pt.7

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'Adora! Do you need any help?!'

'No, Glimmer! I'm fine! You've helped plenty already!'

'Are you sure?!'

'Yes! Now stop shouting through my door, I need to think!'

Only after hearing Glimmer's huff of frustration, followed by her stomping back through their flat to no doubt complain to Bow until he calms her down, does Adora open their eyes. They have a little over an hour until Catra said her shift finishes (Adora had to text after leaving BMCC to ask because they forgot to ask while they were there—a result of being too busy panicking about almost kissing Catra) and they still have yet to pick out an outfit.

After initially getting home, reluctantly taking off Catra's comfies and trying desperately to find something to wear, they realised that their clothes were all just kind of... meh. Over the years, after going on "girly" shopping trips with a number of groups, Glimmer included, Adora had amassed a collection of clothes that they didn't really want anymore. Denim shorts that barely cover their ass, skirts that are way too short for the winds of post-winter months, skin-tight jeans that barely reach their ankles— tight and skimpy clothes that always seemed to hype up whoever they were shopping with at the time. Glimmer herself has an extensive collection of crop-tops, most she shares with Bow, and Adora has a good number now too after tagging along and being made to try things on. They don't mind those though, really, they show off the muscle that appeared as a by-product of doing what they enjoy, and Glimmer has mentioned on many an occasion that if their abs work that well for her then they must be absolute "lesbian-magnets".

Adora kind of wants to test that theory on someone in particular.

But the issue with the rest of their wardrobe did come up during a very efficiently ended argument during which Glimmer offered to pay for some new clothes for Adora, before sending them and Bow off with her debit card, locking the two of them out of the flat, and shouting from behind it: "Time for some me-time!"

Bow bet that they'd find the bath covered in glitter again when they came back. Adora didn't bet against him. He'd have won.

Adora was initially confused when Bow took them straight past the women's section of the clothing store, beelining towards the men's clothes. He didn't even glance at the women's clothes and, when Adora realised what was happening, they could barely hold down their excitement.

Wearing men's clothes always felt like it was something forbidden to them. Something they would always wonder about but never actually get to try. The tennis kit they started wearing was, for a while, the closest Adora thought they'd ever get to wearing men's clothes.

"So," Bow had asked, standing in the middle of the men's trousers section, "where do you want to start?"

Adora, grinning like an idiot, just speed-walked around the store, grabbing the baggiest clothes with the deepest pockets they could find. Cargo pants, straight-cut jeans, long sleeved plaid shirts, hoodies, shorts that go down to their knees that have pockets on the sides. Adora's never seen so many pockets before.

After they were done gathering their haul, trying some things on just to make sure they fit nicely (most of it did, Adora may have almost cried a few times looking at themself in the changing room mirror) Bow waved them away to wait by the entrance to the store while he went to the checkout to pay with Glimmer's card. Adora felt a little bad indulging in their friend's kindness like that, and the voice in the back of their mind that usually berates them for relying on people came back with a vengeance once they got home again.

So that's where they lay now, on the floor of their bedroom in their shared flat, staring up at the ceiling and trying not to think about how they don't deserve to be looked after like this. How they don't deserve these clothes because they didn't earn them, they didn't work for them.

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