“Hi.”

Pearl turned towards the voice only to see there was no one there but another pearl standing next to her— a pale purple one with a gem on the side of her head. She was a prettier pearl than Pearl herself, with her long hair and bright eyes. Pearl thought her own light grey form was quite plain in comparison.

They were against the wall. It was a party for elites, after all. All pearls had to stand around, look pretty, and most importantly, remain silent. Decorations weren’t meant to speak.

No one else was around, though. And it wasn’t as if anyone else was paying attention to the two pearls.

Pearl realized she had been staring in silence at the purple pearl, but she didn’t seem to mind.

The purple pearl smiled.

“Um ... hi,” Pearl said, the corner of her mouth curving nervously. She looked over her shoulder, just to make sure they were alone, before she turned back to the pearl.

The purple Pearl brushed her hair to her side. It dangled against her gem.

“Do you remember me?” she asked.

“Huh?” Pearl said. She was confused for a second until she squinted her eyes. She hadn’t realized it at first but something about this Pearl did seem oddly familiar. “I, um ...”

The purple Pearl giggled. Pearl felt a chill down her spine; laughing, like doing much of anything that wasn’t just standing around, was dangerous behavior for a pearl.

Though, Pearl had to admit, the purple one had a pleasant sounding laugh.

“That’s okay,” the purple one said. “We haven’t exactly met yet. Not really.”

Pearl raised an eyebrow. She still had no clue what this pearl was talking about.

Then the purple one grinned and flapped her hand open and close, as if it were a mouth.

Pearl’s eyes went wide. She remembered.

It had been cycles and cycles ago. Pearl’s master, Calcite, had been giving a presentation before Yellow Diamond and other elites. Like most matters elites consider important, it was astoundingly boring, especially since Pearl could only stand silently nearby. No one had even noticed her ... aside from another pearl that had been there.

Her.

So, on an impulse, just to have something to do, she mocked her master, flapping her hand while Calcite droned on. The purple Pearl couldn’t laugh openly, but her mouth twitched so Pearl knew she wanted to. No one noticed the exchange aside from the two of them.

And that was it. She never saw that pearl again.

Until now.

Pearl had to stop herself from snickering. She put her hand to her forehead.

“Wow,” Pearl said. “I can’t believe I had forgotten about that. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright,” the purple pearl said. “You were really funny.”

Pearl felt her cheeks flush.

“Heh, well, thank you,” Pearl said, trying to keep her voice steady and failing.

The purple pearl’s smile still shone on her face. She didn’t seem as hesitant to smile as she did during that meeting. Pearl found it infectious. She didn’t even care if someone saw them and they got in trouble, it just felt ... nice.

Pearl glanced back at the party, just to make sure no one was watching them. No one was. All the Gems were busy standing and talking.

The purple one followed Pearl’s gaze.

“Seems like a rather ... typical affair,” she said.

“Yeah,” Pearl said in a dull tone. “How exciting.”

“Just standing around doing nothing, how fun.”

“Yeah, you’d think they were pearls or something.”

The purple one snorted and covered her mouth. Pearl grinned in triumph.

“Stars, how’d you get so funny?” the purple pearl said.

Pearl shrugged.

“I dunno,” Pearl said. “So far you’re the only one who thinks I am. Maybe you just have bad taste.”

“Maybe.” The purple pearl was silent before her eyes darted over to Pearl. “You’re the only one, you know.”

“Sorry?” Pearl said.

“You’re the only one who’s ever made me laugh.”

Pearl felt a fluttering feeling in her abdomen. It took her a moment to compose herself enough to respond.

“T-thank you,” Pearl said. A moment later she added, “But yes, I’m positive you have bad taste now.”

The purple Pearl stifled a chuckle. She glanced back towards the party.

“I don’t see my master,” she said.

“I don’t see mine either,” Pearl said, looking out as well. “Knowing her she’s probably off boring someone else to death.”

The purple one leaned over to Pearl. Pearl felt her breath against her ear as she whispered.

“Want to go somewhere more private?”

Pearl gulped. A pearl wanting privacy for any reason was enough to get them both in a lot of trouble. Not enough to be shattered, but certainly in more hot water than Pearl wanted.

But she looked at the purple pearl’s eyes, which had a twinkle in them. Pearl couldn’t stop staring at the purple pearl’s smile. The fluttering feeling she had before was now out of control.

Pearl heard herself say, “Okay.”

“Somewhere more private” ended up being the room where they kept the cooling system, a large steel box with a fan whose hum filled the room. The room was dingy, the walls weren’t painted, and the air was moist, reeking of coolant.

“Fancy,” Pearl said with a chuckle as she looked around.

The purple Pearl leaned against the wall and giggled. Pearl couldn’t help but smile back.

“I’ve been to parties here before,” the purple pearl said. “Nobody ever comes in here. It’s a nice place to hide, so long as we’re not gone long enough for anyone to miss us.”

Pearl nodded.

“I’ve never been great at hiding,” Pearl said. “Since no one notices me already, I don’t feel the need to put in extra effort.”

The purple one, to Pearl’s surprise, frowned.

“I try to notice good hiding spaces when I can,” the purple pearl said. “I--it’s always good to know.”

Pearl said nothing. She didn’t ask for details. In a way she didn’t need to; the implications were strong enough to get the jist of what the purple pearl’s life was like.

Pearl cleared her throat. She tried to think of a way to change the subject. She couldn’t let the other pearl linger on such awful thoughts. And if Pearl was the only one who could make the purple one laugh ... well, she felt like it was her responsibility to do so.

“Um.” Pearl said. “That’s um ...”

But she couldn’t think of anything clever to say. When she saw the sorrowful look in the purple pearl’s eyes, Pearl could think of nothing else.

“I’m sorry,” Pearl managed to say.

The purple pearl gave a sad smile.

“Thanks,” she said. “It’s ... nice knowing there’s someone who cares about what happens to you.”

“I do! I do a lot!” Pearl said, before she could stop herself.

The purple pearl blinked.

“You do?” the purple pearl asked.

Pearl felt her face become hot when she realized what she had said. She couldn’t look the purple pearl in the eye after that comment.

“Well,” Pearl mumbled. “I, uh, I suppose that didn’t sound creepy at all, huh?”

The purple pearl chuckled. To Pearl’s surprise, she laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. Her hands were astoundingly soft.

“No,” the purple pearl said without sarcasm. She brushed her hair out of her eyes. “It didn’t.”

And then the purple pearl leaned in and pressed her lips against Pearl’s.

Pearl had no idea why. She’d never seen such a thing done before. She almost pushed the purple pearl away just so she could ask what this act even was ...

But that would entail stopping what the purple pearl was doing. And Pearl wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to do that.

The purple pearl had started moving her lips against hers and Pearl felt the polite thing to do was to respond in kind ...

It’s not like there was a rush to push her away, Pearl thought. She could just ask after a couple more seconds of ... whatever this was. Just a few more seconds and it’d be fi-

The purple pearl’s lips were really soft, Pearl realized. Wow.

After about a minute, Pearl put her hands on the purple pearl’s hips, with the intent to push her back.

But once Pearl rested her hands on the purple one’s hips, it felt so nice she postponed the “pushing away” part.

In fact, it was the purple pearl who ended up leaning back. The purple pearl’s cheeks were tinged blue, but she smiled.

“You liked that, did you?” she said.

“Huh?” Pearl said. Somehow the sensation of ... all that made it hard for Pearl to focus on anything else.

“You’re still holding onto my hips.”

“Wha-?” Pearl shook her head and realized the purple pearl was right. She jerk her hands back as the purple pearl sputtered with laughter.

Pearl hid her face behind her hand.

“I am so sorry! I--” Pearl lowered her hand. “What was that?”

“It’s um ...” The purple pearl shimmied her shoulders. “I-it’s something another pearl told me about once. She and a Lapis Lazuli have tried that and some other stuff before and I--” The purple pearl tilted her head down. “I thought it might be fun to try. With you.” She looked up, suddenly serious. “I really should have asked first! I’m sorry if you thought that was weird or anything--”

“No, it--” Pearl chuckled. “It was unusual, but you’re right, I--I liked it. A lot.”

The purple pearl relaxed. She lightly touched her bottom lip; for some reason, Pearl felt her skin get goosebumps at the sight of it.

“I did too,” the purple pearl said.

There was an awkward smile. They were no longer touching, but still close. For some reason, Pearl felt no need for personal space when it came to the purple pearl being near her.

After a moment, Pearl asked, “So you said your friend and a Lapis tried that and some other stuff, right?”

“Yes,” said the purple pearl.

“What, um ...” Pearl coughed. “What kind of ‘other stuff?’”

The purple pearl blushed.

“Uh, well ...” she mumbled.

Before she could finish, they heard something scrape against the door.

The purple pearl moved towards Pearl. Involuntarily, Pearl wrapped her arms around her as they both stared at the door, waiting for it to open.

It never did. Someone must have bumped against the door by accident.

The purple pearl exhaled. Pearl could feel her muscles relax in their embrace.

“You okay?” Pearl asked.

“Yeah,” the purple one said. “Sorry. I get a little tense sometimes.”

“It’s okay.”

The purple pearl made no move to pull away from Pearl’s arms. Instead, she laid her head against Pearl’s chest.

“Thank you,” the purple pearl said. “We should probably head back before anyone notices we’re missing.”

“Yeah,” Pearl said. “That’d be the smart thing.

Neither one of them moved.

“You know,” the purple pearl said, “I think there’s supposed to be a bunch of parties like these in the near future. Some elite thing going on, I don’t really know.”

“Yeah, my master said something about that as well,” Pearl said.

“Maybe I’ll see you again at those.”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe we could try to sneak away and ... do this again?” The purple pearl looked up at Pearl, hopefully. As if there was any chance of Pearl saying no.

Pearl smiled.

“I’d like that,” Pearl said. “Just do me one favor?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t go around getting a better sense of humor or anything.” Pearl shrugged. “Cause it seems like you believing I’m actually funny is the only thing I have going for me.”

The purple one smiled and put a finger to Pearl’s lip.

“Not the only thing,” the purple pearl said, seductively.

And Pearl was speechless once again.