Work Text:
Adora chuckled as she sprinted through the Whispering Woods, as fast as her legs would carry her. Up ahead was Bow, the archer keeping a surprising lead ahead of her, but Aodra knew she would catch him up. The two of them were essentially the other's athletic mirror after all. As Bow leapt over a nearby tree, he looked over his shoulder to see if Adora was still behind him and sure enough she was.
It had been a while since Adora and Bow had just... hung out like that, just the two of them. These days either one of them usually had Catra or Glimmer or both of them around, so just the two of them hanging out had been a bit of a rarity, not that they were complaining. Adora loved spending every day with Catra as her girlfriend, not to mention she was dating Glimmer as well and sharing the Queen with both Catra and Bow... sometimes the exact dynamics of her relationships confused her, but everything more or less made sense.
Still, she was glad to be getting some quality time with Bow. Eventually, she saw that Bow had come to a stop in a nearby clearing, panting a little but glad that he'd been able to beat her... not that they were actually racing. If they had been racing, Adora would have probably played dirty and transformed into her She-Ra form just to get a little magical burst of speed to easily beat Bow to... wherever they were.
Bow laughed and sat down on a nearby moss covered hill in the middle of the clearing. "Ah, nothing like a good run in the woods, huh Adora?"
Nodding, Adora sighed in agreement as she sat next to him. "Yeah... thanks for getting me out of the castle today. It's so hard trying to figure out stuff to... do these days."
"No problem, I knew you needed it and yeah, I get that," Bow replied. "Peace was never something you really expected was it?"
Adora shook her head. "I mean, I always thought we'd defeat the Horde but... I never really planned on what's next."
"Well see, I always figured we would because well, we're the good guys, we always win in the end," Bow stated. "And honestly, I feel like I'm having much more fun without a war over my head. We get to go on all kinds of adventures still and there's not really any stakes to worry about. Plus, hanging out with my awesome best friends never gets boring for me, especially hanging out with you."
Adora had to blush at that. Bow always did know how to be genuinely kind to everyone he met, knew just what to say to put everyone's mood right. There was a reason some had called him the heart of the Alliance. He genuinely could be one of the bravest, noblest souls on the whole of Etheria and he could do it without having any magical gifts or specialised training. He was just a regular guy with a bow and arrow.
To Adora, Bow had always been a constant presence in her life these last couple of years. He and Glimmer had done everything they could to make Adora feel at home in Brightmoon when she'd first arrived there and for that, she was eternally grateful. So much had changed for her since deciding to defect to the Rebellion and yet, there were these two wonderful people who wanted to be with her. Adora couldn't have asked for better people to be in her life. Both of them encouraged the best out of her and she knew that without them, she wouldn't have been able to have Catra back in her life.
Glimmer felt like the sort of girl Adora had always needed, the girl to help her come out of her shell. She was outgoing, excited, always wanting Adora to try new things. Adora... loved Glimmer. A lot. She had always felt she was attracted to women and Glimmer had basically confirmed that. Thus parsing out her feelings for Glimmer felt easy for her. And there was Bow. He reminded her so much of herself. Brave, strong, loyal, sharing the same devoted energy to duty and honour she did. Though he always kept himself down to earth.
Adora clearly was not attracted to men, at all. Yet, whenever she hung out with Bow... she did feel something for him, something that was nearly as stronger than mere friendship. Again, this obviously wasn't anything romantic, though she wouldn't lie, dancing with him at the various parties after the war had been fun. Adora genuinely deeply adored Bow and cared for him in this way... And that was okay, she was allowed to feel that way. It wasn't like there were any hard rules against this sort of thing.
And maybe it was time for Bow to know how she felt. She felt the strong feelings again, beyond Bow being just one of her best friends, beyond the fact he was the metamour she had with Glimmer. That was a fun word to learn when Perfuma had explained polyamorous relationships to her. She looked over at Bow and reached out and gently held his hand, smiling fondly at her friend.
"Hey Bow um... can I confess something?" Adora asked shyly. She wasn't worried about Bow being against any of this, more just nervous about expressing this. Emotions were still hard for her sometimes.
"Sure!" Bow chirped.
The blonde gulped. "So, okay, I know I obviously love Catra and Glimmer and they're like... the best girlfriends ever and while it can be complicated sometimes, I like that you're a part of that and we both share Glimmer and whatnot... but I guess I realise now that... I love you too, Bow. Not in the same way I love Catra and Glimmer obviously, I'm pretty sure I only like girls and girl-adjacent people in that way, but I still love you a lot and more than just as a friend and I still want you in my life and... oh Stars am I making any sense?"
She felt Bow squeeze both of her hands and look into her eyes fondly. Adora blinked, her face growing warm again. Just the look of Bow's smile was enough to reassure her as always. "You're making complete sense Adora... and I feel the same way too. Heck, I actually was talking about it with Catra and Glimmer the other day and they're cool with it. Honestly, we were more surprised you didn't mention anything sooner."
"So I was just... an oblivious dork as always?" Adora realised, feeling like the universe's biggest idiot.
Bow chuckled. "Well, I wouldn't entirely say that... I don't do the whole playful insulting as love language thing that Catra does."
Adora rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Okay so um... will you be my platonic partner, Bow? So we can like... make this official? Wait, have we already done that? I just... don't know how it works like this."
Taking Adora's hands again. "I don't think there's a specific way this works but... yeah, I'll be your platonic partner, Adora." Bow leaned in and pulled Adora in for a loving embrace. Adora wrapped her arms around Bow gratefully, sighing as she held him close. Bow soon pressed his forehead against Adora's, Adora relaxing. Finally, all of this made sense to her at last. As her hands looped around Bow's neck, she pulled him as tightly close as she could, glad this had all worked out okay.
"Thank you Bow," Adora said with genuine happiness.
Bow grinned. "You wanna go tell Catra the good news?"
Catra was perched on one of the balconies in Brightmoon, overlooking the Kingdom below her. For the last few months, she had gladly accepted this place as her home. She had two wonderful girlfriends there, Adora and Glimmer, not to mention the few other partners she had around that she also shared with them, as well as other loyal friends. To her she had finally felt she had a place where she truly belonged... though deep down she wished it hadn't taken her so long to get there.
All her life she has been trapped in a role she wasn't meant to be, that of some fearsome villain, but now she has embraced her new purpose in life, as someone who wants to do good things in the world. Plus, wanting to be the best person worthy of Adora's and Glimmer's love was a good motivator. After all, dating princesses had certain standards and expectations and while Catra didn't care about the societal expectations, she still wanted to be good for Adora and Glimmer.
Just then, Catra was brought out of her train of thought by the arrival of two people, one of whom she instantly heard skipping over to her as fast as her legs could carry her. Catra didn't need to be psychic to know who that was. Adora suddenly rushed from behind and hugged her tightly, giggling gleefully. Being randomly hugged by Adora was another of the many perks Catra had with her life in Brightmoon.
"Okay dummy, what's got you in such a giddy mood?" Catra wondered.
"See Adora, told you can't pull off the insults as love language thing," Bow added.
"Oh, Bow and I are platonic partners now!" Adora chirped.
"Oh you finally did that whole thing huh?" Catra remarked. "I'm happy for you, Adora."
"Aw thank you," Adora whispered, nuzzling her cheek. "I mean this doesn't like change much but it's nice to set these things in stone. Where's Glimmer?"
"Unfortunately got pulled away to deal with some royal business. Apparently Mermista and Frosta got into a fight about something. You'd think they'd get along swimmingly considering their powers control basically the same thing."
"Aw, okay, well we can just tell her the good news when she gets back!" Adora replied. "Hopefully she won't be long."
"Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't we go raid the kitchens and have a feast to celebrate the whole we're fully a polycule thing?" Bow suggested.
"Good idea! I'll go head down and grab us some snacks. Meet you in Glimmer's room!" Adora replied, before skipping away.
As Adora left, Catra sighed and returned to gazing from the balcony. Bow sat next to her with her, grinning at her as they both watched the beauty that was an Etheria now fully at peace.
"So, how long you been here?" Bow wondered.
"Ever since I got back from walking Melog," Catra replied. "She's taking a little magic space cat nap in my room so I just headed down here. You get a good view from this spot." She let out a sigh of content. "I didn't think it was ever possible for me to feel this relaxed."
"Yeah, Adora felt the same way when she got here," Bow admitted. "Took her a year before she finally was able to let herself go and enjoy life here. I'm really glad you're feeling the same too."
Catra blushed at Bow's kind words. Like Adora, she was obviously not attracted to men, that much she was always certain of, yet she too felt very strongly for Bow. Maybe it was because he reminds her of Adora, maybe its been how devoted he has been to the Best Friend Squad, maybe it was the fact that genuinely he was the glue holding everyone together. If she was honest... she felt the same way Adora did about Bow, that same stronger feeling that went deeper than Bow just being a best friend.
"Hey Bow... permission to say something that probably sounds a bit crazy," Catra then spoke.
"All ears!"
"So uh.... would it be weird if I said I felt the same way about you as Adora does?" Catra confessed. "Like, knowing she's your platonic partner and-"
Bow chuckled.
"Don't laugh," Catra grumbled, looking away and blushing in embarrassment. "It's just... you're the one guy who I feel kinda different about. I dunno, it's just something about you. You're all... nice and sweet and stuff. So I guess..."
"Well, I do have that effect on people it seems," Bow admitted. "But if you wanna be platonic partners with me too... I don't see anything wrong with that."
"So what do you say Arrow Boy?" Catra grinned, genuinely delighted that Bow understood. "Because I won't lie... having you more involved does sound a lot more fun."
Bow took Catra's hand and held it gently. "Catra, yes, of course I will."
Catra rested her head on Bow's shoulder for a moment, nuzzling him, before she then cupped Bow's cheeks and pressed her forehead to his, purring loudly. She was glad to add yet another special person to her life. Bow wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back lovingly. He held her and they stood up, Catra's arms moving around Bow's shoulders, relaxing into the embrace completely.
"Aw your purring is so cute," Bow giggled. Normally Catra would have told anyone off for that, but she accepted Bow calling her cute. That wasn't an honour she reserves for just about anyone, signalling the ultimate form of trust.
It was then that Adora came back, bringing with her, of all people, Glimmer. "Hey guys, guess who showed up!"
"Hey Glim!" Bow called to her, grinning. "I'm platonic partners with Adora and Catra now!"
"Wait, Catra asked you too?" Adora said in surprise.
"Yeah well, it made sense," Catra smirked.
"Just be good to my girlfriends Bow," Glimmer faux-threatened her boyfriend. "I know where you live."
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of them, your majesty," Bow said with a grin back.
"Good, now with all the love in the air, I grabbed all the snacks we could from the kitchen!" Glimmer chirped, jumping over and hugging her partners. "Come on, let's go celebrate!"
"Happy polycule!" Adora chirped, before Glimmer teleported them all away.