Chapter Text
The day started out normally enough. Well, as normal as a day could be for a small green Gem who defied her diamond boss, ended up on earth, and now lived in a barn with another Gem named Lapis and a sentient pumpkin that acted more as a puppy.
The two of them were currently out in the field that they had recently started to grow together.
Lapis flew slightly above the plants, hydrating them with her powers.
As for Peridot, she remained on the ground, picking anything that looked ripe and placing it into a basket.
The two of them worked together in a comfortable silence.
Lapis continued to water the plants, then an idea came to her. She paused and looked down at Peridot, still in midair.
Peridot glanced up at her. “Something up?”
Lapis nodded. “I was thinking maybe we could plant a couple more things.”
Peridot grinned and nodded eagerly. “Yeah, let's do it!”
Lapis chuckled a little at the smaller Gem’s enthusiasm. “Could you grab the seeds while I finish watering what's out here?”
“Sure!” Peridot agreed. She began to skip over to the barn, then paused and looked over her shoulder at the blue Gem. “What should we plant?”
“Hm…” Lapis absentmindedly tapped her chin as she thought. Then she snapped her fingers as an idea came to her. “How about some strawberries? I think we've got some seeds somewhere.”
“Ooh, good idea!” Peridot dashed into the barn to search for the seeds.
Lapis smiled to herself as she watched the other Gem and her boundless energy (which she admittedly found herself envying sometimes), then she returned to flying over the crops and watering them.
Peridot returned about five minutes later with a packet of strawberry seeds in hand. She waved them around. “I'm back! It took me longer than expected to find the seeds.”
Lapis, having finished watering every plant, floated down to the ground and stood beside her. “Makes sense. You ready to get planting, then?”
Peridot nodded. “Affirmative.” She opened the bag and dumped some seeds into Lapis's hand.
Lapis looked down and gave her a small smile. “Thanks, Peri!”
Upon hearing that last word, Peridot froze for a minute.
Between the nickname and the way even just that little smile lit up the blue Gem’s whole face, the short Gem was suddenly rendered speechless.
What was this feeling? This feeling of…fuzziness? Was that what humans meant when they used that expression?
She wasn't sure. But what she did know was that she wanted to see more of those smiles.
(And hear more of that nickname.)
Lapis tilted her head slightly. “Peridot?”
Peridot blinked, looking up at her.
“Are you okay?” Lapis asked.
“Uhhhh…” Peridot buffered for a minute before remembering something. “I just…remembered we'll need a shovel if we're going to be planting more seeds!”
Lapis looked around, then remembered there was indeed currently no shovel present. “Oh, yeah.”
“I'll go get one, wait right here!” Peridot exclaimed, making a beeline for the barn.
Lapis blinked a few times, confused by the green Gem’s sudden shift in demeanor. Despite trying to push the thought aside, she started to wonder if she'd done something wrong. Was it something I said?
Once in the safety of the barn, Peridot took a deep breath. What is wrong with me? What the clod was that?
She didn't allow herself much time to ponder the question before throwing herself into the task of locating a shovel.
Part of her wanted to stay there a bit longer. At least until she could figure out what was wrong. Or pretend nothing was wrong. That worked, too. She'd grown to perfect that particular art.
But she knew she couldn't hide forever. Lapis would inevitably get concerned and come check on her if she took too long cause the blue Gem was just that nice.
Peridot couldn't deny that was one of her favorite things about the other Gem. Once one got to know her, she was really sweet.
Peridot shook her head, trying to push the thoughts away and focus on the task at hand. Her eyes scanned the interior of the barn.
After a minute, her eyes landed on one of the shovels that the two of them typically used when gardening. She picked it up and made her way back outside.
Lapis clasped her hands together once Peridot came back over to her, trying to erase any and all traces of worry from her face. “All right, how do you want to do this? I do the digging, you do the planting? Or the other way around?”
“Hm…” Peridot thought for a minute. “I could do the digging.”
Lapis nodded in agreement. “Works for me.”
Peridot dropped to her knees and began to dig up some holes in the soil.
Lapis just watched her for a minute, noticing how focused she looked. Just like she always did anytime she was in the zone.
Aside from the focused look, Lapis found herself noticing the way the smaller Gem's arms moved as she dug.
It was a bit cute, if Lapis was being honest.
She paused, a bit surprised at her own train of thought.
But before she could question it further, Peridot glanced up at her.
Lapis glanced back. “Ready?”
“Yep!” Peridot nodded.
Lapis picked up the packet of strawberry seeds, opened it, and knelt down next to Peridot.
Peridot froze again at the sudden closeness, but she tried to act natural.
(Even though she wanted to reach out and just…touch the other Gem.)
Lapis took a few seeds and began to deposit them into the holes. She handed the bag over to Peridot before dropping her gaze to the ground so she didn't stare at her too much.
The smaller Gem took the bag and attempted to busy herself with something other than her unexpected feelings of confusion.
The two of them continued to plant seeds in silence, both preoccupied with their own trains of thought.
Once about half of the bag had been emptied and placed into the ground, Lapis rose to her feet again. “Want to plant the rest, or is this good for now?”
Peridot thought for a minute. “Hm…I think this is good for now.”
Part of her wanted to say “let's plant the rest” to get Lapis to stay with her longer.
But the other part of her was suddenly feeling the urge to bolt until she could figure out these strange new feelings.
“All right.” Lapis closed the bag and headed over to the barn to put it back.
Peridot watched her leave, more perplexing thoughts and feelings warring inside her.
Lapis returned a minute later. “So…anything else you want to do? We could watch some Camp Pining Hearts, maybe?”
Normally, Peridot would never turn down an invitation to watch the show she had ended up being completely obsessed with, especially an invitation to watch it with her best friend, but…
“Actually, I'm feeling a bit tired,” she replied.
It was probably the least convincing lie ever, considering she wasn't usually one to sleep and didn't need to anyway due to being a Gem. But Peridot was experiencing feelings which she had no idea whether they were normal, sue her for not thinking up some elaborate falsehood on the spot.
“Oh, that's okay,” Lapis assured her. “Another time then?”
“Uhm…yeah, that sounds good! Thanks!” Peridot started to march towards a certain house on the beach.
“The barn’s that way, Peri.” Lapis pointed towards it with her thumb.
Gah, she just had to use that nickname again… “Oh, right, right, right!” Peridot laughed nervously. “I uh…I just remembered that I left something over at Steven's house!”
Lapis blinked a few times.
“I'll be back later, it was fun taking care of the plants with you, I gotta go, please don't follow me, byyyyyyeeeeeeee!” The words all came out in a rush. With that, Peridot took off and made a beeline for Steven's house.
Lapis watched her run away in confusion.
Then a sense of worry began to sink in.
Is she…avoiding me? Did I do something wrong? she wondered. She mentally ran through the day so far and didn't discover what she could've done wrong. The two of them had mostly just been tending to their garden and making idle chat here and there. But then again, Lapis always felt like she was slipping up somehow. So she likely had again.
Peridot continued to sprint away until she was out of Lapis’s sight, then she slowed her pace down and dragged her feet up the stairs to Steven's house.
She knocked once before turning the knob.
Apparently, the door was open.
Also apparently, Peridot needed to remind someone how dangerous it was to do that.
But for now, she entered the house and looked around.
The Crystal Gems were nowhere to be seen. Peridot figured they were out on a mission or something.
That was fine. It was Steven she wanted to talk to, anyway.
She looked around, pausing as she noticed the Steven in question chilling up in his room.
She began to climb the stairs. She needed some answers, and she needed them now.