Work Text:
The farm is open and vast. It stretches from the road to the mountains, endless fields of green and gold broken up by falling-apart fences that lean against each other weakly. The ground is muddy under her bare feet as she races Grian and Jimmy back to the faded barn sitting in the middle of emptiness. The three of them have lived here for as long as they can remember, alone with their parents, surrounded by seas of nothing.
Pearl’s ahead this time. She knows she’s going to win, but she goes faster, chest burning as she runs through the dewy grass, a blur in the dimming light. She almost laughs, grin stretching out. Jimmy calls out, behind her, and she pauses, stumbling from the abrupt stop, turning to look at him.
“Stop beating us!” Grian yells, far behind, losing. She rolls her eyes, not about to let either of them beat her when she was so close. She sets off again.
Just on the edges of her vision, she almost thinks she sees a girl running alongside her, laughing into the cool autumn night, keeping pace easily. Pearl feels a smile tug at the edges of her mouth; she likes this girl, she thinks, almost wants to laugh with her. She skids to a stop just outside the barn as she finally makes it, turning excitedly to share the win with the girl.
There’s no one there. She frowns and shakes it off, pulling open the massive door to go inside.
She could’ve sworn there was.
-
Gem is in her room, the taste of potato fresh on her tongue from the to-go box her brother handed her. In front of her, arrayed on a little desk, are almost a dozen clay snails. Paint tubes in every shade Gem knows and then some are scattered around, some brushes staining the wood, others dried out and useless. She gets sidetracked when it comes to projects like these. Not her fault.
“I’m gonna do one for Lizzie next,” she says to the person on her bed, not looking away from the snails, “because I already have Joel’s, so I think it’d be cute. Ooh, I give it to them as a little present!”
She moves around the room, flitting like a butterfly from here to there. “Grian’s is still giving me trouble,” she says, giving the offending snail a stern look, “I’m not sure if I like the entire-red or if I should add some shading. It’d be easier if he wore more than that sweater.”
Gem grabs the styrofoam box with her potato in it as she passes her dresser, dumping it in her trash can. “It’s relatively easy for the rest of them, though, and then I’m gonna make yours and mine last, as a celebration.”
The room’s quiet, but she didn’t expect Pearl to speak. She likes to talk to her about whatever project she’s working on. She knows she’s listening.
“Mumbo, maybe, next? I have his sketch.”
She picks up a small black sketchbook and waves it around as she talks.
“It’s just so hard to make the little eyes. The eyes, Pearl, that’s the entire problem! But I did it for Tango, obviously, because his eyes are bright red and stare into your soul, so I had to do it for everyone else. And Lizzie’s needed her eyes, anyway. They’re snails, so it’s fine, just annoying.”
Gem flips through the sketchbook absently, trying to find the drawing she made for Pearl’s snail. She knows it’s in here somewhere.
“I think you’re really going to like yours, and I can’t wait for when it’s finished—not because I’m excited to get it done with, that wasn’t a free pass to tease me about ‘not having to do it’—just because I really want to see everyone’s reactions when I give their snails to them.”
The door opens, and Joel pokes his head into the room, a worried frown between his eyes. “Gem? Who are you talking to?”
“Just—” and she looks over to the bed, where Pearl is, but the bed is empty. Who was she talking to?
“No one.”
He closes the door again, concerned, and she stares at the bed. She was talking to someone, right?
-
Pearl has a large window in her room. She likes to open it up and sit on the sill, watching as Etho fiddles with whatever project he’s got now in the yard. He’s scolded her for it before, but what can he do? The second story is high enough that she can watch him and the meadow stretching out around him, the road a little ways off, but low enough she can jump down from it and he can yell up to her about anything. Now Tango’s shopping for groceries again, so the car’s gone, which means Etho has plenty of space to work on his engineer-things. She doesn’t really know what he’s doing, but she’s happy to listen to him complain. Her room is dark at her back, and in front of her stretches the pleasant summer evening, twilight setting in.
“There’s a green light, Pearl!” Etho calls up. She can see the thing in his hands, some sort of frog robot that jumps and any other thing he’s created it to do. “The light’s not supposed to be green, it’s supposed to be yellow, I don’t…” He trails off, continuing to mess with the robot. She hums, leaning forward the slightest bit. Gem is behind her, she knows, instinctively, although she can’t remember is Gem was coming over today. “Do you think he’s going to say oh, snappers in a moment?” she asks.
Below, Etho starts talking to the frog. Behind, it’s silent. She turns to look at Gem and finds an empty room, slowly getting darker as the sun sets.
“How am I supposed to fix the color sensor without our car battery? Tango should come back soon so I can steal it, I need this to work.”
Pearl doesn’t hear him, staring into her room. Everything’s the same as it was this afternoon, when she left it to go find Etho’s backup stash of car batteries.
What was she looking at again? There was supposed to be someone there, she thinks. But the only people she knows that would be there are Etho and Tango.
-
“Hey, Pearl.”
Gem’s sitting on the roof again, staring out at the city. It’s night, millions of flashing lights shining out at her. She comes out here to think, and Pearl knows that, so she figured it was only a matter of time before she was found. She turns to see Grian standing there. He looks confused and concerned.
“Who?”
-
The faint sound of laughter reaches her. Cleo and Martyn are bickering over the table again, gesturing in the air. Ren watches, amused, eyes occasionally catching on Martyn with a lovestruck look that he often has around the blond man. They’re all there, dinner spread over the table, champagne and wine and all the fancy things for celebrating. She forgets what they’re celebrating tonight. Bdubs and Impulse are in the kitchen, trying to clean up and just flicking water at each other. Pearl’s on the balcony, because she can only take so much noise.
The doors open, and Scott joins her.
“Hiya.” He smiles. “Thought I’d find you out here. Whatcha doing?” He makes his way over to her, glancing up at the sky. The moon is nearly full, and the stars are shining especially bright tonight. She blinks, and the stars are gone. It’s just the moon, and the light pollution from the city.
She feels someone, not Scott, just a little to her left. The presence is comforting. She shrugs.
“Dunno. Looking at the stars.” A gentle wind blows through Pearl’s hair, and she feels it through her suit jacket. “Or the sky, anyway. Just needed a bit of air.”
He hums. “It gets loud, with everyone talking.”
She can feel warmth from whoever’s with them, and it helps fight the chill. “You mean arguing?”
Scott snorts. “Surprised we didn’t start up either.”
“Nah, we wouldn’t do that.” Pearl’s eyes trace over the city, the blue-green light on a nearby roof. It matches Gem’s eye. Scott is quiet next to her, glitter on his cheeks shining from whatever it’s catching. Gem’s quiet, too, and Pearl is content for them all to just sit in silence. Bdubs and Impulse will bring out dessert soon, if they ever stop with their water fight. They can go back inside then.
“Kind of sad to sit out here alone,” Scott says abruptly.
“Alone?” she asks, not really paying attention. He glances at her. She feels Gem to her side, comforting warmth, a steady presence, and turns to look at her.
There’s no one there. No one but her and Scott on the balcony, and the city, and their friends inside.
Pearl frowns in confusion, first at where Gem went, then at what she was looking at. She turns back to Scott.
“Yeah, alone,” he says, giving her a strange look. “Let’s go back inside. It’s cold out here.”
-
Gem grins, sharp and deadly, as she strikes the punching bag again and again. The gym she likes to go to isn’t as easy to get to as any of the others she could choose, something Fwhip complains relentlessly about. But it’s generally uncrowded, and sort of calm. She lets out her frustration on the bags and doesn’t get into any trouble. Win-win-win. Shelby’s told her before that therapy would be better, but that’s too expensive.
Besides, Pearl’s behind her, cool precision as always, and that’s the best part.
“Who would’ve thought punching was so tiring,” Gem huffs, taking a water break. She slumps down onto the bench, pressing her back against the cool wall, eyes closed. The faint sound of punches landing is a steady background noise. Pearl hits every one.
“How many do you think we could do against each other?” she asks. “Bit of competition?”
Pearl doesn’t respond. Gem takes a long drink of water, trying to level out her breathing. She likes boxing, if she never has to actually do it in a ring. It’s a good way for her to calm down.
“Come on, I bet you could beat me. Especially with how tired I am.” She snorts.
“Gem? Who are you talking to?”
Gem opens her eyes to see Shelby above her, white hair falling down to tickle her cheeks.
“Pearl,” she says, pushing herself up and turning to the person in question. There’s no one there, just a punching bag hanging from the ceiling. Gem frowns. She could’ve sworn Pearl was there.
“Are you sure you’re not going crazy?” Shelby asks. “All the punching did something to your brain?”
“No! I could’ve—” she stops, glancing back at the punching bag. It’s still hanging there. Is there supposed to be someone there? What was she even talking about? “Nevermind. Can we get ice cream?”
Shelby laughs.
-
The library is silent, which is good, because Pearl can’t think otherwise. She flicks through the book next to her, about some theory of the multiverse. Gem would like it. She’s always talking about alternate realities and stuff, different versions of the same self. Pearl tucks it into her bag to give to her later.
Footsteps are the only warning she gets before Grian and Impulse launch themselves at her, effectively trapping her in a hug.
“Peeeeaaarrrrrrl,” Grian whines, pouting. “Mumbo’s trying to make me clean up my room.”
Pearl rolls her eyes, closing the books in front of her as Impulse takes the other seat at the table. “How messy is it?”
Before Grian can respond, Impulse cuts in. “Awful. He needs an intervention.”
Grian looks betrayed, jaw dropping in shock. “It’s not that bad!” he shrieks indignantly, and gets shushed by several annoyed students and teachers.
“No, it is,” Impulse says, much quieter. Pearl smiles faintly.
“Poor baby, having to be an adult in the real world like the rest of us suckers,” she teases. Her cousin, in a show of endless maturity, sticks his tongue out at her. She rolls her eyes again.
“Mumbo and Impulse are liars ,” he declares, glaring at the latter, who only shrugs.
“Alright, I need to give something to Gem and then I’ll come see for myself.”
Grian perks up, interested. “You got a new friend?”
“No,” Pearl says, confused. “Why would you think that?”
“Gem,” Impulse says, giving her a look. “You’ve never mentioned her before.”
“Yes, I have.”
Grian frowns at her in concern. “You haven’t,” he insists, “are you feeling alright?”
“Fine.” She waves his hand away, feeling something hard in her bag. She pulls it out. It’s a library book, on alternate realities. Why does she have it in there?
“Ooh, are you joining me and Mumbo in science?” Impulse asks, excited.
“No,” Pearl says, “I don’t know why that’s in there.”
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Grian asks, trying to feel her head again.
“Yes, Grian. Come on, let’s go see your room.”
“I thought you had to see Gem first.”
She gives him a blank look. “Who?”
Grian and Impulse exchange a look. “Nevermind,” he decides, “come on.”
-
Gem’s legs swing into open air, watching the city lights as they twinkle like stars. The fire escape is where she comes often to get away from it all, and she knows someone will be here soon to keep her company.
Sure enough, Lizzie steps onto the fire escape minutes later. Gem wishes she’d closed the window behind her so she could hear it creak open.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Lizzie.”
“Is it too loud in there?” she asks, sitting beside her. “Joel’s being loud, I know. I could tell him to be quiet for you.” She snickers, kicking her feet.
Gem snorts. “Too people-y for me. Clear them all out and I’ll come in.”
“It’ll take an elephant stampede to get them to leave.” She glances back at the window, where light spills in from the hallway. Jimmy and Pearl decided to start a game of rolling devil, and the muffled crashes as people launch themselves out of a speeding chair. Gem hums.
“Where’s Pearl?” she asks, shoes clanging against the bars of the fire escape. Another crash from inside, followed by several loud thumps and Joel’s yelp of pain. Lizzie sighs.
“I’d better go get him,” she says. “I’ll send Pearl out.”
Gem nods as Lizzie leaves, still staring at the city. She feels like she’s been waiting for a long, long time for this moment. She feels like it’s been no time at all. She feels tired and excited and anxious.
Pearl settles next to Gem, pressed against her, and it feels like everything and nothing and the entire world and this moment, right here.
“Lizzie said you were looking for me?” she asks. Gem’s head falls onto her shoulder. She’s crying. She doesn’t know why. She missed Pearl, even though she was just in the other room and they saw each other 10 minutes ago.
“Wondered where you were.” She keeps her eyes on the lights of the city, as if Pearl will disappear if she looks at her. “Too loud in there. I blame you for that, starting that game.”
“Blame Jimmy, it was his idea,” she says, smile evident in her voice.
“It was both of your ideas,” Gem says. “Don’t try to escape the blame.”
“I would never.” She winds an arm around Gem’s shoulders, and they settle in closer, and something in them both is singing, whole and happy.