brain to handle. "Whatever. It’s my dream. You can read it if you want..."
With that, Sophia completely surrenders to gravity. She lets herself fall straight backward into the grass with a soft thud, letting out a content groan as she immediately spreads her arms and legs wide again, resuming her slow, peaceful grass angel sweeps. "Back to the wonderful texture of the coma. Mmm, soft..."
Catra stands there completely paralyzed, her tail twitching in frantic, erratic zigzag patterns. The sheer, overwhelming embarrassment of being called out by a drunk, pink haired girl from another dimension is too much. She needs the attention off herself immediately. Without looking, Catra aggressively thrusts the phone backward, shoving it right into Adoras chest. "Here," Catra barks, her voice tight and fiercely flustered as she stares fixedly at the dirt. "Take it. Read it. She wrote stuff about you, too."
Adora blinks, quickly catching the phone before it drops. She looks at Catra's burning red ears, then looks down at the glowing screen. With a curious frown, Adora uses her thumb to scroll past the massive wall of text detailing Catras divine muscles, her eyes searching the folder until she finds the section marked with her own name. Her breath hitches slightly as she begins to read the bullet points Sophia had written about her. Adora’s fingers tighten around the edges of the phone, a sudden, sharp ache hitting the center of her chest as she reads the words thinking that love is something you have to work for.
She slowly turns the phone toward Glimmer. "Glimmer... look. It's... it has a section for you, too." Glimmer frowns, taking the device. Her eyes immediately scan down her own section, tracking the words about feeling responsible for other peoples happiness and wanting to be strong for others even when you feel broken yourself. While the two princesses stand side-by-side in stunned, breathy silence, Sophia doesn't even move. She stays lying completely flat on her back, her eyes closed as her arms and legs continue their slow, rhythmic sweeps through the grass.
"I bet..." Sophia starts, her voice cutting through the heavy quiet of the forest. It’s airy, slightly slurred, and carries the lazy, unbothered confidence of someone completely convinced they are talking to a brick wall in a nightmare. "I bet you guys wouldn't think I'm so good at reading people, huh?"
The group goes completely still, everyone turning their heads to look down at her. Sophia lets out a soft, hazy giggle into the open air, her head rolling slightly to the side against the damp ground. "Yeah... just by looking at me, one wouldn't really think I went through abuse as well. Or, like... three attempts either."
The words leave her lips so casually, so completely stripped of any caution or filter, because to her brain, none of this is real. "Unless..." Sophia mutters, her arms slowing down against the dirt as she lazily gestures toward her own body without even opening her eyes. "Unless you look at the scars on my arms and legs, I guess. But the grass texture pack is way too good for that..."
A suffocating, icy silence instantly drops over the Whispering Woods.
The casual, airy tone of her voice makes the confession hit like a physical blow. Bows jaw drops slightly, his eyes instantly flooding with a deep, aching sorrow. Glimmer lets out a tiny, sharp gasp, her hand instinctively flying to cover her mouth. Adoras breath completely catches in her throat. Her blue eyes drop instantly to Sophias exposed arms and thighs, taking in the soft fabric of her pink tank top and shorts.
Now that she's looking, really looking, she notices them. The pale, quiet lines tracing across her skin, partially hidden by the messy pink hair falling back into the grass. Catra’s heterochromatic eyes widen, her pupils shrinking into tiny, sharp slits. Her tail stops its erratic twitching entirely. She knows those kinds of marks. Hearing this sweet, adorable girl talk about her own survival and her three attempts to off herself with the exact same detached, casual tone Catra used to use when deflecting her own trauma, it completely shatters whatever defensive walls Catra had left.
Sophia lets out another soft, dizzy sigh, but the sudden, heavy silence stretching over the woods finally registers in her hazy brain. With a clumsy groan, she pushes herself back up into a sitting position again. She rubs her eyes with the back of her hands, blinking up at the four of them. They are all staring at her with these incredibly intense, fiercely protective, and sad expressions.
"Woah, hey," Sophia slurs, waving a lazy hand in front of her face. "Why the long faces? This is a happy dream! The war is over, Prime is dust, and..." Her gaze drifts directly over to Catra, her big, expressive eyes completely lighting up with a totally unfiltered, drunken grin. "...and I am currently looking at the most beautiful, divine, ridiculously fine woman in the universe. Seriously, Catra, you are so hot. It’s actually crazy. Like, my brain did a phenomenal job generating you today."
She lets out an adorable, airy giggle, leaning her chin on her hand, completely unbothered by her own total lack of a filter. The heavy, protective sadness Catra had been feeling a second ago instantly collides with a massive wave of pure, unadulterated embarrassment. A furious, bright crimson blush erupts across her face, turning her ears a dark, burning red. Her tail shoots straight up into the air, puffing out like a bottle brush. "I—you—what?!" Catra stammers, her voice cracking as she takes a sharp step back.
She looks frantically at Adora, who is biting her lip to hide a massive grin, and then at Bow, whose eyes are practically sparkling. "Stop looking at me like that! And you! Shut up! Stop saying that out loud!" Sophia just blinks lazily, tilting her head in that incredibly sweet, endearing way. "But it's true. You're perfect."
Catra's chest heaves as she tries to process the sheer audacity of this pink-haired girl. But then, her eyes drop down to the phone still clutched in Adoras hands. She snatches it back, a sharp, competitive smirk suddenly cutting through her heavy blush. If this girl is going to be weaponized by alcohol and confidence, Catra can play that game too. She has the ultimate blackmail material right in her hands.
Catra takes a slow, deliberate step forward, her tail smoothing down as she drops into a low, dangerously confident stance. She swipes her thumb across the screen, looking directly down at Sophia with a mischievous glint in her heterochromatic eyes. "Oh, really?" Catra purrs, her voice dropping into a smooth, teasing drawl that sends a sudden, very real shiver down Sophia's spine. "You think I'm 'divine,' huh? You think I'm 'ridiculously fine'?"
Sophias smile falters just a tiny bit, her tipsy brain trying to figure out why the dream character is suddenly moving closer. "Let's see what else you wrote in here," Catra continues, her ears twitching playfully as she raises the phone, reading directly from the essay with a wicked smirk. "'If I was there, I would never abandon her. I would hold her through every single nightmare, give her endless forehead kisses, wrap her in warm hugs, and literally marry her on the spot if I could.'" Sophia's eyes instantly go wide. The floaty, unbothered vodka confidence suddenly vanishes, replaced by a massive shockwave of pure panic.
"Wait, hold on-" Sophia squeaks, her voice getting higher by almost an octave. "Oh, no, no, I'm not done," Catra teases, taking another step closer until her heavy, dark red boots are right next to Sophias knees. She leans down slightly, her sharp jawline and fluffy ears suddenly way too close for comfort. "'Her athletic, muscular build... I just want to trace my fingers over her arms and tell her she's safe.' Wow. You really thought about this, didnt you, pinkie?"
A violent, scorching blush instantly explodes across Sophia's face. It floods up her neck, staining her cheeks a bright, intense pink that matches her hair. She clutches her oversized pink tank top, her heart hammering so loudly she's sure the entire Whispering Woods can hear it.
"I-thats- you weren't supposed to read that part out loud!" Sophia stammers, completely flustered, her chipped black polished fingernails digging into the dirt as she tries to scramble backward. Her tipsy brain is short-circuiting so hard she forgets how to form actual sentences. Catra lets out a soft, triumphant laugh, her tail swishing happily behind her as she watches Sophia turn completely into a blushing, stuttering mess. "What's the matter? You were pretty loud a second ago. Come on, tell me more about how you want to kiss me and marry me. I'm listening."
Sophia swallows hard, the intense blush burning so hot against her cheeks that it genuinely feels like it could melt the grass beneath her. She squeezes her eyes shut for a second, desperately trying to force her brain to wake up from this incredibly loud, incredibly humiliating dream.
"Okay, look!" Sophia squeaks out, her voice pitching up as she points a trembling, chipped black polished fingernail at Catra'+s face. "I mean- yes! Obviously! I would absolutely marry you on the spot, that is literally just a basic fact! But that is besides the point! You need to stop reading right now! Put the glowing brick down, Catra, I am begging you!"
Adora bites her lip so hard she looks like she might burst out laughing, while Bow and Glimmer are watching the entire exchange with wide, completely entertained eyes.
Catra, however, feels an absolute rush of pure, intoxicating triumph. Seeing this loud, overconfident, pink-haired girl completely fall apart into a stuttering, blushing mess is the best thing thats happened to her all week. She lets out a low, deeply amused chuckle, her ears twitching with wicked delight.
"Oh, come on, pinkie," Catra purrs, her voice dropping into a smooth, dangerously teasing drawl. She doesnt even think about shutting the phone off. Instead, she deliberately shifts her weight, her heavy red boots taking another slow step closer as her heterochromatic eyes lock onto Sophias panicked face. "Why stop now? We were just getting to the good part."
"No, seriously, don't scroll down- !" Sophia gasps, her hands flying out to grab at the air, but her tipsy balance sways, and she has to plant her palms right back into the dirt to keep from tipping over.
Catra’s eyes move down to the screen, her thumb casually scrolling further down the massive wall of text. But as her gaze tracks the next few paragraphs, the smirk on her face falters for a fraction of a second, her ears giving a sharp, startled flick.
The text is descending. It’s leaving the soft, poetic territory of forehead kisses and warm hugs, spiraling rapidly into something way less innocent, way less adorable, and very intensely descriptive. Catra’s voice catches in her throat for a brief second, but she forces her smirk back into place, her eyes gleaming with absolute, shameless mischief as she decides to read the next lines out loud anyway, completely weaponizing Sophia's own diary against her.
"'...and honestly, if she ever pinned me against a wall, I would literally lose my mind,'" Catra reads aloud, her tone dripping with a slow, deliberate cadence that makes Sophia want to evaporate into the soil. "'Like, she is so strong, I just want her to trap both of my wrists over my head, lean all of her weight over me so I can't move, and just kiss me. Not even gently. Just kiss me so hard I completely forget how to breathe—'"
"CATRA, PLEASE, CHILL, OH MY GOD!" Sophia screams, her voice cracking in pure, unadulterated mortification.
She pulls her knees tightly to her chest, burying her scorching hot face into her hands. The blush has completely taken over her entire body, turning her ears, her neck, and her cheeks a violent, universal shade of crimson that puts her pastel pink pigtails to shame. Her heart is hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Meanwhile, behind Catra, Adoras jaw has completely dropped, her blue eyes wide in absolute shock. Bow instantly covers his face with both hands, his ears turning bright red, while Glimmer lets out a loud, choked cough, completely stunned by the sudden, intense shift in the text.
Catra looks up from the screen, her own cheeks heavily flushed beneath her dark fur, but she refuses to lose her upper hand. She steps right over Sophia's legs, looming directly over the curled-up, trembling girl. She bends down, her sharp jawline and the soft, fluffy edge of her ear practically brushing against Sophias messy hair.
"Wow," Catra murmurs directly into Sophia's ear, her voice a low, lethal purr that vibrates right through the girls chest. "Pinned against a wall, huh? Trap your wrists? You're a pretty loud talker for someone who collapses the second I read your mind out loud. Come on, look at me. Tell me more about what you want me to do to you."
Sophia keeps her face tightly buried in her hands, her whole body trembling as the violent crimson flush burns hot against her skin. Her mind is a chaotic, screaming vortex of pure panic, spinning out of control. When she finally forces her hands away from her face, looking up at the feline hybrid looming over her, her face is an absolute, adorable mess. Her big, expressive eyes are wide, glassy with a mixture of overwhelming embarrassment and raw, unfiltered desire, her eyebrows furrowing into a desperate, trembling pout.
She looks up and down Catra’s figure, the sharp, lethal angles of her jaw, the sleek dark fur, the effortless power in her shoulders, the way those trousers rest just right on her hips. It is entirely too much. Innerly, Sophia is completely drowning in how ridiculously, flawlessly hot Catra is, even while she is actively tearing her dignity to shreds.
"Ah... please," Sophia whines, a soft, helpless sound escaping her throat. Her breathing hitches, turning into a slight, shallow hyperventilation as the sheer proximity of her ultimate comfort character short-circuits her nervous system.
Desperate for grounding, Sophia reaches out with trembling, chipped black polished fingernails and clumsily grabs onto Catras calves, anchoring herself to the heavy red boots standing over her. She looks up, pouting heavily, her cheeks completely matching the pink of her messy pigtails. "Do not read... please. Please, just... stop looking at it."
But she doesnt try to snatch the device back. Her tipsy, overwhelmed brain is frozen, and Catra, completely drunk on her own power, just smirks wider, her heterochromatic eyes flashing with wicked delight. She looks back down at the screen, her thumb scrolling further, entirely unprepared for the sheer velocity of what comes next.
Catra’s smirk instantly falters. Her tail shoots straight out, the fur puffing up completely as her eyes track the text, which has completely abandoned all subtlety. "...I want Catra to literally just trail kisses down my jaw to my neck to my chest to my stomach to my hip to my thigh. I'd do anything for that woman. God she's so perfect. I want hickeys from her hidden in more private spots so only we know. GOD she's so hot. I want her to literally eat me ou—"
Catras voice completely dies in her throat. Her jaw drops, a massive, explosive blush erupting underneath her dark fur, turning her ears a violent, bruising shade of crimson. Her eyes dart from the text to the innocent, pink dressed girl clutching her legs, her brain completely fracturing. How does someone who looks like a sweet, harmless pastel doll have a mind this fiercely, descriptive, and utterly dirty?!
"Stop! Literally stop, oh my god, I am begging you!" Sophia wails in a high, whiny voice, tugging weakly at Catra's boots.
But Catras eyes are locked on the screen in a horrified, intensely flustered trance, her thumb accidentally scrolling even deeper into the absolute depths of Sophia's late-night locked notes. The text gets even more vivid, pouring out across the glass: "...holy fuck. I want her so bad. Just waking up next to Catra would be the dream. Her fangs softly grazing my neck, her biting my lips while kissing, kissing so much both our lips are swollen, having her claws dig softly into my waist as she kisses me, having her knee between my legs while we kiss, her spreading my thighs a bit as she hugs me from behind and then her hand traveling down into my pants-"
"I'M SORRY! I am so, so sorry, please shut it off!" Sophia screams, completely freaking out now. She lets go of Catras legs and covers her face again, her mind spiraling into a frantic, chaotic loop of pure madness.
Behind them, the rest of the squad has completely dissolved. Bows face is entirely buried in his hands, his neck completely red as he emits a high-pitched, squeaking sound of pure second-hand embarrassment. Glimmer is staring at the back of the phone with wide, dinner-plate eyes, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, completely stunned into absolute silence. Adora has turned entirely around, her hand clamped over her mouth, her shoulders shaking as she tries, and completely fails, to process the vivid imagery of her best friends fangs and claws being analyzed in a multidimensional text document.
Catra is entirely paralyzed, standing over Sophia like a statue, the phone trembling violently in her clawed grip. Her inner monologue is screaming. She looks down at the gorgeous, flustered mess of a girl pouting up at her from the dirt, and a strange, heavy flutter slams into her chest. It's a wildly confusing mix of intense embarrassment, a sudden spike of possessive heat, and absolute bewilderment.
"I- I mean, I would do all of that!" Sophia suddenly blurts out from behind her hands, her voice muffled but fiercely honest because she refuses to lie, even in a vodka dream. "I totally would! But holy fuck, that's not my brain twenty-four-seven! That's just what happens when I see you! Which is right now!"
Sophia's internal thoughts are crashing into each other like a multi-car pileup.
One half of her brain is weeping: Oh my god, I love her so much, she deserves the entire world, she's healing and her past doesn't define her, I just want to protect her and care for her and make sure she never feels abandoned again.
While the exact other half of her brain is screaming: Holy fuck, she is the hottest, most divine woman to ever exist, her shoulders are so muscular, I want to go down on her right now, I need to marry her, but dear god I need to shut that woman's mouth before she reads the rest of my digital diary.
"Read- read the other notes!" Sophia whines desperately, her expressive eyes peeking out from between her fingers, looking entirely endearing and frantic. "Read the depressive ones! The ones about why youre perfect and strong, and how much I relate to your childhood trauma! Please! Just stop reading the hornyposting, I am literally going to evaporate into the grass texture pack!"
Catra swallows hard, her throat incredibly dry as she stares down at the blushing pink mess of a girl. She pulls her jacket collar up as high as it will go, trying to shield her burning face, but her eyes keep drifting back to Sophia's lips, her mind involuntarily replaying the words swollen and waist. Clutching the phone tightly against her chest, Catra lets out a sharp, highly flustered huff, her tail thrashing in absolute, chaotic circles behind her.
"You- you are completely psycho, pinkie," Catra manages to bark out, though her voice is entirely too breathless to sound menacing. She glares down at Sophia, her heart hammering against her ribs as she tries to handle the sheer, overwhelming gravity of a girl who wants to heal her soul and ruin her sanity all at the same time.
Innerly, Catras entire world is spinning faster than a Horde skiff. Her mind is fiercely backpedaling because, holy fuck, a terrifying realization is creeping up her spine: She is actually, genuinely attracted to this disaster of a human being. It makes absolutely no sense. Catra stares down at her, completely bewildered by how someone who looks this ridiculously soft, innocent, and adorable, like a sweet pastel doll dropped perfectly into the dirt, could possess a mind that is so wildly descriptive and unhinged.
But deeper down, beneath the panic and the flustered heat, something aches. This girl had read the absolute worst parts of her. She knew about the trauma, the toxic coping mechanisms, the horrific mistakes, and the deep scars left by the Fright Zone. Yet, instead of running away or calling her a monster, this stranger looked at her with pure, unadulterated adoration, declaring that she deserved kindness and was worth staying for. Catra had never felt so terrifyingly vulnerable, or so desperately wanted.
"Seriously," Catra scoffs, trying and failing to regain her cool posture as she gestures vaguely with the phone at Sophias pink pajamas. "The stuff in your head does not match how you look. At all. You look like you would cry if a leaf fell on you, but youre writing... that?"
Sophia doesnt even drop her hands. She keeps her face tightly buried in her palms, letting out a long, pathetic, whiny groan. She presses herself closer to the dirt, genuinely wishing she could just glitch through the map, integrate with the grass blades, and disappear from existence entirely. The humiliation is absolute.
Behind them, the rest of the squad is barely holding it together. Bow has his face completely stuffed into his own shoulder to stifle his hysterical, high-pitched wheezing, his neck a deep shade of scarlet. Glimmer is fanning herself with one hand, her wide eyes darting between Catra's blazing red face and Sophia's curled-up form, completely speechless. Adora is still halfturned away, her hand clamped over her mouth, her shoulders shaking violently as she tries to handle the mental image of Catra being described as a "divine, muscular goddess" who traps people against walls. Meanwhile, Entrapta is leaning over Adora's shoulder, completely fascinated, muttering something about how "hormonal spikes from a parallel dimension seem to drastically lower filtration protocols."
Sophia suddenly peeks out from between her chipped black polished fingernails, her face a scorching, vibrant pink that completely rivals her messy pigtails. Even though she is thoroughly mortified, the vodka in her system forces a sudden wave of fierce, stubborn honesty out of her throat.
"I- I mean, I do not regret writing any of that!" Sophia blurts out, her voice cracking slightly as she pouts up at Catra. She shifts on the damp ground, completely flustered but determined to stand by her diary. "I am a woman of my word, okay? If you actually wanted to do every single thing I wrote down, I would literally stay right there and let you. 100 percent. I wouldn't take back a single word."
Catras jaw drops slightly, a fresh wave of crimson flooding her cheeks.
"But! But that's not the main reason!" Sophia whines defensively, tugging weakly at the grass. "I dont want you to think I only like you because you're the hottest, most divine, beautifully muscular woman Ive ever encountered in my life. Because you are, but that's besides the point! I like you because of who you are. Because of how you overcame everything Shadow Weaver did to you, and how youre actually healing, and how you genuinely regret your mistakes. Youre so incredibly caring beneath that stupid, sarcastic facade, and you deserve to be loved safely!"
The raw sincerity in Sophias voice makes the entire forest go quiet again. Adoras expression softens completely, and Catra looks down at the girl, her chest heaving, her throat totally locked up by the pure weight of Sophia's words.
Sophia lets out a heavy, dizzy sigh, her head rolling back as the alcohol tilts her vision again. She lets out a soft, airy giggle, shaking her head as she reminds herself of the obvious truth. "Ugh, whatever. Why am I even explaining myself? It's just a dream anyway. A really, really intense, alcohol poisoning hallucination. There's no way Etheria is real. I'm probably just snoring face down on my She-Ra blanket right now, and my landlord is gonna find my body tomorrow."
Sophia turns her head toward Catra, her eyes squinting slightly as she lets out a soft, confused hum. The room, or the forest, whatever her brain was concocting, was spinning just enough to make processing Catra's explosive fluster a little slow. She blinks, her expressive eyes tracking the way Catra is clutching the phone tightly against her chest like it holds the secrets to the universe.
Slowly, a heavy, dramatic pout forms on Sophia’s face as the realization finally clicks into her hazy, drunk mind.
"Ugh, you kept reading," Sophia groans softly, her voice carrying that whiny, endearing edge as she looks up at the heavily blushing feline. She folds her arms loosely over her pink tank top, shaking her head. "You were supposed to stop. Or, like, go to the other notes. The ones where I talk about how strong you are. You weren't supposed to stay on the... the enthusiastic appreciation section."
She pauses, looking at Catra's dark red ears, and then just shrugged her shoulders casually. "Whatever. Its all a dream anyway."
She lets out an incredibly adorable, dizzy giggle, the sound completely airy and unfiltered. But as she giggles, her center of gravity completely betrays her. Still heavily tipsy from the lingering vodka, her weight tilts sharply to the side. With a soft, uncoordinated hum, she completely topples over, landing right back onto her side in the damp green grass. She doesnt even try to sit back up. She just stays lying there, her long, messy pastel pink pigtails flauting out around her head as she stares up at the leaves with a dazed, completely peaceful smile.
She looks so disarmingly adorable lying in the dirt, looking so entirely sweet, harmless, and dolllike, that it is genuinely impressive how she managed to completely short-circuit the most dangerous cat-girl on Etheria.
"But... I stick to my words," Sophia mutters into the grass, her voice getting a little softer, a little sleepier, but fiercely genuine. "I really do. I'd never abandon you, Catra. Never. If... if this wasnt an alcohol poisoning dream, I'd stay forever. But I'll probably just wake up soon. Or... or I'll die in real life from the vodka, and then I'll probably stop dreaming this entirely. Which would suck, because the grass pack is nice."
The casual mention of her own mortality mixed with such intense, fierce loyalty makes the entire forest drop into an even deeper, stunned silence.
Adoras hands drop from her face, her blue eyes wide and shining with a mixture of intense second-hand embarrassment and a deep, aching protective instinct. She looks down at the petite girl in pink, her heart twisting at how casually Sophia talks about disappearing. Bow slowly sits up from the dirt, his face still completely flushed, but his expression softening into pure, empathetic sorrow as he looks at Sophias scars and her sleepy smile. Glimmer lets out a quiet sigh, her hand resting over her heart, completely disarmed by how fiercely this stranger wanted to protect Catra despite her own heavy burdens. Even Entrapta stays quiet, her hair gently settling into a loose drape as she watches Sophia with an unusually soft gaze.
Catra stands completely rooted above her, her chest heaving as Sophia's words echo in her ears. I'd never abandon you. Hearing it spoken so softly, by a girl who was currently smiling up at the sky while thoroughly wrecking Catras sanity, sends a massive, terrifying flutter straight through her chest.
Catra glares down at the dazed, smiling girl, her ears twitching in a frantic effort to fight off the sheer amount of affection bubbling up in her chest. She aggressively shoves the phone deep into her jacket pocket, refusing to give it back, before crossing her arms tightly.
"You're not dying, pinkie," Catra huffs sharply, though her voice is entirely too soft and breathy to carry any real bite. She looks away, her tail swishing in slow, intensely flustered circles through the grass. "And you're not going anywhere. So shut up and stop talking about disappearing."