alright so i was scrolling through the scorptra tag and 90% of the posts were saying that it would never work and that catradora is the ONLY ship that has ANY canon potential WHATSOEVER and i'm smad so have a oneshot even though i'm not good at writing them yet

i ain't putting it on my writing acc since that's for musicals but yee yee

also idk if cats can see color well but pretend they can?? the thing with the colors is funny to me and i'm not taking it out

•••

catra, regardless of how it seems, does not entirely enjoy being by herself. however, since adora became a dirty backstabbing friend-abandoning princess, she can get behind alone time a bit more.

that's why she absolutely does not miss scorpia, who's been constantly busy with something she hasn't actually explained. of course she doesn't! scorpia's constant affection and helpfulness is annoying and definitely not endearing in a weird way. no, catra's just mad because she isn't working, that's—

"catra! hey— hey, catra!"

oh. well, speak of the devil.

catra glances up at the voice, and finds herself oddly glad to see scorpia. she does not pay attention to this feeling at all.

"what, scorpia?" she snaps as she turns around to face the far taller woman (who is currently hiding one claw behind her back), raising her eyebrows. she sounds bitter— and she is! obviously!

scorpia suddenly looks a little bit shy, before holding out a box to catra. "here! it's a thank you gift- it's actually from when you let me defend that pass thingy, but it ended up taking longer to make than i expected it to? like, a lot longer. but hey! it's here now." she ended her little speech with a grin.

huh.

catra's tempted to roll her eyes and shove it back, possibly with an exasperated remark about how she deserves less of a thank-you gift from scorpia and more of an apology gift from scorpia for being so irritating, but...

but scorpia looks so happy, and so nervous, and like her heart would literally shatter while depressing violin music plays from an unknown source. who knows. and oddly enough, the idea makes catra almost sad too.

so, she takes the box lightly, her claws scratching against the wrapping.

there's a tag on it, but for the life of her catra can't read it. the only thing that's vaguely recognizable is the incredibly shaky heart at the top of it, which doesn't exactly help catra decipher this chicken scratch.

her confusion must be apparent, because scorpia pipes up somewhat sheepishly. "sorry about the handwriting— it says wildcat! i just can't really hold a pen well with the claws, so i kinda just put ink on the point and tried to scrawl it out, but it kept scratching through the paper, so i asked entrapta to do it for me, and her handwriting's really messy too, but it's better than mine, so... yep, wildcat." she finishes her ramble with another beam.

that nickname used to grate on her, somewhat. it's cute— no, wrong phrasing. very wrong phrasing. it's tolerable now, but catra's shown enough already, so she rolls her eyes a bit before tearing open the wrapping quickly.

it's... something. catra can't exactly tell what it is until she takes it out of the box— and it's a sweater. there's seven stripes on it— dark pink, a sort of desaturated pink, lighter pink, white, really light pink, pale red, and darker red— in that order.

scorpia fumbles with her claws in a weird, nervous fashion. "i thought you might like it— since you seemed to run sorta cold at the northern reach? the colors were just sorta a hunch since you wear warm colors a lot— do you like it?"

she does. she really does, which is strange because catra's never really loved sweaters that much. plus, this one looks to be a little big for her, and not exactly perfectly made... but the idea that scorpia pays enough attention that she knows (or at least can guess) catra's preferences, the idea that genuine thought went into this? it's really, really heartwarming.

catra doesn't say that. instead, catra simply deflects by questioning where she got this, as she's pretty certain soft sweaters in various shades of pink are hard to come by in the fright zone.

"i made it myself, actually!" scorpia answers, looking a little disappointed at the lack of an answer— but not entirely shocked. catra feels guilty. or something. "it was kinda tricky, because..." she gestures with her claws a bit. "but entrapta helped a little, and i put a lot of effort, so here it is! sorry it's not... um. great."

that feeling of being cared about is coming back full force, and a small smile spreads to catra's face. "no, it's... i really like it, scorpia. thanks?" she regrets it as soon as she says it, because friends are bound to abandon you, and whatever else she's feeling right now that she's only felt for adora previously is a huge liability.

...but scorpia suddenly looks happier than catra's ever seen her, which keeps the smile on catra's face going strong.

"oh, really?? great! i hoped you would— that's great!" scorpia suddenly embraces catra with a hug that lifts her off her feet and is entirely too tight, but is also surprisingly familiar and enjoyable.

huh. scorpia might actually be growing on her.

catra finds herself hugging back.