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It was movie night, which meant the two of us were curled up on the couch under a mess of blankets and cushions. The sun had set long ago, leaving a moonless cloudy night in its wake. The tv cast some light into the room, but other than that we were surrounded by a sleepy darkness. Adora was laying in front of me, one of my arms was under her head and the other wrapped around her waist. I smiled and snuggled into her shoulder. Her messy blonde hair tickled my lips as I placed a kiss there. The soft scent of vanilla and ocean spray calmed me further, lulling me deeper into the peaceful haze of being around her. I peeked over her shoulder to watch the movie, but my eyes were already getting droopy. The dark room, the comfort of the blankets, and the warmth of being close to the magical superhero made it hard to stay awake, but I did love watching Rapunzel smack people with a frying pan. I fought through my drowsiness and cuddled closer into Adora. She linked our hands together over the blanket and brought them close to her chest. I could feel her heart beating against my fingers, steady and strong. We watched the move in silence for a long time. That was weird. Adora loved to offer in-depth commentary about every movie we watched, especially Disney ones. I frowned and leaned up on my elbow to look at Adora. Her big blue eyes were twinkling with unshed tears.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, reaching up and gently running my fingers through her dark blonde hair.
Adora gave me a watery smile and cleared her throat. “Nothing. Just, the scene with the lanterns always gets me you know? She got to celebrate her birthday with the lights. It’s… it’s nice,” she said, shifting back and curling into herself. Her voice was meek and quiet, carrying more emotion than was usual, even for Disney movies. I was usually the one who was left sniffling and whimpering. Wall-E just messed me up, alright. A heaviness gripped my heart as I cuddled back into Adora’s shoulder and pulled her closer. My mind started racing, trying to figure out what was wrong, why the lantern scene had that effect on her. I mean sure, it was sweet but… and then, of course, it hit me over the head like She-Ra’s sword (much worse than bricks, trust me). Was I maybe a little dense? Yes, but cuddle haze is a real thing and it made thinking difficult.
When I finally landed on it though, I felt a deep ache in my heart that almost knocked the breath out of me. It wasn’t the lanterns. It was the birthday. Adora didn’t really know when her birthday was. Not officially. She celebrated the day she was told she came to Etheria, but she didn’t know her actual birthday. It was another thing the Horde had stolen from her. I felt caught in a storm of rage for all they took from the brave, kind, sweet hero laying in my arms. More than anything though - I was heartbroken. It was something that most people took for granted, but for Adora it was a reminder of the things she’d lost.
She never made a big deal out of celebrating the birthday of her arrival to Etheria. If it wasn’t for Bow and Glimmer’s intense sense of festivity and passion for throwing parties now, I suspected she wouldn’t celebrate it all. The thought made me frown, and I placed a tender kiss behind the blonde’s ear. She chuckled quietly, but it didn’t carry any of the melodious joy her laughter usually did. That made me feel even worse. Adora was incredible, she deserved every good thing, every celebration, every reminder of how wonderful she was and how much we loved her. I did my best to do that everyday, to show her that, but I felt ashamed for never realizing how much she did care about this. How much she cared about not knowing her real birthday, not knowing much about her home at all.
Later that night we laid snuggled up in bed, Adora’s head resting on my chest as I ran my fingers through her hair. I’d kept her closer than usual since the movie, which sprung up some questions on her end. I just dismissed it as being tired, not really knowing what to say. I’m sorry I’ve been incredibly dense and not noticed how much you care about the fact you don’t know much about the First One’s and your home planet? I’m sorry I haven’t done anything to help you find out? I’m sorry the Horde was a horrible, awful, evil thing and they took so much from you and it makes me want to scream and cry at the same time because you deserve everything beautiful and good in the universe? Yeah… hard to fit all that into a good night. The words got tangled in my throat and all that escaped was a strangled whimper, that thankfully, Adora didn’t hear.
She had dozed off a few minutes ago, her breathing deepening and slowing down, the steady rhythm of sleep taking over. I, however, kept staring up at the ceiling. I made a silent promise to Adora - I was going to do whatever I could to return a small part of what the Horde took from her. I was going to give Adora her very own lantern ceremony on her birthday.
And that is how I ended up dragging my feet into Entrapta’s lab, Max helping me haul a bunch of random stuff (apparently very important stuff) from the Crystal Castle. Light Hope wasn’t around to help me out, and I didn't know if she would have either way, but if anyone could hack First One’s tech it was Entrapta. Max and I slumped on the floor, two giant bags of tech behind us. He was panting, his bright fangs shining under the light as his tongue lolled out the side of his snout. Max was very dramatic for a magical wolf, but I wasn’t in much better shape. Turns out First One’s tech is heavy.
“Ok. We got the tech fragments. How is this going to help me find out Adora’s birthday again?” I gasped, rolling onto my side and watching as Entrapta sifted through the tech. She yelped in excitement when she found a particularly large piece.
“Well, these pieces were once part of the large mainframe that held all the information about Adora, She-Ra and the First One’s! Now that we have this new unlimited magic to toy around with, I’m sure I can salvage something from this,” she muttered, doing her strange hair-walk over to her lab table.
I stood up and peeked over her shoulder as she plugged the piece of metal into a computer. “Right right right, super cool. Awesome. So, uh, how long is that going to take?” Entrapta narrowed her eyes at me, and one of her ponytail things poked me in the chest.
“I can’t just rush the delicate art of entwining ancient technology with Etherian ma- oh! Well would you look at that! It’s working!” Indeed it was, there were strings of symbols and numbers flashing across the computer screen.
“Sweet, I don’t suppose there’s a birth certificate on there?”
“Nooo, but I think this is a file on Adora! Only problem - neither of us speak this language.”
“Do they not teach you the First One’s language here? Really? What a tragedy,” Max, yes our magical wolf, piped up. Entrapta and I both stared at him. “What? They’re an incredible civilization, it’s saddening no one here bothers to learn their language. Now excuse me a minute,” Max said, propping his big furry paws on the table and squinting at the screen. The intellectual magical wolf hummed in thought.
“Well?” I asked, glancing between Max and the computer. Entrapta was looking at Max with that mad scientist glint in her eye. I should probably keep him very close and away from any of Entrapta’s sciency things.
“YOU CAN TALK?!” asked Entrapta.
Max chuckled (as best a wolf could I suppose) and nodded. “Yes, I do. As far as the information you seek - most of this is redacted or corrupted…” I sighed and slumped my shoulders, “but it does say that the heiress to She-Ra’s sword was born December 7th, 20 years ago,” I pressed my face up against the computer.
“Wait, are you serious?! That’s - that’s Adora’s birthday then! Oh Max you precious magical sassy wolf you,” I said, picking up the massive wolf and squeezing him tight. “Thank you Entrapta, thank you thank you thank you!” I shouted, hugging the princess and swinging her around too. She cackled and hugged me with her oddly animated purple hair.
“Yes, well, that gives you a week to plan her birthday…” Max muttered. I dropped Entrapta.
“A WEEK!? This - no, this is the most important thing I’ve ever done. This is Adora’s birthday. From the First One’s planet. Her original birthday. I need more time!” I was hyperventilating: balloon colors, theme plans, and cake flavors already wreaking havoc in my brain. This had to be perfect.
“Well then, I suggest you enlist some help and get to work,” Max said. Oh wise and helpful wolf. No kidding. I groaned and pulled at my hair.
“Ok. Alright. This is fine. Just the biggest most important thing I’ve ever planned. It’s fine. Gosh, ok - Entrapta keep digging through those files and let me know if you’re able to recover anything else about Adora and the First One’s. Max - we need to find some allies.”
Those allies consisted of Glimmer - Commander of Gift Wrapping. Bow - Master of Decorations. Wrong Hordak - Baker Extraordinaire, and Max - Chief of Surprise Control. The five of us were gathered in the Bright Moon kitchen. I was pacing a hole through the ground, my nerves already frayed. We now had six days to plan Adora’s party. Did I mention it had to be perfect? WELL IT HAD BE PERFECT.
“You know, pacing isn’t going to help get that party planned,” Glimmer so helpfully chirped up. I narrowed my eyes at her and sighed, the tense muscles of my back spasming. Honestly, fighting off an army of brainwashed clones worshipping an egomaniacal psychopath was easier than this!
“Ok, have you guys seen Tangled?” I asked and everyone nodded. Wrong Hordak squeaked and clapped his hands.
“Are we doing a DISNEY THEMED PARTY?” he squealed and I shushed him lest Adora hear him.
“Yes, we are. We’re doing the lantern thing. Which means, I’m going to need some serious help…” Bow put his hand on my shoulder and nodded.
“Don’t worry. We’re gonna rock this thing. It’s going to be … lit.” Everyone groaned.
Slowly (far too slowly for the sake of my sanity) the party started taking shape. Our most difficult task was keeping a snoopy Adora out of it. By the fourth day she started noticing everyone was avoiding her, which meant we had to be on the lookout. Thankfully, She-Ra wasn’t exactly sneaky material or easy to miss, and her accomplice, Swifty, couldn’t be sly for anything. That made it easy to spot them. However, Adora had been grilling me everyday about what was going on and why everyone was acting weird, and why I, especially, disappeared randomly. I didn’t want to lie, so I told her we were working on a super important project but we couldn’t let her know about it until the end because she was the most important part of it. Complicated? Yes. A lie? No. She didn’t really seem to buy it though. Her cleverness was going to be a problem.
I had probably slept a collective five hours the last two days leading up to the event. Sometimes my laughter at a not-funny Bow joke would just morph into sobbing and my hands were constantly erupting in flames. I promised Wrong Hordak I would replace his chef’s hat. However, it was worth it.
Today was the day. We had the place set (after I started panicking that no place was good enough and Glimmer whacked me over the head with her staph. What was it with princesses whacking me with their weapons of mass destruction?) The park and gazebo by the Bright Moon lake looked worthy of a secret super magical princess’ surprise party. Everyone had helped make the lanterns, which was great, because five people making two hundred lanterns was a lot of work. Perfuma and Bow had handled decorations, Mermista took care of putting some of the lanterns out on the lakeshore where they wouldn’t be seen until later that night. Scorpia and Frosta helped Max keep Adora away from our birthday party scheming. Entrapta and Wrong Hordak came out with a huge cake and a collection of several different flavors of mini cupcakes. They both had flour all over them, but they beamed at us as they presented their masterpieces. It was really quite incredible. Wrong Hordak had somehow managed to make the cake look like She-Ra’s sword was in a crystal, and Entrapta’s collection of cupcakes had little figurines of the princesses on each pastry treat. Glimmer had arranged a literal tower of presents by the gazebo, each one wrapped with the utmost care. There was a piece of tape stuck to her nose, but she didn’t seem to mind.
I took a step back and looked at everything. The table with the food and cake was standing by the fence that looked out over to the lake. Bow had neatly arranged everything on it. Fairy lights criss-crossed all along the park, curling around the trees and a few tall light posts. It made a sort of circle which encased the open area, and there were several lanterns and flowers expertly laid about as well. A big sign hung above us that read “Happy Birthday Adora!”, and bunches of blue balloons were tied to the fence bordering the lake. The rest of the lanterns were hidden under the table where the cake was. We would all light them later that night. Thankfully, a little fire magic would make that easier.
I felt a couple tears roll down my cheeks as I looked around. It had been crazy. People cried (mostly me). Things were thrown and broken, but at the end of the day we were all here with an incredible (if I do say so myself) party. Everyone had brilliant smiles on their faces, some of them a little teary-eyed too. I knew every single person in that room loved Adora, and my heart fluttered with joy and pride. We weren’t First One’s, none of us were from her home planet, but we loved Adora like family. I was about to give a speech thanking everyone for their help when Max came speeding down the hill.
“ALERT! CAUTION! WARNING! WHATEVER I’M SUPPOSED TO SAY! ADORA IS COMING AND SHE’S ON A WARPATH!” Max hollered, his tail between his legs. Sure enough, Adora came flying in on Swifty, She-Ra in full swing and looking very angry. Oh no. I could spot the ferocious Eyebrow Crinkle as soon as she was a few feet away. She really was on a warpath.
“You have all been keeping things from me! Lying! Sneaking off- what… what is all this?” Adora asked, hopping off Swifty who bee-lined for the table of sweets.
“SURPRISE! Happy Birthday Adora!” we shouted in unison, an explosion of glitter (Glimmer’s doing) going off all around us. Adora transformed back into herself and looked around, her eyes glassy. I jogged over and picked her up in a bone crushing hug, burying my face in her neck and swinging us around. She laughed breathlessly and blushed when I put her back down.
“But… my birthday isn’t until next month?” she whispered. I held her hands in my own, kissing her knuckles. Entrapta walked up to us, wearing a massive grin.
“Well, your Etherian birthday is next month but, um, Entrapta and I did some digging. We used some First One’s tech, well, hacked technically, to find out when your other birthday was… from you know, your home planet...I hope that’s ok?” I whispered, looking down at our linked hands lazily swinging between us. Adora jumped and wrapped herself around me. I held her up, squeezing her tight. She pulled away, and I was hit with the full force of those deep blue eyes. They were so filled with love and kindness and a few tears as well. As always, they left me stranded in a place in time where there was only Adora. Only her and her brilliant smile, her kind heart, her amazing bravery and compassion. I hadn’t slept in days (and had several breakdowns), but every minute of it was worth it to see her happy.
“It’s incredible. Thank you, but how… why?” she breathed, her cheeks and nose rosy from blushing. I scratched the back of my neck and looked down at my feet.
“Well the other night, when we were watching Tangled, you just looked so sad… I started thinking about why. I realized, well, it was the birthday. I know you don’t really like to celebrate your birthday much, and I didn’t want to make a super big deal of it which… ok, so things kind of got a bit out of hand but… I just wanted to give you this, if I could. I know it isn’t much, I wish I could give you everything back. What the Horde did to you was - unfair to say the least, and I really really wish I could give you back everything they took, because you deserve it. You deserve the world, and the sun and stars, and all of the Universe but, um - I thought maybe we could start with the Lantern Ceremony?” I said, my voice breaking with emotion: the anger at the Horde, the sadness of not being able to do more, but above all else - the love I had for Adora. It was wild and overwhelming, making me lightheaded and dizzy and a kind of happy I didn’t know was possible.
The hero gently cradled my face in her hands and leaned up to kiss me. I sighed and melted into it, pulling her closer and holding her against my chest. It was quick, but so tender and loving it felt like we had shared an eternity in secret, lost in a place where it was just the two of us. I leaned my forehead against hers and Adora laughed quietly, her hot breath swirling between us.
“Well aren’t you two cute. But let’s get this party started! Perhaps a birthday shanty for the misses?” Sea Hawk had arrived. Everyone groaned playfully, but joined him in his silliness.
We all sang, danced, and ate under the stars and the fairy lights. The air was filled with joy and peace, something we cherished so much more now that the war was over. All our friends were laughing and messing around. Swifty and Max were having a bobbing for apples competition, but Swifty just kept eating them. Sea Hawk had somehow wrangled everyone into starting a conga line, but Mermista fervently refused until Scorpia just picked her up and threw her over her shoulder. Adora was surrounded by people who loved her dearly, not because of She-Ra, not because of what she could do, but because of who she was. She was loved as a person, as the incredible human being she was, not just as a soldier. The Horde had never given her that.
I looked on from the gazebo, leaning up against the white wood of its frame. She looked so light, so happy she was practically glowing (and not in the super magical warrior way). Her eyes were as electric blue as I’d ever seen them and she didn’t stop smiling for a second. The wind swept gently by and blew her hair back, causing a few strands of blonde hair to fall loose from the ponytail and frame her face. I tried to memorize the image: Adora happy, loved, peaceful - free. Then I made a promise to do everything in my power to make her that kind of happy every day I had left in this life because, well...I loved her. As soon as I thought that my nerves were back in full force; sparks flying off the tips of my ears. My whole body felt like it was on fire and I had to make sure that it wasn’t. See, I had one more surprise for Adora.
I was going to tell her I loved her.
It wasn’t exactly a secret. According to Bow and Glimmer it was “painfully and horribly obvious”. Which, ok that was fair. I was bad at hiding it, but I never really wanted to. However, I hadn’t actually said it yet. Those three words. They weren’t easy. In fact, they caused me more panic and anxiety than a whole week of planning a secret birthday party for a magical super powered princess who hadn’t known when her actual birthday was because of the horrible Horde taking her away from her home planet. Oh, and also - she was the love of my life and if I messed this up I’d probably just combust into a sad little firework. So... yeah I was a bit nervous about telling her.
I was so lost in my whirlwind of panic I didn’t hear Glimmer walking up next to me. “This was really sweet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy,” she whispered next to me. I jumped, but then sighed and leaned my head against the wooden beam. I smiled warmly as Bow danced with Adora, twirling her around, and then getting trapped under her arm when she tried to do the same.
“Yeah. I’m just glad I could give her a little piece back of her home…”
“And you have, but I think she’s found a home here too,” Glimmer said and I grinned.
“Fair. We’re all her family too I s’pose,” the queen of Bright Moon chuckled and shook her head.
“This is true. But, I was referring to you,” she said and I choked on my tongue, coughing awkwardly. Home. I looked at Adora, my heart fluttering wildly as I heard her laugh be carried by the wind. It was crazy really, how every day I found another reason to love her. I knew in my heart that I’d never grow tired of loving her, that every moment it would only grow stronger and run deeper. It would become an unstoppable all consuming force - and I was more than happy to surrender to it. Adora was my home. She was my everything. “Yeah, I thought so. Now, we better get those lanterns ready. You’re up, Eugene,” Glimmer said, clapping me on the back. I laughed nervously and ran a hand through my hair. Right. I just had to jump on a canoe, light up a hundred lanterns, and tell Adora I loved her. Easy. Super awesomely magically easy . I gulped and felt my heart drop to somewhere near my feet.
Glimmer and Bow had given everyone the “signal” to set up the lanterns. Adora looked around adorably confused. Max nudged her towards the gazebo where I was stepping into the canoe. There were more lanterns and candles in here, scattered flower petals, and about three tons more fear . I held on to the gazebo with one hand and offered the other one to Adora, praying that hand wasn’t as sweaty as the other one felt. The blonde hero raised an eyebrow and grabbed hold, stepping into the rocking boat. I smiled sheepishly and helped her settle in.
“Wouldn’t want to miss the best seats in the house for the Lantern Ceremony would you?” Alright, that was pretty smooth. My voice didn’t even crack or anything. Maybe I could get through this without passing out. Adora giggled and settled into the bench, the lanterns and candlelight giving her a beautiful golden glow. It was hard to paddle a stinking boat when you couldn’t breathe, but I managed. We slowly glided through the water, the stars twinkling above us. I could feel my heart rattling against my chest like a caged rabid animal. My arms felt heavy as I kept paddling, not from the effort, but from the weight of three words pulling down at me. This day had to be perfect… what if she didn’t want to hear that? My blood turned to ice. I looked at Adora, her lips curled in a warm smile as she stared at the stars. Her eyes fell on me and the smile only grew more lovely - impossibly radiant. I wished and hoped and prayed on every star in the sky, and a few lanterns, that she felt the same way.
“It’s incredible out here,” she breathed, stretching her hand out to run it along the water. I chuckled nervously. This was either going to make the night more incredible or end up as a massive fire hazard (and my doom).
“Well, there’s one more surprise, Birthday Girl,” I said, bringing the paddles into the canoe now that we were in the middle of the lake. Out on the shore I could see the rest of the lanterns neatly arranged in rows. Our friends had pulled through. I very gently sent out a wave of magic, lighting up all of the little lanterns. On the other shore, red lightning zipped around as dark figures giggled and lighted some more. Eventually, they all started to rise up, some of them being pushed up by vines, ice, and delicate waves. Soon, the stars and the lanterns were dancing together, their lovely glow lighting up the velvety black sky. Adora gasped, looking up. She stretched a little too far and almost fell off the boat, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her back up. We were just a few inches apart now, our words and quiet laughs intermingling in the space between us.
“It’s - it’s so beautiful,” she breathed. I smiled, not taking my eyes off Adora. Sure, it was cheesy and cliche and I’m a big insufferable sap -
“Sure is,” I said, and Adora blushed. So far, I hadn’t sent her swimming back to shore. Not too shabby. Not at all. I fished around the canoe for a very special lantern, the only one that hadn’t been lit yet. The one with three very important words on it… according to Entrapta who had searched around the First One’s tech files to decipher the language. She’d taught me a few words, just enough for tonight… I hoped. “Would you like to do the honors?” I asked, offering up the lantern and a lighter.
Adora raised an eyebrow. “Can’t you just snap your fingers?” I shrugged and grinned at her.
“It’s part of the moment,” Adora chuckled but obliged and took the lighter. Now I was in full-on panic mode. The moment of truth, literally, the one that could either go great or just totally blow up in my face and be the single worst mistake of my life (which was saying a lot, yes). Adora lit the candle and as the heat hit the paper, symbols started to appear. Three words. Written in First One’s language. I held my breath as two brilliant blue eyes scanned over them. Had I just ended the moment there, I would have been golden. But no. I had to open my big mouth. I attempted to speak the words in First One’s language. When I finished, Adora bit her lip, her gaze twinkling with amusement. She turned her head to the side and raised an eyebrow.
“You lanterns me?” she asked. I looked at her confusedly and then groaned, letting the lantern go and burying my face in my hands. If Mermista could just send a tidal wave to drown me that would be great.
“No, that’s not what I meant to say!”
“You know, I kinda figured. What did you mean…?” Adora asked, her voice so timid I wouldn’t have heard it had she not been so close to me. I looked up, inches away from her face, her breath falling on my lips. Impossibly blue eyes drew me in and sent me spiraling again - a calming sort of madness overtook me which I had grown to understand was just my love for Adora. It was equal parts chaotic and anchoring.
“I love you. I love you, Adora,” the words were quiet but strong, a sense of relief and fear washing over me. Relief that I had finally said the words, but fear at her response. However, the moment I said it, I felt the truth sink into my chest. It filled in cracks I didn’t know were still there, somehow pulling even more love and affection from deep within my heart. She didn’t say anything, only looked at me with such intensity that I felt she was looking through me, seeing everything: the good, the bad, the ugly and stupid, and somehow - that didn’t make her want to leave.
Adora moved forward slowly, closing the sliver of space between us until it was gone and there was a soft pressure on my lips. It was timid and gentle, and it made me feel delirious. I tilted my head slightly, returning the kiss with the same kind of delicacy, the same tender touch as my hand cupped her cheek. We fell into a slow rhythm, a secret sort of dance where promises and dreams were shared, where it was just us two and an inexplicable sense of calm that felt so right - that felt like home. Unfortunately, even magical beings needed to breathe, and we pulled away, our eyes still closed and our foreheads leaning against each other. My lips still tingled and I felt sparks fly off the tips of my ears. It made Adora laugh and she grabbed my hand in hers.
“I love you too,” she whispered, holding our hands up to her chest. I felt her heartbeat fluttering under my fingers, rapid and erratic. Or maybe that was my own, hard to tell.
“You do?” I asked, a little surprised because I had been so wrapped up in her saying no that the possibility of her saying yes had never really crossed my mind. Adora just giggled and placed a chaste kiss on my lips, leaving a goofy, probably slightly dumb, look on my face.
“Yeah, I do. Thank you, for all of this. It… it means more than you know,” I felt so overwhelmed that I just wanted to cry. But I didn’t. Instead I pulled Adora to me, wrapping her up in my arms and hugging her as close to me as I could. She buried her face in my neck and I could feel the smile on her lips.
“I love you. I love you I love you I love you,” I murmured into her hair, causing her to giggle. Now that I said it once - I never wanted to stop. A few cheers and giggles sounded out from the lakeshore and a rose appeared at my feet. Our friends were meddlers. I laughed quietly and picked it up offering it to Adora. She smirked and tucked the flower behind my ear. I blushed but grinned, striking my most Flynn Rider- like pose, eyebrows raised dramatically.
“Hi. How ya doin?” the hero laughed, playfully punching my shoulder.
“You’re a nerd.”
“Yes, but I’m your nerd. And I love you, Adora,” I whispered, pulling her close and burying my face in her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around me and laid her chin over my head.
“I love you too,” she whispered into my ear. We spent some time out on the lake laying on the canoe and looking up at the stars and lanterns as they twinkled away. There were so many of them, the whole sky looked alive. Adora linked her hand with mine and laid her head on my shoulder. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head, feeling more at peace and happy than I ever had.
Somewhere by the shore I heard Sea Hawk whisper loudly, “Can I burn the boat later?” followed by a chorus of shushing noises and what sounded like a slap.