A/N: Sorry for the late update, I hope you enjoy it!

-niigoki

The door to Peridot's room slammed open.

"I need to rant, bear with me." Amethyst announced and jumped on her bed without a second thought. The blonde groaned loudly and covered her head from the brightness of the hallway, having very vivid flashbacks of a few nights ago when she did the exact same thing to her best friend – right now, there was nothing else she regretted more. She forgot how vengeful Amethyst could be.

"Go on," Amethyst continued and Peri got confused.

"What."

"Say it."

"Say what."

"How much you're sorry that you've woken me up like this the other day, how annoying I am, and how much you love me." Amethyst kicked her shoes off and got comfy under the covers. "In this particular order, not necessarily this close to each other time-wise."

"Fuck off."

"Good enough for now," She snorted and poked her backs. "Where's Lapis?"

"Went home," Peridot really wanted to go back to sleep to be able to function properly at work in a couple of hours, but Amethyst was in a talkative mood and she really didn't mind talking about Lapis for a bit. "Train."

"Didn't even offer to ride her home? Cold."

"I did. She refused. Took the rain." Peridot buried her head on the pillow.

"Too soon, eh? I get it, sometimes people need space." Amethyst propelled her head in one hand as she lied on her side and looked at the wall above Peridot's head, contemplating. "Also, from 'when hell freezes over' to 'of fucking course', do you think I could get a kiss from both my bosses in less than a month? Asking for a friend."

The sentence was met with a silent hum and no action for a few seconds before Peridot lifted her torso quicker than anything Amethyst has ever seen her do. "Bosses? You got the job?!"

"Jesus Christ!" The brunette put a hand on her chest, actually terrified. "Don't do that Exorcist shit ever again."

"Amethyst! Did you?" The bartender's eyes were shining with anticipation and Amethyst really couldn't break her heart at this point, so she just confirmed it.

"Call me Receptionyst," Then she paused. "Wait. That was intended to be a pun on my name but I fucked up. Its funnier when you write it down."

"This is so great!" Peridot then jumped into her best friend's arms and both fell down on the bed, laughing. Things were finally looking up for them after such a long time of hardships and Peridot's blood and sweat keeping them under a roof together, and she couldn't be prouder. There would be no need to buy the worst instant ramen anymore; they'd finally be able to purchase the real ones. And they could even start buying sodas again, which was something Peridot dearly missed on her daily life. And who knows? Maybe they could add some good chocolate in it as well. And beer that didn't taste like piss. What a time to be alive.

"Alright get off, your nerd is gonna stick on me." Amethyst laughed and pushed the other girl back gently. "Also, I'd just like to point out that my butterfly tattoos were decisive in the choice to hire me."

Peridot scoffed. "Right."

"I'm serious, Garnet complimented them!" Amethyst lifted her arm and stroked the stickers on her skin. "Come on, you gotta admit that this was a smart move."

"Never."

"Sore loser," She put her arm down and smirked. "And you haven't answered my question."

"What question?" Peridot took a moment to recall that there was actually more information on her previous sentence than just the words 'my bosses'. "Oh my god, don't."

"You don't understand, they're so pretty."

"Amethyst, I'm serious. You can't get fired from this!" Peridot knew she had more common sense than that, but worrying about Ame's impulses was ingrained in her core. "Don't make out with your bosses."

"Lame," The brunette lied back down, closing her eyes. "Fine, I'll just be friendly. For now." Peridot shot her a very unamused look. "Relax, I'm joking."

The blonde knew she wasn't, but decided to drop the subject for now. Just the fact that she had gotten this job was already enough to let the girl off the hook, so she settled back on the sheets again. Looking over at her clock, Peridot sighed at the time; she still had three hours till her shift, and now with the adrenaline of the good news running fresh in her system, she knew that there was no way to go back to sleep. Peridot looked over at Amethyst and smiled, poking her ribs. "So tell me, how did it all go?"

"Well, it all began with me being hit in the chest by the sight of a pink-haired angel." Peridot rolled her eyes, but allowed her to continue. "And then another pink and blue-haired deity showed up and I was like, really? I'm just a small gay, you can't do this to me."

"You're bisexual." Peridot corrected her.

"Details, Per. Anyway, there I was, with a Cupid's arrow stuck on my chest and another on my ass, when they started asking me…"

She listened as Amethyst talked and tried to stop smiling, but failed. Her day had been great so far and just kept getting better, and Peridot's mind started wandering off to Lapis' kiss at some point, which only made the corners of her mouth widen and her stomach flutter with a warm feeling.

She really hoped that Lapis would show up at the pub that night.

When Steven got home he wasn't expecting to see Lapis, specially not in the state she was in.

The woman was lying down sprawled in the living room couch with the TV turned on as the images flickered and reflected on her features. The lights were off in the whole house, and her left arm was hanging out from the safety of the white couch, her fingertips gently touching the glass ashtray on the floor. There was a cigarette in between them, and by counting the contents on the ashtray, it was her seventh. Lapis usually smoked compulsively when she was feeling down, and Steven got immediately worried.

"Lapis? I'm home," He announced carefully, not wanting to startle her.

"Steven." She honestly wanted to have the strength to pull herself together quickly, but her limbs failed her. Lapis hated to show weakness like this in front of the boy, but there were times when she just couldn't help it. At least he was comprehensible about it – this wasn't the first time Steven got home to such a sight. "Hey."

"Hey…" He approached slowly, sitting down next to her. He noticed she had been watching a documentary about how crayons were made. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," She forced her body to sit up straight. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Steven smiled softly, touching her backs. "You don't need to get up. I'm happy to see you at home."

Lapis smiled tiredly and with his permission, laid back down with a sigh. Her eyes focused once again on the show in the screen and Steven stood by her side for a bit trying to enjoy it. When he saw her hand move towards her jacket pocket where she normally stored her cigarettes, he cleared his throat. "Hey, uh… Connie invited us for dinner this week, what do you think? She lives in this really big house with a pool and everything! I mean, it's pretty much the size of ours, but her garden is bigger. And we can eat outside!"

The woman stopped and dropped her arm. She hadn't even realized what she was doing and cursed herself for that. "That sounds nice."

"Yeah!" Excited with the response, Steven continued. "I don't think you two ever met, huh? Her parents are a bit scary, but they're really nice people. And Connie is really cool, too! She's so smart, I bet you'd love to hear all the awesome book recommendations she has."

Lapis hummed in agreement, not really in the mood to go out and meet adults she didn't know – not that she wasn't one herself, she was 25 after all. Her brain just told her that she would be an embarrassment to Steven's friend and that if her parent's saw the kind of person he was living with, they'd call his dad. And then the boy would leave her, and she would be all alone again in that huge house.

And she couldn't be alone.

"Maybe you could invite her to come here instead," The words left her mouth before she could stop them in a desperate attempt to come up with an excuse to not see Connie's parents.

"Oh…" Steven frowned and thought about it for a second. Then his face lit up. "Yes! Lapis, that's a great idea! I'll call her right away and ask!" he got up and ran to the kitchen, where the closest phone was located, and Lapis wasn't quick enough to stop him.

"Steven, wait!" She jumped off the couch, but it was too late. On her pathetic attempt to throw the contents of the box away, Lapis had given up midway and just stuffed everything that could fit inside the trashcan. The shoes were popping out of the can, and the ashes of the dress that she'd managed to pick up from the yard were scattered on the floor messily. The fire extinguisher was also lying next to the clutter, uncared for.

The boy stopped next to the phone with a shocked expression and Lapis felt like she needed to explain, "I-I was going to clean it up, I just— I forgot about it, and then you got home and I—"

"That's all hers, isn't it?" The boy interrupted, walking slowly to check the objects in the pile. "The bad lady that keeps sending you things you don't like."

Lapis felt herself starting to shake and gripped her arms. "…I'll deal with this, just leave it be."

"But you don't have to deal with this alone," Steven turned to her, his eyes teary. "I know you don't like to talk about it, and that it's heavy for you, but… but I worry so much, Lapis! Every time we get something on the mail you get so sad and upset. I just—" Steven approached her, rubbing his face. "I wish you could let me help you…"

"Steven, please, don't—" She kneeled down to come face to face with him and touched his shoulder. "Don't cry. This is not something I can make you bear for me. Please understand, this thing… This woman, I've been dealing with her for twenty years. You weren't even born when this whole mess started. I'll be okay. I promise."

Steven knew she was lying, and his heart, that had so much love to give to others, just hurt when Lapis shut him out. He knew it wasn't his problem and that he wasn't going to be able to make everything go away like that. And still, he always tried tirelessly and selflessly to cheer her up whenever possible.

And Lapis felt like a monster each time she denied his help, but that was just how things had to be. This boy was too good for the cruelties of the world, and way too good to her, and she spent every day thinking that she didn't deserve a friend like Steven Universe by her side.

"Hey," She ruffled his hair, trying for a fake smile. "How about that call to Connie? We can go shopping for ingredients together for our dinner."

Steven looked up and nodded, smiling back. "Okay." As he dialed, Lapis moved to the trashcan and started undoing the mess.

She grabbed a vacuum cleaner for the ashes and put the rest of the things on a larger plastic bag, tying it in a knot and then putting it on the larger can outside their house for the garbage truck. When she got back inside, Lapis turned on the lights and changed channels to something more cheerful. She threw all the cigarettes in the glass ashtray away and put the object back to where it belonged, together with her pack of cigs. Doing all of that took a toll on her sedentary body, and she crashed on the couch once she was done. Her backs were hurting, and she thought she might be getting old.

Steven came back shortly after and sat next to her with two sandwiches in hands. "Made one for you."

"Thanks," Lapis smiled, truly grateful for the treat; she was starting to get hungry. The two friends stood in silence as an action movie aired, munching contently on their food, when Steven spoke.

"Is there anyone who knows?"

This caught her off guard. "What?"

"This problem with this lady," He explained. "If you can't talk to me about it, then maybe you could talk to someone else?"

Her first thought was obviously Jasper, but Steven didn't know about her, and she intended to keep it this way. If there was one thing she wanted to keep him away from, was Jasper. She was sure the woman also never told people about Lapis either, as if this was some sort of silent agreement between them, one that she appreciated.

But then her thoughts shifted to another person, someone new and that had been the source of many happy moments for Lapis lately. A little blonde bartender who carried the entire universe inside her, and whose words made cracks in the wall that Lapis had been building up for twenty years; whose touch healed instead of causing pain, and whose eyes shone with genuine admiration each time Lapis spoke. She didn't want to bring her past up with Peridot, but that didn't mean that she had to shut herself home because of it. She was tired of the witch having control over how she felt every time she sent a goddamn package in the mail.

Lapis realized that she really wanted to talk to Peridot right now.

Immediately, in fact.

"…Yes," She finally answered, then looked down at the rest of her sandwich and wolfed it down. Then Lapis got up, and turned to Steven. "I do."

He blinked, but soon understood and smiled back. "Be safe."

With a nod, Lapis grabbed her keys and ran outside.