Sequel to Living Arrangements. You can probably read this without reading that one first, but I wouldn't recommend it.
This is an older!Steven x Peridot story. If older!Steven x Peridot stories are not your thing, I suggest you turn back now, because I will not be all that happy if every single comment I get is a complaint that it's an older!Steven x Peridot story. You have been warned.
XXX
I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW
The warp pad chimed and when the light vanished, the three eldest Crystal Gems staggered forward and collapsed against the kitchen counters. Peridot, who'd been lying on Steven's bed, happily daydreaming and not writing her fanfiction, sat up to stare at them. "What happened to you?"
"Venus flytraps," Garnet said by way of explanation.
Peridot looked to Pearl for further clarification and got it. "We were so concerned about animals eating the vegetation that we didn't stop to consider that the vegetation might be preying upon the animals," she explained wearily.
"We're talking actual animals here," Amethyst added. "Not insects. Like, we saw a monkey get eaten and digested."
Pearl shuddered and held a hand to her mouth. "I'd throw up, if I had anything to throw up."
"Ew." Peridot wrinkled her nose up. "To all of that."
"So that was our evening." Garnet straightened up and turned her gaze up towards their newest housemate. "How was yours? Did anything interesting happen while we were gone?"
"Nope," Peridot lied at once, deciding it would be wise not to mention the fact that she'd had their foster son's tongue in her mouth several times while they were gone. Then she belatedly remembered the other thing that had happened that night. "Oh wait, yes. I went to the Kindergarten and had a look at the computer in the control room. There's a series of tunnels and rooms behind the power source, and I wondered if perhaps they might contain further information about corruption. I didn't get a chance to fully explore it though, as I was attacked by a corrupted gem."
Stunned silence met her words. Amethyst was the first to recover. "Wait, there's a bunch of secret tunnels in the Kindergarten?" She shook her head in disbelief. "And I thought I knew that place."
"None of us knew about the control room either until Peridot unlocked it," Pearl pointed out reasonably.
"We probably should've explored it a bit more back then though," Garnet admitted. "But that place creeps me out." She sighed and turned away. "I suppose we should check it out though. Not now, obviously," she added quickly as Amethyst and Pearl began loudly protesting. "It's been a long evening and we have other plans tomorrow." Then she turned back to Peridot and gave her a small smile. "But that was a good catch, Peridot. Well done."
Peridot blinked in surprise at the unexpected praise, and then smiled nervously back. "You're welcome." Then as the three elder Crystal Gems turned to head into the Temple, another thought occurred to her. "Wait! If you're heading into the Temple, would one of you mind escorting me to Steven's room? I'd like to put some clothes on." She frowned down at her boring default outfit that she'd been forced to change into after leaving half of her clothes in the Kindergarten tunnels.
"You are such a little weirdo," Amethyst scoffed, but she waited for the other gem to catch up, and then led her into her room and promptly pushed her into a puddle. Once Peridot got over her surprise, she spent the next two hours searching vainly for an outfit that didn't suck because all of a sudden, despite owning a wardrobe and dresser almost bursting with clothes, she didn't have anything to wear.
xxx
A few hours later in a house on the other side of town, Steven found himself in the exact same situation. "Why don't I own any clothes that aren't stupid?" he grumbled under his breath, tossing identical shirt after identical shirt over his shoulder in the vain hope of finding a shirt that wasn't the exact same fucking thing he always wore.
"Ready for breakfast yet, Ste-" The words died on Greg's lips as he stepped into his son's room and stared at the mess. "What's going on in here?"
"I have nothing to wear!" Steven wailed in despair, shoving the dresser drawer shut and yanking open the next one down.
Greg looked slowly around the room at the twenty-two identical salmon-pink, yellow-starred shirts and decided not to mention them. "Oooookay, I'll let you get on with that," he said instead, slowly backing away. "And I'll just start frying the bacon."
"OK, sure, thanks Dad," Steven said distractedly, pulling the drawer out entirely and tipping the contents out onto his bed. Deep down, he knew his behavior was irrational; Peridot had seen him wearing the same uniform of old band shirts and jeans for years now and she'd never voiced any sort of criticism about it, but after last night, he wanted to make an effort to look nice.
Last night…
He paused his search for a moment and smiled to himself, remembering the events of the night before. Finding Peridot in the Kindergarten after her battle against the corrupted gem, victorious but injured. Offering to kiss her to heal her. Discovering that she'd been looking for somewhere else to live. Then he'd told her he loved her and she'd confessed she loved him too. And then, more kisses. He'd almost, quite literally, floated back to his dad's house, his overwhelming happiness interfering with his control over gravity.
The smell of frying bacon brought him back to his senses and with a growing feeling of urgency, he yanked open the bottom drawer and stirred through the contents. Just as he was on the verge of giving up hope, a flicker of white shone through the salmon-pink and he pounced. "Ah ha!" he crowed, holding the plain white tee aloft. He didn't have the faintest idea where it had come from; it certainly wasn't his, and it was way too small to belong to his father. It was actually a little too small for him too, and he wasted a few more minutes staring doubtfully at his reflection, trying to decide if the snug fit made him look fit and manly, or whether it just made him look like a douchebag.
"Steven! Breakfast!" Greg hollered up to him, and after once last look back in the mirror, he decided it would simply have to do and ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Nice t-shirt," Greg commented upon catching sight of his son. "Where did you find it?"
"Bottom of the dresser," Steven explained, sliding onto a barstool at the kitchen island and helping himself to a generous potion of bacon and eggs. "I don't know where it came from."
"Maybe it's one of those ones you and Buck Dewey were using for silk-screening," Greg suggested, sitting down next to him.
"Could be," Steven conceded.
They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, then Greg pushed his empty plate away. "So, what's the plan for today? Are you and the gems going to try that room ceremony thing again?"
Steven nodded. "That's the plan."
"And… if it doesn't work again?" Greg looked at his son in mild concern. He knew that sharing the house with Peridot had been more difficult than Steven had expected, resulting in several nights of extremely poor sleep, which was why he was now staying with Greg. But Steven didn't appear to be fazed by the question and instead, smiled enthusiastically.
"Actually I had an idea about that. If the room ceremony fails and we can't make her a room in the Temple, we can just make her a room in the house instead. You know," he continued, waving a fork around for emphasis, "add an extension on. You built the house, right? Can we do that?"
Greg considered that for a moment and then nodded slowly. "That's not a bad idea at all, actually. The gems have owned all that land there for centuries, so there shouldn't be any problem from Mayor Dewey or city planning or anything. In fact," he added, beginning to get excited too, "it might not be a bad idea to add an extension anyway, even if the ceremony does work. A guest room could come in handy."
"Yeah!" Steven caught his father's eye and grinned. "I can think of one or two times where it might've been useful in the past.
Greg laughed and stood up to clear away the breakfast things. "I'll look for the original plans when you go," he promised. "I'm pretty sure it's in the storage room, and it would make planning an extension a lot easier."
"Thanks, dad." Steven stood up as well and carried his own plate over to the sink. "I'm gonna go now, I'll call you when we're done with the ceremony, OK?"
A few minutes later, he began walking across the sand, around the cliff that housed the Temple. His breakfast seemed to have turned into butterflies during the short walk and all of a sudden, small doubts started creeping into his mind. What if Peridot had changed her mind about him overnight? Or worse still, what if the whole thing had been some sort of hallucination, brought on by sleep deprivation, and he was actually still in Tommy's Bistro, snoring into his lasagna? It was unlikely, but it was possible. And even though he'd pinched himself half a dozen times already in the last twelve hours, he did it again, just to be sure. "Ow," he muttered, rubbing his arm. That one was gonna leave a bruise.
He slowly approached the Temple and the smaller beach house nestled in the arms of the fusion statue and took a moment to observe the structure, idly wondering how different it would look by the end of the day.
And then, the door opened and Peridot stepped outside onto the deck. She looked around, spotting him at once, and a wide smile appeared on her face. "Steven!"
All of his fears melted away at once and he found himself increasing his pace, eager to reach her as quickly as possible, but then Pearl stepped outside, alerted by Peridot's shout, and he found himself slowing back down to a brisk walk. "Hello Pearl. Peridot," he cautiously greeted as he climbed the stairs.
"Good morning, Steven," Pearl replied cheerfully. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, thank you," he said politely.
"Wonderful!" She clapped her hands together. "Shall we get started then?" And before he could answer, she spun around and walked back into the house, leaving him alone on the deck with Peridot.
He desperately wanted to kiss her, but the chances of somebody stepping outside and catching them were far too high, so he reached out and gave her hand a gently squeeze instead. "I like your dress," he whispered.
"Oh, this old thing?" Peridot said demurely, glancing down at the pale pink sundress as if she hadn't noticed it before. "It's just something I had laying around. It's certainly not new, and I definitely did not spend two hours trying to decide if it was casual enough. I like your shirt," she hastily added as Steven grinned, realizing she might have said too much.
"Yeah?" He smiled, pleased by the praise. "It's not too tight?"
"Hmm." Peridot reached out and ran her fingertips down his chest, pretending to consider this. "No, I think it's just right-"
The door banged open and Peridot pulled her hand back sharply as Amethyst poked her head around the frame. "Come on you two, let's do this already!"
"We'll be right there," Steven said as Peridot pulled a face behind her, but Amethyst showed no sign of returning inside without them, so he sighed and stepped inside where Pearl and Garnet were waiting.
"Good morning, Steven," Garnet said solemnly. "Are you ready?"
"You slept well? You've eaten breakfast?" Pearl added, taking a step towards the fridge. "I could fix you some eggs?"
"I'm good," Steven reassured them. "I slept like a baby."
"Why do they say that?" Amethyst butted in. "Babies sleep for like, half an hour, then they scream for another half an hour."
"I did not sleep like a baby," Steven quickly corrected. "And I had breakfast with dad already, so I'm good."
Pearl continued to hover beside the fridge. "Are you sure you don't want any more? It wouldn't take long-"
"Ugh! Stop trying to procrastinate, let's get on with it already!" Amethyst complained loudly.
"She's right." Garnet began walking towards the Temple doorway. "Let's begin."
xxx
"Let's stop there for today," Garnet announced half an hour later. She stepped back from the Crystal Heart and cricked her neck from side to side. Next to her, Amethyst flopped onto her back with a loud groan, while Pearl sighed and stretched out her limbs. "We can try again tomorrow. Unless anyone has a better idea?"
She turned her gaze towards Steven as she spoke and he fidgeted self-consciously, wondering just how much she knew. "Um, I have an idea," he said, and quickly put forward the prospect of adding a room onto the house. "Dad's already started looking for the original plans, so we could probably get started, well, pretty much now," he finished.
"That's an excellent suggestion, Steven," Pearl said approvingly. "If we all work together, we could have it done in as little as two days."
"One and a half," Garnet corrected, adjusting her shades. "Steven, call Greg and tell him we're coming over."
The next few hours were a whirlwind of activity. Greg had not only managed to find the original plans, but had even gone so far as making a copy and lightly sketching in possible extensions. It didn't take long for everyone to agree where the new room would go, and then most of the group piled in the van, heading for the hardware store, while the others headed back to the beach house to prepare the site for the work. Steven and Peridot had graciously volunteered to work at the house by themselves, but Pearl had pointed out that as the room was for Peridot, it would be wise for her to go to the hardware store and choose paint, and then Garnet reminded them that Amethyst would have to stay at the house anyway as she was banned from the store for eating tile samples.
"I still say that's bull," Amethyst complained as she used her whip to pull boulders out of the sand. "I thought it was like food samples at the grocery store. Why do they even call them samples if you're not allowed to eat them?"
"Mmm hmm," Steven grunted without really paying attention. He picked up another boulder and tossed it into the sea, then moved onto the next rock. The quicker they did this, the quicker the room could be built, and the quicker he and Peridot could spend some time alone together. He tossed a few more rocks aside, then straightened up and looked around. "I think we're done here, let's go inside now and move some of the kitchen stuff out of the way."
"Whatever you say, Stee-man," Amethyst said cheerfully. She followed him into the house, and between them, they managed to move the refrigerator to the other side of the room and had almost finished bubbling the contents of the cupboards when everybody else returned.
After that, things moved a lot quicker. Holes were dug in the sand for additional support posts and filled in with cement. The deck was extended. Frames for the walls were assembled and plasterboard was attached. Pearl meticulously measured and cut openings for the door and windows, while Peridot and Garnet installed the electrical wiring. And Steven and Amethyst did most of the heavy lifting for Greg, who drilled holes and hammered nails into place. By the time the sun was setting, all that was really left to do was to lay the roof and paint the walls. "All right, let's stop there for today," Greg said cheerfully, putting down his trowel of plaster and wiping the sweat off of his brow. "We can't start painting this until it's dry anyway, so Steven and I will be back first thing in the morning."
Steven looked up in surprise. "What?"
"We'll finish up tomorrow," Greg repeated, and patted his son on the back. "Come on. Let's order takeout and watch a movie, I think we've earned it."
Steven's eyes flickered to meet Peridot's in dismay. He'd been planning on staying at the house again that night, hoping that once the Crystal Gems retired into the Temple, they'd finally be able to enjoy a moment alone together. But of course, he realized, all this work was being done because living with her had completely wrecked his sleep pattern, so it was no wonder they all thought he'd be staying away until the work was complete. He'd only just had a single decent night's sleep, after all. He looked back at the smiling face of his father and groaned inwardly. He didn't have the heart to let him down. "That sounds great, dad," he said instead.
The journey back to Greg's house didn't take long, and a few minutes later, they settled themselves down on the sofa in front of the TV and put on an old, cheesy action movie. "Right," Greg said, flicking through the takeout options on his phone as a group of soldiers began a lock n' load montage on screen. "Pizza or Chinese?"
"Hmm… pizza," Steven decided.
The order was placed and arrived twenty minutes later, just as the first soldier was being murdered by an unseen monster and Steven couldn't help being reminded of that time he'd been trapped on Mask Island with Lars and Sadie. He had a sudden mental image of Sadie as one of the soldiers and smiled to himself. The movie would've ended after half an hour with her there!
Next to him, Greg yawned and stretched. "Geez, I might have to go to bed already," he admitted. "All that hard work's worn me out." He looked a little anxiously at his son. "You don't mind if I head upstairs, do you?"
"Nah, that's fine," Steven said at once. "So long as I can finish your pizza."
Greg pushed the box over to him. "It's all yours. 'Night, kiddo."
"Night, dad." Steven grabbed another slice of pizza and watched a few more soldiers die horribly before his attention began to wander towards Peridot. After their greeting on the deck, they'd barely had the chance to speak to each other, and he missed her. He thought for a moment, then pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the message app, intending to ask her if she was alone so that he could call her on FaceTime. If nothing else, at least he could say good night to her before he went to bed. His fingers touched the screen, and then he paused as a thought occurred to him. They hadn't had a chance to be alone together during the day, but what about during the night? He sat up a little straighter and quickly composed a message.
Hey, can u talk?
A few seconds passed, and then the response came through. I can now.
He initiated the call and a moment later her smiling face appeared on the screen, the beach just visible in the background. "Hey you," he said happily. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."
Peridot looked slightly confused. "You saw me an hour ago."
"Well, yes," Steven admitted. "But everyone else was around." He sighed and leaned back against the sofa cushions. "I just… I know the room needs to be built, but I just wish we could've had a few minutes to ourselves, you know?"
"I know." Peridot sighed as well. "Still, Garnet predicted that the room should be completed tomorrow, so we'll be able to spend some time together then."
"Mmm. Actually, I was thinking…" He looked hopefully at her. "Remember the other night when I went into your nightmare? I know it didn't go so well, so if you don't wanna try it again, that's fine, but I thought maybe we could try having like a dream date?"
Peridot couldn't help laughing at that pun, but her smile quickly faded. "That's a wonderful idea, Steven, and I would like to try it, but I don't think it would be possible tonight." She looked aside towards the beach house. "The gems have taken over your room for the night, they're planning to binge watch that All New Pretty Little Liars show. Garnet said it has so many aborted plot arcs, evil triplets and nonsense twists that she can't accurately foresee the ending."
"What, seriously!?" Steven sat upright, outraged. "They've taken over my room!?"
"It's the only place where you can see the television," Peridot pointed out.
"I'll move it downstairs first thing tomorrow," he said at once, remembering all the nights he'd spent visiting his father over the years and wondering just how often the gems had done this. "I wouldn't mind if they'd just asked me," he grumbled under his breath. It explained why the television was sometimes on a different channel. And the occasional popcorn kernel in his bed.
"I could move it now, if you want?" Peridot suggested a little doubtfully. "But I'm not sure if I'd be able to sleep through the noise. And of course," she realized aloud, "the gems might find it odd that I want to sleep in your bed. I suppose I could make up a bed in the bathtub-"
"No, it's OK," Steven interrupted. "The bathtub would be super uncomfortable. And if the gems are there, they might find it weird if you vanished into the bathroom all night, and go looking for you."
"Sorry," she said, looking a little forlorn.
"Hey, it's not your fault," Steven reassured her. "Like you said, the room will be done tomorrow and we can do something together then."
"That's true." She brightened up again. "Very well. It's a date!"
"Yeah!" He grinned back at her. "Our first, proper date. And I'll try not to fall asleep this time." A sudden wave of tiredness washed over him and he yawned. All that hard work had finally caught up with him too. "Speaking of which, I ought to head up to bed now. I'll see you in the morning."
"OK. Good night, Steven." Peridot kissed her fingertips and waved them at the camera. "I love you."
A warm glow filled his chest as he copied the gesture in return. "I love you too."
xxx
The following morning, Greg and Steven arrived bright and early and eager to get to work. The gems, who of course, did not need to eat or sleep, were ready to begin as well, and with all hands on deck, the room was completed and Peridot's furniture was moved in by mid afternoon.
"Whew." Greg wiped the sweat from his brow and looked around the room with approval. "It looks good, if I do say so myself."
"Thank you very much for your help and your financial contribution." Peridot's eyes sparkled with happiness as she looked around as well. All of her new furniture had been put together and placed in the room, her enormous flatscreen TV was mounted on the wall and most of her possessions had been unpacked and put away. For the first time since she'd moved in, she felt welcome. This was not a guest room. This was her room.
"You're welcome." Greg grinned and clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Although I think next time, my financial contribution might have to extend to hiring help too. I'm getting too old to build houses."
"Less of the 'old'!" Steven shouted from the kitchen, where he was rewarding himself with an enormous BLT for lunch.
Greg laughed and walked over to ruffle his son's hair. "All right, I'd better get back to the car wash or my boss will get mad."
"You're the boss," Steven pointed out.
"Oh yeah, so I am." Greg grinned widely. "In that case, I might just give myself the rest of the day off instead. Bye!"
"Bye, Dad."
For the next few minutes, there was peace. Amethyst sat of the sofa and flicked through the channels on the TV, which Steven had indeed moved earlier that day. Garnet sat beside her, offering recommendations and spoilers. Peridot concentrated on putting away the last of her belongings while Steven finished eating, then he stood up and put his plate by the sink where Pearl was washing up. "I think Dad has the right idea there," he said casually, taking a step towards the door. "Taking the rest of the day off, that is-"
"Actually, I'd like for us to check out those tunnels Peridot found in the Kindergarten," Garnet interrupted.
"W-what, now?" Steven stammered.
"Yeah, come on, G, I just started watching this movie," Amethyst complained.
"It was his sled," Garnet said at once.
"Dude!" Amethyst threw her hands up in exasperation. "Seriously, I hate when you do that!"
Garnet ignored her and turned her face towards the doorway of Peridot's room. "Peridot?"
Peridot poked her head around the doorframe. "Yes?"
"We're heading over to the Kindergarten. Can you show us the tunnels you found?"
Peridot blinked, trying to hide her dismay. "W-what, now?"
"Yeah, might as well, Garnet already spoiled the movie," Amethyst grumbled.
"Oh really, Amethyst." Pearl rolled her eyes. "Even I knew it was his sled."
"Whatever." Amethyst sulkily climbed to her feet and began walking towards the warp pad. "Let's go."
"Well, I was going to- I mean, I have-" Peridot gestured vaguely back in the direction of her room for a moment, but the rest of the gems had already joined Amethyst, so she shot Steven a look of despair and then gave up and followed. Steven joined her a moment later and soon, they were walking through the Kindergarten towards the entrance to the control room.
"Everyone ready?" Garnet asked.
"Wait." Peridot spotted the broken legs of the injector drill she'd used to poof the corrupted Obsidian and, remembering how little metal there had been down in the tunnels, waved a hand until one floated over to her. "Ready."
"Let's go." Garnet stepped forward and leapt down the hole, gracefully followed by Pearl. Amethyst skidded down behind her, showering her with debris.
Peridot took a step forward to follow, but Steven shot out a hand and grabbed her arm. "Wait, I have an idea." He held out his arms and formed a spiked bubble around them both, and grinned proudly. "There. This should stop us rolling down there too fast."
"An excellent idea," Peridot said approvingly. "No wonder I like you so much."
They stepped forward and as Steven had predicted, the spikes dug into the ground, enabling them to simply walk down to where the others were waiting. "It's a lot darker down here than I remember," Pearl commented, lighting up her gem and looking around. "Ah."
"I guess that would be the problem." Amethyst walked forward and bent down to pick up a piece of the shattered power source.
"Oh, yes, the corrupted gem smashed through it when it was chasing me," Peridot belatedly recalled.
Garnet walked over to the raised platform where the power source used to stand and held up her hands so that her gem glow lit up the wall beyond. "The door's closed."
"Oh." Peridot stood next to her and looked at the wall where the door was indeed closed. "It must be some sort of failsafe mechanism."
"Hmm." Garnet stared for a moment longer, and then scrambled up onto the platform and summoned her gauntlets. "Fire in the hole!"
Steven quickly summoned his shield, and everybody dove behind him as Garnet pulled back her arm and drove it into the door with a loud BOOM. There was an ominous rumbling noise, and dirt began to rain down from the ceiling, and Steven hurriedly forced the little group back towards the entrance, just in case. But the room quickly stabilized and the dust cleared, and everybody peeped hopefully around the shield… to see Garnet standing in front of the unmarked door.
"It was worth a try." She jumped back down again and began picking up the pieces of the power source. "Steven, do you think your healing powers might work here?"
"Uhh… I can give it a shot," he tentatively offered. "I've never really tried to heal shattered gems though."
"A power crystal isn't the same as a living gem," Pearl reassured him at once. "They're really not much different than the quartzes humans use to power timepieces. But on a much larger scale, of course."
"I'll try," he said, a little more confidently. "If you guys can gather up the pieces for me."
Garnet held out the pieces she had already collected as everybody else began scrabbling around on the ground. He spat into his hand and pressed it against the fragments of dull, green rock and to his delight, they glowed softly and knitted back together into a larger rock. More pieces were sent his way, until finally, he was able to heave the enormous crystal back into its place on the platform. At once, there was a low hum, and the room lit up with dim green light. "Success!" he crowed, and held his hands up. "High fives all round! Not you," he hastily added as Garnet raised her hand.
She grinned and lowered her hand again. "Good work. Now, Peridot, could you open the door for us?"
"Of course." Peridot placed her hand upon the pedestal and summoned several screens. "Would you like to look at the map before we proceed?"
"That would be most helpful, thank you." Pearl peered up at the screen, recording the map so that it could be holographically displayed if required.
"Cool, let's get going then." Amethyst marched over to wards the platform and scrambled up. "Open sesame."
"Wait." Garnet held up her hand. "Peridot, you said there may be some information about corruption here?"
"Well… it's only a hypothesis," she replied cautiously. "I didn't actually find anything, but then, I didn't get much of a chance to look before I was attacked. The laboratories I found were all deserted, but it's possible there may be something somewhere else within the facility."
"Hmm." Garnet frowned. "Do you mind staying here and having a look through the computer? They kept the Cluster files, after all, so if there were any corruption experiments taking place here too, they may still have kept the records, even if they destroyed the rest."
"Of course." Peridot straightened up, trying to look more confident than she felt.
"Thank you." Garnet smiled and turned away. Then she paused and turned back again. "Steven, would you mind staying here as well? If something happens to the power source, I would feel much more comfortable if you were here to repair it rather than trapped on the other side of the door."
"Sure, no problem."
The couple watched as the door slid open and the three eldest Crystal Gems squeezed past the power source and disappeared into the darkened tunnels beyond, then Peridot turned to Steven and raised her eyebrows. "Alone at last," she said dryly.
Steven laughed and pulled her into a hug. "I have to admit, it's not exactly the romantic date I was planning on."
"Oh? And what exactly was the romantic date you were planning?" she asked, tilting her face up to look at him.
"Mmm…" He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss before answering. "I was thinking we could warp up north and go ice skating, then build a little camp fire, toast marshmallows and snuggle together for warmth."
"That does sound nice," Peridot admitted. "I don't own any ice skates though."
"No problem," Steven said at once. "We'll go to the mall first and buy you a pair."
"You could buy another one of those tight white t-shirts too," Peridot suggested with a grin. "Not that there's anything wrong with your everyday outfit, but I did enjoy watching you work in that other one."
"I will wear whatever you desire," Steven said solemnly. "So long as it is not a Camp Pining Hearts costume," he hastily added as her eyes glittered with mischief. Then he sighed. "But we could be here for hours still, I guess we'll have to do it another day."
"It's all right." Peridot leaned up and kissed him again. "I don't really mind what we do, so long as I'm with you. Although," she admitted, glancing around, "you're right, this isn't exactly the most romantic location for a date-"
"Hey, Peridot!"
Amethyst's voice echoed through the room and the pair hastily flew apart as they heard her footsteps grow louder. A moment later, the purple gem squeezed past the power source and held out a pair of shoes and jeans. "I'm guessing these are yours?"
"Oh, um, yes," Peridot squeaked, trying not to look as flustered as she felt. "Thank you."
Thankfully, Amethyst seemed to think her blush was simply because of the jeans, and she smirked as she handed them over. "Care to explain why you took your pants off to fight a monster?"
Peridot rolled her eyes as she bubbled the clothes and sent them away. "It's hardly a riveting story. It grabbed my legs, and by removing my pants, I was able to free myself. That's all."
"Yeah?" Amethyst nudged her and laughed. "Hey, the monster, it didn't have a bunch of tentacles or anything, did it? Because in that case, you'd be safer keeping your pants on."
"There were no tentacles," Peridot said flatly. "You can go now."
Amethyst looked hopefully at Steven, but he gazed impassively back at her, so she huffed and turned away. "You guys have no sense of humor." She climbed back onto the platform and squeezed back past the power source again. "Have fun playing on your nerd super-computer. I'll see you guys later."
"Bye, Amethyst," Steven cheerily called after her as Peridot half-heartedly waggled her fingers at the other gem's retreating figure.
"I suppose I really should start looking through those files," she said, and began tapping at the pedestal again. "Let's try… no, not that one… maybe…"
Steven stood behind Peridot and gently wrapped his arms around her waist, watching with interest as images and data began to appear on the screens above. "So what is all this stuff then?" he asked as images he vaguely recognized flicked past. "Was that the Cluster files you showed me last time?"
"Uh-huh," Peridot said distractedly. "I'm not all that familiar with this system," she admitted. "I was only ever taught how to access the Cluster files, so I thought I would start there." Her hands moved across the pedestal and the data on the screens vanished. "Um… oops… I'll try…" More information scrolled past. "OK… that's Kindergarten data."
"Kindergarten data?" Steven repeated curiously.
"Mmm-hmm. Records of every gem grown here," Peridot explained. She tapped her fingers and one of the records expanded to fill the screen. "See, it has the gem's ident number, the date and depth of insertion and emergence, gem location, exact mineral quantities… everything. Look." She flicked the record away and flicked through some more before she found what she was looking for. "This one has no date of emergence, this must be Amethyst's record."
"Cool," Steven said, impressed.
"Cool," Peridot agreed. "But not what we're looking for." She dismissed the record and began tapping at the pedestal again. "No, that's not it… nope…"
There was a faint but sudden roar, and they both jumped apart violently and turned to look in the direction of the power source. Peridot grabbed her broken piece of injector and Steven summoned his shield, and they both inched closer to the doorway, where they could just about hear the yells and thuds of an ongoing battle. "I'm guessing your Obsidian wasn't the only gem down here then," Steven said quietly.
"I guess not," Peridot agreed. All at once, the noise stopped and they exchanged wary glances. "I'm going to hope that means the Crystal Gems have prevailed."
Steven nodded slowly. "Yeah… although I'd expect Amethyst to make some more noise still-" A muffled curse reached his ears and he grinned and dismissed his shield. "She's fine."
A few moments later, they heard the sound of approaching footsteps again, and this time Pearl was the one to appear from behind the power source. "It appears that there are other corrupted gems still trapped down here," she began.
"We heard," Steven said with a grin.
"Yes, well. We dealt with it quite easily," Pearl said, a little smugly. "But Garnet says there's a chance that some of them may head this way, so please, no matter what you hear, don't come to help us. We don't want anybody to get trapped back there."
"Stay here, protect the power source." Steven nodded. "Got it."
"Have you found anything?" Peridot asked quickly as Pearl turned to leave.
"Other than corrupted gems?" Pearl shook her head ruefully. "Nothing so far. What about you?"
"Plenty." Peridot pulled a face. "Nothing actually useful though."
"Well, I'm sure if there's anything here, we'll find it," Pearl said reassuringly. "Anyway, I must be heading back to Garnet and Amethyst, but we'll come back as often as we can and keep you updated."
"Yay," Steven whispered behind his hand as Pearl walked away, and Peridot fought down the urge to giggle. She returned to work, and a few seconds later, Steven joined her again. "Hey, Peri…" he began thoughtfully. "What do you think would happen if I just put a bubble around the power source? Would that stop corrupted gems from crashing through it?"
Peridot tore her eyes away from the screens and looked over at the crystal at the end of the room. "Possibly? But I think it's far more likely that it would cut off the power as well, which would rather defeat the purpose."
"Yeah, that's what I thought." He summoned his shield again and strode across the room. "In that case then, I shall simply have to stand guard while you work."
"My hero." Peridot blew a kiss to him, and then returned to work.
xxx
"Huh, that's interesting."
Steven tore his eyes away from his phone and looked up at the bigger screens overhead, which were filled with what appeared to be complete gibberish. "What is it?"
"I don't know," Peridot admitted. "These files appear to be encrypted. But nothing else I've seen so far has been, which suggests that these files are of particular importance."
Steven climbed to his feet, wincing slightly as his body protested at the movement after two hours of sitting on the floor, and staggered over to her side. "Can you decrypt them?"
"I don't know," Peridot said again. "Perhaps. It would take a long time though."
"How long are we talking?" Steven asked warily. "Hours? Longer? Should I go home and grab my sleeping bag?"
"Days? Maybe more?" Peridot shrugged helplessly. "I honestly have no idea. I have a plan though," she added quickly as Steven's mouth dropped open in dismay. "When I was thinking about moving in here, I planned to connect this computer to the internet. If I do that anyway and backup the data to the cloud, I can access the files from my computer back at the beach house and decrypt them in my own time."
"Good idea," Steven said approvingly.
"I agree."
Even though it was now the sixth time they'd been snuck up on, they both still jumped at the sound of Garnet's voice behind them. "Do you need any equipment to set it up?" she asked as she approached.
Peridot shook her head. "I should be able to set up a wireless connection easily enough. But it'll take a few hours for the data to upload."
"Well, we've almost finished searching here." Garnet gazed impassively up at the screens. "I think we've found all of the corrupted gems, but do you want to stay and make sure nothing interrupts the upload anyway?"
"Uh…" Peridot glanced helplessly over at Steven. She knew perfectly well that the correct answer was 'of course I shall stay here and monitor the upload', but right now, what she really wanted to do was find somewhere private and quiet (and a place that was not an underground torture lab) where she could make out with him. But of course, there was no way she could say that to Garnet, so she forced her mouth into a smile. "Of course I shall stay here and monitor the upload."
"I should stay too," Steven quickly interjected. "Just in case a corrupted gem shows up."
Garnet shook her head. "It's getting late, you need to go home and eat. Pearl can stay."
"That won't be necessary," Peridot said hurriedly. "I have a metal spike."
"Are you sure?" Garnet asked.
"Of course. I poofed the other monster by myself," Peridot pointed out, choosing to omit the small detail where it had beaten her up pretty badly first. "I'll be fine. Actually, I'll probably be bored," she grumbled under her breath.
"Very well then." Once again, Garnet began to head back towards the tunnels. "I'll go and find Amethyst and Pearl."
"Are you sure you're going to be all right here by yourself?" Steven asked anxiously as soon as he was sure Garnet had gone. "You were pretty messed up last night."
"Last night, I didn't have a weapon," Peridot reminded him. She gestured towards her metal spike, which obediently rose into the air. "At least, not until I got outside. I'll be fine. Besides," she added, with a small grin, "if Pearl stays, you know she'll want to look at the computer herself to see if she can improve its performance, and what should be a two hour job will turn into a five hour one."
"Ah. Yeah, that would be a drag." Steven sighed and pulled her into a quick hug. "Fine, you're right. But if anything does happen, call me and I'll come back straight away, OK?"
"I promise," Peridot said solemnly.
xxx
An hour and a half later, Steven found himself sat on the sofa next to Amethyst, wondering whether to send Peridot a quick text or not. She had said it would take a couple of hours, after all, and he didn't want to appear too clingy. But after last night, he couldn't help being worried about her, and that made it very difficult to concentrate on the TV, which was currently showing a rerun of Hell's Kitchen. Amethyst started laughing as once again, Chef Ramsey started screaming about 'raw fucking scallops', and Steven absently ran his fingers across the outline of the phone in his pocket for a moment before he forced himself to stop. He trusted Peridot, if there was a problem, she would call-
At that exact moment, the phone chimed and he almost screamed in surprise. Beside him, Amethyst frowned as he struggled to pull it out of his pocket and accidentally elbowed her in the ribs. "Ow! Watch it!"
"Sorry," he quickly apologized. His eyes quickly skimmed the message, and then he relaxed.
Upload almost complete. Very bored though. Please entertain me, I have run out of lives on Candy Crush.
"Who is it?" Amethyst asked, trying to peer over his shoulder. "Is it Peridot? Is everything all right?"
"She's fine," Steven replied, tilting the screen away to hide it from view. "She's just bored." He quickly typed out a reply. Not v good at being entertaining on demand, soz! I can tell you jokes?
A few seconds later the notification alert went off again. Jokes would be greatly appreciated.
Steven thought for a moment, then grinned and typed knock knock.
Who's there? Peridot sent back.
Boo
Boo who?
Don't cry
"Dude, can you turn off the sound or go away if you're going to keep doing that?" Amethyst said irritably. "I can't hear who's being nominated."
"Sorry," Steven apologized cheerfully, and went outside to sit on the deck and finish the punch line. It's only a joke!
Very funny! :) so what are you doing atm?
Was watching tv with ame but she just kicked me out for texting lol
Oops sorry :(
Its ok, it was just hells kitchen. Much rather be chatting with u
Awww :D maybe when I get back we could watch a movie together in my room?
I'd like that :D
Excellent. Upload is complete, I am on my way
Steven smiled and tapped out a quick reply before returning inside. He sat down next to Amethyst again and stared at the TV without really paying any attention for several minutes until he heard the sound of the incoming warp. A moment later, Peridot stepped around the corner. "I have successfully completed my mission!" she boasted. "Praise me!"
"Yeah, cool, whatever." Amethyst's eyes stayed glued to the screen. "Shh now, they're doing a protein challenge."
Steven rolled his eyes and grinned at Peridot, who jerked her head in the direction of her room, indicating that he should join her there. He stood up and glanced back at Amethyst, trying to think of an excuse to leave, but the other gem was completely absorbed in her show, so he shrugged and left her to it and followed Peridot instead. As soon as he entered the room, she pushed the door shut and stepped into his arms, and leaned against his chest with a sigh of happiness. "Alone at last," she said again.
"And this is a definite improvement on the Kindergarten," Steven said, looking around at the pale green walls decorated with posters and photographs. A string of lights was hung around the window and there was a brightly colored IKEA throw hung over the back of the comfortable, squashy sofa, one of the few pieces of furniture that had been rescued from the barn.
"Mmm. Speaking of the Kindergarten…" Peridot tilted her head up and gazed up at him, a small smile twitching at the corner of her lips. "I may have sustained a small injury on the way back. I stumbled on a rock and bit my lip," she continued before he could panic. "Would you mind using your healing powers to fix it?"
"I think I can manage that." He pulled her closer and lowered his head, capturing her lips in a gentle kiss. Then he pulled back and tilted her chin up, pretending to inspect his handiwork. "Oh no. I don't think it worked. I'd better try again."
The next kiss was a slower, deeper one and after a few seconds, they pulled apart, both feeling a little breathless. "I must admit, I'm feeling much better now," Peridot teased.
"Yeah? No more injuries?" Steven kissed a line along her jaw. "How about here? Or… 'ear'?" He nibbled her earlobe, making her squeal with laughter, and was just about to pull her onto the sofa when a sudden knock on the door made them both jump.
"What are you two doing in here?" Amethyst called, pushing the door open as she spoke.
"We're- we're watching a movie," Steven squeaked. Peridot, who'd shot across the room, lunged for the television and stabbed the power button. "Will be. Watching a movie. We um, we were just deciding."
"Yeah?" Amethyst glanced at the screen with interest. "What're you watching?"
Steven wracked his brains, trying to think of something completely un-Amethyst. Something cheesy and romantic and musical, with absolutely no explosions. "Moulin Rouge," he blurted out. "You wouldn't like it."
"Neither would you," she said mildly, picking up the remote and scrolling through the Netflix options. "Remember? First time you watched it, you cried for days when Satine died, and vowed never to watch it again."
"Oh. Yeah." Steven grimaced. He'd forgotten about that small detail. "Then um-"
"Oooh, Alien!" Amethyst flung herself onto the middle of the sofa and hit 'play' before anyone could stop her. "You guys gotta watch this one, it's hilarious! It's sooo obviously the writers had never met any real aliens!"
"But… we…" Peridot began, and looked helplessly at Steven.
"We kinda wanted to watch something less… isn't this supposed to be scary?" Steven protested weakly. "And anyway, I thought you were watching Hell's Kitchen?"
"Nah, Peri's got a better TV. Anyway, it's boring on my own," Amethyst said dismissively. "Now come and sit down, the crew are just about to wake up."
Once again, Steven and Peridot exchanged despairing glances, but neither of them could think of any real excuse to kick her out and so finally, they reluctantly sat down on either side of her as the first hypersleep chamber popped open.
xxx
"You… BITCH!"
Steven, who'd almost fallen sleep, jolted awake at the sound of Ripley's enraged scream. He fumbled for his phone and looked at the time. Ten past midnight. How much longer was left of this film? Not that it mattered, even if it ended in ten seconds time and Amethyst finally left them alone, he was far too tired now to enjoy it. And anyway, the mood was well and truly ruined. He glanced over at Peridot, but she'd hidden her face in a cushion the moment the facehugger had first appeared on the screen, and she hadn't reappeared since. But finally, the alien was defeated and Ripley returned to hypersleep and Amethyst cheered. "Wasn't that great?" she said gleefully.
"It was… an experience," Steven said carefully.
Amethyst's eyes twinkled and she inclined her head hopefully at the screen. "Wanna watch the next one?"
"Oh, I would," Steven lied. "But I really gotta go to sleep now." He stood up, stretched and faked a yawn that instantly turned into a genuine one.
"Spoilsport. Then I guess me and Peri-" She glanced over at Peridot and pulled the cushion away. "-Will have to watch it without you."
"Actually," Peridot said hurriedly. "I would quite like to try sleeping as well."
"Oh whaaaat?" Amethyst whined in dismay. "Seriously!?"
"After witnessing the effect sleep deprivation had upon Steven last week, I'd like to try sleeping myself, to see if it makes a difference to my general efficiency," she lied smoothly.
"That's a great idea," Steven agreed at once. "A good night's sleep makes me refreshed and energized, maybe it'll work for you too."
"Ugh, you guys are no fun," Amethyst complained. "Fine, guess I'll go back to my room and throw garbage at Pearl through the puddles. G'night." She stood up and followed him over to the door. "Sweet dreams."
"I plan to," Steven mumbled, with a meaningful look back at Peridot.
As soon as they'd both left the room, Peridot shut the door and changed into her one and only pair of pajamas, and then clambered into the hammock that hung from the ceiling and pulled a blanket over herself. For a moment, she stared into the darkness and thought about climbing into Steven's bed again, but she reluctantly concluded that the other gems might find that rather questionable now that she had her own room.
Still. It didn't really matter. She closed her eyes and smiled to herself. She'd see him soon enough.
xxx
Once again, Peridot found herself standing on the hill overlooking Beach City and the distant Temple fusion statue. Déjà vu flooded over her and sure enough, when she turned around, there was the barn. She took a step towards it, and then froze as the dirt under her feet shifted. "Stop it," she whispered under her breath. "I didn't do anything wrong."
"Peridot!"
All thoughts about what might be buried in the dirt instantly vanished from her mind as Steven ran up the hill towards her. She began to run towards him too and flung herself into his arms with almost enough force to knock him over. He laughed and spun her around before giving her a quick kiss and placing her back on the ground. "The barn, huh?" he teased. "I guess it's more private than the beach house, but it's not quite the dream date I was expecting."
"I'll have you know, this only the…" Peridot counted quickly. "Sixth time I have attempted sleep. I haven't quite worked out how to control my dreams."
"Honestly, most people don't ever learn to really control their dreams," Steven admitted. "Actually, I think the only reason I can do it as much as I can is because of my powers."
"In that case then, I shall leave the details up to you." Peridot stepped back and folded her arms expectantly.
"Right… OK." Steven thought hard for a moment, then grinned. "Got it." He snapped his fingers, and immediately, they found themselves in a gondola, floating along a canal bordered by tall, picturesque buildings. "Venice!" he exclaimed happily.
It wasn't exactly an accurate replica of Venice; Steven hadn't bothered trying to imagine any litter, vermin or loud British tourists trying to sing 'O sole mio'. Romantic music that Steven's brain had ripped straight from their not-date at Tommy's Bistro played quietly in the background, and the gondolier bore a suspicious resemblance to that famous Italian plumber. He had also never actually seen Venice for real, so what was pulled from his imagination was a fantasy Venice recalled from television that probably bore very little resemblance to the real Venice. But Peridot has never visited Venice either, and so she didn't question the authenticity of his vision, even though she was fairly sure the Eiffel Tower wasn't supposed to be there.
"Now then," Steven said lasciviously. "Where were we before we so rudely interrupt-"
And then he couldn't talk any more because Peridot's mouth was in the way. They carried on in that fashion for some time, neither one actually paying much attention to the elaborate fake Venice that Steven had conjured up for them. In fact, Steven idly thought to himself, he probably could've dropped them both onto the main stage at Beach-a-Palooza and they wouldn't have cared-
At that moment, the sound of cheers and applause reached his ears and, startled, he pulled away from Peridot and turned to see every single resident of Beach City staring up at them. Peridot let out a shriek of alarm and tried to hide behind him as Mr. Smiley stepped forward and shouted "let's hear it for Beach City's newest couple!" into his microphone.
"Steven, what's happening!?" she hissed as the crowd hooted with approval.
"I… may have lost my concentration for a moment," Steven admitted as a bouquet of flowers sailed over his head. "But I can fix it!" He pictured his lovely Venice again, and immediately, they were back in the gondola. "There. All better."
"All better," Peridot repeated with relief, and snuggled against him. "Now… should we go and explore this charming city, or just make out some more?"
"Make out some more," Steven said at once, and so they did that. And it was much more pleasant without an audience, he thought to himself. All of those people, watching them, cheering them on… he could almost still hear it in his head.
Wait. This was his head. Once again, he tore himself away from Peridot and turned to see the citizens of Beach City lined up along the canal. "Not again!"
"Give me that!" Peridot snapped, and snatched the oar from the gondolier and tried to use it to smack the audience away. "Shoo! Shoo!"
"Let me try," Steven said quickly before she could knock anybody into the water. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard and tried not to think of just how many people he knew. Or the strangers he didn't know. Or the famous people he'd seen on TV. Or the fictional characters he loved.
"Steven." Peridot was shaking his arm. "I don't know what you're doing, but you need to stop. It's making things worse."
He opened his eyes again and stared, appalled at the crowds stood on either side of the water, at least ten people deep. More people were leaning over the bridges up ahead. Other gondolas floated beside them, overloaded almost to the point of sinking, and fairies, dragons, flying gems and Dogcoptor zipped over their heads. "No!" He grabbed the oar from Peridot and pushed at the gondola closest to them, capsizing it and sending the Queen of England into the water. "Go away! This is worse than my mom's room!" he lamented.
"Maybe instead of trying to get rid of them, you could try dreaming us somewhere else?" Peridot suggested urgently as the Queen's lemon-yellow hat bobbed past.
"Good idea." Steven immediately tried to think of somewhere quiet and peaceful and deserted. His brain immediately obliged by putting them in the middle of the desert. "Huh. I guess this works. I think we're alone now."
"It's not quite as atmospheric as Venice," Peridot said critically, turning in a slow circle to observe the sandy plains that stretched for miles in all directions. "But I suppose it has its advantages."
"It does," Steven agreed. "Soooo…" He pulled her closer and smiled hopefully. "Shall we try that again?"
"All right, you've convinced me." She leaned up and gave him a quick peck on the lips. And then another one. And then a longer kiss. As they parted for air, Steven let out a small happy sigh and silently congratulated himself on managing to stop thinking about people watching them.
Oh no.
He knew they were there before the thought had even finished crossing his mind and his happy sigh turned into one of despair. "I'm sorry," he said in a small voice. "I don't think I'm going to be able to fix it now, they're all stuck in my brain."
"What?" Peridot asked in confusion, then her eyes flickered beyond him and she stiffened in horror. "Gah!"
For where there had once been golden sand, were now crowds of people smiling expectantly. "Don't stop on our account!" Lars yelled, and a ripple of laughter went through the crowd.
Steven groaned and rested his forehead against Peridot's. "Oh no, this isn't a dream, it's a nightmare. I've made a nightmare. The only thing that could make this worse is if Mom and the Diamonds showed up."
Peridot peeked back at the crowd. "Then I have some bad news for you." Suddenly she saw the funny side and began to giggle. "Maybe you should add in Bismuth and Jasper too. Then they'll be too busy fighting to pay any attention to us."
Steven began to laugh as well. "That's a terrible idea. I'm gonna do it. And then if they still insist upon watching us… well, I guess we'll just have to give them something worth watching, won't we?"
XXX
And that's the first sequel of the series, thank you for reading!