Earth

It all happened so fast. One moment Glimmer was standing in the circle of runes at Bright Moon and then everything was light, so bright it washed everything out and then she was landing with on something lumpy but familiar. Before she could get her bearings, there was the curious feeling, like she'd been high and something had sucked it all out of her in an instant, leaving her stone sober. She held up her hands, but the glowing magic was gone. She had a momentary pang, but the loss was probably for the best. It had been too much, like laughing for a little too long, and her thoughts were so much clearer now that it was gone.

"Glimmer?" Bow, HER Bow, was standing across the room looking at her like she might be a ghost. "Is it really you this time?"

"Bow!" She flung herself across the room and into his arms. He caught her in a crushing hug and she wrapped her arms around him, cherishing how familiar he was from the way he smelled to the scratch of his beard against her cheek. She hadn't realized how much that place was warping her brain into accepting that too polished uncanny valley look until she had her best friend in her arms looking so real and exactly like himself. "I missed you SO much!"

"And I'm so glad you're back," he sniffed, holding her at arm's length. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

She had to stop herself from laughing. He looked so worried! Like she hadn't been in rainbow princess town for the last 24 hours having the time of her life? "I'm fine!"

"Where have you been?"

"A whole other universe! Shit, Bow, Etheria was very weird but… also cool? Like Sailor Moon had a baby with Xena. Just the sparkliest, brightest, gayest place you can imagine! And I was a queen there with all these powers and a castle… Plus, you and everyone else we know were all magic warrior versions of ourselves, like some kind of league of extraordinarily queer super-heroes."

"Me too? She told me I was just a regular guy."

"Regular? No way! He was…" She was trying to figure out how to explain the confidence and daredevil attitude of Disney Princeified Bow in a way that made it perfectly clear she preferred the version in front of her when she realized what he'd said. "Hold on! You met her! The other Glimmer. She was here!"

"Well, yeah."

"What was she like?"

"She was…" Bow hesitated, and she remembered everything she'd been told about her other self, the polished murals and tales of heroism.

She felt suddenly small and pathetic in her ratty old nightshirt. "Probably the most amazing person ever."

"Nah." Bow was giving her this wonderful soft smiled. "I like you better."

"Oh. Thanks. I like this version of you better, too." The air got weird between them. She shifted, unable to meet his eyes. "Did you and the other Glimmer talk at all?"

"Yeah. We talked a lot, actually. We spent the whole day together."

"Did she mention anything interesting?" Her face was on fire. "Like how you and I were sort of, um, married in the other world?"

"She might have mentioned something like that, yeah." When she risked a glance at him, he was chewing on his thumbnail, a look of panic on his face.

"Crazy, right?"

"Yeah." He laughed, but it was strained. "Crazy."

He should say something. She should say something. But the idea of her and Bow together had seemed so much more possible when she was standing tall as the queen of a planet. Now she was back and only… herself.

Just when it seemed like she was going to die of the awkward silence, she heard the opening bars of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." Bow groaned and pulled his phone out of his pocket to silence it.

"Shit, is that your back-up alarm?" Her phone was on the edge of the bed and she grabbed it, checking the time. Crap, he was usually already in the shower by now. "Please tell me you're not going into work after all this!"

"I have to! I called out yesterday and I'm out of personal days." Bow rubbed his face, and she noticed for the first time how exhausted he looked.

"Did you get any sleep last night?"

"No. She wanted to see everyone before she left and we ended up having a party. Then we were afraid if we fell asleep we'd miss the magic return thingie, so we stayed up talking until…" He made a noise of frustration and headed for his bedroom. "I don't have time to talk about it. I need to go get dressed. If I'm late the day after calling out, Sheila's going to kill me."

"Bow, you can't—" She moved to intercept him, but her phone started screaming for attention. "Oh, for fuck's sake!"

She flipped over the screen and froze. Her mom. She nearly ignored the call out of habit, but her thumb froze over the button, the image of that memorial in the Bright Moon gardens burned in her brain. She forced herself to take a deep breath and accepted the call.

"Good morning, mother," she said, steeling herself for the inevitable fight.

"Ah, so you are up. Good." Angella sounded surprised she'd answered, but that wouldn't last long. She'd been on the attack soon enough. "I have been thinking a great deal about our talk yesterday."

Yesterday? But she hadn't— Oh, shit. "Uh, yeah?"

"I have unlocked your accounts and made it clear to my associates that you have my full support. Seemed like the least I could do, considering."

"You…" Her mother was… backing down? That was suspicious as hell. What had the other Glimmer done? More of that diplomacy shit? Probably promised her mother everything she wanted just to keep her precious peace and left her here to deal with the future she didn't want. Glimmer's blood boiled at the very thought of that dickhead HP winning after everything. "Look, whatever I said yesterday, nothing's changed. I'm NOT apologizing for anything. I'm getting a lawyer and I'm taking that motherfucker down for what he did."

As soon as she'd stood up to that wannabe at the meeting on Etheria, she'd known this was what she had to do. It was going to suck. Not just facing HP again and whatever dirty tricks he'd pull to manipulate things in his favor, but throwing herself to the media jackals and court of public opinion again. But if it meant defeating Prime in this world as they'd done on Etheria, she'd do what needed to be done no matter how terrified she was.

"Very well," her mother said evenly. Shit. This was it. This was when the other shoe dropped and her mother cut her off forever. "Then I will call in a few favors, make certain we have the very best lawyers on our side. We will make that bastard pay for what he did to my daughter."

Glimmer gaped, unable to believe what she was hearing. "You're helping?"

"Of course!" Something beeped on her mother's end. "We'll discuss this later. I have a call and I know you like to have breakfast with Bow before he leaves for work. I don't want to intrude on that ritual."

Bow! With all the stuff with her mom, she'd nearly forgotten! His key jingled in the hallway and she sprinted out of her bedroom, calling a hurried goodbye to Angella before ending the call.

"Stop!" she screamed before he could turn the doorknob. "My mom unfroze everything."

"I'm glad you made up with your mom." Bow smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. How long had he looked like this? Miserable, his shine dulled not just from exhaustion but from weeks of having to pretend he was something he wasn't. She could kick herself for letting it get this bad. "You can tell me more about it when I come home."

"No! You don't understand." She grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn and look at her. "We have money again. My mom can help me find a position somewhere. You can quit that job you hate."

Bow sighed, turning away. "And do what, Glimmer? I don't know how to do anything else!"

"That's bullshit! There are a lot of things you can do. You're an inventor, a people person— On Etheria, I talked to Entrapta, and I was wrong about her, wrong about the company idea. You can do it and I know you'd be a hell of a lot happier doing that than this."

"You talked about it with her here, too. Got her all excited about it." He shook his head. "But it's not possible! Neither of us knows a single thing about running a company."

"But I do!" Holy shit! It was so perfectly simple. Why hadn't she thought of this before? "Running a company is exactly what my mother's been preparing me for my whole life. Except instead of working for some shitty business run by one of her cronies, it could be you and me and our friends. We could actually make a difference!"

"Even with your accounts, we don't have the money to—"

"We'll apply for grants, take out some loans, do whatever it takes." It felt like they were on the precipice of something and if she let him walk out that door right now she'd be failing the both of them. "This is the right idea! We can do this!"

"You can do this! You can do anything! I'm—" Bow exhaled and leaned his forehead against the door. "Maybe it would work out. Or maybe it wouldn't and it wrecks everything. I'm not superhero fantasy king Bow who takes risks, Glimmer. I'm just me." His voice caught. "I have to go."

She stepped between him and the door. "No."

"Glimmer—"

"This isn't about the job or the company. This is about change." Years and years of stagnant status quo where neither of them were thrilled with the fucked up limbo of their relationship, but the prospect of wrecking what they had was too terrifying to do anything about it. Trying to convince themselves that being best friends was good enough because they were too afraid to take the leap and try for something more. "In the other world, do you know the last thing you said to me?"

He shook his head.

She held herself high. "To never forget that I am a fucking queen."

Bow blinked at her. "I really said the f-word?"

"Not— I was paraphras— Argh!" She grabbed his dress shirt with both hands. He raised his eyebrows. "A queen does not settle for 'good enough.' She is not afraid of anything. And I am sure as shit not going to wait for the end of the world to do this."

She yanked him down to her, pressing her lips against his. She pulled away after a moment, the heady rush of adrenaline giving into the panic of oh god oh god oh god had she seriously just kissed Bow? He was staring, his face unreadable and she may have just fucked up everything, but she was in too deep to go back now.

"I love you." Should she say it again? His expression hadn't changed, which was really worrying her. "I love you. Like, I am in love with you. I probably should have led with that, but— Mmph!"

Bow caught her face in his hands, pulling her in for a kiss that left her breathless. He released her and she would have fallen over if she didn't still have her hands braced against his chest.

"I love you, too," he said. "I have for so long, but there never seemed like a good time to tell you and I was afraid—"

"I know. Me too. We're idiots." She laughed, relief almost as good as the rush of having magic in her veins again. A tear slid down her cheek even though she was the exact opposite of sad and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. "What a wacky misunderstanding this has all been!"

He was giving her that look again, the one he'd been giving her for half their lives. How had she ever mistaken it for anything other than pure adoration? "I want to kiss you."

"Then kiss me!" She tugged him back down to her, gently this time. As far as she was concerned, this one was their real first kiss. It was softer and much less frantic, his lips brushing against her almost reverently. She wound her arms around his neck, pulling him closer as the kiss got deeper. His hands slid down to her waist, fingers trailing along the edge of her shorts.

Fuck, she'd wanted this for so long. Now that it was finally happening and there was no way they were taking it slow. She pulled away from the kiss and started unbuttoning his shirt. "It's wrong to have your abs covered."

He laughed against her neck and continued teasing her with soft kisses. She shivered, pressing herself up against him, more turned on than she'd ever been in her life. His hands were wandering up and under her shirt, driving her wild, and that fact that she couldn't actually touch his skin was making her crazy. She tugged at his shirt, but it was stuck in the waistband. She'd just started unbuckling his belt when there was the sharp buzz of his phone.

"Don't answer it," she said as he pulled it out of his pocket.

He groaned as he looked at the screen. "I have to. It's work."

"Fuck work."

He shushed her, putting on that fake cheerful customer service voice he used that made him sound like he was dying inside. "Hey, Shelia."

"Tell her you're not coming in today." She'd gotten his pants undone and his shirt open enough that she could run her hands along his chest. "You're busy."

"Yeah, I'll be there. Just got a little held up." His voice cracked on the last word as she tugged his pants off and grabbed his ass with both hands. He cleared his throat, his professional voice getting even more strained as she kissed her way up his chest. "I— Yes, I know, but—"

"Tell her you didn't get any sleep last night." She gave him a small shove, pushing him down onto the arm of the couch where she could manhandle him easier. Through the phone, she could hear that bitch Shelia berating him. She growled. Like Bow had ever been anything but a perfect employee since the start? "You had a personal emergency yesterday."

"I understand, b-but—" His voice hitched as Glimmer pulled off her top. "I… uh… Yeah, no, I'm listening I just…"

"Repeat after me." She looped her finger under his bowtie and tugged his face close enough to kiss. Bow swallowed, trying very hard to keep his eyes on her face and failing completely. "'I am not coming in to work today.'"

"I'm, um… The thing is…"

"'I'm not coming in today.'" She kissed him, trapping his lower lip between her teeth for a minute before letting it go. He whimpered as she teased him, keeping her lips just out of reach. "'I'm going to go back to bed.'"

"C-could I maybe not come in and borrow a personal day from next—" He looked pained as she pulled off her pajama pants and climbed onto his lap. "Or I— I could make up for today by working an extra—"

"Say it. 'I'm staying home. Spending the whole day in bed.'" She let her lips brush against his ear while she whispered, "'Just spending the entire rest of the day in bed fucking my new girlfriend.'"

"I quit!" He sounded surprised by his own words, but then he let out a small laugh, the tension leaving his shoulders. "I quit."

On the other end of the call, Bow's former boss was swearing and working herself into a frenzy, but he ignored her. He ended the call without another word, silencing his phone and tossing it across the room onto the love seat. Then he let out a long exhale, like he could finally breathe again.

Glimmer realized her mouth was hanging open. "You did it!"

"I guess I did." He shrugged adorably, tentatively returning his hands to her waist.

"That was so fucking hot! You have no idea how long I've wanted you to do that!"

"Yeah?" He smirked and, fuck, who knew her dork best friend could that— send heat shooting right through her with just a look? She shrieked as he grabbed her and flipped her onto the couch. She was too stunned to do more than moan as he climbed on top of her, his hands doing exactly what she wanted them to. "Well, you have no idea how long I've wanted to do this."

Etheria

Outside Glimmer's window, the moonstone shone softly. There was a serenity to its glow, as if the runestone was finally glad yesterday's nonsense was over and Bright Moon was back to business as usual. If only she could borrow some of that peaceful feeling! It was fairly early yet, but, exhausted as she was, Glimmer couldn't sleep. A dozen worries buzzed through her brain. She finally teleported to the bathroom— Gods, was it good to be able to teleport again!— too antsy to just lay there.

By the time she'd showered and cleaned up, she teleported back into the bedroom to find something to wear and was surprised to see her husband still snoring away. She glanced at the bedside clock. When was the last time Bow had EVER slept this late?

"Hey, sleepyhead." She nudged him and he groaned. "It's getting late."

"Five more minutes," he answered, flopping over to bury his face in the pillow.

She laughed outright. "I'm pretty sure that's my line."

"Tireddddd…." came the muffled reply. "…been up since yesterday."

"I know, me too. I promise I'll get us a nap later. But I've been gone for a whole day and we have a kingdom to run." She smacked his bare butt because he was her husband and she was allowed. "Get up, your highness."

"Hmm…" He lifted his head from the pillow, his eyebrow crooked. "No, I think we're going back to bed."

She shrieked as he grabbed the belt of her bathrobe and tugged down next to him. "Bowwww!"

She tried to squirm herself back up, but he had her in a hug lock and was laughing into her shoulder. "Come on! Why can't we stay in bed?"

"We've been in bed for hours!"

"True, but…" His teeth brushed against her earlobe. "We weren't actually sleeping for most of them."

She giggled, giving him a kiss on the nose. "You are very cute, but we really need to get up!"

"Noooo!" he whined, as she teleported out of his arms. "We have nothing important to do today!"

"We don't? Then when did you reschedule the meeting with the allied clone loyalists?" They'd been so busy being relieved to see each other again in a variety of different positions that they hadn't really discussed what happened while she'd been stuck on earth. "That situation is a power keg and the longer we let it fester— what?"

"We didn't reschedule the meeting." Her husband propped himself up on his elbow and was giving her that smirk that she found very sexy normally, but infuriating in this particular context. "It happened yesterday."

"WHAT?"

"She ran it. The other you."

Glimmer sank down onto the bed, too stunned to speak. The other her? That Glimmer whose unmitigated disaster of a life she'd just been in? She'd run possibly the most important intergalactic meeting Etheria had ever had?

"Glimmer." Bow took her hand, bringing her back to the present. "It went fine."

"How?" she rounded on him. "How could it have possibly gone 'fine'?"

"I don't know, but it did."

She shook her head, halfway between screaming and crying. "What did we have to give up?"

"Nothing."

"OK, now I know you're full of shit! They were furious, Bow! They had us caught between two impossible options and they knew it! And you want me to believe they just gave us everything we wanted, and we didn't have to give anything up? What could she have possibly said to them?"

"Well, she told them the whole thing was stupid…" He was watching her, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "And that they could go f- themselves. Which, as I recall, is exactly what you wished you could tell them."

Glimmer stared at him for a moment before realizing she was gaping and closed her mouth.

"They're going to stop the projections. The act is still intact. PJ backed off and ran back to his spire with his tail between his legs." Bow reached for his tracker pad on the bedside. "We've had about a billion interview requests since yesterday, but I figured they could wait. Especially since, overall, the consensus seems to be..."

He handed over the tracker pad and she stared at the NewsVid still. The crawl at the bottom read, "Queen Glimmer stuns with bold diplomatic strategy in a welcome return to form!"

When she looked back at her husband, he was smiling. "They liked it."

"I wanted so badly to tell them to fuck off this entire time, but I thought…" Glimmer exhaled, looking at the image on the screen. She'd expected the other Glimmer to look like some frayed, humble thing based on her life, but if anything she looked more confident than she did. She smiled, oddly proud. Maybe the other Glimmer would be alright after all.

"So what does this mean going forward?" she asked. "We stop trying to be diplomatic? Do whatever the fuck we want?"

"No. But I maybe we do less looking for a perfect solution."

"And more trusting our gut." Of course. She sighed, setting the tracker pad aside. The memory of that luncheon with her mother was heavier now that she was back home.

Bow pulled himself up, his face lined with concern.

"I'm sorry for not rescheduling the meeting. You didn't leave any instructions and everything was crazy. By the time I realized you wouldn't be back in time..." He exhaled. Poor Bow. Yesterday was probably as crazy for him as it had been for her. "Maybe next time—"

She shook her head.

"There won't be a next time. My mom is gone, Bow. And I can't keep stalling on the rest of my life, hoping we'll get her back." She expected to cry, but it was just this empty, heavy feeling. Bow said nothing, just wrapped his arms around her. "You knew, didn't you?"

"I know I'd sure prefer if we never, ever did this again."

She laughed and kissed the side of his head. "That's fair. I promise. No more crazy magic stunts or waiting for something that may never happen."

He rested his chin on her shoulder. "Are you going to be OK?"

"Yes," she said with confidence. She turned so she could walk her fingers down his chest. "After all, now there's no reason to wait on starting a family! And since it seems like we have much less to do today than I thought we did, perhaps we could go back to bed."

"Great!" Bow said, immediately flopping back down onto his pillow and turning his back to her. "Good night!"

She cackled, teleporting herself to the other side so she could smack him with her pillow. "Oh, no, you're not getting off that easy!"

Bow laughed, his hands in front of his face. "Ah! Be merciful, your majesty!"

"Very well," she said in the bedroom version of her queen voice, discarding the pillow and climbing on top of him. "I will spare you my wrath if you follow my every command to the letter."

"Oh?" Bow asked, his voice hitching. The thing about the King of Bright Moon was he enjoyed being bossed around and his wife knew it. "I-I could do that."

"Excellent. Then notify the staff that the King and Queen are busy today with important royal Bright Moon business and are not to be disturbed."

"Yes, ma'am." Bow reached for his tracker pad and started typing. He hesitated. "And what am I saying we're busy with?"

Glimmer removed her robe, tossing it off the bed, and slid her hands down his abs to the more interesting parts below. "Making an heir."

Earth

Glimmer got up softly, trying not to wake Bow, who was still dead asleep. She disentangled herself from his arms and rose, allowing herself a moment to admire her boyfriend's very cute butt before she begrudgingly pulled the sheet over so he wouldn't get cold.

Wow. So this is really happening, huh? She'd spent the first few minutes after waking grinning like an idiot. This morning felt like some amazing dream but, no, Bow really was passed out naked in her bed. Even now, the urge to crawl back in next to him was overwhelming, but he needed to get some rest. He'd definitely earned it. She giggled to herself, blushing at the memory, and headed for the other bathroom so she wouldn't wake him.

Bow's work shirt was still hanging from the living room lamp where she'd tossed it hours ago and she pulled it on. It's not like he was going to need it anymore! She glimpsed herself in the mirror as she buttoned up. They'd only slept maybe two hours of the last five and she looked it. Her hair was completely fucked up in a million different directions, there were at least two hickies bruising on her neck, and her lip was split and swollen from where she bit clean through it during round two. The exact opposite of how she'd looked at this time yesterday on Etheria and yet she'd never felt hotter in her life.

When she emerged from the bathroom, she rummaged through the disaster of the living room until she found Bow's phone. As she'd feared, there were dozens of missed calls, over half of which were from his dads freaking out about him quitting his job. She wrote them a quick text, assuring them that Bow was fine and would explain about the museum once he got some sleep. A few days ago, she'd have been worried about how George and Lance would react to their son quitting the job they'd personally set him up with, but she wasn't now. She'd met Bow's dads on Etheria and seen how they supported their son no matter what he did, even if it was the exact opposite of what they wanted him to do. They'd understand once he explained, she was sure of it.

Still, Bow would be worried about it. She knew exactly how his brain worked. He'd work himself in a frenzy about disappointing everyone from his dads to the old lady who ran the museum gift shop unless she could make a convincing argument that they could actually do this. This was why she was up right now, even though she was still dead tired. Her brain was going too fast about everything to sleep. He was going to have questions when he woke up about how they were possibly going to make this business thing work, and she wanted to have answers.

Food. They should probably eat, right? She headed for the kitchen, the smell of the empty pizza boxes stacked in the corner reminding her how hungry she was. Her cooking skills were severely limited compared to Bow's, but she could make a few things. Like pancakes. Bow liked pancakes. At least, he said he did whenever she made them. Shit, she really hoped that was because they were actually good and not just because he loved her.

Oh, that's right. Bow LOVED her. The realization kept hitting her again in mundane ways like this. She grinned like an idiot into a drawer while she rummaged for the whisk.

OK, focus! They needed a plan. They'd have to register the business, write up a plan, make a budget. Paying for materials would be a problem, though. She'd have to look up what grants they'd be eligible for. She could think of a few off the top of her head, but even if they got them all, it wouldn't be enough for full operating expenses for more than a few months. Hmm, though, if she and Bow shared a bedroom (Oh, darn!) they could use the other room as a temporary workshop. It would save them from renting a place and make half their living expenses deductible.

The stack of pancakes was growing as fast as her notes as she flipped the spatula with one hand, wrote with the other. She was so deep in her thoughts that it took her a full minute to realize that the buzzing sound was her phone, shaking impatiently from where she'd left it by the entryway. She grabbed it, nearly tripping over an empty pack of solo cups— damn, this place was a disaster!— and rushing back to flip her latest pancake before it burned.

"There's my princess!"

"Dad!" Glimmer said, trying to keep her voice low, so she didn't wake Bow. "How'd your show go?"

"Great! You were watching, right? What did you think?"

"Magical as always," she answered, because it was what he expected. A version of her had technically watched it, so it wasn't really a lie.

"You know it!" Her dad laughed. It was a carefree sound, and she thought about her other father, the one with the long robes and amiable smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Shit, was she glad to be home. "Wanna come down for dinner next week? A proper family dinner, like the old days! Bow'd be welcome too, of course."

"I'll have to check, but I think we could make it." It was a surprise how much she wanted to see her parents when she'd been utterly dreading it a day ago. Plus, it was sweet of her dad to invite Bow to the family dinner. Now that she thought about it, he did that a lot, even before the fight with her mom. Her family may have been a mess lately, but the idea of being Bow a part of it still made her feel warm all over. "Thank you for the invite. I miss you. It's been too long."

"It's been less than a day! Though I understand that my charm is quite addicting. Right Angie?" Her father cackled, her mother groaning in the background. "And I miss you too. Thank goodness my girls are finally getting along again! Anyway, I have to run, doing a radio spot in 20, but your mom wants to say something real quick. Be good!"

"Always am," she said reflexively, distracted by the sound of water running in the hall bathroom. She quickly scanned her notes, making sure they were coherent, nothing left out. It would be hard, but they could do it. She knew they could.

"Glimmer." Her mother sounded like a queen. Even now that she was back home, Glimmer couldn't unhear it and it left her on edge. But there was strength in remembering that she was one, too. "I have a proposal."

"Uh, yeah, dad mentioned about dinner. Bow's in the bathroom right now, but I'll ask—"

"No. Not that. A business proposal." Even through the phone, she could hear Angella clicking her pen like she did when she was nervous. "At this morning's meeting, we discussed how to allocate the funds originally earmarked for HP's contract. The consensus was we all wanted something good to do with them to mitigate the harm we did by funding Primecorp all these years. And I suggested that there might be a new up-and-coming start-up that would be well worth our investment."

Glimmer flipped off the stove, leaning against the counter, unable to believe what she was hearing. "I—"

"It's not a gift, mind you. You'll have to do up a proper proposal, make some prototypes, sell the board on it. I will not be accused of nepotism! But I think chances are quite good that Bright Moon Holdings would be willing to invest a significant amount in Bow and Entrapta's venture. Particularly if the board knew they had your strong leadership at the helm."

Glimmer opened and closed her mouth uselessly, not sure what to say. It wasn't about the money so much as she'd never heard her mom be so casually certain of her and her abilities before. "Mom…"

"We don't always see eye to eye, I'll admit. But I love you, my little moonbeam, and don't you ever forget it."

"I love you too, mom." Glimmer was so stunned she didn't even notice Bow until he wrapped his arms around her from behind, pressing a soft kiss on her temple.

"Everything alright?" he asked, leaning on her shoulder and sounding about 75% still asleep.

"Yeah." She stared at her home screen for a minute, not sure if she'd even remembered to say goodbye before her mother ended the call. "This is just all… a lot."

"Should I—" he released her, and she grabbed his arms, pulling them back around her.

"No! Not the stuff with us." She leaned back into his chest as he pressed himself back up against her. "That's a lot in a good way."

"OK, good." He nestled back into the crook of her neck. It was probably silly to get butterflies from a hug after everything they'd done this morning, but after so long thinking she'd never have this, having all of it was near overwhelming. Usually with a new relationship there was this nervous period of feeling each other out, worrying about what they'd think of you when they learned about all your flaws, but there was none of that with Bow. That he'd already seen her at her worst and still wanted to be with her was immensely comforting. "Who was on the phone?"

"My parents. I didn't wake you, did I?"

"Nah. My stomach woke me." He reached over her shoulder for a couple of pancakes, because she was in love with a freak who ate them plain. "What did they want?"

"My dad wanted to invite us to dinner next week." She turned around so she could face him. His hair was an absolute disaster, and she was pretty sure that was her fault. "And my mom wanted to fund our company."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope. I mean, we need to apply and stuff and we might not get it but, even if we don't, it's not the end of the world." She handed him her list. "See?"

He scanned it in one hand as he ate with the other. Glimmer forced herself to leave his arms and go get a plate because if she didn't claim some pancakes soon, there wouldn't be any left. Being a giant muscle-y person meant Bow was basically a bottomless pit as much as Adora. As he read, she stacked up a few pancakes and drenched them in a generous helping of syrup.

He held up the paper. "You did all this already?"

"It's not much. There's still a ton to do. But I knew you'd be worried about what happened next and I thought, if we had a plan…"

"You got up out of bed to worry for me so I wouldn't have to worry?" He looked from the paper to her and back. "You pre-worried?"

She laughed around a forkful of pancake. "Look, it made sense in my head, ok?"

"I adore you."

She squeaked as he leaned across the counter and kissed her, even though her mouth was still full of pancake. Oh, she loved this. It was so much like their usual mornings together, but a million times better. She sighed, so happy she could burst.

Bow caught her staring. "What?"

"I'm having this weird moment where I want to tell my best friend about the mind blowing sex I had this morning, but you already know because it was with you."

"Mind blowing, huh?" Wow, it really wasn't fair that Bow was somehow hotter when he was being a smug bastard. He set her empty plate in the sink and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I think you should tell me about it anyway."

"Hmm, yeah, see when I was screaming, 'Yes, yes, fuck, Bow, YES!' that was you getting an excellent review."

"Whew." He pretended to wipe his brow. "That's a relief. You know my Yelp score is very important to me."

She giggled, tugging him closer by his shirt. "How are you the biggest dork, and still somehow so sexy?"

"It's mystified the scientific community for years." He kissed her, his hands immediately going for her ass. "I'm sorry, but I just can't keep my hands off you. Tell me if I'm being annoying."

"You're being a lot of things right now, but annoying is not one of them." She pulled him back for another kiss. She'd been planning on making them some coffee, but maybe she'd just drag him back to bed instead. Her hands were already sneaking under his sleep shirt when he suddenly pulled away.

"Move in with me."

"Uhhhh…" She gestured to the apartment they'd been sharing for months now.

"I mean, move into my bedroom. Or let me move into yours, so I never have to have another night without you in my arms." It was the same thing she'd been going to suggest anyway, but the way he'd phrased it was so sweet it left her speechless. But he seemed to take her silence the wrong way and hid his head on her shoulder. "Ugh, I'm moving too fast. It's just… I've been wanting for this for so long."

"Hey, me too. And I think we're moving just right. We have a lot of time to make up for! The other us got together so many years earlier that it feels like you and I have already wasted so much time." Glimmer sighed, trying not to get bogged down with regret. "I wish I could thank her. The other Glimmer did so much to make this happen and I never even got to meet her."

"Actually, she recorded you a message before she left. It's on your phone. Do you want to watch it?"

"Not yet. But I'm glad she did." She'd done the same on Bow's tracker pad back in the other world. As curious as she was about the other Glimmer, it was still incredibly weird and she needed some time to get her head around it before she watched. "Talking to the other Entrapta made me realize how crazy this whole thing was. How does it all even work for there to be multiple versions of everyone we know? Like the other us are trying for a baby right now. If we started now too, would we have the same kid? Is it creepy that I kinda want to try it?"

"Wow, OK, now I'm positive we're moving too fast." Bow laughed, not nearly as freaked out by the idea of them having kids immediately as she thought he'd be. He brushed her hair with his fingertips. "Can I ask you a weird question?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Did you bring some magic back with you?"

"I'm pretty sure that's impossible." She held out her palm and concentrated, trying to summon the pink light, but nothing happened. "No. It's gone. I felt it go when I came back. Why?"

"Well, your hair… it's pink."

"My hair's always pink."

"Yeah, but your eyebrows aren't usually purple."

"Whoa." She lifted her arm and noticed for the first time that the fine hair was a pale lavender, the coarser hair on her legs a darker purple. Well, shit. Did this mean she wouldn't have to dye her hair anymore? "Is it all like this?"

"Yeah. All of it. Like… ALL of it." He shifted, looking adorably embarrassed. "Plus, your eyes are doing the thing hers did."

"What thing?"

"Sparkling."

Glimmer grabbed her phone and pulled up selfie mode. Now that she really looked at herself, her hair was a more vivid pink than she'd ever be able to get out of a bottle, so shiny it almost glittered. And wow, yeah, her eyes were totally sparkling. "Huh."

"Is it weird if I say I like it? I mean, obviously I liked how it looked before too, and am fully in favor of however you want your hair to look, just now you look…"

"Magical." Utterly extraordinary. An unexpected souvenir of this whole crazy experience that had left her changed in more ways than one. Like the moonstone had sent her back home with a permanent reminder so she would never forget who she was again.

"When can I tell people?" Bow asked, clasping his hands in front of him.

"About my body hair turning purple?"

"No, no. About us."

"Oh. Who do you want to tell?"

"Uhhh, everyone I've ever met?"

His enthusiasm was infectious. She couldn't help but laugh. "Soon. I think I want at least a little time to keep this between us, if that's okay. Though you can tell your dads if you want."

"Yes! They are going to be so excited!" Bow squealed and then his face fell. "Shoot. Or they will once they get over the whole museum thing. In all the excitement, I forgot all about that. Britt would have told them as soon as she heard I quit. They're probably freaking out."

"Actually, I sent them a text that you'd explain later."

"You did?"

"Yeah. I didn't want them to worry. Though, now that I think about it, I probably should have asked before reading your messages." They'd always used each other's phones before, but she wasn't sure if those rules still applied now that they were together. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all! I have no secrets from you! Not anymore anyway." He smiled. "That was really thoughtful. Thank you for thinking of them."

"You're welcome. Quitting your job's a big deal and I figured you had enough to worry about."

He laughed and shook his head. "It's just crazy. I have wanted to do that for so long. I just can't believe it actually happened!"

"You mean leaving your job?"

"Yeah, that too." Bow smirked, pulling her in for a kiss. She tried to pull him down closer to deepen it and squeaked when he picked her up by her butt. She wrapped her legs around him as he lifted her up onto the counter… and they immediately had to stop to stop the half a dozen empty liquor bottles from toppling onto the floor.

Glimmer laughed as Bow tried to get them all to stand up neatly again. "You know, I cleaned this whole place, left for just one day and came back to a disaster!"

"I'm sorry!" Bow was trying to get rid of the bottles, but both the trash and recycling bin were already overflowing. "She wanted to meet everyone before she left and a party seemed like the easiest way."

"I'm just teasing you." Normally she'd be freaking out if Bow went to a party without her, her imagination going into overdrive that he was going to meet someone better and cooler and leave her forever. But now that she could see that look in his eyes for exactly what it was, open adoration, the idea that he'd ever had eyes for anyone else felt ridiculous. "I only cleaned in the first place because I thought in a stupid roundabout way it would make you realize I was in love with you."

Bow stopped midway through wrestling the bottles to look at her with heart eyes. "That's why I do it too!"

"I realize that now."

When he made her breakfast, did her laundry or went out of his way to go to the other bigger grocery store because they had the coffee creamer she liked, it all meant "I love you." Same as when she listened to him talk through the wiring in some tech project she didn't understand in the slightest, tolerated his beloved cheesy romcoms or surrendered her evening to help him craft the pirate themed D&D campaign of his dreams. They were so busy showing each other their love in a million different ways, they'd almost missed what was right in front of them.

"So what happens now?" she asked as he gave up on the bottles, kicking the plastic ones into the corner with the rest of the trash to deal with later. "Are we both never going to clean again?"

"Well, someone's going to have to!" Bow laughed, gesturing around at the disaster of their apartment. "But I think that's something we can figure out together."

"Good. Because I have a hot date this weekend."

"You do?" His face immediately fell. "Still? Because I thought, now that we…"

She grabbed his face with both her hands before he could spiral. "With you, dumbass. The date is with you."

"Oh! Well, good."

"Stop worrying." She kissed him. The kind of kiss that meant she was done talking and ready to go back to bed now. "About the mess, the job, the company, all of it. That's an order."

"Yes, ma'am," he teased, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I mean it! We'll deal with everything later. We are busy today with important business and are not to be disturbed!"

"And what business is that, your majesty?"

"That would be you taking me back to my bedroom…" She held herself tall, like she had when she was pretending to be a queen, and grabbed his shirt, enjoying the way it made his eyebrows raise. "Where you will fuck me immediately and then we will live happily ever after."

"Oh?" Bow asked, his voice hitching. Apparently, he enjoyed being bossed around and was in serious trouble now that she knew it. "I-I could do that."


Author's Note

Thank you for reading! This marks the very last thing I will ever be posting on FFnet. I have fully moved over to AO3 and have MANY new fics there if you'd like to join me (same username, TippenFunkaport).

I currently have three WIPs over there, including a Catradora and Glimbow Robin Hood AU that just updated today, and a bunch of one shots and one shot collections that I'm updating near daily for Sheratober this month.