B-side logs: On the topic of human behavior and other observations

Contains Logs 3.0 and 3.1

by

Silver-Eyed Rukia

Rated: T

Pairing: None (so far), Gem friendship

Note: Please ignore any mistakes. Or point them out and correct me, whatever you prefer.

It was an unusually rainy day in Beach City. The sky was dark, filled with mountains of clouds that soaked everyone unfortunate enough to be out at this hour. Strong winds whipped the drops against the windows but even though the stormy weather seemed fierce it was at least without thunder and lightning, at least for now, much to the green gem's relief. Said alien was currently seated on the couch in the living room right next to Garnet, who was seemingly just looking at her with a stop-watch in her hands while Peridot occupied herself with the toy the Crystal Gems and Steven had given her after their latest trip to the mall of shopping.

"Aw come on, not again!"

Steven's frustrated whines and Amethyst's hearty laughter drowned out the rain for a moment, an interruption Peridot didn't necessarily appreciate, before they quieted down again, raising both curiosity and suspicion in both the fusion and the Homeworld gem. Pearl was too busy with cleaning up the mess left from lunch to be bothered by the commotion.

"What are they doing?"

Garnet only shrugged in response which in turn made Peridot grumble before she placed the toy back on the table, attention now back on the seemingly useless device. Garnet hit the watch and looked at the time. "24 seconds, give or take."

"Pointless compilation of coloured squares! How is solving this "puzzle" helping with anything? You just mess it up again only to try and rearrange them even quicker than before."

Her shades-covered eyes rested on the smaller gem for a moment before Garnet took the Rubik's cube in one of her hands, twisting and turning the solved brain game until the previous pattern was no longer recognizable before putting it back on the table.

"Steven said it could help you calm down and concentrate. It helps you to focus and it's a good way to keep this", she said, pointing to her head, "stimulated." As if to underline her exclamation Amethyst let out a loud fart-sounding noise after the gem-hybrid had died again against the same boss in his game, causing Pearl to finally break her silence and start nagging the pair about their obnoxiously loud behaviour. The fusion looked down at Peridot and pushed the cube over the table until it was resting right in front of the smaller gem.

"It's a strategic game, like chess."

"Oh!"

The comparison made sense, or at least it did to Peridot. The alien looked from the cube to Connie's chessboard that was sitting on the table and back again, suddenly filled with eagerness to get even better than she had been the first few dozen times she had solved the puzzle. But just as she was about to start, Garnet and her watch at the ready, Steven complained again and this time his annoyance was accompanied by the controller hitting the wooden floor, successfully draining Peridot of whatever concentration she had had up to that point. She watched as the fusion stood and went up the stairs to check on the human before replacing the cube in her hands with her trusty tape recorder.

"B-side log 3.0: After a rather enlightening explanation about the correlation of chess and the so called "Rubik's cube" I have concluded that both activities, albeit time consuming, serve an ulterior purpose: the sharpening of one's mind. And while I do not require accumulating further intellect I am sadly in short supply of knowledge about human customs and therefor still need to adapt to their ways of life. Even if some of them appear to be mindless void-fillers."

The log entry ended with Peridot ascending the stairs and watching Garnet pull Amethyst along with her, down the stairs, to give Steven some space to vent. The green gem, always oblivious to the mood when first presented to her, approached the hybrid who was currently sitting on the floor with his back against the bed, arms crossed in front of his chest and eyes swimming with tears of frustration.

"Steven, why do you look so small?"

"Because! I keep losing against this stupid boss and it's making me upset. If I can't even beat this how am I supposed to stand a chance in the Funland Arcade tournament tomorrow?"

Peridot looked from the boy to the TV, an eyebrow raised in both confusion and curiosity, before she sat down on the edge of the bed while placing her recorder next to her.

"What is that tournament you speak of? Does it contain more robots?"

It took him a moment but when Steven connected the dots he couldn't contain his mirth and he let out a short laugh, much to Peridot's growing confusion, before he shook his head no.

"It's not like the competition between you and Pearl, Dot. Think about it like…a test of skill. Whoever wins in a one versus one wins the current round and gets to move on to the next one. And the finale is like a tiebreaker where the last two people will face off against each other until only one remains: the winner. And said winner will get to play any game at the arcade for free for three months!"

"So beating this "boss" in your game helps you win the tournament? How? It's not even related."

Steven motioned for Peridot to sit next to him on the floor to which she complied, not without grumbling beneath her breath of course, before he loaded his last save and started showing the Homeworld gem the basic move-sets of the character in the game.

"You see, to beat the boss you have to predict his movements, you have to know what he will do before he actually does it."

"That's impossible, Steven. Such a formidable opponent capable of defeating you would never be so predictable."

"Well, true if we were fighting for real but this is a game. Each enemy has a set pattern of attack, the only thing that changes is when they do what, but what they do is always the same. Look."

The dark-haired boy dodged one attack before getting knocked down by a follow-up, the hit taking a good portion of his health. He sighed before pausing the game, eyes glued to his stubby fingers gripping the controller.

"I tried beating him over and over but no matter how hard I try I can just never defeat him."

Peridot watched the TV, eyes looking at the paused game while her mind was already going into overdrive. 'Over and over.' The words reminded her of something and when she finally figured out what it was she let out a small, victorious "Hah!".

"I get it now! Your repetitive attempts serve the purpose of improving upon your latest try, like your cube-device!" The green gem excitedly hurried down the stairs, grabbed the cube, climbed up the stairs again and plopped down next to Steven faster than he would have anticipated. He needed to remind himself that even if Peridot was small and seemingly harmless without her enhancers, she was still a gem. And a dangerously smart one, too.

She proudly started flipping the differently coloured sides around and not even 20 seconds later she held the now perfectly solved puzzle up for Steven to see, who in turn could only gasp in amazement before excitedly grabbing Peridot's free hand.

"O-m-g, Peridot this is it! You could help me beat him. You could help me win the tournament!"

Peridot, who had only been eager to show off her skills, blinked at the hybrid when he shoved the controller into her hands after taking the puzzle from her, face beaming with pure glee at his discovery that the green gem could probably help him with his games and the tournament.

The rest of the day and a good portion of the evening were spent trying to improve Peridot's gaming skills, which were pretty much nonexistent. And while the gem wasn't necessarily interested in playing the game itself she felt incredibly validated in her abilities by Steven's continuous support and cheering whenever she managed to successfully land a combo, like he called them, and kill a boss, a feat not even Steven himself had accomplished up to this point. She was an incredibly quick learner, after all.

They were only interrupted when Pearl told the young boy to get ready for bed, which he complied with after a good amount of whining and begging, a tactic that rarely ever worked with the tall gem, sadly. While Steven was maintaining his organic body Peridot saved the game, an important detail she had learned the hard way to use when an unexpected bolt of lightning had cut off their electricity for a few seconds, forcing the console to turn off and erasing her previously achieved progress. She turned off the console and picked up her recorder before heading down the stairs, noticing that the Crystal Gems had already retreated into their rooms for the night.

"B-side log 3.1: While I assumed that "games" and "hobbies" only serve the purpose of entertaining the shallow-minded I now stand corrected. They may not be a well thought out strategic maneuver or a highly effective combat tactic but they do contain a certain amount of logic and reason, a sentiment I can appreciate. Steven's continuous attempts of explaining human customs may seem meaningless at first but I have learned that there is an…unexpected depth to his perception. While this is a quite useful trait to have I must remain cautious, he is still part gem under all his organic matter."

Moments after her log ended the boy in question exited the bathroom, worries and frustration from earlier all but forgotten due to Peridot's unintentional cheering up. He waved at her, motion accompanied by a short "G'night, Dot!" before disappearing beneath the sheets. The green gem still found it odd that humans let down their guard and remain motionless for an entire night cycle and even though she usually grew bored at night when there wasn't anything to do this night was different. She set up the chessboard, pieces being illuminated by her gem-light, and started playing against herself.

Morning couldn't get there fast enough.

The only remains of the torrential downpour from the day before were a couple of puddles still lying about here and there due to the hot weather vaporizing them quicker than they had accumulated in the first place. Steven laughed and hopped into one of them before continuing on his way towards the arcade, closely followed by Amethyst and Pearl with Garnet and Peridot shortly behind the pair.

"Yo P!"

The purple gem grinned almost devilishly at the taller gem before leaping into the air just above one of the bigger puddles and turning into an anvil, crashing down into the water below with such force that it drenched Pearl from head to toe. The fusion and her green tag-along had evaded the attack due to Garnet's sometimes handy foresight.

"A-me-thyst!"

"Whoops, gotta bail. See you back at the warp-pad Garnet!"

And with that the quartz darted off laughing with a drenched and furious Pearl in tow. The three of them had only tagged along to make sure both Peridot and Steven got to the arcade safely. They would come pick the two up later, after the tournament.

"Get back here you childish, little- ah!"

Or Garnet would go alone. Probably a better idea.

The fusion gave a short thumbs-up before leaving the small gem and her hybrid friend after they reached the Funland Arcade. She wasn't too eager to relive her previous encounter with some of the games, especially not Meat Beat Mania. Not to mention that she would probably get kicked out if the owner spotted her in his establishment.

To say that Peridot was overwhelmed would have been the understatement of the year, everything was just so crowded. Kids running around screaming, parents chatting away the time, the numerous arcade-machines bleeping and ringing and blinking in countless noises and colours: it wasn't until Steven took her hand and gently pulled her with him that she awoke from her trance, fingers unconsciously curling tighter around Steven's. She would never openly admit it but she felt anxious and the feeling of the human's warmth was comforting her, calming her down. She made a mental note to remind him what a huge sacrifice she was making for him, maybe that way she would finally get another textbook like she wanted.

"Come on Peridot, we have to sign up for the tournament before we can play." The boy must have noticed her ever stronger growing nervousness because after they had managed to plow their way through the crowd and enter their names in the competition he pulled her off to the side, away from the masses.

"Are you alright?"

The green gem scratched her cheek awkwardly before looking at their still entwined hands.

"I must admit that the vast amount of humans in such close proximity is rather…new. I will have to update my log upon returning to your home, I have already observed such curious behavior exhibited by these children. I did not know that humans carry nutrition inside their scent sponges."

Steven's mouth formed a silent "oh" before it clicked, making him blush furiously before he assured her that humans did not carry nutrition inside their noses. He sighed before he remembered something, pulling Peridot along with him after he heard the announcement for the tournament.

"And you know", he started, looking back at the Homeworld gem with a grin," it's our home, not just mine."

And if he hadn't turned his head back so early he would have seen the blush adorning his friend's cheeks at the statement.

The area surrounding the new Teens of Rage arcade was slowly filling up with contestants and spectators while the first round was already in full swing, Peedee and his brother Ronaldo being the first to fight each other. Steven looked around, never letting go of his Homeworld friend in fear of losing her tiny frame in the crowd, and checked out the competition.

Peridot on the other hand was busy enough with trying not to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of input she got by simply standing there. Smells, sounds, visuals: a lot of these things she had seen or heard about but to experience them first-hand was certainly something else and she wasn't entirely sure if she was ready to leave the safety of Steven's home more often yet.

'"It's our home, not just mine."'

The statement rang loud inside her head and she couldn't quite put her finger on it but it made her feel…taller. Like warmth that spread through her core similar to how Steven's hands made his warmth spread through her touch stumps. She shook her head to clear her mind of those emotion-fueled thoughts and focused her attention back on the task at hand: winning the competition. 'For Steven.'

It wasn't until that moment, when her eyes landed on the arcade, that she realized their most immediate problem. She tugged at her still with the human's entwined hand and leaned closer to ensure that the boy would hear her over the commotion.

"Steven, I have failed to notice this until this very moment but the machinery, much like the activation panel back at the Kindergarten, is beyond the reach of my current state. Rough calculations confirmed my fear that I will not be able to participate if this remains an issue."

"Why do you think I entered both our names?"

Peridot wasn't sure what it was. His reassuring smile? The way he winked at her, fully confident with himself? Whatever it may have been, it made her realize that despite being cut off from everything she had known up to this point she still had someone she could count on on this strange planet. She had a friend.

"I'll carry you on my shoulders so you can reach the controls, like back at the Kindergarten." He let go of the gem's hand when he heard their names broadcasted over the loudspeakers before crouching down and offering the alien the spot atop his shoulders, which she reluctantly took. She felt the people's prying eyes on her, their gazes filling her with that dreadful feeling of anxiety, but Steven's presence and his quite literal support helped her pull through. They would win this, together. As a team.

A/N: First of all I want to clear up any misconceptions I may have indirectly fueled with this story: I don't ship Steven with any of the gems romantically. I love his interactions with them as family and friends but not as romantic interests. I personally like the idea of him and Connie liking each other and I am perfectly okay with people shipping him with the gems but I personally do not, so this is not a Peridot x Steven story. They are just friends, so sorry if I was misleading anyone. A review made me address this, just letting you know :)

On another note: this did not turn out how I wanted it to. That doesn't mean it's bad but when I first got the idea it was different than what this eventually became. I am...not 100% happy with the outcome but it's what I made and I am still glad I wrote it. I need more Steven x Peridot friendship because I swear to the heavens these two can bond over so many things. And I need more happy Peri, I need fluff. So thanks for reading, see you all in the next chapter! (I am still open for ideas for future chapters, either voiced in a review or on my tumblr, look at my profile on ff to find the link to my blog)

Phrase of the Day

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

~Martin Luther King Jr.

If you liked it, please REVIEW.

No flaming please.