A/N: I wrote this chapter listening to a few songs from Icona Pop. It really helped me get the feeling of the scene, so I recommend you to listen to their songs as well while you're reading! Enjoy~
It was exactly 9:00pm when Peridot arrived at the pub, and exactly 9:13pm when a blue-haired mess of a person walked into the place gasping for air, as if she'd just run a marathon. There was hardly anyone present in the place yet, since the old-timers knew that the party just started at 11:00pm, but the ones that were there went quiet and turned around to stare. Lapis stood still, just breathing heavily and recovering from her run from the train station before lifting her head and making eye contact with the one she went through all that for.
"Lapis!" Of course, Peridot exclaimed her name before she could. Lapis felt a rush of fondness immediately, and smiled; it was amazing what the mere sight of this girl did to her, and for a fraction of a second, she felt like things could be okay. After finally getting a grip, she walked towards the bar, where the blonde was getting her tools ready for another busy night. "You came tonight."
"I did." Lapis sat down in front of her.
"I was hoping you would," As always, she was very open and honest with her feelings, which made Lapis' smile broaden. She felt wanted, which was new and very weird, but in a good way.
"Yeah?" Her throat was dry and itchy from the exercise, but she wanted to let Peridot know how much she actually wanted to be there. "I, uh… I ran all the way here, actually."
"Is everything okay?" Peridot got worried with that statement. "Wait, before that." She bent down and grabbed a bottle of water, handing it to her. "On the house. You look really thirsty."
Lapis let out a breathless chuckle, thankful for the drink, and gulped it down almost entirely. Peridot waited for her to finish with a soft glint in her eyes and a gentle giddiness in her chest. Lapis finally put the bottle down and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Thanks."
"Your hair is so messy," Peridot had been staring at it for a while and spoke without really thinking. Then she realized that the remark was probably rude and flinched. "I mean, in a good way!"
Lapis couldn't help but laugh, still a little breathless. "No, it's pretty bad." She ran her fingers through it, pushing it back, and Peridot's cheeks flushed at the sight – God, she was beautiful. Her pink-tinged cheeks from the exhaustion, the tiny gleam of sweat on her cheeks that made her innumerous freckles stand out, the way her chest moved up and down as she tried to control her breathing. Peridot wasn't one to fall for people solely because of their looks, but holy shit that was just unfair. Everything surrounding Lapis looked so alive.
She wished the girl saw herself the way Peridot saw her.
"Besides," Lapis' hand left her hair and the bangs fell over her eyes again, as she smirked. "A good messy hair looks completely different."
The innuendo didn't pass unnoticed by the short gay bartender and she felt herself having aneurysm. "Y-you haven't answered my question!"
"What question?" The smug expression didn't leave her face.
"If you're okay!" Peridot crossed her arms, still a nervous wreck. For a moment she saw Lapis' expression falter a bit, and right away knew that the answer was no.
"I'm fine." And obviously she lied. Lapis had left home in a frenzy ready to talk to Peridot about anything at all, and she was even ready to accept the consequences of what would happen if she opened up to her. But now, eye-to-eye with the blonde, and having fun despite being emotionally exhausted a few minutes ago, she didn't want to. The bad feelings and thoughts were like a dark cloud that followed her wherever she went, but right now Lapis didn't want to think. She just wanted to push that away and feel the things Peridot made her feel. So she lied, and she would keep lying if it meant getting to spend time with her like this.
"Are you sure?" Peridot decided to nudge just a little further, but when Lapis nodded, she dropped it. Sometimes it was better to leave things be, and she had a feeling that the girl would talk to her if she felt ready to. "Alright, miss marathoner."
"With my lungs? Hardly," Lapis took another sip of water.
"The cigarettes, huh?" Peridot rolled her eyes, teasingly. "I swear, you and Amethyst are long lost siblings. Can't go jogging for a second that you already start heaving."
"The price to pay for an addiction." The words resonated on her head and cut deeper than she intended to. Her nicotine dependence wasn't something that she had planned, but rather it was imposed on her – like most of her toxic habits, honestly. She had tried to grow out of it, but just like Jasper said, she wouldn't allow herself to. The smoke on her lungs was a reminder that, just like the cigarettes, the witch would be a part of her life for as long as she breathed. It was a rather depressing thought, but one she was accustomed with.
"Maybe you should find better things to get addicted to." Peridot casually remarked as she walked away to fill a cup of beer. The words were thrown out there with no second intentions – it was just what she usually told Amethyst – but they weighted on Lapis a lot. It looked like such an easy solution; distracting herself from what made her sad with other things that made her happy. It was something Lapis had been trying to do her whole life, but what kind of thing could she get attached to if she didn't even know what happiness was?
Hell, she was five when that woman decided to mold her into her personal freak show. That changed a person's sense of reality.
"Hey, stranger!" The thoughts were going to a dangerous place, but were interrupted by Sadie's cheerful greeting. "Good to see you again!"
"Y-yeah." Lapis finished her water bottle. "Nice to see you too."
"I see things are working out great with Peri," The chubby blonde waitress rested her tray on the balcony and adjusted her apron. "At least it looks like it, anyway. I could be completely wrong and you two hate each other."
"She did just trade my company for a beer, so…" Lapis joked, trying her best not to bring everybody around her down.
"Oh, she does that to everyone." Sadie laughed, picking up her tray again. "Something tells me she will be back for you soon, though. There are not many people who party on Mondays."
"It's still pretty early, too." Lapis looked around and there were indeed a small crowd just chatting and eating fries on the tables. Just some lonely souls sat at the bar, and even then they stared at their phones the whole time while sipping their drinks. She got briefly curious about their reasons to be drinking on a Monday night with such gloomy faces, but then again she didn't have the right to judge anyone.
"Sour Cream starts DJ'ing at eleven, so until then you'll be pretty much free to talk. I, on the other hand," She grunted with a stretch. "Still need to take some orders. Have a fun night, Lapis."
"Good luck." And with that, Sadie was gone. Peridot returned a few seconds later, and both girls chatted in a calm pace, much differently than when they first talked. Peri still had to leave now and then to mix up some drinks, but overall everything was peaceful.
At 10pm a few more costumers walked in.
At 11pm, Lapis decided to order her first alcoholic drink of the night as Sour Cream climbed up the stage.
At 12am, the tables were almost all full and the dancefloor started to get heated.
At 1am, Lapis ordered her third drink and Peridot introduced her to Jenny and Buck, and Lapis remembered Nanefua talking about her grandchildren. Jenny was completely ecstatic that Lapis knew her grandmother and they chatted for a long, long time while Peridot got busier with the orders.
At 2am, Jenny, Buck and Lapis toasted with three shots of tequila, and afterwards the couple asked her to dance with them. Lapis found out that they were Sour Cream's boyfriend and girlfriend and smiled at the happy polyamorous relationship. It was the first time she'd ever seen one, and got unexpectedly giddy over the new experience and the new people she was able to meet that night. Peridot's friends were truly kind and compassionate, which only reinforced what she already knew: That girl was full of love.
And maybe it was the drinks getting to her head and the heat of the dancefloor warming her up from the inside, but Lapis felt a sudden overflow of emotion taking over and had to excuse herself to walk over to the bar.
"Peridot!" She yelled over the blasting music, crashing into people on her way, but not giving a single damn. The bartender turned around after delivering a man's Margarita and approached Lapis with a grin.
"You okay?" She yelled back.
"Dance with me!"
"What?"
Lapis smiled dumbly, grabbing one of her wrists. "Come dance with me!"
Peridot looked back to the bar where someone else was already calling for her and shot her an apologetic look. "I can't, I—"
"Just for a little bit! Look," The blue-haired girl looked around and spotted who she was looking for. She sprung an arm into the crowd and dragged Sadie out of it all of a sudden. "Sadie can take over for you!"
"Sadie can do what now?" The woman in question asked, confused.
"Take care of the bar while Peridot dances with me," Lapis was so focused on her task that she disregarded anyone else right now. "It will be so quick, please Sadie. The other waitresses can take care of the tables for thirty minutes."
"I—" Sadie was about to refuse because hell, they were at rush hour, but something on the way Lapis was looking at her, almost desperately so, made her reconsider in a heartbeat. "Oh fuck it, why not."
"What?!" Peridot was stunned and let her jaw drop when the waitress took off her apron.
"Just go already! But if you're not back in thirty minutes I'm gonna go in there and I'm gonna drag your ass back." She smirked with a punch on Peridot's arm.
"Thank you!" Lapis jumped up and down and pulled the cute stuttering blonde along with her. "Come on!"
And just like that Peridot was in the middle of the dancefloor, with this incredibly beautiful girl smiling stupidly at everything and everyone. Alright, she was definitely pretty drunk, but not enough to fall down face-first on the floor as soon as people bumped into her. The beat changed to a really cheerful song and everyone started singing loudly along with the lyrics, creating a really funny chorus of wasted human beings. Despite working on the pub for almost three years now, Peridot had hardly ever gotten near the speakers of that place. Her home was behind the bar, on the very opposite side of the dancefloor, so all she ever did was watch as bodies moved from the distance.
Being right in the middle of it, though, was exhilarating. Peridot usually felt uncomfortable with people touching her and cramped spaces, but being in the heart of everything with Lapis gave her an enormous sense of freedom that she never imagined to experience. She also noticed that the people dancing next to them weren't strangers at all, but very familiar faces; Jenny and Buck, the birthday girl from a week ago, costumers that came pretty much every night to just have a good time, a man who literally never left the dancefloor whenever he decided to crash at the pub. All of those people recognized Peridot immediately and shot her huge smiles as they danced around them. She could faintly hear the cheers of "Peri's here!" and her heart swelled with appreciation.
She felt amazing. That was such a good idea.
Then Peridot felt a hand touching her face and realized it was Lapis urging her to look her in the eyes. And oh, she did. It was like the crowd simply vanished in the background and all there was in the world was Lapis. Her messy hair bumped up and down as she jumped, and Peridot awkwardly tried to match her dance. She wasn't much of a dancer, but that didn't matter when Lapis was looking at her like that, moving with such vibrancy and color, such… happiness. She twirled around, moving her feet to the beat perfectly and then she bent down and her lips were on Peri's and nothing else mattered.
Time stood still, but not for long because soon the lips left her mouth as suddenly as they arrived and Lapis laughed, grabbing Peridot's hands and moving them along with her dance. Peridot couldn't stop herself from joining in the laughter as well and she laughed so hard that her eyes filled with tears. Lapis swept a thumb through her cheeks and kissed her again. And again. This time the kiss lasted a lot longer and she felt Lapis' tongue invading her mouth, and she reciprocated all the same. Then she felt lips moving to her cheek and then down her neck and a sharp pain shot through her whole body as Lapis bit down hard on the flesh. It was so sudden, but so fucking good that she involuntarily let out a moan.
Peridot thanked every single deity above for the loud music.
She thought that the hickey was over but apparently Lapis felt possessive, because her teeth made their way to the other side of her neck, biting just as intensely. Peridot threated her fingers through the girl's hair, biting her lower lip to stop herself from letting out another embarrassing sound. She felt Lapis smirking against her skin as she licked her way up to the hinge of her jaw and then her tongue was on Peridot's mouth again. The kiss was so feral, nothing like the soft interactions they've had so far, and if there was one thing that Peridot learned that night was that she absolutely loved this side of Lapis too. And then she realized she loved every single side of this girl, and it was probably dangerous to think like this so early into this relationship, but Peridot had always been very honest with herself.
And right now she was sure she simply loved Lapis.
Eventually they had to stop kissing because Sadie wasn't a girl of empty promises and she actually had walked into the crowd to drag Peridot's ass back to the bar. Lapis let her go with a laugh and a half-baked apology to the waitress, who let her off the hook with a "That was a one-time thing, hear me?"
At 4am the pub was practically empty. Lapis was on the bar, resting her head down after finally getting too dizzy to stand up and being yanked away from the dancefloor with the help of Jenny and Buck. Peridot had given her another free water bottle, but Lapis insisted on paying for this one. She drank all of it and crashed on the balcony, a smile still lingering on her lips. Peridot stared at her fondly, still not quite recovered from the high from before, and scratched the top of her head gently.
"Finally passed out?" Sadie walked by, carrying a plate of nachos. And really, who ordered nachos at four in the morning?
"Yeah…" Peridot mumbled back, still focused on how Lapis' hair felt in between her fingers.
"You okay, chief?"
The bartender was more than okay, but there was also something bugging her. "I just want her to remember this tomorrow."
"I'm sure she will. And if she doesn't, at least she left you a little gift to help her remember," Sadie winked with a flicker of her eyes towards Peridot's neck, and the bartender blushed, finally moving her hand. That wasn't what she had meant, though. Sure she wanted Lapis to remember kissing her and biting her and driving her completely crazy, but most of all, she wanted her to remember how she felt while they were dancing.
Peridot was pretty sure Lapis was genuinely happy.
At 5pm her shift was almost over and Lapis was still passed out, so Peridot did the sensible thing and decided that she was going to let her sleep on her house again that night. She wondered if Lapis was unemployed, since she was pissed drunk on a Monday, and then she realized that there were so many things about her life that she didn't know. Peridot wanted to know everything about this woman, and this feeling had just doubled after that night.
At 6am Sadie helped her put Lapis on the back of her Vespa, and she finally rode home, very slowly to make sure she wouldn't fall. And right before they arrived home, she felt Lapis shift against her backs and burying her nose on the crook of Peridot's neck with a really content sigh.
She could get used to this.
A/N: I think I found a regular schedule for my updates. Probably every Friday/Saturday. Thank you for your patience and all of your amazing reviews. I'm glad I can make your days better with this fic, it makes everything worth it!
-niigoki
