A/N wow. I seriously didn't know I could write a fanfic that was fluff and fluff only. But I could. Looooots of gay fluff in this Human AU.
Sapphire sight softly. It was Autumn again, the most dreaded time of the year.
She sat down carefully on the windowsill, cradling her cup of tea in her tiny hands and making sure not to spill any of it on the home made cushions resting on the polished wood. They had been a gift from her wife, Ruby, on her fifteenth birthday, and while poorly executed, they were comfortable enough to make sitting by the window a bit nicer on her body, something she had especially come to enjoy as she grew older.
Sapphire sight again, frustrated. No matter what she did, wherever she went, the memories would never truly leave her alone. Her own fault, she supposed, for living her entire life on one spot, going from being raised to raising her own child in the same house and the same town.
"From birth to death and back again." She mused, taking a sip of her tea. It was scalding hot but Sapphire hardly noticed, finding pleasure and comfort in the burning sensation as it went down her throat and landed heavily in her stomach. The natural cold that seemed to live within her normally wasn't bothersome, but it felt good to experience some warmth every once in awhile.
Even though she had closed eyes, she still noticed her mate entering the room. Her heavy footsteps echoed against the delicate wooden floorboards as she moved across the room.
"I tell you, Sapphy, you need to let it cool down before you drink it." Ruby scolded her, and Sapphire smiled, not even bothering to look her way. It wasn't the first time they had discussed her habit of drinking boiling tea.
"I just want some warmth." She mumbled, taking another sip of the steaming liquid in her cup and savoring the taste. Cinnamon and ginger coupled with mild strawberry teased her tastebuds with three distinct tastes in an inseparable mix.
"You want something hot, huh? How about this!" Praying the cup away from Sapphire's delicate hand with her large, calloused one's, Ruby carefully sat down beside her on the windowsill, pulling her wife into her strong embrace once the tea was safely placed on the floor.
Warmth emanated throughout Sapphire's body as she snuggled closer to her life partner, letting the strong, dark skinned arms closer tighter around her small features. Just like she was always cold like ice, Ruby was always warm like a burning fire. They were the absolute opposite, and at the same time, the absolute perfect combination.
"Hey Sapphy, did you see that card Garnet sent? Of her and Pearl and the kids on the beach?"
Of course, she had to remind Sapphire of the one thing, that Sapphire had come to her little corner to forget about. Her little baby, all grown up with her own wife and children, living somewhere far away from here, where she was. Just the thought of her only child made her heart ache with longing and want, to see her and hold her and love her again. She knew they'd be here soon again, they had promised to come over for christmas, but christmas was still months away and Sapphire wasn't sure she could wait that long.
"I saw" It comes out quite, broken, and she look away from her wife, focusing on the forest landscape outside their window as the tears start to roll down her cheeks and painting long stripes in the makeup on her face. She didn't want to seem weak, but what could she do? Autumn reminded her of her baby the most, because that's when she was born, but it was also the time of the year when she saw her the least.
She could almost see it now, outside the window. Garnet running around and playing among the piles of colourful leaves that lay collected under the trees, occasionally jumping in one or two and spreading the burning colours everywhere.
She could see her running down the hill, black boots and maroon coat on, chased by her best friend in pink boots and turquoise coat, strawberry blonde hair and black curls mixing as she get tackled to the ground and roll around, one lap after another as red, orange, yellow and brown leaves stick to their clothes and faces.
"Sapphire, are you okay?" The ghosts playing outside the window disappeared as quickly as they appeared, and Sapphire was forced back to reality. A reality where her baby was grown up and she was left behind, alone and with an aching feeling of longing in her heart.
"I miss Garnet...I feel so alone…" She sobbed, burying her head in her hands in a last, fruitless attempt to hide the tears running down her face. She didn't like being emotional in front of others, but at this point it was too late to hide it. Not that Ruby didn't know, anyway, she would always know. She couldn't keep a secret from her if she wanted to.
"Schh" The muscular arms she had freed herself from earlier came back, dragging her in and holding her even tighter than before. "I understand you miss her, I do too, but you'll see her soon enough. And you are never going to feel alone, ever, because I'll always be here!"
Plumb lips touched her cheeks, placing tender kisses along the tear trails in her ruined makeup, giving her all the attention she missed and distracting her so that they could tickle here with their fingers around her thin waist. She laughed, feeling a little cross that they used her ticklish body against her but smiling all the same, unable to help herself. She never showed any emotions on the outside, but Ruby always got her to react. Whether it was through kissing or tickling, not even the ice goddess could keep a straight face when she got it in her to make her smile.
"There's my laughing Sapphy! Knew I could make this little waterfall smile!" Ruby teased, amd Sapphire smiled even more. She loved that nickname, and how proud Ruby sounded every time she said it. She understood that she was quite cold and introverted at times, and that it was a little off putting for Ruby, but through the years they had learned to cope. She had learned to be a little more open at times, and her partner had learned how to coax her out of her shell.
"I love you Ruby" She whispered, pressing their bodies closer as she reached up to kiss her just a little bit taller wife in the face. She started off with a few quick pecks on the lips, teasing her short-tempered mate and colouring her lips with ice-blue lipstick, in spite of herself giggling at the result.
"Love you too, Sapphy" Ruby answered, catching on to the game and reaching out to give her lover a significantly longer, more passionate kiss as more of Sapphire's oddly colored lipstick stuck to her lips. She normally hated wearing makeup, but when it was applied like this, she supposed she could make an exception, just this once.
None of them really took notice of how much time passed. Caught up in the passion, the sharing of unconditional, never-ending love, time seemed like such an insignificant thing to care about. They had all the time they'd ever need, when none of them worked anymore, and rarely anyone bothered with the thirty-minute walk from the buss station to their house unless they had a very specific purpose with their visit. Truly, they didn't need to worry about how the hours passed.
In the secluded world they had created for themselves, time was a different concept, than anywhere else in the whole wide world. There, it wasn't measured in minutes, hours, days and months and years. It was measured in seasons, and in holidays. In special moments that came and vent as time moved on, and the landscape outside their windows changed. Christmas, Easter, 4th of July and Thanksgiving, winter, spring, summer and autumn. An endless circle of life and existence that never ceased. Not did it matter that they got one year older, or five, but that they saw their daughter again once, or five times. That their grandchildren multiplied and grew between each moment.
It was the only definition of time, that ever seemed to make sense to them.
"We're two very lucky persons" Ruby mumbled, feeling quite drowsy as she cuddled her sleeping wife closer, pulling a thick quilt that Sapphire's Grandmother probably had made once upon a time over the both of them, adamant to protect them from the raw chill of Autumn. Arranging the quilt a little and giving one last thought to how sore her back would be in the morning, she let herself slip into a peaceful slumber, feeling warm and safe with the love of her life by her side.
"Hurry up Pearl!" A decidedly grown, dark skinned woman in a maroon coat and black winter boots screamed, running along the narrow forest path with her wife chasing her at the best of her ability.
"Take it easy, Garnet!" The dark skinned woman's almost albino wife laughed, trying to catch up with her wife and still avoiding a painful fall to the ground below. "Your parents ain't going nowhere!"
Running along in the autumn coloured forest felt familiare to the both of them, childhood memories of having done the same in times long-since passed filling their minds and hearts with its gleeful happiness. It was a special feeling for the both of them, to be back where everything started, but one of them was clearly more excited than the other.
"I know, I know... just can't wait to see them, I missed them so much… and mom certainly missed me!" Garnet laughed, not slowing down in the slightest to wait for her wife. "They're going to be so surprised to see us here!"
"Of course they are, we didn't call to tell them that we are coming! Are you sure we shouldn't have called first? " Pearl commented, only a slight hint of worry sneaking into her voice and showing that she was actually concerned about not calling liked doing things by the book, and had only agreed not to because the whole trip hadn't been planned much in advance. Increasing her speed slightly, she was finally catching up with her wife as they approached the hill leading down to her mate's parents house.
"It's going to be fine, Pearl! Mom's always depressed around this time of the year,anyway, so it'll be nice to surprise her!" Garnet replied, turning around so that she could face Pearl and running backwards while she talked.
"Garnet watch out!" Running backwards, she didn't see the edge, and when Pearl called out to warn her, it was already too late. The arm that had been meant to catch Garnet instead caused her dragg Pearl with her down as they rolled down the hill.
Lap after lap they rolled, strawberry blonde hair mixing with dark curls as they clinged to each other in fear and excitement while soft dirt and wet leaves stuck to their clothes and faces, making the entire experience so much more real for the both of them.
If Sapphire had been watching the hill from the living room window, she would have been convinced she was seeing ghosts, or maybe hallucinating, because out there a strawberry blond woman in a turquoise coat and a black haired woman in a maroon coat was rolling down the hill, just like two strikingly similar children had done once upon a time, strawberry blonde hair and black curls mixing as they rolled through the wet leaves.
"I told you to be careful!" Pearl scolded, trying to get the dirt and leaves off her coat. It was her favourite, she loved the color, and now it was coloured brown by all this mud.
"It was funny though, wasn't it? Dibs on knocking on the door!" Garnet explained gleeful, not sharing her wife's bad mood. Pearl just rolled her eyes. She was all too familiar with the childish personality visits to her in-laws brought out in her wife. She was basically a six feet tall, 176 pounds heavy five-year old at this point.
While Garnet started knocking on the door with a fierceness only matched by her untamed excitement, Pearl decided to look inside through the living room window. If she was lucky, Sapphire was lurking in her hideout on the windowsill, because if that was the case, she could ask her to open.
Partly, Pearl had been correct in her guess that Sapphire was sitting in her out on the windowsill, for she was, but so was Ruby, who Pearl hadn't thought of. When she looked through the window, she found Ruby's body pressed against the glass, her arms wrapped tightly around Sapphire, which she was snuggling in her lap. Sapphire had long, dirty lines in her facial makeup, and Pearl suspected she'd been crying earlier. The both of them was sound asleep, eyes closed and blissful smiles on their faces.
"Garnet, I think we'll have to come back another day."
"What? Why!" Garnet protested immediately, displeased and sounding like a whiny child but still ceasing her knocking on the door, which Pearl was surprised hadn't already awoken the sleeping lovers in the window. They must have been completely exhausted.
Silently,Pearl pointed to the window in front of her, and Garnet went to join her so that she could see what was inside. When she noticed her parents sleeping on the windowsill, she stifled a laugh, before grabbing Pearl by the hand and leading her away from the house.
They could always visit again another day.