DISCLAIMER: I do not own Steven Universe, nor the characters who appear on the show. Steven Universe was created by Rebecca Sugar, Goddess among all Queer Geeks (for which we all love her), for Cartoon Network.
For Emmybomber. Happy Valentine's Day.
To say that Pearl could sometimes be a bit obsessive compulsive about the house built around the temple would be a bit of an understatement. Despite the fact that, at any given time, nearly every piece of furniture in the house up to this point had to have been replaced at one point or another, she was very serious about keeping things tidy, clean, and pristine. If anything was out of place or collecting dust, it was her immediate instinct to drop whatever she was doing and see to that. It was one of the few things from her time on Homeworld that stuck with her over the millenia, and she wasn't planning on parting with that anytime soon. However, for the most part, she was at least decent about keeping that side of her in check.
Today? Not quite as much.
"Amethyst, I swear, if I find one, ONE crumb on that table, I will go into your room and make it SPOTLESS," Pearl warned as her short friend sat down with a subway sandwich on a plate at the table.
"Chillax, P, you know I don't leave crumbs!" Amethyst replied with a scoff. "Heck, I don't leave ANYTHING..."
Pearl groaned, trying to suppress her rising rage as Amethyst ate the entire sandwich (and the plate, for that matter) whole. "And no feet on the table, or I will poof you so hard that you'll come back without them."
"Uhh, Pearl?" she heard an all-too-familiar voice ask, turning to face the door to the house as Steven and Connie entered. "Are you okay? You seem kinda..."
"Frazzled?" Connie suggested. "Obsessive? On the verge of insanity?"
"Eh, I think I'll go with frazzled," Steven answered. "I have more fun saying that word."
Pearl sighed, unable to keep up her anger in the faces of Steven, who in many ways was akin to being her adoptive child, and Connie, her prized student. "I just want everything to be perfect. I don't want this place to be a mess today."
Steven tilted his head in confusion. "Why today?"
Pearl sweatdropped, knowing she was busted. "I, uh...I just thought maybe today we could enjoy the glow of a-"
"She finally called the girl from the rock show," the group heard Garnet declare as she entered from her room in the temple, causing Pearl's usually pale skin to blush terribly. "She's coming over to pick her up for a date tonight."
At this point, the room went completely silent. Pearl glanced from person to person, each with their eyes focused on her solely. Connie looked completely astonished, Steven was his standard starry-eyed self when he was happy that made him look uncomfortably like Rose, Garnet was...difficult to read, as usual, and Amethyst? Well, if Amethyst looked any more overjoyed at that point, her face would actually explode. In fact, Pearl was a little surprised Amethyst didn't shapeshift into a bomb and blow up right then and there.
"YYYYEEAAAAAAHHH!" Amethyst yelled at the top of her lungs, leaping up and glomping Pearl. "Way to go, P! You're back on the dating scene!"
Pearl blinked in utter bafflement, trying to pry Amethyst off of her. "...'Back' on the dating scene? When was I ever ON it? I don't know that I'd call what Rose and I did 'dating' so much as-...Wait a minute! Garnet, how did you even know I-"
"Future vision," Garnet and EVERYONE else in the room, minus Pearl, said in unison.
"Right, of course," Pearl groaned, finally getting Amethyst to release her. "So, you came out here just to embarrass me?"
"Actually, I came out to let you know that she's on her way," Garnet corrected.
Pearl rolled her eyes, dusting herself off. "Well, of course she's on her way. Why do you think-"
"No, Pearl, I mean she's on the beach right now and will be here in less than a minute," Garnet interjected, causing her friend to suddenly go completely stiff.
"She's right!" Steven cheered, looking out the window at the beach and spotting the pink-haired Amazon rocker-looking girl trudging along the sand. "There she is!"
Looking at her teacher, Connie could've sworn she saw actual steam rise from every orifice present on her head. Otherwise, she was completely and utterly still for what seemed like an hour, but in reality was only about 10 seconds or so. Afterward, however, she immediately went into her standard panic mode...multiplied by a factor of over nine thousand.
"Oh no, no, NO!" Pearly cried, hands in her hair. "What do I do?! I haven't even had a chance to change! Does anyone know where my jacket went?! No, that'll take too long! Amethyst, poof me!"
"Yeah!" Amethyst exclaimed, transforming into a giant spiked ball and chain with a face.
"Stop!" Garnet shouted, causing Amethyst to revert back to normal. The usually composed leader of the Crystal Gems marched toward Pearl and grabbed hold of her by the shoulders firmly. "Pearl, you must not try to change yourself for her. I can assure you that she did not come here to pick up 'Bad Pearl'. She came here for Pearl, just Pearl, and that's who you need to be for this date."
Pearl let out a deep, hard sigh as Garnet smoothed her hair back out. "...Alright. I'll be myself."
"Good," Garnet replied with a smile.
"So, any other advice you can give me?" Pearl inquired. "Anything your future vision can tell me?"
"There are many possibilities as to how this night could play itself out," Garnet explained, releasing her friend. "My best advice is to just try to have a good time."
Pearl nodded slowly. "Alright."
"...Also, don't forget to wear a helmet on her bike, even if you don't think you need one, try not to attract too much attention on the dance floor, and if anyone offers you what looks like a small pill of some sort, politely DECLINE," Garnet quickly added before a knocking sound led everyone to turn and face the equally nervous-looking girl waiting at the front door.
"...Great," Pearl muttered sarcastically, a single sweatdrop running down the side of her head.
Steven let out a tiny groan as he looked up at the clock. It had been three hours since Pearl had left, and it felt like at least three times that amount, all the while he, Amethyst, and Garnet sat around the house. There were no attacks by corrupted Gems, no disasters needing to be averted, and not even anything mundane that needed their attention in town, so all they could do was sit around and act like they weren't all anxiously waiting for Pearl to get home so they could bombard her with a thousand questions about how her date went. Well, at least that's what he and Amethyst felt. Garnet either secretly knew how her date would go all along, or was planning to avoid prying into her love life.
"Argh, it's been HOURS!" Amethyst complained. "When is she getting home?!"
"She'll be home when she's home," Garnet answered, putting up a far more patient front than her companions were.
"Maybe something happened!" Steven suggested, clearly acting over-dramatically on purpose. "What if they were attacked?! Maybe we should-"
"We're NOT going to intrude on their date," Garnet said sternly, immediately shutting down what Steven ACTUALLY wanted to do.
"Aw man..." Amethyst moaned pathetically. "...So, what do YOU think is going on with their date?"
"I have a few guesses," Garnet replied simply, adjusting her glasses. "But nothing completely solid."
Steven frowned at this before turning to face Amethyst. "...Well, what about YOU, Amethyst? What do YOU think they're doing?"
Amethyst thought it over, stroking her chin. "Hmm...Well, they DEFINITELY went clubbing, we know that much. Someplace with a lot of people, so Pearl's probably freaking out at least a little bit."
"Naturally," Steven replied with a smirk. "Go on."
Amethyst snickered a bit before continuing. "So anyway, I bet they go there, Pearl starts to freak, and then 'S' holds her and says something like 'It's just you and me out here, Pearl. Come dance with me'. So they go out there, and they dance, and then all of a sudden, they start glowing, and then they fuse!"
"...Amethyst, humans can't fuse with Gems," Garnet pointed out.
"That's the best part!" Amethyst cried excitedly. "I'll bet it turns out that 'Mystery Girl' is actually a Gem in disguise! And maybe THAT'S why she has pink hair: She could be one of the Rose Quartzes from that station who got free or something!"
Steven looked slightly ill at this. "Oh, I hope not. It's weird enough how much she looks like Mom, but if she was another Rose Quartz, I might need to see a child psychologist."
Amethyst rolled her eyes. "Okay, so what do YOU think?"
"...Well, I think they go dancing, like you said," Steven explained, "but then she STARTS to dance like she would with Mom, only nothing happens. Then she realizes what she was doing and starts to cry-"
"Because it's Pearl and of course she'd cry?" Amethyst asked.
"When would ANY of you get in that sort of situation and not cry?" Garnet countered.
"...Yeah, good point," Amethyst conceded. "Anyway, keep going."
"Anyway, so she starts crying and runs to be alone in the bathroom or something," Steven continued. "But then, while she's in there, her date comes in. She's not upset or angry that Pearl made a scene, she just wants to know what's wrong."
"Oooh, emotional," Amethyst cooed.
Steven nodded. "Yup. So Pearl tells her about Mom, and about how she first chased after 'S' because of how much she reminded her of Rose, but that she called her because she wanted to get to know HER, the real her. She just has some trouble getting over everything and not falling back into her old habits. So then 'S' puts her arms around her and says 'It's okay, Pearl. I know how hard losing someone you love can be. And I might not have been there like you have, but I know that you shouldn't deal with this alone, so if you want, I can be...there for'..."
Steven stopped as he felt a ludicrous amount of tears run down his face, quickly wiping them away. "I'm sorry, I think I made my version a little too sad..."
"...What have you been reading lately, anyway?" Amethyst inquired, curious as to how oddly specific and sappy that story was.
"Some of Connie's books she lent me," Steven replied as he calmed himself down. "They're tragic romance stories."
"And she lent you tragic romances...to make you cry?" Amethyst asked, still confused.
Steven shrugged. "No, I just like reading."
"Yeah, but why add more depression when you've got enough tragedy in your life to write your own series of books?" Amethyst pointed out. "Or I guess maybe a cartoon show, if you could find a network that would air some of the insane stuff WE'VE been through."
"You know, you both COULD simply ask Pearl what happened when she gets here," Garnet suggested.
"Aww, but Garnet!" Amethyst whined. "We don't know when that'll be!"
Garnet smirked. "...Now."
Steven blinked, caught off-guard. "...Wait...NOW?"
"Now," Garnet repeated, causing Amethyst and Steven to turn and face the door. Sure enough, there stood Pearl and her date, the later of which was holding Pearl's hands up in hers before kissing the backs of them.
"...Oooh, classy!" Amethyst remarked, shapeshifting to literally melt into a puddle on the floor.
Garnet rolled her eyes at Amethyst's antics, instead watching as Pearl walked in the door and watched through it as her date took her leave. Once 'S' was gone, she then turned and let out a heavenly sigh as she did a twirl across the floor and then let herself fall gracefully onto the couch, the most blissful of smiles on her face.
"...That...was the most fun I've had in centuries," Pearl said, staring straight up at the ceiling.
"So, give us the 411, P!" Amethyst demanded, reshaping herself back to normal.
"Yeah, tell us everything!" Steven insisted.
Pearl giggled a little. "Well, first we went out for dinner, and then dancing, and-"
"Wait, YOU ate?!" Steven inquired in utter shock.
"Oh no, I didn't eat, she did," Pearl explained. "She offered to pay for my dinner, and I said 'It's not a matter of money, I just don't eat'. And she asked 'Isn't that unhealthy?', and I replied 'Hasn't been a problem for me in the past six millenia or so'...and then she started laughing for some reason, but she shrugged it off."
Amethyst face-palmed hard, but let Pearl continue. "Anyway, we talked, shared stories, and then we went dancing. And there were SO many people there, but I managed to keep my cool-"
"Ooh, ooh, did you fuse?!" Amethyst asked, bouncing up and down. "Did you two fuse?! Is she actually a Gem?!"
"We most certainly did NOT," Pearl answered, looking a little annoyed. "And she's NOT a Gem. She's a regular, ordinary human."
"How do you know, did you check?" Amethyst inquired in as suggestive a tone as she could manage.
Pearl blushed horribly at this. "Honestly, Amethyst! Anyway, I actually ended up having a lot of fun at the club, although you were right about someone offering me pills of some sort, Garnet."
Garnet harrumphed a little at this. "Honestly, why can't some people just enjoy a night for what it is without resorting to enhancements that can make you sick?"
"And then we went riding on her motorcycle along the countryside, and then she dropped me off here," Pearl finished.
Amethyst tilted her head. "...And THAT was the most fun you've had in centuries?"
"You weren't there, Amethyst," Pearl explained with a smile, getting up off the couch and making her way to the temple door. "Anyway, I think I'll head back to my room for now. I'll see you all in the morning~!"
Pearl's last sentence having a bit of a sing-song tone to it did not go unnoticed by the others, nor did the extra skip in her step as she headed off to her room. Steven just grinned, glad that Pearl had a great time. Amethyst, however, seemed a bit deflated as she leaned over the coffee table.
"Ugh, man," Amethyst moaned. "I was really hoping they'd fuse."
Garnet chuckled a little, her eyes still on the temple door. "You know something, Amethyst? I think, in their own way, they might have..."
AUTHOR'S NOTES: So, that was my first attempt at a Steven Universe fic. Originally, I was gonna have the story remain from Pearl's point of view at all times throughout. However, there were a couple of things that made me change my mind. First, we don't really know jack about Mystery Girl. We don't even REALLY know her name, other than it starts with an S. I've heard tell that it's supposed to be Sheena (which I actually like the idea of her name being Sheena), but we don't know that for certain yet. Also, I recently heard rumours that she'd be making a return in an upcoming episode, so rather than give my own take on what she might be like, I left it mostly vague and instead had the characters indulge in what THEY thought she might be like.
Speaking of...yeah, put me firmly in the camp of people who hope that she ISN'T a Gem. I especially don't want her to turn out to be another Rose Quartz. I think that would kind of cheapen the effect of Pearl getting over Rose and trying to befriend and possibly even date a human being. Plus, I think there's a lot of story potential for Pearl dating a human. Specifically, Pearl has come to learn the value of humans and befriend them, even her former romantic rival Greg, but the idea of her becoming romantically involved with one could provide her further insight on just what it was that Rose saw in them. And lastly, if they're going to go forward with this relationship (and GOD, I hope they do SO badly), I want there to be that moment of Pearl realizing "Yes, I DID chase after her because she reminded me of Rose, but she's NOT Rose, she's just a human, and I think I like her all the same exactly as she is". Maybe not in those exact words, or even that exact scenario, but just something akin to that. That, to me, is the logical destination of her journey in getting over Rose: That she realizes she can love someone who isn't just a mirror of the one she lost.
Anyway, lemme know what you thought of the story, and I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day. Ja né!