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Bismuth returned from the roller rink one night after having the best time with Pearl and her human friends, something that wouldn’t have happened without Steven’s insistence that she skate with Pearl. But it was the kiss that she planted on Bismuth’s chin after the fact that made her absolutely positive that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Pearl. Not that either of them were going anywhere, but she wanted to do something big, something like…Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding. It certainly wasn’t something she was going to ask straight away, or even at all, but on the off chance she did, she was going to be prepared.
She recalled that Pearl had once expressed interest in the armor Bismuth wore at Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding. Especially with the battle that ensued after the fact, Pearl had said that if she was to attend another wedding, she would want to be better equipped.
It would be highly presumptuous of Bismuth to ask outright, especially on the off chance Pearl would become wise to her plan, if she decided to go through with it in the first place. If anything, Bismuth’s desire to create wedding armor was only a professional curiosity, after all she was curious as to what she could end up doing in the future.
Even more presumptuous still, would be asking Pearl to be the model, anything intimate would be crossing the line between hypothetical and reality. So it would have to be for another, non-wedding-related reason.
Wednesday, two days from now, she was supposed to have a class with Pearl as her co-teacher. That could be how she could get Pearl’s opinion on how it should be styled, without doing the process of proposing, a concept which Bismuth was still reticent as to its possibility, much less Pearl’s accepting of the offer.
Pacing down the streets of Little Homeschool, Bismuth came across a class which Vidalia (one of Amethyst’s human friends), and Blue Diamond’s own pearl were responsible for teaching. Lapis would come every few classes, and Bismuth knew that her moods for company shifted from day to day.
The students were painting as Yellow Diamond’s old pearl posed in the middle of a raised platform. Bismuth decided to sit by and watch, still tossing around Pearl and marriage in her mind as it processed. Blue Pearl offered her a canvas, which she politely rejected, as her mind was elsewhere.
Watching as Yellow Pearl preened and posed, a pleased smile covered her face the entire time. Just by looking, Yellow seemed to be about the same size and build as Pearl was, giving Bismuth an idea.
And so she sat as the painters went about their daily routine, standing up as they did when Vidalia informed them that time was just about up. Moving past a small group of students, Bismuth approached Yellow Pearl, with Blue Pearl hanging off her shoulder like a backpack.
“Excuse me.” Bismuth waved slightly to grab the two gems’ attention. “You guys wanna help me with something?”
“That depends on what it is.” Yellow Pearl smirked as she turned to meet Bismuth’s vision.
“I'm trying to work on a suit of armor…for my next class, and was curious if you wanted to model it for me?” Bismuth shyly rubbed the back of her neck as the pearls looked at each other, clearly thinking it over among themselves quietly.
“Are you expecting a battle?” Yellow asked, leaning in as if this was some kind of big secret the three of them were sharing.
“Nah, it's for weddings.”
Blue gasped; “Is someone getting married? Are you getting married?”
Bismuth’s face darkened; “What? Me? Ha Ha, No.” Was it getting hot in here?
Yellow squinted her eyes, massaging her chin, as Bismuth averted her gaze. “Wait…you need a pearl to model this for you;” Suddenly she exclaimed; “You’re marrying the Renegade aren’t you!”
“How romantic!”
“Wha…” Bismuth stammered, her face now completely dark; “...it's not…she’s…we’re…where would you get an idea like that.”
The two pearls exchanged a knowing look. “It's not like you two are a secret.” Yellow said as Blue giggled behind her. “Everyone knows about it.”
“Yeah.” Blue Pearl chuckled again; “Except for her.”
“She’s a little over-salinated on that front.” Yellow scoffed.
“She is not…what does that even mean anyway?”
Yellow Pearl rolled her eyes like it was supposed to be obvious. “She’s like…super dense.”
“Yeah…sometimes.” Bismuth admitted; “Wednesday?”
Yellow nodded. “Wednesday…see you later lover gem.”
Bismuth wanted to retort, she was the one carrying her partner on her back, but then again Bismuth did that too…
She went back to the forge, conflicted as to whether or not Pearl would figure out what she was doing. The confusion aside, all that was left for her to do between now and Wednesday was to start drawing up some rough designs for the armor.
***
As Wednesday approached, Bismuth had a small skeleton of the intricacies of the design she wanted to make. The door to the forge opened, and Yellow Pearl walked in, in high spirits with Blue in tow. Pearl would most likely be slightly late, as she had another class that ended as this one began.
“So all I need to do is stand there?” She pointed a finger to the stool placed slightly in the middle of the room.
“That’s about it, I can do the rest. I have some metal heated in the lava over there and don’t worry, it will be nice and cool by the time I put it on you, make sure to tell me if it fits right, I’m positive I have it mostly right. Let me take your measurements first.”
“Are you sure you don’t have Pearl’s already?” Yellow teased with a smug smile.
Bismuth blushed, “I could ballpark it, but I wanted to be sure.”
Yellow chuckled and rolled her eyes, extending her arm outward. Bismuth approached with a human tape measure and began circling it around her arms, legs, neck, and waist.
Near the end of this process Pearl ended up making her way through the door, reaching for her apron hanging from a knob on the wall near the door. “Oh sorry Bismuth, I seem to be late.”
Bismuth chuckled good naturedly; “Actually you’re ten minutes early.”
“I should have been here ten minutes ago, but…” She laughed; “...you know how things can get out of hand…oh, Blue! Yellow! What a surprise, is this a pearl exclusive class?” She walked over giving both other pearls a hug.
“Nah, I just invited them here to help me out with some modeling.”
“What are we planning for today?”
“Wedding armor.” Said Yellow, giving extra attention to the word wedding, almost a verbal nudge on the arm.
“Wonderful!” Pearl completely missed the subtle messaging, after which Yellow put her head in her hands before smirking at Blue.
“Can I get your eye on the plans I have drawn up before everyone gets here?”
“Of course Bismuth.” Pearl took the plans from Bismuth before giving them a discerning look through, her thought process audible before turning back to the larger gem next to her. “It looks wonderful as always, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Bismuth knew Pearl well enough to know that she always had an opinion on designs.
“But if you’re asking, I think it's missing a little something.” Pearl thumbed through the papers again before continuing. “Maybe a cape? It may be quite flashy, but this is meant to be worn at a ceremony.”
“Sounds great…ah, I see Snowflake is here early too.”
The large gem waved as she walked through the doorway, almost completely eclipsing Bixbite who walked in soon behind. Despite the one claw hand, a result of corruption, she had become quite the expert smith.
The class went as any other would, she and Pearl masterfully demonstrating how to make the armor; Bismuth involved in the construction of the materials themselves, and Pearl involved in the finer detail work. Watching Pearl work was always a joy, especially knowing that one day she would…she might end up wearing the armor herself.
But due to unfortunate circumstances, Bismuth ended up having to finish the armor herself; it was a good job Pearl had already ironed out any minute detail work that needed to be done. She kept it on display in her forge for the time being.
And there it remained for a couple months. Bismuth had finally made her feelings for Pearl known and to her surprise, they were reciprocated. Bismuth couldn’t help but to reconsider her plan in a new light. Bismuth had made rings for Ruby and Sapphire years prior, so doing so again would not be a problem. But she wanted to do more, Pearl deserved it.
She went to her old forge, as she always did when she needed to spend some time thinking, wiping off layers of dust from her old anvil as well as some old weapons. Removing a tarp from an old container unit that sprayed tons of dust into Bismuth’s face, she looked down to notice a plethora of broken swords, grown blunt with age and a lack of upkeep. These swords were in multiple stages of disrepair, a few of which were barely more than a hilt. It was no mystery as to why these swords had received little use, they were of quite poor quality, but she didn’t construct something as fantastic as Rose’s sword on the first try.
***
Back during the war, Pearl would get herself poofed nearly every battle. Rose especially tried to get her to stop, but to no avail, and when she approached Bismuth to make her a weapon of her own, it was both their ideas that in addition to giving Rose some much needed firepower it could hopefully dissuade Pearl from jumping in front of her. It didn’t end up working, in the end, but it was the one weapon Bismuth was most proud of.
“You want me to do what?” Bismuth approached Pearl the day she began to make Rose’s sword to her specifications.
She trusted no other gem to give her prototypes a fair shake. “You’re the best sword fighter in the rebellion, if anyone can help me test these out, you’re the gem for the job.”
Pearl smiled. “Well you’ll have to be on your best, I’ve never met a sword I couldn’t break.”
“You’re telling me. I’m the one who has to keep repairing them.” Bismuth couldn’t hide the blush on her face as she handed Pearl the first prototype with a laugh. “I can’t use the ore to make it pink until I’m certain it works.”
“I’ll certainly give it a go. This weapon has to be perfect for Rose.” Pearl yelled out as she pivoted to a nearby rock, the sword only making it halfway in before breaking.
“Welp, back to the drawing board I guess.” Bismuth leaned down to help Pearl pick up the broken pieces.
“Sorry.” Pearl rubbed the back of her neck, “You spent time on that.”
“Not a problem at all, I’ll find a reason to use these shards at some future point.”
***
Looking back down at all these broken swords, Bismuth smiled fondly. It took a very long time to get it just right, especially since Rose requested it to be unable to shatter a gem. Rifling through, Bismuth estimated that there was enough spare metal in here to melt down for another purpose; this could be exactly the gesture that Bismuth wanted if she was ever going to ask Pearl to marry her.
Pearl already had a gem weapon, and there wasn’t much need for conflict in the future…however, if any gem wanted to be prepared for any eventuality it would be her. It was a monumental task to make a sword just right for Pearl to use.
So she went to work, spending a lot of time in her old forge, making a sword, testing it, and melting it back down again. Her brow was covered in sweat for what felt like weeks. She made it back for a class every now and again, but every free moment she had was spent down at the forge. It would be too risky to work on it in her Little Homeworld forge, this was not something she could explain away like she did the armor. She certainly couldn’t ask Pearl to try them, but who else would she trust to try them out?
But try as she might, none of them felt worth it, all of them were too brittle, well constructed, but would certainly never stand the test of time like the sword she made for Rose. As time continued to pass, Bismuth began to wonder if this was worth it at all. There was no way Pearl would say yes, it was silly, how could she tie Pearl down like this? Just by making her a sword and some fancy armor?
Bismuth gave up, exiting her forge dejected, looking down on her phone, it was almost time for her to give another class. Going about her days as usual, trying her best not to think about her plan and her many, many failed attempts to come up with a sword that Pearl would like. As she went into her Little Homeworld forge, she was surprised to see another gem waiting for her.
“Oh! Hey…Garnet. What brings you here?” Bismuth leaned against the doorframe attempting to remain composed, But Garnet’s shades looked deep into her form causing her to sweat.
“Something’s wrong.”
“How can ya tell?” Bismuth closed the door behind her before taking a seat on her anvil.
“You’ve been moping around the last few days, and it's not exactly hard to tell how you’re feeling, even without future vision.” Garnet approached to place a comforting hand on Bismuth’s shoulder. “Let me help.”
“You’re the Pearl expert, if you were to…I don’t know, make her a sword…how would you know that it was perfect and something she’d like?”
“You don’t need to worry about that, I’m sure she’ll love anything you make for her.”
Bismuth looked up at the beaming fusion. “You think so?”
“I know so.” Garnet said, tapping the part of her glasses covering her top eye before turning to leave. “I can see a lot of good in your future, try not to worry too much.”
“Thanks.” Bismuth called out behind her, taking a glance at the wedding armor in the corner and smiling. Even if it wasn’t perfect, she was going to make this sword for Pearl, and she wouldn’t wait another 4000 years to get around to telling Pearl how she felt.
Heading back to the old forge invigorated, Bismuth went back to work, and after hours and hours she was able to get a saber constructed. Every hit of her hand against the metal made her more and more certain that she was going to do it, she was going to ask Pearl to marry her, and now, there was only one more test she needed to conduct.
Walking outside the forge doors, Bismuth walked around, looking for a sizable boulder. Twirling the sword in hand, she took one swing, cutting clean through the boulder. Bismuth separated the two halves with her hands, presenting a perfectly clean cut, evenly symmetrical and flat. It was ready…she was ready.
A few weeks later, Bismuth invited Pearl to her forge late at night. As they walked there from the beach house, Bismuth tried her best to stay calm, trying to focus on Pearl’s words to distract herself.
“What did you want to show me Bismuth?” Pearl walked into the forge in front of her, the wedding armor propped up in the corner of the room, slung across its waist lay the sword she had made, situated in a vibrant, teal hilt. “I remember helping make this…I’m glad you got to be able to finish it…wait, who’s this sword for?”
Bismuth got down on one knee as Pearl turned around to face her. “Pearl.” The slim gem held her hand to her mouth, tears already streaming down her face, to which Bismuth chuckled, taking Pearl’s hand in hers. “Pearl…remember during Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding, you told me what catching the bouquet meant in human culture?”
Pearl nodded, stroking the back of Bismuth’s hand with her thumb, wiping away her tears with the other hand.
“...well, here we are. I love you Pearl, so much…from the moment we met actually. I know we don’t really age, but…I want to be with you forever so…will you marry me?”
“Bismuth!” Pearl squealed, tackling Bismuth to the ground, kissing her hard; the larger gem held Pearl close, her hand resting on the small of her back. Pearl cradled Bismuth’s face with her hands, tears dripping on her cheeks; Bismuth reached up to wipe them away. Eventually Pearl stopped crying enough to be able to get any words out. “I love you too…of course I’ll marry you!”
“Really?”
“Really.” The two kissed again, tongues gliding across each other as Pearl sniffled. Bismuth melted into the touch, nearly about to tear up herself. “I can’t believe you had me making my own wedding armor.” Pearl chuckled. “That explains why Yellow was giving me that look when we were making it.”
“I wanted to make sure you’d like it, and I wasn’t sure if I would even ask or not back then.”
“I’m glad you did.” Pearl rested her forehead on Bismuth’s. “I’ve got to tell Steven, everyone! When would you like to do it? I'm free…”
Bismuth kissed her; “There’s plenty of time to plan later…I just…want to be here with you for a while.”
Pearl chuckled; “Can I at least try out that sword?”
Bismuth kissed her cheek, laughing. “I knew you’d ask.”
“You can’t just make me a sword and not expect me to use it…I love you.”
Bismuth slipped a ring on Pearl’s finger and then on her own. “Right back atcha Renegade.”