The gesture is unusual, and all the more enchanting for it. Pearl's heart is doing little somersaults, and she marvels for the umpteenth time at Garnet's impeccable ability to make her feel like a schoolgirl with a crush every day anew for the better half of her entire life.

She removes her hands at last, reaching up to cup Garnet's face instead. Her thumb brush the striking, honed line of her cheekbone, the tip of her forefinger just barely dipping into luscious, dark hair.

She's kind of perfect. And perhaps most astonishingly of all, she's hers.

"Careful," Pearl's says with an impish smile, teeth digging into lower lip, "I could get drunk on this power."