Author Note

Did I write this chapter and the next solely so everyone can actually have a good time at Princess Prom for a change?

Yes. Yes, I did.

I also swapped Sea Hawk and Mermista in this for literally no reason other than I felt like it!

"OK, I'll give you the goat lady. Those horns look sharp. But see that dude, by the punch? I could totally kick his ass." Adora said through a mouthful of food. She'd already put such a dent in the buffet the guards had started looming a bit whenever she went for a refill. Not that it stopped her. She seemed determined to try at least one of everything single thing here.

"Uh, She-Ra could, sure. But that guy is built like a tank!" Glimmer popped another one of the blue blob things into her mouth. It was sweet and fluffy, and she'd pretty much eaten her body weight in them already. The food here was amazing, all sorts of fancy exotic stuff she had never tasted before and was pretty sure she'd never get to taste again. They'd found some couches up on the balcony that were close enough to the buffet table it was easy to grab more snacks but far enough away from the main floor that half of Etheria wasn't breathing down their neck.

It was also an excellent spot for people watching.

"Yeah, but look how tight his skirt is. Limits maneuverability. I could take him." Adora jabbed her toothpick into a spiky looking hors d'oeuvre. Glimmer had her legs across Adora's lap, and Adora was using them as a table for the three plates of food she was working on at once. The spiky thing disappeared into Adora's mouth and then her face turned brick red, tears pooling in the corner of her eyes. She lunged forward, downing her cup of punch in three gulps. "Too hot! Way too hot!"

"You could have spit it out! That would still could as trying it." Glimmer laughed so hard she almost upset the plates on her legs. Adora shook herself out, rolled her neck and then jabbed her toothpick into another, even spikier one. "Wait, no! That one's going to be spicy too, dumbass!"

"You calling me a quitter?" Adora threw this one back and then started laughing as her face turned even redder. Tears streamed fully down her cheeks. Her voice came out in a strained squeak. "Oh, shit, the pain!"

Glimmer handed over her cup of punch. Adora chugged it and used the napkin Glimmer offered to wipe her eyes.

"Whew." Adora exhaled. "That one bites back."

Glimmer just shook her head. "I cannot believe the fate of the universe is in your hands."

Adora laughed so hard she snorted. "Where the hell is Bow? He's missing all the fun."

Glimmer immediately pointed across the room to where Bow had been standing for the last ten minutes. Not that she'd been tracking him around the room or anything but… OK, fine, she was, but only because she was getting annoyed that he kept getting waylaid by random people. The guy he was talking to now was impossibly good looking, like some kind of statue in a museum, and that was the fourteenth time he'd touched Bow's arm and if he went in for a fifteenth she was going to go over and… do something she hadn't decided on yet.

"Let's go get some more food. Maybe we'll find Frosta and I can give it another try." Adora stacked up her plates—HOW had she finished all that already?—and Glimmer lowered her legs so she could get up.

"Maybe I should try this time. Bow said she liked me." In the greeting line, she'd made some silly joke about how it must be boring staring at the top of everyone's heads while they bowed and Frosta had actually laughed. Poor kid. When she and Bow were still playing tag in the halls of the castle, Frosta was already running an entire kingdom. It made her grateful Queen Angella was always going to be around so Bow would never have all that pressure on his shoulders.

She waved at Bow, indicating their empty plates, hoping he'd get the hint and follow. But when she glanced back, he was still with Mr. Handsome who was… Yeah, OK, that was fifteen and now she was definitely going over there to—

"Glimmer! Look at my new recorder!" Entrapta appeared out of nowhere, wearing her usual stained overalls. Guess when you're eccentric enough, dress codes didn't apply. Maybe she should try that. "I expanded the memory and added a new voice activation feature here, see?"

"That's awesome!" Glimmer took the device Entrapta had thrust in front of her face. She flipped it to examine the new access port while Entrapta folded her hair... things?… in front of her in anticipation. It really was a sleek bit of construction. She needed to spend more time at Dryl. She felt like she leveled up her skills every time she watched Entrapta work. "So is the mic always live?"

"There's the part I haven't quite worked out yet. Right now it times out after a few hours, which is not optimal. I'm making do with a remote activation but—" Entrapta was settling in for a full lecture when someone else burst into their group.

"I am HERE!" Sea Hawk slid alongside Adora. The prince of Salineas grinned at them and gave his blue cape a dramatic swoosh. Glimmer could have sworn the shine on his mustache made an actual ping. He'd come off a bit smarmy when they'd first met, but he wasn't that bad once she got to know him. His hydrokinesis was pretty impressive, at least.

Adora elbowed her and jerked her head to Sea Hawk's right. Glimmer followed her gaze and saw... Mermista? She glanced over at Adora, who waggled her eyebrows at her. Glimmer flushed.

Great. Not this again! You check out a sexy, capable pirate captain ONE TIME and your friends never let you live it down, ever.

"Oh, great, it's my crew. Yeah, I'm here too. Don't make a big thing out of it." Mermista said in her usual bored tone. It was weird to see her so dressed up. When she'd been their captain on the voyage to Salineas, she'd just worn a simple pants and a billowy shirt, her aqua hair loose save for a bandanna. Now there was an elaborate braid twisted down her back and delicate sea blue earrings dangling on either side of her face. Not that the beautiful gold threaded sari wasn't working for her. But Glimmer kept any appreciation of Mermista's curves to a quick glance so Adora couldn't give her crap about it.

Adora snorted. "Soooo, you're Sea Hawk's plus one? Didn't you say you'd rather set your own boat on fire than go out with him again?"

Mermista groaned. "I am JUST his ride."

Sea Hawk leaned over conspiratorially and winked. "She is my plus one!"

Mermista flushed and looked anywhere but at them. "Whatever. I'm only here for the kelp bar!"

"Mmhmm." Adora was really enjoying making Mermista squirm. Entrapta reached a purple tendril for her recorder and Glimmer handed it over. The tech princess made a quick audio note as Sea Hawk bust into song, and Mermista looked like she wanted to die. Moments like this, you could understand how his merfolk ancestors could send sailors to a water grave. Glimmer would happily crash her ship on the rocks right now rather than listen to his singing a moment more. She took the opportunity to refill her plate, grabbing extras of the best stuff for Bow to try, if he ever actually joined them.

"So, you came with Bow?" Entrapta turned back to her, focusing the lens of her goggles on the gem on her chest. "I thought you two were friends."

"Why would you think we're not?" Glimmer glanced over to where Adora was still needling Mermista and noticed that Sea Hawk was also looking down at the gem on her chest. Or maybe he was just looking at her boobs. It was hard to tell with Sea Hawk. Whichever it was, when he noticed her watching, he quickly glanced away.

"There he is! Bow!" Entrapta said, and Glimmer turned to find Bow right next to her, Mr. Handsome still hovering at his elbow.

"Hi Bow!" Glimmer said, maybe a little too enthusiastically. But he gave her a big grin, so maybe it hadn't been too bad. Everyone was looking at them, especially Mr. Handsome, and it was making her feel super awkward.

"Hi, everyone!" Bow waved to their friends. Then he turned to Glimmer and gripped her arm a little too tightly to be normal. "Hey, do you want to dance?"

"Uh, sure?"

"Great!" Bow slipped his hand into hers and led her towards the dance floor. She started to follow until Adora called out and reached a hand out for the plate of food she'd totally forgot she was holding. She handed it over, knowing there was a zero percent chance there would still be any food left on it when she got it back.

There weren't many people on the dance floor yet, and Bow pulled them into a small stretch of open space. It was a simple dance, one they'd all three practiced together back at Bright Moon, easy enough to do without too much thinking. She slid her hand under his cape, resting it on the back of his suit jacket. He went to do the same, but the back of her dress was open and they both startled when his hand touched bare skin.

"Sorry!" He said at the same time as she said, "It's OK!" They both laughed and Glimmer knew she was blushing. Which was silly because it was just Bow and he'd definitely touched her back before, but everything was so weird and charged tonight.

"Thank you for coming out here with me," Bow exhaled, relieved. He slid his hand over to her waist instead. Her dress covered there, but somehow the unfamiliar warmth of him in that spot wasn't any less distracting than the other. "I could not get rid of that guy."

"Anytime." Glimmer couldn't help but glance over to where Mr. Handsome was glaring at them. "Who is he?"

Bow made a face. "Nobody important. I haven't seen him in ages, anyway. He's a jerk." He leaned down and whispered in her ear. "And a terrible kisser."

"Wait a minute! Is that the guy with the teeth thing?" Oh, she remembered this story now! Bow nodded, pulling a face. She laughed and Bow grinned at her. So much of the tension she'd been holding since they'd gotten separated loosened into simple warmth now that she was here with her best friend again. "OK, so what? We're trying to make him jealous? Like, watch out, buddy, Bow's already got a buff bad-ass date and she WILL kick your ass if you try anything with those shark teeth."

"Uh, yeah. I guess. Something like that."

"I can do that." She yanked him nearer, closing the bit of space between them, and Bow made a small noise of surprise. She moved her hand to his neck, which warmed under her touch. He crooked an eyebrow at her, perplexed. "Now you pretend you're telling me some hilarious inside joke."

He leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Uh… I have absolutely no idea what to say."

"Oh, you!" She smacked his chest playfully and threw back her head, laughing as if he'd said something hilarious. Which actually made them both bust up laughing for real, giggling like they did when they were kids stealing cake from the kitchens. Gods, everything was so much easier when it was just her and Bow.

He must have been thinking the same thing because his eyes twinkled at her, warm and fond. "I'm so glad you're here with me tonight."

"Yeah. Well." It was too much, whatever was in that look he was giving her, and she broke eye contract, tracing the cording on his suit front. He was just saying the same thing that she'd been thinking, that it was fun to hang out with your best friend. So why did everything feel so confusing right now?

Bow cleared his throat, his voice soft against her ear. "So how'd we do?"

Under the pretense of laying against Bow's chest, she scanned the room until she found Mr. Handsome glaring daggers at them from the edge of the ballroom. Bow moved his hand to her neck, his fingers brushing the bottom edge of her hair. It was only part of the ruse, but she flushed, the contact sending a warmth through her body.

Mr. Handsome seemed to take the hint, storming away. But not before giving her a look like she was something stuck on the bottom of his polished shoe. It hurt a lot more than she wanted it to admit it did.

"He's gone." She tried to sound cheerful. "What can I say? He knew he just couldn't compete with all this!"

She felt the rumble of Bow's laugh through his chest. He whispered in her ear again, his fingers sliding against the back of her neck. "He really can't."

She smiled against his jacket. He was just being nice. A pal. But it still felt good.