Work Text:
The Hermit Coffee Co.
5 April 22
11:03 am
Impulse leans against the counter during a lull in his shift at the Hermit Coffee Co. It hasn’t been super busy at all, considering it was a Tuesday. Just the low hum of some of their regulars.
He eyes the door. There’s barely anyone here right now so maybe… Impulse pulls his phone out of his pocket, smiling at the sight of a text from Pearl. He opens his messages to see a picture of her next to a German Shepard, grinning.
Impulse and Pearl
5 April 22
11:05 am
Impulse: Cute dog!
Pearl: yeah :>
Pearl: saw him when I was out on my walk this morning!
Impulse: Aww. Was your walk good?
Pearl: yep! only dog I got to see today though :( how busy’s the shop?
Impulse: Not very busy. Cleo just took their break, so it’s just me and Wels.
Pearl: hm…well! I’ll leave you to it ;)
Impulse: Pearl? What does that mean?
Pearl: nothinnnn :)
Impulse: PEARL.
The Hermit Coffee Co.
5 April 22
11:50 pm
Pearl parks her car outside the Hermit and heads inside, pausing to hold the door open for an older couple to enter. Impulse looks up from behind the counter at the sound of the door opening and his eyes crinkle with a smile.
She’s always liked his smile—it’s warm and friendly, just like him. “Hiya, Impulse!”
“Hi, Pearl. Cordato?”
“You know it!” She rests her hip against the counter. She watches him as he inputs the order and then slides the cup over to Wels. Wels gives her a sharp nod and turns away. “How’s your day been?”
“Alright. I had to open today.”
“Mm. What time do you get off?”
“Uhh, two, I think. Why?”
“Just wondering if you wanted to get lunch!” She smiles innocently at him.
“Sure. Where do you want to go?”
“Does the sandwich place down the street work?”
“Yep. And, here you go. One cordato.” He holds the cup out to her.
Pearl takes it, wrapping her hands around the cup before taking a small sip. Her shoulders relax and her lips curl into a smile. “Perfect.”
Impulse glances over his shoulder. “Good job, Wels.”
“Thank you, Wels!”
“It’s my job. Glad you like it.” He smiles slightly at her. She takes her coffee to her usual spot and settles in, pulling her laptop out of her bag. Gem asked her to look over her new website for the flower shop.
It’s cute! Light pastel greens and purples abound, with large, swirly letters declaring Tay Florals. The whole site is just so her. Other than a couple parts that are hard to read because of size or color, it’s good! Pearl taps out a quick message of her thoughts to send to Gem.
Before she knows it, Impulse is rapping his knuckles on the table and sliding over another coffee. “Iced flat white.”
“Oh! Thanks, Impy.” Pearl shuts her laptop and puts it away before pushing herself to her feet. She hugs Impulse quickly, squeezing him once.
“Ready to go?”
“Yep! Just let me drop this off in my car.”
The Self-Melt Group
5 April 22
2:30 pm
“So. Why’d you invite me to lunch? That’s not really our…thing.” They’re sitting in a corner booth of the sandwich shop, both with their food and drink.
“Can I not just want to have lunch with you, mate?”
“You can, but this doesn’t seem like it. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah! Everything’s okay, Impulse. Honestly, it’s…better than fine. It’s great.” Pearl smiles brightly at him, blue eyes crinkling up. She does seem happier, at least.
“That’s good. Did you get a big contract?”
“No. I…” she glances away for a second before looking back at him. “Remember that girl I told you about? The florist who I built some stuff for?”
“Yeah. Gem, right?”
“Mhm.” Pearl folds her hands in front of her face. “She asked me out on a date.”
“Oh! What did you say?” He forces his face to look excited for her, to keep the bolt of apprehension at bay.
“I said yes. But I wanted to talk to you about what we have going on.” Pearl reaches out to touch his arm. “I know what we have isn’t romantic, but it’s still something important to me and I don’t want to continue with what I have with Gem if it’s going to hurt you.” Her eyes are earnest, making unwavering contact with him.
“It’s okay. I don’t mind. Really, I don’t,” he adds at her questioning look. “I want you to be happy, Pearl.”
She holds his gaze for a minute, before sighing. “Okay.”
“So…how’s Gem?” He grins at her, lets the way she lights up take his attention as she gushes about Gem.
Tango and Skizz’s House
10 April 22
7:30 pm
Skizz runs his hand through Impulse’s hair as they lounge on his couch. Tango’s at work, but Impulse had asked to come over, and who is he to deny his best friend?
“You okay, Dop?”
“Mgh.” Impulse raises his head just long enough to answer and drops back down to try and smother himself in the couch.
He goes back to gently playing with his hair, using his other hand to read an article on his phone. Skizz can’t help but give him worried looks and opens his messages.
JC -i
10 April 22
7:33 pm
Skizz: Hey, has Dop seemed down to any of you lately?
Zedaph: Maybe a little? I haven’t seen him much though, we haven’t had any shifts together
Mumbo: Yeah, he’s seemed off. Did he talk to you?
Skizz: He’s over at my place right now, barely said a word in the past couple hours.
Skizz: Normally he says more than just ‘hello’
Mumbo: Want me to try and talk to him?
Skizz: Yeah. Go for it, dude
Impulse’s Apartment
13 April 22
10:24 am
Impulse wakes up later than normal, groping blindly for his phone from where it’s vibrating incessantly. He winces from the brightness and quickly lowers it, squinting at the messages. It’s from the JC chat, and they’re blowing up his phone. He mutes the chat and tries in vain to try and go back to sleep.
After 20 minutes of trying fruitlessly, his stomach reminds him that he hasn’t eaten yet. Reluctantly, he peels himself out of bed. He slides his slippers on, because the tiles in his kitchen are freezing, and makes his way out.
The sun streams in through the window, highlighting Pearl rifling through his fridge.
“Pearl??”
“Oh, morning, Impy! I was gonna make omelettes!" She smiles brightly at him, holding his carton of eggs in her hands.
“Okay?” There’s music playing too, he realizes, soft jazz piping from her phone speakers. She already has most of the ingredients out.
“I thought you’d be up earlier.”
“Yeah. I didn’t mean to sleep so late.”
“Clearly you needed it.” She seems lighter, weight lifted from her shoulders. He pours himself a cup of coffee from the coffee pot—also made by Pearl—and adds in a little bit of powdered creamer and sugar. He prefers chai lattes, but it’s faster to just make something plain.
He takes a seat at the counter with his coffee, half watching Pearl and half backreading the group chat. Cleo, asking someone to take their shift because of unexpected plans, Zed and Tango bickering before Xisuma steps in, the usual. In the JC, Tango mocking Zed for being a weekend only worker, Skizz and Mumbo debating the merits of an article they must have read, and Scar sending the cutest picture of Jellie.
Impulse hearts the message and tells Scar how lovely she is, of course. And because he never knows a moment of peace, Tango tries to get him on his side to make fun of Zed.
“How’s the JC?”
“They’re good. Scar sent us some cute pictures of Jellie.” He flips his phone around to show her, and she leans forward to look at it more intently. Her face breaks into a smile.
“Aww. She’s so cute.”
“Mhm. Cutest cat in the world.”
“Do you ever wish you had a pet?”
“Sometimes, yeah. I think it’d be nice to have a cat.” He assesses her again, understanding dawning. She’s always seemed brighter the morning after. “Did you skip out on her early? Out the door before she was awake?”
“Wha–no!” She flushes. “We just talked on the phone.”
He raises his eyebrow.
“Put that eyebrow down, mister. Or else.” She brandishes the spatula at him, teasing.
“Or else what?”
“Or else I’m not letting you have this omelette. Certified Made by Pearl.”
“Shouldn’t you add your contractor name to that?”
“Well, I’m not contracted for cooking ever…hm. I could add that to my website…” She trails off.
“Don’t you have a lot of other things you do?”
“Yeah, but how am I going to be ‘Jack of all Trades’ without cooking??”
“I swear you do everything else. Building, delivery service, coding. And I’m sure if I checked, I’d find even more.”
She hums and plates the omelettes before bringing them over. “Alright, there ya go!”
“Thanks. It’s going good with Gem though?”
“Mhm!! We’ve been on a couple dates, but mostly we just text. Or call.” Pearl pauses to take a bite of her food. “She’s just…she’s so sweet. And she’s really funny, and we’ve started a co-op farm in Stardew. Plus, she said she’s really good at War of Warcraft too.”
“Oh, that’s nice. I’m glad you like her. She seems really good for you.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. I do. You seem a lot happier.”
Pearl smiles at him. “Thanks, Impy.” Jazz music is still playing quietly in the background, filling the silence.
“This is really good, by the way. Ham?”
“Yep! Ham, onion, little bit of pepper.”
“That makes sense. Thanks for making breakfast. Even if you broke in. Actually, how did you get in?? I never gave you a key???”
“Oh, I asked Skizz! He was bothering Zed while he was working and I stopped for some coffee.”
“He just carries the key on him?”
“Seems like it.” She shrugs.
Their forks clink against the plates, and soon enough, he’s putting them into the dishwasher and setting the pan to soak in the sink. Pearl gathers her things into her bag, loosely gripping Skizz’s copy of the key.
He walks her downstairs to the front, trying to keep up the easy ebb and flow of their conversation in his apartment.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around.” She smiles at him, and he tries to smile back. Normally, he’d kiss her goodbye. Normal is shattered in the wake of her finding Gem.
Pearl solves his dilemma by leaning forward to kiss him quickly on the cheek. “See you!” With that, she makes her exit.
The Hermit Coffee Co.
25 April 22
1:02 pm
Pearl holds Gem’s hand as they go into the Hermit, smiling reassuringly at her. She’s talked up the coffee shop so much for just about the entire time they’ve known each other.
“So, this is the famous Hermit Coffee Co, huh?” Gem looks around. “It’s cute.” Pearl leads them to the counter, where Joe is working. She’d picked today honestly because of who was working. Joe, Wels, and Xisuma are on shift and she knows they won’t be weird about anything.
“Howdy, Pearl! And howdy to your friend!”
Gem grins at Joe. “Good afternoon!”
“Know what y’all want yet? Or do you need a minute?”
“I’m ready, if you are.”
“I think I need to look for a bit longer. But you can go ahead and order.”
“What’ll it be today, Pearl?”
“Why don’t we switch it up a little? I’ll take a hot ristretto bianco.”
“Good choice, good choice.” Joe scrawls her name and order on one of the paper hot cups and slides it down the bar.
“Can I get an…iced latte with two pumps of lavender please?”
“Of course! We’ll have those right out.” Joe tells her the total and Pearl passes her card over to pay for their drinks.
“Thanks, Joe!” They sit in Pearl’s favorite spot, hands interlaced on the table.
“Thanks for bringing me here. I can tell this place is really special to you.”
“Yeah.”
“How’d you find it?”
“One of my friends from uni worked here for a bit. They left for a job in their field, but I’d become pretty attached. Plus, I made friends with a lot of the baristas, especially since I knew Mumbo and the rest of his Java Circuit boys.”
Gem snaps her fingers. “That’s uh…Mumbo, Impulse, Skizz?”
“And Scar and Zedaph, yeah. They all lived together during uni, I think? Honestly, their living situation never made much sense to me.”
“I can imagine. Some of my friends had this super dingy apartment. And when I say dingy, I mean dingy. Half the outlets didn’t work, you had to say a chant before opening the fridge, the microwave only worked on Tuesdays, that sort of thing. But the rent was super cheap, so they stayed.”
“Oh my god. Honestly, I would have killed for cheap rent.”
“Same.”
“Here are your drinks.” Xisuma places them on the table and gives Pearl a knowing look.
“Thanks, X!”
“Thank you!”
“Hope you enjoy! I’ll be behind the counter if you need anything.” He strides off, quickly clearing the room.
“Damn, he walks fast.”
“Yeah. Tango thinks he was on a power walking team and that we should nominate him for the Olympics.”
“The Olympics??”
“Yeah, like the speed walking race.”
“The what.”
“Have you never heard of it??” Pearl quickly searches the event and passes her phone over. Gem’s eyebrows slowly rise higher and higher, practically in her hair by the end of it.
“God. I have a customer I should nominate.” She laughs, and passes the phone over. “And Impulse texted you too, by the way. Something about guild night?”
Impulse and Pearl
25 April 22
1:30 pm
Impulse: Hey, I think I need to cancel tonight.
Pearl: you okay, impy?
Impulse: Not really? I thought I was fine, but I think I just need a night off.
Pearl: Oh! Let me know if I can do anything for you <3
Impulse: Thanks. Maybe finding a time to talk would help? I have Wednesday off.
Pearl: I think I can do dinner on Wednesday, sure!
Impulse: Great! And you can bring Gem if you want.
Pearl: Are you sure?
Impulse: Yeah.
Impulse’s Apartment
27 April 22
7 pm
Impulse has just finished making potato soup when the doorbell rings. He sets the heat to low, so it’ll stay warm, and half jogs to his door.
It’s Pearl, as expected. And she has a shorter redhead holding her hand.
“Hey, guys! Come on in! I made potato soup, and my neighbor made some bread the other day.”
“Mrs. Claudia?”
“Yeah. She decided that her next goal was to teach me how to make bread.”
“Has that gone well?” There’s a familiar spark in Pearl’s eyes, one that shows that she’s about to rile someone up. She’d had a similar expression before their first time together and his heart clenches.
“Mostly! Mine don’t look nearly as good as hers though, and she said they aren’t fit for company yet.”
Pearl snorts. “Oh, sorry Gem. This is Impulse, one of my best friends. And Impulse, this is my girlfriend, Gem!”
They shake hands. Her hands are calloused, likely from her job, and her green eyes sparkle. “Lovely to meet you!”
“It’s great to meet you too. I’ll go get the bowls.” He directs them to sit at the table (already set) and flees back to the relative safety of the kitchen. Bowls in one arm, cups in the other. There’s already spoons at the table, and the bread sliced. He just has to get the pot of soup next and—his foot catches on something, and one of the bowls shatters on the ground.
Impulse blinks, finding himself on his kitchen floor. The cups are plastic and fine, and two of the bowls landed in his lap. His favorite bowl is in pieces on the ground.
He blinks again, and something hot trails down his face.
“Impulse? You okay, buddy?” Pearl is crouching in front of him, one hand gentle on his cheek. The other carefully guides him to move his head.
“I think so?” His voice cracks though, and that just makes worry more evident on her face.
“Love, where’s the broom? If you can move him over to the couch, I’ll clean this up.”
“It’s in the closet by the door. I can get it though.”
Gem’s voice sounds unfairly soft. She’s taking his closest friend from him, but she’s just kind. “Go look after your Impulse, okay? I can handle it.”
Pearl tugs on him so he stands, and guides him around the mess of porcelain. She sits next to him on the couch and pulls his hands into her lap. “Good, your hands aren’t injured. Does anything hurt?”
“My knees. And my foot. I think that’s just from falling.”
“Probably.”
In the kitchen, he can hear the trash can open and shut.
Pearl assesses him. “I’m going to get some water for you, okay? And are you hungry?”
“Not really.”
“Okay.” She leans forward and her thumb swipes at the wetness under his eye. “I’ll be right back.”
He sits on the couch, numb, until both of them come back. Gem’s green eyes are filled with worry and uncertainty, and she keeps glancing to Pearl. He wishes he didn’t notice.
He wishes Gem didn’t exist, or that her and Pearl had never crossed paths. He wants Pearl to be happy, but…does he have to sacrifice his own for her to do that?
Pearl presses the cup of water into his hands and makes sure he has a good grip on it before letting go. She takes a seat next to him again, and considering there’s nowhere else to go, Gem sits on his opposite side.
He feels like he should just crack open, let them see the soft uncertainty he’s tried to hide, but he doesn’t know how to let go. Pearl takes his free hand again, gently sweeping her thumb over his knuckles. “Is there anything else we can do?”
“I don’t think so. You can eat if you want to. I made potato soup.”
“Okay. I’ll get some for all of us? It’ll help you feel better.” Out of habit, probably, she kisses the top of his head and meanders out.
Gem smiles fondly. “She told me about the two of you.”
“She did?”
“Mhm. I think that’s why she was so fast to agree to talk.”
“Oh. I wasn’t sure if she would have said anything at all.”
“Yeah. She really cares about you.”
“I care about her a lot too.”
“Okay! I have soup for you, and for you!” Pearl hands both of them a bowl, and drops a spoon in each. “Hope you didn’t miss me too much!”
“Nope. We were talking shit, actually.” Gem grins cheekily.
“Of course. I’d expect nothing less.”
“Mhm.”
“Did you…?”
“Yeah. Impulse, this is really good.”
“Thank you.” He should have guessed they would have planned this out. Pearl likes to scheme, after all. “I’m glad you like it.”
Pearl takes a deep breath. “Okay. So, Gem and I have talked, and she’s fine with me continuing what we have. Us, I mean,” she clarifies, motioning between him and her. “And as long as you’re fine with that, I am too.”
“I’d like that.”
“Awesome.”
Gem clears her throat softly. “I just want to know when it’s happening. I’m fine with it, but I don’t want to be completely out of the loop.”
He smiles a little at her. “I figured.”
“Good.” Gem smiles sweetly at him.
They end up staying the night, and he falls asleep pressed against Pearl’s back, with Gem in her arms.
Pearl’s Apartment
17 May 22
8:15 pm
“Oh, come on!” Impulse scowls at the screen as the boss defeats him again.
“Aww, poor Impy. Better luck next time,” Gem coos. Warmth unfurls like a flower in Pearl’s chest as she watches them over her laptop. They’re getting along so much better than she ever expected them too.
Honestly, she’d expected awkwardness. Something about them clashing over who gets to ‘have’ her. Not that either of them own her, obviously, but maybe some form of possessiveness.
Instead, both of them get along like a house on fire, and will combine forces to have her melting into a flustered puddle on the floor. Like earlier, when Gem practically had her cornered against the wall and gave her that stupid smirk, before flouncing off to go play a game with Impulse, leaving her breathless.
Regardless of how it happened, she’s glad to have them both in her life. It helps that they’ve formed the habit of spending the night at one of their three places—either her apartment, Impulse’s, or Gem’s above her flower shop—and they're all a part of the same WoW league.
She watches them bicker playfully, Gem leaning so hard on Impulse that if he moves, she'll fall.
“Pearllll, come play with us,” Gem asks, making grabby hands at her. “You've been working for hours.”
“I do have a job.”
“It can wait!! It's family time, come on.” Gem deftly plucks her laptop out of her lap, saves her progress, and sets it aside. Family time. And you know what? This is her family. Her girlfriend, and her partner. She kisses Gem once she’s stood up, smiling into it.
Gem beams at her when they pull apart, eyes sparkling. “Okay, now come sit down!”
Reminiscent of the first time they talked about their situation, she ends up on Impulse’s other side. Pearl presses a soft kiss to the side of his neck in a sort of greeting, since he’s so intently focused on his battle.
Gem, restless, grabs a pillow and flops onto the floor. “Braid my hair?” She gives Pearl a pleading look. Pearl is (tragically) weak to her looks, and acquiesces. Gem’s wild curls are soft in her hands.
She carefully weaves them into a French braid, providing running commentary on Impulse’s repeated failures. “This is embarrassing for you.”
“I know,” he groans. “I hate this game. Rage quitting. Never playing again.”
“We have guild night on Sunday,” Gem reminds him.
“Ugh. Fine. I won’t quit forever. Maybe just for tonight.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Pearl comments, finally able to add all of Gem’s hair into the braid. This reminds her of learning to braid with Lizzie, Grian at her side to heckle her.
She ties off Gem’s braid right as her console fully powers down. “Want to watch a movie?”
“Ooh, it’s not a movie, but I’ve been wanting to watch A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder!! You’re signed into my Netflix still, yeah?”
“I should be.”
Impulse navigates to Nextflix and clicks on Pearl’s profile for her. He finds the show quickly too. For the sake of watching tv, Gem sits back down on the couch, turned so her legs are over Impulse’s lap and her feet can tuck under Pearl’s thigh.
Normally, Pearl is good at staying awake through movies and shows. But she’s just been working nonstop today, and without a distraction, she nods off against Impulse’s shoulder. He makes a good pillow.
Sometime later, she half-wakes up as she’s moved to lay down on the couch. Impulse and Gem are talking softly.
“Well, I should head home. I’m opening tomorrow, and my place is a bit closer.”
“Yeah. Hope opening goes well. I’ll stop by with a new bouquet for the week at some point in the morning.”
“What flowers?”
“Surprise. But you’ll like it.”
“That’s good. Are you spending the night?”
“I think so. Drive safe.”
“I’ll do my best.” Pearl’s eyes half open and she watches blearily as Gem stretches up and Impulse leans down, the two of them meeting in the middle for a kiss.
Her eyes close again and she falls back asleep.
Impulse and Pearl
18 May 22
1:04 am
Impulse: So. Gem and I kissed last night before I left.
Impulse: It just felt so natural
Impulse: like we’d done it a thousand times before
Impulse: please don’t be mad
Impulse: im sorry
Gem and Pearl
18 May 22
7:45 am
Gem: Hey, sorry I had to leave before you woke up! Gotta run for work
Gem: love you <33
Gem: also Imp kissed me goodbye before I left. talk about it more after I close?
Pearl’s Bedroom
18 May 22
9:30 am
Pearl wakes up to a barrage of texts. There's some from both Impulse and Gem, alongside a truly ridiculous amount from Skizz. She checks her phone as she eats breakfast, concern slowly rising.
Not about Gem and Impulse kissing. Honestly, she’s shocked they haven’t before now.
Skizz is reassuring her that Impulse is fine but “please talk to him soon.” Pearl says she will, agrees to talk with Gem later, and resolves to do damage control with Impulse.
Pearl and Impulse
18 May 22
9:48 am
Pearl: Impulse, hon, I’m not mad at you at all, okay?
Pearl: Honestly, I thought you guys had before
Pearl: This is so so okay with me, and I appreciate you telling me <3
Pearl: Gem and I are talking when she gets off work, I’m sure she won’t mind you being involved at all lovely
Gem’s Apartment (over the flower shop)
18 May 22
5:15 pm
Gem makes tea before the other two arrive. Her heart is pounding, but she has to stay calm and collected. Sure, she kissed her girlfriend’s partner, but like. They’ve done far more than just kissing. Pearl is normally involved, but…it felt natural. Normal. Like she should kiss Impulse before he left, like how Pearl likes a kiss with her tea.
She pours them all a cup of chamomile and waits. Pearl finishes work at 5, and Impulse should be off already, but traffic.
The door opens, Pearl stepping in right before Impulse. She’s holding his hand tightly, and there’s a pink lipstick mark on his cheek. She wasn’t expecting Pearl to be upset with either of them, but the confirmation of Pearl pulling her into a sweeping kiss is comforting.
“Hi guys. I made tea.”
“Thank you,” Impulse murmurs.
They end up in the three armchairs Gem has, since she doesn’t have a couch.
“Okay. To start, I want to say that I’m not mad. I’m the furthest thing from mad right now. I love you both dearly.” Pearl takes a sip of her tea. “I guess I just want to know what happened? At the start of this, we promised to keep Gem in the loop, yeah? I want to be part of the loop right now.”
“Yeah.” Impulse licks his lips nervously. “I guess…I was just leaving, and you were asleep. And normally I kiss you goodbye and hug Gem. But you weren’t there, and I wasn’t really thinking so I just…leaned down.”
“And I responded,” Gem butts in. “I kissed you too. And I agree, it felt fine.”
A small smile appears on Pearl’s face. She looks unbearably fond. “Well. I can’t say I’m complaining.” She glances at Gem. Gem blinks back.
“Impulse…I was wondering. Do you want,” she swallows, “to officially be with me too? In the same way you are with Pearl?”
His eyes go wide, and his mouth parts slightly. She wants to kiss him. “I would love that.”
And so she does, closing the distance between them to kiss him soundly on the mouth, one hand cupping the back of his head and the other on his cheek.
The Java Circuit
19 April 22
12:01 am
Impulse: [image attached] (a picture of Impulse, Pearl, and Gem smiling sleepily and satisfied at the camera in lamp light)
Impulse: Crisis averted :D