Archive of Our Own

“Afternoons feel so much emptier without strategy meetings,” Glimmer laughed, kicking up her feet into Bow’s lap.  “I almost feel spoiled , being done before nightfall.”

Adora snickered, smile warm. “You? Spoiled? With your dad back and making up for lost bonding time and birthdays? Noooo -” 

She shrieked and ducked to avoid the pillow Bow lobbed at her. It was a lazy toss- Catra intercepted it with a bark of laughter without lifting her head from Adora’s lap. Her claws snagged on the fabric when she tried to retaliate. 

“Aw, come on!” Catra hissed, flexing her hand- it didn’t do much. Bow looked up from his communicator to chuckle and seemed to decide against sacrificing another, instead chucking the throw pillow at Glimmer. She parried with her forearm, laughing, and decided to hold onto it when it fell to her side.

“Oh, quit it!” Glimmer rolled her eyes. “He got the hang of it after the fifth stuffed animal.”

“Seventh, actually,” Bow piped in, to Adora’s guffaw. She’d have shot him a withering look, but a well-timed wink and with his hair tousled a bit by the wind. Well . She let it slide.

She’d left the window open- it had looked like the makings of a balmy day that morning. The sun was only dipping behind the treeline around Brightmoon and the weather had been fair since noon. The breeze brought just enough of a chill to make Glimmer tug her cape over her knees. 

Pillows and blankets were scavenged from every room available- mostly Adora’s, including the mattress that replaced the one she destroyed… a lifetime ago, it felt like. Pinks and blues and purples and sequins and silk mottled with golden light. It looked a little like a dream, or one of the First Ones illusions. An evening just shy of perfect.

Glimmer exhaled, sharing a look with Bow as Adora tried to salvage the pillow, Catra’s irritated hissing fading into background noise. 

It all felt a little bit unreal for things to finally just be over.

Well, it wouldn’t be ‘over’ over for some time yet. Not by a long shot. Rebuilding their home, everyone’s homes, took a lot of time. Years fighting the Horde made some of it routine, but coordinating something on this scale was a bit out of Glimmer’s depth. Not strategy meetings stretching into a purple evening by any means, but. The new normal they were working towards would take more than a little magic to make.

It was a more methodical, measured pressure on Glimmer’s shoulders. Directing supplies, relief efforts, refugee housing and reunions- planning in weeks and months instead of days and hours. Things that didn’t need to be done now , but very soon please . Occasionally a crisis made things a little more lively. A few Horde rebels and clones still clinging to that blah blah light blah blah peace blah blah Horde Prime . She got to trim her planning down to seconds and breaths for that. It was fun, though she knew she shouldn’t have been so giddy to have some bad guys to bash with a bit of magic.

That was a week ago. The day before and the days to come would be more numbers, and hurt but hopeful faces, and caravans, and building materials, and trials, and-

Bow gave her ankle a reassuring squeeze. It’ll be for tomorrow, his eyes seemed to say. 

Your pillow is about to die, like, bad, his huge grin said. Definitely.

A loud rip and a groan from Adora- and oh no , that pillow was eviscerated . Glimmer shrieked as clouds of down flew up around her friend- friends. 

The change she was still getting used to was that Catra counted too. Even with that smug grin. Even shaking the tattered remains out more, covering Adora in fluff. Even reaching up to bat at one in her air. Even letting her hand linger there a little longer.

Bow had caught her staring at them, levelled her with a dopey grin. 

“They’re cute, aren’t they?” His stage whisper wasn’t subtle. Not like the other two were paying attention- Adora and Catra seemed caught up in a tender staring contest where each was the winner. Saps!

 She caught Catra’s gaze (when she finally took her eyes off of Adora) and made a show of rolling her eyes. A feather was thrown at her, only to drift gently, skidding against the floor courtesy of a breeze drifting through the open window. 

“I guess pillow fights are off our itemised schedule for the evening, your highn ess- ”

Catra shrieked- Adora, hands full of snowy white down, mussed her hair. It was getting a little longer- not enough to keep most of it there. Enough that it definitely seemed like Adora took every opportunity to tousle it. 

“Oh yeah, those two? So mushy. Lovey-dovey.” Bow made a show of gasping in awe as she returned his stage whisper. “Hope we’re that bad, honestly.”

Bow softened, letting go of her shin to make a heart with both his hands. Glimmer’s heart skimmed a beat or two, gliding into a heavy ba- thump. 

He turned his head, raising his voice: “Get a room you two!”

Catra stuck her tongue out. “Sorry, in a room already. Can’t do anything about it.”

“A room other than my room!” Glimmer laughed.

“You invited us for this sleepover, Sparkles- you’ll deal with the consequences.” The soft look she had sported earlier was gone- turned into that wonderful, brilliant, shit-eating grin Catra sported when she was delighting in causing a bit of chaos..

“You get our wonderful company and an excuse to have Bow in your room without your dad getting extra grey hairs,” she continued, tilting her chin up. It would have been a little haughty if her head wasn’t still in Adora’s lap, sporting hair full of frazzled feathers. “-but you have to deal with me being mushy, lovey-dovey and kinda crazy for my girlfriend.” Her shrug was likewise a little stilted. “Tough luck.”

Adora, helpfully, made sloppy kissing noises. Bow joined in, making a show of swooning, an arm over his head.

Okay, yeah. Catra was definitely a friend. A pretty cool one. 

But she was also a little shit. 

Come to think of it, they all were little shits.

Yeah, that sounded about right.

Glimmer shook her head- lighthearted fun felt a little more literal, right now. The just shy of perfect feeling was still there, nestled where her worries would usually curl around her heart. Like she was a little tuft of down, a breath away from drifting off. It all felt right. 

The best part of things being almost ‘over’ over was that moments like these would float into her life more often. She didn’t need to grab the time they had with both hands and enjoy it so desperately it almost hurt. 

Sometimes it could just be a bit of a cool evening, with a lot of love to share and time to enjoy the best of company.

 Even with pillow fights out of the question.

Glimmer smiled, channeling a bit of her queenly demeanor. Just for dramatic effect.

“Turnabout’s fair play,” she warned. Then, with an eyebrow waggle: “Means I can smooch my boyfriend when he stops being a dork.”

“Oh, I definitely won’t. Ever.”

She kicked Bow, lightly, with a giggle. Scooted over to curl up against his shoulder, place a quick kiss on his jaw.

“Ewww, PDA you guys! Catra, we’ve got to find our own room- I think they need some privacy.”

Against her better judgement, Glimmer lobbed another pillow at Adora.

--

Throwing pillows at Catra (or Adora by extension)? Bad idea.

Throwing pillows from the floor to try and sail them through the arches of Glimmer’s bed? Best damn idea Adora ever had.

Bow whooped, anticipating her high-five and catching it with his own (he hadn’t, once, and it caught him on the shoulder hard). 

It had been his idea (also great, for the record) to split the couples for the teams of the impromptu game. Given his and Adora’s winning streak so far, he was not regretting it one bit. 

The blanket of red and lavender that was sunset today was beginning to fade- the rich purples replacing them made Bow squint a little. Not much, with Brightmoon’s. Well. Brightness. But enough to make this really feel like a sleepover, and not four war heros goofing off after a day of managerial stuff none of them really enjoyed.

Catra jumped, catching it before it hit the ground and rolling with her landing. Checking it over to make sure her claws hadn’t snagged it, she turned her good-natured glare to Bow when the improvised ball didn’t appear damaged.

“How the hell are you guys winning ?” She tugged Glimmer under her arm. “We’ve got brains, great reaction times, killer throwing arms and very cute pixie cuts. You two should be eating our dust. Or, y’know, at least be mildly distracted. One or both.”

“I think I have an idea,” Glimmer laughed, nudging Catra’s ribs - and freezing.

 She smiled apologetically- given the Best Friend Squad had been so touchy-feely from the get-go, getting used to Catra’s unease about getting so much after so little (and, if Bow understood things right, a decent amount of bad) was a gradual process.

Catra didn’t seem phased, instead poking back once, twice, three times before getting swatted playfully. 

Glimmer raised her chin, counting off on her fingers: “Bow’s an archer . His arms are a lot stronger than they look from drawing his bow, and his aim is second to none. He’s been coming here for ages, and I would not be surprised if he’s done this before when I wasn’t watching. He knows the weight of these pillows given we’ve had pretty great fights with them before. Also, your girlfriend is She-Ra.”    

(For the record, they had only used She-Ra once, because the pillow got stuck up in Glimmer’s bed, and no one really felt like going up there, and it had been pretty funny to see Adora transform just to lob pillows really high.)

Adora leaned against the vanity, drawing her attention away from the book there to raise an eyebrow at Glimmer. “Aw, so I’m just the muscle?” 

“Nah, Sparkles is just very biased.” Catra blew a kiss. “Don’t worry, you’re more than just a jock to me.”

“A jock?!”

Bow howled as Adora sputtered a bit, doubled over when she stomped her foot imperiously. 

“You-you jumped through fire for me! You can’t just call me that!”

“A jock?” Catra challenged. 

“Yes! That one!”

“Do I need to do it again? Jump through fire to earn my ‘call my girlfriend a jock’ rights?”

“Please don’t! Or, well, it’s - no - not that I didn’t really appreciate that-”

Bow wheezed for breath, looking up to watch the banter. Adora was gesticulating wildly, blushing something powerful as Catra smiled, sharing a look with Glimmer. His girlfriend looked just as amused by this, though there was something a little stilted about her smile. 

Before he could decipher exactly what it was, Glimmer removed herself from Catra’s half-hug to almost tackle Adora into another one.

”Come on, you know we love you. We’d have given it a shot if Catra didn’t beat us to the punch.”

Her tone was teasing, but there was a little more weight to it for that. A crack on love she covered well. A little reflection of the illusion in her eyes, of the fear they’d all felt, of the desperate confrontation that followed.That moment when they realized they might lose her, and not to flames. To a choice . 

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Bow reached them right before Catra did, draping his arms over Glimmer and Adora’s shoulders. He felt a hand on his back. Catra squeezed the group hug, a little tentatively, like she was finding purchase-

Then she pushed and they were all sprawled on the throw pillows and blankets scattered on the floor, shrieking. Bow yelped, his shoulder catching the floor between plush white fur and pink cotton jarring his teeth. He almost bit his tongue laughing- a little painful, a little much, but very much alive . 

As they settled, Bow tried to shift into a more comfortable position. One arm was pinned by Adora’s head and most of the rest of him by Glimmer and Catra. So, safe to say, he didn’t get to wiggle much, designated foundation of the cuddle pile. He resigned himself to his fate (as good a fate as any) as the laughter died down. 

“I know that,” Adora mumbled, somewhere in the mess of smiles and snorts and maybe an adorable sneeze from Catra when someone’s hair tickled her nose.

“I love you guys, so much.”

After a chorus echoing the sentiment, the blond wriggled into view, getting a little more cozy in the cuddle pile.

 She craned her neck around until she spotted Catra, squished between Bow and a large stuffed dolphin (one of Micah’s belated birthday gifts). Adora gave her a slow, deliberate wink. “Also, the jumping through fire thing? Kinda hot, by the way.”

Lighting fast, Glimmer reached for a throw pillow and smothered it over Adora’s smug grin as Catra shrieked with laughter.

“ No puns in my house! ”

--

“What did we agree about pillow fights?” Glimmer wailed, batting down away from her face. The room was an unfortunate blizzard, the pillows casualties strewn on the floor. 

Catra shrugged, doing her best to look nonchalant despite clearly suppressing a sneeze. “Glimmer, you’re the one that keeps starting these.”

“I know, but someone should stop me.”

--

“You know what every good sleepover needs?” 

“Sleep?” 

“It’s too early Bow,” Adora said, ”Not until we’re too tired to keep gossiping (“I don’t gossip ” Glimmer and Catra interjected) and daring and stuff! But no, not that.”

She untangled herself from Catra, who kept a hold on her ankle as she stood and opened her arms wide, beaming.

“A pillow fort! ”

“Yes! ” Catra cowed, tugging until she sat back down, right in range for a hug. Pulled her to lie down with her. Her eyes were wide, tail-tip flicking. “Remember that time, as cadets? We moved all the bunks into a circle and made a whole pillow castle with Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio.”

“The one time you bit Rogelio, you mean?”

“I bet that wasn’t the only time,” Glimmer muttered.

Catra leaned back, wolfish grin baring her fangs. “I won’t confirm or deny anything! ”

“Suuuuure,” Adora snorted. She remembered something about a dare, Kyle protesting very loudly to something, Rogelio lunging at Catra, the two in a snarling tumble that brought the fort down on all of them. Catra had skulkled for days and insisted she’d never bite something scaly again- “Gross and slimy and hurted my teeth”.

 Adora was still pretty sure it was moreso the fact Rogelio was more than willing to bite back that kept her from antagonizing him like that again. He’d also nailed her in the eye with a loogie, which was also a huge deterrent. Strange, given how quiet he usually was. Might have had something to do with Kyle… probably something to do with Kyle.

It had been a wonder Shadow Weaver hadn’t slunk into the room with all the noise they’d made.

Bow shook her out of it, tugging the blanket she and Catra were lounging on. “But we can’t do it here- all Glimmer’s pillows are… plush I guess, so every tried we-”

“Ended up buried alive! ” Glimmer threw herself and a large blanket over Bow, hauling a pillow over too for good measure. 

He wailed something, muffled. Glimmer easily kept him pinned, propping up her chin in her hands, elbows on Bow’s chest, based on the thrashing limbs.

She snickered, kissed where Adora guesses his nose was - or maybe his forehead? She couldn’t tell for sure. “But yeah- we’d tried everything we thought of, they’re just not firm enough.”

“Hah! A pillow fort is more than just pillows, you know. You need structural support, blankets, and stiff mattresses help too. We have one here that’ll work fine.” Catra sniffed, patting the stiff thing, so reminiscent of what they’d had back in the barracks. “Also, are you sure he’s breathing?”

“He’s fine.”

“I am dead, dying, deceased -”

“Totally fiiiiiine.”

(Glimmer did pull the blanket off Bow’s head and muss his hair, though)

Adora propped herself up on an elbow, was going to say something when she realized Catra was watching her. When she caught her eye, she just grinned a little wider. The light, not quite the dark blue of a night still young- the castle’s glow gave anything close to the window a pinkish shimmer, anything farther deep shadows... It gave Catra a little magic too, then. Looked like she could do something a little beyond what was possible, with that smile, in this light. Staring up at her like she was just Adora , but more than enough.

It felt a little like the rush of transforming- warmth dancing just under her skin, butterflies in her stomach. Not quite fluttering, just testing their wings in the sunshine. Content.

Adora, frankly, had felt a whole lot of feelings over this wild ride, half of which she couldn’t name too easily. Lots of new cousins of fear she didn’t like- hurt’s extended family could take a hike. But content was one she could name- settling around her on rare lazy moments with friends during the war, when they could just breath and take a breath and be alright.  

This content was kind of like how it felt to fall in bed, well fed and just tired enough. Accomplished, a sort of passive ‘ we did it, we won, we can rest ’. After a life of being fed just enough to keep her on her feet, sleeping just enough to keep her moving, just satisfied enough to be desperate to do more, content was something Adora was giddy to indulge in. 

.The overjoyed and thrilled and deliriously happy that she’d been feeling since this all began, it was great. She wouldn’t say no to those highs- but the baseline of just… everything feeling right was greater . Better, yep that was the word. 

(It’d gotten a lot more prevalent after they - she - got Catra back. It was hard for the world to fit together perfectly when her best friend was on the other side. When she couldn’t consider why content wasn’t a thing before , either, even when they were together. Push aside the fact there was a piece, a big one shaped like the warmth of her hand and her delirious giggle and mapped with her freckles, missing. How that missing piece made her feel and what it made her want to do and how she couldn’t, couldn’t consider that. Her like that.)

(And it was so good , even with the end of the universe and the chips and almost dying bit. She hadn’t flirted before , she didn’t think it crossed her mind. But it fit right in alongside Catra not letting her concentrate, Catra being part of the Best Friend Squad, Catra just being there .) 

(And maybe the new hair was cute, once she’d cut it a bit shorter after they got away from Horde Prime. And maybe her smile was a little more freely given. And maybe she was flirting back . And Adora was left feeling so lucky but so not because she might need to give her up as soon as she found her again, for the universe and for her, and how messed up was that? And-)

“Hey Adora~”

Catra definitely caught her zoning out and staring at her and swooning and oh wow her face felt super flushed. 

Her grin was even wider, now. The cat that caught the canary, but not . Like she curled around it instead of pouncing on the vulnerability, was a little thankful for the trust of a little golden bird who let herself get caught. 

What had she been thinking again?

She cleared her throat- was she smiling too much? Catra mouthed something that looked a lot like ‘you got this dummy ’, but very sarcastic, and gave her two thumbs up.

Adora hissed a breath between her teeth. 

“Lucky for you guys, I’m more than just muscle- but also a premier pillow fort architect!” Adora declared, sitting up. Catra immediately relocated to her lap - yeah Adora, concentrate, easier said than done - and slung an arm around her shoulders.

“We can raid the spare rooms for chairs to use,” she added, “and a broom wouldn’t hurt to help support the blanket roof. If we can grab the window seat’s cushion, that can make up a good portion of a wall. The floating steps can be a starting point and give us some good headroom- but not too much, this needs to be cozy .”

Bow cranked his neck to give Catra a look. “Did they cover this in force captain training?”

“How did you even- Scorpia, right, never mind.” Catra bristled- Adora smoothed the fur on her tail with a hand, giggling when it whipped away. “Adora’s just really good at this stuff.” 

He shrugged with a grin, managing to move Glimmer slightly. “I nominate Adora as chief pillow fort engineer.”

“Same-”

“Agreed!”

Adora brought her hands together. “Right then! Bow, Glimmer- you two get the mattress and big cushion to lean against the first of those floaty steps.”

 She brought one arm under Catra’s legs, the other to her back, and it was her turn to delight in the blush on her cheeks (their cheeks, probably) when she stood, lifting her into the air bridal style. “Catra and I will find some chairs and a janitor’s closet. For brooms.”

Snort.

“Really Adora?” Glimmer wheezed between giggles. “Really?”

“Just for the pillow fort,” she swore.

And she meant it. Really.

She just gave Catra a long, kinda giddy hug as soon as they were out of the room. Maybe spun her around for a minute before letting Catra lead them on their mission to find chairs and brooms and maybe a few more minutes of content.

--

After some mild arguments about the structural merits of lounge chairs versus dining chairs and heavy duvet roofs versus silk blanket roofs, it was complete. Lopsided, but not liable to collapse at any moment so long as no one pushed the comforter walls out of place. Bow and Catra had kept the best pillows to line the inside, as well as a fur-lined blanket the later had taken a liking too.

Best of all, all four could fit snugly inside it. Their own little world- not the huge world that they had saved, but one just for them. Glimmer nestled a globe of light near the top- it winked brightly against the golden base of the platform it hovered just below. A flattened chandelier for their Best Friend Squad Base.

They shared a look, draped in shadows and quilts and accomplishment, and giggled.

--

Catra squinted, shaking the bowl of snacks above her head. Luckily, no crumbs fell into her eye or onto her still drying face mask. Un luckily, there wasn’t anything munchable falling down either.

“We’re out of supplies,” she declared. Abandoning the bowl, she peered up at Adora, sporting a soft smile and relaxed expression and she watched Bow brush out Glimmer’s hair. In the dim lighting, in their little nook of a fort, she looked a little more like She-Ra than Adora. 

Or she would, if it weren’t for all the thick glaze of some sort of mud on her face. 

That kinda ruined any similarity to her alter-ego.

Glimmer quirked a brow, which was very difficult to pull off with cucumbers over her eyes- Catra had to give her credit for that one. “You can ring the bell, maybe one of the guards will hear and grab something for us. I’m waiting for this to be done, personally.”

“Not looking like this I wont!” Catra hissed, making a vague gesture encompassing her face. They’d decided to try face masks (“not the whole spa treatment, but it’s fun!”- Bow, 5 minutes before disaster). Given she was fluffer than the average for their friend group, this meant a lot of drying gunk pulling on the fuzz of her cheeks. Given how Adora could hardly look at her without laughing, it was probably something.

Snicker.

Snicker-snort.

Shuffling of blankets as someone tried to muffle her giggles. 

“Glad I can entertain you, Adora,” she bit out, but without any bite to it- more of a little sigh. 

Damn she was getting soft. 

(It was pretty great if she was being honest.)

Catra propped herself up on one shoulder. Now Bow was smiling a little too widely too, his strokes of Glimmer’s hair faltering. Her fur bristled, juuuust a little. “But seriously. Feeling snackish. Hungry if you give it another hour.”

“We could raid the kitchens for something we missed. Maybe they have some more deserts,” Adora suggested. “Better than even grey mush, I bet.” 

She squeezed Catra’s hand, just a little at the memory. Maybe comfort or taking comfort, could be both. Met her eyes without giggling herself stupid at how weird they looked right now. So far removed from two little girls, scared in their own ways, in those halls too big and those shadows too heavy.

On impulse (and not because she was thankful to be living a life where mush wasn’t a meal, where she had the choice and chance to apologize and learn how to do better, where she breathed in Adora and exhaled something like joy. Not because she was thankful she chose to do one good thing in her life which snowballed into several, chose to keep that promise, chose to let herself want for once in her life. Not because her story finally felt like it started, when she stayed and she followed. ) Catra leaned up to press a kiss to her cheek-

- and immediately regretted it when an acrid taste hit her mouth like a sting.

“YAK”

Oh yeaaaaah, the face masks-

“That is awful,” she hacked out between loud gagging. Adora rubbed her back- if she was a little softer she’d say it helped, but mud on your tongue takes more than a little tenderness to deal with. She stuffed a pillow into her face to muffle a groan. “Why did I do that?”

“‘Cause you can’t resist meee~” 

Cue that big goofy ‘caught you’ smirk. 

Catra would have found the breath to gripe, but Adora saved her the trouble by placing a kiss on her forehead without thinking.

Adora recoiled fast, her face twisted into something hilarious. 

“ EUK-”

“HAH-”

She went a little too far, though. Pulled on a blanket which tugged on pillows and oh no the whole pillow fort was coming down on their heads-

--

Glimmer appeared with a pitcher and a couple of glasses while Bow hovered, just a little worried, around the pair. 

“I can’t believe either of you!” He poured them each a glass, and then another for himself. He paused, eyeing the dark, sweet-smelling drink. 

“Glim, this isn’t-”

“It’s juice.” She snatched the glass from his hands and took a sip for good measure, smiling brightly at his sigh.

They’d made a quick trip to the bathroom to wash off the masks- and get Catra and Adora to gargle to deal with the taste as best they could. To Bow’s credit, the whole ordeal was fun. And her skin felt pretty nice, once it was off- Catra rubbed her knuckles against her cheek, humming in delight.

“Right, okay then.” He raised the fourth, empty glass, tinking it against Adora’s. “To not eating mud because we can’t stop kissing eachother.”

Adora choked a bit on her snicker, bumping her shoulder with his. “Cheers!” Catra skipped the whole thing (okay, so the mud tasted awful, but kissing her girlfriend? Worth it ) and downed the juice- it was a deal more sweet than what she’d like, but anything was better than wet fancy face dirt.

 Bow watched them drink with bright eyes before turning to Glimmer and throwing up his hands. “It’s like our former arch nemesis and plan-person-slash- She-Ra come together and just become complete-”

“Idiots?” Catra supplied. “Also, thanks for that.”

Glimmer smiled. “You’re welcome- and yeah, sounds about right.” 

Finishing the last of her drink, Catra bounded up a few of the floating steps just for the flair of it. Glimmer and Adora indulged her with gentle applause as she struck a pose fit for a monologue back in the Fright Zone. Thankfully, no one was in the half-destroyed fort anymore- Catra’s footwork brought the rest of it down.

“Consider- you two had time to grow into well-adjusted friends. Then develop feelings beyond the power of friendship stuff. We-” she reached down, offering a hand to Adora and hauling her up with her. They stumbled into eachother, laughing a little too long and a little too loud. Just to indulge in it.

“We were disasters from day one !”

Adora laughed, leaning into her. “It’s a lot of issues, okay? You know. Childhood trauma, indoctrination, chasing mice -”

“Hero complex,” Catra said. 

"Hero complex," Adora confirmed, miming brandishing the sword- in this case, Catra's glass. Bow laughed. "And now that the hero work is less Horde and more healing, I just… just don't need to weigh my decisions against the world."

"You're free to do the first crazy thing that pops in your head, congratulations." Glimmer sounded like she was aiming for a flat delivery- it was a little too earnest for that. The way her fingers brushed for Bow's and held them lightly was almost - relieved.

Catra rocked back on her heels. Adora yelped, holding her forearm a little more tightly. Mercifully, they sat down, legs dangling over the side. A little more stable. "Look, talking to Perfuma was insightful . I didn’t know there were that many kinds of trauma."

Glimmer strained to reach up, tickling the underside of Adora’s foot with a feather they’d missed while cleaning up earlier. With a squeal the hand was kicked away. Catra grinned, sensing an opportunity- her fingers danced over Adora’s side, light enough to avoid scratching but definitely doing enough to make her yelp and choke out a laugh.

”Stooooop,” she giggled, trying to elbow her and slide to the floor. Catra was quick to catch her, wrapping her arms around her waist and blowing a raspberry into her shoulder. You’re here, with me. You’re staying.

Catra pulled her a little closer to her. 

Tried to pull her into her heart, not that she wasn’t there already. She bet she’d fit, now, even when transformed. Her heart grew ten sizes, or something sappy like that.

“On second thought? Maybe it’s a good thing neither of you have much responsibility right now,” Glimmer said. She was keeping her eyes on Adora, for a chance to tickle her again, but the girl’s wild flailing was making that difficult, Catra could tell. She was leaning back on her hands, one laced with Bow’s left, smiling at them. “You two can finally just… be kids.”

“We were adults by Horde standards!” Adora snorted, jumping when Catra poked her side again. 

Bow squinted. “We're adults now, I guess, but you didn't get to have a real childhood. That’s… kinda part of the problem, guys. Like, a pretty big part of it.”

“The rest was, like, 90% Shadow Weaver.” Catra nodded firmly- her voice was probably muffled by Adora’s shoulder, but she didn’t make a move to get up.

“Really messed up.”

“Yeah-”

“Yeah.”

Glimmer cleared her throat, stood up, hand on her hips. Looked over them, scrutinizing.

She brightened and snapped her fingers. “I’ll be right back!”

“Glim, what-”

A flash of blushing light and she was gone, leaving Bow, Catra and Adora to blink wearily in shadow. She’d been keeping the sleepover gently lit, a perk when your powers could be summed up as ‘glowing, but violent’. Now it was just the rich blues .

Didn’t matter much to Catra, though- when she wasn’t hiding above a cupboard to avoid a bath or getting distracted by cardboard boxes (which were increasingly common with all the supply movements- and hey, were more of them appearing in Adora’s room?), the whole feline-thing had its perks. Namely, night vision.

Adora snorted in surprise, bewildered, before taking the opportunity to tangle her fingers with Catra’s. She smiled- an embarrassingly wide grin, full of teeth and hurting her cheeks, Catra knew, because she imitated it immediately. Maybe she was biased (she absolutely was super biased), but Adora looked pretty good, in the dark. Pretty good without any of that aura She-Ra emitted. She was a lot more real like this- not one with the radiance, white on ivory on gold on a smattering of red, but a softness she could pick out in the dark with ease. 

A little less ‘the hero of Etheria, of everyone’, a little more ‘her hero’.

Catra could feel the blush hot on her cheeks and looked away. Before she said something charming, or sweet, or too personal . 

 Bow was counting, mouthing off numbers (twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two -). He only stopped to steal back his juice and take a sip , before neatly stacking the empty cups, resuming without losing his place (thirty-seven, thirty-eight -).

“I got CAKE! ” 

Catra shrieked and vaulted a few steps higher, leaving Adora to fall back against the platform with an oof - Glimmer was back, sparkles and all, and with a petite two-tiered cake.

“Remember what we’d talked about, Catra? Sleepovers with cake? I don’t know how I forgot about it,” Glimmer laughed, setting it down beside the pitcher. She blinked owlishly up at her. “Oh, sorry- didn’t mean to scare you.”

Bow snorted, relieving her of the pie server and giving her a conspiratory grin. “ Good! I bet they were just staring into eachother’s eyes, you know. Super tenderly...”

“Like this-” Gently, like he was holding the most delicate thing in the world (cute thought, but Glimmer was tougher than that) he cradled her cheek in one hand, feather-light. Glimmer blushed, redder than Catra had ever imagined she could. She seemed to hold her breath as Bow stroked a thumb over her cheek, looked into her eyes-

And let out the longest, most exaggerated sigh his lungs could probably allow. 

She sighed, too- a real, exasperated one, shoving his face with a hand.

“You’re impossible -”

“I’m your impossible! And you loooooove me!” He bat his eyelashes at her, a bright grin just visible beyond her palm. 

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

“Hey, at least I’m not serenading you!”

Glimmer snorted. “Wouldn’t work. I’m not Mermista- or you.”

“Excuse you! Shanties are peak romance-”

Catra whistled, long and low. “Give those two a vacation time without one to two dads breathing down their necks and they’ll be just as bad as we are.”

Adora agreed with a bark of laughter. “Can we eat, now?”

Glimmer squished Bow’s cheeks - the pair had matching blushes and starry looks despite the bickering - before looking up. 

“Come down you two! Everyone knows cake tastes better in a cuddle pile.” Glimmer patted the pillows beside her, the whole mess of a floor-wide bed they’d made for tonight. “You gotta eat it while dropping crumbs in friends’ hair, maybe smudge icing on someone’s forehead.” 

(Bow made a very displeased face at this- “Glim we’re sleeping here, we’ll get crumbs in our pyjamas-”)

Catra hesitated.

Just for a beat.

With a soft smile, she jumped down, not waiting for Adora to follow. She would, she knew that. 

And she did.

--

“Why was this cake down there anyways? Do you royals just… leave cakes lying around? Is this what you do in peacetime?” Adora mumbled around her slice. 

Her eyes widened “Should I be keeping cake handy?”

Bow chewed with gusto, swallowing as he pointed at Adora with the pie server, half-scolding. She snickered, easing it away from her nose with her hand, bedazzled in purple icing that left violet fingerprints behind.

“No, not really- Entrapta and her castle chefs sent us a little thank you for some tech work I helped her with.” 

Explained how Glimmer and Catra had already finished most of it, huddled close and whispering between bites of jam and filling- it had been pretty hard for four people to share, but they’d taken to it greedily.

 Glimmer’s glowing sphere had faded to no more than a nightlight, and yawns were mirrored between faces here and there. It was well past dusk, now, and the moon had long since crested the treeline. It wasn’t a full moon or a new moon, just one of the many in-betweens she still didn’t know the names of just yet. 

Adora yawned, stretched, fell backwards across their legs with an oof . Glimmer half-heartedly struggled to free herself, while Catra dropped a handful of napkins on Adora’s face. A quick teleport to grab them ended up being a very good idea- even with their help there were streaks of purple everywhere, where a thumb brushed a blanket or a dollop of icing dropped from their hands.

 “What a way to celebrate our long day of paper pushing.” Adora swallowed a yawn, lifting a napkin to peer up at them. Catra started playing with her hair, undoing her ponytail to run her claws through it. If she could, she’d have purred - that was Catra’s thing, though. “Did Elberon set a date for that big party yet? Or is everyone still recovering from... yeah.” 

Just because the Horde was done with didn’t mean the world was done with She-Ra. They found that out the next morning - a pile of Princesses and plus ones that just crashed there on the grass, waking up to Entrapta and Bow’s tech going crazy. Also, really sore backs.

A whole lot of where do we go, how do we fix this, when will you get here, what do we do?

Not a lot of who- Etheria knew who they needed. Her, She-Ra. She’d saved the world, she could fix it all, right?

Catra had put a stop to that, fast. “We’ll go over if you finally figured out what you want later- right now, you need sleep.” She’d dragged her away, a little gentler than she would have before. “You almost died back there. Or you did and I brought you back, I don’t know! They made it this far, they can handle a few days while you get your strength back.”

She’d said something, then, about wanting to actually spend time with her girlfriend after all that . And turned a wonderful sort of red Adora really wanted to see more of and denied saying anything at all , insisted this dummy could work herself to death for all she cared . Which was a lot of caring. 

It was a hard balance to strike- Adora wanted to help, and couldn’t sit still to save her life, but she was getting better at taking it easy. Catnaps helped. So did big parties.

Glimmer shook her head. “Not yet! Swift Wind is keeping tabs on that, trust me.” She rubbed her neck. “And the rights of all horses helping with rebuilding, but that’s just Swift Wind for you.”

“But, I do know what’s coming up- Princess Prom! And Scorpia’s hosting it!”

“Really?” Bow, looking a little left out, clambered over to settle against Glimmer’s side. She draped a quilt over his shoulders, like a cape, pressed a smack! of a kiss against his temple. 

“You’re my plus one!” She declared. At Bow’s ‘I thought that was obvious ’ look, she added a little sheepishly: “I didn’t want Perfuma asking first, okay? Not this time.”

Catra snorted. “I know that whole time I was all ‘I’m going to kidnap you two and the sword and blow up a castle’, but you two? Your drama? That was funny as hell. Entrapta got great data from it."

 Her eyes slid to Adora’s, a mischievous smirk causing them to crinkle. “We had pretty good data going too, if you know what I’m saying.”

(In the background- “Do they mean the sexual tension?” “Definitely the sexual tension.”)

She matched her grin, challenging. “Want a rematch?”

Adora reached under her chin to scratch, just a little, just to get a purr out of her.

“It’ll be interesting, I think,” Bow said. “Going to the Fright Zone to, you know, wine and dine and dance.”

“Scorpia’s helped some Horde defectors settle there.” Adora smiled, feeling Catra’s rumbling purr more than she heard it. “Lots of the local, garden variety Horde - which is super literal now that Perfuma and Scorpia are turning the Fright Zone into vertical gardens - and the clones that decided to stay.”

“Can they stop calling it the Fright Zone? It doesn’t fit with all the flowers and hugs going around lately.” Bow scratched at his own chin in thought. “Hug Zone? Cuddle Zone? Ditch the zone bit, maybe?”

Glimmer yawned. “Scorpia will figure something out. There’s no rush- Entrapta’s been helping too. Figuring out how they could use the Black Garnet’s electrical powers and the plant life, get the place up and running.”

“Without making plant-tech monsters.” Adora groaned, letting her head fall back over Catra’s knees. “Again.”

She slid an eye open. “Hold on- Catra, you’ll be my date, right?”

“To fighting whatever Entrapta cooks up or prom? Yes to both, dummy.”

“Perfect, great, nice, thanks!” 

Bow grimaced. “Why did either of you even need to ask? We get a do-over of last year’s prom, with less evil plans -” he leaned over, flicked Catra’s nose. She growled, but didn’t move out of reach of Adora’s scritches, “- and, I dunno, don’t you usually go to proms with your significant other?”

“Perfuma is a wild card - she could ask out anyone, relationships or not. Love everyone, go as friends and all that. Like you’d said then, we can all have fun as friends once we’re there… but I kinda miss the matching outfits.” Another yawn.

Six eyes turned to Adora.

She shrugged, stifled a yawn, pulled the napkin over her eyes. “I- It’s stupid.”

“Bet it is.” She felt a finger, probably Catra’s, poke her in the middle of the forehead. “But you’ll tell us anyway because we care about you and we worry.”

“Awww-”

“Don’t push it, I’m still getting better at this-”

“Right, yeah.”

Adora cleared her throat. 

“So you guys know- the whole thing at the Heart of Etheria, corrupted by Prime,” She gestured between Catra and herself. “ Us happened, saved the universe?”

“Huh, I can’t remember - can you give me a reminder?” Catra pulled the napkin off, looking incredibly interested in what she had to say. 

Adora ignored her. “While I was in there, I had a vision. What I wanted, I guess. Four of us, preparing for Scorpia’s prom.” She was quiet, talking more to herself than the others - wasn’t sure if they could hear her to be honest. “You two were a thing, definitely. And Catra and I were too, and we all looked great . Dressed to the nines! And so happy - right then, I would have given anything for that.”

“The war, the Failsafe, Prime - it all just felt like a bad dream compared to that. With Scorpia's actual prom happening for real, it's almost like the Heart didn't just read mine. Like it predicted that everything would turn out okay.”

She squinted. 

"I don't think it did, though."

The other three shared a look - maybe at her rambling, maybe at how she was smiling, maybe that just hadn't made sense.

“You’re hair won’t be long enough to pull into a ponytail - not that I don’t like it like this!! ” Adora amended quickly when Catra brought a hand to her scruffy haircut. She laughed, a little lightheaded, looking up at her best friends. 

“You don’t have that little chin scruff going on-” 

Bow gasped, veering around to Glimmer. “Glim! Would I look good with, like, a goatee?”

She scrunched up her face. “I don’t know why you’re asking me, from where I’m sitting you already look great-”

Glimmer yelped when Adora jabbed a finger at her. “And you! You still have the earring on the other ear. Opposite one in the vision.”

She hummed. “Oh, and we were also older, yeah.”

Catra shared a look with Glimmer. “So you saw the Heart of Etheria’s best guess on your happy ending? And we’re making it happen, but sooner that it expected? Better?”

Adora laughed. “Yes! ” 

Tears were pricking at the corner of her eyes. It had been a heartwarming - not premonition, but… hope. They’d all looked so beautiful, so steady, so - so put together. 

The vision didn’t include any of the nightmares, the frustration when their best efforts went wrong, the barely-there scars that twisted just a bit if she moved like that, the crying when everything felt a little too unreal.  It made it all a bit more real, like she hadn’t almost sacrificed everything for this new normal. Yeah, the dream was nice - great , hell, Catra had looked incredible, Glimmer and Bow were stunning - but all the imperfections were worth it, to have this.

Oh man she was going to cry-

Catra tilted up her head, called her an idiot in just that tone, and kissed her.

Adora melted. Kissed her back. Thumbed the fuzz on her cheek. 

Bye, content, say hello to intoxicated , delirious and over the moon.

It felt a little like that first one, back at the Heart- except Bow was making an affronted noise and Glimmer was kicking Adora off her legs.

“You two - you can’t go without making out for five minutes!” Glimmer howled- Adora peeked open an eye just in time to see her fall backward, an arm hiding her eyes. Bow caught her before she dipped too far, hauling her up.

“I kept myself in check for hours, cut me some slack~” Catra smiled into the kiss. Adora shut her eyes again.

“They just can’t be helped!” She could imagine Bow throwing up his arms.

“Look- just the thought of dancing in fancy outfits, and poof! No self-control.” Glimmer was probably nodding.

“And me with a goatee-”

“Bow, I really don’t think that had anything to do with it.”

A beat of silence. Well, no. Adora counted nine beats of her frazzled heart before Glimmer sighed, loudly.

“Let’s give them some space- I’ve been honestly hoping to get you alone anyways.”

“You have?!”

A shrieking laugh, and the door opening. A soft smack, probably a kiss. - “Bow, really? We both know I’m stupidly in love with you, and I’d love to kiss you sense-”

Thunk!

“-less.”

Beat.

“Hiiiii dad.”

Catra flew off Adora, falling back into the pillows with a shriek, making up for the floundering with a fake nonchalance. Adora did her best to look mature and heroic, putting on her She-Ra face. Sitting on the floor, hair mussed and lips tingling... probably didn’t do a good job of it.

Glimmer and Bow were frozen near the doors, the latter trying to hide behind one. Their hands were entwined, faces in twin expressions that screamed oops .

Micah had been looking better, lately. Not being on Beast Island and not being mind controlled really did wonders for him - so did a haircut and access to running water. He looked like a king again, though he refused the offer to take the throne from Glimmer. (“A little earlier than we’d hoped you’d have this responsibility, but I think you’ve grown into it just fine. My only job now is to be your dad.” They’d cried, just a little.)

Right now, though, he looked just as frazzed as he had, living in the wild. But in royal pyjamas. Fresh bags weighed down his eyes. Maybe it was just the light, but Adora swore his hair was greyer than it had been at the meeting earlier. He had one hell of an expression on his face, looking like he’d heard something he’d rather forget- oh yeah he did just hear that .

Micah rubbed at his beard like he could scrub the memory from his face that way. “I’m glad you’re all having -” he paused, “- fun , but you guys should keep it down. I can hear you yelling from across the hall, and I don’t know about you, but I need some sleep.”

Glimmer winced. “Sorry, dad. We were just heading to bed, I promise.” She made a show of yawning, pulling her arms over her head in a stretch - only she didn’t let go of Bow’s hand, so he was dragged into the gesture too.

An unconvinced quirk of a brow. “Sure.” He ran a hand over his face again, then turned to look at the girls sitting on the floor, doing their best to look like they had never once kissed in their whole lives. 

Well, that was Adora. Catra was just looking smug again, and coincidentally the look was very kissable.

Micah sighed, smiled. “Can you hand me your plates and what’s left of the cake? I was heading down to the kitchen for water anyways - I’ll bring them down on my way.”

A chorus of sure, yeah s- Adora gathered what was within reach, with Catra taking care of the last slice with a satisfied purr. 

When Bow placed the empty glasses on the stack, Micah turned to leave. Stopped, seemed to gather his courage, then turned around, looking like he’d swallowed something unpleasant.

“And- look. No hanky-panky stuff! I get that you’re all young adults but I’m not- I don’t know how to really have the talk yet, and I trust you all to be responsible, but this is my responsibility as a dad , and I don’t know if I need to go over this with George and Lance and if they’ve explained anything, and-”

“THANK YOU we will be responsible dad I love you good night! ”

Glimmer almost knocked the glassware out of his hands as she pushed him into the hall, closed the door, and sank to the floor, head in her palms, hiding the furious blush on her cheeks.

Catra wheezed out a laugh. “God, imagine Shadow Weaver doing that-”

Adora had to slap a hand over her mouth to avoid howling with laughter - Micah did just tell them to be quiet, after all. It just felt so wrong .

“Oh no, she’d rather die than imagine us together.”

“She literally did! ”

“I’m not sure if this is funny or incredibly tragic,” Bow whispered, settling beside Glimmer with a yawn.

This pulled a yawn out of Adora, too, drowning out the last of her giggles. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty sad. But only if you think about too long, so I don't.” 

Glimmer rubbed at her eyes. “Sleep sounds good right about now. Or dying, after that.”

Bow nudged her. “I vote sleep.” He glanced around the room. “If it’ll make your dad feel better, we can sleep with, say. Enough room for Melog to snuggle in, if she shows up. Room for purity.” He giggled a little at the thought.

“Where is she, anyways?”

Catra shrugged. “Now that I’ve been getting better at- you know. Anger management, abandonment issues, hiding from my problems, everything, she’s been giving me more space. I think she’s happy to be in a world with life again.” 

She yawned. “She wanted to take a look at Mysticore’s shields, was wondering how they worked. To give us space.We’ll see her before bed - Melog is always around for that, at least.”

“And hogging half the legroom,” Adora added with a smile. And keep you feeling safe , she thought, but kept that to herself. Catra kicked her, halfheartedly. 

--

True to her word, Melog popped in while they were rearranging the sleeping bags, Adora claiming her old mattress for herself, Bow evenly distributing pillows.

Her echoing mrow almost sounded delighted as she wove between them- her ethereal mane felt like a thunderstorm’s breeze when Adora’s hand glided through it. Cold, turbulent, and thrumming with static. 

Melog did not settle into the Melog-sized spaced between the sleeping bags, instead taking the head of Catra’s. Catra, for her part, curled up at the foot of it. Adora felt a sharp pang- it was a very familiar sight.

“This was… great,” Catra sighed, bright eyes flashing. “Thanks, Sparkles.Glimmer.”

She blinked, slowly, almost looking like a cat herself. “Don’t mention it - you’re part of the Best Friend Squad, now. Sleepovers, camping, saving the world - you’re part of all that.” 

Glimmer let her globe of light fade, just then. It took a moment, but as the darkness became familiar… Adora could see the stars, outside. Still not so familiar.

Adora felt her eyelids drooping. “Love you guys… g’night.”

She was pretty sure they echoed the statement, but it was so soft she didn’t hear them -

- or she was already asleep.

--

“Bow?”

Shuffling blankets as he turned to look at Catra. “Hmf? Waddup?”

“Something’s blinking at me and I think it’s your communicator,” she whispered, cross.

Not feeling like getting up, Bow instead wiggled over, sleeping bag and all. They flipped over a few pillows before finding the offending device. 

“Oh, oops. Missed a call from my dads.” Reluctantly, he got up, opened the door quietly. “I’ll be right back.”

After assuring them - because of course they’d stayed up the entire time - everything was fine, they had a great evening, yes, he’d tell them all about it tomorrow when he and Glimmer came over for lunch, he snuck back in.

Too tired to bother moving his bed back to its designated spot, he got settled into his sleeping bag, close enough to hear Catra’s sleepy purring.

It was nice.

--

Glimmer didn’t feel the steady weight of Bow’s hand on her arm, such a familiar thing towards the end of the way. 

She wasn’t quite awake, but not quite asleep either. She’d woken up like this, before, but hearing Bow’s gentle snores so close, maybe she could just -

With a mumble, she looked for the familiar shape of him , dragged a duvet over, gently grabbed his hand and held it between them.

That’s better .

“Glim?”

Oh, he woke up, oops.

“S’ nothin’, just wanted to touch you.”

He lifted his head from his pillow, just enough to smile at her. “‘Member, no hanky-panky.”

Glimmer smiled, softly. Cheeks felt warm, in a nice way. “No hanky-panky.” 

--

“OW! ”

Catra hissed, rubbing at her temple. What in the goddamn-

Since when was Adora in range to kick her in her sleep? She narrowed her eyes- Adora was thrashing around. Not the stillness of nightmares, or any real fear - she was just dreaming, probably about something cool, and was now a safety hazard.

Catra’s eyes darted to - was that Glimmer? She hadn’t been there before. “Sparkles?”

“Can I please get some sleep around here?” Glimmer groaned, rubbed at her eyes. 

“You looked awake enough- Adora’s saving the world in her sleep again.”

“You deal with it, good night .”

Catra huffed. Princess sure wasn’t as prim and eager when she was half-asleep.

With Melog’s help, she rolled Adora onto her sleeping bag, pulled blankets over them both. After getting nailed in the hip with another blow, Catra slid up beside her and curled her arms around her.

Finally, the struggling stopped. Catra placed a little kiss to her shoulder, smiled. 

That’s better.

--

Adora woke up to stiff, shaking arms around her. Catra’s arms, her claws painful enough to wake her up.

She was having a nightmare.

Adora craned her head over her shoulder (since when were they spooning? Not that she was complaining) - Catra’s ears were slick to her skull, the short fur on her shoulders spiked, face contorted.

She swallowed a lump in her throat at the whimper, almost a mewl, that she made. 

“Is she okay?” 

Adora blinked - that was Bow’s voice, and Glimmer was sitting up, disheveled.

“I- no, not really.”

“I had one too,” Glimmer admitted, quietly. She scooted over, pulling anything soft with her. And Bow, too. Nestled near Adora’s head, close enough to run a hand through Catra’s hair. She didn’t, though, just hummed quietly.

Bow settled to hold Glimmer, head resting just above her’s on a pillow. He reached out, placed his free hand on Catra’s shoulder. 

“We’ve got you, we’re here, we get it. We know,” he said softly.

Adora placed a kiss to her knuckles. “I’m here,” she echoed. “I’m staying, remember?”

It took a minute, but Catra settled. Smiled, even, in her sleep. Melog rumbled out a purr, curled at Adora’s feet - leaving little wiggle room.

The original members of the Best Friend Squad shared sleepy smiles. Another victory, just as important as the others to their name. 

Huddled together, they finally - finally - slept.

--

Micah made them pancakes the next morning. 

He had gotten up early, dusted off his old apron. Whipped up batter and got it sizzling, a plate of fruits, some juice (not the kind they’d polished off the night before), an omelette for good measure.

Peeking into Glimmer’s room, he found all four huddled together. He could hardly spot where one youth ended and the next began - a tangle of limbs and pillows and giant magic cat. All smiling. 

He closed the door. Sighed. Left them to their dreams.

--

They ate breakfast cold. Achy, a little bruised from getting kicked by Adora, maybe still a little exhausted.

It was worth it.