Pearl wasn't particularly proud of the fact that she was sneaking into the dorms at three in the morning after an impromptu shopping trip, carrying about fifty dollars worth of candy for the girl she liked. However, she had decided that she was done hiding her feelings for Amethyst. She had kept quiet about her feelings for Rose last year, and it had just made it all the more devastating when she had found someone else to be happy with. Well, not this time, Pearl told herself. This time she would say something. This time she would be brave. This time she would—
This time she was noticeably tipsy, and she couldn't remember how many drinks she'd had before leaving the party. Knowing her, it wouldn't have needed to be all that much; everyone always teased her for her low tolerance.
Still, it had at least given her this burst of courage to try and arrange something for Valentine's Day, a thought she had been entertaining for some time but had never really expected herself to follow through on. So she stumbled back to the dorms, thanked the stars that her room was on the first floor, and hauled herself in through the window. She banged her head painfully as she ducked inside and swore, getting her limbs tangled up inelegantly and falling the rest of the way to the floor.
It was a good thing Amethyst wasn't here to see this, she thought ruefully, staggering over to her bed. She shoved the plastic bag containing the candy as far underneath as she could reach and then forced herself through the motions of changing into her pajamas before flopping down face first on the bed.
Drinking had been a terrible idea, and she was going to regret this so much in the morning.
"Riiise and shine, Pierogi!"
Pearl groaned and threw an arm over her eyes as the curtains were opened. She tried to form a coherent response, but all that came out was "No."
Amethyst laughed—too loud, ouch—and came over to her bed, setting something on the small table next to her. "Advil and water are here when you want 'em," she said as she poked at Pearl's arm persistently. "Don't you have class today?"
"No," she answered stubbornly. She rolled over and buried her face in the pillow.
"Uh huh," her roommate said skeptically. "Right. Well, I won't tell if you won't." She sat down on the edge of the bed. "You doing okay, P? What happened to your forehead?"
Pearl had to think for a moment before she remembered. "I hit it coming in last night."
"Through the window?" Amethyst snorted. "You left it open, by the way."
"Sorry." It wasn't like her to forget something like that. "I was drunk."
"I can tell," the other girl said lightly, mussing Pearl's hair. "Though you're usually not that much of a party girl."
Pearl sighed. "It was Ruby and Sapphire's bachelorette party; I wasn't going to miss it." She squinted at Amethyst. "You were there too."
"Sure, but I didn't get wasted and mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night."
"Had to go to the store," she mumbled. "Peridot drove," she added belatedly, hoping to retain some semblance of responsibility. "She was sober."
Amethyst rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sounds real exciting." She patted Pearl's shoulder and stood up. "Take your medicine and tell me what you want for breakfast. There's enough time for me to run over there before my next class."
Pearl pushed herself upright, pressing a hand to her head. "Are you sure? You don't need to worry about me; I can eat something here."
"Unless you were grocery shopping, you're out of luck," she countered. "All we have right now is ramen and last time I gave you some I got a lecture on how it was going to be the death of college students everywhere. Do you want a bagel? Or some of that healthy junk you like?"
"Bagel," Pearl said, gulping down the pills with a mouthful of water. "Please."
"Coming right up," Amethyst said with a mock bow. "Take it easy today, P, you could use a day off."
Later, when Pearl was slowly making her way through half of the bagel, she decided that the hangover was worth it.
Pearl: Why did you let me buy all that candy last night?
Peridot: I couldn't get you to leave empty-handed. And it was funny.
Pearl: It was also a lot of money!
Peridot: You nearly walked out of the store with two giant teddy bears. I picked the lesser of two evils.
Pearl: Two?
Peridot: You said you wanted one to hug in case Amethyst rejected you.
Pearl: I did?
Peridot: I also spent half an hour talking you out of buying ridiculous Valentine's underwear.
Pearl: Oh.
Peridot: I took your laptop so you wouldn't do anything stupid once I dropped you off. I'll bring it by later once I've finished updating it.
Pearl: Thanks.
Pearl: …
Pearl: Let's never speak of this again.
Peridot: Agreed. Give me three of those fancy chocolate bars and we're even.
Pearl: Deal.
Pearl wasn't quite sure what to do with all the candy. It was a significant amount, mostly individually wrapped marshmallow hearts or chocolate hearts or candy hearts with messages on them like she used to get in elementary school. She couldn't very well return it all. And if she tried to distribute it amongst her friends, she'd just be reminding herself how much of a wimp she was, especially when she would end up giving a portion of it to Amethyst anyway.
Maybe…Maybe she could just give them to Amethyst, like she had planned. Not all at once, but perhaps throughout the day. And at the end she could…
Pearl groaned and covered her face with her hands. What was she supposed to say to Amethyst? How did people do big romantic gestures? She should have asked Ruby and Sapphire for advice while she was too drunk to care what anyone thought; they had always been good at that sort of thing. They were the first of her friends to get engaged, so they clearly knew what they were doing when it came to romance.
She didn't want to bother them today, though; she knew they had plans. Who else was there?
Garnet. Garnet would help, she decided. She reached for her phone.
Pearl: Could you give me some advice?
Garnet: Is this about Amethyst?
Pearl: …yes?
Garnet: Tell her how you feel. You'll be fine.
Pearl: But how?
Garnet: You're making this a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Just be honest.
Pearl: Thanks.
She felt like throwing her phone across the room, but settled for just tossing it down onto her bed with frustration. She didn't want to end up breaking it.
Just be honest.
Fine. She'd be straightforward. She'd just say it. Forget the chocolate.
Her eyes flicked to her purse and she shook her head. No, after all that trouble, she wasn't letting the candy go to waste.
She'd think of something.
On Valentine's Day, Pearl had an eight o'clock class, so she was awake and ready before Amethyst had even woken up. She smiled faintly at the mess of hair splayed over Amethyst's pillow and nervously glanced at her backpack. She picked it up and unzipped the front pocket, where she'd stuck the large selection of candy, and pulled out a marshmallow cream heart.
Careful not to let the wrapper crinkle too much, she slipped it onto Amethyst's makeshift nightstand. After a moment of indecision, she grabbed a set of Post-Its from her desk drawer and wrote "Happy Valentine's Day" in neat letters. She placed it beside the chocolate and gathered her things, slipping out of the room unseen.
One down.
The next Post-It went with a somewhat gaudy little heart-shaped box of inexpensive chocolates she placed in the passenger seat of Amethyst's car, which she always stubbornly refused to keep locked despite Pearl's many warnings.
"Drive safely and have a wonderful day."
The next note took her about three tries before she was satisfied with it and attached it to some pink and red jelly beans.
"Thank you for being a part of my life."
She left it in Amethyst's seat ten minutes before her class started and asked Garnet to make sure she got it, receiving a grin and thumbs up in response.
The next one went in the fridge, because Amethyst would almost certainly return to their room for lunch. Pearl placed some heart-shaped peanut butter cups on the little shelf, stacking three packages up together because she definitely wasn't going to make it through all the candy at this rate.
"You always support and care about me, even when we fight, and that means a lot to me."
A moment later, she opened the fridge again, stuck an apple inside, and added another note.
"Eat this too, it's healthier."
She dropped the next one off at the on-campus cafeteria where Amethyst worked, slipping the note inside a large box of assorted sweets for privacy as she handed it off to Lapis, who was standing around waiting for her shift to end.
"You always know how to make me smile."
"Want a drink to quench that thirst, Pearl?" Lapis asked with a smirk as she popped the lid open anyway.
Her face burned and she forced the box shut. "Just give it to Amethyst, please!"
She really was going to regret this, she thought as she hurried away. But it was too late to call it off now. She wasn't going through all this embarrassment for nothing.
Getting a little frustrated with the still-abundant supply of candy in her backpack, Pearl threw together a small gift bag with about ten different small candies in it and walked it over to where Amethyst's night class was held. She bumped into Jasper just outside the building and quickly persuaded her to pass the bag along to Amethyst, since they were in the same class.
"Smart move," Jasper said, nodding in approval as she looked inside. "The way to Amethyst's heart is through her stomach."
"Thanks," Pearl replied doubtfully. "You wouldn't happen to want some extra candy, would you?"
"Nah, I have to stay in shape for the game this weekend. Save it for your girlfriend."
Pearl's protests went largely unheard as Jasper gave her a hearty pat on the back and disappeared inside.
Well, she did hope that would be how today ended, but she didn't want to get ahead of herself.
"I'm so happy you exist."
The final piece was the hardest. Pearl sorted through the five boxes of conversation hearts she'd bought, picking out the applicable phrases like "only you" and "you & me", along with the more daring "kiss me" and "love you". She quickly discarded the rest, shoving them into one of the boxes and figuring she could let Amethyst eat them later if things didn't go terribly wrong.
She cleared a space on Amethyst's desk, spreading a napkin out over it. With the hearts she had picked out, she arranged them by color into one large heart and wrote "Be mine?" in fancy script on a Post-It, sticking it in the center.
No sooner had she hidden away the remains of the candy than the door to the room opened and Amethyst came in.
"Amethyst!" she squeaked out. "Hello."
"Hey," Amethyst replied, smiling. There was a faint blush on her cheeks as she met Pearl's eyes. "Uh, thanks for the candy, I—"
"Wait," Pearl interrupted, taking Amethyst by the shoulders and guiding her over to the desk. "There's…um, there's one more."
"Pearl," Amethyst began, breath catching in her throat.
She let her hands slip away from Amethyst's shoulders. "I-I know it's silly, and it's fine if you don't feel the same, really, I just wanted to—"
"Yes." Amethyst interrupted her quickly.
"What?"
"Yes, Pearl," she laughed, turning to face her. "It's silly and you're a complete nerd and of course I like you."
"You do?"
"I'm pretty sure everybody else figured that out like two months ago, but you're kinda oblivious, P." She shrugged. "I couldn't tell if you actually liked me back or if you're just this gay around everyone."
Pearl's face flushed. "I'm not!"
"You kind of are." Amethyst laughed and took her hand. "So I'm your valentine, huh? You didn't have to buy the whole candy store to ask me, y'know."
She groaned, covering her face with her free hand. "That wasn't even all of it."
"Whoa, what? Are you serious?"
Pearl pulled Amethyst along with her by the hand as she went to her backpack, not wanting to let go just yet. She pulled out the plastic bag, balancing it on her knee so Amethyst could see the remaining contents. "I went and bought it all when I was drunk…"
Amethyst snorted. "Wow. Wild night, buying out the candy section."
"Do you want the rest? I hate chocolate." She held it out hopefully.
"You're crazy," she declared, grabbing the bag from her, "but I won't turn down free candy."
Pearl cringed slightly thinking of the crumpled receipt in her trash can. Yes. Free candy. "I'm never drinking again," she decided aloud.
"Aww, come on, it could be fun," Amethyst laughed.
"I don't think so," Pearl said, trying to hide her red face as she remembered everything else Peridot had mentioned.
"I could go get some cheap wine and we can have a cheesy romantic dinner before you embarrass yourself," she offered.
"No thank you," she mumbled. "Today has already been embarrassing enough."
"Okay, okay, I'll stop teasing," Amethyst relented, pulling Pearl's hand away from her face. "You're cute, P," she said with an honest smile. "Thanks for the notes."
"You're welcome," she said shyly.
"Any chance I could get a kiss from my valentine?" Amethyst asked sweetly.
"I think that is part of the tradition," Pearl replied, failing miserably at injecting any confidence into the statement as her face burned an even deeper red.
Amethyst laughed and tugged her down a little. "Happy Valentine's Day, Pearl."
She barely had time to think before Amethyst's lips covered hers, and she nearly lost her balance, grabbing the other girl's shoulder for support. Amethyst laughed a little into the kiss and Pearl couldn't help but smile back. She returned the soft kiss happily, her hand coming up to rest on Amethyst's cheek.
When they broke apart, Amethyst bumped noses with her playfully. "So can I still make you a cheesy romantic dinner if I promise there's no alcohol involved?"
"I suppose that would be acceptable," Pearl agreed, leaning in quickly to give her another small kiss on the lips.
Amethyst grinned and reached behind her to grab the extra sticky notes Pearl had left out, scribbling something down on the top one and then sticking it to Pearl's forehead.
The taller girl blinked in surprise and pulled it off to read it as Amethyst went to the closet to grab a jacket.
"You're the best, P. Thanks for making today special."
Pearl held the note carefully in her fingers, pressing it briefly over her heart as she was overwhelmed with affection. No, she decided, she didn't regret anything that had happened, not if it led here.
Pearl hurried over to Amethyst and hugged her tightly from behind. "Thank you, Amethyst."
She couldn't have asked for anything more.