Amethyst and Peridot had been a couple for a few weeks now and showed no signs of drifting apart. They were having so much fun just being around each other that they didn't even care that Steven had now joined Lapis on the sidelines during their basketball games, leaving them to score point after point with no opposition.

"Yes!" Amethyst shouted. "Twenty-five points in record time!" She and Peridot high-fived.

"Congratulations!" Steven said good-naturedly.

"Well, this was fun," Lapis said, extending her wings, "but I'm going to go watch grass grow."

"She may sound like she's being sarcastic," Steven said to the others as she flew away, "but she actually means it."

"She thought this was fun?" Peridot asked.

"No, she's going to watch grass grow. She finds it relaxing."

"Something tells me she doesn't really enjoy spending time with us," said Peridot.

"Course, you don't have the same problem, do you, P?" Amethyst said teasingly.

"Perish the thought!" said Peridot. "I love these games against Steven. And I've loved going on those things you call 'dates'. Tennis, movies, mini-golf, karaoke… We've done it all!"

"Yeah," Amethyst said, chuckling. "Of course, there's one thing we haven't done yet…"

"And what would that be?"

"Fuse, of course!"

"Ooh, yeah!" said Steven. "I wanna see who you two turn into!"

"Er, I'm not sure about that…" said Peridot.

"Hey, come on, Peri! You've been around Garnet long enough; you know it's perfectly safe! And I've already fused with her and Pearl and even Rose a few times back in the day, and I wasn't nearly as close to any of them as we are!"

"But it'd be my first time."

"Well, duh! There was a first time for all of us to fuse! And after the first time, it won't be your first time anymore! So you might as well do it right now, right?"

Peridot shrunk. "I don't know."

"Don't you want to fuse someday?"

"Of course… but not now."

"Aww…" Steven said, disappointed.

Amethyst seemed disappointed as well. "So, when will you want to fuse?"

"I don't know," said Peridot. "Just… not now."

Amethyst pouted. "Fine."

Amethyst asked again the very next day.

"Come on, P!" said Amethyst. "There's no reason we shouldn't fuse!"

"But there's no reason we should fuse either!"

"Besides fusion being the ultimate expression of love and trust between two Gems, uniting them as one in both body and mind?"

"Well, uh… I guess when you put it like that…"

"So, don't you love and trust me? At least as much as Pearl or Garnet does?"

"Well, you've known them for a much longer time!"

"So how long will we have to know each other before we fuse?"

"I don't know!" Peridot shouted.

"So, when will you know?" Amethyst grumbled.

"I don't know that either! I just… it… gah!"

Peridot walked away in a fluster while Amethyst fumed.

"You're pretty gung-ho about Peridot fusing with you, aren't you?" Steven asked.

Amethyst jumped. "Gah! Steven! What are you doing here?"

Steven shrugged. "It was pretty hard to not eavesdrop on you, considering how loud you were. But seriously, you're really going after her about this."

Amethyst crossed her arms. "Well, yeah. I wanna fuse. But she's not willing to do it!"

"Maybe you're coming on too strong?"

"Or maybe I'm not coming on strong enough."

"Yeah, I don't think that's it. Look, Amethyst; Peridot's your girlfriend. She's bound to let you fuse with her eventually."

Amethyst frowned. "She'd better."

A few days later, while Garnet was away on a solo mission, Peridot burst into the beach house. "Guess what?" she cried.

Pearl leapt to her feet and quickly summoned her spear. "Is some sort of Gem monstrosity attacking?"

"What? No," said Peridot. "Why would you automatically assume it's bad news?"

"So what happened?" Steven asked.

"Oh! Well, when Lapis was watching the grass grow, she spotted something in the dirt, and it was the mayor's wallet, and so long story short, we're all going to get mentioned in his next speech."

"I don't quite get it, but that sounds cool," said Steven.

"Yeah, Peridot, it's really great!" Amethyst exclaimed. "And to celebrate the occasion, we should fuse!"

"Seriously?" Peridot said. "What is your obsession with wanting us to fuse?"

"Well, what's your obsession with wanting us not to fuse?"

"It's not an obsession! You're the one who keeps bringing it up!"

"Well, I wouldn't have to keep bringing it up if you'd just do it!"

"And I wouldn't have to keep not doing it if you didn't keep bringing it up!"

"You're just being a big chicken!"

"I don't know what that means!"

"It means you're scared to fuse!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Then why won't you fuse with me?"

"Because I don't want to!" With than, Peridot turned and stormed out of the beach house, slamming the door.

A scowling Amethyst plopped onto the couch. Soon however, her expression turned to one of regret. "Oh, man… that was harsh, wasn't it?"

Steven nodded. "Most definitely."

"Yeah, well… she's being really stubborn. There's absolutely no reason for us not to fuse!"

"Maybe, but you still can't pressure her like that," Pearl said. "You have to let her set her own pace. After all, while you were raised in an environment where fusion was perfectly natural, she was taught that it was indecent and shameful. You can't expect her to abandon all her qualms about it right away."

Amethyst sighed. "You're right." She got up. "I've got to go apologize!"

So she raced out of the house.

"And you haven't brought up fusion once since?" Pearl asked.

Amethyst shook her head. "Nope! I haven't asked her to do it, or hinted at it, or even mentioned it in other contexts!"

"Good for you!" said Steven.

It had been two weeks since Amethyst had apologized to Peridot, and it seemed that their relationship had healed nicely from their scuffle. They had played basketball, went on a few dates, and attended the mayor's speech in which he namechecked all the Crystal Gems, and there seemed to be no lasting ill will from either party.

"I'm proud of you," said Garnet. "You're learning to respect boundaries and not force others to do things they're not fully comfortable with, and that's important in a relationship."

"Course, I still want to fuse with her."

Garnet smiled. "That's understandable."

"Hey, Amethyst!" yelled a voice from outside. Amethyst, along with the other Crystal Gems, went out to see Peridot standing on the beach.

"Hey, Peri," said Amethyst, hurrying down the steps. "What's up?" she asked, looking around. "You got something to show me?"

"Huh? No… it's just I wanted to be outside for this because I wasn't sure how big we would become."

"Wait, do you mean…"

"Yes," said Peridot. "We're going to fuse."

Amethyst gave a tender smile. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"But I do want to! I mean, I'm nervous, but I want to do it. And you know there's no one I'd rather have for my first time than you."

Amethyst's smile turned into a full-fledged grin. "Then let's do it!"

And so, as the others looked on, they began.

Amethyst reached out her hand and Peridot gingerly took it. Together, they twirled; they dipped; they waltzed along to an unheard song. And then their bodies, apart from their gems, transformed into two balls of light, and those two balls merged together, and in the blink of an eye, where its components had been, stood a new Gem.

She was not as tall as some of the other fusions Steven had seen—she was shorter than Opal, and Sardonyx, and Sugilite—but she was still taller than Garnet or any human. Her skin was light blue, and her cyan hair hung loosely to her shoulders. She now possessed had four arms, which she was currently examining with the four eyes on her head. She was not as thin as Opal was, nor as wide around in the bust and hip area as Sugilite, but measured somewhere between the two, and was clad in a pair of teal overalls.

"Wow!" cried Steven. "Amethyst! Peridot! Or, um… Amidot?"

The fusion shook her head. "No, no. You may call me… Larimar."

Larimar played with Steven for about an hour, using the time to discover how her new body worked. They ran up and down the beach and into town, even testing out the makeshift basketball court set up at the car wash before concluding that her height made the game boringly trivial. Soon, however, it was clear that she was at risk of either become unstable and defusing involuntarily or else losing her component Gems' individual personalities within herself; and so they returned to the temple, where Garnet was waiting.

"I'll miss you," Steven said to the giant blue woman.

"You know Peridot and Amethyst will still be here."

"Yeah, but it's not exactly the same thing, you know?"

Larimar smiled. "You're right; we should do this again sometime." And with that, she defused, leaving two Gems in her place.

Steven went and hugged them. "I missed you guys!" he said.

"We were in Larimar for only an hour," said Amethyst. "And you just said how you'd miss her."

"Well, yeah," said Steven. "It's a shame you can't both exist at the same time. You'd get along nicely."

Garnet approached Peridot. "So how was your first time fusing?" she asked.

"It… was fun," Peridot said. "An incredibly unique, highly enjoyable experience. But I wouldn't want to stay like that all the time. No offense."

"I understand," said Garnet, smiling. "It's not for everybody."

"No, it's not," Amethyst agreed. "But still, we should do it again sometime, just like she said. But only when you want to."

Peridot smiled. "Only when we both want to."