A/N: Hey guys! So we're over 20 chapters in, that's really awesome. Didn't think I'd make it this far haha. It's all thanks to you and your support, so BIG THANKS to everyone who's been here or is just now joining, really, it means a ton!
Thought it'd be nice to have some cute fluff right now. So this chapter is pretty light hearted, pretty straight forward. I mean come on, it's supposed to be the holidays haha. Can't go breaking too many hearts just yet :P Enjoy, guys! -Sara
It was cold out here. Not so cold as to be overly unpleasant, but enough so that she was tugging her jacket tighter around her. It would have to do for now. She couldn't go back inside.
Of course she'd walked in on her mother's ramblings, her fits. She'd seen the crying and the blubbering and even witnessed a vase being thrown against the far wall. But tonight's was worse. The house was just too quiet and her mother was too loud and everything seemed worse tenfold.
Lapis couldn't handle it.
It was sort of ironic. Seeing as to how it had to happen on Christmas Eve. And here she'd been foolish enough to actually hope that maybe, by some miracle above miracles, this year would be okay. Would be different.
She really was an idiot.
What was worse was the lack of snow. Sure she wasn't too big a fan, as it was literally just frozen water and everyone made way too big a deal out of it. But still, what was Christmas without something of the sort? It was depressing was what it was.
A walk, she figured. She needed to move, to get away. Into town, or maybe down around the beach. No, even though that was where she normally went it didn't sound that great. For some reason the thought of being all alone right now wasn't as pleasant as it should have been.
She started off slow. Down her street, up the next. Past the same convenient store she'd grown into habitually visiting. Past the pizza parlor. Up the street just across from the museum she'd given up working at.
She found herself on Peridot's street in about half an hour, but didn't go down.
Because she still remembered the first text she'd received from the blonde, after of course the initial 'who is this' and 'how did you get my number' texts.
Lapis wasn't stupid. She'd seen the way Peridot's mother had practically seethed at her. The way yellow had melted with loathing as she'd none too casually stared the girl down. And she'd heard the bitter rhetoric passing across the woman's tongue when she'd bid goodbye.
Peridot's mother hated her. And it was comical at best.
Still, parental approval had never really been a strong suite. And it hadn't stopped her yet...
She pulled out her phone, punched in a number she'd all but memorized at this point. Listening to the tone as it rang, unanswered, a good minute at least.
Then the click. And a wonderfully familiar, even higher pitched over the line voice. "Hello?"
"Hey, Peri. You up for a walk?"
The sounds of shuffling, muttering. "What's your problem? It's freezing outside and it's almost dinner time."
Lapis chuckled. "Come on, Per. I miss ya." She even threw in an unseen wink without much thought.
A grumble. "My mother would kill me." More shuffling.
Lapis sighed, shifting. "What the hell are you doing?"
Peridot paused. "What?"
A hand came up, running through Lapis' hair, smoothing it out where the wind caught at it. "What're you doing? Cause if it's nothing important, I'm waiting."
"Wait, what?" Lapis could hear the blonde closing a door or something, something that clicked. "Are you, like, outside or something?"
"End of the street. Can't chance your mother going bananas, now can we?"
A groan. "Dammit, Lazuli... Give me five. I'll meet you two houses down from mine. The one with the minivan in the driveway."
A grin split Lapis' face as she immediately began walking in the general direction. "Gotcha. Don't keep me waiting too long."
The only response she got was the click and dial tone as Peridot hung up on her. She couldn't be bothered to be too upset though.
It was more than five minutes later before, bundled in an oversized hoodie and sweats, Peridot came lightly jogging across a well manicured lawn. She squinted, looking around, not seeing any sign of the taller girl. Her hands rubbed up and down her arms, already cold, as she did a 180 before huffing.
"Lapis?! You out here?"
Said person snickered quietly, crouched down low behind an oversized tire. She could see the blonde's sneakers, crunching across the gravel as she reluctantly drew nearer to the vehicle. She saw the way Peridot turned, still obviously trying to find her.
"Come on, Lazuli. If this is some sorta joke, it's not funny. I swear I'll turn right back around and leave your ass to freeze out here." There wasn't any real threat to her tone, but it still made Lapis' smirk dip.
Plan B.
She stood from her crouch, slowly, only when those sneakers were no longer facing her. Rounding the car proved Peridot to be looking towards the backyard, maybe thinking Lapis had taken to hiding within the bushes. Lapis stood fully, held her breath. Wrapped an arm around Peridot's waist, a hand coming up to cover her mouth.
A yip came from the blonde, who struggled only until she was flush against Lapis, staring up awkwardly to catch sight of sparkling blue that screamed mischief. She audibly groaned, going limp in the taller girl's arms.
Lapis chuckled, leaning in to lightly kiss the back of the blonde's neck before letting her go. Not before feeling the way the girl stiffened, shuddered.
"Heya, Peri," she greeted, casually stuffing her hands in her back pockets and leaning away.
Peridot breathed in through her nose, clenching her hands subconsciously. Slowly, as if unsteady, she turned to look at the girl who had basically just assaulted her. Her eyes were far from livid though. Almost... dull. And instead of scowling, she was smiling. Small.
She cleared her throat. Hugged herself as the toe of her shoe kicked at the loose gravel. "What do you want, Lapis?"
The older girl cocked her head. Took a step back. "A walk. That's all." Even though her hands were shaking in their clothe prison. Aching to feel the warmth that had very briefly been hers.
The blonde rolled her eyes. Her smile turned more light, more real. She started walking down towards the sidewalk without bothering to ask if Lapis would follow. Of course she would.
"Couldn't stay still, huh?"
Lapis blinked. They'd been walking for nearly twenty minutes in commutable silence. Comfortable as it was, it seemed time to finally break it. "No, not really. Just needed to get out the house."
The blonde nodded, a step ahead. Somewhere along the way, their hands had met. Brushed, then locked. Now, Peridot squeezed their joined fingers gently, tugging Lapis, urging her to keep step and return to her companion's side.
"I get it. And it's not even so bad, once you get used to it." She was referring to the cold, and Lapis had to admit it wasn't completely wrong. Having gone numb was a tad different from adjusting, though.
Lapis bit at the inside of her cheek, chancing a glance over at the smaller girl. Peridot's eyes were honed in on the cracked sidewalk, trained in on something only she could apparently see. It didn't really bother Lapis. She knew the blonde was still listening to her. She kind of hoped she'd get to see those emerald eyes soon, though.
"So... What're you doing for Christmas?"
A shrug. "My mother doesn't care for it. So, most of the time I head over to Amethyst's. Everyone comes, and we all exchange gifts and stuff. And Amethyst's dad is a decent chef, so he normally makes a pretty awesome meal, and some of us stay over." A pause. "What about you?"
Lapis sighed, adding her own shrug to the mix. "Honestly? Nothing, probably. My mom is... under the weather. So I'll probably just spend the day in my room or something."
Peridot winced, finally looking up. Her eyes met Lapis', and it very nearly had her not thinking. But she managed, somehow. "Why don't you come with me? I'm sure the guys won't mind one more... They'd love it, actually," she added dryly, looking back down sheepishly.
The taller girl smiled gently, purposefully bumping shoulders with Peridot. "Only if you introduce me as your girlfriend," she teased.
The blonde scowled, throwing up a glare before shaking off Lapis' touch and quickly striding forth. "Forget it, then, you dork!"
Lapis snickered, feigning a hurt look as she quickened her own pace to keep up, holding her hand to her heart like it was hurt. "Oh Peri, how you wound me so." She sighed heavily in emphasis.
She could hear the blonde muttering something, couldn't quite make it out. Suddenly Peridot's hand was grabbing her wrist, and she was being tugged off the sidewalk in exchange for the soft shifting sand she hadn't even been aware they were even near, honestly.
"Hey, where are we going?" Lapis asked. She was pretty certain Peridot wouldn't throw her into the ocean, given how cold it was bound to be, but one never knew. The blonde was turning out to be quite full of surprises as of late.
She didn't receive an intelligible reply. More a grunt and quick look that didn't really give much away. So, she opted to just follow. She'd asked it of Peridot before, hadn't she? And she trusted the girl. Even if that wasn't such a totally great idea.
Over the shifting, disturbed sand. Down to an area where dunes began to rise and the water slipped further away. From here, you could see Funland and its docks in the near distance. Up above stood the restaurants, if you could call them that. It was a nice little place, just off to the side enough to be private without being completely out of it.
Peridot slowed, let go of the wrist she'd been clinging to. Now that Lapis really paid attention, her wrist was overly warm and clammy. Like the blonde's palms had been sweating. And Peridot wasn't looking directly at her, more to the side.
She was just about to comment when Peridot raised a hand, palm up. Offering. Lapis' brows furrowed.
This was... weird.
"I don't understand," she stated simply, still staring at the offered hand like it was something other worldly. It made the blonde frown, look as if she wanted to face palm. Instead, she just reached out and grabbed Lapis' hand, letting her fingers slide into the spaces found there.
They stood like that a long moment, unsure, looking between themselves at their joined hands. Not because it was new, but because it was fiercer than before. As if it held a greater purpose. Lapis felt her stomach twisting as she finally looked up and at Peridot's face.
The blonde was having a field day with her bottom lip. Nervously nipping, staring off at the frothing waves. A rather chilled breeze rushed past and made her shudder, hand subconsciously gripping tighter. Emerald burned with something unspoken. Something unable, perhaps, to be spoken.
And then Lapis was chuckling, rolling her eyes. Whatever this was, it needed to be lightened. She didn't like when Peridot got like this. All tense and uncomfortable. Especially now that they'd promised to give this, this not-really-a-relationship-but-sorta-one a try.
"Come on. It's probably more comfortable to sit." She did so as she spoke, still not letting Peridot go, letting their hands hang there together, keeping them in the same boat.
A pause. A grumble. The blonde sank to the sand not so eagerly, a gap being left between their bodies that could honestly fit another person. It was slowly but surely becoming the sort of uncomfortable that always caused Peridot to tense, that caused Lapis to go overboard in her teasing. Neither wanted that. Neither could stop it.
"So," Lapis began uneasily, free hand coming up to rub at the base of her neck, "what's your favorite holiday?"
The blonde blinked. Cocked her head. Her brows knitted together as she looked to the older girl like she'd just sprouted a second head. "Really?"
Lapis held up the free hand defensively. "What? It was a serious question to ease us up, you know? Now answer."
Peridot frowned, but looked down at her lap as she pulled her legs up. "Um... I don't know. I'm not really big on any holiday but if I had to choose, it'd have to be... Halloween."
It earned her a snicker, and she looked up, confused. "What?"
Lapis shrugged. "I don't know, I just didn't picture you as a Halloween person. Now that I think about it though... Yeah, okay, I can see that. What, do you dress as a bunny or something?"
That earned her a small smack to her upper arm, which she took good naturedly. "No, I don't. Besides, it's not the costumes that really matter." Peridot looked away sheepishly. "It's the candy."
Lapis outright laughed, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "Oh god, you're such a kid, Peri!"
The blonde scoffed indignantly, running her fingers through the sand. "Like you'd turn down free candy."
Her partner shrugged, inching right to shorten the gap between them. "Never said that. I bet you can still totally pass as a kid though. No one would guess you were a teenager yet."
Emerald eyes whipped up, and for the first time in a while they showed real anger. "Is that supposed to be a take on my height?"
Lapis blinked, taken aback by the suddenness. "I... No, that wasn't what I meant." Her brows furrowed as Peridot looked away, too quickly. Her hand loosened, tried tugging free, but Lapis made a point of holding on. "Why are you so bent up over your height, anyways? Short is cute."
The blonde visibly winced, jaw tightening. She refused to look back up even as Lapis outright scooted over, closing the gap, bringing their knees close enough to brush.
"Come on, Per. You know I was only kidding. Don't shut me out now." It was as much a plea as it was a request.
A huff. A grumble. Peridot hugged herself as best she could with only one arm to do so. "Sorry," she muttered, clearing her throat. "That was really stupid."
Lapis tapped the girl's knee softly, playfully. "No it wasn't. You're okay."
The blonde still didn't look up, but she did tighten her grip on Lapis' hand. "I just... I have some sort of growth deficiency or something. I mean it won't kill me, but I'm just kind of stuck, you know? Been this short for a while."
Lapis leaned in, letting their shoulders touch. "And? Nothing wrong with that, is there?"
Emerald came back up. "You mean aside from the fact I'll probably never even be able to ride ninety percent of Funland's rides? Oh no, nothing." Even she couldn't help the small smirk that graced her features, though.
Lapis laughed lightly. "Most of them suck anyways, you're really not missing much, trust me."
They let the tension ease away, leaning against one another. The later it got, the colder the air, but even then neither seemed to want to leave. Even when Peridot took a moment to check the time, wincing at the realization her mother was bound to have noticed her absence by now. Hopefully she wouldn't be grounded for Christmas tomorrow, at least.
Another few minutes rolled by. Lapis started to get anxious. Her pocket was getting awfully heavy. She chanced a glance at the blonde by her side, flexed their joined fingers just enough to ward off the threat of numbness.
Maybe it was just one of those go for it things...
So she did.
"Um..." It was more a whisper than anything, coming out more cracked than planned. It wasn't aided by her growing nerves, and she very nearly jerked her hand back down into hiding as she watched the blonde's eyes flutter back open.
To stare at a rather small, rectangular box just in front of her face. She started, lifting her head free of Lapis' shoulder as her own hand came up. Her fingers at last slipped from the other girl's grasp, clutching the thin container lightly.
Her eyes looked up, meeting Lapis' with confusion. She was met with an uncertain smile and darting gaze. "Uh... Merry, um," she coughed uneasily, "Merry Christmas. In case, you know, I didn't see you or something..."
Peridot felt her heart in her stomach, a churning disaster that maybe wasn't as pleasant as it should have been. Something inside her really, really didn't want to open that box.
But another look up... How could she not? She'd never seen such apprehension in Lapis' eyes. Such unsureness lingering in the touch she was having trouble not supplying against Peridot's forearm. There was real fear there.
She steeled herself, emerald darting back down. Her fingers, she realized too late, were shaking, visibly so. The lid lifted easily, newly.
And she was staring at something so simple it shouldn't have taken her so long to find a breath. A thin, silver thing that glinted with the last of the sun, a dangling pendant of oceanic blue that caught the light and changed it into something more. Something whole and alive and exuberant.
She could only use the term 'speechless' to describe what was happening in that moment.
And Lapis, she was a jittery mess. The time she'd spent debating. Aching over if it was the right choice, over whether or not Peridot would like it. The hour before hand she'd spent internally arguing on when it would be appropriate to finally hand it over.
Even now she wasn't so sure the way Peridot was staring at it, lips slightly parted and brows furrowed, was good or not.
"Um... Peri?" she finally called out softly, nothing more than a whisper that got caught on a new breeze.
The blonde blinked. Looked up. Looked back down. Back up. She stared into Lapis' eyes for so long, Lapis wasn't completely sure where she was any longer.
And then, tentatively, as if dealing with a scared animal, Peridot raised her hand. So hesitantly, so uncertainly, so antagonizingly slowly. When her fingertips brushed across Lapis' cheek it was like electricity being hotwired through the nerve endings below her skin.
"Thank you," she breathed.
A smile tugged at Lapis' mouth. But she wasn't exactly sure she knew how to smile when Peridot was looking at her like that. And she wasn't sure how to breath when the blonde leaned in. And she wasn't sure what she had been so afraid of when their foreheads met and rested together and emerald disappeared beneath eyelids.
Her own eyes fluttered, and it didn't matter that a whimper rose in her throat. It didn't matter that the cold was now nipping at the tips of her ears.
All that mattered was the girl before her. The way her lips curved when she smiled. The way her eyes shone when she giggled. The way she made everything seem so much better.
"No, thank you," she breathed. And she was talking about so much more than the necklace.