Chapter Text
The apartment was quiet.
Just how Nugget liked it.
It was a calm winter evening. Nugget’s owner had been dragged out of the house by her roommate a few hours ago, off to God knows where, leaving him with the place to himself.
Purrfect.
The only sounds filling the room were the rhythmical ticking of the wall clock that hung over the TV and the soft patting of Nugget’s cushioned feet moving across the gray tiled floor of the living room. He stopped in front of the couch, did a typical cat stretch before setting up to leap up into the couch.
With a quick and easy jump, he leapt onto the cushions, gently patting the fabric beneath him before laying down.
Finally, some alone time…
A bit of time had passed, and Nugget had fallen into a comfortable slumber. Unfortunately, he was soon awakened by a familiar pair of giggles drifting down from the hall outside the front door.
Well, there goes the alone time….
The lock of the front door turned, allowing it to slide open with that familiar groan Pearl had gotten accustomed to. At first, she found it annoying. She nearly called up her dads and asked them to come oil the hinges, but she didn’t think it’d be worth bothering them for. Now, she’d gotten used to it. She’d even started to like it. It was familiar, comforting. Like the apartment’s way of saying: “Welcome home.”
The apartment was in the same state of mild chaos it had been in ever since they moved in. Clean kitchen utensils were strewn about the white marble countertop. Various papers - printed out graphs, scratch paper with complicated math exercises covering both sides, assignment handouts - littered the dinner table, as well as the coffee table. An empty mug by the microwave, a potted pilea plant sitting by the windowsill right next to one of Pearl’s pencils…. It was chaotic. But in a good way. It was messy, but it was home. It was them. In every way.
“Oh my gosh!” Gem giggled as she stumbled through the door and into the warmth of the apartment. The place was pretty well isolated, meaning that the warmth from the heater they’d turned on that morning had lingered, stayed to warm up their now frigid bodies.
“We are, like, the unluckiest people ever!” Gem exclaimed as she hung her scarf and bonnet - both drenched from the snow - over the heater by the entrance before shrugging off her coat.
“You could say that again….” Pearl mumbled in agreement.
Gem was right. The two had gone ice skating at the Christmas market together and were planning to go get hot cocoa after. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans for them. Just as they stepped out of the building around the ice rink, they were hit with a heavy snowstorm. Without an umbrella and with most of the stalls not having roofed seating areas, they opted to go home instead.
Gem let out a weary sigh. “Well, there go our plans for hot chocolate…. Bummer….” She spoke in a disappointed tone as she leaned against the heater to warm herself up. “I was looking forward to it, too….”
Pearl glanced up. “I could make us some if you’d like?”
Gem’s eyes lifted from the floor, meeting Pearl’s gaze. A tiny sparkle had reignited within her emerald-green pupils at the promise of the drink. “You know how to?”
“Yeah!” She said confidently, already stepping into the small kitchen with long, purposeful strides. “My grandma taught me how to make it once….”
“Oh….” Gem didn’t miss the wishful edge to Pearl’s voice, but she didn’t inquire. “That sounds lovely, then.”
A soft smile slowly spread on the brunette’s lips. It was slow, as if hesitating to fully show. But it was there. It was genuine. And that’s what made Gem’s heart flutter. She watched the other move around the kitchen, eyes tracking her hands as they reached up to the cabinet above the stove to pull out two mugs - One was plain white with a myriad of cyan snowflakes decorating the surface, the other a simple black one with the sentence “Yes, I’m a nerd, deal with it.” Written on the front in a fancy white lettering. There was something about the way Pearl moved around the kitchen that Gem found strangely comforting. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she knew it was there. She felt it. It felt as if Pearl belonged there, in their kitchen, making hot chocolate for them both after a cold winter day. It felt domestic, in a way. Just between two good friends, of course.
Because Pearl was straight.
Pearl’s head whipped around to face Gem. The gentle smile on her lips was warm, inviting. “Wanna help?”
The question took her by surprise, and she quickly averted her gaze to some nonexistent point on the wall as she realized just how much - and how long - she’d been staring for. “Oh, no, it’s okay, really. I’d probably burn the kitchen down or something….” She added with a nervous giggle.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine. It’s really not that difficult!” Pearl reassured her as she grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge.
Gem was torn. On one hand, she really admired the amount of trust Pearl placed in her, and it made her want to try. On the other, she didn’t want to screw things up. She really liked Pearl, and desperately wanted Pearl to like her back, even if just in a friendly way. She was scared that being in such a domestic setting with her crush would cause her to do something she’d come to regret later.
But she remembered the ice rink.
How she’d opened up to Pearl about her past instructor. The things she’d been taught about not being afraid to fail. And Pearl had taken it to heart. Pearl had tried, had gone onto the ice without fear. Or, even if there was some fear, she trusted Gem to catch her if she fell.
Now, it was her turn to trust Pearl.
“Alright…. You are going to have to help me though. I have no clue how to make hot chocolate.” Gem responded, reaching over to the brown apron hanging on the hook next to the fridge.
“Of course!” Pearl looked over as Gem came up next to her. “You don’t really need an apron, you know?”
“Eh.” Gem shrugged. “I don’t care. I look cute in it.”
The corners of Pearl’s mouth curled up slightly, and Gem could feel her gaze burning a hole in her side. “You do….”
What.
There’s no way that just happened.
Gem’s heart stopped, and her thoughts went into overdrive. There is no way Pearl just called her cute. So casually. Indirectly, but still, she’d said it. Gem shook her head. “Whatever…” She thought to herself. “She’s just teasing me. Like friends do. Friends tease each other. Friends compliment each other. Right?”
“Here.” Gem was pulled back down to earth as Pearl pushed a metal cooking pot into her hands. The material was cool against her fingers, so she moved her hands to hold the pot by its silicone handles. “Can you put that on the stove for me?”
Gem did as instructed, placing the pot down on the circle most fitting for the pot’s size. “How high should I put it?”
Pearl paused for a second. “Uhm…. 4 should be good for now.”
“Alright.” Gem moved her hand to the dial on the stove, turning it to the 4th position. Pearl then grabbed the milk and opened it, pouring a generous amount into the pot.
“Perfect. Now we just need to stir it often enough.”
“I can do that!” Out of everything she’d watched Pearl do so far, stirring was about the only thing she was sure she could do without messing up. She opened the drawer under the stove, picking up a wooden spoon from it and moving it through the liquid.
Pearl giggled softly beside her. The kind of giggle that came naturally. Not a forced or awkward one, but the kind of laugh that you can’t suppress even if you tried. One that Gem didn’t get to hear often, but loved hearing nonetheless. “Alright, you do that.” She reached into the snack drawer to pull out a bar of dark chocolate, placing it on a cutting board.
The two stayed like that for a moment. Gem had turned the radio on, the sound of light jazz floating through the kitchen space. It was loud enough for them to bop along with it, but not loud enough for it to be disruptive. It was perfect. The atmosphere around them was warm. Soft. Cozy. They were basking in each other’s presence, and they felt like the world could be dying around them, and they wouldn’t even notice. Too caught up in their own little world of jazz and warmth and hot chocolate.
Pearl was done cutting up the chocolate, but had a few squares left over. She snapped them off from each other, eating one herself and handing the other half to Gem, who took it with a gentle smile. She felt like she should’ve thanked Pearl for the small gesture, but she couldn’t bring herself to disrupt the comfortable silence they’d settled in together.
The milk was now simmering softly on the stove, and Pearl used the back of her knife to shove the finely cut chocolate off the cutting board and into the milk. Gem kept stirring uninterrupted. After just a few seconds, the chocolate began melting into the milk, the sweet aroma drafting up from the pot and over to Gem.
“Gosh, that smells delicious already….” Gem murmured more to herself than to Pearl.
“It does, doesn’t it? But I don’t know about this….” Gem looked over at Pearl, who was holding a bottle of whipped cream to her nose. “This doesn’t smell great. You think this could be expired?”
“Maybe. Let me smell.”
Pearl moved the bottle over to Gem, who positioned her nose right above the nozzle and gave it a good sniff. Nothing seemed to be inherently wrong with it. Just smelled like any whipped cream would to her-
Just then, Pearl pushed on the button of the bottle, sending whipped cream right onto - and partially into - Gem’s nose. Her body’s instinctual reaction was to try and get the unwanted intruder out of her nose, and she had to still her stirring motions and bring her hand to her nose so she wouldn’t spill whipped cream all over the place. Beside her, meanwhile, Pearl couldn’t catch her breath from laughing.
“Wha- PEARL!!” Gem stuttered, absolutely stunned. “What the heck was that for?!”
The casual laughter drifting from Pearl’s lungs was like music to Gem’s ears. Pearl rarely laughed like that; lighthearted, genuine laughter. Unguarded. The kind that came naturally.
“Oh my Gosh, Gem, you should’ve seen your face!” Pearl had to brace her hands against the countertop to steady herself as she tried to catch her breath, but every time the laughing held up, the image of Gem’s befuddled face flashed in front of her eyes, and the laughing would pick up again.
“Not. Funny.” Gem tried to sound stern, but she failed miserably, as she couldn’t suppress a giggle drifting from her own lungs. She scooped up the whipped cream from her nose before flicking her hand in Pearl’s direction, sending a blob of cream flying in her direction, landing right on Pearl’s cheek.
“Hey!” Pearl whined in protest. “That wasn’t necessary!”
“You started it.” Gem giggled back.
“Whatever….” Pearl brought her hand up, scooping the cream off her cheeks and bringing it to her lips. Gem’s eyes followed the movement closely. Too closely. Pearl parted her lip, placing her fingers in her mouth before her lips closed around them again. Slowly, she retracted her fingers, now glossy with saliva instead of whipped cream. She released her fingers from her mouth with a small pop.
Fuck.
Gem swallowed.
That was hot.
Too hot.
“What do you want to watch?” Pearl asked as she plopped down on the couch, much to Nugget’s dismay. The cat begrudgingly got up from his spot, jumping off the couch and moving over to his cat bed. She carefully placed her mug of steaming hot chocolate down on the coffee table before grabbing the remote.
“I don’t know….” Gem replied from the kitchen, where she was just turning the stove and the lights off. “Whatever’s on, I guess.”
Pearl scrolled through the TV guide. A romcom movie, a true crime series, an action movie, Friends, a documentary…. Nothing inherently interesting, so she settled for a cozy looking Christmas movie that was just starting. She repositioned the cushions behind her back to get a bit more comfortable, grabbing one of the blankets from the storage compartment on the side of the coffee table and draping it over her. Gem soon joined her, sitting down next to her, and Pearl lifted the blanket for her.
Gem seemed to hesitate for just a moment, but slid into the spot next to Pearl anyway. Close enough so that the blanket could envelop them both, but not close enough for their bodies to touch….
Yet.
They sat in silence for a while, sipping their drinks and occasionally laughing at some comedic moments in the movie.
But Pearl’s thoughts drifted back to the ice rink.
The wistful tone in which Gem had spoken of her instructor. The things she’d been taught. The way she looked out over the snowy landscape longingly as they talked about it. It didn’t sit right with Pearl. She wanted to know more.
“So….” Pearl began, shifting awkwardly in her seat when Gem’s eyes fell upon her. She wasn’t quite sure how to put this question. “How’s your, uh, instructor doing now?”
Gem’s face fell, and Pearl mentally cursed herself. She’d hit a sensitive spot. Great going, Pearl.
“She’s….” Gem hesitated. Her mug was only half full now, and she reached over to place it down on the coffee table before sitting back. “She passed away a few years ago….”
“Oh….” Pearl could only muster in response. Gem stayed silent for a moment too long, and Pearl felt the insistent need to apologize for being so inconsiderate. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“It’s alright, you couldn’t have known.” Gem interrupted her, and their eyes found each other. Just for a moment. Gem looked away first, and took a deep breath before speaking.
“She was an amazing woman. She taught me everything I know about ice skating and so much more. She taught me how to be brave. How to never give up. How to stand back up when you fall. She was my instructor for the first 14 years of my training. Unfortunately….” Gem’s voice softened around the edges as she continued. “She passed away about 2 years ago. It was in a car accident. Some…. Some dumbass decided it was a good idea to get behind the wheel drunk off their ass, and it cost them both of their lives…. I…. Fuck….”
Pearl saw tears welling up in the corner of Gem’s eyes and instinctively reached out to grab a paper tissue from the tissue box, handing it to Gem, who took it with trembling hands.
“She…. She meant a lot to me….” She continued, her voice now a lot more shaky than before. “We had a very special bond, and losing that, it…. I…. I quit ice skating.”
Pearl didn’t ask why. She just sat there and listened.
“I-I mean, I tried to move on, but I just couldn’t. None of the other instructors I had afterwards understood me the way she did. None of them knew me the way she did. I just couldn’t…. I think I needed some time to cope.”
There was a pause. Not awkward. But nothing needed to be said.
“Fuck….” Gem said, followed by a watery giggle, accompanied by a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Sorry, I’m such a fucking mess….”
“You don’t have to apologize.” Pearl reassured her, as she always did. “I get it. Loss is hard. If anything, I…. I’m glad you told me. And I’m sorry that happened to you.”
Gem looked up, searching the other’s eyes for any hint of deceit, but all she found was sincerity and kindness. Not that she expected anything else from Pearl.
She felt like a mess. Her eyes stung with unshed tears, her throat felt scratchy from holding in her emotions. Her body was trembling, not from the cold, but from something else. But that was okay. Because Pearl was there.
She wasn’t entirely sure when she’d curled up against Pearl, resting her head against the other’s shoulder, but she didn’t mind. And considering the arm draped around her shoulder, Pearl didn’t seem to mind either. The feeling of Pearl’s body against her own was comforting, like the anchor Gem didn’t know she needed.
“Thank you….” Gem’s voice was soft. Unsure.
“You’re welcome….” Pearl spoke back in an equally soft whisper.
A comfortable silence washed over them. Neither said anything. Because they didn’t feel like anything needed to be said. They were perfectly content there, just staying on the couch, basking in each other’s presence. Each other’s warmth. It felt good, like they were meant to be like that all the time.
Gem never wanted to leave.
And so, she didn’t.
She was tired. Exhausted from a busy day. But she didn’t want to go to bed. She wanted to stay. Her eyes felt heavy, and she had trouble keeping them open. She didn’t want to fall asleep. Not yet. Because if she did, the moment would be over. She’d wake up alone. She didn’t want that. She wanted to stay in this moment for as long as possible.
But alas, her exhaustion eventually took over, and she drifted off to sleep.
In Pearl’s arms.
Best day ever…