Chapter Text
Shaded eyes chanced a millisecond glance at the scoreboard on the opposite end of the gym—25 to 24—before tracking the ball being set to her. The height and speed of the set were perfect— courtesy of her most trusted setter. Garnet approached, the first step more of a gauge than anything else, and the last two only increasing her speed until she propelled into the air.
She felt her arm and hand crank back and immediately slam down with an immensely satisfying smack atop the ball. It ricocheted off of her hand and pounded directly to the floor with her powerful speed through the 6 foot tall middle’s block.
The refferee’s whistle sounded sharply throughout the gym, and his arms forming an X across his chest signaled the end of the game. Reality didn’t set in until her team mates were surrounding her in a bone crushing group hug, and suddenly the fog in her ears cleared enough to allow the sound of jubilant fans chanting her name like a mantra rush in all at once.
A smile broke out across her damp face and she released a victorious yell that seemed to get lost in her team’s own screaming. She quickly lead them all to the end of the net to begin their common rule of sportsmanship: smack hands and congratulate the other team on a good game.
She met the defeated and slightly aggressive eyes of every girl on the other side of the net as she touched their hands, and once her entire team had finished going down the line, they swarmed their captain with deafening cheers. Sweaty arms wrapped tightly around Garnet’s long torso and glistening foreheads pressed firmly to her chest, neck and back from all sides.
The audience in the stands beat the bottoms of their shoes against the bleachers and joined in the celebration with overwhelming energy. A particularly familiar voice called out that somehow stretched the smile on Garnet’s face even wider.
“ Yeah, Garnet !” The high pitched yell slipped into her ears like a chug of ice water after five by five sprints at the end of practice.
The tall woman pulled away from her team to turn back and search the stands for the woman the voice belonged to. She caught the twinkling, blue eyed gaze of the owner of that voice. She wished—not for the first time—that she knew her name.
Whenever she asked her team mates about the stranger, no one could tell her what her name was or even what year she was in. By the time they would finish their team meetings after each game, and Garnet found her way back up to the gym from the locker room, the woman was always gone.
Her coach was calling her name, and Garnet whirled back around to pay attention. This time, as every time, when Garnet turned back around to maybe make eye contact with the woman again, she was stepping down the bleachers and making her way to the exit.
And Garnet was left, as every time, hoping maybe she would run into her on campus one day.
\\\
Amazingly, Garnet’s luck hadn't run out.
It was a Saturday morning, obscenely early for most students who weren’t college athletes, and Garnet had made her way to the cafe by her dorm. The gentle breeze rustled the leaves atop towering trees, and the freshly risen sun shone down with no real force of heat behind its bright rays. She wore nothing but gray sweats and one of the many maroon shirts she had gotten for being on the school’s volleyball team.
She was tugging at the curls atop her head, trying in vain to get her still damp hair into a ponytail. Her ponytail holder was held between her teeth as both hands wrestled in her hair and she pushed the cafe door open with her hip. She almost dropped the ponytail holder in shock when her mismatched eyes fell on a familiar short cut of strawberry blonde hair.
Garnet rushed to throw her hair into a haphazard bundle of curls and, with her hands now free, she tried to decide between getting her drink and food first or introducing herself to this stranger before she could disappear again.
With a deep and determined breath, she used the long length of her legs to close the distance between them in no time at all. The pale woman was bent over a heavy textbook with a pen being chewed to bits between her straight teeth. Her short hair was damp and brushed straight back until it stopped perfectly at the nape of her elegant neck. Her hoodie practically engulfed her entire body, and the running shorts she wore rode up a bit with the way she sat in the chair: one leg propped up so that her chin could rest on her knee and the other dangling off the front.
“‘Scuse me.” Garnet said softly, drawing the pale woman’s gaze up from her book only to watch her gentle blue eyes go comically round.
Her pink lips parted in surprise, and the pen previously between her teeth dropped unceremoniously onto the wooden table and rolled a bit before coming to a halt.
“G-Garnet!” She sputtered for a moment, her freckled face turning an adorable shade of pink as she tried in vain to adjust her appearance.
Garnet released an amused chuckle as she watched this peculiar stranger fumble about.
“Nice to finally meet you.” Garnet said, hand out to shake.
The sitting woman gave a nervous laugh and daintily tucked her wiry hand into Garnet’s slightly larger one.
“I— oh my gosh…” The stranger pulled her hand back once they had shaken and pressed both of her own against her face in a last effort to hide her profuse blushing.
“Sorry, this is so embarrassing— I didn't do anything to my face or anything, oh my stars—”
“No, no you look great! I mean… there's no need to do anything special. It's just me.” Garnet chuckled nervously, drumming her fingers against her thighs for lack of anything else to do.
“Can I have your name?” Garnet asked before the budding silence could bloom into anything awkward.
“Oh, Pearl— My name is Pearl.” She said in one breath.
Garnet gave a warm smile and Pearl quickly gestured for her to have a seat. As the volleyball player slipped into the cushioned chair, Pearl continued to rub away at the heat on her cheeks.
“I can't believe I’ve never seen you outside the gym before.” Garnet said, regarding her new companion with interest.
“And I can't believe you have an accent.” Pearl said without thinking, then shook her head with a deepening blush once she realized what she had said.
“Sorry, that was rude. Of course everyone has an accent… not to say that yours isn't special because it is—”
“No, you're fine.” Garnet laughed. “I guess you wouldn't hear me talk much unless I’m yellin’ for the ball. Or yellin’ in general. Volleyball’s a pretty loud sport.” She cracked a smile.
Pearl looked down at her text book with burning ears.
“You're at all of our games.” Garnet stated more than asked, and round blue eyes shot back up to look at her.
“Yeah… I played volleyball in high school, but only got an academic scholarship for this college. I really wanted to come here, so here I am. Watching the team from a distance.” Pearl’s lips curled a bit into a tiny smile and she picked her pen back up to fidget with it.
“Well, thanks for being our number one fan. What position were you?”
Pearl’s eyes lit up as she remembered some of her favorite years, “I played your position, actually. Outside hitter.”
Garnet’s interest piqued and she grinned widely, “Were you any good?”
Pearl laughed a bit wistfully behind her thin fingers and looked off to the side.
“I was phenomenal, if I say so myself. I was on the last leg of the recruiting process my junior year—offers from three Big Ten schools not including this one. Then I tore my ACL, and…you know how that goes.”
Garnet’s face fell into one of utter sympathy. Pearl drew her bottom lip between her teeth and forced a smile.
“But it’s fine because my grades and ACT scores were great enough to get me a full ride here if not an athletic scholarship, and I get to watch you lead the team to greatness. It works out in the end.”
She shrugged as if she had already grieved over the subject and come to terms with the tragedy.
Garnet smiled bashfully and straightened out her athletic t-shirt.
“Thanks for always cheering me on. I always play harder when I see you in the stands.” She said, feeling heat rush to her cheeks and neck.
“That's—really?” Light blue eyes went alight at the confession and Garnet cast her own gaze downward to avoid the radiance.
“Yeah… the team calls you our number one fan, mine especially, considering you cheer for me the loudest.” Garnet cracked a teasing smile when Pearl’s face visibly reddened again.
“Not to— sound weird or anything, I just— I really admire you as a player. You remind me a lot of myself before I was out, and…yeah.” She trailed off awkwardly with a little laugh.
Garnet played with the drawstring of her sweats and felt her face continue to burn.
“Would you want to hang out sometime? I’ve got to head to class in a bit, but I’d rather not take the chance of never seeing you around campus again.”
Pearl’s blinding smile was entirely genuine when she nodded quickly, reaching across the table to one of her two open notebooks and ripping out a blank sheet from the back. Her pale fingers turned the pen in her hand right side up and she wrote out her name and cellphone number in the neatest, most elegant script Garnet had ever witnessed freehand.
The taller woman took the offered sheet and folded it carefully before slipping it with great care into one of the many pockets of her sport-brand sweats. Garnet stood from the table and bid Pearl a goodbye before making her exit as hastily as possible without running from the shop.
Only when she was outside and a fair distance toward the Soft Sciences department did her stomach growl, and she realized with a palm smacking her forehead that she had forgotten to get breakfast.
She kept walking.
\\\
[9:54pm] hey it’s garnet
[10:05pm] Hey!
[10:07] team and i are hanging out in my room, they want you to come through
[10:08] Just them?
[10:08] ...and maybe one other person :)
[10:09] What dorm?
[10:09] temple. room 303
[10:27] On my way
\\\
Pearl eyed the door warily, hearing the slightly loud and very joyous voices on the opposite side of it. This wasn’t her team, and yet they wanted to include her. Garnet wanted to include her. That thought alone siphoned enough courage into her system to bring her pale fist up to the door and knock several times.
“It’s open!” An unfamiliar voice from inside shouted, and that hand moved down to twist the door handle.
Sure enough, it gave under her fingers. Pearl stepped inside of the room slowly, taking in the six or so girls lounging around in either the kitchen or the living room. Blue eyes found Garnet’s long form first, sprawled out across the entire couch with an open litre bottle of water in one hand and her cellphone in the other.
Her head tilted back to look over the arm of the couch behind her head upon Pearl’s arrival. They made eye contact, upside down on Garnet’s end, and the athlete’s face broke into a heart stopping smile.
“ Pearl , you came!” The other girls looked up at that, and their faces similarly displayed some variation of the joy Garnet had initiated.
The pale woman felt a smile tug at her own lips and she awkwardly stood by the door after closing it behind her.
Garnet shifted to make space on the edge of the couch, pressing her own body further up against the back of it. She patted the space cleared beside her laid out body and Pearl daintily stepped over several girls sitting on the floor to take her seat where Garnet had offered it.
“So that’s your name!” A tan skinned girl with dyed, dark blue hair seemed to sigh with relief. “Sounds kinda familiar…” The stranger shrugged and waved the thought off.
Had all of them really no clue what her name was until just then?
Garnet shifted behind Pearl’s rigid back and turned more to face everyone.
“Pearl, that’s Lapis, our lovely setter and co-captain. That’s Amethyst, our libero and resident food vacuum. That’s Peridot; she’s the team manager and tech genius. We love her very dearly. And finally, we have Jasper and Opal— our middles and rumored body builders. These are just the upperclassmen. The frosh and sophomores went out to dinner.”
“Except for me.”
“Shit, right, except for Lapis. I keep forgetting you’re a freshman.”
Each had waved warmly to Pearl after being introduced and gone back to whatever they were doing in a way that was so subtly welcoming that she almost couldn’t believe it.
She turned her light eyes over her shoulder and caught Garnet already looking at her.
The taller woman held her gaze in silence for only a moment before asking, “What were you doing when I so rudely interrupted your night?”
Pearl felt her cheeks warm a bit and replied,
“Studying… as always.”
Garnet chuckled and rested her head back down until she was gazing at the ceiling.
“That’s good. I’m sorry I dragged you away from that. If you wanna head back—”
“No! I mean, no, I want to be here.” Pearl said nervously as she folded and unfolded her fingers.
“Thanks for inviting me… I don’t leave my dorm much unless it's for class or food.”
Pearl could feel Garnet’s chuckle vibrate against her back in a way that caused her stomach to flutter.
“You some sort of social outcast? What year are you anyway?”
Pearl’s hands wrung together atop her thighs and she turned her gaze back to scan the room and the various older women occupying it.
“Freshman.” She said with a guilty lilt to her tone that made Garnet’s eyebrows shoot toward her hairline.
“Are you havin’ a laugh?”
Pearl’s face crumpled just slightly in confusion when she turned back around to face her new companion and Garnet quickly amended, remembering where she was.
“You’re joking?”
Pearl’s face reddened considerably and she shot Garnet a close-lipped smile.
“Nope. It’s my first year here. I get that reaction a lot though.”
The taller woman regarded her for a long moment with a neutral expression while her dual colored eyes roved Pearl’s face.
“I suppose without makeup you did look sort of young, but if I were to guess now I’d think you were at least a junior…” Garnet shook her head, “One more freshman I’m gonna have to remember is, in fact, not the same grade as me.”
Pearl was suddenly aware of the “natural” makeup look she had completed before making her way to Garnet’s dorm; natural being foundation, slight contour and highlight, and filled in brows.
“Shit, dude, that's makeup?” Amethyst’s stunned voice piped up from where she lay sprawled on her back beside the television set. Her large brown eyes were zeroed in on Pearl’s face with fascination. The pale woman smiled bashfully and nodded.
“Ah, yes. Just a little bit—”
“Coulda fooled me.” Amethyst mused, dropping her head back down against the carpet to continue scrolling through whatever app was open on her phone.
“That's because you haven't even touched a mascara brush in all twenty years of your life.” Opal murmured amusedly from the other end of the room, her behind sunken into a bean bag chair as she typed away at an essay on her laptop.
Amethyst rolled over onto her stomach to look at her teammate with a protest on her lips, but one look from Opal across the room killed it before it could come to fruition.
“Fair point.” Amethyst said and flopped back down fully onto the floor. Garnet chuckled, and the low sound sent a pleasant hum through Pearl’s chest.
“What was I saying?” Garnet asked when Pearl swirled her gaze back around to face her.
“...I don't remember.” The strawberry blonde admitted with a nervous little giggle and suddenly a new voice was thrown into the mix.
“Would you two get a room? I’m working on something extremely important and your nauseating googly eyes and flirtatious laughter is immensely distracting.” Peridot grumbled from opposite Opal in another bean bag chair with her face pressed within inches of her own much larger laptop, the glow illuminating her glasses with white and blue light.
“Alright, alright. Love you too, Peri.” Garnet said with a grin as she reached around Pearl to set her water bottle down on the coffee table and stretched her limbs before sitting up.
Her long legs swung around until they brushed against Pearl’s, and then Garnet was standing and offering her guest a hand. Pearl took it gently and pulled herself upward, slightly surprised that Garnet was truly going to find them somewhere more private to talk.
The thought sent a burst of nervousness throughout her stomach and broke her hands into a clammy sweat. Stars, she hoped Garnet didn't notice.
She followed her to one of the two bedrooms in the dorm room, a growing envy for the larger dorm rooms the upperclassmen received spreading through her. Garnet closed the door until it was cracked partially open behind them and fell back onto her own bed with a satisfied sigh of comfort.
Her long arms folded beneath the mass of curls atop her head and dual colored eyes peered over her generous chest to look at Pearl standing hesitantly by the door.
“Sorry ‘bout that. Peridot’s very uptight about her tech work. You can sit wherever you'd like.”
Pearl’s eyes scanned the room for a suitable place to sit that wasn't on what she assumed was Garnet’s roommate's bed, and they landed on the rolling desk chair adjacent to her new friend.
She did a quick sweep of Garnet’s side of the room out of curiosity more than anything. The countless photographs of Garnet with who must have been her friends and family took up one entire spot of the wall beside her bed.
Bits of random pieces of memories were dispersed throughout— movie ticket stubs, post-it notes with words that probably only held relevance to Garnet and the writer, countless surprisingly artistically advanced doodles and sketches drawn on torn out sheets of notebook paper.
One photo in particular stood out, considering that it was the largest. One of Garnet in perhaps her early teenage years, her smile bright and her curls almost engulfing her youth-rounded face.
Two women stood on either side of her. The one on the left was a shade darker than Garnet with shorter, tighter curls and a rainbow dyed headband pushing them backward. Her eyes were closed tight in a cheek-aching, full toothed smile that took over her entire face.
The woman to the right was much more reserved, yet it was clear that she was equally as happy as the other two. Her dyed blonde hair was wind swept, and a large chunk of her S-curl tresses had blown across her tan face and covered both of her eyes as the picture was taken. A lei of rainbow colored flowers adorned her elegant neck, and her grin was not as large as the woman on the left’s, but the absolute joy on her face was as clear as day.
Then stood Garnet in the middle, skin a near perfect blend of the women on either side of her. She wore a rainbow colored beaded necklace and the picture showed her raising a gay pride flag above her head, high and proud.
What must have been the Pride Parade went on busily in the unfocused background of the high resolution image, and Pearl’s eyes stayed glued to it long enough for Garnet to follow her gaze.
“Those are my moms.” She smiled proudly before turning her eyes back to Pearl, whose brows shot up in surprise.
“Both of them?”
Garnet’s laugh was full and rich, and the dimple on her right cheek must have been deep enough to drown in.
“Yes, both of them. I’ve got two.”
Pearl’s cheeks burned scarlet and she quickly found the wooden flooring extremely interesting as she tried to get her blush under control.
“Sorry, that was stupid—”
“Pearl, you've got to stop beating yourself up around me. You shouldn't do it at all, really. There's nothing to be nervous about,” Garnet sent that charming, reassuring smile in her direction as soon as she looked up.
“Especially since I already like you.”
Pearl’s head snapped up immediately, the control of her burning face not only forgotten, but futile.
“What?” She squeaked, and Garnet eyed her strangely for a moment.
“You're a really sweet person. Why wouldn't I like you? The team does as well.”
The realization that Garnet had purely meant a platonic “liking” quickly and simultaneously made her stomach drop and her heart slow down. She tried harder than anything to make sure her disappointment wasn't as plain as day on her face.
“Right! Yeah of course,” she forced a laugh, “I like everyone, too.” Pearl smiled and clasped her hands together in front of her body before moving to that desk chair she had seen earlier and lowering herself into it daintily.
“What's your major?” She quickly asked before the silence could build into the awaiting awkwardness it was heading for. Garnet rolled over on her side to look at Pearl and propped her head up on one fist.
“Psychology. I want to be a marriage counselor.” Garnet chuckled a bit, knowing it wasn't a common desire.
Pearl’s eyebrows raised in interest and she could feel the corners of her lips tugging upward involuntarily.
“Why?— Not to say there's anything wrong with that at all, it's just unusual.”
“My moms are so in love with each other you can't separate them if you tried, literally. I want to help other couples be like that— or at least as close to that kind of love they can get.”
It was such an honest and pure answer that Pearl was left speechless for a moment, her lips parted as she tried and failed to say anything back.
Garnet looked at her expression and cracked a smile, “Sorry. Too much?”
“No, that's…amazing. I wish I had an answer like that for why I chose my own major.”
“Which is?”
“Mechanical engineering,” Pearl said. “I just really like working with machines.” She admitted with a shy smile.
Garnet’s laugh engulfed the room with a warmth that settled comfortably over Pearl’s shoulders.
“It's as good a reason as any. As long as it's something you care about; that's really all that matters.”
“You know, that's the first time anyone's ever told me that.”
“Then you need better friends.”
Pearl scoffed, “It’s generous of you to assume that I have any.”
The comfort that Garnet seemed to emanate allowed Pearl to feel a bit looser in both her words in her posture. The tension in her shoulders seemed to dissipate.
“Don’t you?” Garnet asked.
“Not… really.”
“Well, you’ve got at least one.”
Pearl’s brows creased in confusion at first, but when Garnet pointed two thumbs at herself with a wink and a grin, a smile took over her entire face. The heat licking at her cheeks and neck were probably never going to go away, and so she resigned herself to no longer worry about it, instead deciding to just exist with this wonderful person she just happened to finally run into outside of the volleyball court.