The mid-June sunlight felt harsh on Peridot's face, not to mention the fact that she was in the back middle seat of Steven's car...it was less than comfortable to say the least.

Through the past few months, Steven and Peridot have been getting more used to each other. He kissed her cheek a few times and they've had quite a few cuddle sessions but...

I still haven't kissed him back...

Peridot thought, shivering in anxiety for a long moment.

Today, Steven invited Peridot to a nearby beach for a date. But then Connie got involved. Then Lapis heard about it somehow. Spinel too, which Peridot still didn't fully know why Steven brought her along. So, it's not really a date after all.

And being smushed between two almost naked gems doesn't make things more comfortable.

For some reason Connie was sitting in the front seat next to Steven, wearing a purple sundress and had her hair tied up. Peridot couldn't help but feel tense as Connie and Steven were laughing together and making inside jokes.

Peridot looked down at herself, she was wearing one of Steven's shirts over her new swimsuit. But was still conscious about her legs showing.

Spinel clearly didn't feel the same though. On Peridot's left side, the cutesy gem at least had a bikini on. It was pink and white with heart patterns...It was still uncomfortingly revealing though. Peridot internally reasoned that she probably just needed her gem to breathe, but considering how flirty she was around Steven, it wasn't the biggest reason most likely.

Lapis was on her other side, usually she would be trying to catch Steven's attention as well but she was actually napping. Peridot could at least guess why. Lapis was more of a loner type, if there's a lot of people around, she would either be a few steps away from the crowd, or next to Steven. Her bikini was a bit less revealing than Spinel's, she seemed to be going for the beach goth style since she was wearing shades of black, blue and white.

...

It took about a half hour until Steven parked at the beach, there seemed to be several families there but nothing too crowded.

Steven and Connie were still talking when they were getting their bags out of the trunk. Peridot hopped out of the back seat of the car after everyone else. Walking to the beach with the others, her shortness caved in. She wasn't really that short but everyone else was quite taller than her.

It hardly feels like Steven was even shorter than me when we first met...Maybe I need my enhancers again.

Funny that Steven is taller than all of us now.

At that thought, Steven stopped to keep pace with Peridot, letting the other girls take lead in a group.

"I'm so glad you're here," he said, trying to sound flirty but his voice shook with a bit of awkwardness.

"Well we do live together..." Peridot responded.

Steven laughed for a moment before he turned to her and quietly asked; "are you okay, Peri?"

"Hmm? Uh well...mostly." She said while awkwardly pulling her shirt down.

Gah! She thought to herself. What am I even doing out here? I don't even like water!

Peridot looked up and saw Steven avoiding eye contact with her. "I-is something wrong?" She stuttered, afraid that she was making him uncomfortable. Steven looked like he was struggling to speak before he quietly said "It's just that you look nice," he managed to say.

"Um, thanks? I mean...I don't really look different," Peridot responded with a faint smile. She and Steven just arrived at the sandy part of the beach.

"Ah! I know...I just...you're cute," Steven said as he stopped next to her. "Are you gonna be alright?" He suddenly asked, his voice more careful.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, there's people here..."

"I mean...you wouldn't leave me out of nowhere would you?"

"Of course not"

"Then I'll be fine"

...

Within minutes, everyone seemed to find places to be. Spinel and Connie noticed a volleyball court and both made a dash for it, Peridot wanted to run off on her own to look for seashells, and Lapis was sitting in a chair by everyone's stuff to keep watch. Steven decided to get snacks and drinks. Not that gems needed to eat, but he didn't want anyone to feel left out.

Luckily it was a weekday, and with that, there wasn't a big crowd at the beach or it's concession stand. So Steven ended up walking back with food relatively quickly. Mostly candy, but he got fries for himself and tater tots for Connie since he knew she liked them. He went to place the snacks at the group table when he noticed Lapis was laying down next to him, looking at the ocean waves. Steven followed her gaze, he couldn't see Peridot anywhere but briefly saw Spinel and Connie at the volleyball court, surprised she was making good competition with Spinel's powers...Though then again, who knows if Spinel actually knows how to play.

"You must be enjoying the view," Steven heard Lapis say from below. He froze in a flash of heat before awkwardly sitting next to her. "Well yeah...the water looks nice..." He murmured.

"Sure," Lapis responded, her eyes glowed for a moment, knowing what he was really drawn to. Her wave of flirtation flowed past as she changed the subject slightly.

Steven saw her take out a bottle of sun lotion and she ran her fingers on it. Part of his mind was drawn to the motion for some reason. A hot feeling crept up on him and she played with the bottle with a smile on her face.

Steven vaguely thought of having to rub it on her back, even though she doesn't need sun lotion at all.

Is she gonna ask me to to help her-? He couldn't finish the thought as she started to speak.

"Thanks for taking m- us all out here."

Oh? Is that all she wanted to say? Maybe she was too embarrassed to ask about it right away.

Eventually, Steven laughed before replying. "But you're alone."

"Well, not anymore," he saw her draw a hand over her mouth as she subtly giggled. "That was kinda silly to say wasn't it?"

"No, it...makes sense," Steven replied. He felt weird being with her like this, seeing her in a swimsuit was still kind of new to him (maybe not that new, she wasn't always the most conservative dresser).

As if she was tired of the stiff mood, Lapis stood up to stretch, though the view she gave Steven didn't make him any more comfortable. "Y'know. I haven't heard too much from you since you and Peridot got together," she casually stated.

"Together...?" Steven felt hot with more intense thoughts.

"Yes. As in. Well, you know," She smiled, her blue hair flowed in the wind like a wave.

Steven saw her eye the bottle of sun lotion again.

"Well. Ah. We've been pretty happy together. Nothing too crazy though," Steven said, feeling an odd rush of comfort as he got used to talking.

"I wish you were happy with me," she quietly slipped, not loud enough for Steven to hear clearly.

"What?"

"Haha. Nothing! I'm just happy that you're happy. Totally supportive and cool- totally!" She spoke in an uncharacteristically flustered manner as her body waved a bit. She sat down like a crashing wave as if she suddenly felt weak.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes." Lapis responded in a stubborn tone. She was sitting with her knees to her chest, her arms stiffly crossed.

Steven was suddenly aware of all the people at the beach around them, not close enough to hear, thankfully.

Though all that faded out of view when he saw Peridot walk back from the far part of the beach, she had a bucket full of sea shells and looked cute in the shirt he gave her as always.

Steven got up, ready to run to her, but a small feeling of guilt crept up his spine. He turned to Lapis, feeling like he had to apologize but she was avoiding eye contact completely now. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" he ended up saying, still not fully sure why she looked so tense now. As he was walking away, Steven vaguely heard Lapis say something to herself but the only words he heard were "Of course this happens the moment I'm alone with him..." A small bit of understanding sparked within him, but he decided to push it away when he saw Peridot again. She was alone and seemed to be uncomfortable now. Standing at the grassy park that was connected to the beach, she placed herself in front of a lone tree.

"Peri. I hope you're alright," Steven started as he approached her.

Peridot looked up, softly gripping her shirt. "Oh. Hi," she softly said with a faint smile. "Yes."

Steven could tell that there was something wrong, but he didn't want to pressure her. So instead, he sat down next to her, alone under the tree.

It was nice for a minute, in fact it looked like Peridot was a bit more relaxed.

"Well," she started "I'm s- AH!"

She yelped and ducked backwards as a purple volleyball flung her way. On instinct, Steven jumped to support her back with his arm. Making sure she wasn't hurt, he quickly looked back to see that Spinel was running towards him. She stopped to get the ball from him, before saying "thanks Sweetie~". She awkwardly stepped back, bowed, winked at him and fluently danced away. He saw Connie in the distance, waiting at the court. She had a vague expression of sadness, perhaps longing when she looked at him.

At this point I'm starting to think that every girl I ever saved has a crush on me. He thought to himself quickly.

"I'm not even sure if you remember my existence," Steven heard Peridot mutter vaguely.

"Huh?"

"Just. We haven't really spent time together today. I've just been alone here...with a bucket," Peridot gestured her head towards the bucket of shells, rocks, and starfish next to her.

Steven felt like he was supposed to apologize. Though, she did go out on her own most of the day so he wasn't sure.

"Well we're together now," he finally said.

"I'm aware of that," She replied stoically.

Some time passed and Steven decided to take initiative and try to start a bit of a conversation.

"I'm still happy you're here. I wouldn't want to spend my lif- day with anyone else y'know."

"Why's that?"

"Because you're adorable!"

"Hmm. You sure you didn't think that Spinel was 'adorable'"?

"You don't have to wear bikinis to prove that," Steven blushed before he could finish speaking.

"Do you ever wish I was like that?"

"...Well"

"There's nothing wrong with it, Steven."

"Ok fine. Yes."

Peridot smugly smiled and looked at him.

"It's just. I know you aren't like that"

Peridot started picking at the grass, her knees were up to her chest.

"We are 'dating' and we aren't really doing too much..."

Steven felt his heart sink but kept listening.

"Does that mean we aren't dating? Should we just be friends..." Peridot started trembling.

Steven couldn't help himself. He teared up and wrapped his arm around her, she seemed to be okay with it as she snuggled into him.

"Do you want to be with me...I mean romantically?"

"YEAH! I- I just value my body. I wanna be comfortable."

"Well if we love each other, that's all that we need," Steven reassured her.

"So you don't mind waiting for years to be intimate?"

"I don't think so. I mean there are other ways to be happy. If you don't want to be with me that way...I'd still be happy with you" Steven smiled, he was pretty sure that's how he felt.

"Like watching the same episode of CPH all the time?"

"Exactly!"

Peridot and Steven giggled together. He could feel her grip his shirt which made him blush deeper and stiffen.

"Still...I don't want to stay uncomfortable. I want to try things and make you happy too...because saving the world wasn't good enough apparently," She sassily said at the end.

Steven couldn't resist looking at her. She cutely looked down and smiled.

"I want to kiss you, Steven."

He felt his heart flush, and the world felt like it was spinning faster than ever.

"Y-yeah?" He stammered.

"...Can I try?" She asked, sliding up. She made eye contact with him, though it looked like she was already out of her comfort zone.

"Y-yeah." Steven repeated, hoping it didn't sound like another question.

Again, he could feel her grip his shirt. She looked down but quickly fell into him. Her lips clumsily smacked his, but he felt too stunned to return it. Before he knew it, she backed away, her hands covering her cheeks, because she needed to be even more adorable apparently.

Steven let out an awkward chuckle, and so did she right after.

"Well. That was perfect. Just like the movies you watch, right?" Peridot joked.

"True cinema," Steven responded.

Unironically, Steven actually did enjoy...whatever that was just from the pure adorableness.

He could tell that Peridot was on the same page as she stood up. He just looked up to see her standing in front of him with a playful smile and her arms crossed over her chest. He could see up her shirt a bit (totally not on purpose) and could vaguely see some black from her swimsuit.

"Well Steven. How do you feel about going to the car for a bit?"

"Ah! What about the others?"

"They could do without us for a few hours right?" She said, trying to sound mature but she was innocently tugging at her shirt collar with a cute expression.

Before he could respond, she grabbed his hand and led him to the car, giggling like a kitten.