The Bad Side || Catradora

Chapter 16: Just Come Home

"It's always food with you," Catra teased, glad she hadn't been caught staring.

"Um, yeah. Have you ever tried food?"

"Apparently not, since you always forget to bring me anything."

"That was literally only one time," Adora rolled her eyes. "Come on." Grabbing Catra's free hand, she slowly led them down the dirt path, both girls entirely unaware that the other was screaming on the inside from the contact.

The farther they travelled on the path, the thicker the trees became. Catra was doubtful they were headed in the right direction. Were the woods shifting on them? No one could possibly build anything in this dense of a forest.

To her surprise, however, the sound of music slowly began to fill the air. With it came the smell of all kinds of different foods, most of which were new to Catra. What was confusing her, however, was the origin of these sounds and smells.

"Adora, where are we-" She began to ask before something powdery fell onto her face. Wiping at it, she saw it was some pink substance that stuck to her hands. When she looked up to see where it had came from, Catra couldn't help but gape at the sight.

Above the two girl's heads was an entire town built into the treetops. Massive wooden platforms adorned the trees at different levels, all connected by various rope bridges, vines to swing from, and ladders. Some of these platforms supported entire houses, others were smaller and filled with different street vendors.

All around the town, people seemed to be celebrating. Something special seemed to be taking place as people danced and sang, moving freely from platform to platform. They were all wearing different costumes with masks made to look like the forest creatures. In the air, people were throwing colored powder that swirled in the wind, painting the trees in every color imaginable.

Catra looked over at Adora who looked just as awestruck. Something about the wonder in her eyes made Catra smile.

"This is...not what I expected," Adora laughed nervously. "I mean, I completely forgot."

Looking over at Catra and seeing her quizzical look, she added, "It's just, Bow, he mentioned there was a party in town. We were supposed to..." Adora swallowed a bit. That's right, she thought. We had plans today.

'Just not good enough.'

"Hey," Catra nudged Adora, lightly pushing her shoulder with her hand. It was meant to just be that, a simple motion to snap Adora out of it. And while it worked, what Catra wasn't expecting was for Adora to reach up and absentmindedly link her hand into Catra's. If Adora was aware of what she'd done, she didn't say anything.

Catra looked down at their interlocked fingers for a moment in shock but didn't do anything to pull away. She liked how warm Adora's hands were.

"So," Catra cleared her throat, trying to hide her red face, "What's this party thing for anyways?"

"I don't know," Adora said. Taking a deep breath, as if mustering up some newfound courage within her, she turned to Catra with a nervous smile, "Do you wanna find out?"

Catra squeezed Adora's hand, an answer in itself. If it's with you, I'd do anything.

"There's one problem though." Catra wished it weren't so. She pointed towards the closest of the many ladders that stretched to the ground floor of the forest. "I can't exactly climb very well."