CHAPTER THREE
"Skaro?" Peridot repeated one week later, turning her face to look at him.
"Mmm hmm." Steven lazily trailed his fingers down her spine until he reached her butt. "You know it?"
"I've heard of it." She fell silent, trying to recall everything she knew about the other planet, a task made significantly more difficult as he carried on groping her ass. "It was only officially conquered a short time before I emerged. Several attempts were made to establish kindergartens there in the past, but they kept uncovering rogue Daleks, so a team of soldiers were stationed there permanently. Nobody wanted to work there, so of course, that was where they sent any kindergarten technicians who stepped out of line." She smiled ruefully. "If I hadn't already been assigned to Earth, I probably would've ended up there."
"Well maybe you still will," he said cheerfully. "That's the planet we're going to try and restore. Not the Ka- Daleks," he corrected himself. "Just the other organic life."
"Is it safe?" she asked warily.
"Seems to be." He gave her butt a gentle squeeze and then moved his hand a little lower so his fingertips grazed her pussy. "We've been checking it out all week. Blue Diamond even came along to gave the place another zap with her emotion powers, apparently they can't stand having any feelings other than hate, it makes them explode."
How awful it must be to be a Dalek, Peridot mused. "You seem to be enjoying yourself back there," she said, changing the subject.
Steven grinned and kissed her shoulder. "How could I not when you have such a cute butt?" he said, giving it another squeeze for emphasis.
"You like my butt?" she teased, giving it a little wiggle.
"I love your butt," he said sincerely. And I love you. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he bit them back. Somehow, he felt she might not take him seriously, not when they were naked in bed together. She might even think he was only saying it because he wanted to try anal, which was also true.
Anyway, the moment had passed now. He abandoned the thought for now and returned to more pressing matters. Specifically, Peridot's delectable butt. "I have seen many butts in my time," he said dramatically, lovingly cupping both cheeks. "And not a single one measures up to your own."
Peridot let out a small snort of laughter. "I know you're lying," she said sternly over her shoulder, although she couldn't help being flattered. "Chris Hemsworth has a much better butt."
"Well... maybe," he conceded. "But then I don't spend a whole lot of time looking at Thor's butt."
"And you do mine?" she challenged.
"Like I said." He leaned forward and kissed the little dip at the base of her spine. "How could I not when you have such a cute butt?"
Peridot grinned to herself. She knew exactly what he wanted, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't interested in trying it too... but she would make him beg for it first. "Are you quite finished manhandling my butt yet?" she teased.
"Not in the slightest," he shot back at once, and slid one finger between the cheeks, pressing it gently against her asshole, making her squirm.
"Oh?" She glanced back at him with raised eyebrows. "That's a shame, I was rather hoping you'd fuck me tonight, but if you'd rather just play with my butt..."
"Nooo," he whined, and fell upon her and kissed the back of her neck. "I wanna do both!"
"Then proceed already!" she laughingly demanded, purposefully arching her back to press her entire ass against him.
"Well..." he said, his lips brushing her earlobe. "I was rather hoping to um, do both at the same time?"
"Welllll..." She pretend to think about it.
"Pleeeease, Peridot!" he begged shamelessly, and kissed the back of her neck again.
"And what do I get out of it?" she joked.
At that, Steven stopped kissing her and thought seriously about it. "Well, to be honest, I kinda hoped you'd enjoy it just as much as me," he mused aloud. "But if there's anything you wanna try, or want me to do for you-"
"Steven, I was only joking," she hastily cut in before he could kill the fun, flirty mood completely. "I'm happy to do this with you."
"You sure?" he asked a little skeptically. "I mean, I've heard it can hurt a bit, but-"
"I'm sure," she interrupted again. "I trust you to hold back until I'm comfortable. Besides," she pointed out, "you have healing spit. I'm quite sure that will take care of any discomfort on my part."
Steven pursed his lips thoughtfully and then slowly nodded. "OK. I promise I'll take it slow. And if it does hurt, I'll stop. And," he added playfully, "if you want me to dress up in a Camp Pining Hearts outfit and then tie me up with the bandanna, I'm down with that."
"Oooooh!" She wriggled happily at the lewd mental image his words conjured up in her mind. "I may have to take you up on that offer."
"It's a deal," he promised. Then as she settled down onto her stomach, he sat back up a little and turned his attention back to her lovely, curvy bottom. His cock was already half-hard at the prospect of fucking her ass, but first, he smacked his lips together and then put his fingers in his mouth, coating them with a thick covering of saliva. It would've been much sexier if Peridot had been the one sucking his fingers, he mused, but then, she did have a point about the healing powers. "Pull your knees up under you," he instructed. "And keep them apart."
"Like this?" she asked, blushing slightly as she moved into position and tried not to think how much she probably looked like a frog right then, especially given her bright green skin.
Happily, Steven hadn't made the same connection, and when his slick fingers began to press against her asshole, all thoughts of how silly she might look flew straight out of her mind. "That's perfect," he murmured, reaching around to finger her pussy with his other hand. Despite the distraction, she couldn't help flinching when one of his fingers forced its way inside her. "You OK?" he checked.
"Y-yes," she stammered. "It just feels... different. Keep going."
He hesitated for a moment longer and then carried on. After a few minutes, he added a second finger and this time, she made no complaint. Instead, her breathing had started to get deeper and she was gently rocking her hips back and forth to aid him. "Still OK?" he whispered.
"Mmm hmm," she groaned. She was getting used to the intrusion now, beginning to enjoy the feeling of being stretched out, a feeling that intensified when he started to scissor his fingers. "A-ahh! Keep doing that!"
Steven obliged. His cock was fully erect now, eager to move on to the next stage, but he ignored the urgent throbbing, wanting to be sure she could accommodate his girth. He knew Peridots were durable, he knew his healing spit worked... but he also knew she was a fairly small gem and he was not-
"Ahem," she said a little impatiently. "I'm ready when you are."
"Ah! Sorry." He blushed, realizing his movements has slowed almost to a halt. "Right. OK. I'm ready." He slipped his finger out of her and took hold of his aching cock and slid it between her cheeks until the head brushed against her asshole. "You're, ah, definitely ready?" he checked one last time, reaching underneath her again to give her clit a gentle massage.
"I am definitely more than ready," she insisted, and pushed back against him to make her point.
He'd been expecting more resistance, but her movement took him by surprise and the head of his cock slipped into her before he could stop himself. "Oh fuck!" he gasped. He'd known it would be tighter, but he hadn't really known just how tight. Her anus held him firmly, squeezing all around him. Sweat broke out on his forehead and he struggled against the almost overwhelming urge to just force the entire length of his cock into her at once. Instead, he slowly pushed an inch into her and then withdrew slightly. Her muscles immediately rippled along him and he stopped, knowing that if he didn't take a moment to adjust to the feeling, he was gonna cum right then. "Jeez, Peridot," he groaned, grabbing her hips hard.
"I take it you're enjoying yourself?" she teased, clenching her ass slightly and smirking when he let out a strangled gasp in response.
"Y-yeah, but if you do that again, I'm not gonna enjoy it for very long," he complained.
"Ah, sorry." She relaxed as much as she could and waited for him to regain his composure. Happily for both of them, it didn't take too long, and she let out a moan of desire when his cock pushed its way a little further into her. "Ooooh... more..."
"Well, if you insist..." He pushed himself deeper and deeper into her until finally, the darker green ring of muscle hugged the base of his cock. He was panting heavily by this point and strongly suspected he wasn't going to last more than a minute once he really started fucking her and so, once again, he paused and began massaging her clit instead, which he'd been shamefully neglected ever since he'd begun this journey to the center of her ass. It was a move he almost regretted when she started whimpering and rocking her hips, which just made the pressure around his cock even worse. But she looked so sexy, he couldn't bring himself to feel too bad about it.
"Steven..." she gasped. "Please... fuck me..."
Well, he thought ruefully, how could he deny a request like that? "All right, Peri," he whispered, and let go of her clit to grab her hip again. Then he pulled almost all the way out and slammed back into her.
Peridot's mouth fell open and she gasped loudly with every new thrust. There was no pain at all, his healing spit had taken care of that right from the start, and so instead all she felt was the pleasure of being intensely fucked. His cock repeated slammed into her, his heavy balls slapped against her wet pussy, and her clit pulsed, begging for attention, but it was only when she felt his movements begin to falter that she allowed herself to reach down and roll it between her fingers. "A-ah, Steven!" she cried out blindly as her orgasm ripped through her.
He thrust into her one more time, calling out her name in response, and then, utterly drained, he pulled out and collapsed onto the bed beside her. "That was amazing," he murmured, brushing the hair out of her face so he could cover her in kisses. "Can we do that again next time?"
Peridot narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I thought we were doing the Camp Pining Hearts thing next time?"
"We'll do it, honest," he insisted. "I just gotta get my hands on a costume first, y'know, I don't just have one lying around. I'll order one in the morning," he promised when she pouted at him. "Next day shipping. You'll be able to tie me up and have your wicked way with me in forty-eight hours, tops. And in the meantime..."
He trailed off hopefully, but Peridot was already shaking her head. "I won't be able to come over tomorrow," she said sadly. "My season two DVDs have finally been returned to me and Lapis and Bismuth wish to come over and binge watch it. Actually, they wanted to come over tonight. I lied and told them I was working," she confessed.
"Aww," he sighed. Then he pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Still, might not be a bad idea to have a night off and rest," he said, giving her a cheeky wink. "You've been wearing me out, I need to catch up on my beauty sleep."
Peridot smiled and cuddled up to him. "Then sleep," she ordered. "I want you at peak physical condition when I return!"
xxx
The next morning once again found Peridot happily skipping through Little Homeworld until she reached the site of the nuclear fusion plant, where she paused to watch some of the other gems at work. She would go home, play with Pumpkin for half an hour and then come back and join them, she decided as an enormous fusion strolled past, holding a girder that was easily twice as tall as they were. She needed to work hard to make up for the lie she'd told Lapis and Bismuth. Not to mention, the quicker the fusion plant was up and running, the sooner she could go to Skaro with Steven. And so, with that motivational thought in her head, she worked non-stop through the day until it was time to meet her friends, whereupon she put down her tools, strolled outside, and almost crashed straight into Moss Agate 4FL.
"Ah, 5XG! Lapis Lazuli told me you were around here somewhere!" the other gem exclaimed, shifting the giant girder she was carrying from one shoulder to the other. "She asked me to let you know that she's running a little late, there's been a small problem with the desalination plant."
"Oh." Peridot looked at the building next door and frowned. She hoped it really was just a small problem, the nuclear fusion reactor would be useless without a reliable supply of purified water. "Perhaps I'd better go and see if she needs any assistance."
"I'm sure she's fine," Moss Agate said dismissively. "Lapis Lazulis understand water better than we humble technicians, after all. And besides, you've been working for almost an entire Earth rotation, right?"
"Yes," Peridot lied, something she found much easier to do when it was a gem she intensely disliked. "I was definitely here all night as well as all day."
"Lovely. I'm so pleased you didn't let Earth interfere with your work ethic," the other gem said sweetly. "In fact," she said in a hushed tone, looking furtively around as she spoke, "Lapis Lazuli tells me you've even developed metal powers, is that true?"
"Um." Peridot cringed. Of course, she'd already used her metal powers around Moss Agate, but still, she'd rather preferred it when Moss Agate didn't know exactly how she'd done it. "Well, yes..."
"How fascinating! You, an Era 2 gem, with metal powers!" Moss Agate gasped theatrically. "It seems the rumors were right, on Earth, any Gem really can rise above her station!"
Peridot gritted her teeth and forced her mouth into a smile as she imagined using those metal powers to skewer Moss Agate with a piece of rebar, straight in the middle of her stupid, patronizing face. "Yes, well, if that's all-"
"So how strong are your powers?" Moss Agate interrupted. "Do you think you could hold this?"
"Wha-?"
Before Peridot could react, Moss Agate had thrust the enormous girder towards her. There was absolutely no way she could hold it; even on her best days, she still struggled to lift anything larger than a small car. The girder slipped straight through her fingers and crashed into the ground, almost crushing her toes, and began to fall. She flung out her hands, concentrating with all her might, but her powers simply weren't strong enough. All she could do was watch helplessly as it slowly arced through the air and smashed straight through the walls of the water tank in the desalination plant. "Oh nooooo," she whimpered, covering her mouth with her hands as thousands of gallons of water immediately poured out and smashed though the streets of Little Homeworld, scattering screaming gems in its wake-
"Peridot, what the fuck!?"
The water froze abruptly, and then rose into the air, forming an enormous ball. Peridot's eyes followed it until she spotted Lapis flying overhead, and she sagged with relief. "Lapis, thank goodness..."
The words curled up and died on her lips as Lapis glared furiously down at her. "What the hell were you playing at!? Of all the times to go messing around with your stupid metal powers!" she screamed, the ball of water growing larger with every word.
For several seconds, Peridot was too stunned to reply. "I-I didn't-" she stammered as dozens of angry faces turned towards her and started muttering to each other.
"Months of work, ruined!" Lapis spat. Behind her, the water formed a giant, clenched fist, and Peridot took a hasty step backwards. "You reckless clod!"
"B-but I wasn't-"
"Cool it, Lapis."
Peridot jumped as a large hand clapped down upon her shoulder, and turned to see Bismuth step forward, smiling calmly. "Peridot didn't mean any harm, you know that," she said soothingly. "And this ain't nothing we can't fix."
"Well if you want to help, you can start by shutting off the water," Lapis snapped, and turned her back on them to concentrate on the still-growing hand of water. It flipped them the bird, then morphed back into a wobbly ball.
Bismuth sighed and shook her head. "Gotta say, 'Dot, this isn't quite how I saw this evening going," she said ruefully. "I know it's gotta suck, being around all these Era 1's, but there's a time and a place for your metal powers, and this ain't it."
"I wasn't trying to use my metal powers!" Peridot said furiously. "I mean, I was, but I was trying to use them to stop the girder after..." She trailed off and whipped her head around, but Moss Agate had quietly slipped away in the chaos.
Bismuth gave her a small smile. "You know, you don't-"
"NOW, Bismuth!"
"Ah, right. Cleanup now, motivational speech later," Bismuth muttered to herself. "Well, I gotta go. This sort of Bismuth calls for an architect!"
She looked hopefully down at the smaller gem, but Peridot couldn't bring herself to laugh at the terrible pun. "What about a technician?" she said instead, half-turning back to fetch her tools.
Bismuth hesitated. "Uh-"
"SOME TIME TODAY WOULD BE NICE!" Lapis roared from somewhere overhead, making them both jump.
"Sorry, Peridot, I really gotta go help out," Bismuth said apologetically. "And it's nice of you to offer to help and all, but maybe..." She wrinkled her nose and looked up at Lapis. "...Maybe you should just give everyone some space right now."
"Duly noted" Peridot said dully. She watched Bismuth sprint off into the ruined desalination plant, and then her gaze drifted back towards the damaged streets of Little Homeworld, and the gems glaring back at her, very clearly imagining how nice it would be to punch her right now. And then she decided, for the first time in many years, to follow Moss Agate's example, and quietly slipped away as well.
xxx
Wile Steven had plenty of survivalist experience after being trapped on a desert island and an alien moon, both of those places had food and water. Skaro, after undergoing partial terraforming, was a much more unforgiving place and the few animals he had seen there didn't look remotely appetizing. And so, he'd spent most of the day hunting out old camping equipment, shopping for tools online (plus a CPH costume) and making a list of things he would need to buy just before they were ready to go. They would, of course, have access to the warp pads, but Steven didn't want to spend too much time traveling back and forth if he could avoid it.
He paused for a moment and briefly fantasized about building a proper house on Skaro. After all, he had no idea how long it was going to take to repair the damage done, so it made sense to build a proper shelter. Perhaps he should ask his dad if he still had the blueprints for the beach house. He'd make a few customizations, of course. Like walls around the bedroom, to give him and Peridot more privacy.
Then a small frown appeared on his face. He wanted to live with Peridot, of course he did, but did she want to live with him? For all he knew, she was planning to stay right here on Earth and just commute to Skaro every day. He would need to talk to her before he let himself get completely carried away-
His phone trilled, snapping him out of his somber thoughts and he looked at the screen to see Connie's name flash up. His spirits brightened at once. A chat with his bestie was just what he needed right then. "Hey Connie! What's up?"
"Hi Steven!" Connie's voice sounded cheerfully in his ear. "How's Skaro prep going?"
"It's going pretty good," he said, absently tapping his notepad as he spoke. "I'm gonna talk to my dad tomorrow about maybe building a house there." He briefly considered asking her what he should do about Peridot, but immediately dismissed the thought. Although he could be pretty oblivious sometimes, even he couldn't fail to notice Connie's huge crush on him, although he'd carried on pretending otherwise. Asking her for advice about another girl he was fucking might finally get the message across that he wasn't interested, but it would be a very harsh way to deliver it and he didn't really want to hurt her feelings.
"To live in?" Connie suddenly sounded a lot less cheerful. "Can't you just stay in Beach City and warp there?"
"Not really. I need to keep an eye of things over there. I mean, what if my plant powers do something nasty one night and I go back in the morning to find the planet's been taken over by hostile tree-Stevens?" he pointed out.
There was a short silence on the other end of the phone as Connie struggled to come up with a rebuttal. "But you'll still come back, right? You're not staying there for good?"
"Nooo!" He laughed and shook his head. "No, I'm gonna be coming back pretty often for supplies and stuff. Plus there's no TV or wifi there. Per-" He caught himself quickly. "Uh, Pearl can probably rig something up, connect to the Gem's communications system, but I still don't think I'm gonna be able to get TubeTube out there. No, once it's all fixed up, we're gonna all come back and let the native plants and animals take over."
"Oh, OK, that's cool then." He could almost hear her relax on the other end of the phone. He didn't have the heart to tell her that if it worked, he wanted to move on and fix some other planets too. "What's it like, anyway?" she asked. "I mean, how badly damaged is it? How long do you think it's gonna take to fix?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "They set up a few kindergartens, but they hadn't been running long, so they're not quite as dead as the ones here, but there are more of them. Plus there's a lot of battle damage, not just from fighting the Daleks, but 'cause they had their own nuclear war at some point."
"Nuclear? Is that safe?" Connie asked warily.
"Oh yeah," he said brightly. "The radiation levels went down ages ago, it's totally safe now. In fact, why don't you come over tomorrow and I'll show you around some of it?" he added impulsively. "I can show you the petrified forest!"
"Sure, that sounds cool," she agreed at once. "I'll see you in the morning then?"
"Sounds good," he agreed.
"Awesome! It's a date!"
Steven cringed and laughed nervously, but she was gone before he could say anything more. He looked at his phone for several long seconds, then sighed and put it aside, making a mental note to ask the gems to join them tomorrow. After all, the forest was quite close to the deserted Dalek city and they were all still a little wary around that place. He picked up his notepad again, but before he could resume working on his plans, he heard a quiet tap at his window and spun around to see Peridot standing on the other side. He brightened up at once and hurried over to let her in. "Hey! What happened, I thought you weren't coming over..."
His words tailed off as she stepped into the light and he finally caught sight of her unhappy face. "Peridot? What's wrong?" he asked urgently, pulling her in closer. "Are you OK?"
Peridot recalled the mob of angry gems, Lapis at their head, and her lip began to wobble. "Noooo..."
"What happened?" he asked again. "Are you hurt?"
"Noooooo..." she admitted. "Only my feelings."
Steven doubted his healing spit could take care of that, but he tried anyway before leading over to the bed to sit down. "Tell me what happened," he urged.
Peridot sniffled and rested her head against his chest as she began to explain what had happened back at Little Homeworld. "-And Lapis didn't even let me explain and now all the other gems are angry with me," she finished, tears prickling in her eyes at the furious injustice of it all. "Even Bismuth didn't believe me, not really."
"Hey, it's OK," he said soothingly, rubbing little circles on her back. "I believe you. And the others will once they've had time to calm down and think. OK, Bismuth and Lapis at least," he conceded when she let out a derisive snort.
"May I stay here until then?" she asked, looking up at him beseechingly.
"Of course," he said at once. "And tomorrow I'll come with you back to Little Homeworld. Maybe I can heal some of the damage, smooth things over a little." After all, he reasoned, what was the point of being Pink Diamond if he couldn't use his position of authority to help the gem he loved?
But until then, he simply held her in his arms until she finally relaxed against him and fell asleep. Shortly afterwards, he drifted off too.
xxx
"Hey, wait-!"
"Steven!" Footsteps thundered up the steps towards his room. "Have you heard? There's been an accident at Little Home- oh!"
Steven's eyes snapped open and he rolled over to see Connie staring at him, heartbreak written all over her face. Shit. He opened his mouth to say something, but his mind was completely blank. How was he going to explain this without hurting her? He couldn't. It was already done.
"I-I'm sorry," she stammered, almost falling down the steps in her haste to escape. "I didn't mean- excuse me!"
And then she was gone and Steven's brain finally broke out of it's stupor. "Connie, wait!" he called after her, jumping to his feet and sprinting past Amethyst after her. "It's not what it looks like!"
She'd got a good start and was now running across the sand, but he easily overtook her and skidded to a halt in front of her, forcing her to stop before she crashed into him. "Please, I can explain!"
Connie scowled and folded her arms across her chest. "Explain."
He thought wildly for a moment, then his shoulders slumped. "I can't explain."
"Yeah. That's what I thought." She glared at him for a beat, then sat down heavily on the sand and turned to look out at the ocean. "Are you two dating?" she asked quietly.
"Um." He lowered his gaze and watched his toes curl into the sand. "It's complicated," he admitted, slowly sinking onto the sand beside her.
Connie bit her lip and risked a quick glance in his direction. "Do- do you love her?"
That question was much easier to answer. "Yes," he said honestly. "I'm sorry. This wasn't how I wanted you to find out."
"S'all right." She laughed a little bitterly. "To be honest, deep down, I already knew. I'm one half of Stevonnie, doofus," she explained, seeing the startled look on his face. "You think I can't hear you thinking 'ooh Peridot's so smart and cute and brave and funny' while you stare at her ass?" she mocked gently. "I just never thought you'd have the guts to do anything about it."
"Oh, thanks!" he retorted huffily.
Connie laughed, then her expression turned somber again. "But yeah, I suppose that's why I haven't been around so much lately. It's hard to be around you when you're so in love with her."
"I'm sorry," he said again helplessly. "I never wanted to hurt you."
"Huh. Well you fucked that one up." She dragged her fingers through the sand, close to his. For a moment, he thought she was going to try and take hold of his hand and he had no idea how he was supposed to react to that, but instead, she withdrew and abruptly stood up, brushing sand from her skin. "Look, I'm gonna go. I can't be around you right now."
"Wait!" He scrambled to his feet as well and took a step towards her. "Are- are we still friends?"
Connie hesitated. "I... I don't know," she admitted. "I don't want to lose you, but... I need to think. And maybe do tequila shots," she joked mirthlessly. "Please, just... give me some space. Go to Skaro. Send me a text when you're back and if I'm ready to talk, I'll call you."
He didn't like it, but he could hardly force her to agree to be just friends right now (and what kind of person would he be if he could?) and so he forced himself to smile and nod at her. "OK. I won't pester you this time until you're ready. But I do hope you'll still be my friend when that time comes."
"Thanks." She gave him a rather wobbly smile in response. "Now go... deal with whatever this thing is you've got with Peridot. I'm gonna be pretty mad if you break my heart and then come back in a month and tell me it was too complicated to work out."
He wanted to reach out and give her a hug, but he suspected that might just make things worse, so instead he kept his hands by his sides and watched her walk away before he turned and began making his own way back to the beach house, deep in thought.
When he stepped inside, Amethyst was waiting. "Hey. How'd it go?" she asked, handing him a cup of coffee.
"It probably could've gone better," he muttered, sniffing the coffee cautiously. "But then, it probably could've gone a million times worse." After all, he realized, nobody had screamed or cried, which was a good sign. Then he blinked and narrowed his eyes. "Hey, how long have you been here?"
"'Bout half an hour," she cheerfully admitted. "I guess you must've slept through your alarm or something. Don't worry, I wasn't gonna bother you and P-dot, I was planning to slip back into the temple when you guys woke up, but when Connie burst in, I figured I'd better stick around, do my mature thing and make sure you were OK."
Steven nodded slowly. He had to admit, it was nice to have somebody ask him how he was doing for a change. "I'm OK," he said aloud, and realized it was true. It had been painful, but now it was finally out in the open. "I'm gonna give Connie some space for a while. And I guess I need to talk to Peridot."
"That might be tricky." Amethyst jabbed her thumb in the direction of the loft. "She climbed out the window a couple of seconds after you ran out of here."
xxx
"Connie, wait! It's not what it looks like!"
Peridot's skin prickled hot with humiliation. So that was it then. They'd finally been caught, and in a cruel twist of fate, on an occasion when it really hadn't been what it looked like, and Steven had chosen Connie, as she'd always known he would.
Well she wasn't going to wait for him to come back and tell her maybe they should stop fooling around now because he'd proposed to Connie, but would she like to be their flower girl instead? No, she still had some self-respect! Not a lot, perhaps, but enough.
And so as soon as she heard the door slam shut behind him, she quietly got up, climbed out of the window and made her way up to the warp pad on the statue's hand. For a brief moment she faltered, wondering where to go next. Certainly not back to Little Homeworld, she wasn't ready to face the gems there just yet. Not the kindergartens either, if for some reason he did come looking for her, those would surely be the first places he'd check. In the end, she warped over to the old drop ships that had once housed Centipeedle and her crew and made her way back inside the one she'd once turned into a death trap. And then once she'd reached the controls, she curled up underneath them and tried to figure out what the hell she was going to do next.
xxx
"She always was a little reckless," Moss Agate confided. "Why, I remember one time in training..."
Lapis tuned out the other gem's voice and concentrated on desaturating the sodden furniture in one of the ruined gem dwellings that had been hit the night before. Her top priority then had simply been removing the immediate flood water, but now the damaged water tank had been hastily repaired and the water disposed of, she was now concentrating her efforts on clean up. While Moss Agate concentrated on gossiping about Peridot. "Uh huh," she absently, flicking the small ball of water up into the sky where it turned into a cloud.
The nearby warp pad chimed and she snapped towards it, hoping to see Peridot there. She was almost disappointed when it was Steven. Not disappointed enough not to smile though. "Steven! Hi!" she called and waved at him.
"Hi Lapis," he said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "Have you seen Peridot anywhere?"
"Um." Lapis felt her skin flush with guilt. "Not since yesterday evening. There was uh, a little accident."
"Little!?" Moss Agate gasped theatrically at this understatement and turned to Steven to elaborate. "Apparently 5XG was showing off her metal powers and managed to flood the entire town."
"It really was an accident, probably," Lapis said quickly. "And I stopped the water before it got too bad."
"Right," Steven said slowly, staring at Moss Agate as he spoke. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've been properly introduced. You are?"
"Oh, right. Steven, this is Moss Agate 4FL," Lapis butted in before Moss Agate could identify herself. "Moss Agate, this is Steven Universe."
"I also happen to be Pink Diamond," he added grimly, just in case the other gem hadn't made the connection.
She certainly did now. Her eyes widened and her arms snapped into the annoyingly familiar Diamond salute. "M-my Diamond! It's an honor to meet you at last!" she gushed.
"Eugh," he muttered to himself. "OK, you can stop doing that. Please. Stop. Don't. Now, what was that you were saying about Peridot?" he asked when she finally stopped saluting him. "Have you seen her anywhere today?"
"5XG?" A nasty gleam appeared in Moss Agate's eyes. "No, I'm afraid I haven't seen her since she destroyed the desalination plant last night."
"It wasn't that bad in the end," Lapis said weakly, but nobody was listening to her.
"Utterly reckless behavior, but not entirely unexpected, I'm afraid," Moss Agate continued spitefully. "I used to be her manager back on Homeworld, you see, and she was just the same there, arrogant and defiant, always convinced she knew best. But then, what can you expect from an Era 2 gem?" she sneered. "I suppose they have to justify their pitiful existence..."
Her voice trailed off as Lapis and Steven stared mutely back at her and it began to dawn upon her that perhaps she might have misjudged her audience. "Ah, I mean, I suppose it's understandable," she hastily backtracked. "With the resource shortage, of course. Every gem created then had to be fully accounted for-"
"You know, you're not better than her just because you have powers," Steven said in a dangerously low voice. "Especially not when you used those powers to try and turn her friends against her."
"What?" Lapis said sharply, but Steven and Moss Agate continued to ignore her.
"Peridot may not have super strength or super speed or be able to shapeshift or fuse," Steven continued. "But she has something you don't, and that's the ability to face her prejudices, admit her faults and become a better gem than you'll ever hope to be."
Moss Agate gulped and took a step back. Had his eyes just flashed pink? She rather thought they had. "I-I-"
"So, Moss Agate 4FL, I'm afraid I don't think Earth has anything to offer you," he finished coldly. "I suggest you find somewhere else to go and spend your existence."
And with that, he turned his back on her and walked away. A few seconds later he heard footsteps and then Lapis fell into step beside him. "What the heck was all that about?" she asked, bewildered.
"She pushed that girder on Peridot on purpose," Steven explained shortly. "I don't think she expected it to do as much damage as she did, but still."
"Oh." Lapis felt her face heat up again. "Right."
"You really haven't seen her today?"
"No. But I've been kinda busy," Lapis said, waving a hand at some of the shattered buildings. "I can check out her house if you want?"
"Well, I was kinda doing that myself right now," he pointed out, and Lapis realized they were indeed walking along the path that lead to Peridot's house.
"I'll come with you anyway," she decided. "I need to find her too and apologize. I um, kinda lost my temper with her yesterday and yelled at her in front of everyone," she confessed.
"I know, she told me. She came to the beach house last night," he explained when she shot him a look of confusion. "But now I can't find her either."
Lapis gave him a sympathetic smile. "She might have just gone home," she said hopefully. "Maybe she didn't want to leave Pumpkin alone too long."
But when they reached the little house, it was clear Peridot hadn't come home yet. Lapis gave Pumpkin a hug while Steven checked all the rooms to make sure, but was quickly forced to admit defeat. "Shit," he muttered under his breath, which was when Lapis knew things were really serious. "Look, I'm gonna keep looking for her, but if she comes back here, can you call me?" he asked, looking frazzled. "It's urgent."
"Uh, sure, and let me know if you find her," Lapis agreed. She opened her mouth to ask exactly what was so urgent, but he'd already sprinted away and so she shrugged, gave Pumpkin a kiss and went back to work.
She didn't see Peridot for the next few hours, and neither had Bismuth when she asked her, and when she didn't get any messages from Steven saying he'd found her, she began to get seriously worried. When the last house had been dried out, she went back to Peridot's house again and waited.
The sun was just beginning to set when the door finally opened and Peridot's hushed voice cut through the gloom. "Pumpkin? Sweetie? I'm back."
Pumpkin jumped out of Lapis's lap and ran over to the other gem, barking happily. Lapis watched Peridot pet her and waited for her to be noticed. She couldn't help smirking when Peridot did and screamed. "Gah! Lapis! What are you doing lurking in my house!?"
"I was waiting for you," Lapis said simply.
"Actually, I'm glad you're here," Peridot said, which stung slightly, but Lapis supposed she deserved it. "I need you to take care of Pumpkin."
"What? Why?" Lapis asked, instantly on guard. She was even more concerned when Peridot grabbed a backpack and began throwing tools, clothes and her tablet into it. "What are you doing?"
"Packing, of course."
"What!?" Lapis exclaimed. "Where are you going!?"
"I don't know yet," Peridot lied. She knew exactly where she was going. Not Homeworld and not Skaro either. No, she was going to Telos. That was another half-completed planet that had been conquered some time ago, but if she was really lucky, there might still be a Cyberman there willing to get rid of all those pesky, annoying feelings for her. "But I can't stay here any more."
"Is this about what happened yesterday? Are you running away?" Lapis demanded. "Look, Peridot, I know things seem bad right now, but trust me, running away doesn't fix anything, I should know!".
Peridot shook her head. "This is a completely different situation," she said, a little patronizingly. "You ran away because you were too scared to stand up to the Diamonds and protect Earth." She sighed and looked away. "I am run- leaving because I've ruined the most important friendship I ever had."
"Look, I'm sorry I blew up at you-" Lapis began.
"Not you," Peridot said rather rudely. "Although I will admit that I was very hurt you jumped to conclusions so swiftly and shouted at me in front of a crowd of gems without giving me a chance to explain myself."
Finally, it clicked. "Do you mean Steven? Because he was here earlier, looking for you." Lapis watched carefully as Peridot's movements faltered momentarily. "What happened? Did he manage to find you?"
Peridot didn't answer. Instead, she straightened up, tossed the bag over her shoulder and pushed Pumpkin into Lapis's arms. "Please take care of her for me. Goodbye."
"Wait!" Lapis cried as Peridot slipped through the door and closed it behind her. She quickly put Pumpkin down on the floor and ran after the other gem, half-planning to trap her in a water bubble or something, but when she flung the door open, Peridot had already disappeared. She stared out into the darkening streets for a second longer and then ran back inside and grabbed her phone. She didn't have the slightest clue what was going on, but she knew who did.
xxx
The galaxy warp was quiet at this time of night, but Peridot hid behind a broken column and waited until it was clear before stepping out onto the warp pad that would take her to Telos. She paused for a moment and looked up at the dark sky where the stars were just starting to come out and sighed. She'd miss Earth. Maybe she'd come back one day, but not for-
"PERIDOT! WAAIIIIITTTT!"
She very nearly activated the warp right then, but the tiny little spark of hope that had ignited inside her at the sound of his voice wouldn't let her leave now without at least hearing what he had to say. She gritted her teeth and tried to strangle it to death, but it was too late, he was already standing in front of her, panting heavily with exertion. "Well?" she asked, trying to sound indifferent and silently vowed that if he really was here to ask her to be a flower girl at his wedding, she'd push him in the ocean. "What is it?"
"Hah... hah..." he wheezed, bent over double. "Gimmee... a second..."
She waited. After a few moments, his breathing evened out and he straightened up and mopped his brow. "I'm sorry," he said as soon as he could get the words out without dying of asphyxiation. "I panicked this morning, I was trying not to hurt Connie's feelings. I didn't realize until it was too late that I hurt yours too."
"No you didn't," she lied. "I just... decided things were too complicated."
Steven winced. "So... you're just leaving?" he said in a small voice.
Peridot eyes flickered around him; she couldn't quite bring herself to look in his eyes. "I am."
"Oh." He gulped and bit his lip. "O-OK. If- if that's what you really want to do, I won't stop you. But before you go, I just um, wanted to tell you, I love you." His voice cracked and tears welled up in his eyes. "M-maybe I should've said it sooner, I dunno, I was scared I'd frighten you off or something, which I guess maybe I'm doing right now anyway, but I- I just needed you to know. Before you went."
Peridot opened her mouth, but when no words came out, he smiled sadly and turned away, wiping his eyes. It wasn't until he was halfway back to the temple warp that Peridot's internal monologue stopped screaming in confusion and started screaming at her to move. "WAIT! Wait wait wait wait wait!" she shrieked and sprinted after him and flung himself into his arms. "Wait," she said again, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt.
"Um." He blinked and cautiously closed his arms around her. "I'm waiting."
Several seconds of very awkward silence passed.
"I don't know how to talk about feelings," Peridot finally said, breaking the silence.
"Oh." He peeked down at her. "To be honest, I'm not all that great at it either-"
"I know one thing though," she interrupted and gazed up at him. "I love you too."
XXX
I am not planning to write a continuation of this where they go to Skaro and have shenanigans with Daleks. Mostly because I just don't have enough time, sorry. I'm not gonna rule out one-shots for Stevidot events though, so don't go saying goodbye to these two idiots just yet!