"It was a beautiful and bright night in the beach. The stars were shining more than any other night, and the wind was refreshing alongside the peaceful sounds from the waves hitting the shore of the beach. It was fitting after a hard day for the guardians of the planet Earth that were relaxing as a whole family without any disturbances. The Crystal Gems, swore defenders of the planet Earth, were enjoying this fresh night after they finally saved the day once-for-all…again. With the Pink Legs resting on the Temple, the Crystal Gems were in peace after they returned from Homeworld, and convinced the Diamond Authority to heal the corrupted gems…their mission that had started once the Gem War ended, has finally come to an end.
Steven Universe, the responsible to convince the remaining Diamond to help, was enjoying playing music with his ukulele alongside Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Meanwhile, his father Greg Universe was chilling playing some notes as well while Connie was enjoying their moment of victory, and of course Bismuth was playing with a grill trying to figure out how it works, and that just leaves two of them. Their newest recruits, and former Homeworld refuges…Peridot the green and metallic controller of the group was laying down with her pet (or creation according to her), Pumpkin; and finally you have Lapis Lazuli, the one responsible on aiding their resistance attack when the Diamonds invaded planet Earth. All of them…finally coming together and relaxed…not worried about anything else.
"Phew! Welp, it is getting late so I guess this is my time to get some rest after the whole y'know…Diamonds finally coming to Earth just so they could heal everyone." Said Greg while getting up and stretching a little bit.
"Yeah…and the house looks like its repaired from all the damage." Said Steven with a smile.
"And its all thanks to Bismuth here." Added Greg with a smile.
"Hey, it's a pleasure doing Bismuth with all of you." Said Bismuth with a wink.
"Eyyyyyyyyyyy!" said both Greg and Steven upon hearing the pun from Rainbow-haired gem, and clearly Bismuth was laughing as well.
"Hnnngh! Well its good thing its fixed. After all what happened, I'm gonna need like a thousand years of napping to recover from everything." Said Amethyst walking and stretching.
"Yeah, I probably should get going as well. I know my curfew has been extended, but I shouldn't worry my mom." Said Connie getting up as well and taking out her cellphone so she could message her mother that she was on her way back home.
"Oh! In that case, I declare that the mission on rescuing our friends was a success!" said Steven in his usual goofy tone and making a salute as well which only made Connie giggle a little bit.
"YEAHH!" shouted Connie as both Jam Buds, high five each other.
"Until our next duty. Good night, Connie." Said Steven with a smile. Normally, they would just wave each other bye, but this time Connie hugged Steven which of course got Steven surprised. Everyone was smiling at the cute moment.
"Good night Steven. I'm glad that you're okay." Said Connie with a soft tone.
"Me too." Said Steven as well. The hug seemed that it will endure forever, as the duo didn't wanted to separate but they know that their day was already over. After a huge minute passed, both of them broke the hug.
"See ya tomorrow Steven!" said Connie while gathering packing her sword and getting on top of Lion.
"See ya Connie!" said Steven while waving goodbye as Lion roared a portal and both of them were gone from the Beach.
"Okay Stu-ball, I'll leave you to rest. Good night, y'all!" said Greg as he ruffled his son hair.
"Good night, Dad!" replied Steven as well as he saw Greg getting on his van and setting everything up for his sleep.
"Come on Steven! Let's go check out the restyling from B-girl!" said Amethyst waving her hand.
"Coming!" said Steven as he ran towards the Gems.
"Heh, I even made some room for Tiny and Blue over here." Said Bismuth with a smile as she took a glance towards Peridot and Lapis.
"Wow, Thanks!" said Peridot with a smile as she expressed her usual phrase for gratefulness as Pumpkin laid on the trash lid she was making float. Lapis only give a small smile as she fell behind the group.
"Then why are we still here?! Let's see what else is new!" Amethyst as she ran towards the house.
"Amethyst hold just a little bit!" said Pearl as she followed Amethyst to the house. Garnet could only smile as she entered as well.
"Some things never change." Said Steven as he entered alongside Bismuth.
"Tell me about it…there was one time when…" said Bismuth as she entered the house as she was telling a moment back at the War. The only ones left on the beach were Peridot and Lapis, while the Green gem was making her way towards the house, she looked back and saw that Lapis was standing still and looking at the sky.
"L-Lapis? Are you okay?" said Peridot with a worried tone as the trash lid came down and Pumpkin got off from it.
"Huh?! Y-Yeah! I'm fine…just…taking everything that just happened." Said Lapis getting out of her trance as she saw Peridot. "It's just…everything is fine now. The Diamonds helped everyone and we managed to come victorious in the end." Added Lapis as she sits down on the sand once again.
"Yeah…just like Steven said in one of his little songs! The Crystal Gems will always find the way to save the day." Said Peridot with a smile.
"The Crystal Gems…huh. Never thought I would actually be one of them." Said Lapis while looking at her reformed form having top half of star on her chest and the pointy low parts near her pants. "Wonder what would I've thought back then…" said Lapis almost to herself. Then all of sudden…
"Well I think you look pretty good." Said Peridot as she sat beside Lapis while Pumpkin was barking and playfully running around the new Crystal Gems. Lapis couldn't help, but to blush a color blue on her cheeks.
"Thank you…" said Lapis in a sad tone yet with a smile. Normally anyone would just brush off any problem if the person had a smile, yet Peridot has been around Lapis long enough to notice when something troubled her or was having another of her moments that make her feel so…unsafe.
"Lapis? Are you sure you're okay?" asked once again Peridot with a worried tone. Lapis barely saw Peridot with her eyes and simply sighed.
"I'm fine, Peridot." Was the only thing Lapis could say while losing herself on the gaze of the Ocean in the Night. However, Peridot wasn't having none of it.
"Lapis…i-if you want…we can talk about it." Said Peridot and only those words were enough to shake Lapis from her gaze and be tense. Sooner or later, this moment was about to come whether she like it…or not. And man, she didn't want the moment to happen so soon.
"Huh?" Lapis tried to feign ignorance.
"I-I know we didn't have enough time when we returned back to our physical forms because Steven needed our help, but now we are here. You're here. We can talk…if you want to." Said Peridot. There was it…the reason why Lapis loved to have Peridot around…and the reason why she always felt weird.
Its true that they didn't have time once they were back since according Bismuth, Steven was in jail and needed reinforcements. They were limited with time and resources so they had to get towards Homeworld and save their friends. In Homeworld, the battle was of high-stakes and losing it would mean a HUGE punishment that could even led to shatter their gems. Thankfully, everything turned out right…and now they finally have their moment for themselves.
"It's okay if you don't to talk about it now. I can always wait. In fact, you can consider me apart from being the leader of the Crystal Gems, as one of the most patient gems of this planet." Said Peridot praising herself a little bit, not noticing that Lapis struggled to contain a snort and a little blush.
This feeling…the feeling was once again filling Lapis mindscape. She always had this feeling ever since she got used to live with Peridot back in the barn, when they just won the baseball game from the Ruby Squad. She always managed to brush it off, but every day and moment she was with Peridot, the feeling would just come back and stronger than ever. While this feeling didn't make her feel a bad weird, rather it made her feel…secure and happy. But deep down…she still felt that she doesn't want that.
"I… I'm fine. We can talk." Said Lapis struggling with those words. "Where do we begin?" asked Lapis unsure on how to start or even follow.
"Let's begin when you took the barn…" started Peridot, and Lapis still remembered that day. She didn't want to leave Peridot or even Pumpkin behind, far from it actually. But she also didn't want to risk being punished once again with imprisonment, but now that is in the past. Looking back now…it seemed a little extreme to take everything with her and just leaving the only friends that tried their best to support her.
"I want to let you know that I'm not mad with you for taking the barn." Continued Peridot and the last statement actually surprised Lapis. "…You were scared, and with every reason to be so considering that you suffered a lot of stuff that you didn't deserve. I'll admit, that I felt lonely, bad, or even MAD at first that you were gone…but thanks to Steven, I understood why you did that." Said Peridot.
"And I'm sorry for it. I'm sorry for making you feel that…(I knew it…she dislikes me)" said Lapis with a completely broken tone, and Peridot noticed it.
"And I appreciate your apology. But… that's in the past now, and now I'm happier than ever with you being here." Said Peridot quickly changing her tone. "You being here, shows that in the end…you won." Added Peridot.
"I…won?" said Lapis now with a mix of curiousity and confusion.
"Yeah. You won because in the end you came back. You came back to your home, and now you're here protecting it. That's why I'm glad with you as a matter of fact. We're here once again on our home." Said Peridot with a smile.
"Y-You really mean that?" said Lapis completely loss at words and even feeling how her cheeks got bluer than normal.
"Yeah. In fact, now that you're here I can teach you of all the awesome things that I, the Lovely Peridot has discovered. It'll be so thrilling to teach you on my comedy skills on this drama how my gardening skills have…" said Peridot as she ranted on all the things that she did on Beach City, but was cut short when she felt two arms grabbing her from behind and pulling her into a hug. Lapis Lazuli was hugging in a warm and loving style as two pairs of arms made of water came from Lapis' gemstone and surrounded both gems making it seem like another hug.
"Heh…I would love to do that." Said Lapis with a warming smile as she was still holding Peridot.
"W-W-Wow…thanks." Said Peridot clearly blushing and even having some little stars on her eyes. The hug endured a full minute before Lapis break it and dispersed the arms from her gemstone, as Lapis stood up.
"But first…how about we do something together?" said Lapis while offering her green roommate a hand with the same smile that made Peridot blush.
"L-Like watching the rest of Season 6 from Camp Pining hearts?" offered Peridot still blushing.
"That would be great." Said Lapis as she pulled Peridot towards her and carried her while summoning her water wings to hover from the Beach.
"W-Whoa! W-Wait! We can't let Pumpkin wander here all alone! She will get lost." Said Peridot as Pumpkin was trying to jump towards her caretakers, but the little pet noticed the trash lid that Peridot used to float. She got up, and that's when Lapis smiled towards Peridot giving her a signal. With a wave of her fingers, she lifted the trash lid that had Pumpkin thanks to her metal powers.
"Now we only need the TV." Said Lapis as she floated higher in search for the television so they could enjoy their little show.
"Don't worry, I got that too." Said Peridot as she noticed the little television that was besides Greg's van. With another wave of her fingers, she managed to lift the television alongside some VHS tapes.
"You've been improving with your metal powers." Said Lapis with a smirk.
"Well of course! What else would you expect from such powerful leader like me?" bragged Peridot with a smile, as Lapis couldn't help, but to roll her eyes playfully at one of Peridot's shenanigans. And with that, the two gems flew towards one of the hands of the temple as they finally reunited with each other./p
"(In the end…I'm not alone.)" thought Lapis with a smile, as those same feelings were going through her once again, but for once…. Lapis decided to let it slip and enjoy some time with her barnmante.
THE NEXT DAY
Beach City was surrounded with fresh winds, and the seagulls were flying as well as singing with the citizens ironically doing their usual routine despite the major events that happen lately on the town, but honestly…at this point it was sort of normal for them. With a light emerging from the Warp Pad of one of the hands from the Temple, Steven was holding some laundry as he noticed that Pink's Legs ship were still resting on the Temple.
"Huh…Guess that will stay there from now on. I wonder if it will be a bother for the citizens." Said Steven while looking at his Mother ship from the hand.
"YEAH! A CLOSE-UP PICTURE OF AN ALIEN SHIP! THIS WILL BE HUGE SPOT FOR MY BLOG!" shouted Ronaldo from across the temple.
"Hmmm, maybe not." Said Steven already used to the antics of the Fryman Theorist. Steven continued to do his usual chores until he noticed two similar gems resting on each other. "Awwww…" cooed Steven as he saw Lapis and Peridot cuddling as they were sleeping.
However, thanks to Steven's excitement, Pumpkin was startled and woke up in a matter of seconds and of course began barking that caused both gems to wake up.
"H-Huh?! Pumpkin…. stop barking it's too….Oh!" said Peridot a little bit drowsy from her sleep as she noticed that she was very close to Lapis as she could feel her face get warmer than the usual temperature. "L-L-L-Lapis! WAAHHHHH!" yelped Peridot from the surprise as she clumsily fell down but the temple.
"PERIDOT!" shouted Steven dropping the basket full of dirty clothes to check if the Green gem was okay, and of course with all the loud sounds and despite the snore of Lapis, the Water Gem woke up not exactly in a good mood.
"Ugh! Peridot! Go back to…uhhh…" said Lapis a little bit grumpy from waking up all of sudden, but it was only received the view of Steven looking down on the ground. "Steven?" said Lapis all confused and back to her usual tone.
"Oh! Sorry if I woke you up, Lapis. And you too Peridot." Said Steven as Lapis looked down as well and saw Peridot floating thanks to a trash lid that was down on the ground. With a quick movement, she descended slowly to the ground.
"Don't worry, Steven I'm okay!" shouted Peridot with a thumbs up.
"Why is Peridot down there? Did she forgot that there is a Warp Pad here?" said Lapis while pointing at the Warp Pad.
"Oh, well…heh, heh, heh, it was kind of my fault she fell. I was just happy to see you guys together again. Especially sleeping." Said Steven with his usual chirpy tone. Lapis couldn't help, but to blush at the statement before.
"S-S-Sleep?! You saw us?" said a flustered Lapis.
"Y-Yeah? I'm sorry." Said Steven a little embarrassed. He thought that after seeing Ruby and Sapphire affection he'll get used to it, but it seems he was wrong.
"(Oh no…there it is again)" thought Lapis once again letting those feelings get the best of her. "Wait…you can actually help me Steven!" said Lapis with a smile. Steven was now curious.
"Help you? Sure! What can I do for you?" said Steven with a ready stance.
"It's about Peridot…" said Lapis as she sat down and began telling everything about Peridot towards Steven.
She told him everything. How she felt around the little green gem, every time she smiled, was along with her, how close they were with Pumpkin. Everything and needless to say, Steven's ready stance began to loose and got a little bit more nervous.
"And that's all I could get my mind to. Is it something bad?" said Lapis who could only see how Steven was lightly blushing.
"W-Well…first of all, It's not bad. You're in love, Lapis!" said Steven with a smile. Lapis was stunned at the mention of love, or even the possibility of her falling in love. It's not that she hated love or anything related to it, far from it since thanks to the friendship, and support from Steven and Peridot, she finally found her shore and stopped living in fear. It's just…
"L-Love? I mean…are you sure it's not a larg?" said Lapis with a nervous smile.
"Larg?" said Steven confused at Lapis choice of words.
"Yeah…like a feeling that I just want to hold Peridot and never leave her…or being separated from her. Just wanting to be and have fun with her. Larg!" Explained Lapis.
"Oh. Well that's one way to put love, but yeah." Said Steven with a laugh.
"Oh Stars…it seems that I can't get around with it. I really fallen in love with Peridot." Said Lapis somehow falling down really slowly. Steven was a little worried considering Lapis' past situations with fusion and relationships, but luckily he knew a solution that will be a BIG help for Lapis.
"I know a way to help you." Said Steven looking down at the blue gem laying on the floor.
"R-Really?" said Lapis taking out the water hand from her face.
"Yeah. In fact, you could say she will see ahead of your problems." Joked Steven with only made Lapis tilt her head in confusion.
"O..kay? What is it?" said Lapis.
"It's in the house! Come on…" said Steven while going towards the Warp Pad. Lapis followed as well as both of them teleported back to Steven's living room. There they saw the usual shenanigans of the Crystal Gems, with Pearl cleaning the floor, while Amethyst was eating oil once again from the fridge. And Garnet was just sitting on the couch all relaxed.
"Howdy, Steven…and Lapis." Said Garnet with a little cowboyish accent and smile when she saw Lapis.
"Hey Garnet! Lapis wants to tell you something!" said Steven which took by surprised Lapis.
"Steven! What are you doing?!" whispered-yelled Lapis at Steven clearly not wanting anyone else to hear the situation.
"I'm helping you! Garnet is an expert at this situation so I figured out that she could come out a solution for you! Besides…she can see the future so you can trust her." Said Steven with a smile. Lapis was a little bit unsure, she finally grows to trust the Crystal Gems to a point she was considering living with them since the barn got destroyed, but she thinks that even this is too much.
"Lapis…you can trust Garnet. I'm sure she'll provide a better answer than me." Said Steven with a reassuring tone.
"Okay. I'll ask her." Said Lapis with a smile as she ruffled Steven's hair, which only responded with a light chuckle from the boy.
"Heh…and don't worry. I'll be sure to watch over Pumpkin." Said Steven as he began to run with Pumpkin playfully chasing him towards the exit.
"Lapis." Was the only thing Lapis heard as she saw where it come from and nonetheless came from the fused gem as she offered her a seat beside her. Lapis blushed a little bit, but followed Garnet's offer.
"Hey…Garnet." Greeted Lapis with a shy smile.
"Sooo…enjoying the new shift of atmosphere." Said Garnet with a smile.
"Y-Yeah…the beach is nice and relaxing. Like the barn." Said Lapis with a sigh.
"You really enjoyed being there with Peridot huh?" said Garnet and the single mention of the green gem made Lapis yelped a little bit. "Heh…don't be afraid Lapis. Peridot has changed a lot just like you…she made a huge process ever since she was stuck on Earth. She can come on better understandings now and then." Said Garnet out of the blue which only made Lapis listen to her.
"You…really think that…." Said Lapis.
"She feels the same way of you?" Then said Garnet which made Lapis stop a little bit.
"…Yeah?" said Lapis with a hint of nervousness since she didn't want to hear a negative response.
"Heh. I'm pretty sure you'll love to hear the answer from Peridot. You'll like the results. Go on and tell her." Said Garnet with a smile. Lapis now was blushing and it could be noticed even if she tried to hide it.
"I…uhhh…" said Lapis trying to protest and struggle to say any type of word that will contradict Garnet, but deep down…she desired to do that. Talk to Peridot and settle things once and for all. For both of them. Not only that, but even if Lapis couldn't see Garnet's eyes, there was something in her gaze that made Lapis feel…assured that everything will be all right. With all her courage, she stood up and went towards the exit.
As Lapis exited the house she scanned everything around her to locate her objective, Peridot. She finally found her when she saw how Peridot was flying thanks to the trash lid, and how she was manipulating Bismuth to float a few meters above the ground with Steven cheering and Pumpkin chasing the floating Bismuth. With a deep inhale, she summoned her wings and fly towards Peridot.
"Ha HA! Tiny really is something else! Imagine the combinations we could make for the missions with the two of us!" said Bismuth clearly having fun by floating.
"Heh…My metal powers are awesome, what did you expect from the great leader of the Crystal Gems?" said Peridot with a proud smile. Finally, Peridot took notice of Lapis flying towards her, and slowly put Bismuth down which only made the big gem confused a little bit.
"Hey Lapis!" greeted Peridot with a smile.
"Peridot…can we walk…just the two of us?" said Lapis with a blush and doing her best on not stuttering.
"Of course! I love walking. Walk where?" said Peridot.
"Just…walk the beach that's it." Said Lapis as she slowly descended on the beach, with Peridot descending as well. And just like that both gems began to slowly walk away from the house and just enjoy the beach.
"Huh? Where are those two going?" asked Bismuth who turned around to seek Steven for answers but was only received with a boy who was enjoying the scene in front of him with stars on his eyes and clearly screaming inside of him.
With Lapis and Peridot walking, Lapis check the perimeter to make sure she was only with Peridot.
"(All right…its now or never)" thought Lapis.
"Soooo…this is nice. Walking really makes me think a lot of things we can do. Like we can continue our meep morps section or even make a new one from the fresh. Oh! Or even try to grow more crops in the…" said Peridot with a smile, but was interrupted.
"I like you."
One second passed….
Then two….
Then three more seconds….
Peridot stopped on her tracks with eyes wide open and only standing with one foot as in she interrupted mid walking. Another second passed, and Peridot turned around her head to face Lapis who was a blushing mess.
"I like you…a lot Peridot. Like….uhhh…" said Lapis trying to find the correct words for it. "Like I want to be the Paulette to your Percy." Said Lapis with a dumb smile, slowly regretting her choice of words thinking that it was silly to reference a show. Now Peridot was really a statue….but slowly her eyes began to have stars in it.
"W-Wow…t-t-thanks." Struggled Peridot trying to answer. Both gems stood there in the most SILENT atmosphere ever. Almost like they were just standing there in eons without any kind of sound or anything. Lapis was doing her best not to fly away in embarrassment since she didn't know what kind of answer Peridot just gave.
Finally, the green gem finish her process of breaking down Lapis' confession and without warning, Peridot hugged the blue gem which only surprised Lapis.
"I-I liked you too…and…even if I find Percy and Pierre relationship to be superior then…for you…I'll be your Percy to your Paulette." Said Peridot with a nervous smile.
Lapis was stunned by Peridot's response. She answered back the same way Lapis confessed, and Lapis couldn't be happier than she thought. With a swift movement, she hugged back Peridot alongside her wings as she began to laugh. Peridot was a little bit taken back by Lapis' laugh for the moment, but she began to laugh as well. Both gems were in blissed as they were hugging and laughing and with another move, Lapis slowly made her way to Peridot's forehead, and kissed her near the gem.
"FINALLY!" shouted a voice. Then Lapis and Peridot stopped and quickly turned around to see how the other Crystal Gems were standing there with a different reaction. Pearl and Bismuth were just on verge of tears with star pupils and both of them holding hands, Garnet was give the new couple a thumbs up, Amethyst having his hands around his mouth clearly meaning that she was the one who shouted FINALLY, and Steven simply had the biggest grin on his face, with stars on his eyes.
Lapis and Peridot couldn't help, but to laugh nervously at being caught in action, but deep down both of them didn't care at the moment. They finally got their feelings in the right, they were about to begin their new life with each other. As Meep Morpists, guardians of Pumpkin, and Crystal Gems, all together. With each other.
AUTHOR NOTES: I'm not dead! Surprise! I've been VERY, VERY BUSY with college and I finally got a break for three weeks so I'm free all these days! Expect more updates for my other stories as well. In fact... this month I'll update the stories of Mario & Luigi Monarch Bros and Paper Mario Tales.
With that being said, expect this story to have a continuation. Think this as a prequel of my new upcoming fanfic that will debut this month. Hope y'all have a wonderful day and time enjoying this just as much as I enjoy writing this.