Chapter Text
“Hey P, I thought you said you were going to take a break by now. what gives?” Amethyst looked baffled as she entered the bedroom of her childhood friend. Pearl who was currently hunched over a laptop perched on her desk, gave a distant ‘uhuhh’ and went right back to typing. That was the problem with living with a writer.
“You know P, I’d hate to be a nag. Since that’s kind of your deal...” Amethyst let herself briefly trail off as she inspected Pearl’s work place. It was far from messy but a little more disheveled than usual.
“Well no one is forcing you to.” Pearl’s posture did not falter even after hours of writing.
“But, you really have to eat something.” Pearl finally pried her eyes away from the screen and squinted at the girl in the doorway. Not in a malicious way really, it was more like she was studying Amethyst’s face trying to tell if she was for real or not.
“I have” She finally decided, and despite the fact that she was sitting down at that moment it looked as though she was looking down at Amethyst.
“Tea doesn’t count.” Amethyst sighed and leaned against the doorway. “Even if you’ve drank like thirty cups.” Pearl scowled, Amethyst hated how she got this way whenever Rose started dating someone. She would shut herself in, focus on her ballet, and writing. Greg was pretty cool though even if he was a community college dropout, Amethyst didn’t mind but Pearl did. She had no idea how someone as “dim” as Greg could win Rose over.
“That was not all I’ve had.” She rubbed her temples and leaned back in her chair to the point of it almost tipping over. “I just had a salad..” she paused to check the clock “four hours ago” her voice went flat.
“Pearl. Listen you’re almost as bad as you were in high school.” It was true, in high school from sophomore to senior year Pearl started to develop some of her worst habits. All because Rose went to college out of state.
“Come on P, for me just eat something.” Amethyst was holding back frustration, hopefully Pearl didn’t notice since her voice was still pretty calm.
“Fine.” She let the chair stand on all four legs before she got up. Amethyst knew about Pearl’s complicated feelings involving food, so whenever she skipped a meal it would not go unnoticed by her roommate.
“I made your favorite” she looked back at pearl as she lead her into the kitchen. Living with a picky eater has made Amethyst into something of an amateur chef. And the fact that Pearl won’t even touch meat it has made her into a part time vegetarian on top of that.
“I put pieces of tofu in it this time, you need protein. You're only human.” Amethyst could not believe how motherly she was acting, but with Rose spending so much time with Greg, she needed to.
Amethyst pulled a seat out for the willowy girl by her side.
“Plop a squat, and tell me all about how the writings going.” Amethyst found it odd that they were having dinner at two o’clock in the morning, but she didn’t have much of a choice pea soup took ages to cook. And on top of that by the time she got back from her dance practice Amethyst was so tired she couldn’t help but take a nap, it just ended up taking a little longer than she would have liked. She poured too hearty bowls of the warm liquid, she placed one in front of Pearl and another in front of her own seat. She set herself down on her chair, letting out a content sigh as she did so. It was strange that Pearl seemed so sensitive to textures in food, and yet loved the pea soup Amethyst made. It arguably had one of the strangest textures out of all the dishes she’s ever made, causing her to wonder if she even makes it right.
Seeing Pearl practically scarf down her food lifted a weight off of Amethyst’s chest.
“So, how is the writing.” Amethyst waited until Pearl was done eating to ask again.
“Terrible.” She had resorted to using a piece of bread to soak up what was left of her soup.
“I can’t get anything down.” She put down the bowl “I was hoping, that since I’ve finished with my last recital that I could focus on my story.”
“Oh, yeah the fantasy.” Amethyst honestly loved reading Pearl’s knight stories, even though she teased her about how much gay wish fulfillment was in it.
“But, it just reminded me of...” She did not have to finish, the Queen of Pearl’s stories was exactly like Rose, but in that there were never any others to get in the way.
“So I tried to write some poetry.” Amethyst loved her poems too, but couldn’t help but point out how repressed they made Pearl sound. God, why did Pearl even let Amethyst read her writing.
“Did you at least keep any of your work from today.”
“Nope.” Now that was hard to believe she was working all day. Amethyst would have told her to take a break, but knew she would be accused of not understanding hard work and it would end up becoming a fight.
“It felt like nothing I wrote was even genuine. I felt like I’ve always had inspiration in me to write, but now. Oh god, I just feel so alone, and torn.”
“It’s fine,P. It’s called writer’s block.”
“You don’t get it.” The petite figure beside Amethyst squeezed her eyes shut and forcefully combed and tugged at her hair with her fingers.
“I don’t feel like I can be inspired on my own. I feel like a... like I’m not...” She gritted her teeth choking on shaky sobs.
“Look at me P, you need to sleep alright.” Amethyst put a hand on her friend’s shoulder which she allowed surprisingly enough. Pearl opened her eyes slowly and sniffed a couple of times. Amethyst could not stand seeing her friend like this. Her hair was a mess from the fussing, her eyes were red and puffy which contrasted with her otherwise smooth cream colored skin. It was times like those that made it impossible to keep her heart from yearning for her. But she knew that if she let her romantic feelings take the reins she would never be able to commit to being a good friend.
“Okay.” Her voice was barely audible. Pearl lowered her friends hand from her shoulder so it fell between them. Amethyst tried to get her hand free to see pearls frown deepen. So she let their hands intertwine further, despite the fact that it made getting up a little awkward. Amethyst lead Pearl back to her room, her nimble hand felt cold in her’s but it’s grip was surprisingly strong. Amethyst was surprised that she let her companion lead her right past the bathroom, oral hygiene was one thing she never let fall to the wayside.
“Alright, this is your stop.” Amethyst let out a half hearted chuckle embarrassed about her own lame joke.
“Wait.” Pearl’s blue eyes seemed to glow in the dim light.
“What, do you want me to tuck you in?” Needless to say Amethyst chose a bad time to practice her stand up routine.
“I just need someone, to stay with me, please?” Amethyst was never one to be a prude so when her face heated up it was a little out of nowhere. Unable to think clearly Amethyst just stood where she was as Pearl crawled into bed. She peeled the thick quilt and lighter sheets away and lowered herself in. She then looked up at the shadow by her bed. Feeling like an invader Amethyst slowly descended onto the very side of the bed still sitting up. A tug on her shirt caused her to look down.
“You can sleep here tonight.” The voice of the blue eyed girl was so raspy it was barely recognizable as her’s. With that she cautiously began to lie down, easing her way under the sheets. Pearl rolled over beside her, so her back was toward Amethyst, she then moved her arm so it rested on her waist. Without a word she nestled into the curve of the body that laid beside her. The feeling of warmth quickly took Amethyst, and made her feel like she was melting into the bed as well as the women in front of her who she pulled closer still to her own soft and full form. It didn’t take long for their breathing to sync, and not much longer after that for them to fall asleep.