Strange Weather WIP

Note: Here's something a bit different... I've started writing a Gregrosepearl fic for shits and giggles and I wanted to dump what writing I've done so far here. It would be I GUESS "canon" to the art I've drawn of them, maybe... I know it's something a little different and no one's under any obligation to read it (obviously!) but I thought it might be kind of cool to drop some writing content here as well.

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Strange Weather (so far)

Greg was twenty-two that winter. He thought of himself as adventurous and open-minded, perhaps a direct result of his comparatively strict and conservative upbringing. His spontaneity had led him into a strange relationship; one that he couldn’t quite define to himself. Thinking about it made his head hurt. He tried to just accept it and roll with it, as he did with just about anything related to the Crystal Gems.

There were times when it was easy to roll with it. When things fell into a rhythm. But every so often something new would happen, to shake things up.

“We’re almost there, I think,” Pearl announced. She kept her eyes forward when she spoke, ever the careful motorist even while driving on a road where they hadn’t passed another vehicle for hours. In the back of the van, Greg stirred and lifted his head from Rose’s hair, which he’d been using as a pillow while he dozed. He blinked drowsily and tried to stifle a yawn.

“Already?” he asked.

He felt a flutter of something in his chest. He wasn’t certain if it was excitement or anxiety. Uncertainty had been a fairly common feeling in the past few months. He’d learned to, if not become fully comfortable with uncertainty, at least accept it as part of the experience that was having a romance with Rose Quartz. It seemed like the only way to press forward, although he wasn’t sure exactly how far he could reasonably expect to advance.

“This is so exciting!” Rose exclaimed, leaning forward between the two front seats. She peered through the windshield but the scenery was all forest and snow, the same as it had been for a few hours. “I’m so glad we’re doing this. We needed this…”

Pearl’s eyes darted up to glance at Greg in the rearview mirror. It was only for an instant before she stubbornly returned to the road, her cheeks colouring a faint cyan. Greg looked down and he ran his palm behind the back of his neck.

We needed this.

It was the first time Greg had ever been alone with Rose for any extended period of time. Gem missions tended to call her away frequently and their time together was planned around those moments. There were other distractions too; the other gems all seemed to clamour for Rose’s divided attention as well. Greg was the interloper, or at least felt like one. He tried not to demand too much from Rose. There wasn’t nearly enough slack to work with. Not enough empty time, stability or routine to really and truly put down roots with her. Rose was an untethered kite and he was just a man tangled up in her string, along for the ride.

She’d expressed it to him the first night they’d met. The first night they’d become physically intimate. At that time it was fairly ordinary sex and in no way an indication of what would eventually come. But after their sweat-soaked union in the back of his van, Rose had gone quiet and thoughtful next to him. Greg was lying on his back, arms tucked behind his head, still riding the afterglow. After a contemplative silence, Rose spoke. She was facing away from him on the mattress. Greg, at the time fairly unfamiliar with gems as a species, had assumed she’d fallen asleep. But then she uttered a single sentence in the dark and humid air.

“I don’t want to take your life away from you.”

It was uncharted territory. Greg had been in a handful of relationships with men and women, both serious and fleeting. But there wasn’t a playbook for Rose Quartz who was neither a man nor a woman, strictly speaking. She wasn’t human, something she continuously stressed to him.

There wasn’t a plan. But Greg had assumed that a plan would eventually emerge, given enough time. That somehow he’d stumble ass-backwards into something resembling stability with Rose. When he’d been on the road with Marty, he’s operated under the same assumption. He assumed that he’d eventually become a famous rockstar because the alternative was too difficult to consider. When he was with Rose, he initially thought they were moving towards something too and it would make itself clear if he just stuck it out for long enough.

The more he learned about her, the more he understood. Their relationship, however it could be defined, would remain where it was. And although Greg had fallen hard for Rose, he had come to realize what she meant, the reason she had wanted to him to stay away. She could never give him the trappings of a relationship, as defined by humans. They’d never marry, they’d never live together, never raise a family together, never grow old together. And it was a sobering realization to come to.

“What we have… it can only ever be this,” Rose had said to him once, with shame in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t give you anything else…”

Greg had spent a bit of time in mourning when he realized what Rose had meant and what it meant for them. But he emerged from that brief period with a new clarity. His life was short, as Rose had said. And he decided that all he could do was what he had always done. He had to follow his heart. And his heart told him that he wanted to be with Rose. The marriage, the house, the picket fence, the three kids, none of those things really mattered to Greg if it meant leaving Rose. So he’d torn up those vaguely defined dreams and let them go, as he’d done many times before.

Greg just allowed himself to roll with it. He’d come to enjoy the peace that came with just knowing that they’d arrived at whatever place they would always remain at. After all, inertia could be a comforting thing.

And then Pearl came along.

The van made an abrupt turn down a narrow path, taking them off the main road. The snowy pine trees nearly touched the vehicle on either side. But then the trees opened up and they were suddenly in the driveway of the residence that was their destination. A rental cottage right at the edge of a frozen lake.

The daylight had begun to fade early due to the season. As such, the heavy snow on the ground and roof had taken on a blueish tinge by that time in the day and the sky was getting dark. The cottage resembled a log cabin, and the person who had maintained it had left the lights on for them in anticipation of their arrival. Amid the blue snow, the warm hues of the exterior and the orange glow in the windows made the structure look like a cozy oasis in a freezing landscape. At least it did to Greg. He gawked at it like it was an idyllic image out of a greeting card.

Pearl’s expression wasn’t nearly so awed. She didn’t look especially impressed with their destination, although Pearl didn’t allow herself to enjoy most human things. Her attitude towards anything human-related tended to swing between disinterest to patronizing. Greg hadn’t expected much from her.

Rose on the other hand was staring with a starry-eyed gaze. Her wonderment was almost child-like in how raw and open it was. The opposite of Pearl, Rose seemed to find all human things novel and exciting.

“This is really all for us?” Rose asked.

Pearl lifted a slip of paper and glanced down at it. “This is the right address,” she answered.

“Let’s go, then!”

Rose flung open the back doors of the van and leapt out. Behind her, Greg zipped up his parka and grabbed his bag to sling it over his shoulder. He hopped out of the back of the van, his boots crunching into the snow. He couldn’t help but shiver as he watched Rose run barefoot to the front door. He knew that gem bodies didn’t feel hot and cold the same way humans did, but the sight of bare feet in the snow still gave him secondhand chills.

The air was crisp but damp, with an earthy scent lingering. The smell of thaw. It was December and despite the snowfall, winter hadn’t quite gotten a foothold and likely wouldn’t until January. Greg thought it was the perfect time to come.

He shut the back doors of the van as Pearl came around from the front. She handed him the keys and he took them and zipped them into his jacket pocket. “Thanks for driving,” he said. Pearl had already walked past him, though, and didn’t seem to hear him. Greg’s shoulders fell and he exhaled a visible puff of air.

The two gems waited on the front porch of the cottage as Greg shuffled up. He fumbled around in his parka pocket for the key and then unlocked the front door with it. He tapped his snowy boots on the edge of the doorframe before entering, with Rose and Pearl behind him.

“Whoa…” Greg said, taking in the interior of the cottage. “Nice digs.”

“Here, let me take your bag,” Pearl offered, taking it off Greg’s shoulder. Greg allowed it, too distracted to care or protest. Pearl brought it into the kitchen area and set it on the table, unzipping it and taking out the foods Greg had bought in town that needed to go into the fridge. As she did so, Greg and Rose, their excitement mounting, ran from room to room to look at everything.

“Rose, check out the main bath!” Greg exclaimed, leaning out from the doorway. “You could totally fit in the bathtub!”

“Ooh! Let me see! WOW!”

The two of them ran behind Pearl in the kitchen, like a pair of rambunctious children, heading to the back of the cottage. Greg opened the sliding back door and they stepped out onto the deck to see the view.

The deck was adorned with a string of white lights that wrapped all around the wooden railings. They were already on when the two of them exited the cottage, and had been partially the reason they’d been drawn to go outside.

Greg dusted snow off the guard railing and leaned against it, looking out over the lake. A few people were skating, their voices carrying over the winter air. Other cottages dotted the shoreline, mostly visible in the waning light due to the lights from their windows.

Greg breathed in the fresh, pine-scented air. He leaned back, gripping the railing and closed his eyes for a moment, just marinating in the experience. Then he turned to Rose, who was standing next to him. “What do you think?” he asked her.

Rose didn’t look at him. Her eyes were staring off into the distance, past the lake, past the shadowed trees, off towards the cold horizon. Her expression was serene.

“It’s perfect,” she responded. “This is perfect.”

Then Rose’s attention was pulled from the view, or whatever she was looking at or thinking about. She turned to look over her shoulder, through the glass sliding doors. Pearl was in the kitchen, setting a kettle out on the stove and turning it on. Greg looked at Pearl inside the cottage, then looked at Rose’s face. Rose’s eyes always seemed unfocused and melancholy, even when she was happy. In that moment though, her expression was plainly disappointed. She lowered her gaze, her body wilting. She sighed.

Greg waited, but Rose didn’t speak up about what was on her mind.

“D’you think Pearl doesn’t like it?” Greg asked.

“I don’t know…”

“C’mon, Rose,” Greg urged, giving her a nudge in the arm. “You’re so lousy at this.”

“At what?”

“Hiding when you’re bummed out.”

Rose looked at Greg and she gave him a sad smile. “I guess I always have been…”

Greg had picked up on Rose’s relationship with Pearl fairly early on, although Rose never brought it up with him. When he finally broached the subject of Pearl to Rose, she seemed guilty and uncomfortable. Initially, she feigned confusion over the whole thing. It was the first time Greg felt like he’d brought the untethered kite back down.

Monogamy wasn’t a value Greg necessarily held dear, but he still felt like it was important to be upfront. Watching Rose trying to twist her way out of an uncomfortable conversation made the traits he liked about her suddenly feel off, as if her exuberance and gentle demeanour were meant to distract and placate him. He didn’t quite understand it all, right at that moment. But it was jarring.

“I don’t know if there’s a human equivalent to easily explain my relationship to Pearl…” Rose admitted, her eyes downcast.

“Well it’s obvious there’s something going on with you and her. She’s basically told me.”

Rose looked startled. “She has?”

“Well… basically. I mean she may as well have peed all around you, she’s so territorial.”

Rose was silent. Greg waited but after a long pause, Rose only uttered, “Oh.” Greg tried to edge her towards some kind of explanation.

“Are you in love?” he asked.

There was another long pause. “I suppose so…” Rose answered. She gave her head a shake and seemed to become frustrated with her uncertainty. “Yes,” she corrected in a more confident voice. Then she deflated a little. “At least… she’s in love with me.”

“And you?”

Rose frowned. “I… am. But…” She sighed. “It’s very complicated. And delicate.”

“Okay…” Greg breathed.

Rose regarded him with a guilty, pouting face. “Is that a problem?”

“Uh… no. I just wish you’d told me. Were you ever planning to tell me about you and Pearl?”

“No…” she admitted, chewing her bottom lip.

“Is it a secret?”

“It’s not a secret, I just…” Rose looked confused again, her brows furrowed as she struggled against some kind of mental barrier. She seemed to hit them a lot whenever Greg brought up anything about their relationship. Despite Rose’s past human paramours, it had become obvious to Greg that they’d never been that serious. These conversations continued to baffle the gem.

Rose finally laughed, uncomfortably. “It’s just that no one has ever asked me about Pearl, before. So I… I never really thought of how to explain our relationship to someone else.”

“Over, what? Five thousand years… none of the men you were with ever asked about Pearl?”

Rose shook her head. “You’re the first.”

“Do you talk to Pearl about me?”

“No.”

“She never asks?”

Rose looked worried. “Is that strange?”

Greg was mildly offended by it. Pearl had always been cold to him at best and he would’ve felt smugly satisfied to learn that she was quizzing Rose about him, trying to gauge how much of a threat he was. It was disappointing to learn that wasn’t the case. It was also confusing. But he didn’t push it. At the time, they were only about three months into their relationship. It had been too early and too new. So he’d let it be.

The back door slid open and Greg turned from the edge of the deck to see Pearl leaning out. “There’s water for tea if you want it,” she said.

Rose didn’t say anything or even react to it. Greg forced a smile. “Pearl, you gotta come see this view! It’s amazing!”

Pearl hesitated a moment before she stepped out onto the deck. “Is it?” she asked.

Greg knew better than to grab her and pull her. Instead he moved over to open up a spot between himself and Rose. “Just come look! It’s nothing like Beach City, that’s for sure.”

“Well… After driving for nine hours to get here, I’d certainly hope not,” Pearl said, smiling faintly. She stood between them to look out at the scenery. “It’s nice.”

“You are one tough customer, Pearl,” Greg chuckled. He gave her a playful punch on the arm.

“I think it’s beautiful,” Rose spoke. Pearl started, turning to look at her.

“It’s… not without its charm,” Pearl relented. That seemed to be enough for Rose because she beamed widely in response, which sent Pearl blushing and smiling goofily.

“I’m glad. Then we all like it here!” Rose said.

“This weekend is gonna ROCK!” Greg declared, punching a fist into the air.

“Yeah!” Rose enthusiastically agreed.

“Look out, everybody!” Greg called out over the lake. “We’re gonna party down!”

Rose giggled and then thrust both her fists up above her head. “Party down! Whoo!”

“C’mon, Pearl!” Greg encouraged. “You ready to get down?!”

Pearl rolled her eyes but she was smiling regardless. “Please. I was ‘getting down’ before your great great grandfather was born.”

“Aw, you always gotta bring the age into it!” Greg pouted.

“Mm. That’s right.” Pearl smirked and probed his cheek with her finger. “I have to lord over you a little bit.”

“Yeah well…” Greg leaned to the side, scooping an armful of snow off the railing and balling it up. “Lord over THIS!” He threw a snowball right at Pearl’s head. It hit her square in the cheek, broke apart on contact, and the remnants ran down the side of her face as wet slush. Even at close range, Pearl didn’t flinch at the impact. Greg’s smile vanished in an instant. Pearl reached up and touched her cheek, wiping away some of the snow. Behind her, Rose had her hands over her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh.

“For your sake I hope that wasn’t your A Game, Mr. Universe,” Pearl said with a growing grin. “Because you just declared war. And now…” She linked her fingers together and cracked her knuckles. Greg took a step back. “I’m going to wipe the deck with you.”

“Run, Greg!” Rose cried.

Greg stumbled and then turned and broke into a run, kicking up a spray of snow as he tried to find his footing on the slippery wood. He zig-zagged down the deck’s length before tearing down the stairs and landing in snow that almost went over his boots. He turned to look behind him and Pearl was rather menacingly descending the stairs, taking slow, almost robotic steps. Rose remained above them on the deck, her expression theatrically concerned. “Oh no! Run away, Greg! Hide!” she called to him, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Pearl’s gonna getcha!”

“Right!” Greg agreed. He took off running but he was hampered by his wheezing laughter and the depth of the snow. Pearl was in close pursuit, the snow not appearing to slow her down in any way. Greg tried feebly to throw a few more snowballs at her. Two missed and one hit her in the chest, which she didn’t seem the least bit fazed by. Greg stumbled as Pearl suddenly sped up, bounding through the snow towards him like she was a snow leopard in another life.

Greg’s scream echoed over the treetops and he tried to get away. But he was taken out by a snowball to the back of the head. He fell forward and landed face first in the snow. Before he could even get his bearings, Pearl slammed into his body, knocking him flat. He screamed again, but his voice was muffled. Pearl roughly pulled him by the shoulder to flip him over and she gave him a few seconds to sputter and catch his breath before she pinned him.

Greg winced and he opened his eyes, staring up at Pearl. “Alright, alright! You win!” Greg cried. “Let me up, the snow is melting into my jeans…”

Pearl grinned. “Serves you right.”

Greg sighed. “Yeah, yeah. I forgot your head is like a slab of cement.”

“How dare you!” Pearl cried. “Just for that…” She leaned down towards Greg’s face. Greg felt that familiar, anxious flutter in his chest. Then Pearl pressed her lips into his neck and blew a raspberry. Greg gasped and tried to buck her off of him, to no avail. Pearl leaned forward and gripped both his wrists, pinning them above his head. His human strength was simply no match for her gem strength.

Greg tried to thrash his way out of Pearl’s grip but it was no use. Pearl was like a statue on top of him, her body barely jostled by his movements. She was still leaning forward; she had to, to keep his wrists pinned. As Greg began to tire, he found himself face to face with her.

Greg breathed deeply, trying to catch his breath after putting up an ultimately useless fight. He was cold all over but his face began to feel warm. Pearl was smirking, her eyes half-lidded. “You lose,” she said, softly.

“I guess I do,” Greg sighed. Pearl was rather blatantly straddling his hips, her bare thighs touching him on either side. Greg’s eyes trailed downward, over the enticing curve of her body over him. He flexed his fingers. “Hey… uh…” he began, averting his eyes from her. “I’m glad we’re all here. I’m glad you’re here…”

Pearl’s hands slowly released Greg’s wrists and she shifted backwards into an upright sitting position. She craned her neck to look at the sky, which had become dark.

“Greg! Oh noooo!” Rose cried from the distance. She was suddenly descending over them, dropping slowly and landing on her feet in the snow next to Pearl and Greg. Rose grabbed Pearl around the waist and lifted her off of Greg, wrapping her arms around her. “I’ve got her!”

Pearl giggled and tried to squirm out of Rose’s grip. “Rose, how could you protect this fiend!” Pearl cried.

“Shh, shh…” Rose cooed. She rotated Pearl in her arms so that Pearl’s face was pushed into Rose’s ample cleavage. Pearl’s face went bright cyan and her struggling ceased immediately.

Greg sat up in the snow and dusted himself off before he got to his feet. He could feel the biting cold in the backs of his legs and butt. His pants were soaking wet. Despite that, he did have to laugh at Pearl’s predicament. “You exploited her only weakness, Rose! Your boobs!”

“Even after six thousand years, I never seem to tire of them,” Pearl sighed. “That’s such a dirty trick, Rose.”

“I had to do something to stop the conflict!” Rose answered. She was grinning and she set Pearl down on her feet. The two gems shared a private, affectionate smile with one another. But then Greg’s chattering teeth took their attention.

“Oh, Greg… are you cold?” Rose asked, worriedly.

“Yeah… no thanks to this one,” Greg answered, nodding in Pearl’s direction. Pearl was unperturbed.

“Don’t start things you can’t finish, human.”

Rose laughed. “Okay. Well… let’s get back inside so we can warm up.”

—

The second level of the cottage hadn’t been sufficiently explored and Greg was the one to climb the staircase to reach it. It wasn’t a full floor but a loft that provided a complete, unimpeded view of the living room where Rose and Pearl were starting a fire in the fireplace.

In the loft was the main bedroom, the fourth wall of it completely non existent and therefore open to the eyes of anyone on the bottom level. Greg dropped his bag on the floor next to the bed and unbuttoned his pants. They were wet and cold, and he was eager to be rid of them. Leaving them in a heap on the floor, he slipped off his shirt next, paused, then quickly shimmied out of his boxers as well.

Totally naked, he awkwardly knelt next to the bed to dig around his bag for the pajamas he’d packed. In hot Beach City, his sleepwear was generally underwear or nothing. He’d bought the flannel pajamas specifically for the weekend, and they hadn’t been cheap. Then again, nothing about their weekend getaway was cheap. It was the result of a lot of scrimping and saving, probably the first and last time they would be able to do this.

Greg slapped the pajamas down on the bed just as Pearl ascended the staircase. At the sight of her, Greg reacted automatically by grabbing the pajamas in a bundle and trying to cover himself. He realized immediately that it was a stupid reaction. Had it been Rose, he wouldn’t have done it. But he was still adjusting to Pearl. Pearl in turn reacted by averting her eyes and blushing even though the sight of Greg naked wasn’t novel to her either. It seemed to strike both of them as an overreaction. But neither of them let their guard down.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I was curious... u-uh, to see the bedroom, I mean.”

Greg hurriedly tugged on the pajama bottoms, his face burning. “Well, here it is,” he said, making a limp gesture with his arm.

Pearl walked over to the bed and ran her hand smoothly over the duvet as she circled it. Greg slipped his pajama top over his shoulders, flipping his long hair out of the collar and letting it fall down his back.

There was something unacknowledged between them. Between all three of them, really. It was a watershed moment for Greg’s relationship with Rose; the first time they’d actually done anything together that felt planned and deliberate. Their first real romantic getaway. Possibly the only one he’d ever have with her. But Pearl was there, too.

Greg started to fiddle with his shirt buttons, looking down to do so. Pearl’s pale hands came into view. “Here…” she murmured. Greg raised his head to look at her as she buttoned up his pajama top. It was hardly worth the trouble to do so. Greg was more than capable of buttoning up his own clothes. But the gesture suggested something intimate and affectionate between them.

Pearl gave his shirt a tug once she’d buttoned it up, just to straighten it out. “There we go…” she said, her voice soft. “I’m sorry I came. I probably shouldn’t have. You wanted to be alone with Rose…”

“You were invited,” Greg answered.

“Yes, but… I feel like I was meant to decline that invitation. Wasn’t I?” Pearl stepped back from him.

When Greg had first begun to date Rose, he hadn’t thought much of Pearl at all. She hadn’t given him much reason to like her. He tried to be polite, even friendly with her, and she snubbed him every time. Although he occasionally had to acknowledge Pearl’s presence when he met Rose at the warp pad or if he was hanging around the temple, the two of them mostly avoided each other. Greg found Pearl intimidating, and she obviously didn’t like him at all.

When Rose sat Greg down in the van, it had come completely out of the blue. Even Rose seemed unsure of what to do with it.

“Pearl wants to… join in, sometimes.”

“Join in what?” Greg asked, cracking open a can of Sugar Shock Shutdown and taking a swig.

“Our lovemaking,” Rose answered, bluntly.

Greg sputtered and the soda went spraying out his nose, sending him doubling over and having a coughing fit. Rose gasped and worriedly pat his back.

“Wh-what?” Greg wheezed when he finally had the ability to speak again. “Why?”

Rose blinked. “I… I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

“Rose!” Greg cried, exasperated. “You just… took it at face value? What did you say??”

Rose withdrew a little, pouting. “I said I’d ask you!”

“Do you want to do that?”

Rose shrugged, looking away from him. “I… I mean… it sounds fun,” she admitted. “I love you both, so obviously… I wouldn’t mind it so much.”

“But do you love us together?” Greg asked. “It’s a totally different dynamic, you know. I mean… I was completely fine with being totally separate from… from Pearl, from your relationship with Pearl. But…”

“You’re allowed to say no,” Rose said.

“Yeah, and then I’m the jerk who wasn’t down for a threesome,” Greg sighed. He wasn’t a complete stranger to such a thing, but he’d only done it once, while intoxicated, regrettably with Marty involved. The experience had left a bad taste in his mouth and he was hesitant to repeat it. There was so much friction between himself and Pearl. He was fairly certain that such activities would only complicate things further. He hadn’t even realized that the other gems had any interest in sex at all, either with humans or with each other.

Not knowing what else to do, Greg doubled over again and held his head in his hands. “I gotta think about it, Rose…”

The question Greg always had for Pearl was “Why?”. How Pearl felt for him had at one point seemed simple to him. She hated him. He could deal with that. That felt like a certain thing to him. In a way, it had been one of the only certain things he could count on. He’d even come to enjoy the friction between them. When he became sure that Pearl wasn’t going to annihilate him, he started purposefully teasing her and annoying her. He liked dangling his relationship with Rose in front of her, just to get her going.

But Pearl had subverted his expectations in a major way. And had continued to do so.

“Pearl…” Greg sighed, running a hand through his hair. “There’s no ‘me and Rose’, anymore. There hasn’t been for a while. There’s ‘me, you and Rose’, now.”

“What does that mean?” Pearl asked.

Greg chuckled. “What do you want it to mean?”

Pearl looked surprised. “What do you want it to mean?” she countered.

“I’m glad you came here…” Greg said, honestly. It wasn’t an answer to her question, but he didn’t know if he had one. He felt timid.

Things between him and Pearl always felt at least a little bit for Rose’s benefit. She loved watching them. At times she was only their audience, praising them from afar while the two of them were physical. Her presence encouraged them forward, even though Rose never pressured them to do anything. Rose was always acting as a buffer or a moderator. Or maybe a consumer. When Rose was with them, whether she was part of it or simply watching, neither of them felt anxious.

Pearl had become a regular fixture in Greg and Rose’s love life. Not as an obstacle but as an addition. Pearl’s suggestion that Greg and Rose wanted to be alone was almost comical by that point. Having Pearl with them felt natural and expected. It caught him by surprise, how quickly his heart had softened to her. He’d wanted to put up resistance, to punish her for how she’d treated him at first. But Greg had melted into her almost immediately, the second she let down her thorny exterior.

Greg wasn’t sure that he would’ve felt any of that independent of Rose. That was the somewhat uncomfortable reality. Rose was the catalyst. Without her to bridge the gap between them, Greg and Pearl probably never would’ve spoken to each other, much less ended up in whatever arrangement they had. If Rose was gone, Greg was fairly certain that whatever he had with Pearl would quickly disintegrate. The three of them had become a new relationship and Greg could only evaluate it on that level. It was the three of them or nothing at all and Rose was at the core, the beating heart of their triad. Greg was alright with that, though. It was just another one of those things he tried to roll with.

Pearl allowed herself a little smile. “I’m glad I came here too,” she said, softly.

“Good because if you hadn’t come, I would’ve been pissed,” Greg joked. He dared to step forward and he pressed a kiss to her cheek. The action left both of them blushing faintly. “Also, did you see the size of the bed?” Greg asked, his tone suggestive. “That’s part of the reason I booked this place, you know. Lots of room in the bed.”

Pearl raised an eyebrow. “Your true intentions are coming out, now.”

Greg laughed. “Aw… nah. I mean… yeah, I’d like that but really I just wanted to do something alone with you two. I just wanted to be… the three of us for a while, like a real…” He paused. “Relationship.”

“Well… I wasn’t sure about it at first,” Pearl admitted. “But… this is actually quite nice. I’m happy we did this.”

“Came here?”

“Hm… That too.”

—

Whenever possible, Rose would excuse herself to give Greg and Pearl opportunities to be alone. At that moment, she was seated on the floor in front of the fire, trying not to eavesdrop on the murmurings coming from the loft. She also kept her back to it, to try and give Greg and Pearl some privacy. Internally though, Rose was a maelstrom of anxiety. She felt it in her chest, fluttering like a bird in a cage. She didn’t know what to do with such big feelings. To keep herself from running and squealing in excitement, she tried to anchor herself to the floor and focus on the flames. Anything to allow Pearl and Greg a few moments together.

It wasn’t just that it was Greg, although Rose was very excited by that fact as well. She was excited because Pearl had almost never attempted any sort of relationship with a human in general. Rose never pushed her to; Rose tried very hard not to push Pearl to do anything. Even with Pearl’s insistence that she was bound to Rose not by duty or design, but of her own free will, Rose remained skeptical of that claim.

She loved Pearl. Her tendency to wander off at times and partake in earth’s splendours (one of which was humans) didn’t dull Rose’s feelings for her in the least. It was a different sort of love that ran parallel to her love of the planet and all its creatures. Her love for Pearl felt solid and reliable. It felt like coming home. Pearl was the only bridge left between her old life and the one she’d created for herself. There was a comfort in that. It felt a little bit like accountability. Just by existing at her side, Pearl was a reminder of where she’d come from and a reason to never go back. Not that she ever thought of going back. She always banished those thoughts from her mind like they were toxic. She wished she could actually erase them from her mind, but the past was her burden, always. And she felt like she deserved to carry that burden for the rest of her days.

Rose closed her eyes a moment, furrowing her brows. She didn’t go as far as to thump her fist on her head, but she could have. She tried to bury those uncertain, ugly thoughts. She could indulge them when she was alone, but she couldn’t let her mind entertain them while she was with Pearl and Greg. If she let herself become wretched and withdrawn, she’d ruin their weekend together. It was the only time they’d ever done something like that and she had to keep her mood positive. She had to focus on the present, not wallow in her self-hatred. There were always things to mourn and regrets to have, but she had to move forward. She couldn’t look back. Looking back never led her to anything proactive. It only seemed to paralyze her.

She hated that about herself, too.

“Stop,” Rose uttered to herself, opening her eyes again. And it did stop, at least for the time being.

She turned at the sounds of Pearl and Greg’s voices coming in more clearly as they ascended the stairs together. Rose didn’t move from her spot except to turn slightly to look at the two of them. Greg was laughing and Pearl was grinning in a smug sort of way.

“No come on, what weapon would I have if I was a gem?” Greg asked. “Which one would suit me?”

“A nylon sock full of mashed potatoes,” Pearl deadpanned.

Greg gave her a little shove. “What would I do, just like swing it around over my head?”

Rose put a hand over her mouth and snort-laughed, catching the attention of the pair as they walked over.

“Rose, what weapon would I have if I was a gem, do you think?” Greg asked her.

“You already have a weapon, Greg. Your sexuality,” Rose got out before she was laughing again. Greg huffed.

“Maybe Greg wouldn’t have a weapon, he’d just play music and make everyone happy,” Pearl said.

“Ooh! A pacifist route! I like that!” Rose agreed. “The power of music!”

“Forget you guys!” he declared. He stood up on the couch cushions, putting one foot up on the arm of the couch. “I think I’d have some kind of robot gun on my arm. Like a huge gun, just like strapped to my arm like this.”

“Mm. Yes. And then the recoil could shatter all your bones every time you shot it,” Pearl mused. She sat next to Rose on the floor and leaned into her, affectionately. Rose smiled and pressed a kiss to her gem.

“Nuh uh, because in this scenario I’m a cyborg and my bones are made of titanium,” Greg retorted.

“I thought you said you were a gem,” Rose said, tilting her head in confusion.

“Oh yeah… no, now I’m a cyborg with a robot gun arm and titanium bones,” Greg decided.

“Honestly with some training and a proper weapon, he would be useful on missions,” Pearl said to Rose, matter-of-factly. “The corruptions don’t seem to notice humans at all. For all we know, Greg could be completely invisible to them.”

Rose’s face fell and she looked away. “The corrupt gems,” she corrected Pearl.

“Right… I’m sorry…” Pearl apologized, frowning and setting a hand on Rose’s arm.

“A gem mission is no place for a human,” Rose added, seriously.

“I got a day job now, anyways,” Greg sighed. He threw his head back and groaned theatrically, before dropping into a seated position on the couch. “Already a sell-out at twenty two, just like my old man.”

“Well, if you work really hard, you’ll be able to retire at age seventy five and then die two years later,” Pearl pointed out, cheerfully.

“That’s the plan,” Greg answered with a chuckle. “You guys’ll take care of me when I’m old, won’t you? You won’t put me in a home?”

“Your van is your home,” Rose answered, confused.

“No, like a home for old people! A retirement home!” Greg laughed.

Rose pouted. “I don’t want to think about that right now,” she answered. “Time moves fast enough as it is.”

“Ugh, yeah… every year feels like it went by faster than the last,” Greg said. “It must be insane for you two. To you guys, I live as long as a pet goldfish.”

“More like a fruit fly,” Pearl said. Greg threw a throw pillow at her but Pearl caught it before it hit her in the face.

“I bet you’re just counting down the days, waiting for me to run out the clock,” Greg teased to Pearl.

Pearl set the throw pillow down in her lap and she looked at Greg seriously. “Of course I’m not…” she said, softly.

Greg blinked in surprise and Rose smiled. “O-oh…” Greg mumbled, blushing. He coughed and looked away. “Well… good.”

Rose groaned and she flopped dramatically to her side, lying on the floor with her limbs splayed out like she was a ragdoll. She let her copious amounts of pink hair fall across her face. “How did we get on this topic? Let’s stop talking about Greg dying or Greg shattering his bones, okay? Please?”

“Okay,” Pearl and Greg agreed.

Rose blew a coiled lock of hair out of her face and looked at Greg. She smiled mischievously. “Sooo… what did you two do upstairs?” she asked.

“Well, I’m pretty sure the only reason Pearl went upstairs was to look at me while I was changing clothes,” Greg answered. He got off the couch to join the two gems on the floor. When he was close to the fire, he held his palms out to it to absorb some of the dry heat. The air outside the cottage wasn’t especially cold, but it was damp and damp had a way of chilling Greg to the bone. It still lingered, even when he was in dry clothes.

Rose turned her head to look at Pearl, raising an eyebrow. Pearl sputtered a few syllables in protest, sitting up on her knees and putting her fists on her hips. “That wasn’t why I went upstairs!” she cried. “And anyway, I’ve seen all that…” She gestured vaguely over Greg’s form, wrinkling her nose. “All that mess, dozens of times.”

“No one can resist The Universe,” Greg answered, smugly. “It’s okay, Pearl. Many have tried. But in the end, they all want some of this.”

Pearl rolled her eyes but she wasn’t able to come up with a good retort. Rose sat up. “Did you see anything good, Pearl?” she asked.

“I didn’t-! I wasn’t-!” Pearl stammered. She put a hand over her head, unable to fight off a blush that made Greg laugh and Rose coo and poke her cheek.

“You don’t think Greg is cute?” Rose pressed, knowing she was probably pushing her luck just a little bit but unable to resist possibly getting a confession out of her.

“Greg’s physical appearance is tolerable,” Pearl answered, huffily. Then she added, after a pause, “In pitch darkness.”

“Pearl, you are in rare form!” Greg laughed. He was already scooting back from the fire after finding that it was too warm in his pajamas to sit so close to it.

Rose giggled as well. “Pearl, you’re so silly… this was your idea, after all.”

“Well I… didn’t suggest it because I thought Greg was physically attractive,” Pearl clarified, blushing again. “But I suppose… for a human… Greg is cute,” she relented.

Greg couldn’t let that one go and he sidled up to Pearl, leaning heavily against her. “Go on,” he encouraged.

Pearl looked away from him, scowling deeply. “That’s all you’re getting!”

“Do you think Pearl is cute, Greg?” Rose asked. She sat back on her arms, feeling more relaxed.

“Yeah, she’s really cute,” Greg answered without hesitation. Pearl gave him a shocked look and Rose happily scooped Greg up in her arms and kissed his cheek.

“That’s so sweet of you to say!” she exclaimed. “Aw… Pearl is very cute. All pearls are cute but my Pearl is especially cute. Cuter than all the rest.”

“I believe it,” Greg answered, nodding sagely. “Definitely.”

“Oh, goodness…” Pearl mumbled, putting her hands on her cheeks and looking flustered. Rose and Greg moved to sit on either side of Pearl. Rose gently lifted one of Pearl’s hands and pressed a delicate kiss to her fingers.

“There are many wonderful things about my Pearl that I just adore,” Rose whispered, gazing at the smaller gem.

Pearl smiled, still feeling horribly flustered by the sudden attention. She felt Greg’s arms move to encircle her waist and she tensed up momentarily before relaxing as he leaned into her, kissing her shoulder. Pearl inhaled, shakily.

“You two…” she breathed, closing her eyes. She gasped as Rose’s plush lips claimed her neck. The kiss was soft and chaste, but Pearl’s body reacted to it all the same. She felt a twinge of excitement travel through her form and she shuddered.

Sensing that they were ganging up on Pearl, Greg kissed her neck on his side of her as well, earning a whimper from the lithe gem. “You’re so sensitive,” Greg murmured.

“I can’t… against both of you, I can’t…” Pearl whined, twisting between their two bodies as the kissing assault continued from both sides.

“Can’t what, Pearl?” Rose purred between soft, moist little kisses along Pearl’s chest.

“I… I can’t resist…” Pearl ground out.

“That’s because you’re our Pearl,” Rose answered.

There was an abrupt halt in their activities, all three of them briefly tensing up at the words. Even Rose, who had uttered them, seemed to regret it quickly.

Pearl was the first to relax. She sighed, letting her eyes close again. She reached to cup Greg’s chin with one hand, Rose’s with the other, and try to draw them both nearer to her. “That’s right,” she agreed, softly. “I’m your Pearl… and I… love you…”

Greg shared a look with Rose. Both of them wore matching expressions of astonishment. Greg wasn’t certain if Pearl had really meant to address both of them or just Rose. He didn’t know if it was something he was supposed to just ignore. Pearl did have a tendency to blurt out interesting things when she was overwhelmed. But somehow, it didn’t seem to be the same situation. Pearl had been hesitant to say it. Greg felt like it was a significant moment and it would’ve been wrong to simply let it pass by.

It only took a moment of reflection before Greg spoke. “Love you too.”

Rose went in quickly to support Greg. “Yes, we love you, Pearl,” she said. “Of course. How could we not?”

“O-oh…” Pearl squeaked, her eyes misting over. “I was…” She brought her hands to her face, rubbing at her eyes. Greg and Rose both leaned away from her to give her a bit of space. Rose reached out to gently rub Pearl’s back, to soothe her. The contact sent Pearl dissolving into a blubbering mess immediately.

Greg was more alarmed than Rose was, since he was unused to Pearl’s emotional side. He moved to embrace her but stopped when he noticed that Rose was only smiling. Her eyes were soft and her lips were slightly pursed. She continued to rub Pearl’s back and she tutted gently at her, reminding Greg of a mother soothing a child. Pearl leaned against Rose’s shoulder and let the larger gem loop a supporting arm around her small frame. Pearl’s hand reached out towards Greg as well, fumbling around for him. Greg shifted closer and Pearl’s fingers clasped the front of his shirt, gripping and tugging him roughly towards herself. She put an arm around both of them, her body shaking as she cried.

“I-I’m so happy…” Pearl said, her voice thick with tears. “I was… I wasn’t sure… about any of this… I felt like maybe I was a third wheel…”

“Aw, not at all, Pearl. Come on…” Greg said, softly. He rested his cheek against her shoulder. He felt Pearl’s fingers flex against his scalp and tangle into his hair as she tried to hold onto him.

“I’m sorry I was so hostile, Greg, I…” Pearl tried to get out between hitching breaths.

“Hey, stop. It’s not like I was an angel to you, either. It’s fine.” Greg assured her. “Water under the bridge, okay?”

Pearl sniffled and nodded. “O-okay…” she squeaked.

Rose held Pearl’s face in her hands and pressed a tender kiss to her lips. Pearl let her eyes close and she placed a hand against Rose’s hand, leaning into it. Rose parted from her, resting her forehead against Pearl’s and gazing at her. “Sweet Pearl…” she murmured, fondly. “You really thought we didn’t want you here with us?”

“I felt like I was intruding on your relationship…” Pearl admitted, weepily.

“Not at all…” Rose assured her. “Having you here… both of you… It makes me so happy. Nothing could make me happier than the three of us being together in a loving relationship.”

Greg chuckled. “I guess that’s what it is, then,” he said. “Officially. We’re a… a what? A couple of three? A throuple?”

Pearl giggled. “Yes, I guess we are…” she agreed, nodding. “I never thought I’d be in a relationship like this with a human.”

“I finally broke you down,” Greg teased, softly. He kissed her cheek.

“And I actually was going upstairs to look at you undressing,” Pearl added before covering her face in shame.

“Oh, Pearl,” Rose tutted.

“I figured,” Greg answered.

“I’m so shameless,” Pearl wailed.

“It’s not fair, I can’t come walking in on you undressing,” Greg complained. “Your clothes don’t come off.” He tugged at the translucent poncho covering Pearl’s shoulders. “You just phase into being naked.”

“Well you’re always welcome to watch me do that,” Pearl offered.

Rose giggled. “You two are so impossibly cute.” She kissed them both in quick succession. “I love you both so much…”

—