The inky night sky was adorned with artificial stars of Naya City, like glowing pinpricks of light engineered by the metropolis's magical spiral.
Back in their hotel room, Catra and Lofo stood side-by-side on the private terrace, overlooking the beautiful city below.
From their vantage point, the tapestry of nocturnal life unfolded. People of all races moved through the streets: some on dates, others walking toward the central tree to celebrate its ancient presence, and still more streaming toward a festival that pulsed with sound in the hotel park.
Lofo observed the magic-infused cars and elegantly dressed people arriving at the festival and Catra's gaze was drawn higher. She was focused on the artificial stars with wonder, and some moments later, Lofo noticed her adoration.
Seeing her face bathed in their glow sent a wave of warmth through his heart. It didn't take long for the cheetah girl to notice his gaze. Her expressive cheetah tail slowed its movements and her ears lowered almost imperceptibly in a silent surrender to her shyness.
Then, Lofo gently laughed.
"I guess we're still nervous, huh?"
"Yeah… but at least it's quickly going away, you know?" Catra confessed.
"We should really stop having long breaks before seeing each other over and over again," the boy said, "It just causes this awkwardness to happen."
Catra turned her attention to a couple walking and laughing through the festival below.
"It isn't that bad… every time I get this feeling… it makes me remember why I said yes when you asked me to be your girlfriend."
Lofo merely laughed, also turning his view to the street. They stood for seconds, enjoying each other's company and seeing the symphony of urban life around.
"Hey… so… I talked to dad…"
Lofo looked surprised. It wasn't like her to start a conversation like that. She was serious.
"Really? How did it go?"
The girl remained silent.
"That bad, huh?"
"No… it's not like that," Catra murmured in resignation, "It's just… he said the same thing you told me."
"Well… it's just how the real world is."
Silence fell upon them again… Yet, Lofo sensed she had more to say.
"Did anything else happen?"
To his relief, it seemed she wanted to talk about it. Even so, the girl was stuck, trying to understand how to approach the subject.
Lofo knew that she'd always had a hard time talking to her father when it came to emotional matters, and he'd hoped they would resolve it on their own, but seeing how much struggle she's had changed that. He got an idea.
"I…" was the only word he could utter at first.
This caught Catra by surprise. She looked at him and found a complex mixture of worry and sadness.
"What's wrong?" she asked, moving closer.
Lofo pressed his lips into a thin line and took a deep breath. What he was about to do would hurt… though it was necessary.
"I think I know why you have trouble showing emotions to your father… I remember you once told me that after your mother died, you… you saw him in a way you hadn't. The same happened with me. I thought my mother was the pinnacle of strength. I thought her strong mentality was unbreakable. Every time I got hurt or cried, she was there for me. And when hardship fell upon my family, she was the pillar that carried both my father and me…"
His eyes widened due to the trauma of his father's death.
"I… hmmm… I never told you this… and it happened a long time ago… When my father died, she tried her best to keep up a front to hide her pain from me… to help me move on. After all, I was just a 13-year-old boy with no real life experience… children should never deal with such pain… and she knew that."
Catra watched Lofo unveil a new side of himself. She remembered her own sorrow… her own instinctive need to protect her father.
"… but even the strongest masks begin to slip up… and hers didn't last long. One night… she… she…" Lofo's voice choked.
The way he spoke urged Catra to grab his left hand in an attempt of comfort. It worked.
"… One night it finally got to her… I found her in her office drinking and looking at the memory book we all made together… I… her face… I'd never seen her cry before, and when I did, I saw how broken she truly was… She needed help…," his voice managed to push the words out with thick emotion.
The boy then reflected for a moment and his vulnerable eyes met hers.
"She needed someone to be her pillar. To help her through the pain. I realized I needed to control my emotions. I needed to be her pillar. And I became just that."
Catra remembered the moment she saw her own dad cry, how horrified she'd been by the sight of him breaking apart. It changed her… forever.
"Slowly, I helped my mother get up every morning. I smiled every time she looked at me so that she could see that I was alright. And I wanted her to know that I would be there when my father wasn't. I feel like that happened to you too, right?"
The glittering city, the distant festival, everything… all of it faded into an indistinguishable blur. For some reason, his words overwhelmed Catra. She immediately looked away.
"I feel like you went through the same thing," Lofo's voice hit the nerve of her deepest vulnerability, "You wanted to support your father in any way you could… and the only way you knew how was to hide your emotions… but doing it for so long made you fear showing them to anyone. That's why you use a front too. The mask of strength, right?"
His accurate words caused her mind to replay all the times she'd felt intense embarrassment because of Rod… all the times she'd defensively shut down the love he showed.
"You… you're right…" the girl finally whispered, "I don't know how to change that… maybe… maybe I'll stay like this forever…"
Lofo tightened his fingers around hers.
"You won't. I promise. You'll overcome it."
"How are you so sure?"
"I realized that by hiding my emotions… I was slowly separating myself from my mother. I wasn't being open with her, and that led to fights and misunderstandings. I realized that by doing that… I was at risk of losing both my parents…"
Catra eagerly waited for him to continue… He never did. The unspoken weight of his words hung heavy.
"A-and how did you fix it?" she finally whispered.
Lofo gazed at her with empathetic eyes.
"One day we both just… broke down… and for the first time in a long time, we had a proper conversation about how we felt. That's where we promised to be each other's pillar." he explained and placed his hand on her shoulder, "I don't want you to suffer through what I did… and I promise you, I'll do everything in my power to help. Just like how we kind of overcame our dating nervousness… at least a little."
A genuine grin curved Catra's lips when hearing the chuckle he made. Afterwards, she looked at him with a newfound clarity.
"You're right. I have to change… especially now."
"What do you mean?" Lofo asked.
"I patched things up with my dad yesterday, but after that, he saw someone from the past…"
"Who was it?"
"Well… After mom died, my dad also tried to move on… He began searching for another lover… I guess he was looking for a person that could fill the hole left inside him. It didn't work out, and they stopped seeing each other until yesterday…"
Lofo stayed silent.
"I just worry that maybe my dad hasn't moved on from my mom… otherwise, why would they see each other after so long?"
She paused and reflected on how Rod had always been there for her: Taking her to school, cheering at her games, congratulating her at graduation…
"I have to be there for him… and I have to be open about the feelings I hate showing…"
With determination, she looked at Lofo.
"Thank you… and I…" her words were caught in her throat.
"Come on, say it, we're alone up here."
"I love you."
The sincerity of her declaration left Lofo utterly speechless and caused his heart to skip a beat. His face changed to one only seen in a comedy movie.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Catra worriedly asked.
"I think I just died and went to heaven…"
"You're not dead, you dummy!" she exclaimed and gently punched his arm, "Don't make me worry like that!"
"You're right, I'm sorry."
And as they laughed with shared joy, the streets of Naya City continued to move through the hum of life. Moving toward the future.