Archive of Our Own

Bismuth stroked her large, calloused hand over a dusty plank of plywood she’d set down on her sawhorse. It had been a while since she’d built a structure rather than a weapon, a place to live rather than a tool to kill. The fight was far from over, but it was nice to just sit back and relax for a minute, instead of being poofed and reforming into traumatic experience after traumatic experience over and over again. This was a fight she didn’t mind missing out on. She never wanted to set foot on Homeworld soil again. Of course, that was before things got complicated. Backup was needed in space, and the technician and heavy lifter she needed to get there were both still out of commission. So for now she’d have to wait, enjoying the simple mundanity of building an earth house.

Several feet away, Greg let out an exhausted sigh and dropped his saw in the sand. 

“I don’t think I can go on much longer, it’s getting late and I haven’t been keeping up on my workout routine.”

Bismuth laughed.

“You’ve definitely earned a break. Go on ahead, I can get this work done while you rest.” 

“Thanks Bismuth, you’re the best.” 

“Don’t forget it!”

Bismuth flashed him a big grin then returned to her work, measuring and sawing each board to its needed length. It was simple and repetitive, which would be enjoyable if she had someone to talk to, but with all the other gems gone nights had gotten painfully lonely. Greg was a lot of fun, but only when he was awake. When he was asleep she might as well have the whole planet to herself. 

Bismuth sawed off the end of the board and plunked it down on her pile, before lifting them all up to move them closer to the temple. She’d just managed to balance them all in her arms when something in her pocket started to glow. 

“Oh shit!” She cursed, scrambling to put the boards down somewhere. They ended up toppling over, but Bismuth was now completely focused on the glowing gem in her pocket. She dug it out, and realized with delight that it was Peridot. Bismuth had liked the little gem’s energy ever since they’d met. She had this spunk that never seemed to die.

The green gem levitated into the air, and her glowing form slowly sprouted out of it until she clumsily stumbled back onto the beach. 

“Heyyyy! Welcome back, Tiny!” Bismuth grinned, scooping her up into a hug. Peridot cried out in surprise but quickly grinned as well, basking in the attention.

“Bismuth! I can imagine it’s a relief to have me back. Yellow Diamond was a stronger adversary than I anticipated. But more importantly, look at my new form! I finally figured out where to put the star! Isn’t it great?!”

“Hmmm, let’s see how you look.” Bismuth held Peridot out to see, taking in her new outfit. The most notable change was her glasses, which now resembled something she would see in one of Steven’s comic books, but she also had yellow boots and stars on her knees and shirt. The outfit was just as striking as the gem it belonged to. 

Bismuth grinned.

“Badass! Like a true Crystal Gem!” 

“What’s bad-ass?” 

She laughed.

“I’m saying it’s cool , Peridot, your new form looks awesome!”

Peridot’s face lit up. The approval clearly meant a lot to her, but she was trying not to show it.

“Obviously I already knew that, but it’s nice to know you hold the correct opinion. I can’t wait to show the others! They’re gonna be so jealous!” Peridot started kicking to be let down, so Bismuth dropped her. She looked around the empty beach, confusion growing on her face. “Wait a minute, where is everybody?”

“That’s a long story. Basically the short version is that Steven finally got it through the Diamonds’ thick skulls that his mom was Pink Diamond and they all went to Homeworld in her old leg ship.” 

Peridot’s face fell, all the excitement draining out of her. 

“Oh.” 

Bismuth immediately felt guilty, even though it wasn’t her fault. There was something really upsetting about seeing Peridot sad, almost like seeing Pearl cry. Wanting to cheer her up, Bismuth smirked a bit and pulled Lapis’s gem out of her pocket.

“Well… everyone except for her.” 

Peridot gasped.

“Lapis?!!! Is she okay?!”

“She’s fine, don’t worry. Yellow Diamond zapped her not too long after you. I’m sure she’ll be back any minute now.” 

Peridot smiled, clearly relieved, but quickly frowned again, sitting down in the sand. Bismuth put the gem back in her pocket and sat down next to her. 

“What’s the deal between you two anyway? You seem to be friends, but by the way everyone reacted when she arrived, it sounds like she was gone for a while.” 

Peridot nodded, hugging her legs. 

“It’s been about a month or two. She heard the diamonds might come back and kinda freaked out, so she took the barn we lived in and flew away.” 

“The barn she threw at Blue Diamond?” 

Peridot nodded, staring down at the sand. Bismuth rubbed her back sympathetically. 

“Geez, that’s rough buddy. I’m sorry.” 

Peridot was quiet for a while, and Bismuth couldn’t quite tell because of her glasses, but it looked like there were tears in her eyes. 

“I tried so hard to get her to stay, but she wouldn’t listen. She just left and took all our stuff like my feelings meant nothing to her. And then she came back, and all she had to say to me was hey? I- I shouldn’t be saying all this, she’s had a really rough life and if she was scared she deserved to leave, but-“

“I’m gonna stop you right there, Tiny,” Bismuth said, holding a massive finger to Peridot’s lips. “No matter how hard her life was, it doesn’t mean it was okay for her to disregard your feelings like that. You deserve better, and you’re allowed to be angry.”

“But I don’t WANT to be angry!” Peridot cried, punching the sand. “I just want things to go back to normal! I want to hang out with her again! I wanna make meep morps, a-and watch Camp Pining Hearts, and play with Pumpkin, but she doesn’t care, a-and- I want her back, Bismuth, I just want her back!” 

Peridot started to wail like a little kid, bawling her eyes out in a stark contrast to the feisty gem who happily provoked Yellow Diamond on the battlefield. 

“Woah, hey…” Bismuth said gently, pulling the tiny gem into a hug. Peridot didn’t protest like she normally would, instead she sobbed pathetically into Bismuth’s chest. “Oh you poor thing, you’re gonna get her back real soon, don’t worry. But I’ve got you until then, okay?” Peridot whimpered and nodded.

Bismuth sat with Peridot as she struggled to get her sobbing under control. She seemed to be physically unable to stop, violently shaking like a chihuahua on crack. 

“You’ve been bottling all this up, haven’t you?” Bismuth asked knowingly, and Peridot nodded again. Bismuth chuckled. “No wonder you’re such a wreck.” 

“Sh-sh-shut- up-p,” Peridot stammered out, her voice broken beyond repair. She attempted to say something else, only to break into a coughing fit. Bismuth rubbed her back.

“Okay, okay, take it easy-“

“M-m-make it st-t-t-top!” Peridot cried. 

She clearly wasn’t used to this. Bismuth knew Peridot hadn’t been with the Crystal Gems long, and that Homeworld probably wasn’t any better at Feelings than they were thousands of years ago. Still, it was weird to see someone so bewildered and overwhelmed by something as normal to her as crying. 

“Shhhhhhhhh,” she cooed, staying patient with her. “You’re okay, you’re just all worked up. Breathe in through your nose, nice and slow.” 

Peridot took a long, sniffly breath in. Then another, then another. Bismuth smiled. 

“There you go. You’ve got it. You’re gonna be okay.” 

After about a half hour of crying all over Bismuth, Peridot finally managed to calm down enough to speak normally. 

“My head hurts,” she murmured, confused. She hiccuped involuntarily. “What is that-“ she hiccuped again. “Why can’t I stop doing it?” 

“Hiccups. That’s what happens when you cry like that,” Bismuth chuckled. “Same with your head. Your body’s exhausted. It sucks, but it’s good for you.” 

Peridot hiccuped again, and growled in frustration.

“How on earth could this possibly be good for me?” 

“It’s a release,” Bismuth explained, rubbing her shoulder. “When you don’t let yourself express how you feel, it’s like ignoring an injured leg and continuing to walk on it anyway. It just gets worse.” 

“But I DID! When Lazuli left I laid there depressed in Steven’s bathtub for DAYS! And then I blew up at Steven and Amethyst when they tried to help me! That had to be enough for me to get over it, right?!!”

“But then she came back, didn’t she? And she smashed your barn on the beach. How do you feel about that?” 

Peridot was so sick of being asked to talk about her feelings. Feelings weren’t something that made sense like machines or CPH shipping, they were all these odd sensations she had only started acknowledging about a year ago. How was she supposed to know how to tell them apart?

“I DON’T KNOW! All I know is that I feel bad and I want to stop feeling bad! But lately it’s been so hard to stop feeling bad and it’s just not fair! Everyone is always begging me to tell them how I feel and why, but I can’t even tell what I’m feeling a lot of the time, let alone why! It’s so frustrating! But you clods all act like it’s so easy, so I can’t just say that I don’t know! That would make me look incompetent!” 

Bismuth laughed, and Peridot weakly punched her arm. 

“DON’T LAUGH AT ME!”

“I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing because you literally just did it.” 

Peridot blinked a couple times in confusion.

“I did?” 

“Yeah! You just told me all about how you feel frustrated because your emotions are confusing you! That’s a big thing to realize about yourself!”

“It is?”

“Yeah!”

“So you don’t think I’m weak for not being able to perform a basic task that all the other Crystal Gems can do, and for crying like a human infant in your lap mere minutes ago?”

“Of course not! Peridot, you’re one of the strongest gems I’ve met. You never let anything hold you back and you’re always willing to face what’s difficult head on. If you were weak, you’d just run from it all instead of trying to solve anything.” 

“Like Lapis…”

Peridot looked pensively out at the ocean, debris from the barn floating up and down on top of the waves like carts on a roller coaster ride.

Bismuth put a hand on her shoulder. 

“Tell me about her.”

“She’s… complicated. Not in a bad way or anything, she’s funny and creative and sweet when she lets herself be, but she’s been through a lot. She was trapped in a mirror for thousands of years, then ended up trapped on my ship as an informant, and then she trapped herself in a fusion to save Steven from the other gem we came here with, Jasper. She actually hated me at first, but I guess I grew on her, because eventually we ended up doing everything together. We were just two gems enjoying the pleasures of earth together, and every day felt like something special. I cared about her more than anything and our life together meant the world to me, but when she heard the diamonds might be coming she just… left .”

“Wow. That’s awful. I’m impressed you’d ever want to talk to her again.” 

Peridot smiled softly.

“I could never abandon Lazuli. Even if she abandoned me first. She’s too important.” 

“Aww, that’s real sweet of you. She’s lucky to have such a loyal friend.” 

For some reason, Bismuth’s word choice irritated Peridot. Like she was missing something very important. She’d done a lot of thinking during the time she’d spent alone in Steven’s bathroom, and came to a very solid conclusion about her relationship with Lapis.

“You don’t get it,” she insisted. “I wanna be Percy and Pierre with her.” 

“You what?”

“Oh, I forgot, you haven’t yet watched the phenomenal pre-recorded human entertainment that is Camp Pining Hearts. Percy and Pierre are the two strongest campers at the titular Camp Pining Hearts, and share many important moments together. In said instances, their individual strengths are amplified and their happiness is increased. When they are separated they are fundamentally less successful in every aspect of life and therefore it makes the most logical sense that they spend all of their time together.”

Bismuth squinted at Peridot in abject confusion.

“I have no idea what the fuck any of that meant.”

Peridot rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically.

“It’s like Garnet!” 

“Oh,” Bismuth said softly, finally understanding. “You want to fuse with her?” 

Peridot shook her head.

“No. Not that part. But everything else.” 

“So you love her.” 

Peridot nodded, blushing violently. Bismuth smirked.

“Gotcha. Well I think you should shoot your shot, once you’ve got everything figured out. And if she breaks your heart, I’ll break her gem.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think that will be necessary.” 

Bismuth chuckled. 

“I was kidding! But only a little bit. Relationships are a two way street. If you want to be with her, she needs to start treating you better. She needs to apologize and make things right.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll talk to her once she comes back. I’ll tell her everything.” 

Peridot’s body jolted with another hiccup, and she growled. 

“Grrr, I thought it was over!” 

She hugged her knees and tipped back to lean against Bismuth. This time, Bismuth couldn’t see any humor in her frustration. All she could see was Peridot’s sad face, the dried tears on her cheeks, the way she’d still occasionally sniffle and rub her arm under her nose. 

Anger started to simmer deep in Bismuth’s chest. 

“I swear, she better have one hell of an apology. She better know just what the hell she did to one of the best gems to come out of Homeworld’s filthy rock. She better-“

“Stop,” Peridot said plainly, “Just stop. Lapis isn’t this monster who wants to hurt her friends on purpose. I don’t want to be mad at her, and I don’t want you to be mad at her. I think she can do better, I believe in her. I just… want to start over. That’s it.” Peridot looked up at Bismuth, her expression full of uncertainty. “Is that… wrong?”

Bismuth’s first instinct was to say yes. In her experience, time healed all wounds. After the breaking point fiasco, she couldn’t just rush in and expect the Crystal Gems to welcome her back with open arms. So why should Lapis get that right? Why should Lapis just be able to get back with Peridot the second she reformed? Peridot was Bismuth’s friend now, and she couldn’t help but feel some sort of vitriol towards anyone who hurt her.

But then she looked in Peridot’s eyes. 

She had no anger or spite, just… yearning. Yearning to be with the one she loved. Yearning to be told that her feelings were okay.

Who was she to deny her that?

Bismuth placed a hand in Peridot’s hair, giving it a good ruffle.

“No,” she said, giving a reassuring smile. “Of course not.” 

It took an hour or so longer for Lapis to reform.

By then, Bismuth had set Peridot to work helping rebuild the house. As a former technician and DIY barn renovator, she was happy to assist. 

Peridot was halfway across the beach hammering in the porch stairs when Lapis’s gem started glowing in Bismuth’s pocket. Bismuth grinned and put down her plywood. 

“Hey Tiny!” She shouted at the top of her lungs across the beach. “Guess who’s coming back!”

Peridot gasped and chucked her hammer into the sand, scrambling over to meet her. She tripped and fell on her face several times, but she never once paused to catch her bearings. She practically collapsed in the sand in front of Bismuth, watching Lapis’s gem levitate into the air. 

“Lapis?!!”

As Peridot watched the familiar form of her friend begin to take hold, she became less and less eager and quickly backed away as the glow dissipated. A sickly feeling began to form in her stomach, like the time she tried to eat food but couldn’t shapeshift a digestive system and threw it all up.

The newly reformed Lapis planted her golden sandals in the sand and curiously looked herself over, stretching her legs in her new pants. 

Peridot had felt so ready to reunite with Lapis when she first heard Bismuth’s call, but now that it was happening she simply found herself frozen, staring at Lapis’s admittedly gorgeous new form but unable to find the voice to compliment it.

Lapis’s eyes settled on Peridot, similarly transfixed with her new outfit. It was so… Peridot, and she couldn’t imagine being happier to see anything else. 

“Peridot,” she said, a huge smile forming on her face. “You’re back.” 

Peridot fidgeted nervously, looking down as she tapped the tips of her boots together. She gave a simple nod.

“I like your form,” Lapis continued, still offering that sweet smile. But Peridot couldn’t bring herself to look at it.

“Wow, thanks.” 

Lapis had expected her to be more excited, Peridot loved clothes. But her voice was monotone and flat, and more nasally than usual. What appeared to be dried tear tracks on her face explained it. 

She’s been crying. 

Lapis’s face fell. This wasn’t like Peridot at all. 

But isn’t it my fault?

Sensing Peridot’s discomfort, Bismuth stepped over and placed a hand on her shoulder, deciding to take the lead on explaining the current situation to Lapis.

“Welcome back,” Bismuth said, forcing a smile to try and break the tension. “It’s just us three on earth right now, but nobody’s hurt. The rest of the Crystal Gems flew off to Homeworld because Steven is Pink Diamond-“

“Wait,” Lapis interrupted, eyes wide. “STEVEN IS PINK DIAMOND??!!”

“It’s crazy, huh? Turns out Rose Quartz was a lying bitch and she was actually Pink Diamond in disguise the whole time, which technically makes Steven Pink Diamond, which means he actually has a chance to talk some sense into the diamonds.”

Lapis blinked a couple times, trying to wrap her head around it.

“Geez, I missed a lot, huh?” 

Lapis regretted her words as soon as she saw hurt flash in Peridot’s eyes, and quickly looked away. 

I should just leave her alone.

“Well, um. I’m ready to help with whatever you need me to. I guess I can start by cleaning up the mess I made with the barn. Just call me if you need me, okay?” 

She turned and began to walk away.

Panic rose up in Peridot’s chest at the mere sight of watching Lapis leave again.

“WAIT!”

Lapis stopped in her tracks, whipping her head back around to face her. Peridot had a much more familiar look on her face, one of determination. She stood as tall as she possibly could, puffing out her chest.

“Lapis, I need to talk to you.” 

Her voice was firm, bold, and filled with all of the courage the little gem could possibly store in her tiny body. 

Lapis stared at her for a second, a little shocked at how direct she was being. This was another huge change for Peridot.

“Okay,” she said, a hint of surprise in her voice. 

“I’ll leave you to it,” Bismuth said, giving Peridot a heavy-handed pat on the shoulder before heading back towards the house.

 Being left alone with Lapis for the first time in ages, a wave of anxiety crashed over Peridot. But she took a deep breath in to break through it a little, just like Bismuth taught her. 

“Lapis, um- about the… thing .” She took another breath. 

“Do you want to sit down?” Lapis asked, sitting down herself and patting the sand next to her.

Peridot had missed her sweet voice. A lot. Her eyes started to well up, and she wanted to scream at herself for crying this early on in the conversation. 

She quickly nodded and sat down.

“I missed you,” Peridot began, her voice cracking. “A lot.” 

“I missed you too,” Lapis replied.

“But,” Peridot continued, “I’m upset. And angry. That you left in the first place.” She took another breath, almost dizzy from how difficult it was to say. “I get why you did it, I know you were scared and you had every right to leave. It’s just the way you left that really… hurt me.” 

For the first time in the conversation, Peridot risked a look at Lapis’s face. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, frustration or disappointment or resignation. But it certainly wasn’t this. Lapis’s expression was nothing but understanding, her eyes were deep pools of regret and empathy. Peridot almost wanted to end the conversation right there and just lose herself in them, but she knew if she stopped talking about this she would never start again. 

She jerked her head away, choosing to stare pointedly at a broken videotape in the sand instead.

“It’s really hard for me to talk about how I feel. Even right now it’s difficult. And with you, I think so highly of you, I’d never want to say anything that would make you not like me, or think less of me, so I just…” She buried her face in her hands, letting her tears pool up in her glasses. “I tried so hard that day, and it was like you didn’t even care.” 

On Camp Pining Hearts, the campers would often describe what they were feeling with the term heartbreak. Lapis didn’t have a heart, or know what it felt like when one was broken, but from the context she could imagine it probably felt a lot like she was feeling right now. Like all the sensation in her head had rushed out and flooded at her feet. Like someone had physically reached into her chest and violently twisted her up inside until all she could think about was the pain. She’d choose a blast from Yellow Diamond over this prolonged suffering any day. 

“Peridot,” Lapis began, reaching out to place a hand on her shaking shoulders, but Peridot snapped her head around before she could, seething. 

“And then you came back, and literally smashed our entire life on the beach, and when I ran over to see you again after months of you being gone, all you had to say to me was hey?!! No I missed you, or, sorry for abandoning you and ruining your entire life! I know we were in the heat of battle but come on, Lazuli, do I really mean that little to you?!!”

“NO!”

Lapis didn’t mean to yell, and when she realized she did she quickly clapped her hands over her mouth. Seeing Peridot’s hurt and confused expression, she sighed and ran her hand through her hair. 

“You mean a lot to me Peridot. A lot. And I’m not just saying that. You keep saying you’re so bad at talking about your feelings, but I’m even worse. I was so overwhelmed by all the stuff that happened over the past few years that I just… blocked everything out. I didn’t let myself think too hard about how I felt or get attached to anything. Or at least that’s what I thought. I left with the barn because I couldn’t bear to leave it behind, but without you in it, it just… wasn’t the same. It was too quiet, there were no scampering feet or crashing noises or annoying video essay narrators, it was just me and the void of space. So of course, being myself, instead of just coming back to see you I started watching you on that stupid moon orb.”

“You were spying on me with the observation orb?” Peridot asked, sniffling. 

“That’s exactly what Steven said,” Lapis said with a slight laugh. “It wasn’t just you, sometimes it was Steven and sometimes it was even the other gems, but it was mostly you. I watched you plant things with Amethyst and Steven, train with the Crystal Gems, and chuck flowers at Garnet’s wedding guests. I wished I could’ve been there with you, but I was so paralyzed with fear. And then I saw the diamonds come in, and I just couldn’t let you get hurt. But I never realized you already got hurt. By me.” 

Peridot stared at Lapis for a long time, then finally crawled into her lap. It reminded them both of their late night TV sessions, when Peridot would be all tuckered out from her antics that day and join the perpetually tired Lapis in the bed of the truck. At first she had been slightly annoyed by how clingy Peridot was, but never protested. It quickly became something Lapis silently cherished, and having the smaller gem back in her arms again felt like a privilege she didn’t deserve. 

Peridot rested her head against Lapis’s leg and let out a long, shaky sigh. 

“When you broke the barn, it reminded me of when you broke my tape recorder. And it made me remember you never apologized. I had always thought I didn’t need one, you made up for it with your actions and not your words. But now I’m not so sure.” She sat up, wrapped her arms around Lapis and buried her face in her shirt. “I need to hear you say you’re sorry. I don’t know why, I just… do.” 

For the first time in a very, very long time, Lapis felt herself get choked up. It was strange, so many horrible things had happened to her that it never seemed to affect her that way, but something as simple yet complicated as saying I’m sorry to someone she loved seemed to tap into emotions that she’d thought she was too broken to experience again. 

“I’m sorry, Peridot,” she began, burying her face in Peridot’s hair. “I'm so sorry. I’m sorry for breaking your tape recorder, I’m sorry for breaking the barn, and I’m so, so sorry for abandoning you. I’d do anything to take it back, but I can’t. But I can promise you that it will never happen again. That is, if you still want me around. After everything I’d understand if you want some space.” 

Peridot hugged Lapis tighter, as tight as she could physically muster. 

“The last thing I want between us is more space.”

Lapis snorted.

“Yeah, I guess that was a goofy choice of words, wasn’t it?” 

“Yeah, it sounds like something Amethyst would say.” 

Peridot removed her glasses and scrubbed at her eyes with her arm. 

“I hate crying,” she whined. “My face gets all gross and sticky and I can never get it all off!”

Lapis was barely paying attention to what Peridot was saying, she was more focused on the fact that she was removing her glasses. She felt a little stupid to be as surprised as she was. They’d lived together for over a year and she’d never seen her take them off. She didn’t even know it was possible. 

Peridot opened her eyes.

And they were green. 

Lapis didn’t know what she’d expected, but it wasn’t this. They were green, predictably, but a deep, deep green, like a forest full of pine trees or seagrass at the very bottom of the ocean. The color was what Lapis envisioned when she thought of earth, lush and complex and full of life. 

And beautiful.

“You’ve been staring at me a long time, Lazuli,” Peridot said bluntly, and Lapis’s face flushed. 

“S-Sorry, I’ve just… never seen your eyes before.” 

“You’ve never looked me in the eye the entire time we’ve known each other?” 

“I‘ve never seen them without your glasses, you dummy!” Lapis teased.

“Oh. That makes much more sense. I also haven’t seen you without my glasses, you’re a lot… bluer. And blurrier. And while the blue is pretty, I much prefer being able to examine the intricacies of your face.” 

That made Lapis blush even more. 

After a mutually uncomfortable moment of staring, Peridot finally broke eye contact, putting her glasses back on and clearing her throat.

“Um. Lapis. Do you think we could maybe… start over? Things can be different this time, better. And maybe, if you really wanted to… We could be like Percy and Pierre? A-And that kissing ritual that the campers do, we could also do that. If you wanted to.”

Lapis smiled a soft smile that Peridot had desperately missed, before leaning in and pressing their lips together. 

“Like this?”

Peridot stared at her wide-eyed, her entire face blushing dark green. She nodded, speechless.

Lapis smiled.

“I’d really like that.” 

Peridot fumbled to straighten her glasses, then cleared her throat.

“Um. So what now?”

“Good question.” 

“How about we get back to our CPH rewatch?”

“But I broke all our tapes…”

Peridot chuckled, pushing her glasses up on her nose like a pretentious anime character.

“Tapes? Tapes are a thing of the past! Steven showed me something far more advanced on his TV, an application called Netflix! It's got every single season of CPH and more! Come on, I gotta show you!”

Peridot got up and grabbed Lapis’s hand, yanking to her feet and pulling her in the direction of the house, only to realize her mistake.

“Oh right. The house is broken. Fuck.” 

Lapis gave her a weird look.

“What does fuck mean?” 

“Oh! Bismuth taught me a bunch of human swear words! I’m still partial to the word clod, of course, but human vocabulary has expletives for every context! She’s just up this way, she can teach you too!”

Peridot began to pull Lapis up towards the hill, only to be stopped.

“No need for that, I’m right over here!” Bismuth shouted, waving from behind one of the temple statue’s massive stone hands.

“Bismuth, you’ve been here this entire time?!” Peridot asked, incredulous.

“I wasn’t listening in on your conversation or anything, but I would like to say you two are officially my second favorite couple.” 

“So you were listening in on us,” Lapis said wryly. 

“SECOND FAVORITE?!” Peridot screamed. “I’ll destroy you with my machines for that, you CLOD!”

Bismuth smirked.

“She’s a feisty one, surprised you can keep up with her,” she said to Lapis, holding out a hand to shake. “Bismuth. I don’t believe we’ve properly met.”

“Lapis Lazuli,” Lapis said with a smile, shaking Bismuth’s hand with the hand that Peridot wasn’t currently holding. “Don’t worry about it, I usually meet people when there’s a big disaster going on.”

Bismuth laughed.

“I know how that can be. A couple thousand years of fighting a rebel war will do that to ya. Glad to have you on the team, even if things have slowed down a bit.”

“Glad to be here.” 

“Bismuth says we can get to Homeworld if we fix up the diamonds’ broken ships,” Peridot said. “With her building prowess, your ability to lift large objects, and my technological genius, we’ll be kicking White Diamond’s ass in no time!” 

“There’s no rush,” Bismuth said with a shrug. “Why don’t you two take it easy for tonight? I set up a little something special for you near the house.”

Lapis didn’t know what she was talking about, but Peridot did, if the blush on her face was any indication.

“You what?” She squeaked.

“It’s nothing big, just something you two might enjoy together, that’s all.” 

“YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO SET US UP ON A DATE!” Peridot accused, aggressively pointing a finger. Bismuth smirked, not denying her claims. Peridot’s blush deepened along with her scowl. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to go on a date with Lapis. 

“W-WOW, THANKS!” She shouted, thoroughly embarrassed. Then she stomped off towards the house, dragging Lapis along with her.  

Tucked behind the wreckage of the house, a TV was plugged into a tangle of connected extension cords. A picnic blanket with comfy blankets and pillows was spread out in front of it, and the whole area was decorated with flowers and fairy lights left over from Garnet’s wedding. 

But that wasn’t the best part.

Pumpkin came running, barking elatedly, dropping the half-eaten rose she had in her mouth and jumping into Lapis’s arms.

“Baby!” Lapis gasped, hugging her tight. She felt tears spring to her eyes. “Oh Pumpkin…”

Pumpkin assaulted her face with slobbery pumpkin kisses, and Lapis happily took it, overjoyed to see her pet again. “Aww, I missed you too!” 

Peridot watched the reunion with a fondness so intense that it was almost painful. Almost.

Lapis sat down in the cushions, managing to get Pumpkin to relax enough to lay down beside her. She took a look around the scene. It really was romantic, like something out of the Hallmark movies she and Peridot liked to hate watch together.

“Wow, Bismuth set this all up while we were talking?” Lapis asked, incredulous. “How’d she even know we liked each other?” 

Peridot puffed out her cheeks, scuffing her shoe back and forth on the floor.

“I might have told her a couple things, one of them being that I had a massive crush on you.” 

Lapis snorted, bursting into laughter.

“Peridot, you’re such a dork.” 

Peridot gasped in offense.

“I am not a dork! I didn’t even ask her to do this!”

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way! I just think you’re cute.” 

Peridot scowled, but the blush on her cheeks and her refusal to look at Lapis signaled that she wasn’t actually angry. 

Lapis playfully rolled her eyes and giggled. 

“Come on, do you want to watch CPH or not?” 

“Of course I wanna watch CPH!” 

“So get that cute pout off your face and come sit with me.” 

Peridot was too flustered to respond to that, but she followed Lapis to sit down in the cushions, happily curling up in her lap. Lapis kissed Peridot’s fluffy head of hair and handed her the remote. 

“Now show me this Netflix thing you were talking about.” 

“Percy! What are you doing here? You’re on the yellow team! Don’t you know how dangerous it is?!”

“I do, but that doesn’t matter. I was wrong to let the color wars come between us, Paulette. I’d rather lose to the blue team if it means having you by my side.”

“Oh Percy, I’ve been waiting to hear those words all my life!”

Normally, this scene would make Peridot gag, but tonight was different. She was cuddled up in Lapis’s arms for the first time in months, and now she knew for sure it wasn’t just a friend thing. 

“I love you Lapis,” she murmured, nuzzling into Lapis’s shoulder.

Lapis hummed in agreement, resting her head on top of Peridot’s. 

“I love you too. I’m so happy I braved the color wars for you.” 

“The color wars aren’t real,” Peridot yawned sleepily. 

Lapis let out a soft giggle. She squeezed Peridot tighter, letting her poofy hair fan out around her face. 

“Yes they are.” 

“Okay,” Peridot said, smiling, her eyes fluttering closed.

The night was still quiet, but Bismuth felt less lonely knowing her two new friends were just around the corner. The muffled, buzzy audio of the TV was faintly audible from where she was working, and provided a nice background noise along with the crashing waves. But after a couple hours, Bismuth realized she wasn’t hearing any more chatter from the two gems. She put down her saw to investigate, and found an adorable sight. 

The TV was still playing. But Lapis was slumped, fast asleep, her head resting on top of Peridot’s gravity defying head of hair. Peridot was curled in her arms, contentedly snoozing on Lapis’s shoulder. Both were snoring, and pumpkin laid next to them, her tail thumping happily on the ground. 

Bismuth smiled at the heartwarming scene, and gently took the remote from Peridot’s limp hand to switch the tv off. She grabbed a blanket from the pile and tucked it over their sleeping forms, giving Pumpkin a quick pat before leaving to return to her work.

She made sure not to do any loud hammering that night. She’d fight all of Homeworld if she had to in order to give these two gems a good night’s sleep.