Episode 21: Joking Victim
Peter had spent the entire morning on the beach under Turquoise's supervision. She had been reluctant to do the job, but after the disaster with Howlite, one of the two participants had to take a rest. Since Topaz had been marked the Crystal Gems' unofficial leader after Emerald's death, that only left Turquoise. And now she had to babysit Peter.
Turquoise walked over to Peter, watching as he rinsed the sand off of his feet. She had a container of fries in her hand.
"Hey, Peter," said Turquoise. "You wanna try some special new fries?" She offered the container to Peter.
"Do I!" Peter said happily. He was starving. Without any hesitation, he ate a handful of the fries. Turquoise bit back a fit of laughter until she could hold it back anymore. She chuckled loudly. Peter, unwittingly, joined in. That was until his mouth and throat began to burn. His face turned red. "Hot!"
"They're special because they're seasoned with Fire Salt!" Turquoise pulled out a crystallized vial from her bra to show him. She dangled it out in front of him, the tiny red crystals hitting the glass. Peter, face still burning red, quickly attempted to turn the faucet back on. Unfortunately, the spigot broke off. Turquoise fell to the ground with how much she was laughing.
Peter shot up and ran to the convenience store nearby. It was the only place he knew of that could help. Peter burst in through the doors. He rushed to the soda fountain and sprayed soda in his mouth. With his haste, most of what he sprayed missed its intended target. The excess soda to spill onto the floor forming a large puddle.
Mathias stepped out from behind the counter to confront him.
"Peter! What are you—" said Mathias before he slipped on the puddle of soda. He went crashing to the ground, his side slamming against the tiled floor.
"Sowwy, Mathias," said Peter exhausted, and his tongue still burnt. Mathias propped himself up on his elbows.
"Peter! Who do you think has to clean up this mess?" Mathias looked to Lovise. "Lovise, clean up this mess."
"No way, it's your turn," said Lovise, annoyed. She was stocking shelves. "I cleaned the last five 'Peters'."
"Aww, come on. That fall messed up my back." He rubbed his side. "It hurts really bad." Lovise rolled her eyes. She went into the backroom, only to emerge with mop and bucket.
"Fine. Move," she said. "I'll take care of this. Could you grab the soap?" Mathias belted out a faked anguished groan.
"Oh! It hurts! So much!" Lovise sighed.
"Maybe you should take the day off if you're in that much pain." Mathias stood up quicker than Lovise had expected him to.
"You gonna be fine on your own?"
"I guess, but—"
"You're the best, Player Two!" Mathias had already made his way to the door. Without another word, he left.
"Wait, I can't run this place!" Lovise made her way to the door and threw it open. "Mathias!" Mathias was long gone. Lovise sighed, shutting the door. Peter walked over with a large pile of napkins and dropped them directly on the puddle. He turned to Lovise.
"I can help!" he said, "This place has given me so much. It's time I gave back."
It took about an hour to convince Lovise to go along with the idea. It took another ten minutes for her to find a employee uniform that would even fit Peter. After all that time had passed, Lovise motioned for Peter to follow her.
"It's time I showed you the Employee Room," she said. She lead Peter to the room in the back. The room itself was populated by several large supply boxes on the right, over a dozen boxes lining the back left, and a TV, two folding chairs and a small circular table furnishing the front left.
"Woah, this is the most magical place I've ever seen," said Peter as he entered. Lovise directed Peter to the boxes nearest them.
"These are the extra supplies," she explained. "Mathias usually sleeps on the napkins during his breaks."
"Is that why they're called, 'nap' -kins?"
"Not really, no." Lovise directed Peter to the folding chairs, table and TV. "On breaks, we hang out here. We can even watch TV." Lovise then brought him to another pile of boxes near the back. "Now, this is where we store everything. They're mailed in from some corporate bake-station."
"You mean you don't make them here?"
"No, not since some accident a few years ago." Lovise reached over to a shelf, pulling off a box that fit in in her hand. She showed it to Peter. "Peter, this job is a big responsibility, so you're gonna have to watch this video tape."
"What is it?"
"It's like a DVD shaped like a box, and it'll tell you everything you need to know." She put tape in VHS player. The tape revealed someone Peter didn't recognize its star.
"Who's that?" Peter asked. Lovise was already halfway towards the door. "Did he used to work here?" She headed back over. She groaned before moving back to the door.
"No. I've never seen him before."
The moment the tape had finished, Peter left the backroom. He joined Lovise at the counter.
About two hours into his new job, Peter started talking with Lovise. He never realized how hard she would be to converse with. Her answers to all of his questions were flat and straight to the point until Peter came up with one she couldn't avoid.
"How'd you start working here?" Peter asked her. Lovise looked away from the customer she was helping and to him.
"It started out as just a summer job, but…" said Lovise, "That was two years ago."
"Why did you stay?"
"I…" Lovise's sentence droned off. "I don't know." Their eye contact broke when Emil, Lovise's stepbrother, walked into the store. "What a surprise." Emil held out a brown bag to Lovise. "What?"
"Erika switched my lunch with yours," Emil said with a sour tone. Lovise took the bag from his hands.
"Wait here." Lovise fled to the backroom, leaving Peter and Emil in the store. Peter looked up at the teenager.
"Peter, what are you doing?" said Emil when he noticed Peter staring at him.
"Just thinking," Peter answered. "You don't like coming here, right?" Emil didn't make any motion to confirm Peter's thought.
"I don't like seeing Lovise outside of the house and school if that's what you mean."
"But I thought she was your sister-"
"My stepsister," said Emil. "She thinks she's my sister, but she's-"
"I'm what?" Lovise had come back, a different bag in her hands. She walked over, but didn't give the bag to Emil. "I'm what, Emil?"
"You're working. Give me my lunch so I can go." Emil made a reach for the bag, only for Lovise to hold it out of his reach.
"Answer my question, little brother." Peter looked over at Emil. He didn't seemed too pleased with what Lovise had called him.
"Don't call me that." He sighed. "Just give it to me before I'm late." Lovise looked reluctant, but dropped the bag into Emil's hands. He left without another word.
"What was that about?" Peter asked, moving out from behind the counter. Lovise took his place.
"Emil may think I'm lying, but I'm not. We have the same mother, just different fathers. Unfortunately, we didn't find this out until a few years ago, so we thought we weren't blood related for the longest time. But because of that, he refuses to call me anything but his stepsister," Lovise explained to him. Noticing the somber expression the encounter had put Lovise in, Peter headed over to the coffee machine. He took the full coffee pitcher and a cup, pouring the brown liquid inside.
"To perk up, you gotta percolate, a hot cup of coffee, makes the perfect day!" Peter said, handing over the cup of coffee to Lovise.
"Thanks." Lovise took it. "Im a bit impressed with how you're handling all this. Maybe I should phone up Mathias to tell him he can stay home, because I found his replacement."
"Really?!" Peter said, sounding excited.
"Oh, no. I was kidding." Lovise went to drink from her coffee cup.
"I know we both love Mathias…" Lovise's eyes grew large as she began sputtering a bit on the coffee. "But... this job is the best thing to ever happen to me and we should fire Mathias." Lovise put the cup down, looking over to Peter.
"We can't 'fire Mathias'."
"Why not?"
"He may do things like come in late, and leave all the really hard work for me but…" Peter stared at her with a suspicious eye as she leaned up against the counter. "Look, I can tolerate Mathias more than I can most people. He's actually a decent guy once you get to know him. For example, there was this one time when a new game was coming out, but Mathias was banned from the only place selling it." In a rare moment, Peter caught Lovise genuinely laughing. Even if it was for a second. "He wanted it so bad. So who does he beg to stand in line for seven hours? Me. I didn't think much of it, but when I got to his house I saw he cleaned up his room a little, and he got a big box of these cookies. They were my favorite. He let me be his player two, and we spent the whole night together." She stared into her coffee, getting lost in thought.
"That really is nice... must've been one great video game." Lovise snapped back to reality.
"Yeah, it was."
"Maybe we could do something nice for Mathias?"
After the day had ended and the store was locked up, Lovise and Peter made their way to Mathias' house with a large box of doughnuts to cheer him up.
"D-d-donuts! Donuts donuts donuts, donuts donuts donuts...!" Peter sang on repeat.
"Peter, he's going to hear you," said Lovise. Peter and Lovise approached Mathias' front door.
"But the donut fever's fried my soul." He noticed a car parked out front. "What's that doing here?" The sound of laughter echoed from the backyard. Curiously, Lovise and Peter followed the sound. To their surprise, they found Mathias in the yard, jumping on a trampoline with Mei, Vladimir and Lovino. Mei stumbled into Mathias. He caught her before helping her up.
"Hey, Mathias, thanks for inviting us over," she said, pushing back her hair.
"It's no problem," said Mathias with a laugh, "'cause I got the whole day off, by faking a back injury!" Both Mei and Vladimir high-five him. Peter's face contorted into a cringe.
"He was faking this whole—" Peter said in disgust. He looked back over at at Lovise. "Lovise?" Lovise was shaking with Mathias' gift in her hands. Her dull blue eyes were narrowed. Her jaw was clenched tightly. She caught sight of Peter looking at her. Lovise tossed the box on the ground. She started to run off, taking slight recoil at seeing Mei's car parked in the road as she ran past it. Peter ran until he caught up with her. She was already halfway down the block before he was in close enough reach to grab her arm to stop her. once more before Peter was able to catch up with her.
"Don't worry!" he said. "We can handle the store. Who needs crummy old Mathias?"
"Peter!" Lovise snapped. She jerked Peter off of her. Peter could feel Lovise's anger radiating off of her like heat from a fire. "He's made a fool of me! That idiot! He's burned me before... Just once, I'dlike to burn him back!" Peter got an idea.
"I know how to burn people! Wait right here—" Peter ran past a confused Lovise. He turned back. "Actually, this might take a while, you better go home. See you tomorrow!" He ran off, leaving Lovise behind.
The next day, Lovise had returned to work. She wasn't surprised when Mathias wasn't there. With a few minutes before the store opened, she had taken refuge in the back room and was eating from a cookie tin. Peter burst into the room, holding a crystal vial in his hand. The night before, Peter had snuck into Turquoise's room with great difficulty to retrieve the Fire Salt.
"Fire Salt! Burn, burn people!" said Peter. He put bare doughnut in front of her and started to pour on the salts. Lovise took hold of his wrist, stopping him.
"You know we can't add anything!" she said.
"It's just a little fire salt," Peter said with an innocent shrug. "I was gonna prank Mathias."
"He did hurt my feelings, but what kind of person does that make you, if you try to hurt him back?"
"... Uh, a hero?" The front door bell went off. Lovise and Peter went over to the rack that stood behind the counter and acted as a wall between the store and the backroom. They could see Mathias enter the store, groaning in false pain.
"Lovise? I finally got out of bed but I don't think I can work today, either... Lovise?" said Mathias. "Don't make me walk all the way to the break room." Lovise's hands tightened up into balls. She took the Fire salts from Peter. She emptied a majority of the vial onto the doughnut.
"Lovise! This is gonna be so funny!" said Peter. He took the vial and stuffed it in his pocket.
"Lovise, where you at?" said Mathias, leaning up against the counter. "Are you slacking off?" Lovise and Peter emerged from the backroom and to their positions for work.
"Mathias," Lovise said with a frosty tone.
"Hi, Mathias!" Peter said.
"Why is Peter dressed like that?" Mathias asked, pointing to the uniform Peter was still wearing from the day before.
"Don't worry about that," said Lovise. "How's your back?"
"Actually it still hurts—"
"Really?"
"No, no, it's cool. I know I can count on you to help, P2."
"Sure. Just relax, in fact, why don't you have a doughnut?" She slid the Fire Salt-coated doughnut forward. Mathias just shrugged.
"Yeah, alright." He picked it up.
"Careful, it's a little hot." Peter's excitement built. Mathias took a bite.
"Hey, this is pretty good, is this a new flavor or something?" Peter, unable to control it anymore, started laughing.
"She said— she said it's hot!" Mathias raised an eyebrow at him. At that moment, Mathias' face turned a bright red. He doubled over, his fingers wrapping around his throat. Without warning, he began to breathe a persistent stream of fire. The flame lit up the store as he yelled in a panic. Lovise grabbed an extinguisher from off the wall.
"Peter, help!" she said.
"Mathias, drink this!" said Peter, handing him a stray cup of water. Mathias burned it before he could even drink it. In an obvious pain, Mathias ran from the store, so his best to hold his breath and the fire. Lovise darted to the door.
"Wait!" shouted Lovise as the sprinklers came on above her and Peter. "Peter, I didn't want this."
"I know how to fix this!" said Peter. "We just need to get Mathias to calm down."
Peter and Lovise followed the path of flames Mathias was leaving behind. as they pursue Mathias through the streets.
"I think he went this way!" said Peter. They both followed Mathias.
Mathias finally had given his all. He collapsed on the beach with Peter and Lovise close behind. Lovise was trailing behind Peter, putting out various fires along their path. As Peter got closer to Mathias, he found Turquoise to still be in exact same position she was in the day before.
"Turquoise!" said Peter, catching his breath as he came to a stop next to her.
"Hey, why's donut guy breathing fire?" asked Turquoise, pointing over to Mathias. She didn't even glance over at Peter.
"I tried to prank Mathias but I used too much Fire Salt!"
"Peter…" Peter braced for a rant on how dangerous was, "that's hilarious."
"What?"
"You…" Peter froze. He turned. Mathias was staring right at him, his hand still around his throat.
"...did... this to me?!" Mathias continued, struggling to talk. He only got his words out in between bouts of fire breaths. He ram at Peter. Peter yelped as Mathias began to chase after him, holding his fire breath. Turquoise looked on with a grin and laughed, much to Peter's dismay. Not being able to hold is breath, Mathias caused several patches of the boardwalk to light up. Finally, Mathias had managed to grab Peter by the edge of his shirt, pulling him closer. Mathias's face wasn't just red because of the flames at this point. Before he could do anything to the boy, a shout stopped him.
"It wasn't Peter!" Mathias looked behind , having finally caught up, was running towards him and Peter.
"It was me," said Lovise. Mathias's eyes widened. He let Peter go.
"Ohhh, now it's gettin' good!" said Turquoise.
"After all I do for you, you lie to me?" Lovise said, cautiously getting closer to Mathias. "So you can sneak off with to be with some girl?"
"And boys!" added Peter. Mathias, still struggling to breathe, glared at Peter. The boy retreated behind a nearby bench. He looked back over to Lovise when she began speaking again.
"That night we played video games, I don't know what it meant to you. But ever since then, I can't get the thought out of my head that you're a decent person instead of some…" Lovise choked on the emotion rising in her throat. Peter had never seen her like this. She was usually more apathetic and sarcastic. "That night, I really thought... Player Two. Is that just your way of saying I could be anyone?"
"Lo-vise—" said Mathias, trying to speak. He ended up coughing. Peter noticed Mathias's behavior. It sparked a memory in the back of his mind.
Turquoise wrapped her arms around Peter's lower half, pushing upwards. The boy cough again until the partly digested food that had become lodged in this throat was sputtered back out. Peter sighed, collapsing down on the kitchen counter.
"This is why you shouldn't eat so fast, little man," said Turquoise.
"Got it," said Peter shakily. "What was that you just did?"
"Something I learned. I can teach you if you want."
"Can you?"
"You just gotta take both hands and push below the diaphragm!" Turquoise poked Peter's stomach, making him laugh a little.
Back in the present, Peter got out from behind the bench. He rushed over to Mathias, wrapping his arms around his torso.
"Take both hands, push below the diaphragm!" he said, repeating the words he had once been told. Upon completing the maneuver, Peter had accidentally pushed Mathias to the ground. Luckily, it worked. Mathias coughed up a large portion of the doughnut he had eaten. Lovise put out with the fire extinguisher. Peter sat up, getting off of Mathias. "Another day saved by Peter Väinämöinen! You're welcome."
Mathias, ignoring Peter, pushed himself off of the ground. Rubbing his throat, he walked over to Lovise. She was putting out the rest of the fires Mathias had caused. His expression shifted to one full of shame. He couldn't meet her eye. But Lovise met his.
"I'm not apologizing. There's no need for me to apologize," she said. "You-"
"Lou! No!" said Mathias, coughing up a bit of smoke. His voice was hoarse. "I wanna help. But I get it if you wanna be alone."
"No, stay. I mean, you can help." Lovise paused. "But, first, let's get you some water... and maybe get your throat checked out." Both of them walked off from the pier as Peter and Turquoise looked on.
"Hey, we make a pretty great team," said Turquoise. Peter looked over at her.
"You were absolutely no help," Peter told her. Turquoise shrugged.
"... Eh."