Work Text:
"Hey, guys, have you seen- oh!"
Pearl raised her head, long ears twitching in surprise, and Impulse glanced back over his shoulder towards the entrance, wincing slightly as he did. "Oh, hi, Gem!" he called. "What's up?"
Gem, standing in the doorway of the keep, had her eyes notably averted, staring very hard at a patch of floor. "Sorry!" she said, flushing. "I didn't realize you were, um. Busyyyyy?"
Impulse blinked, confused. He stayed confused as Pearl started to shake with silent laughter where she was kneeling over his lap, clapping one hand to her mouth to keep from making a mess. "What? Gem?"
Pearl, after a moment, finally managed to swallow her mouthful of blood and gasp out, still laughing, "No, it's not like that, Gem! Promise!"
Gem's eyes flickered back up, finally, and widened. "Impulse! You're bleeding!"
"No! ...Well, yes," Impulse admitted. Pearl twitched, apparently reminded of the line of punctures now freely bleeding down his neck, and dove down to hastily lick up the drips with approximately the same haste as someone eating a rapidly melting ice cream cone. "It's fine, though! I'm fine!" he hastened to add. "This is, uh. An arrangement we've had since last season."
Pearl nodded against his neck, licking the bite mark clean before sitting up to face Gem over his head, propping her bony elbows on his shoulders. She looked, to her credit, distinctly sheepish. "It's a vampire bat thing," she said. "I don't need a lot of blood, but about, eh, once a month or so? And Impulse is a big guy." She patted him on the shoulder. "He can usually spare me plenty."
"You only love me for my robust circulatory system, is that it?" Impulse said, grinning.
"Excuse me! You're also good for moving heavy objects," Pearl objected.
"Ohhh-kay," Gem said, finally leaving the spot where she'd been frozen by the door and walking over. "You should've just said! That's way less weird than what I thought I walked in on."
"...Is it?" Pearl asked.
"Wait, what did you think you walked in on?" Impulse said, at the same moment.
"Well, sure," Gem answered Pearl. "Deer are omnivorous, you know!" She grinned, all teeth, vaguely threatening.
"Hm," Pearl said thoughtfully, crossing her arms on top of Impulse's head. "Say, do you know your blood type?"