Yay, Steven Universe!

Anyway. This is a human!AU on a primary background of college/university. Pearlmethyst will be the major pairing (at least for the time being), with other relationships mixed in, primarily Lapidot further in. Please leave me a review, they're all we fanfiction authors get in return (other than the pleasure of writing, which has its limits, I have learned), and they're super motivating! :)

Anyway, on to the story!

Stars in a Constellation

0. the mandatory backstory

They met in middle school.

Well, Amethyst was in middle school. Pearl was a high school freshman, and at the time, it had seemed like a thousand years of difference.

Pearl had been hired as Amethyst's tutor as a part of some BS inter-school community move by the superintendent, some pompous, red-faced windbag called Bill Dewey. Amethyst didn't give a damn about school, and Pearl got anxious if she didn't have next month's homework finished and alphabetized by subject.

Naturally, it was a perfect match.

The first time Amethyst laid eyes on Pearl from across public library, where they had (Amethyst, somewhat grudgingly) agreed to meet, she lost her breath for the first time in her life. There was something about her as she stopped to ask the librarian at the desk a question, something unique and uncommon and incredibly, achingly beautiful about her pale skin, light dusting of freckles and peach colored hair that fell in an immaculate semi-bob cut that didn't quite reach her shoulders and curled inward at the tips. (She'd been wearing a light teal headband that day, Amethyst remembers.) Her nose was prominent, but perfectly straight and pointed, adding to the unique charm that had captured Amethyst's attention so completely.

So enraptured was Amethyst by this complete stranger that she didn't even realize the girl was heading for her until she daintily set her bag on the table and hesitantly asked if she was Amethyst Rivera, because she was Pearl Blanche, her tutor. Amethyst blinked and jumped, snapping out of her daze, suddenly aware of just how hard she'd been staring.

"Oh, uh…yeah. I'm Amethyst. Hey."

Pearl's lips had curled slightly upwards into a grateful smile as she slipped into the seat adjacent to Amethyst and pulled Amethyst's (unopened) textbook toward her.

Eyes subconsciously tracing Pearl's graceful, deliberate movements, Amethyst found herself agreeing with the school for the first time in her somewhat short life.

She really did need a tutor.

Amethyst, being Amethyst, hadn't stayed shy for long, and quickly took a shine to pushing Pearl's buttons and teasing the older girl, just to hear that indignant tone and see the inevitable flush of pink dusting her cheeks. She even allowed herself to be scolded by Pearl for her somewhat reckless behavior (not that the reckless behavior was anything new), just for the inevitable exaggerated sigh and tittering (there was no other way to describe it) that would follow as Pearl's feather-light fingers ran over whatever part of her body Amethyst had injured that day to make sure that she was, indeed, 'okay'.

It continued for a good six months before Amethyst first heard the name that she'd learn to hate more than homework.

They'd grown closer, not just as a tutor and tutee, but as something resembling friends (though Pearl was a bit of a mother hen which made for an odd, unbalanced friendship)—a rare case of opposites who were just the right amount of opposite that they seemed to just…click. Amethyst, while still entranced by Pearl's unique beauty, had come to look forward to the time she spent with the older girl for more than just eye-candy purposes (though she was still just a little young to know it for what any adult will know it was), and Pearl, while more than occasionally frustrated by Amethyst's devil-may-care attitude and general lack of organization, found herself quite taken with the adorable, rambunctious Latina who contrasted everything else in Pearl's life so completely.

And then one day, Amethyst had walked into the library for one of their study sessions (late, as always), only to find Pearl sitting at their usual table (early, as always), staring blankly at the textbook in front of her, looking like she was staring right through it.

(Amethyst had known immediately that something was wrong. This wasn't like Pearl. Textbooks excited Pearl, the complete and total nerd.)

"Yo, P."

Pearl had blinked and slowly raised her head, turning to Amethyst in acknowledgment, though it took several seconds for her eyes to focus properly. "Oh, Amethyst. Hello. Shall we get started?" She'd gestured vaguely to her water bottle, and Amethyst raised her eyebrows.

"Um, yeah, no," she said bluntly, plopping down in the seat next to Pearl, whose eyebrows were now furrowed as if she were thinking very hard about something. "P, what's up? What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" Pearl blinked. "Nothing, I'm fine."

"Coming from the girl who wants to tutor me using her water bottle?" Amethyst retorted dryly, "That's not gonna cut it. Tell me what's wrong."

At that, Pearl had heaved a long, tortured sigh. "It's…it's Rose."

"Rose?"

A faraway look had appeared in Pearl's eyes—one that was much different than the look she'd been fixing her textbook just a minute ago. "Rose Quartz," she'd clarified, with a dreamy sigh that made Amethyst's eyebrows draw together involuntarily. She already wasn't liking the sound of that—but she hated seeing Pearl upset even more, so she urged her to continue.

And Pearl did. For more than an hour.

Rose Quartz was a college student, a student teacher who had been working alongside Pearl's regular teacher since several weeks into the fall term. From what Amethyst could gather—Pearl went off on several tangents along the way, most of them involving Rose's hair or perfume or her eyes ("oh, Amethyst, her eyes)—Rose Quartz was infinitely kind, loving, and took a great deal of interest in all of the students, particularly Pearl, who she saw 'potential' in.

She sounded like an amazing teacher, and Amethyst hated her.

It turned out that Pearl had been upset because Rose had come to school positively glowing that day, and had confided in Pearl (who, as usual, had been painfully early to school) that she was dating the most wonderful boy.

"Greg," Pearl had said, bitterly. "He looks like an absolute ruffian. She says he's in a musician, and that he's an amazing singer." Pearl had actually huffed at this, chest puffing slightly. "I can sing."

(She could. Pearl's voice was the most beautiful sound Amethyst had ever heard, but somehow she doubted Pearl would care about her opinion.)

As a freshman, Amethyst didn't really need a tutor anymore, strictly speaking. As Pearl had said hundreds of times, Amethyst wasn't dumb.

("Just lazy. And disorganized, and a little…oh, Amethyst, is that a Snickers bar in your…your bra?")

But Amethyst was afraid, however subconsciously, that if the tutoring stopped, she would never get to be around Pearl. They gravitated toward entirely different crowds, with the odd, rare exception who seemed to fit in with both (namely, Garnet Jones). Amethyst spent her time cutting the odd class and making the most of her teenage years with Buck, Jenny and Sour Cream who, while well-meaning, were notorious for getting into trouble. Meanwhile, Pearl associated with the traditionally popular crowd, in particular Opal and Sardonix. While she wasn't busy fawning over Rose Quartz, that was.

By the time Amethyst had arrived at Beach City High, Rose Quartz, who was apparently just as amazing as Pearl had made her out to be, had managed to become a full-fledged English teacher. Pearl's infatuation was as strong as ever, if not more so—she had attempted to sneak into a lower level English course just to have Rose as a teacher, but the latter had caught her and steered her into a more appropriate, college-level AP course.

And, unfortunately, the same could be said for Amethyst, who was now old enough to be fully aware of just what that funny, fluttery feeling she got whenever she saw Pearl, however briefly, meant, and who was just as lost over the nerdy, tittering, mothering senior as she had been the day she met Pearl as a freshman.

It didn't help that, as they had grown older and closer, Pearl had become far more comfortable with Amethyst. Even though Amethyst had initially crushed hard on the hesitant, dainty, hairband-wearing freshman, her feelings had only grown stronger and more real the more Pearl's true self became exposed. Because real Pearl—shrill, bossy, know-it-all, sometimes petty and always overprotective—was even more attractive to Amethyst than her perfect prodigy child routine. And because apparently the universe fucking hated Amethyst for some crime in a past life, it turned out that Pearl was surprisingly tactile.

If Amethyst got a good grade on a test, she'd be rewarded with a brilliant smile (like, the nerd was genuinely happy about someone else's grades) and a surprisingly tight hug that was always over before Amethyst had time to process. If Amethyst was being particularly loveable one day, she might be rewarded with a soft smile and cool fingers running down her arm as an unconscious gesture of affection as Pearl stood up to leave. God, Amethyst melted beneath her careful, feather-light touches every time.

And as things continued that way, Amethyst could almost forget about Rose Quartz and how she would never, ever have a chance with Pearl (because who could compare to kind loving beautiful perfect?).

Then it came time for Pearl to graduate, and that's when everything had changed.

Amethyst had come to her graduation, though she quickly wished she hadn't. Perfect, valedictorian Pearl had been practically glued to Rose's arm, whispering in her ear (she'd been involved in planning the whole thing, of course, and if Amethyst didn't know her well enough to know Pearl was actually a big enough nerd to take enjoyment from planning big, formal ceremonies, she'd think she did it just for the chance to be so close to Rose) throughout the entire day leading up to the ceremony, leaving Amethyst to sulk silently in the background. Garnet, who was also graduating that year, had also been involved in planning, and had stopped by to have a word with both women at some point during the day. At one point, Amethyst had felt that unreadable, omniscient gaze and had looked up to see Garnet, still conversing with Pearl and Rose, with her eyes fixed steadily on Amethyst. Amethyst had flushed with embarrassment and darted her eyes to the floor, tightening her arms over her chest. Of course Garnet knew. How long had she known? Probably from the beginning.

The whole thing had been over in the space of one eight-or-so hour day, though, as with large, crowded, formal events, it felt like forever. Amethyst, stretching and popping every joint that would pop, had been headed out to the dark parking lot to meet Pearl, who had driven her. That's when her world crashed down around her, like a huge tidal wave rolling over hundreds of beachgoers in one fell, seamless blow.

Pearl. Her tutor, her friend, her rock, her overprotective bird mom, absolutely falling apart in the arms of Rose Quartz. She couldn't hear what they were saying, and for once in her life, Amethyst didn't take the opportunity to sneak closer and eavesdrop, because the stinging in her eyes and the ache in her chest told her she really, really didn't want to know. Rose was bending down, brushing stray peach locks behind pale, freckled ears, her free hand cupping both of Pearl's, and there was something about the atmosphere, the careful distance between them and the way Pearl's sobs were racking her thin body that told Amethyst all she needed to know.

It was at that moment that Amethyst had realized, in one of the worst ways possible, what had been happening ever since that first day at the library three years ago. That it wasn't just a crush on her cute, slightly neurotic tutor. She was in love with Pearl. And Pearl was never, ever going to even see her as anything more than an annoying friend at best, let alone feel the same.

She barely even registered the large hand clapping down on her shoulder and steering her away from the scene in a firm, but oddly gentle grip. She probably would have been led anywhere by anyone that day, but luckily it was Garnet who had effortlessly helped her into the passenger seat of her car (or it might have been a truck, or a van. It could have been a small passenger airplane and Amethyst wouldn't have known or cared about the difference) and ensured she'd made it home safely.

It had been Garnet who had acted as a barrier between Pearl and Amethyst, when Pearl bothered to ask about her (several weeks later)—Garnet who had listened patiently to the whole story and deciphered the important bits from Amethyst's blubbering.

And even when she did speak to Pearl again, it wasn't the same. Given that the summer was Pearl's last before heading off to college in the fall, it was easy enough to say that they'd just been too busy to see each other (and besides, Amethyst had thought, bitterly, it wasn't like Pearl had a reason to spend time with her anymore, now that she wouldn't be tutoring her). But there was tension now, and boundaries that had never been there before. Amethyst wasn't afraid that Pearl had noticed her feelings—as if she could see two feet to her left or right through her Rose Quartz-colored glasses. Pearl had been less affectionate since that night with Rose, almost as if Amethyst had just been a distraction to her, a way to make up for not being able to have Rose.

And Amethyst had taken it as exactly that, and closed off to Pearl entirely, not only avoiding or ignoring her, but being outright hostile. On the rare occasion Pearl tried to touch her, instead of melting into the touch, she'd jerk away before she had a chance. When Pearl would nitpick or fuss over Amethyst, instead of joking around or teasing, Amethyst would respond harshly, arguing with her and shutting her down.

She knew it hurt Pearl, and, realistically, she knew that Pearl's face wouldn't crumple like that if she didn't care about Amethyst to some extent. But for all her bravado and jokes, Amethyst was deeply insecure, and it was far easier (in a manner of speaking) for her to completely disregard all of Pearl's affection as having been a product of displaced care than for her to admit that Pearl did care about her (just not as much as Rose. Nobody ever mattered as much as Rose).

As a result, their relationship had grown strained, with Pearl eventually responding to Amethyst's treatment with indignance and anger of her own. And even though it killed Amethyst to have their friendship turned into something argumentative and passive aggressive, it hurt more to be as close as they had been before and know that she could never hope to mean as much to Pearl as her precious Rose Quartz.

That had been three years ago. Three years since Amethyst last felt Pearl's fingers run fondly down her arm. Three years since the last time Pearl had fussed over Amethyst getting a black eye from some meaningless fight. They had seen each other, on occasion, by necessity, because Garnet was a mutual friend and for some reason refused to let the two of them completely fade out of each others' lives. But any conversation between them had been strained and clipped and inevitably ended in an argument. Amethyst wasn't even sure what to call it at this point. They had never really, truly fallen out, but they certainly weren't friends—at least, not in any remotely healthy sense. But labels didn't matter. Amethyst would never be Rose Quartz, and that was all she needed to know. Bickering and squabbling was easier than being friends and always having that there, hovering over her, mocking her.

But it was about it get a little more tricky. Because all that tutoring was bound to have some kind of effect in the end, however little the actual tutoring meant to Amethyst, and, against all odds, Amethyst was going to college.

Crystal University.

Garnet's college.

Pearl's college.

Amethyst hoped she had a lazy RA. She was pretty sure she was going to need a lot of booze to survive this party.

It's a human-gem AU! OMG, so original, I know. But I really like the idea, and honestly, while I prefer reading fanfic to writing (because who doesn't? Or maybe I'm just lazy), while a lot of the SU fanfic writers are better writers than I will EVER be, I don't care for the vague, surreal, non-defined relationship thing that seems to be popular when it comes to the gems. Maybe because they're aliens? Anyway, I'm writing this because I want to see the characters in a more human, less ethereal light. I guess? Haha.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this, and please leave a comment, it means a lot! :)