AN: Just a little drabble I wanted to write. I was surprised I didn't write a story about these two yet, so of course, I had to get one out of my system as soon as possible. Luckily, the Steven Nuke this past summer was exactly the thing that kept me going, aha. I may consider writing another chapter to make this a two-shot, but until then, this will remain as a oneshot.
LapiDot is very precious to me, and I hope you enjoy this.
Ciao. c:
"Log Date...whatever.
"Today I have experienced the most...how do you say it...interesting? No, that's not it...fascinating? No, it's not that either….
"Perhaps you would classify this as...'fun?'
"Oh, what am I talking about! This is the most incredible thing that has ever happened in Earth history! Perhaps even Homeworld history! I, the great Peridot, have recently discovered that—wait for it—CAN MOVE OBJECTS WITH THE MIND. But not just any mundane objects, oh no, I can move metallic objects. Is it a setback? Perhaps, but sweet Diamond, this kind of discovery is unprecedented in Gem history! Me, an Era 2 peridot, with powers. Ah, I can almost see that clod, Yellow Diamond's face when she finds out—
"Wait...what's that noise? How strange…. It must be coming from Lazuli I predict, but I will investigate...once I update my log on that rectangular object Steven has given me. What was it called again, a taboo? Oh, whatever, specifics aside! I must alert my human following; after all, if this noise turns out to be something dangerous, who knows what they will do if they find out I have disappeared!
"Ah, was the tape still running? I suppose it was. I had decided to investigate the source of the noise, and it seems that I was right...once again. The noise was coming from Lazuli, and now I'm currently standing behind her—"
"I can hear you, you know," Lapis declared. Peridot shut herself up and with a panicked expression took a step backwards, boring her gaze into the blue Gem's back.
"It seems that Lazuli has found me out. It's seems that this 'stake-out,' didn't go exactly as planned—"
"Why are you talking to yourself?" Lapis asked, her voice exasperated and somewhat raspy. Peridot was a little confused on that part—usually the blue Gem's voice was rather clear. "Didn't I break that tape thing of yours a while ago?
But the green Gem disregarded all that and concluded that it was just a figment of her imagination. She straightened herself out, back straight, as she placed her fists on her hips. Peridot stared at Lapis's back indignantly. "I'll have you know that I was doing a log! And even if you did break the tape, it's still fun tracking your progress without a recording device of some sort." She nodded her head vigorously even though Lapis couldn't see her.
The tear-shaped gem glimmered in the setting sun. "Wow, sounds fun." To anyone else, Lapis's voice reeked of sarcasm. To the oblivious Peridot, it was just more praise and confirmation of her excellence.
"It is!" Peridot exclaimed, excitedly taking a seat next to Lapis, "It's a little hard since now I'm managing a blog and a log, but it is a great way of communicating my time with the Crystal Gems." She looked at the other Gem, her eyes dazzling like stars. "Maybe you can start one! And then you'll—are...you all right?"
Lapis, who had been staring off far into the horizon, plummeted back down to Earth. She violently wiped away the tears streaming down her face with the back of her hand. She refused to acknowledge Peridot and said nothing.
The green Gem, however, didn't let this attitude stop her from trying to get a closer look at Lapis. "Well, I knew that you could manipulate water, I just didn't know you can also do it from your eyes."
"Go away," the blue Gem said as she turned away from Peridot's scrutinizing stare.
Peridot was confused. "Why?"
"Just go away."
"But aren't we friends?" She reached out with her hand, her fingertips just about to graze the other Gem's arm—
"No!" Lapis bellowed, slapping Peridot's hand away. Tears were now flowing freely down her cheeks like little waterfalls. A ferocious rage was burning in her pale-blue eyes, her cheeks painted a darker hue than her skin, her mouth turned into a scowl.
Peridot froze in her place, the back of her hand stinging. She stared at the angry Gem with blank eyes; she didn't know how to deal with sort of thing. Yes she experienced rage before, from herself and others, but how does one comfort someone that's angry? Because that's a thing friends do, right? Comforting one another? That's what Steven would have done. That's what Steven always did. After all, the little human boy was friends with everyone.
The green Gem felt herself frown, more unhappy with herself than at Lapis.
She wasn't Steven, and she couldn't cheer up Lazuli even if she tried.
"I...see," Peridot mumbled. She fumbled to stand up, still a little shaken from being so blatantly rejected. She turned around, but hesitated from taking a step. "I'll be going back inside," she announced quietly.
A hand gripped her wrist in a gentle, yet firm grip. Peridot looked over her shoulder to see Lapis staring her right in the eye. The fury in the blue Gem's eyes was replaced with an uncomfortable sense of remorse, as if she was also of practice on how to handle emotions, especially her own. After a while she severed their eye contact and trailed her gaze downward to look at the grass.
"I'm…" Lapis looked up then back down when she couldn't handle the weight of Peridot's stare, "sorry." The Gem said it so quietly the other could barely hear it.
But still, Peridot heard Lapis and the green Gem twisted her restrained hand in such a way so that she could clasp Lapis's wrist gently too.
"It's okay," Peridot lamely replied, staring at their hands.
"I'm still reeling from the whole Malachite incident, I guess," the blue Gem said. Her voice still so quiet.
"Must have been bad," Peridot said, stating the obvious. Lapis looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"It's wasn't that bad."
"Really?"
"Of course it was bad."
"But you said—"
"Sarcasm."
The green Gem tilted her head to the side, furrowing her eyebrows together. She had never heard something called 'sarcasm' before. The gears in her head started grinding together, trying to piece some sort of definition to stick onto this 'sarcasm' thing.
"What's—"
"Nothing," Lapis said as she shook her head dismissively. But, under the movement of her fringe, Peridot caught the slightest glimpse of a small smile forming on the Gem's lips.
That caused the green Gem to look down at their intertwined arms, hands still locked around the other's wrist. It wasn't the most intimate of contact—she would know, especially after seeing that one episode of Camp Pining Hearts from that trashy season five—but for whatever reason, despite Lapis's cold fingers, something about holding onto the blue Gem made Peridot feel...warm.
She wondered if Lapis felt the same way.
Nervously, Peridot looked up at the other, only to see the blue Gem looking off at the horizon. The green Gem scrutinized her. Weary bags sagged heavily underneath Lapis's eyes, and in the light, she looked as if she had aged. Which was preposterous, of course, because Gems can't—
"Sometimes I miss Jasper," Lapis muttered, her eyes looking glossy in the sunlight.
Peridot felt the warmth chill to ice.
"You what?" She asked.
"Strange, isn't it?" Lapis closed her eyes, and that tiny smile on her face grew just a little larger.
"How—"
"I don't know. I just felt so...liberated. I got to lash out, and finally feel free. That kind of relationship was a gateway for revenge and everything else. But," she opened her eyes and turned to Peridot, her smile fading away like a wave, "that kind of relationship isn't healthy. It wasn't what fusion is. Sometimes, when I think back on it, I wonder how Garnet does it."
The green Gem gave a crooked smile and a shrug. "She says it takes time."
Lapis raised an eyebrow.
"I asked her about it a long time ago," Peridot said sheepishly.
They stared at each other as a breeze blew past, ruffling their hair and rustling Lapis's dress.
In that moment, Peridot forgot how to breathe.
In that moment, she decided, that among all the interesting things on Earth, Lapis Lazuli was the one who caught her attention the most.
And in that moment, Peridot had the audacious thought to wonder what it would be like to be with Lapis, the same level Ruby was with Sapphire.
It was farfetched and completely unreasonable; she actually managed to shock herself by thinking it. But as she stood there, looking into Lapis's blue eyes that were as deep as the ocean itself, Peridot mused that perhaps that something close to what Garnet had could be attainable...through time.
'Stupid' would have been a good word to describe what was going through Peridot's mind, but she didn't care—it was still enough for the warm feeling to return, and the a doofy smile planted itself on the green Gem's face.
Lapis quickly took a step back with—what seemed to be, at least—a concerned expression. Her hold on Peridot's wrist never broke, however.
"Are...you alright?" The blue Gem asked.
Peridot's smile grew impossibly larger. "Just peachy."
"Are...you sure?"
The green Gem nodded. "Nothing's wrong," she said as she looked down to their hands again.
Nothing was wrong, but somewhere and somehow, something was beginning.
And everything about it felt right.