Their landing into the barn was slightly less eventful than their flight but between Pearl's lanky limbs and the huge hole on Lapis' side of the barn, the former gem somehow found herself stuck to the wrecked wall by her left sock. Needless to say, Lapis thought the situation was funny.

"Get. Me. Down." Pearl said after she gave up on unhooking her foot by herself with a huff.

"PFFFFFFFFFT!"

"OH! Honestly!" The upside-down gem renewed her efforts to get unfasten. "Of all the things she could have learned from Steven…" she mentally ranted. Unknown to her, the knot of her bow loosened in her struggles allowing her top to slide along the gravity, exposing he pale midriff and lower back.

Noticing this, Lapis cleared her throat and finally unhooked the other from her wooden trap with a huge water hand she willed out of the smaller-than-average-lake in front of the barn. She rightened the pale gem and gently laid her down the couch. She watched as Pearl immediately sat on one side of the couch and patted her hair down to its usual style in a dignified fashion. The only evidence of her previous predicament is her persistent flushed complexion.

"Um… so… you were going to show me that thing, right? Right." She laughed awkwardly, pointing at the huge machine next to the television. "What is it?"

Lapis would have not let Pearl shift the topic if she weren't reminded of the thing that brought the other gem in the barn in the first place. "Oh this thing? It's called a karaoke," she said eagerly. Pearl didn't show any recognition so she continued, "It's a thing that shows you songs and stuff, and will judge you based on your singing." she pointed at the screen while scavenging for karaoke parts in its compartments.

"So it's a judgmental music box?" Pearl said uncertainly, extending her hand to receive microphones from Lapis. She recognized these from Steven's cute performances and, Pearl frowned, Greg Universe's little band session with… with Rose. Suddenly, the urge to mic-drop was strong.

"Sure. You can put it that way." Lapis shrugged light-heartedly.

Pearl replaced the microphones on the seats of the couch before the urge became too strong and stirred towards the tinkering gem. She watched as Lapis manhandled the plug out of a compartment and plugged it into Peridot's extension cord. Finally, the blue gem hurried in front of the screen of the karaoke to turn it on.

A suspenseful moment came… and went. "Nothing happened," Pearl stated. She turned to look at Lapis' confused and disappointed face and then back to the karaoke when she heard a curious crackling sound. "Lap—Lazuli, are karaokes supposed to smoke?"

"No?" Lapis turned to her incredulously.

"OH MY STARS IT'S SMOKING. PULL OUT THE PLUG!"

Lapis darted to unplug the karaoke but the deed was done and the barn was filled with the smell of burning plastic. Lapis pinched her nose at this and sighed heavily, looking down at the plug in her hand. She felt more than heard as Pearl twirled her weapon to blow away the smoke and smell of singed plastic. With its unintended purpose done, Pearl's spear disappeared with a soft flash and a shower of translucent ribbons.

"Well… That could have gone better," Pearl said jokingly. She looked at Lapis and then the plug on the other gem's hand, "AFortunately, you have a pair of technician hands that are not Peridot's right here!". She smiled at Lapis. Pearl cracked her knuckles and curved them around her gem to summon her toolbox. "Alright. Let's do this!"

"Argh… Where is it?" Pearl muttered, scrambling her usually neat and tidy tool box in frustration.

Lapis lowered herself to an Indian sit adjacent to the other sitting in seiza, facing the side of the television extracted from the karaoke stand. The blue gem would ask Pearl if she was comfortable sitting on her legs like that but the pale gem looked too rattled for a light-hearted interrogation. "What are you looking for?"

"My #1 Phillips head for my screwdriver," Pearl sighed, "Amethyst probably ate it. Again." She clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"You can use that flat one instead," Lapis pointed out, about to reached for the #1 flathead but decided against it on the last moment.

"That I could," Pearl admitted. "It's just… I hate it when my tools get misplaced or get lost," she picked the said head and placed it in the screwdriver body and unscrewed the back of the television. The flathead did its job but it still felt wrong for Pearl. "And thank you for not touching my tools… without my permission at least," Pearl murmured. Gems and people fiddling around her toolbox without her permission quickly became her peeve ever since life with Amethyst. "I appreciate that," Pearl smiled nervously, "Pass me the #2."

Lapis nodded, interpreted that as permission, "Phillips or Flat?"

"Phillips."

"Here." Lapis put the head on Pearl's waiting hand and got the #1 Flathead from the pale gem's pinched index finger and thumb. Promptly, she replaced the used head in its designated slot in the toolbox.

"I must admit, I didn't think that you would be a kind of gem familiar with human tools."

"You would be if your roommate is that green loud mouth," Lapis countered not unkindly.

"That is true," Pearl chuckled. She beamed a white light inside the broken-down television and inspected its bowels.

"… And if you spend decades with resourceful humans…" Lapis whispered nostalgically, "… before you get trapped in a mirror for millennia." she added in a bitter afterthought. Lapis clapped her hands on her mouth but the words came out.

The beam of light turned off abruptly.

Pearl's eyes widened, her hands slackened around her tools and tightened around each other on her lap. "I—I… I'm sorry," she whispered, her wide eyes sought her Lapis' incredulous ones.

Lapis knew when she fucked up.

"I… I could have freed you… I could have freed you from that mirror but I didn't—" Pearl voice cracked, "I didn't… and I trapped you… trapped you in my gem—"

"You didn't know," Lapis said through her hands, "You didn't know I was there. You… Garnet… Amethyst… I know now that you didn't know at that time." She lowered her hands between her crossed legs and watched as the fabric covering her legs creased below the weight of her hands. "I admit I was resentful. I was suddenly trapped with no way of escaping… the way back home just steps away from me… I was scared but angry." Lapis admitted to her trembling hands, her shoulders drooping, "I was angry mostly at myself for letting that happen. And then you came… I was so tired, so tired of hating myself… I guess, it was easier to hate you."

"Lap— Lazuli… I—"

"You can call me Lapis, you know?" Lapis said, staring right at the other gem's crying eyes.

"Lapis... I'm sorry for not realizing you were there." Pearl said, lowering her eyes to her trembling hands only to find them covered with Lapis' blue hand.

"I know," she squeezed Pearl's hands in what she hoped an understanding manner. The shaking gem covered the blue gem's hand and squeezed back, hunched over their intertwined hands. "And thank you…"

Pearl stared up to her in astonishment.

Lapis suddenly remembered the pale gem's uncertain hand, reaching out for her. "So…do you want to show that thing in the barn to me?"

She extended her other hand over Pearl's, smiling tearfully, "…Thank you for reaching out for me."

Author's Notes:

So yeah, that thing was a karaoke. This is supposed to be a oneshot about karaoke but I can't even go there without all these drama. Closure is important after all. That oneshot was inspired by .com's Suman AU where Lapis is a Filipino. Send them love 3

For those who may become wary of misrepresenting the alleged "Filipino" culture (a term I find problematic but won't discuss here), I lived my whole life in the Philippines so I guess I got that covered. But if still got question or concern, just review here or message me on tumblr. If not, you guys are still welcome to review or message.

I'm sorry in advance for the grammatical mistakes that probs slipped me.