"I never want to leave."
"Leave what?"
"This. Us. You."
"Aw, Pearl! Gettin' all sweet and soft."
"Amethyst, you're ruining the moment, babe."
"Sorry."
Sheets rustled as Amethyst moved to lay her head on Pearl's chest. Pearl lazily stroked Amethyst's hair with one hand and her back with the other.
"I never want you to leave, either," Amethyst admitted.
"Now who's being all 'sweet and soft'?" Pearl chuckled.
"Pearl, I mean it. I really do."
"So do I."
"Promise?"
"Cross my heart."
Amethyst kissed Pearl's chin and then left a trail of kisses to her mouth. She pressed closed lips against Pearl's and came back to rest her head on her chest.
"Tease," Pearl joked gently. Amethyst kissed the column of her throat, nipping softly.
"Let's just enjoy the rain, Pierogi," Amethyst said, nodding to the window right next to the bed.
"It is nice, isn't it?" Pearl asked, turning her head to join Amethyst's rain watching. "What do you think about when it rains?"
"I dunno, P. Love, maybe? You, definitely. Sometimes I pretend the rain drops on the window are racing. That gets pretty crazy."
"You think of me when you think of love?" Pearl asked, running her fingers idly through Amethyst's hair.
"Well, yeah. Before I met you, and Garnet and Rose and Greg, I, uh- I really wasn't sure if love was like, a thing, Pearl. Like it was just something people said to, you know, get stuff from people."
Pearl kissed her hair as she continued speaking.
"But I showed up in Beach City and you guys just… took me. As I was. And didn't want anything in return. And I saw how you guys genuinely loved each other. At first I was a little skeptical when you guys started to include me in the 'love you's and stuff, but I realized that you didn't want anything but me. And I loved you guys. And I loved you."
"I love you, Amethyst."
"I love you, too, P."
The sound of rain hitting the window filled the room for a few moments.
"What do you think about?"
"Hmm?"
"Don't play dumb, Pierogi! I, like, shelled out my heart to you! What do you think about when it rains?"
"Oh! Well…. I think about that time when you first got here, how old were you? Fifteen? Fourteen? Anyway, Rose and Garnet were gone and Greg wasn't here because Rose wasn't. It was the worst storm in five, maybe ten years. I had just come home from classes at the community college in Ocean Town. I was coming up the steps when I saw you just lying on the roof, absolutely soaked. And I yelled, 'Amethyst! What are you doing?! You're going to get sick! Or fall! Get down from there!' Do you remember what you told me?"
"I think I said, 'Why don't you come make me, P-pod' God, was I that lame?" Pearl laughed.
"And I came up there and you convinced me to lay down with you and watch the rain and let it fall on me. It was nice. That was the first time you said you loved me."
"That was the first time I told any of you I loved you," Amethyst said.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Well, aren't I special?" Pearl joked, kissing Amethyst's nose.
"You've always been special, you're just too self-deprecating to realize how much you mean to me."
Pearl's smiled fell.
"Amethyst…"
"I mean it, Pearl. You mean so much to me, and I love you so much. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. This family is the second."
"You're the best thing that ever happened to me as well. It actually scares me sometimes, how much I love you. I think you're the only one I've ever felt like this with."
"What about R-"
"Don't say 'what about Rose,' because it's you, Amethyst. It's always been you. I just didn't let myself see it."
Amethyst settled into the crook of Pearl's neck.
"Do you remember the first time we kissed?" Pearl asked, grinning.
Amethyst pulled the blankets over herself, groaning as her cheeks started burning.
"Ugh, yes, how could I forget," she mumbled from under the blanket.
"It was on your eighteenth birthday, and Rose had just came home with Steven and she planned a big party for you. But I found you on the roof all alone."
"Yeah, P, I know. And you sat with me and asked me what I was going to do now that I was an adult and I kissed you."
"Yes, and then you fell off of the roof because I kissed you back."
"Compound fractured ankle."
"I still feel bad for that."
"Don't be, P. I literally fell for you."
Pearl nuzzled the top of her head, pressing a few kisses here and there.
"Lame," she whispered. Amethyst stuck her tongue out. Silence washed over them as they settled back into watching the rain race down the window.
"I think that one's gonna win, whaddaya think, P?" Amethyst pointed a raindrop that was particularly close to the bottom.
"I think I won," Pearl said, kissing Amethyst suddenly. She pulled away, breathless.
"Lame."
"At least we're lame together," Pearl said, and Amethyst nodded in agreement.
"Lame together."