I DO NOT OWN STEVEN UNIVERSE
Pearl casted a worried glance outside. Through the rain-stained window of Steven's beach house, she could see Lapis Lazuli sitting cross legged by the shoreline. The ocean gem hadn't come anywhere near the house since she was freed from Malachite, despite Steven's efforts. She just sat there, stagnant and alone.
Pearl could say she felt guilty. Even though she hadn't known that Lapis was in the mirror in the first place, even she couldn't deny how absolutely broken Lapis looked with her blinded eyes and cracked gem. The Ocean gem didn't even believe in the Earth, and now she was confined to it. She was a prisoner constantly moving from cell to cell with no way to escape the tragic life sentence.
"Pearl?" Steven knocked the gem out of her thoughts. He was soaked- his brown curly hair drenched in water, and his clothes dripping on to the wooden floor of the Beach House.
Pearl ducked down to meet his eyes and helped him out of his jacket. "Yes, Steven?"
"Could you maybe talk to Lapis? I think she still kinda blames you guys for trapping her in a mirror, even though I tried to tell her you didn't exactly do it," Steven hummed, twiddling his thumbs and knitting his thick eyebrows. "I just want her to come inside 'cuz it's cold and I think she needs some family right now."
"Oh, Steven," Pearl whispered. "I don't know if I can do anything to help her." Pearl motioned for Steven to take off his wet shirt and passed him a dry one in exchange. "What happened to her won't be forgiven so easily, you know. I mean, the last time she and I talked, she stole the entire ocean."
"Could you just, I don't know, try? I don't wanna ask Garnet, 'cuz she's bad at talking. And no offense to Amethyst, but I think she would just make things even worse. Please, Pearl. You have to talk to her," Steven pleaded, eyes wide. Pearl sighed- Steven was too sympathetic for his own good. He was just like Rose.
Pearl relented and tossed Steven some freshly ironed pajama pants, ordering him to change right out of his sopping clothes as soon as she left the beach house. He beamed, tackling her in an eager, soaked, hug before running off to change. Pearl's smile melted from her face as she looked outside. She took a heavy breath in and released it before marching into the night.
The rain had escalated quickly to a downpour, making vision difficult. Pearl stumbled down the Beach house stairs and cringed as wet sand crept into her Pointe shoes. She begrudgingly peeled them off and walked barefoot to the shoreline. The rain had flattened her typically pert hair to the back of her neck, and she cringed at the sticky sensation.
Pearl had second thoughts about trying to console Lapis. What if she was still mad? What if she didn't want to talk at all? Despite these worries, Pearl forced herself and the twisting knot in her gut to move forward. She couldn't fail Steven. She couldn't fail Lapis.
The rain started to lighten up, and Pearl almost thought that it stopped, but then she realized that the droplets were floating in place around Lapis as a barrier to keep her dry. The gem was hugging her knees and biting her lower lip in absent thought, staring out into the ocean. Pearl inched forward, unsure, before sitting next to her.
"Hello," Pearl muttered avoiding the other's eyes. She didn't think she could bear looking into those sad blue eyes.
"Hello," Lapis snapped back, mocking to Pearl's reluctant cordial tone of voice. She didn't look up.
"Look, I'm-,"
"What- sorry?" Lapis interrupted, gritting her teeth. "Yeah, I bet. Steven gave me the whole spiel already- you weren't the gems that imprisoned me. Who cares, though? You're on the same side as them. That's enough for me to distrust you."
Lapis closed her eyes and knit her brow, breathing heavily. Maybe it was the quiver of Lapis' voice as she spoke, or maybe it was the way she looked out into the ocean as she talked as if she were seeing something that didn't exist anymore, but Pearl could tell that Lapis didn't completely want to believe her own words.
"Yes, I'm sorry," Pearl breathed, forcing herself to look at the Ocean gem. "True, I had no idea you were imprisoned… but I still shouldn't have treated you like a prisoner. I was just trying to protect Steven. I made a mistake. I'm… I'm sorry," She restated.
There was silence between them. Pearl could only hear the muffled patter of raindrops pelting the sand, and the ocean roughly crashing to the shore. The sand beneath her was dry, and it clung to her wet legs and hands like dirt to a beggar. She caught Lapis' eye and nearly gasped. The deep azure mirrors were not sad, nor broken- it was bright and shimmering with moonlight and hope. The Ocean gem's eyes were brilliant.
Pearl suddenly felt self-conscious, for reasons unknown to her. She looked down and tried her best to distract herself by digging her thin fingers through the sand.
Lapis broke the ceasefire of speech. "You really love him, don't you?"
Pearl was taken aback. "O-of course I do! He's the most important thing on Earth to me."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Lapis murmured back. "He's like the ocean. Big, grand, and inexplicably wonderful."
"Yeah," Pearl smiled. "Yeah, I guess he is."
The two gems felt their discourse evaporate as they met on common ground. They both loved Steven. And Steven trusted them. And if Steven could have it in his heart to trust both of them, then maybe they weren't so bad or different.
"Is it wrong for me to hate you?" Lapis asked out of the blue.
"I don't know," Pearl muttered. "Maybe you should hate us, but… I don't hate you, if that counts for anything."
"It doesn't," Lapis retorted, although her tone was more friendly than mocking.
Pearl let her eyes travel up once more, lingering on the Ocean gem's gentle gaze and flowing with every curve of her dark skin and wisp of blue hair. There was something about Lapis that made Pearl shrink. Something about her demeanor and grace, and something about the way she annunciated every word with austere precision, and something about the way her eyes shone. After a long while of admiring the Ocean gem, Pearl finally found the word that described that feeling. Lapis was beautiful. And she was infatuated.
Lapis smiled and Pearl felt her cheeks twinge with blue. She hoped that the night concealed her fluster, but doubted it.
"I've never gotten a good look at you before," Pearl admitted.
"Vice-versa," Lapis quipped back.
They said nothing for a bit. Lapis' coy grin was nowhere near fading from her face, and she seemed to be toying with Pearl. Trying to see just how blue a nervous gem could get.
Lapis broke her grip and let her knees fall free of her arms. She settled her hands down behind her, one ghosting Pearl's fingertips. "You know, you look a lot less like a bird when you're not squawking in panic," Lapis laughed. "In fact, you're almost pretty." Pearl flushed and looked away.
"You stop that."
Lapis giggled and poked Pearl's nose.
It was the first time they'd touched.
Pearl reeled back and scooted away, eyes wide. Her body crackled with electricity, and she felt like Lapis just pressed a hot iron to her skin. "Why."
"Sorry!" Lapis snickered, trying to suppress the shaking laughs that hit her like tidal waves at Pearl's dramatic reaction. "You're so flustered!"
Pearl scrunched up her nose, crossing her arms. "I'm most certainly not. It's a trick of the light. It's an Earth thing- you couldn't possibly understand," Pearl grumbled, cheeks burnt up enough to evaporate the thin layer of stagnant rain above them.
"What don't I get?" Lapis asked playfully, closing the gap between them and using her arms to straddle Pearl's knees, eliminating options of escape. Their noses were inches apart, and their fingers possessed even less space between them.
"L-lots of things!" Pearl huffed, trying to ignore the lack of distance between her and the Ocean gem. "L-like refraction, and courtship, and- and- well, you know!"
"No I don't," Lapis snorted back, feigning ignorance. "Teach me."
Pearl seized up- innocence only barely clouded over the devious glint in Lapis' eye. "Teach you? What do I, ahem, teach you?"
"You know how to dance, don't you? Teach me that."
Pearl stood up and thrust out her hand. Her limbs refused to move in a manner that wasn't jerky and stiff. "Okay. Yes. Uh, grab my hand."
Lapis laughed some more and reached out to snatch Pearl's bony wrist. She plucked herself from the sand and pulled the taller gem closer. "You're way too tense. Let me lead."
"I thought you didn't know how to dance?"
"I lied."
And then they were dancing, completely dry on a wet beach, moving to the music of one million raindrops hitting the ground in syncopated beats. Pearl relaxed, letting herself fall into the motion of Lapis' lead, letting her hands twine with the Ocean gem's and simply dancing. It wasn't to Amethyst's erratic beat, nor to Garnet's domineering hand. Just dancing, like somehow she hadn't only exchanged a handful of words with Lapis, but a human lifetime.
"You don't hate us, then?" Pearl asked.
"Oh, no. I still loathe you Crystal Gems and your silly Earth," Lapis smirked, twirling Pearl about and dipping her lean body before pulling her back up. "I just realized that I don't want to anymore."
"Well, it's a start," Pearl sighed.
The two gems danced longer, until they lost track of time and the rain had stopped. Pearl opened her eyes and was startled to find the sun beaming back at her- it was only night one moment ago. Lapis' half-lidded azure eyes seemed to smile all their own.
Pearl's hands were on her waist and intertwined with her fingers, and her hand rested on Pearl's collar. They were both closer than even the most intimate dance partners. This was how Steven found them.
"You guys!" He called, shocking both of them from their stupor. They split in record time, and Pearl blushed furiously. Lapis only laughed. "You danced so beautifully!" his eyes shone with stars. Pearl found it hard to hold any composure around his over-enthusiasm.
He stopped for a moment to gawk. "You should fuse!"
Pearl almost choked on her own spit. "Steven!"
She suddenly remembered what she had been set out to do in the first place. She glanced at Lapis and grinned shyly. "Anyways- uh, would you like to come inside the Beach house for breakfast?"
Lapis nodded and caught Pearl's sweet icy gaze. "I'd love to."