Chapter 3 -

Two days after Lapis Lazuli was poofed and bubbled

Stevens P.O.V.

There was no getting around it. Life at the beach house was becoming exceedingly more boring by the hour. Video games were now boring, Connie can't hang out with me because she's at some family event out of state, and the gems are out on a mission. Well, all of the gems except Peridot. She was sitting on the couch muttering to herself, when she suddenly got somewhat irritated, and started fussing. Aww, she looks so cute when she gets angry...

"What are, you looking at?" Peridot asked.

"Oh, nothing, you just look so cute!" I replied

"I AM NOT CUTE!" She yelled. She came over to me and started slapping me. " I won't stop until you admit I'm not cute!"

"Never!" I countered.

I grabbed her hands and stopped her from slapping me. "Peri, there's nothing wrong with being cute. It's a compliment." I blushed a little, I don't know why, I've been around her but it's only times like this I blush.

"What? Oh, I get it now." Peridot replied. "Sorry for attacking you."

"Ah, It's fine. It didn't hurt that much."

Once the situation had deescalated, I asked her, "Peridot, why do you wear those visors all the time?"

"Oh...It's because when I was formed, my hairstyle and eye color were different from other Peridots. I was lucky that I was smarter than the average Peridot, and that meant that they just gave me this visor to protect my gem from damage, make my eye color green, and it keeps my hair this way." Peridot explained.

"Can I take it off?" I asked.

"Why?"

"So I can see what you look like without them."

"Oh. Okay."

As she took off her visor, I saw that her eyes were actually blue. As she took it off, her hair became noticeably fluffier and fell down above her shoulders. She looked so beautiful.

"Do I look okay?" She started to blush.

"You look beaut- nice." I replied." Wait, let me take you somewhere real quick." I picked her up bridal style and ran outside. "You ever flown before?"

"N-No."

"Well today you are!" I said as I jumped up and flew up higher than the clouds. Good thing I was wearing a jacket, because it was kind of chilly up there.

"S-Steven, you know I'm afraid of heights, right?"

"Don't worry Peri, I won't let you go." To make her feel safer, I held her more tightly and brought her closer to my chest. I began to blush and saw her face a darker shade of green.

Peridot's P.O.V.

I still don't know why I'm nervous around Steven. Whenever I'm around or with him like this, my face starts to burn, and I get nervous. He notices me blushing and I quickly turn away. But then he grabs my chin and turns me towards him.

"Awww... you look so... cute..." He says.

I wanted to slap him, but the fact that we were thousands of feet in the air and I just didn't want to this time. It was... weird. I feels like whenever I'm around Lapis or Amethyst, but, stronger.

"Peri, you zoning out?" He asked.

"Oh!" I said, snapping back to reality. "No, just thinking about things."

I was grateful to feel ground under my feet once more. We had landed surprisingly close to the house.

As we walked in, Steven told me he had to take a shower and get ready for bed, as it was already dark, and far away, you could see the other cities. It kind of reminded of Homeworld.

I turned to Steven standing there, in his 'banana pajamas'.

"Well, I'm going to go to bed Peri, goodnight." It wasn't till he was already in bed and I was at the couch that I realized that I didn't know how to sleep. I'm guessing he had realized this too, as he then asked, " Peridot, you don't know how to sleep, do you?"

"No, I don't really know how to sleep." I replied.

"Oh. Then come over here then." He patted to the other side of his bed facing the window, as he scooted over.

"Are you okay with me occupying a large amount of your bed?" I asked, half actually concerned and half nervous.

"Ah, it's fine Peri. Come!"

As I laid down in his bed and pulled myself under his sheets I tried to mimic the position he was laying in."Like this?" I asked.

"Well, do you feel comfortable in that position?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay, now just think about nothing, or something that made you happy today, and just relax..." He said as he closed his eyes and stopped responding. I began to do the same, and I too began to drift into my mind...

I awoke later to find Steven had wrapped his arms and one of his legs around me. I began to blush and get what humans call 'butterflies in my stomach' and get nervous. At least he wasn't awake to see me blush, or he would've called me cute and teased me. I began to fall asleep once more...

As I awoke in the morning, I found that I was still in his arms. As I tried to wiggle out, I heard him start mumbling.

"No, Connie... Don't hurt her.. Connie... get away...