“Steven? Would you mind excusing us? I have something important to talk about with Peridot.”
“Of course Pearl! No problem!” Watching him to make sure he was out of earshot before she said anything, she took the moment to sit next to the green gem. She barely glanced up at her, fear contained behind her visor, before glancing back to the her screen as she typed away at it with one finger, the other four making it possible. She wanted to wait, to put it off more, but that was only going to cause the both of them more anxiety, and she glanced to her, watching her shaking with barely contained fear, worry, anxiety, and who knew what else. Long gone was the gem they had chased after, because now she was a terrified young gem with no hope of going home and following orders of those who were there. It left an eerily failure feeling in the pit of her stomach at the thought.
“Peridot?” She could see the other swallow, her finger hesitating in mid-air, before it went back to tapping at her conjured screen, like Pearl’s very presence wasn’t terrifying her and worrying her. She felt her heart ache, and wanted to wrap her up in a tight hug, but that wouldn’t help the situation and would do no good for anyone involved. “Can we talk? Without you typing on your finger screen?”
“I… Yes, Pearl,” she mumbled, and the fingers returned to her normal position. Though she was normally full of snark and bite, it was never really when any of them besides Steven was left alone with her. Especially not if Steven had been sent away, such as now. She saw her breathe in slowly, letting it out shakily seconds later. Neither of them needed the air, but she was almost compelled to do the same, with a tightness curling in her chest that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard she tried to force it too.
“You’re probably wondering why I sent Steven away, and why I want to talk to you.” Okay, dumb comment Pearl, of course she’s wondering why you sent him away. Just keep moving forward, and don’t dwell on it, or she might too. “It’s not something that will come to harm you. All I want to do is talk, I assure you. I’m not going to hurt you.”
The other visibly sagged. She pulled both of her knees to her chest, pressing her forehead to where the prosthetics connected to her illusion of a physical form, breathing heavily as she shook. Carefully and calmly, Pearl put a hand on the other’s shoulder, rubbing slow circles on as she waited for her to come back to her and relax. Her fake fingers curled around the limbs, laced together, and she watched the other as she slowly got her breathing back to normal. Or rather, what was normal for an entity who didn’t need to breathe to survive.
“Thank you for telling me so. I thought maybe I had done something wrong and you were going to bubble me away. I… I’m relieved to hear that you won’t be doing so.” She nodded, watching as the other raised her head slightly. Pearl gave her a cautious smile, and it was returned with just as much worry present in the other’s face as moments before.
“No, I honestly just want to talk with you. You’re doing well, and there has been no reason to consider bubbling you since we finally captured you. I thought we could talk about something that’s been bugging me for a while now though.” Peridot swallowed, glancing upwards. Her eyes held every ounce of lounging that Pearl was sure her own held, and watched her bite her bottom lip, chewing it, and oh how she wished she could have kissed her at the at moment and worried the bottom lip between her own teeth, ever so gently, not hard like the other was doing.
“Please don’t make me tell you about Homeworld.” It was a soft whisper, and Pearl wasn’t even sure she had heard it right at first, letting it loop through her head a few times before shaking it slowly.
“What? No. I wasn’t going to ask about Homeworld, or anything to do with the stars tonight. Nothing to do with technology and how it has advanced either. Instead, I want to talk about something else.” She stopped to swallow, fighting back the fear of rejection that was starting to boil inside her, and almost stopped her from saying it, especially when she saw the other’s face. “I want to talk about us.”
Before her confused expression could derail her train of thought, she was quick to continue. “I’ve found that lately, I’ve grown a certain affection towards you. If I was a more impulsive of the lower races, I would probably call it something akin to love. Maybe that is the right word, but I’m not quite sure. You have something in you that just sets off a spark in me, and I want to spend more time with you. I… I want to watch the sunset over the ocean with you, to talk about the star you came from and what you remember, to watch to simply tinker with one of your little robonoids, to hold your hand and share a smile with you, to… To kiss you, even. I think that I’m falling in love with you Peridot.”
When she glanced to the other, she was staring. Her chest was practically heaving, and she looked ready to faint. She reached forward to put a hand on her, to steady her, but instead she put her hand up and stopped it, her frame shaking as she tried so hard to breathe the air she didn’t even need. Pearl felt her expression grow to one of concern, but the other didn’t want her to touch her, and wasn’t sure what to do.
“Pearl… You can’t be serious,” the other squeaked, barely audible as she tried to breathe, her illusion of a physical form labouring to receive the air. She felt something inside her ripping, until Peridot’s head came to rest on her prosthetics again, and a shaking sob slipped out of her as the tears started. “No one could love me.”
“Peridot… Can I hug you?” she started, wanting to give the other physical comfort. When she nodded, her arms wrapped around her tightly and simply held the other as she shook and sobbed. “But I do. I really do. I want to give this a chance, please let me have that. Please let me have a chance to show you again and again that I love you. That someone could.”
Peridot’s sobs grew louder before they dared start to soften. They slowly evened out before stopping entirely, still holding onto herself in Pearl’s grip, before one hand switched slowly, moving so the robotic fingers were pressing gently against her arm. She glanced at her then, watching her head barely nod.
“O-okay. I’ll… I’ll give it… Give us a shot…”