Disclaimer: Steven Universe doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Rebecca Sugar. I write for fun, not for money and blah, blah, blah ...
Summary: Pearl only wants to be noticed by a certain fusion gem. A compliment, or perhaps a simple gesture that denoted recognition. Is that too much to ask?!
Warning: English isn't my first language, it's Spanish. If you notice any grammatical error or something like that, please let me know. Thank you!
Cover by Ringo-Tensai. Thank you so much!
Notice me, Garnet!
That morning she had left her room a little later than usual. She had concentrated on sorting her swords collection again, and had distracted herself a lot.
Probably Steven and Amethyst were already having breakfast while Garnet accompanied them.
Pearl sighed deeply as her room's door opened to allow her an exit.
However, after walking a few steps, she noticed that the kitchen was empty. There was no smell of bacon in the air, and no one was in sight.
She was about to start looking around, until she heard a couple of giggles. She looked up to notice that those sounds came from Steven's room. Quietly and curiously, she climbed the stairs over there.
"Don't move, Garnet!"
Pearl came to the room, and she could see Amethyst and Steven standing on the bed, giving her their backs and laughing mischievously.
"May I ask what's so funny?" she questioned then, making the two youngest gems turn around to look at her
Before Steven or Amethyst could speak, Garnet stood up and turned away from them a couple of steps, facing Pearl. And she gasped.
Garnet's hair looked different. Quite different. It was straight, slightly undulating here and there. It reminded her about Sapphire's long hair, especially since Garnet's three eyes were also covered by a curtain of raven hair.
"Steven was curious to see my hair with another... style" said Garnet quietly, with her usual laid back tone. "I guess they think it's pretty funny."
"Oh..."
It was everything that Pearl could pronounce at the moment, as her cheeks slightly flushed a faint blue color. Garnet nodded once and passed her to walk down the stairs, into the kitchen.
"Wait, Garnet!" exclaimed Steven happily, jumping out of his bed and running after the tallest gem. "You look awesome, I gotta take a picture!"
Pearl approached Amethyst, who had just removed a foreign object from electrical power, which had a huge scissors-like shape but no apparent edge.
"Amethyst ... What is that?"
"What? This?" she asked, raising the object a little. When Pearl nodded, she laughed. "It's a hair straightener. I found it in my room, I don't know how it got there... but it was useful today, huh?!"
"Yes, sure" Pearl murmured distractedly, moving closer to look more closely. "And how does it work?"
"Well, you stick it through your hair and you press... like this" explained Amethyst as she placed a lock of her long hair between the plates of the object and pressed, moving it along her hair. "Why do you wanna know? Want me to iron your hair?"
Pearl was ready to refuse such a procedure, but was startled to hear Steven's desperate cry from the kitchen.
"Garnet, no!"
Both Pearl and Amethyst poked their heads, concerned, only to see the leader of their group wetting her hair, and thus restoring its original texture.
"Oh, no..." Steven lamented, with his camera in his hand. Suddenly he smiled, lifting the object in the air. "... but at least I took a picture! Wait till Dad and Connie see this!"
Amethyst gave a mischievous laugh at that, and let the hair straightener fall carelessly before descending the stairs. Pearl managed to catch that object in the air and prevent it falling.
She watched it for a moment, with a thoughtful frown. However, after a few seconds, she chuckled and shook her head, leaving the hair straightener in a safe place.
Amethyst probably would take it away, she thought, and decided to forget about it.
A couple of days passed, and the situation was forgotten by everyone.
Everyone but Pearl.
Day and night, she was thinking of that strange and interesting object that Amethyst had used, and the favorable result it had in Garnet.
Usually Pearl wasn't interested in human artifacts, considering them simple and banal. And although that hair straightener was the most simple and banal thing she could find, it was stealing her concentration.
Tired of this situation, Pearl left her room early in the morning when Amethyst and Garnet weren't around and Steven slept peacefully in his room.
Precisely to that room she went, in complete silence and as an outstanding example of stealth. She watched Steven for a moment, before stroking his hair briefly.
She ventured a little further into the room... and there it was. Exactly in the same place where she had left it, the hair straightener waiting for her.
Pearl sighed heavily, because the fact that the object was still there almost a week after the 'relevant day', showed carelessness from Amethyst. However, she admitted that because of that she could proceed with what had brought her there.
She took the object and connected it to electricity, mindful that none of het movements would awake Steven.
She took a deep breath, and began her work, to get rid of that unbearable curiosity.
"Pearl?"
She turned to Steven's sleepy voice, and smiled a little while serving his breakfast. She didn't like to eat, but she found fascinating the cooking process, even more if it was for little Steven.
He looked at her silently analyzing. Pearl's hair seemed longer than usual, falling as limp waterfalls on both sides of her face. Almost the same effect the hair straightener had in Garnet before.
"You look... different" the child murmured thoughtfully, making the gem before him grimace. "I love it!"
Pearl breathed a sigh of relief at Steven's enthusiasm, who came running to take a seat and start eating his breakfast, watching her all the time with a small smile.
Amethyst left her room after a few moments, and went to pour herself a brimming bowl of cereal and begin to devour it.
As she chewed her food noisily with her mouth full, she looked up to see Pearl. But instead of focusing on her grimace of disgust at her manners, she noticed her hair.
"Pearl!" she exclaimed then spitting some chewed cereals in the process. "Lookin' good! Must be something new for you, huh?!"
Pearl just rolled her eyes, sighing. At that moment, the portal actived, and as its bright light extinguished, Garnet walked out of it.
"Good morning, Steven" she greeted calmly, petting the child's hair when she got closer. "Good morning, Amethyst."
The aforementioned gem mumbled something that nobody could understand, because her mouth was full of half-chewed cereal. Garnet nodded once in acknowledgment, and turned to Pearl to take a seat at the table.
"Good morning, Pearl."
Garnet couldn't see Pearl's disbelief expresion 'cause she had taken the day's newspaper to start reading it quietly.
Pearl, meanwhile, recovered her expression rapidly. Garnet apparently hadn't noticed anything new in her, but that didn't matter, didn't it?
Yes, it did.
She confirmed it when, in the middle of a fight against a corrupt gem, she couldn't concentrate.
Those clashes with gems that threatened life in Beach City were mostly routine. They took some work, but finally with teamwork and effort, they managed to dominate those gems successfully.
But for Pearl, specifically that battle, had become a challenge.
She just couldn't stop thinking about it. How was it possible that Garnet hadn't noticed it anything different? So little attention she paid to her? She had never thought about that, and she had never stopped to question her importance to those with whom she lived.
Especially Garnet.
Garnet, who was running towards her shouting something she couldn't hear. She quickly shook her head, trying to concentrate.
"Pearl! Pearl, get away!"
As she heard those words, and turned her eyes forward, just in time to see the giant monster with five arms which that corrupt get had become, which inveighed against her at high speed.
She barely had time to react, then the next second Garnet was front of her, stopping the monster with effort while Amethyst entangled it with her whip and tried to pull it away.
"Steven!" yelled Garnet, and the boy came running to her worriedly. "You have a new mission! Take Pearl home now!"
"B-But..."
"Now, Steven!"
Nervous, Steven took Pearl's hand and started running toward the house. Pearl turned just in time to see Garnet's expression, who seemed to warn her to obey.
And so she did.
She climbed the stairs and entered the house with Steven, who dropped her hand to close the door and lean against it, breathing heavily.
"Pearl!" he cried, running to her and hugging her. "Are you okay?!"
She nodded quickly, surrounding the child with hee arms and stroking his hair reassuringly. The boy looked about to mourn, worried.
Pearl felt infinitely guilty of that. What was going through your head? How had she been so distracted by a trifle of no importance at all?
She sighed heavily, and continued stroking Steven's hair until he finally calmed down. Just as he turned away from her with a small smile on his face, the door opened abruptly.
On the threshold, Amethyst walked in covered with sand and with a murderous look in her eyes. A moment later Garnet her, again with her calm expression, and bringing with her the encapsulated and controlled gem.
"Pearl!" yelled Amethyst, approaching her with a frown. "What the heck is wrong with you?!"
Embarrassed by her poor performance on the beach, Pearl sought a way to defend herself with dignity, but was failing.
"I-I was... just a little distracted..."
"A little?! That thing almost shreds you into pieces!"
"I don't appreciate your tone, young lady!"
"See how much I care...!"
"Amethyst, that's enough" warned Garnet, making both of them stop to see her make that capsule disappear. "Let it go."
Amethyst looked at her in disbelief, but finally reluctantly obeyed.
"Whatever" she muttered, crossing her arms firmly
Garnet nodded once, before turning around and forgetting about it.
But Pearl couldn't do the same. She just couldn't. Because partially she blamed Garnet for her distraction. If only she had stopped a moment, just a few seconds to say something... anything. A compliment, or perhaps a simple gesture that denoted recognition.
But no. She hadn't done anything. Absolutely nothing...
"Notice me, Garnet!"
Silence filled that home after Pearl's exclamation. Everyone slowly turned toward her, and her cheeks blushed slightly when receiving that much attention.
After a few moments, mocking laughter cut through the air and managed to startle her.
"So that was the problem!" exclaimed Amethyst, unable to stop laughing at her ashamed expression. "Garnet didn't even look at you, right?!"
"Um... what?" questioned Steven then, scratching his neck with a grimace. I don't understand anything..."
The boy turned to Garnet, who after a moment approached him quietly and gently stroked his hair, giving him a couple of dollars.
"Why don't you go with Amethyst to buy donuts or pizza, or something?" she asked in a calm tone, to which Steven smiled with enthusiasm in his eyes
"Sure!" he explained happily, and took Amethyst's hand to walk her through the door. "Come on, come on!"
Amethyst followed, but not before dedicating a sly glance at Pearl, who looked away totally embarrassed.
After a few minutes of silence she started to think that Garnet was gone too, until she cleared her throat to get her attention.
Timidly she looked up, only to find Garnet's empty expression. She was right in front of her, arms folded and her head tilting slightly to the left.
"Is there anything you want to tell me?" she asked in a low monotone voice
Pearl felt her cheeks blush even more, and sighed heavily, nervous.
What could she say? That she had been distracted because she expected some kind of reaction to her temporal change in appearance? It sounded silly when she thought about it, and she was sure it would be even worse if she said it.
Unconsciously she began to wring her hands before speaking.
"Um... n-no, I don't think so" she muttered, looking away again, uncomfortable
"Are you sure?"
"Definitely."
Garnet nodded slightly, taking a few steps away, so Pearl couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
"By the way" said the leader, calling her attention again. "I noticed that your hair looks nicer than usual. Apparently you considered it necessary to say it."
Pearl blushed again, her cheeks acquiring a deep blue colour. For a second she wondered how it was possible that she knew about that, until she finally came to a logical conclusion: Garnet had seen a possible future in which she spoke the truth.
She looked down, embarrassed by the situation, and for being discovered. However, when she looked at Garnet, she saw a small smile on her lips.
"You look pretty, Pearl. You always look pretty."
Her cheeks couldn't acquire more color, so she just cleared his throat loudly, awkwardly.
"Thank you so much" she whispered, smiling nervously
Just then both of them could hear Steven's cheerful and contagious laughter, returning running with a bag of donuts in his hand while Amethyst devouredI the other, entering behind him.
"I brought chocolate donuts! And vanilla donuts! And vanilla with chocolate donuts!" announced the child, showing them the bag with a huge smile. "Would you like...?"
"Oh, no, thanks" said Pearl, with a slight wave of her hand. "I guess... I'll be in my room if you need me."
She sighed with relief when she calmly walked to the door, smiling a little.
Everything was fine. Everything was back to normal.
"Pearl!"
She stopped when she heard Garnet's voice calling her, and gasped. She turned around slowly, just as her door opened.
She saw Garnet smile slightly, with a nod of appreciation before speaking.
"I'm noticing you."
Hi!
Well, I had this idea long ago, but didn't dare to write it. Finally I told my best friend, Ringo-Tensai, and she recommended me to write it. So here it is. I am quite satisfied with the result.
Also, as I mentioned up there, the cover of this one-shot was drawn by Ringo-Tensai. Thanks again!
Anyway... I don't have much more to say. I hope you like it, really. If you want to leave a review with your opinion, go ahead.
For now, that's all.
Read you soon!
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