Chapter Text
The Crystal Gems sat near the barn, taking a well-deserved rest from their laborious construction of the drill. Pearl and Steven were humming some sort of song together, an interesting little duet with no words. Amethyst and Garnet were chatting off to the side, discussing things that were nearly unintelligible over the hums of Pearl and Steven, and definitely not over the whirr of the power drill Peridot was holding.
Peridot was still at work on the drill; while she did respect the need to feel good, she’d feel much, much better if she knew that the Earth wasn’t going to be destroyed! Even in the short time she had lived there, she had come to see it as her home. It was new and different, never monotonous like Homeworld was, and by the stars was it loud sometimes. It was loud right now, actually.
The humming was pleasant, but combined with the sounds of metal hitting metal and the whirring of the drill, and with Amethyst rambling all under that, Peridot was starting to feel a little bit tense. Noise got to her sometimes. Keeping a steady hand on the exterior of the large drill, she focused on drilling the final pieces into place and repeatedly rubbed her fingers against each other. Simple motions like that looked silly, but helped to keep her from breaking down and losing composure when she needed to be serious. Over the years, she had learned to adapt to her sensitivities and overcome them; this “finger trick,” as she called it, was the first technique she learned while working in the large, loud crowds on Homeworld.
The final metal addition to the cockpit of the drill settled in with a clink, and Peridot turned off her power drill and sighed. That was one noise removed from the cacophony, at least, but her head was still starting to spin. Steven had gotten up and went to go sit by Lion, but Pearl was still humming to herself. Amethyst and Garnet were still talking, though Garnet was mostly silent, so Peridot decided to inform the second-most competent (herself being the first, of course) of the completion of this task.
“Pearl,” Peridot said flatly, standing in front of her awkwardly, “this section of the drill has been completed. We’ll likely be done with the construction soon.”
Pearl was obviously caught off guard, and nervously looked down, not looking Peridot in the eyes. Regardless, she paid attention to the good news. “Oh, fantastic!” Pearl finally looked up, but still didn’t meet the smaller gem’s gaze.
Peridot noticed her making odd movements with her hands; she was wiggling her fingers around, and even flapping them slightly. It struck Peridot as familiar, since she did something similar when she was happy or excited.
“What are you doing?” Peridot asked bluntly, looking at Pearl inquisitively.
“O-oh, sorry, it’s just something I do,” Pearl replied, swiftly grasping one hand with the other. Her cheeks filled with a slight blue tint, and she once again averted her eyes from Peridot.
“Wait, you don’t have to stop! I do the same thing!” Peridot huffed. She took a seat next to Pearl, keeping her distance but acting somewhat friendlier than usual. “Whenever I’m really excited or happy, or things like that, I get this… urge to start doing what you were doing just then! I don’t know what it’s called.”
Pearl sighed in relief, and rested her hands in her lap. “Steven calls it stimming,” she explained. “I try to hide it, but sometimes I feel like I have to do it.”
Peridot cocked her head. “Why do you hide it?”
“I… think it’s embarrassing. I-I know I can’t help it, but-“ Pearl stopped talking and loudly exhaled. “I know I’m a Gem, but living on Earth has made me want to… fit in, I suppose.”
Peridot scoffed. “Why would you want to ‘fit in’ on Earth? You’re not a human, why bother ‘fitting in’ with them? Besides, you said Steven calls it ‘stimming.’ Does he do it too?”
“Yes, he does. Greg says he’s something called… ‘autistic?’ And, he’s said I might be too, which would explain the stimming.”
“What’s… ‘autistic?’” Something about this conversation was resonating with Peridot, but she couldn’t place why.
“I’m not sure how to explain it. Greg and Steven have said it’s a human disorder, and that it can make it hard to socialize.” Pearl explained it in a very animated way. “Some autistic people struggle with sensory issues, so they can’t handle loud sounds or bright lights-“
Pearl was cut off by Peridot loudly exclaiming, “OHHHHH!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Just earlier, I was getting frustrated by all of the noise around here! You and Steven singing, the other two talking, and the sound of the drill! To deal with it, I just started doing… this!” Peridot did the “finger trick,” furiously rubbing her fingers against each other to demonstrate.
Pearl laughed at the ridiculous display. “That does look like stimming!” Watching Peridot do it inspired Pearl to mimic her, and both of them were doing the same repetitive movement.
It was such a simple discussion, but it brought the two polarized gems closer together. Work on the drill continued as the days went on, with Pearl and Peridot having a newfound sort of understanding of one another.