Chapter Fourteen: A Kiss
She made her way back to the Temple, leaving behind a trail of tears.
It felt like forever since Andesine had last seen the other Gems.
She tried to avoid Azurite, who was outside, his pants rolled up to his knees while he played in the water.
Unfortunately for her, he noticed Andesine, and he came sloshing from the sea.
Andesine turned to face him. "What?"
He slowed down to a walk. "What do you mean?"
She looked away.
He put his hand under her chin, softly raising her head to face him.
She made a strange squeaking sound, then covered her mouth. "Stupid panda, I keep squealing uncontrollably ever since I saw it..."
Azurite laughed. "Ha, that's the Andesine I know."
She looked up. "No. When has anyone taken the time out of their day to get to know me? There are more than ten of us. I'm just another face in the crowd."
"I don't need to know everything about you to have feelings for you."
He kissed her on the lips, and Andesine's eyes – well, eye, seeing as her right eye was a gem – went wide with shock.
Their bodies glowed purple and wavered slightly as the two fused.
They opened their eyes and studied their hands.
A light lavender color, two arms, two legs, two eyes, one being Andesine's gem.
Inside the "control hub" – the place where Steven was when he confronted Jasper and Lapis when they were fused – the two Gems were bickering.
"You kissed me!"
"And you wanted to fuse with someone. I gave you what you wanted."
"That doesn't mean you can just mash your lips against my face!"
"How else was I supposed to fuse? It's not like I'm good at dancing, all I do are backflips and stuff!"
"YOU KISSED ME!"
"YOU LET ME!"
"YOU CAN'T EVEN – AGH!"
Smithsonite got up and started slapping themselves without the Gems realizing.
"YOU ALMOST SQUASHED MY HEAD!"
"IT'S NOT LIKE I'VE KISSED ANYONE BEFORE!"
"YOU CAN'T – YOU'RE NOT – YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID! HA!"
Azurite lowered his voice.
"Someone's spent too much time in the bathroom with Peridot."
And they kept going, and going, and going...