Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Uhhhhhjjjjjhjjjjjjj yeah
Holy shit! A title that isn’t all caps and curse wordy???????? This is because, deer pupils, I am normally very terrible at coming up with titles. But this time I managed to squeeze this one out of my ear, and onto my notepad. 
Enjoy my lovely degenerate French fries 

———-

Everything changed when Glimmer got abducted. 

As soon as Bow saw the stars, and the magic leaking into the air, his first thought was to her. His first reaction was to worry about her. 

They made it to the fright zone, and there she was, weak and collapsed on the ground, and behind her Hordak loomed with a piece of debris ready to strike her down. 

Bow yelled to her, told her to stay where she was—she was in no condition to teleport, not after what just transpired—but as he sped towards her on his hastily made zip line, she was swept up in a green light and disappeared before his eyes. 

No. No no no no no! 

His anger and frustration with her decisions melted away into nothing and worry completely overtook his entire being. 

She was gone

He threw himself into working on getting her back, along with taking care of Adora, because she apparently forgot how to behave like a normal human being in the time that she had she-ra’s power. 

He was so pent up with worry and stress that he started stress working out, much more than he did before, if only because he didn’t have anymore materials or patience to make arrows. 

Somehow he remained patient with everyone, and didn’t blow up at them. This was probably because he went into the forest to meditate like Perfuma showed him—or scream into the whispering woods dense foliage, when he really needed to.  

Then they fixed the ship, and he learned very quickly that Entrapta and Adora were absolute disasters at not breaking and or destroying the things around them. Stress level 100 for bow. 

It took a week to get even close to half way to Horde Primes ship. Bow was anxiously waiting to find Glimmer, especially since recently a little voice in the back of his head started to question if Prime would’ve even kept her alive. 

He really hated that little voice. It was the same one that suggested maybe he didn’t feel completely platonically towards his best friend so long ago. 

A transmission came through, and it was Catra. Surprised, Bow almost didn’t hear what she was saying, but as soon as she said 

“I’m sending her to you.” 

His heart leapt into his throat

As soon as he saw her form appear into space, he didn’t hesitate. No matter how flimsy that piece of rope that meant to be his lifeline was, he was not going to wait a moment longer to rescue her. He leapt towards her, and collided with her heavily. He immediately wrapped his arms around her, and held on tightly as Adora reeled them back in. 

All of the worry whooshed out of him like the air that came rushing into the cabin once the doors closed. He was mad at her, he remembered, she caused all of this. No matter how much he cared for her, about her, he couldn’t let this slide. She completely disregarded his advice and opinion! She had never not trusted him, and it felt like a stab to his heart that she had distrusted him enough that she almost destroyed the world. 

It still hurt. What she’d done, and being mad at her. He wasn’t built for this! But he couldn’t let it go, it was too serious this time. 

They landed on the crystal fuel planet, and Bow tried his best to keep all of his focus on his tracker pad so that he wouldn’t have to notice how badly he hurt, how badly his heart ached from the total betrayal of his trust Glimmer had enacted. He had trusted her to not do something so reckless just to gain power. Was it possible she was power hungry? That she would do anything, sacrifice anyone, just to gain the upper hand in a war? It scared him, and he really really didn’t want it to be true. 

She brought up old memories as they walked through the tunnels, while they looked for Adora, and he remember the simpler, happier, and more innocent times they spent together. Then he reminded himself that that wasn’t a reality anymore; they were adults now, and her intentions in the war weren’t those of a small child wanting to gain approval from her mother. She was an adult and made a decision that had cost them more than they had to lose. 

He brushed her off, although his heart tugged painfully when he did, and he focused on his tracker pad again. He walked faster, trying to escape the painful feelings by speed walking away, but they followed him relentlessly. 

They followed him all the way up until the caves shook violently and Glimmer rode the shaky ground upwards and away from him. His heart dropped, as did his resentment. Regardless of her bad decisions, she was still his friend, and he still cared about her. She was in danger and he forgot about being mad at her in exchange for worry and telling her to jump down. He would catch her, just like he did in space, he didn’t care about anything else but her safety. 

It was easy to be mad at her when he thought they were safe from harm. 

But Glimmer—brave, stubborn, reckless, Glimmer—set her eyes on the fuel they needed to get off the planet and back home, and prioritized getting that fuel for them and their newfound allies over her own safety. As she had done many many times before, she always prioritized others before herself, he remembered. 

The cave was crumbling and collapsing around them dangerously, the siblings made it across, but him and Glimmer were essentially trapped on the other side. She came sliding down the cliff side towards him and he rushed to catch her in his arms. 

Briefly they shared a moment just like all the times they had done something dangerous before, and he swung them across the cavern while holding onto Glimmer tightly. All that stress working out had come in handy. 

They didn’t make it across, not completely, and Bow hung onto the side of the rocky cliff for dear life. Both his and Glimmers. There was no teleportation powers to save the day this time, it was up to him and the others on the cliff to save them from certain death. But Glimmer was heavy, and she was slipping from his grasp. 

With a grunt of effort he pulled her up and let her slip—but he grabbed her hand with a better grip before she fell. It was a dangerous move, but it saved her. 

He got pulled up and over the cliff edge, and with both his hands free he grabbed her arm and pulled her the rest of the way up with the help of the others pulling on him as well. They fell on the ground, and he asked if she was alright. 

She gave him a trademark Glimmer smile of triumph and showed him the crystals that she had held onto through everything that had just happened. 

Bow and Glimmer gazed into one another’s eyes for a few moments, Bow felt all of his pent up anger seep out of his bones and into the ground beneath his boots. He couldn’t stay mad at her. As bad as it was that she had gone ahead and released the heart, she had done it in an effort to help her subjects—to help them. She could be selfish at times, but ultimately, when it came down to it, she was selfless to the point of putting herself in danger just for the chance of helping others. 

Gods be cared about her so much. He wouldn’t go back to the way it had been before, not yet, because there was still hurt deeply within his heart, but he wasn’t going to take it out on her and give her the silent treatment anymore. She didn’t deserve that. 

Then she did something that he has been waiting for, hoping for, but didn’t expect to happen so soon. She apologized to him, with tears in her eyes, and she actually told him to take his time in forgiving her instead of trying to convince him to forget about it all and go back to the friendship they had when they were kids. 

He couldn’t stay mad at her. 

When Adora asked them to go back for Catra, Bow actually understood how she felt for once. Well, not completely, because Catra had tried to kill them quite a few times, but he understood how she felt. Catra had done a lot of bad, but Adora grew up with her and still cared for her, that much had always been apparent. 

Bow sat Glimmer down that night and forgave her formally, and she cried with happiness, he joined her in shedding tears, because he missed her so so much. They hugged tightly for a long while before Entrapta called Bow over the comms to ask for his assistance for something. 

Horde was a bitchass douche, Bow decided, especially after they got back onto Darla and Catra was laid in Glimmers lap, hardly breathing. Bow was certain that at one point, she had stopped breathing all together. 

Adora scooped her up and held Catras forehead to hers, with tears in her eyes, and a bright light shined as Adora healed her. 

Bow threw a look to Glimmer—that wasn’t how a person treated an enemy, even if they grew up together. There was definitly something else going on there. 

After he cleared out a room for Adora to put Catra in, he looked around the ship to find Glimmer. He needed a hug after seeing Catra slowly lose her breath, which his brain turned into “What if that was Glimmer?”, not to say that seeing Catra potentially die in front of him wasn’t saddening on its own, regardless of how many times she’d attacked them. 

Glimmer was in the bunk room, sat on a bed curled up with her knees to her chest, changed back into her usual outfit.  

“You okay?” He asked softly as he stood in the doorway. Glimmer jumped, then sighed when she recognized him. 

“Yeah, yeah. It’s just—being back on Horde Primes ship kinda brought back some bad feelings. I know it’s dumb, I just...” she sniffed—she’d been crying— and shuddered as she held onto her knees just a little tighter. Bow couldn’t stand seeing her like this, and he quickly entered the room to sit on her bed beside her, unsure if she wanted to be touched or not. 

“Hey, it’s okay to feel that way. Especially after everything happened.” He reassured her, “Were there any specific feelings on his ship that you maybe want to talk about? I know talking about this stuff really helps, at least that’s what my dads always told me.” She sniffed again, Bow reached out and laid his hand on one of hers, and she looked at his hand for a moment before turning her palm against his and intertwining their fingers. Just that little bit of contact felt warm, and Bow instantly missed all the days when they just used to freely touch one another without any apprehension. 

“It just—-it’s so empty. And cold. There’s no one else, and you’re all alone on there. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see any of you again, Bow, I was so sure that I was gonna spend the rest of my life on that fucking ship alone, with Catra, just growing older without being able to see any of you or talk to you ever again.” Her voice grew thick, “I was so so scared, Bow. I couldn’t sleep most nights, and I knew even if I did escape my cell, there was no way I’d be able to get off the ship.” Fresh tears slid down her cheeks, Bow gripped her hand tightly, and realized belatedly that he was also crying—because he’d had the same worries. 

“I felt so alone, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and Adora, and everyone back on Etheria. How I’d hurt you all so much, how i had caused this all to happen, and being back on Horde Primes ship just kinda....brought all that fear back.” Her voice choked, “Bow I don’t know what I would’ve done if Catra hadn’t saved me, if you hadn’t come to get me.” 

“Glimmer.....” He barely spoke, and pulled her towards him to wrap her up in a tight hug. She sobbed into his chest and he cried silently with her, reliving all the worry and fear he’d felt when he wasn’t even sure if she was alive on Horde Prime’s ship. 

There was absolutely no way he would ever let her go again. Never. 

“I’m never letting go of you again, you know that?” He whispered into her hair, “Nothing’s gonna separate us again. I’ll make sure of that.” Glimmer sniffed and leant back just a bit to look him in the eye,

“You know there’s no way you can assure that, right?” She said with amusement. 

“I know,” he told her, and brushed her hair behind her ear, “But I can try.” She smiled shakily at him, and he returned the smile, his hand still on her cheek. There was definitly something different about the warmth spreading through his chest—he might just be in love with this courageous, reckless, person before him. 

“Hey, I’m kinda tired, wanna lay down with me?” He asked quietly, intending to keep his promise of never leaving her again from the get go. 

“Okay.” She sniffed again, and wiped her tears with the palm of her hand. 

Bow took his armor plating off, and laid his arrows and bow next to his bed, before laying down and holding the blanket open for Glimmer to join him. She laid down next to him quickly, and wrapped on arm around his torso as she laid her head on his shoulder. His arm wrapped around her shoulders and they relaxed into one another. 

“......Hey Bow?” Glimmer whispered after a few minutes. They were both looking at the window in the ceiling at the stars. 

“Yeah?” He whispered back. 

“I really missed you.” Her voice was quiet, so quiet he almost missed what she said. He paused for a moment as his stomach did somersaults. 

“I missed you too.” He told her. She let out a huge sigh, 

“That’s a relief.” She said, “I was really worried you were gonna say something like ‘well I didn’t miss you at all’!” She looked up at him with a smile and sniffed “I realize that it’s ridiculous now, just so you know.” 

“I’m glad, because now I don’t have to correct you and tell you that I would never say something like that. Even if it was true—which it’s not! I’m just saying.” He smiled widely, “But, you are aware of just how ridiculous that thought is, right?” 

“Oh, shut up.” She was grinning as widely as she could and pushed his head away. They laughed quietly together and she laid her head back on his shoulder. They laid there for a few minutes, just enjoying each others company and the quiet, when Adora burst in suddenly. 

Glimmer’s head snapped up from his shoulder, and Bow could see her blushing. Adora smirked at them with a look, but when Bow asked if she was okay, she asked about the incinerator for some reason. 

Just before Adora made it out the door, Glimmer grabbed the blanket from her bed and threw it at her,

“Take this too!” She shouted at her. 

Bow chuckled as Glimmer cuddled back down into his shoulder, and looked down at her. He smiled and impulsively kissed her on the forehead, which made her squeak and look at him with a wide eyed look. He shrugged slightly, and she gave him a small smile before laying her head back on his shoulder. 

Bow wrapped his arm more securely around her and settled further into the bed as he gazed through the window at the stars. He was happy. 

Chapter Text

Chap TWO BIETCHES 
it’s a TWOFER

The next morning, Bow woke up cuddled with Glimmer, still in his bed, and still alone in the bunker. Although Entrapta’s bed looked like it had been slept in. If she had seen them cuddled together, she either didn’t care or didn’t think anything of it. 

Glimmer was sleeping, she never woke up easily or early, and Bow just spent a few moments looking at her sleep. She was so beautiful. 

While he was gazing at her she happened to actually wake up, and with a groan she looked about the lowly lit bunker, then down at Bows torso, which she was currently using as a pillow. She looked like she realized just who she was cuddled against and she blushed lightly as she looked up to his face. 

“Good morning.” He grinned. 

“Did we sleep through the night?” She asked, her voice quiet. 

“Yeah. Well, whatever night is on the ship, that is. We’ve got the clocks set to Etherian time so we don’t get too out of sync with the cycles there.”

“Aha. Smart.” She nodded and looked about the room, then frowned, “Where’s Adora?” 

“I think she probably slept in Catras room.” Bow replied, “which—surprising, because Catras pretty much spent the last three years actively trying to kill us.” Glimmer huffed a chuckle and laid her head back down on his shoulder. 

“I mean, I can kind of understand it.” She commented idly. 

“Oh? How’s that?” Bow tilted his head back to share his questioning look with her. 

“Well I mean, they grew up together. They shared most of their lives with one another, and even though Adora left, it still seemed like  Catra really missed having her around.” Glimmer explained. 

“Yeah, I guess so. She was pretty dead set on just—getting Adora to come back to the fright zone, willingly or not.” Bow mused. 

“And I mean, I kinda get it, Catra and Adoras relationship isn’t all that different from ours.” She said introspectively, “Except maybe the part where one of us isn’t constantly trying to kidnap the other and kill the others friends.” She added on, and Bow huffed out a laugh, “But, I think, most of the time, they just missed each other. If you and I were on opposite sides of a war, I’d certainly miss you.” 

“But you wouldn’t try to kill my friends, right?” Bow asked, mildly concerned for hypothetical Bow’s friends. A grin slowly spread on Glimmer’s face. 

“Hmmm, maybe. It depends how annoying your new friends are.” She mused thoughtfully, “Like, if they’re really annoying, I might just have to. I can’t let someone like that be friends with you!” 

“What qualifies as really annoying?” He was curious. 

“Like, just giving their opinion when no one asked. Or like, being really critical about your sense of fashion. Especially if they insisted you wear shirts instead of crop tops. That would be a sin to all Etheria.” She tapped her fingers on his chest to emphasize her point. 

“Oh? Is that so?” 

“It is. It’s unfortunate your new friends had to be so annoying, otherwise I could’ve spared them.” She sighed in mock sorrow. “They will be dearly missed! Just, not by me.” With that touching eulogy, they both burst into giggles and held onto one another as they struggled to breath properly for a minute. 

“I feel sorry for hypothetical Bow.” Bow commented a little while later, “I guess I can understand how Adora missed Catra though, if I had to fight you and you thought you were on the right side, when you weren’t, I would definitely miss you, and I certainly wouldn’t hate you.” He idly brushed his left hand up and down her shoulder, and she reached across his torso to grab his other hand and hold it. 

“Me too.” She whispered sadly, like it was real, and she threaded their fingers together. Bow watched their hands as she rubbed a thumb across the back of his hand—briefly reminded of that day when she tried to convince him potentially blowing the planet up for power was a good idea (his heart clenched for a moment before he reminded himself of the current circumstances—-and then redirected his gaze to her face. Warmth and a strong feeling of adoration spread through his chest, as well as an odd clenching sensation, and then he realized—

He was head over heels in love with his best friend, and he was pretty damn sure that she felt the same.

He decided to try something risky. And by try, he means ask—because Bow is nothing if not a decent person. 

“Hey, Glimmer?” He murmured, she was still holding his hand, and she looked up at him. 

“Yeah?” 

“I kinda wanna kiss you right now,” His heart beat at a rate that was definitly bad for his health, but he was focused on her. “Can I-I mean, it’s—Could I maybe do that?” He barely breathed the words out, they hadn’t broken eye contact for a second. 

Glimmer searched his eyes, she looked like she was barely breathing, and her eyes were wide and glistening. After a moment—ten thousand years, according to Bows brain—she nodded her head just barely, and leaned up a little closer to Bow. 

He didn’t waste a second and he tilted his head to plant a small, chaste, kiss on his best friends lips. It was warm and soft, and a zillion sparks of electricity zipped up his spine and around his rib cage. They pulled back, and Glimmer huffed a small laugh and grinned.

Good to know that she didn’t feel awkward about it, then. 

She opened her mouth, presumably to say something, but— 

“BOW!” Entrapta’s voice suddenly screeched. They both jumped in surprise and frantically searched the room for her, but they couldn’t see her. “Could you come up to the bridge and steer for me? I can’t work on the ship and fly it at the same time!” Her voice was tinny, like it was coming through a speaker. They looked up to the one speaker that was in the bunker, just as the light that signified someone was using it flicked off. 

“I guess we’ll just have to talk about this later, then.” She said. 

“Guess so.” He looked at her, “But we should definitly keep this from the others, right?” 

“Oh, definitly. Adora would lose her mind if she found out we kissed.” Glimmer nodded emphatically.  

“Good.” Bow nodded. “Good, so.....we’re good?” 

“Yeah—unless you hated kissing me and want nothing to do with me now—we’re all good.” Glimmer told him, trying to hold back a smile. 

“I didn’t hate it,” he assured her, “I very much enjoyed it.” 

“Bow!” Entrapta’s voice came through again, and they startled again, “Did you fall back asleep? I need you up here!” The speaker flicked off and Bow sighed. 

“Alright, I can’t postpone this any longer, I gotta go.” They disentangled themselves from one another and Bow got out of the bed. Glimmer snuggled back under the blankets and watched him with tired eyes as he put his armor back on. 

“See you later, I’m going back to sleep.” She told him, and he chuckled. 

“I figured. See you later.” He started to walk towards the door, but turned around and leaned over Glimmer to kiss her on the forehead, then left her blushing as he jogged towards the deck; Entrapta wasn’t very patient. 

———————————
Glimmer wasn’t the best at expressing her feelings, which is why it surprised him when she told him she loved him so suddenly. 

But he wasn’t surprised by how she felt, he already knew that. He’s been able to read her emotions like she was a book since they were kids, and she was terrible at hiding them from him. 

After Adora fixed everything, they had time to spend with one another, which they spent cuddling together and talking quietly. They talked about their relationship, and shared a few small kisses now and then (They had kissed again as soon as they were alone immediately after the world almost ended, and it was definitly more heated than their first few kisses), but for the most part they just enjoyed one another’s company in peace.