Work Text:
Pearl had never been this annoyed at Gem in her entire life.
A couple of months ago, Gem had needed a place to stay. Pearl, being the kind soul she was, offered her a spot to crash for a few nights. That turned into weeks, then months, and now they were just… living together. Roommates. Sharing space. Whatever you wanted to call it.
Which was fine. Of course it was fine.
What wasn't fine was Gem going through Pearl’s stuff while she was at work, and now they were arguing. Again.
“God, you can never leave my things alone, can you?” Pearl exclaimed, dropping her bag onto the floor with a thud.
“Maybe if you didn’t leave your shit all over the place, I wouldn’t feel the need to go through it! What’s wrong, you hiding something from me, Pearlie ?” Gem smirked, but Pearl didn’t miss the telltale flush at the tips of her ears. She’d been caught doing something she knew she shouldn’t.
Pearl knew yelling wouldn’t help, but she was too furious to think clearly.
“Do not call me that right now,” she said, letting out a bitter little laugh. “Gem, if you really think I’m hiding something from you, then… I don’t even know what to say. Just, don’t go through my stuff anymore.”
She hated how her voice didn’t sound as sharp as she wanted it to. No matter how angry she was, when it came to Gem, the edge in her voice always softened.
Gem didn’t seem to care. She was still digging through the chaos, unfolded laundry, half-finished sketchbooks, coursework she hadn’t had time to sort.
“Gem! Seriously, get out. You have your own room. You’re just making a mess in mine.”
“No, Pearl.”
Pearl’s jaw dropped. No? She goes through her things, and when she asks her to stop, she says no ?
“Excuse me?” she asked, her voice rising.
“Who is she, Pearl?”
“What? Who are you talki-”
“The girl you drew the other day. I saw her in one of your sketchbooks. I want to know who she is.”
Pearl paused, confused, until it clicked. The drawing. She had asked her friend Cleo to pose for a study on plus-size fashion. It had been purely for practice, but clearly, Gem must’ve seen it differently.
“I… are you talking about Cleo?”
“Oh, so that’s her name?” Gem’s voice trembled with anger now, her breath sharp and uneven.
“Well, actually their name is Cleo. And they’re not a girl.”
“Right. Let me rephrase. Who the fuck are they, and why do you have so many drawings of them?”
“Gem, you need to calm down, okay? And please put my sketchbook down. I really-”
“ Calm down? ” Gem screeched. “I didn’t even know you were gay, and I come home to find pages full of someone else?”
Pearl blinked, stunned. “Wait…what? What about this makes you think I’m gay? And… what does my sexuality have to do with any of this?”
“You’ve never drawn me like that,” Gem muttered, placing the sketchbook in her lap and pointing to a specific drawing. “Look how good they look. You’ve never even asked me to pose for you like that.”
“I’m still not really sure why you felt the need to go through my stuff,” Pearl said more gently now, moving a little closer to where Gem was kneeling.
“Because… you never draw feminine people. And I just got… annoyed, I guess. I wanted to see if there was anything else about them.”
Pearl stared at her, trying to make sense of everything that had just come out of her mouth.
“And you think that just because I drew someone feminine, I’m gay?”
“Are you… not?” Gem asked quietly.
“I- uh... well I haven’t really- it’s not been... I don’t know? But is that really what’s important right now?”
Gem’s eyes locked onto hers, intense and searching, like she was trying to send her a message telepathically.
“You’re so clueless sometimes, Pearl,” she said, standing up with the sketchbook still in hand.
Pearl felt the heat rise in her chest. “Don’t you think I have the right to be confused? I come home from work, find you tearing through my stuff, accusing me of lying, blowing up because of a study sketch-”
“Shut up, Pearl,” Gem said softly, stepping closer.
“What?” Pearl asked, eyes wide, confused by the sudden change in her tone.
“Just… shut up.”
Before she could register what was happening, Gem was cradling her face, and then, kissing her.
Pearl’s heart fluttered as she leaned into the kiss, her mind struggling to catch up with the sudden shift between them. It wasn’t like she’d never kissed anyone before, but something about this, about Gem , was different.
Maybe it was the way Gem’s hands had cupped her face so gently at first, like Pearl was something delicate. Or maybe it was the way she was now walking her slowly, steadily backward, until Pearl’s shoulder blades pressed against the surface of her bedroom wall.
That contact grounded her almost, but only for a moment.
The kiss deepened, and Pearl felt her breath hitch. Her head was spinning, and her body buzzed. Her hands, unsure at first, found their way to Gem’s waist. The fabric of her shirt was soft beneath her fingers, and Pearl gripped it lightly, trying to anchor herself in something real, something solid, as her heart pounded in her chest.
She broke away just slightly, lips tingling, about to say something, questioning maybe, she didn’t even know what, but Gem didn’t give her the chance. She surged forward again, like she couldn’t stand even a second of space between them. This time the kiss was less careful, hungrier.
Gem's hands slid into Pearl’s hair, fingers weaving through the strands, and then she tugged, just enough to draw a gasp from Pearl's lips, swallowed almost instantly between them. The spark that had been simmering quietly between them all this time suddenly caught fire.
Pearl’s grip tightened at Gem’s waist, fingers curling into the fabric. She felt the press of Gem’s body against hers, warm and insistent, and her breath stuttered again. Her pulse was wild, thudding in her throat, and she swore she could feel it in her fingertips, everywhere .
Gem pulled back just enough to rest her forehead against Pearl’s, both of them breathless, lips parted like they weren’t quite ready to stop.
“Still confused?” Gem whispered, her voice low and slightly hoarse.
Pearl blinked up at her, dazed. “About a lot of things,” she murmured, “but i’m not thinking enough right now to care.”
Gem’s lips curled into a smirk, not smug, not mocking, just knowing . She leaned in again, slower this time, kissing her like she had all the time in the world.
And Pearl let herself melt into it, into her.