Hey guys. I've had this feeling from rewatching the Steven Bomb that Peridot has some feelers(yes, 'feelers') for Steven. So I wanted to get some drama in here. Enjoy!
Steven's POV throughout(I don't know why but first-person helps me tap into feelings much better)
Part 1: A Simple Tour 'Round Town
The sun threw off beautiful streams of orange into the sky. Some dashes of pink as well, reminding me of Connie and me, spending Valentine's Day together. Ever so lately, she has been on my mind constantly. I wonder if it's because we've been closer in the last two months than we have been the last three years. Or that she's been out of town for the past week for a 'light vacation.'
The waves of the water rolled onto the sand. The repetitive, constant sound of it complemented my ukelele as I strummed away. No lyrics, no rhythm, just a sound.
A nice relaxing sound.
As I got lost in my own thoughts, I here the sound of feet behind me, crunching in the sand. I turn to see Pearl walking up to me.
"Hello, Steven," she said. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"
After a smile and a quick nod, she sat down in the sand next to me, legs straight and her weight on her arms. She has been our here almost every day ever since a week ago. It's as if she just noticed the sunset and the colors it throws off.
"What's up with you, Pearl?" I inquire.
Without looking, she stated, "I've just had quite some free time lately. So, until I find a...hobby, as humans call it, I'll be here." She seemed to stop until she added, "And this is one of the most peaceful places I could find."
This was a little weird of her, seeming to have taken freetime for herself. It's something I'm not surprised if, she has always deserved to relax. But I've never seen her do so in the past. Anyway, I think nothing of it.
After sitting there with her in silence, probably for an hour although my sense of time was really terrible, I got up and started back towards the beach house. The sun was shooting it's last pieces of light into the sky and the moon was easily visible.
Besides it getting late, I had to get some rest. Tomorrow I had promised to give Peridot a small tour around town. She has been wanting to get acquainted with the area, other than just the parts she has seen a little bit of when we passed through to get to the barn. Or when she had crash landed in the field of tall grass.
So I gave her the offer just after she recovered from her talk with Yellow Diamond. She joyfully accepted. But I was happy as well, more time to spend with her.
###
At 6:30 the next day, Saturday, Amethyst decided to play a prank on me by holding two air horns in her hands and pouncing on to me while they sounded. Not the best way to wake up but probably won't be the worst. After going through a laughing fit which lasted a full two minutes, she went back to her room to sleep.
Something I don't get is why the Gems seem to come into the house, early in the mornings. I have seen Pearl and Garnet come in a few times, all of which was somewhere around six in the morning. They must've came back before Amethyst as I didn't see them.
Either way, in no world was I to fall asleep again after that. So I decided to lay in my bed for the next few hours or so.
After I officially got up, I started my normal morning routine. I got up to make breakfast and unplugged my phone on the way down the steps. The outlet was awkwardly placed on the wall, right by the third step down.
When Pearl headed in the building of our home, she hadn't really mastered how to wire houses yet, although she had been taught craftsmanship at that time. As always, her curiosity grants her so much knowledge, as it has for the thousands of years she's been here. Without it, our home would not have as great. To think that she, Amethyst, and Garnet had built it by themselves with Pearl being the reason for it happen.
Anyways, reaching into the drawer containing our nonperishable food, I grab the first thing me hand felt like going to. It was some red velvet cookies. I threw it back in and drew another. This time, getting a packet of three waffles. Happy with it, I put it on a plate at then into the microwave. While was cooking, I jumped up onto a stool and texted Connie on my phone.
'Mornin. Hows youre trip to the Blossom state?' I type in and hit send.
I put my phone off to the side and wait. The beeps of the microwave go off and I hop on over to it, eventually returning with a warm plate of steaming waffles, syrup, and a fork.
After I've already finished, Connie sends me a text back.
It read 'It sucks. Doing nothing but faking a hello to family members i dont kare about. Theres no nature to look at, just houses, and houses, and houses... Wish you were here. Not cause its nice, its just that i like having you around.' I give a small smile and send one back.
'Wish you were here too. Either way gotta go. Love you.'
A few moments later, she calls me. I wondered why she would call, but any reason to talk to Connie is perfectly fine with me.
Picking up the call, a young girl's squealing voice breaks out from the other end, but not Connie's.
"Shelovesyoutoo!" it shouted quickly before I hear the loud thud of a door swinging open and hitting the wall, then a lot of screaming. After what sounded like a mix between a wrestle and a fight, Connie's voice comes out clearly.
"Sorry, 'bout that," she was out of breath, "Four cousins teamed up on me to get my phone. I'm sitting on the only girl with my hand over her mouth, and the other boys are dealing with some fist to their stomach."
There was someone else's voice, the other girl's, saying something I couldn't quite hear.
"You get tackled whenever you take my phone! Deal with it!" shouted Connie.
I did my best to ignore what just happened on the other end, although that would be pretty hard. "Sounds eventful over there," I say sarcastically.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm going to the neighborhood pool for a swim after this with all of them. Not many- STOP SQUIRMING AND I'LL LET YOU UP!" she cleared her throat before continuing, "Not many people ever go over there so it's probably just gonna be me and these losers." Swimming, sounds like something I should do later on.
"Okay, Connie. You, umm, go do that annndd...I'll call you later." I tried to end the conversation, she probably had something else to do...
"Good luck on your gem stuff. Bye, Steven." And with that, she hung up the phone.
From what little I've gathered, she's gonna need the luck in dealing with her family. Especially as her parents probably don't want her punching a family member in the gut.
I wonder what it'd be like if I had cousins or brothers...
###
"Hey peridot!" I call over from the doorway of the barn. Her head turned around as soon as she heard me.
"Steven!" Peridot called back. She was on the other side on the first level of the barn. To her side was an apple sitting on top of a table that she was either examining, or just staring at without any purpose.
After charging over, she opens her arms and I lift her into the air in a hug, spinning her in a in a small time, I've missed her company.
"Woah. Okay, you can stop now," she said, dizzy.
After setting her down recomposing ourselves, she began. "Okay, so. Here's what I've been doing," She starts, "Humans intake things like these in order to obtain their energy and use it for fuel," she motions to the apple, one of those green ones I like, "That I understand. But I wonder how they do so." Her glance went back to me. "How to humans...'absorb' this?" Her curiosity matched that of Pearl's.
"Oh, that's easy," I respond. Taking the apple into my hands, I take a bite out to show her. "See?"
She looked me over. "I see," she says plainly, although very amused. "Very well then. Thank you for your help." A small smile spreads on her face. "Now when shall we start this, umm, 'tour' that you offered me a little while back?"
"Rife mou" I replied with a full mouth.
"Uhhhhhhhh.."
I swallowed and then repeated, "Right now!"
###
Finishing the apple on the way to town, I drag her along to see the amazing parts of the town. We had a small conversation, which were always interesting with her. She told me more about Homeworld. Apparently, even they didn't have firearms yet, such as guns. I laughed and told her that even though we had that, we didn't have fake fusions that can destroy planets. It got a small smile in response.
"Touché. As you would say," she replied.
Moving on with our walk, we first stopped by the town hall to show her where Mayor Dewey worked at. It wasn't too extravagant. Peridot said that the equivalent to this on Homeworld was a command hub, which spanned at least 75 times wider. She had also said that it's height was unmatched by anything on earth besides skyscrapers, which were slightly taller than the hub by her measurements.
"Does the 'mayor', live here?" Peridot asked.
"Nah. It's just where he works."
After a glancing at me, she asked, "And what exactly does he do here. It looks pointless." I didn't quite have an answer to that one as Pearl never taught me about politics. And when I Amethyst dragged me to see what it's like to vote, I fell asleep at the speeches.
Continuing on, the next few places we went to were food based. The Big Donut was the first. After running in and saying hello to Lars and Sadiee shared a donut outside as I offered. I broke one in half and gave her the smaller piece as I wasn't sure if she liked it or not. She ended up eating most of it in one bite after a small, hesitant nibble. Always spontaneous and willing to try new things, I guess I like that about her.
Afterwards, we gave a visit to Fish Stew Pizza. After going inside to give a hello, Kiki asked if Peridot wanted a free sample as an advertisement to a possible customer. Peridot declined as she wanted continue on with our day together.
"Truthfully, I think cheese is gross," she told me once we left the door.
The grocery store was next, although not much happened there except her commenting that humans should be less greedy and not charge income for 'something essential for the survival of their own kind.' I agreed with this, as I do with many of her ideas. But I told her that most of them just can't happen.
Lastly, we went over to the lighthouse as everything else was on the way. Connie's school, who I still need to introduce Peridot to, the Museum of Beach City History, my dad's car wash, which I gave a quick wave Dad as we walked by, the convenience store, and the book shop. I had to recommend Pearl the last one as I saw psychology book in the window that she should like.
Just before the lighthouse, I asked if we should take a swim as we were already on the beach and the ocean was literally a stone's throw away.
"Not still scared of water I hope," I joked.
Her eyes narrowed back with a smile that showed she was planning something. "Scared? I think not!" I felt myself be lifted off the ground by her hands. She ran me over to where the water just barely gave way to dry land and heaved me as hard as she could. Taking a deep breath and holding my nose in the air, I felt my body plummeted about a foot under the surface.
Although strength was something she wasn't much of, she put me a good ten feet away from the shoreline.
Coming back up laughing, I see her jump in after me. Even though her jump was perfect, she had no idea how to dive as her arms waved uncontrollably in the air. It was as if a flightless bird had jumped off a cliff. For this, she only made it about half the way she threw me, and landed on her face, but I swam to close the distance.
"Pretty nice jump, though that landing could've used work," I said when she surfaced, laying down with her hands to her side, feet together, and head facing up.
"We don't have much water on Homeworld. And I would've never been allowed to do this in what little we had," Peridot replied, staring straight into the air. Looking at me, she smiled and was about to giggle, "Why are you making those movements? You look funny."
I guess that comedy is something that eventually everyone grabs ahold of, even a gem that has known nothing gem technology throughout her life and believed that emotion was pointless.
Looking down at myself, I realized my shirt was still on and I would need to change soon. But I couldn't figure what she was asking about.
"What do you mean?" I asked quizzically.
"You're moving your extremities up and down," a small chuckle left her. "You look like a flightless winged creature which had leaped off a overhang and was attempting flight."
'Welp, that's what I thought you looked like, too' I thought to myself.
"Oh, okay," my words brought her laughter down, "Yeah, we do this to swim. Otherwise we can't stay above water."
"That's fairly pathetic of humans."
It was my turn to chuckle as I swam closer and started to turn her over.
"Hey. What are you doing!" Peridot screamed. Her arms started wailing for a second just before she was fully turned over. Knowing she didn't need air to live, I waited for her cries, muffled by the water, to calm down. Since she depended on her buoyancy, she couldn't turn herself over. Then, after a little bit, I flipped her back over.
"Now who's pathetic?" I shoot.
With a smile, she said, "Well played." Her stare went back to the air. "Can we go back to the shore now?"
Even though I had was still wanting to swim around a bit, I did feel a little cold. "Oh, alright," I put out, almost sounding disappointedly.
"Well, you can just swim around while I watch from the shoreline. I mean...it's not just me here."
It had a point. But decided that anything besides swimming around mindlessly would be better. Even having a conversation with Peri on shore would be better. She always had something to talk about anyways.
So I pushed her back to land and told her to stay here until I came back from the beach house with some dry clothes.
###
Getting back from putting clothes on and telling Pearl about the book, which she said she would try, I found Peridot digging a hole into the sand. Getting closer, I found it to be as deep as I was tall.
"Umm, Peri..." I trailed off, as if it was a question.
Before any response, she jumped into it, the brim barely leveling with the top of her head. "You mind throwing some sand down here? I'm sorta trying to bury myself in the sand; it's really warm." It got a cheerful laugh out of me that stayed inside. Only a bright smile broke out.
So we spent a little time putting Peri into the sand. It was childishly fun and was a good substitute for swimming. After finishing with the work, I step back a see the flat, smooth sand had been replaced perfectly, with the only trace of our work being Peridot's head sticking out of the sand. But if we buried her all the way, someone could walk right over and never know.
"Well, that was fun," she comments. Her eyes went from me to the ground, looking around at herself, as if she could see the rest of her body. "I wouldn't mind staying here for a while. The most enjoyable part is- OW!" Her entire body flung out of the sand, spraying it in all directions. I reflexively close my eyes. After I felt the sand stop pelting my skin, I open them to see what had happened.
Peridot had gotten a crab claw clamped onto her upper arm. Quickly flicking it off, she shows the punctures the claw made to me with a scared face. It had a red liquid slowly dripping from it.
"I've never had a cut before! I'm not used to seeing blood!" Peridot screamed.
"Woah, woah, woah. Calm down." I calmly strode over to her, licked the palm of my hand, and placed it on her wound. It glowed almost instantly and healed when the light stopped.
Her mouth was wide open. "How did you do that?" she asked marveled, after she got past her shock.
"Well," I rub the back of my neck. I hadn't even shown her, nor told her about me healing powers before. "I kinda have healing spit."
That put her into a frenzy of questions, ranging from where I got it from to why hadn't I been appointed medic of the team yet. I answered them to the best of my knowledge, but my powers even baffle me sometimes.
Deciding that we should move on, I grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the lighthouse. She made small comments on what I had previously said until we finally made it to the top of the hill. We sat on the hillside as Ronaldo was currently using the lighthouse for his own purposes.
"Well, I have just one more question..." Her voice cut off. "What are those?"(Yes...I'm sorry, but I found the perfect time, and I did it. At least it's better than a 'Just Do It' I was planning on adding)
She pointed over to the cliffside. Looking over, I see that she was referring to a patch of the pink flowers from the moss I had set free. Apparently, some of it had caught the side of this cliff and started growing.
"Eh, don't worry about it. So, was that your question?"
She let the answer blow over. "Oh, no. I was wondering...ummm nevermind." Her stare went to my left. It wasn't that she forgot, but it seemed that she just didn't want to say.
I decided to press a little. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," she answered quickly.
"Peri. You can talk to me."
Her arms crossed over her chest. "No. It's fine."
"Peri." Her face didn't change.
I went to a softer tone, turned my head down, and stared up at her. "Peri..." Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips slanted.
"Peri!" I stated loudly, with a stern face. It startled her a little.
"Okay, okay," she put her hands up in front of her, "I'll talk." I smirked. I can see why Connie pulled the same thing on me.
"It's just, well..." Her hand went behind her back. The thumb rubbed over the fingernails on the hand that was left showing. "You've been the nicest person to me throughout...forever, really. All other gems, including my Jasper, may have treated me with respect, but it wasn't as if they weren't going to dispose of me if I wasn't important. I tried so hard to make sure that I was always of use so it wouldn't happen. But here, here I am not needed... I'm wanted.
"The Crystal Gems could easily shatter me now that the drill is done and it wouldn't impact their lives in the slightest. But you guys don't. You all have helped me so much." A smile started to sprout on her face. "Especially you, Steven. Even after what I've done. Even after kidnapping you, betraying you, and insulting the cause of your team, I was forgiven of it all and now you're helping me get acquainted with the town."
The smile stayed on her face as she glanced at the ground. "I guess all I can say is...thank you."
The words made me smile as well. And she was right, I should at the very least be agitated by what she's tried and done. But I'm not, none of us are.
I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. Her arms hesitantly wrapped around me in return. After we both withdrew, we stayed a few inches away from each other, face-to-face. "You're welcome." It was almost a whisper.
As it seemed, her eyes glowed, breaking the smoothness of her face. In them, there was evil in the form of a fire. But it was a fire that didn't yearn to burn. It was an evil kept on a leash, having yet to be let out. It gave her energy, for without it, she wouldn't be the analytical, smart, technician of a gem that I became friends with. She was beautiful, inside and out.
'Wait, what?' I thought to myself. 'What did I just-' My thoughts were cut short, for there was something else going on outside my head, something that required attention.
There was a strange warmth to my face. Tingles shot through me in surprise. The object that held me, was Peridot. Her lips were on mine.
It was a kiss. One that seemed to linger on forever, for I didn't try to stop it. Nor did I try to pull away. Why I didn't was a reason I couldn't find. Every part of me told me to push her away, and that this shouldn't be happening, every part. But there was something that kept me there, letting it go on until she pulled away first.
End if Part 1
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Holy crap! That was something! I had a lot of fun typing this, sorry for postponing so much, weekdays are something that don't offer too much time.
Part two of this 2-3 parter will be out in a week.
POLL: I HAVE A POLL UP ON MY PAGE. IT'S ASKING WHAT KIND OF SHIPS/RELATIONSHIPS YOU LIKE. TELL ME AND I'LL DO ONE OF IT IF I CAN.