Sequel to Living Arrangements, I Think We're Alone Now, Three's A Crowd and In Sickness And In Health. You really should read them first.
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
GET A ROOM
"How are you feeling?" Dr Maheswaran shone a light in Steven's eyes as she spoke and he tried not to flinch away, just in case she took it as a sign that he needed to be kept at the hospital for another night. "No pain? Nausea?" A tiny smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. "Any trouble sleeping last night?"
"I slept fine, thank you," Steven lied politely. In reality, the hospital at night was only slightly less bright and noisy than it was during the day and he'd found it very difficult to get to sleep. But he didn't bother mentioning it; he had the feeling she wouldn't be particularly sympathetic. Not after he'd just woken up from a week-long, self-inflicted magical coma.
Dr Maheswaran switched off the penlight and straightened up, apparently satisfied. "Everything appears to be normal."
"So I can go home now?" he asked hopefully.
"Well... I'd like to keep you in for observation a little longer," she said, making a few notes on her clipboard. "Under the usual circumstances, two comas in a row would be a cause for concern. But these aren't the usual circumstances," she grumpily conceded. "Your condition was entirely gem-related, and there's no real medical reason for me to keep you in any longer."
"Hooray!" Steven cheered, raising his arms aloft in victory.
Dr Maheswaran rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help smiling. "I'll inform your father that you're free to go," she said, and signed the paperwork with a flourish before walking out of the room.
All of the various tubes and wires had been disconnected the day before, so all that was left for Steven to do was to change out of his hospital gown into the clothes his father had brought for him and freshen up a little. His father was waiting when he stepped out of the bathroom, and they quickly made their way out of their building and into the sunshine.
Greg exhaled loudly and visibly relaxed. "I'm definitely not gonna miss this place," he remarked.
Steven winced with guilt. "Sorry."
"Hey, no, don't sweat it," Greg hastily reassured him. "You needed to be there, I get that. Hospitals just weird me out a little, that's all."
"If it helps, I plan to never, ever do anything like that ever again." And despite the warm sunshine, Steven shivered, remembering his brief brush with corruption... and what he'd had to do to break free. "It got a little unpleasant towards the end," he admitted. "But," he added brightly before Greg to ask him to elaborate, "I don't need to do anything like that ever again! Not now we have your song!"
Greg allowed himself a modest grin. "It may not make me more millions, but it's probably the most important song I've ever composed." He thought for a moment. "Well, other than the one I sang at the show where I met your mother, of course."
"Of course," Steven agreed, and then as they climbed into the car and began driving back towards the beach house, he lapsed into silence, deep in thought.
They finally had a cure for corruption. He tried not to get his hopes up too much about it; after all, he and Peridot hadn't been fully corrupted. And it was entirely possible the song wouldn't work on the fully corrupted gems who'd been hit by the Diamond's true weapon, rather than a recording. But still, it was difficult not to get excited by this development when it was the first time they'd ever managed to properly cure somebody.
He longed to talk it all over with the gems, but when they got back to the house, it was clear the only immediate plans the gems had was to celebrate his homecoming. A banner with the words "WELCOME HOME STEVEN" was hung from the ceiling, an enormous cake was sitting on the kitchen counter, Connie was arranging crudités around a bowl of dip, and Pearl and Garnet were hanging paper chains while Amethyst and Peridot were busy replacing the broken door to Peridot's room.
Amethyst was the first to spot him. "Hey, Steven, heyyy!" she cried, letting go of the door and waving wildly. Unfortunately, Peridot had only got as far as lining up the hinges; she looked up just in time to see it hurtling towards her and managed to fling her arms up just in time to protect her face before she was flattened.
"Sorry, my bad," Amethyst said cheerfully as Garnet and Steven both rushed forward to lift the door up so Peridot could crawl free. "And in my defense, I thought she'd screwed those in already anyway."
Peridot scowled, but arguing with Amethyst was always more trouble than it was worth, so she ignored her and nodded up at her rescuers instead. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Garnet reached down and hauled her to her feet while Steven leaned the door against the wall. "Leave it for now, I'll help you after the party."
"Thanks," Peridot said again gratefully.
Garnet turned around and went back to help Pearl with the last of the decorations and Amethyst drifted over towards Connie, obviously hoping to swipe a few carrot sticks when she wasn't looking. Steven glanced over at Peridot, who was now using her metal powers to retrieve the fallen screws and hinges. "You're not hurt, are you?" he asked quietly.
"Hmm?" She looked at him, distracted, and the hinges promptly fell to the floor with a clatter. "Oh, no, I'm fine." She raised her forearms and smiled slightly. "My sweater protected me from injury."
"Your sweater?" he repeated with a grin. He recognized the navy sweater as one of his old ones; he'd grown out of it some time ago, but it was still adorably oversized on her.
"You left it in the barn last year, it's mine now," she countered. "I believe the phrase is 'finders keepers.'"
"Losers weepers." He laughed and then reached out and took her hands. "I'm not gonna cry about it though. It looks good on you-"
"Hey, lovebirds!" Amethyst called out, ignoring the stick of celery Connie was irritably smacking across her hand. Taking advantage of the distraction, Greg leaned over and quietly swiped a carrot stick. "Come over here already so we can eat!"
They joined the others in the kitchen and Pearl clapped her hands together. "Well! Steven! We're all here today because-"
"Pearrrrrllllllll," Amethyst whined. "A speech? Seriously? I'm starving!"
"You're made of light, you'll be fine," Pearl snapped. "As I was saying-"
"Welcome home, Steven," Garnet interrupted. "Now let's eat."
Pearl huffed, but she didn't quite dare contradict Garnet and instead started passing around paper plates and napkins. Garnet smirked and nodded slightly towards Steven, who blushed and looked away. He couldn't help feeling a little guilty for being relieved that Pearl's speech had been cut off, but he was ravenous.
For the next few minutes, everybody except Pearl ate and brought Steven up to date with the local gossip he'd missed while he was incapacitated. There wasn't a lot of it; Beach City wasn't a very big place. Mayor Dewey had decided to finally tear down the old ruined docks and use the wood to hold a town bonfire on the beach, Quentin Frowney had come back to town and Mr Smiley had shocked everyone by closing Funland for the day so that they'd have all the rides to themselves, and Lars had accidentally destroyed part of Beach Citywalk Fries and A Pizza The Ocean when he'd tried to warp home to visit his parents and misjudged the exit.
"Speaking of Lars and Fryman..." Greg pushed his plate aside, stood up and grabbed stack of envelopes from the coffee table. "Here, these are for you."
Steven shuffled through the envelopes in confusion, wondering if they were perhaps very early birthday cards, then he opened the first one and comprehension dawned across his face. "Oh, neat! Get well soon cards! I never had any before!"
"You've never been in hospital before," Connie pointed out.
"True," he admitted. He opened the card and smiled at the message inside. "It's from Ronaldo." The smile faded as he carried on reading.
Steven! Don't let the doctors take your blood, the hospital is involved in experimental human research and your human-gem DNA may be exactly what they need to create their army of super-sneople-soldiers. I have told the gems to wrap your body in duct tape to protect you, so if you wake up covered in tape, do not be alarmed. I can't go near the hospital myself but as soon as you can get out, contact me and we can work out a plan to break into the labs and retrieve any tissue samples they may have taken from you-
"So many words and none of them are 'get well soon'," he grumbled, tossing the card aside. Happily the next few were more satisfying, although Mindy had addressed her card to 'Stephen' despite having known him for almost three years, and Onion's was a sympathy card with a well drawn but rather gruesome picture of Steven being dismembered inside.
"Peedee and Lars said to let you know they're glad you're awake and they wanted to visit – Lars came by the hospital last week as well – but they had to get back to campus yesterday," Connie explained as Steven started lining the cards up in front of him. "Actually, I can't stay too much longer either," she confessed. "I was supposed to go back today too, but Dad said he'd drive me back tonight, so I have to go home and finish packing in about..." She glanced at her phone and sighed. "Half an hour ago."
"I can give you a ride home if you need," Greg offered, tossing a napkin onto his plate and standing up.
"Thanks, Mr Universe," Connie said gratefully. She stood up as well and gave Steven a quick hug that took him by surprise. "I can't believe you slept through my entire vacation! We're gonna have to hang out twice as much next time I visit to make up for it."
Steven grinned sheepishly. "Yeah... sorry about that. Won't happen again."
Greg reached out and ruffled his hair. "Glad to hear that," he said, sounding a little choked up. "Hey, you wanna come by tomorrow, take a look around my studio? I can show you what I did with the song. And remember, you're welcome to stay over any time."
"Uh, sure, Dad," Steven mumbled, trying not to feel too guilty at the hopeful look on his father's face. Actually, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to see exactly what his dad had done to the song, but he had no immediate plans to stay anywhere else but at the beach house. He'd only just got back, after all, and besides, there was far too much work to do...
He waited until Connie and Greg had left, and then turned to face the Crystal Gems. "Speaking of the song," he began. "I was thinking we should try it on some of the other corrupted gems next."
Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl exchanged quick glances and smiled. "You know, we were thinking the same thing," Pearl said.
"And I bet I can guess which gem you'd like to start with," Garnet added knowingly.
Steven stared at her for a moment before hesitantly replying. "Centipeedle?"
"Centipeedle," Garnet confirmed. "She and her crew are already unbubbled, you've already had some success with her in the past-"
"And even though she'd from Homeworld, she seems chill," Amethyst butted in.
"Of course, afterwards it might be wise to try curing some of the gems who were on our side," Pearl mused. "Even after this, there's bound to be Homeworld gems who remain loyal to their Diamonds and the more gems we have on our side to subdue them, the better."
"May I make a suggestion?" Peridot suddenly piped up. Before anyone could answer, she plowed on ahead anyway. "I'd like to try curing Jasper. She's the most recently corrupted gem, and her method of transmission was markedly different to the others. It would be interesting to see if that affects the healing process."
"I don't know..." Pearl began, looking to Garnet for help. "I mean, Jasper... she did give us quite a lot of trouble..."
"I'm willing to offer my assistance again if you don't think you can manage," Peridot offered. "I have defeated her on two separate occasions now," she couldn't help bragging.
"I don't think that will be necessary," Pearl said a little stiffly, pretending she couldn't see Amethyst shaking with silent laughter behind Peridot. "But-"
"I'd kinda like to cure Jasper too," Steven interjected. "I know she was a pain, but corruption... it's horrible." He shivered. "I know she might still wanna fight us and then we'll have to poof her and bubble her all over again, but I'd feel better if she was uncorrupted when we do that."
"You both make very good points," Garnet said diplomatically. "But I agree with Pearl, I think it would be wise to try healing some of our allies first. I know you could defeat her again if you had to," she added to Peridot, a small smile twitching at the corner of her mouth, "but it wouldn't hurt to have backup."
Steven and Peridot looked at each other and then nodded in acceptance. "I suppose that's logical," Peridot conceded.
"And I guess-" Steven paused and yawned widely. "-I guess we should wait and see how it goes with Centi first before we try cure a bunch of other gems."
"And while we're on the subject of cured gems," Garnet added, "sounds like you could do with some rest, Steven."
"I'm fine," Steven protested and immediately ruined his argument by yawning again. "OK, maybe I am a little tired after all."
Amethyst cocked her head to one side. "But... you were just asleep for like, two weeks? You shouldn't need to sleep for ages now."
Steven laughed. "It doesn't work like that, sorry. I still need to sleep every night. Plus I was using my powers, it wasn't exactly regular, restful sleep."
"Then let's get that door repaired so we can leave you in peace," Garnet said, pointing towards Peridot's room.
"Aww, but Celebrity Dance Parade is on tonight," Amethyst whined. Then she perked up slightly. "I guess I can watch it in Peridotty's room, she won't mind."
"Yes I will!" Peridot protested in outrage. "And don't call me that!"
"Hey, it's OK, I'm not going to bed right now," Steven said hastily. "I want to have a shower first anyway, I smell like hospital, so you can watch your TV show, I don't mind."
Amethyst hesitated. "It's not on until half past ten though-"
"Fine, you can watch your stupid show in my room," Peridot snapped. "But I will be doing important work, so try not to disturb me."
"Does this 'important work' involve Percy and Pierre getting caught in a blizzard and seeking shelter in a remote cabin with only one bed?" Garnet asked with interest.
"Wha-no!" Peridot blushed and glanced away. "I shall be working on my security drone designs, of course."
"Of course," Garnet said solemnly. "Now. The door."
This time around, Garnet held the door in place while Peridot and Amethyst installed the hinges. Steven helped Pearl clean up the debris from the party, but now it had been brought up, he was hyper-aware of how tired he really was. It was a relief when Pearl spotted him yawning a third time and ordered him to shower at once and go straight to bed.
xxx
"Oooh, looks like he pissed off the wardrobe department!" Amethyst cackled with laughter as the celebrity on screen tried very hard not to look like he minded having to attempt a foxtrot while wearing a hot dog costume.
"You think that's bad, wait until you see the guy from Kansas Nights," Garnet said with a knowing grin.
Amethyst narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her. "You said reality TV was difficult to predict," she said accusingly. "You said that was why you liked it so much."
"It is." Garnet paused. "But the costumes were posted online yesterday."
In the corner of the room, Peridot gritted her teeth and tried to concentrate on her work, but it was very difficult with Amethyst and Garnet in the room. It didn't help that she was unable to use her computer; nobody had bothered to replace the broken monitor during her period of corruption and so it was still hooked up to the television, which the two other gems were now monopolizing. Still, she tried very hard not to mind too much, because somehow that felt a little like blaming Steven. She couldn't help resenting the intrusion though, and spent half as much time glaring at her guests as she did glaring at her tablet, and when the show finished two hours later, she realized her plan so far was a sketch of a basic drone with the words 'non-lethal' written underneath.
She sighed and tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling. The show was over, she told herself. Soon her unwanted guests would leave-
"Oh look, Celebrity Parade Extra's on next," Garnet exclaimed. "Backstage interviews with the contestants and dancers. We have to watch that."
"Oh come on!" Peridot blurted out. "Ah... I mean, come on Vivian?" she hastily corrected as they both turned to stare at her.
"You're rooting for Vivian?" Amethyst shook her head. "I dunno... she's not bad, but I think Julia's technically better."
Garnet shook her head. "Vivian's more popular. And that's really what matters on this show. Julia won't make it past week three."
"Aww!" Amethyst pouted. "Good thing I didn't bet on her or anything." Then she perked up. "So who's gonna win?"
Garnet shrugged. "Dunno. I haven't looked."
"Could you?" Amethyst weedled. "And then I could put a bet on them. We'd make a fortune!"
"No. That's a hugely unethical use of my powers," Garnet said crossly. "And I'd quite like to be surprised this time."
Once again, Peridot tried to tune them out and concentrate. She stared at her tablet screen and willed herself to focus, and then reached out and dragged a finger across the glass. To her surprise, nothing happened, but before she could start worrying, the screen began to buzz with an incoming FaceTime call. "Ah, it's Lapis!"
Lapis's face filled the screen and she didn't look pleased. "Finally!" she exclaimed before Peridot could say anything. "Where have you been!? You haven't answered any of my calls or commented on my blog- what's wrong with your face!?"
Peridot flinched and drew back slightly. "It- it's nothing," she said, unconsciously reaching up to try and hide the spots on her face. "It's just a little scarring from the corruption-"
"The what?" Lapis asked sharply. "What corruption!? How!?" Her eyes widened in terror. "The Diamonds are here!?"
"What!? No!" Peridot held her hands up to try and slow the torrent of questions. "I found the song! Didn't... didn't anyone tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
Peridot's heart sank. She turned around to confront Amethyst and Garnet, only to find they'd quietly vacated the room while her attention was elsewhere. Obviously they'd left this unpleasant task to her. And so she sighed, muted the TV and began to explain. "Do you recall those encrypted files I discovered on the computer at the Kindergarten? The ones we suspected could contain information about corruption? Well..." She paused for emphasis. "They did. I discovered a file that contained the Diamond's corruption song. Unfortunately, I didn't realize what it was until after I played it," she admitted.
"And you were corrupted!?" Lapis gasped in horror.
Peridot couldn't help feeling a small burst of satisfaction that her story had caused such a reaction, and she hurried to elaborate. "Yes, I was corrupted," she confirmed dramatically. "It was really quite painful actually, even before I was forced to battle my way through a nightmare landscape of gem experiments-"
"Why didn't anyone tell me!?" Lapis interrupted furiously.
Probably because they suspected you'd react exactly like this, Peridot thought, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "I don't-" she began.
"Why didn't Steven tell me!?"
Peridot cringed and the small burst of satisfaction curled up and died. "Well..."
Lapis's eyes narrowed suspiciously and her face zoomed in on the screen. "Why didn't Steven tell me?" she repeated slowly and sternly.
"He was... unavailable," Peridot hedged.
Lapis scowled, clearly not satisfied with that excuse. "Why didn't Steven tell me?" she asked for a third time.
Peridot sighed. There was nothing for it, she was going to have to tell the truth. "Steven... was affected by the corruption song as well. Just a tiny bit!" she hastily continued as Lapis's hands flew to her face in horror. "He doesn't even have any spots! He's fine now! We're both fine! Everything is fine! We found a cure! Well, Steven's father found a cure," she amended. "He examined the song and was able to compose a tune to counteract the effects. So," she concluded a little smugly, "it may have been a deeply unpleasant experience, but now we can finally make progress in curing the corrupted Crystal Gems! Isn't that great?"
Lapis didn't look like she thought it was great at all, but by that point, Peridot was too fired up with possibilities to notice. "Just think, the Diamonds will show up, expecting to find maybe one or two surviving rebels and their geoweapon waiting for them to use, and instead they'll find themselves facing the entire combined forces of Crystal Gems, with the Cluster on their side!" She struck a dramatic pose. "They'll be so shocked, they'll probably poof themselves!" Then she deflated. "Of course, we actually have to see if the cure works first. Mine and Steven's corruption wasn't quite the same as theirs, so the cure may not be as effective. We plan to test it on Centipeedle and Jasper-"
"Jasper?" Lapis said sharply and Peridot belatedly remembered exactly who she was talking to. "You want to cure her? After everything she did to me!?"
Peridot rather unwisely opened her mouth to suggest that maybe Jasper hadn't been entirely to blame for the whole Malachite situation, but Lapis was in full flow now. "And have you forgotten that she's loyal to Homeworld? And you, may I remind you, called your Diamond a clod and joined the Crystal Gems. The moment she's cured, she'll shatter you. And she'll shatter the rest of us. And she'll drag Steven back to Homeworld and the Diamonds will have him shattered and it'll be all your fault! Pah!" She scoffed and tossed her hair. "Are you quite sure you're really cured? Because it sounds to me like you're still half-corrupted. Maybe you should look in a mirror, make sure there's no spots on your gem," she finished with a derisive laugh.
A flash of hurt stabbed Peridot in the chest, but she quickly composed herself. "Bye, Lapis," she said stiffly. "Enjoy your butt tour." Then she quickly disconnected the call before the other gem could see the tears that had risen in her eyes. Then just for good measure, she turned the tablet off too.
She wiped her eyes and took a few deep breaths to compose herself. She knew Lapis (probably) didn't really mean it, she was just doing what she always did when she felt threatened, lashing out at the closest person. It was something that had put a real strain on their friendship in the past until they'd made their own separate rooms in the barn to get space from each other, and it had been a long time since she'd been on the receiving end of Lapis's ire. She'd forgotten how much it could sting.
As she calmed down, she became aware of the sound of movement in the beach house, on the other side of her door and her gloomy mood was quickly replaced by a rising anger. Surely Garnet and Amethyst weren't going to try and come back to resume their television show after leaving her to break that news to Lapis alone? She strode over to the door and flung it open, ready to give them a piece of her mind and to perhaps throw something at them, only to see Steven stood by the kitchen sink. "Steven? Why are you awake?" she asked.
"Oh, hey Peri. I was just getting a glass of water. Did I disturb you?" He grinned sheepishly at her.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing." She took a few steps towards him, letting the door swing shut behind her. "It's one in the morning, you're usually asleep at this time."
"Yeah..." He sighed and looked away. "I was, but then I had a weird dream and it woke me up."
"A nightmare?" Peridot perked up. She knew exactly how to deal with nightmares. "Sit down and I'll make you some hot chocolate."
"That's not necess-" Steven began, but the kettle had already shot though the air and into her waiting arms, so he did as he was instructed and sat down and watched as she repeated the actions she'd observed him doing just a few short weeks earlier.
A few minutes later, she proudly placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of him. "Now tell me about it," she ordered, taking a seat opposite.
"It wasn't really a nightmare exactly..." Steven trailed off and looked down at his drink. He blinked and a small smile appeared on his face when he realized she'd arranged the marshmallows in the shape of a heart. The small gesture pushed away the last of the strange foreboding feeling and he straightened up. "It was just just... odd."
"Odd how?" she asked, taking a sip of her own drink. It tasted just as nice as the one Steven had made her and she silently congratulated herself for a job well done.
Steven stared at the melting heart in his drink, wondering exactly where to begin. "Well..." he began slowly, "I dreamed I was back in my corruption dream again. Towards the end, when I started to realize it was a loop. And so I tried to... to get out..." He began to stumble over his words as he tried to figure out how to phrase things, because so far, he'd managed to avoid telling anyone how he'd broken out.
"You had to kill me, didn't you?" Peridot said softly. His mouth dropped open in surprise and she smiled grimly. "I guessed. You seemed very relieved to see me when you woke up."
He closed his eyes and groaned. "I didn't want to do it, but it was like... she was the reason I wanted to stay and I had to reject that-"
"It's OK, Steven," Peridot interrupted gently. "I understand. She wasn't really me. She was... she was bait in a trap."
"Yes!" Steven sagged in relief. "That's exactly what she was!" He shivered slightly, remembering just how poisonously tempting the bait had been. "Anyway," he continued after a small sip of his drink, "in my dream, I picked up Mom's sword and went to poof you- her," he corrected. "But just before I did, she turned into Pink Diamond. And then when I stabbed her, she shattered and she was a mirror and suddenly I was Pink Diamond. And... then I woke up."
"Oh." Peridot wrinkled her nose. "That kind of odd."
"Yeah." He took another sip of his chocolate. "It's weird, I hadn't really thought about Pink Diamond for years. She was in my corruption dream too."
"Were all the Diamonds there?" Peridot asked curiously.
"Yeah, just for a little- wait, no, White Diamond wasn't there." He frowned. "Huh. I wonder why."
"Maybe because you've never met her?" Peridot suggested.
"Yeah, but I've never met Pink Diamond either," he reminded her.
"Well then... maybe it's because you know more about Pink Diamond. So it feels like you know her."
"Yeah, that could be it." He nodded slowly, thinking about the few details he'd managed to get over the years. "I know this was her first colony and she wouldn't listen to Mom when she asked her to leave it alone, so Mom shattered her. It's not much, but it's more than I know about White Diamond."
He looked hopefully at his girlfriend, but Peridot just shook her head. "Honestly, I know as much about her as you do," she admitted. "Before I came to Earth, I knew almost nothing about Blue Diamond and even less about White Diamond. As for Pink Diamond? Ha! Until I came here, I didn't even know she even ever existed!" She smiled bitterly. "I learned more about the Diamond Authority here than I did on my own planet. I can see now that they deliberately kept us ignorant. If we were allowed to think, we might start asking questions and they didn't want any more of that, not after the rebellion."
Steven snorted. "The Diamonds are assholes."
"No, no!" Peridot looked around quickly and then leaned forward and lowered her voice. "The Diamonds... are CLODS!" She sat back and smiled smugly as Steven burst out laughing. "Better?" she asked once he'd recovered his composure.
"Yeah." But as he drained the last of his drink and glanced up at his room, the warm, comforting feeling inside him began to fade. The dream really had quite unnerved him and he wasn't really in the mood to go back to sleep right then. "Fancy some company?" he asked abruptly, nodding towards her room. "I never finished that song I was working on, I could do that while you work on your drone plans."
Peridot frowned. "You should be asleep."
"I'm not tired," he protested and immediately revealed himself as a liar by yawning in her face. "OK, I'm a little tired," he admitted. "I guess I'm still a bit freaked out about having pretty much the same dream I got trapped in so soon after waking up."
"Hmm." Peridot glanced up at his room as well, once again recalling the time Steven had tried to help with her nightmares. "Do you fancy some company?" she suddenly asked. "I don't mean in your dream," she quickly added as he stared at her. "I don't think it would be wise to try using your dream powers again so soon, but if you like, I- I could um, stay with you?"
Steven smiled softly at her. "I'd like that. Thanks, Peridot."
She smiled shyly back at him and then tore her eyes away, gulped down the rest of her drink and slid off the stool. "Come on, she said, taking a step towards the stairs.
"Aren't you going to change?"
Peridot paused and looked away. "I... I wasn't planning to," she muttered, plucking at a loose thread on one of the overhanging cuffs. "Is that a problem?"
Steven narrowed his eyes and looked at her outfit again. The baggy sweater that covered her hands and hung down to her knees, the green stockings of her default outfit... it wasn't the sort of thing Peridot usually wore nowadays. She rarely wore her default outfit unless she absolutely had to, favoring cute, flouncy dresses, strappy tops and shorts, and all manner of shoes. "Peridot... are you hiding?"
"No," Peridot lied, not quite able to meet his eyes.
He gently took hold of her arm and pushed up the sleeve and looked at her speckled green skin. "It's because of your spots, isn't it?"
Peridot's shoulder's slumped. "They make me look so ugly," she muttered, pulling her arm free and pushing the fabric back down again.
"No they don't!" Steven argued at once.
"That's very nice of you to say so, but you have to admit, you are a little biased," Peridot said with a small, bitter smile. "Even on her crappy phone screen, Lapis spotted them at once. Oh, and by the way, she's very unhappy about our plan to cure Jasper."
Steven twitched, but otherwise ignored her attempt to change the subject. "I'm not saying I can't see them or anything like that," he said hesitantly, "I just don't agree that they make you look ugly. They make you look..." He paused and clicked his fingers, trying to think of the right words. "They're like, battle scars. They're a sign that you fought the Diamonds weapon and beat them. You're stronger than they are and those spots prove that."
Peridot looked down at her covered hands and then pushed up the fabric and stared at the dark green blemishes on her arms. "I beat them," she murmured. She hadn't considered that before, but he was right. She'd faced the Diamonds final weapon and survived.
"Yeah, you did." Steven smiled warmly at her and nodded towards the stairs. "Anyway. Don't worry about it, let's just go to bed."
"Wait." Peridot bit her lip. "I... I'm going to put my pajamas on."
She spun around and fled to her room before he could reply, and quickly changed into her pajamas. The television was still silently playing in the background, and when she leaned over to switch it off and caught sight of her reflection, she almost chickened out. Her pajamas were quite revealing, and there really were rather a lot of spots. She tugged at the hem of the shorts, trying to cover herself a little more, but quickly gave up, realizing if didn't step outside now, she never would. She was, after all, at least 97% sure Steven wasn't going to take one look at her and decide she was too spotty after all. Well. Maybe 96% sure. She took one last look at her reflection and grimaced. 95%. And a half.
She needn't have worried. When she nervously stepped back out into the darkened house, Steven was sat on his bed, waiting for her, and his eyes lit up at once. "You look great," he declared, scrambling back up to his feet and holding out a hand for her.
"Wow, thanks," she muttered. She stepped forward and, without thinking, tried to pull down the shorts again, and Steven's eyes softened.
"You know," he said quietly, "if you want, I could always try and heal them."
"Do you think that would work?" Peridot asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
Steven shrugged and took her hand. "I'm happy to try," he said, and kissed her knuckles. Then they both leaned forward and waited. Was it their imagination, or were the spots just a little fainter now? It was difficult to tell in the dim moonlight.
"I think... yes, it's a little better," Peridot finally decided, holding her hand up to her face and carefully examining it from all angles.
"Great!" Steven grinned with relief. "Come here, I'll do the rest."
Peridot hesitated. "Are you sure? There are rather a lot of them."
"Then I'd better get started then, hadn't I?" And with that, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down on to the bed and set to work kissing all the spots he could find on her face, making her squeal with laughter.
He really had honestly only intended to give her a few kisses, just to cheer her up, and then go to sleep, but somehow they wound up getting carried away. Peridot stopped giggling and sighed happily as Steven kissed several spots on her collarbone. One of her legs slid between his. One of his hands skimmed lightly over her breast, and when she arched her back, pushing herself fully into his hand, his mind went blank. He vaguely remembered that they'd been planning to wait a little longer before going any further than this, but all of a sudden, he couldn't remember why. What better time was there than right now? He could show Peridot just how much he loved her and how little her scars bothered him.
He opened his mouth to ask her if she wanted to stop or not, but before he could say a word, they heard the unmistakable sound of the temple door opening. They both froze and stared at each other with wide-eyed panic, silently hoping whoever it was would just go away.
They didn't. Instead, they heard light footsteps approaching the stairs. They looked at each other in horror, then Peridot wriggled down beneath the covers, the tip of her fluffy blonde hair vanishing from sight just as whoever it was reached the top of the stairs, and Steven shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
"Steven..."
Pearl's quiet voice floated towards them, and Steven ignored it, hoping that if he didn't respond, she'd go away and leave them alone. Instead, to his horror, he felt her hand touch his shoulder. "Steven... are you awake?"
There was nothing else for it. He groaned and made a show of rolling over, kicking carefully at the blankets to try and hide what was going on underneath. "Whuuu?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes theatrically and praying she wouldn't ask him to get up.
"Ah, Steven!" Pearl smiled widely and knelt down next to the bed. "Did I wake you?"
"Yes," he lied at once, sounding as grumpy as if she actually had.
"Oh good," she said happily.
That wasn't quite the response he'd expected and he blinked at her in confusion. "Sorry, what?"
"Nothing, nothing at all!" She stood up again. "I'll let you go back to sleep now."
"Wait, didn't you want something?" he asked without thinking, and tried not to flinch as Peridot's fingers dug painfully into his hips.
"No. I was just um..." She blushed and looked away. "Checking. I'll go now. Bye!"
He stared blankly after her as she skipped away, and then smushed his face into the pillow with a groan. Why hadn't he seen this coming? The gems had just spent several weeks trying to wake him up from a magic sleep coma, of course they'd be checking to make sure he was sleeping normally now. He was lucky they hadn't put a baby monitor in his room.
He waited a few more seconds until the sound of the temple door reached his ears, and only then did some of the tension leave his body. He carefully rolled over again and lifted up the blanket until he could see Peridot's eyes looking up at him in the darkness. "Hi," he whispered.
"Is it safe?" she mouthed up at him.
"Yeah. All clear. Unless they have put a baby monitor up here," he added, casting a suspicious look in the direction of his bedside table.
Peridot ignored that comment and pushed the covers aside so she could sit up. "I should go," she muttered. "Before Amethyst and Garnet come to check on you as well."
"Yeah." He sighed and briefly leaned his head on her shoulder. "They've probably got a schedule all worked out."
"Eugh." She shuddered, then twisted her head around to give him a quick kiss. "Sorry. I wish I could stay."
He smiled ruefully. "I wish you could stay as well."
She gave his hand a squeeze and then stood up. "Good night, Steven. I hope you sleep better now."
"'Night, Peridot."
He watched her walk down the stairs and back to her room before he lay back down and closed his eyes again, but it was a long time before he was able to fall asleep.
xxx
A/N: I'm so sorry this part took so long. I have no excuses, I simply fell out of the habit of writing every day.
