Prompt: Character A is sick with a high fever/ chills but they have an incredibly important even they HAVE to attend but during this event, they end up passing out. Cue worried/ over-protective Character B, telling people to 'give him some space' and to 'get me some water'.
legendarywhump Reblogged with this gem of a Bonus:
' Character A panicking when they wake up because they messed up the important event. Character B comforting them. (Possibly by telling them not to be an idiot; they have to take care of themselves.)'
Rating: K+
timeline: pre colonization of Earth
Pink Diamond's bored gaze wandered over the ball, now in full swing. There had been fights with the other diamonds about planning (again), they had ganged up on Pink and pulled rank (again), and when the time came, White Diamond couldn't even be bothered to show up in person.
Pink found herself staring blankly in the direction of her pearl, which turned into staring at Pearl. Something seemed... off about her. It took another minute of staring to realize that Pearl was actually shaking. It was the first time Pink had witnessed the dainty gem demonstrate anything other than robotic obedience.
The rows between the diamonds had led to large portions of set-up having to be taken down and re-done, several times over. Pink had found it frustrating and upsetting, but for Pearl it was no doubt exhausting and stressful. Pink shifted forward and leaned over slightly to whisper, "It'll be over soon enough."
"Y-yes, my Diamond." Pearl's voice was scratchy in a way Pink didn't expect.
She looked closer. Pearl was sweaty and swaying slightly.
It seemed to happen almost in slow motion. Pearl tipped further and further to the side, then crumpled all at once.
Blue Diamond's furious blush made it clear what a humiliation she considered this to be. And a blue-tinted wave ensured Pink (and everyone else in attendance) felt it too.
"Your pearl is embarrassing us! In the middle of a ball!"
"Oh, come off it, Blue. You know how pearls are." Yellow seemed irritated at the interruption more than anything else. "Just send it back to your room and deal with it later."
"Okay." Pink looked down at Pearl, who was still firmly unconscious. The diamond left her throne to gather up the pearl. The emotions Blue was forcing on her caused Pink to try to hide Pearl from view with her arms and body. As she started to leave, however, Yellow called out.
"Where are you going?"
"To... take Pearl back to my room? Like you said?"
"I meant by bubble!" Yellow snapped impatiently. "You wanted this ball; you can't just walk out!"
"Okay!" Pink had to tightly control her tone to keep it from being too snappish. Sending Pearl back like this meant she wouldn't be able to check on her for hours. At least they would be hours in which Pearl could rest. It took the barest sliver of magic to encase Pearl in a pink bubble and a poke sent that bubble warping through space to Pink Diamond's room in the palace.
It was perhaps for the best that Pearl was unconscious for the journey, but the arrival jarred her awake.
She was at first confused and disoriented and it took several minutes to figure out where she was and what happened. When the realization clicked, failure crashed down on Pearl, knocked her down in the bottom of bubble and squeezed tears out of her with its weight. She had worked so hard on this ball, only to mess up the easiest part of it. All she had to do was stand there and look pretty. Pearl fully expected to be replaced. She was no fool, she knew her diamond didn't really want her. She knew she was a replacement already; it impossible not hear the elites gossip about "Pink Diamond's new pearl."
Pearl had no choice but to try her best anyway, and she tried and tried and tried, but she kept messing it up.
She would praise her diamond when she did not wish to be praised. She would sing when her diamond wished for silence. Now, she'd failed the most basic function of a pearl.
And was continuing to fail. The idea that her diamond would get a new, better pearl should have brought her joy, but here she was thinking only about herself. The closest Pearl could get was a sort of relief that at least she would no longer be suspended in endless uncertainty.
The crying stopped more out of exhaustion than anything else. Pearl slipped into a doze where she tossed and turned in a small puddle of her own tears and sweat that was trapped in the bubble with her. She remained unaware of anything beyond that until the bubble popped and she found herself in Pink Diamond's arms.
Pearl hastily tried to arrange her arms into something resembling the diamond salute and said, "My Diamond, I am terribly sorry."
"It wasn't your fault." Pink told her and reached a hand towards Pearl's head.
Pearl went rigid with fear as she felt her Diamond's fingers prodding near her gem. This was it, she was going to be shattered right now!
But instead, Pink turned toward the wall and said, "Pebbles, I need a faucet and a cup." She added, "Thank you." After the requested items appeared. The diamond deposited Pearl on a cushion and casually filled the cup with water. Carelessly spilled a few drops as though water were not an exclusive luxury.
Pearl could only stare at the cup when it was proffered. "My Diamond, I-I don't deserve-"
"It's not a reward. It's just what you need."
Pearl knew that. What she meant was: Why waste water on a pearl you were going to get rid of?
Pink ran out of patience and made it an order. "Drink."
Pearl took the cup (Sized for her, which meant the pebbles had anticipated Pink's intentions better than Pearl did. She really needed to figure out how they did that.) And drank. She felt better at once. With her head no longer spinning, it became much easier to accept that she wasn't going to die today. Though she couldn't understand why. Nothing her diamond did made sense. Pink had gone back to ignoring Pearl, has she did when she wasn't asking Pearl weird questions (like what do you think? And how do you feel?) And Pearl was again left in limbo where she didn't know what was expected of her. No further orders had been issued. All Pearl could think of was things Pink had told her not to do. Could she really just stay on this cushion and not do anything? The idea was strangely appealing. Pearl was beset by a feeling of gravity becoming stronger, similar to how she had felt at the ball, but less intense. The cushion was soft and had a pleasant texture, and Pearl couldn't stop thinking about laying her whole body on it. Well, she hadn't been ordered not to, and before she knew it, Pearl found herself doing just that. She expected to hear Pink say, "No!" Or "Stop!" As she did so many times before.
But Pink said nothing. Of all the things Pearl had tried without being explicitly ordered, lounging around was the one allowed. As she dropped off, the pearl despaired of ever understanding her diamond.
