Steven had hoped his weekend away from Beach City would be a chance to hang out with Lapis and Peridot who he rarely had time to see. But instead of that, he had caught the two in a bad mood. For the first couple of hours, he tried brighten their day with their favorite activities but that was as effective as breaking a brick wall with his bare fists. Neither of them really spoke to each other the entire day.

By the time evening came, Steven had to know the reason why they were acting like this. He approached the two of them on the couch and he sat between them. To his right, Lapis was experimenting with water colors while to his left Peridot was organizing a jar of bolts and screws. Of course, he couldn't just blurt out his question so Steven looked around for something to start the conversation. "Hey that tapestry on the far wall there is new, when did you guys put up?"

"Last week." Lapis said in an apathetic voice.

"But I thought Uncle Andy took away your tools for the month after you guys tried modifying the tractor. How did you guys nail it to the wall?"

Peridot chimed in but her voice was equally apathetic. "I used my powers to help drive the nails into the wall."

"That's so cool Peridot!" exclaimed Steven. "Looks like your fine control over metal is getting better."

"You could say that, but then again Peridot did destroy my physical form with one of the nails." Lapis remarked icily.

"Oh, I'm sure Peridot didn't mean poof you. Right Peridot?" Steven tried to think of something he could say to avoid a tense situation. However, before he could say anything else Peridot began confronting Lapis.

"Please don't tell me all your actions this past week were motivated by that small mishap."

"A small mishap? Your misfired nail pierced me in the back a few centimeters away from my gem! You didn't even make an effort to apologize when I reformed."

"That was because you suddenly decided to move to the right just before the nail left my hand. Now I'll confess that I let my focus slip a little but I didn't do that on purpose. Your retributions however were all done to spite me."

"What retributions?" replied Lapis in a teasing manner.

At this point, Steven could see that Peridot's annoyance was growing. "Don't play innocent Lazuli. You didn't move the couch five days ago for interior decorating you moved it so you could see me fall flat on my face when I jumped off from the second floor."

"How was I supposed to know you use that couch to get down from your half of the barn?" said Lapis but Steven could tell from her smirk that she was feigning ignorance.

Peridot managed to keep her composure but still grinded her teeth together. "Alright then, what about the neodymium magnets you brought that crashed every electronic device in this room?"

Unlike the first accusation, this question seemed to catch Lapis off her guard. "Okay so I admit that the couch and magnet thing were done to spite you but how many times do I have to tell you that I made an honest mistake in getting the super strong magnets. I just wanted them to give you enough trouble for it to be interesting."

"Yes that was indeed an interesting experience especially the part when I had to reset and partially rebuild everything that they affected. But that doesn't really compare to yesterday morning when I woke up and found giant, terrifying stick figures, which you classified as 'experiments with a new medium', hanging literally everywhere."

This time Lapis was the one annoyed. "How can you still blame me for that?! You didn't tell me that movie you decided to watch somehow instilled the fear that a witch was going to snatch you away. Honestly how could a rational person such as yourself be so terrified by a film that was essentially motion sickness incarnate."

"How else would I react to a demon witch adamant on luring travelers to their gruesome deaths?!"

"Come on she is a piece of fiction designed for cheap thrills!" Lapis paced around the room and regained her cool demeanor. "Peridot, why do we keep arguing over these inconsequential things?"

The fervor in their dialogue had now dissipated. Peridot contemplated her question and slowly began forming her words. "It's not that I want to do it." She sighed. "I'm just trying to make this 'friends' dynamic work. I mean we've been here nearly 200 Earth cycles and you're still cloistered in your own personal space." Peridot's sincerity though was not well received.

"Well Peridot, unfortunately friend isn't a word I would use to describe you. You're one of the gems who forced me against my will to return to this planet. Now I'm stuck here indefinitely again only this time I have a borderline egotistic brat who's constantly looming over me and trying to force her way into my life." Lapis's words hollowed out the room leaving nothing but tense silence. Steven expected Peridot to retort back; instead, she just returned a sullen expression. Lapis maintained her stance though her eyes degenerated into remorse.

"Enough guys!" Steven had gotten the insight he first desired, but now he had to fix the problem he forced Lapis and Peridot to unearth. "Sure you've had differences in the past but that doesn't mean you have to keep carrying them around. The Crystal Gems and I didn't put you two in our secondary base just for you to ignore each other forever." Steven then walked over to a nearby bookshelf and pulled out two notebooks.

"What are those for?" inquired Lapis.

"Each of you are going to write down all the things you hate about the other in these notebooks and then share it with each other."

"That seems counterintuitive. What could Lapis and I possibly accomplish if we just focus on the negative qualities?"

"Well I saw it in a movie once. After both of you clear all the negative stuff, then maybe there will be enough room to build something better."

"You say it like our relationship is just a small garden that needs weeding." Before Steven could reply to Lapis he saw the warp pad outside light up. Immediately after that, Pearl and Amethyst rushed into the room.

"Steven! We just detected a rise in seismic activity around an island that used to be an old gem settlement. Garnet went ahead to do a little reconnaissance and reported that two corrupted gems were tunneling inside a dormant volcano. We have to warp to Garnet's location immediately before they destabilize the entire structure and harm the people on the neighboring islands."

"W-Why do you guys need me? With you and Amethyst it would already be three against two."

"Yeah but Garnet also said that those guys somehow surrounded themselves with a pool of lava which makes it more like one and a half against two. So, Pearl and I were thinking that you could make a bubble large enough to protect us; that way we get to keep our legs and you know other stuff from burning off and save the day."

"Alright then," Steven returned his attention to Lapis and Peridot. "Promise me you guys will at least try this while I'm gone." They're gestures were less affirming than what he was hoping for but there wasn't enough time for anything more as he, Pearl, and Amethyst ran out of the barn towards the warp pad.

Despite Pearl's reluctance, Steven warped back to the barn after they bubbled the gems away. Though it felt like that mission was a touch and go errand, the pitch black surrounding Steven indicated it was well into the AM hours. He turned on his phone to navigate the way towards the front doors. The barn lights were also snuffed out. 'They must have called it a night I guess.'

Suddenly physical exhaustion flooded his body and Steven decided to just spend the night on the couch.

However, he found crumpled notebook pages scattered all over the cushions. 'Great I probably made the whole thing worse.' He found the two original notebooks nested under the pile. 'Let's see what's in store for tomorrow.' The exercise had started out civil with each of them writing three things to begin.

I hate your constant apathy. I hate your tendency to not share yourself. I hate it when you're hostile.

I hate that you're always astonished by everything. I hate it when you try to improve things. I hate your need to always be right.

I hate your disbelief in self-determination. I hate that you prioritize everyone's faults and deceitfulness. I hate that you believe no one changes.

I hate it when you voice your opinions without thinking about other people's feelings. I hate it when you don't acknowledge your own faults. I hate it when you try to cite useless qualities to support your superiority.

From there, Steven could tell from the progressively shorter lists, superficial items, and of course the torn pages that the exercise snowballed into who could come up with the most things. He unfolded some of the crumpled pages around him and tried to follow the discontinuous lines.

I hate that you can fly.

I hate it when you ambulate around the barn aimlessly when you can't solve a problem.

I hate your nonsensical sleep schedule.

I hate your taste in music.

I also hate your musical preferences.

I hate the screeching scarecrow you made which unsurprisingly attracted more crows.

Steven was about to accept defeat and sleep in preparation for the fallout tomorrow when a torn page fell out of the back of Peridot's notebook. Unlike the other pages, this one had both Peridot and Lapis's handwriting.

I hate that I stranded you on Earth. I hate that I said that to you when it was really Homeworld's fault. I hate that we've written this many things for this dumb activity. I hate it when I agree with you. I hate making you unhappy so I'll give you some space and time. I hate that despite all this I still can't hate you.

'Told them it would work.' Before he could relish the results of his advice, Steven yielded to the tempting allure of sleep.

*Sorry for the long time gap on this one. Sometimes the chapter ideas I thought were initially great kind of fell apart. Also sorry for not making it clear but the bold text towards the end are Peridot's and the italics are Lapis's