An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: General Audiences
Relationship: F/F
Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Status: Completed Oneshot
Word Count: 2,124
Summary: Pearl is a bit of a night owl, or, night moth, considering her hybridity. While the rest of the server sleeps, Pearl likes to wander and, tonight, she wandered up the cherry wood stairs to Gem and the Scotts' base. She was intrigued by the blossoms' nectar and the torches spammed around when she comes across a singular lantern outside of her girlfriend's door...
I created this surprise treat for @holymolyguacomole through the @mcyt-summer-of-yuri exchange!!
Full fanfic underneath the cut! Please reblog, leave kudos on the AO3 fic slash notes/likes here on Tumblr, comment either place, and etc if you enjoy the story :D
Light…
Oh, the light was so beautiful, so enchanting…
Pearl could stare at the mighty display of energy all night if she lost her self control, completely hypnotized by its flickering spirit.
Most moths were nocturnal and drawn in with light. Being a moth hybrid, Pearl tended to have more control than her less-intelligent kin. She was able to resist the light with more ease and be up during the day while her friends were.
Well, part of the day, anyway. Pearl was certainly considered a “night owl” and the opposite of a morning person. In fact, she slept most of the daylight morning away, but she tended to stay up late into the evening, or well into the next day. She was usually asleep or in bed by the time the sun started to color the sky.
Pearl couldn’t complain, though. She loved the night air! It was peaceful with fireflies buzzing about and stars sparkling in the sky. She was free to run around the server and simply explore while everyone was asleep!
Even now, in a death game like Secret Life, she would explore. They were there for more or less two months so what else was she to do? Fight for her life, joke around, and then just pass out? No way! Besides, today was Friday. They had finished that week’s “session” and would continue on Monday, giving them two whole days plus some change to recover and take care of mundane tasks.
Pearl had made sure all her sweet Mounders were sleeping safe and soundly before she departed. She re-tucked Bdubs’ blanket around him– he had somehow kicked it off already despite only sleeping for an hour at that point– and she made sure Mumbo was still breathing. Mumbo’s sleeping form was a stark contrast from Bdubs as he laid perfectly still in his bed like it was a coffin. Pearl would have checked on Joel on his Fair Ground Mound as well, but he had told them he was going to spend the off-session with his wife, Lizzie, over at her base and that he would see them around.
With all her ducks in a row, she had intended to explore the changes that happened this week, only to get drawn towards the cherry blossom wood stairs and birch plank platforms that edged the mountain by the smell of the flowers’ sweet nectar. The moth inside her went absolutely bonkers for nectar, so much so that it was a problem, making her do foolish things.
Foolish things like entering Gem and the Scotts’ base without permission.
Foolish things like letting her freaky long tongue– scientifically called a proboscis, according to Doc… she hoped she was remembering that right– go to town on the abundant cherry blossoms within the biome.
Foolish things like staring at the singular lantern that they seemed to have.
That part was strange, if she stopped long enough to think about it. Why would they waste a resource like iron to make a lantern within one of these games? Especially when the entire biome was otherwise lit up with spammed torches.
Pearl hadn’t realized she was babbling nonsense out loud until one of the cottages’ inner lights flicked on. She straightened up her body, moth wings fanning out and featherly antennas twitching as she froze like a deer in headlights.
The cherry wood door creaked open, revealing her elven girlfriend with ginger hair and heterochromatic eyes. Pearl thought it was rather fascinating how only one of her eyes (her right iris) changed color to display what life she was on, leaving her left eye its typical hue of green.
Secret Life was Gem’s first game so she was experiencing everything for the first time. Pearl had been participating since Last Life, when she actually paired with Scott, who was one of Gem’s teammates now. She took comfort knowing that Scott– and Impulse, too– was watching after Gem, not that she needed it. If the last few weeks proved anything, it was that Gem thrived in this sort of competition.
It was truly a wonder why Gem had never joined in playing before. Pearl guessed that she had just been too focused on other things. Besides, she had been balancing life on two different home servers (Hermitcraft and Empires) at the same time as when the other games were going on. It only made sense.
“Pearl?” Gem murmured, squinted her eyes at her before attempting to rub the sleep out of them.
“Hi, Gem-Gem,” Pearl grinned sheepishly. Her attention had been properly pulled from the light, which was rather difficult for most people to do. Luckily though, Gem wasn’t most people. All Gem had to do was exist and she would grab Pearl’s attention. It was only natural, considering that Gem was the true light of Pearl’s life. “Sorry, love, did I wake ya?”
“Only a little bit.” Gem smiled back sleepily, leaning one shoulder against the door. “I see you found the light I set out for you.”
“Oh! Oh, ho, ho, ho!” Pearl gasped brightly, bouncing on her heels and waving her pointed finger back and forth. “It was you! I knew it! I was wondering, I- I thought it was strange this was the only lantern! It’s very lovely, and it was all for me? Aw, you shouldn’t have!”
“Can’t blame a girl for wanting her girlfriend to come visit.” Gem tilted her head to rest against the door frame, still low on energy. “You’ve been so busy with your Mounders that I haven’t seen you much.”
“Like you haven’t been busy with your Scotts!” Pearl returned the lighthearted accusation.
“That’s true,” Gem conceded, sparing a glance toward Scott and Impulse’s cottages with a fond look on her face. “They are quite a handful. I imagine Bdubs and Mumbo are the same? Oh, and Joel, yeah?”
“You can say that again,” Pearl replied, though she was getting distracted again. What? She couldn’t help it! The light was just so beautiful, and she could still taste the flower nectar dancing on her taste buds, and-
“Pearrrllll,” Gem whined softly, taking a hold of Pearl’s hand. She wasn’t sure when she had removed herself from the door frame, but she didn’t dare ask. Especially not when Gem was giving her such an adorable little pout that made Pearl willing to fight ten wardens for her.
“Yes?” Pearl fluttered her eyelashes, words soaked in false sweetness. It was a bit of a tease, but Gem knew her well enough to know it was out of love.
“Stay with me?” Gem buried her face against Pearl’s chest, ignoring the way their long hair mixed with each other. Her arms curled around Pearl’s torso, linking her long, nimble fingers together when they met at the base of Pearl’s moth wings.
Gem, without a doubt, had elven heritage, if her pointed ears and graceful yet slender frame were to say anything about it. Despite the clear elven features, Pearl had about a head or so on her in terms of height. She occasionally wondered the cause of it, but she hadn’t dared to ask yet, just in case it was a sensitive subject such as a genetic mutation. That didn’t stop the others from making short jokes, but they did the same to people like Grian, Bdubs, and Tango, and Gem didn’t seem to mind that much.
Pearl pressed a kiss against the top of Gem’s head, resting one hand between her shoulder blades while the other tangled itself in her hair. They stayed like that, simply taking each other in, but Pearl did make sure to breathe out, “Of course I’ll stay.”
Gem hummed contently, leaning her body weight into Pearl. Pearl was alright with it, keeping stable despite the extra pressure trying to push her backwards. She didn’t brag about it very often– except for when it was funny to show up the others– but she was fairly strong, especially for a moth hybrid, which are known to be sort of fragile. Pearl hated that stereotype, personally, but she couldn’t deny there being some truth to it. Her wings certainly weren’t as resistant to damage as she would like, but a healing potion fixed them right up, so no harm, no foul.
“You’re practically falling asleep standing up,” Pearl commented with an airy chuckle.
“No, I’m not,” Gem protested in a sleepy slur, weakly tugging herself closer against Pearl’s body. “I just… don’ wanna move. Stay cuddlin’ longer.”
“It’ll be warmer inside though,” Pearl offered, already letting her hands wander down Gem’s body to her hips. “We could cuddle under the blankets. I already told you I wasn’t going anywhere.”
Gem just let an elongated whine rumble in her throat, clearly half asleep. She had put a hundred and ten percent of her energy into this week’s session, and it was clearly catching up to her. Pearl didn’t say anything else as she got a good handle on Gem. Without asking for permission, knowing Gem enough to know she would be fine with it if she asked, she hoisted Gem up so she was properly carrying her. Pearl adjusted their positions until Gem was clinging her legs around Pearl’s waistline with her arms resting on Pearl’s shoulders.
Pearl half expected Gem to groan in protest, but she didn’t. Gem just accepted the movement, burying her face against Pearl’s neck with her ear against Pearl’s shoulder. From there, transferring Gem inside took no time at all. Gem had left the door to her cottage open, permitting Pearl easy access to enter and then kick it shut with her foot.
It would have been irresponsible to keep it open all night, even with torches spammed all over to prevent mobs from spawning. They could have missed a spot and, even if the mob didn’t spawn around here, it could wander over. It was never a good idea to take that risk.
Selfishly, Pearl kept Gem in her arms much longer than she needed to. She could have immediately set her down and tucked her back into bed, but, instead, she kept her in her arms. Pearl loved the feeling of Gem’s heartbeat against her skin and the warmth of her body heat. Logically, she knew that she could simply cuddle Gem underneath the blankets, but there was something about holding her girlfriend like this while she slept, caring for her, protecting her, loving her…
Pearl tightened her grip on Gem’s sleeping body, heart fluttering blissfully in her chest. It was a real possibility they would go against each other and even kill each other many times throughout these games, but none of it mattered right now. Not that it mattered much at all, anyway. They’ve caused each others’ respawns before for as silly as reasons as collecting trophies shaped like their heads, so it wasn’t that big of a deal! It was important to remember that this was simply a game, no matter how real it felt at times.
And, void, it felt very real at times…
Deciding it was time to finally lay Gem down, she approached the bed. Careful to support Gem’s neck, she slowly lowered her body to the bed in hopes of not waking her up a second time. Pearl gently brushed some of her ginger hair away from her face before leaning forward to place a soft kiss against her forehead.
Gem seemed to smile in her sleep, appearing content and safe. Pearl liked to think her presence contributed to that, if only to boost her own ego and make her feel accomplished. She liked making people in her life happy in whichever way that played out, whether it be by impressing them, making them laugh, or whatever else.
Pearl made sure to set Gem down toward the wall, leaving enough room for her to climb in next to her. The bed wasn’t huge– it was meant more for one person– but Pearl made do. She allowed her moth wings to drape off of the bed as she arranged herself to big spoon her girlfriend.
While this wasn’t exploring the map or staring at a beautifully bright light, Pearl was right where she wanted to be. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep for a few more hours, at least, even cuddled next to Gem, but she couldn’t even imagine complaining. What sort of fool would protest a night spent with the love of their life? Pearl knew she would never get bored of this, no matter how many times they went through this song and dance. As Pearl expressed time and time again, Gem was the light of her life, as blazing as a wildfire, and what moth could resist a flame?
OMG WHAT'S THIS???? A GIFT FOR @ethertheaether !!!!!
I've had such a great time writing this for you for the Yuri exchange. I'm so so sorry chapter 2 is unfinished, but I promise you I will finish it asap ><
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Also huge thanks to my beta readers @multigrainbreadbread @glitrahasconsumedme and @pearlsstims
Also big thanks to After from the FitPac discord server for helping me out with Portuguese translations.
