Lapidot one-shots

.:+ What's Christmas? +:.

The gentle frosty flakes that skewed into the soft winter air was a rather pleasant sight for Peridot and Lapis. Over the years of knowing each other, the blue and green duo had grown rather fond of the "winter", and found that it quite enjoyable, despite the harsh circumstances. Peridot had seen snow storms like no other, ones that billowed on for hours and covered everything in cold white powder, but fortunately enough, the snow that cascaded from the sky now was tufty and delicate with the soft backdrop of pale gray clouds. To add on, this particular day was what people called a "Christmas", a day of gift giving and celebrating. It was truly strange, and despite living on earth for several years, she'd only just grown knowledge of such an event.

Peridot sighed and leaned over the parapet of little home world, watching as her breath turned to a small cloud of ice before it dissipated to nothing. Lost in her thoughts, she was taken off guard when a familiar, warm voice snuck up from behind and broke her trance.

"Hey, Peridot, what's up?"

Peridot spun around to face Lapis, sputtering for a response that wasn't pre meditated. She was particularly bad about talking on the spot. "Oh, uh, hi Lazuli!" The little gem answered, stumbling over her own words before trying to casually lean back on the rim of the building, only to plant both hands in a mound of cold, fresh snow. Peridot squeaked and shook them out, the cold tracing up through her fingers and into her palms. "Pfft-" Lapis smirked before clearing her throat audibly, shuffling her feet. "Anyways, could you come down for a second? I need your help with some wiring for a Meep morp."

Peridot, with a glowing smile, happily obliged. "Oh, of course!" She mused as she pranced towards the two double doors eagerly, kicking the snow stuck to her feet.

When it came to the potential of spending time with Lapis, she'd do just about anything, and it was a plus that this particular request was of interest. The two hardly had much time to spend together anymore now with the bustle of little homeworld and their new lives. The duo hopped down the spiral steps, Peridot ahead of Lapis out of excitement. Taking a sharp right, she twisted the knob to the "lounge" room, a room where her, Lapis, and Bismuth often went to spend their spare time together.

To Peridot's amazement, though, instead of the usual dull nature of the space, it was glimmering with red and gold ribbons accompanied with cute little hand cut paper snowflakes strung from the ceiling. What surprised her the most though was what was next to the blazing fireplace.

A fairly tall evergreen tree was bushed out almost perfectly, decked with an astonishing amount of ornaments and bearings. Peridot gave a small gasp, cupping her hands over her mouth to hide the idiotic grin she was wearing. The sweet smell of pine tickled her nose as she took a few hesitant steps forward, turning around and giving Lapis a look of "did you do this?"

Lapis nodded with a smile, crossing her arms with a faint trace of navy blush on her face.

Peridot, still taken aback, had to force one foot in front of the other before she was finally standing in front of the tree, reaching a tender hand out and caressing one of the spiny green tufts between two fingers, enjoying the soft, silicon feel of the needles. She probably would've hugged it if it wasn't so prickly.

"Do.. do you like it?" Lapis' thin voice cooed through the gawking silence.

Peridot, at loss for words, only managed a few unintelligible sounds before she finally put together a somewhat formal response. "..I love it."

Peridot's chest was thumping so loudly she wondered if Lapis could hear it. The technician stuck her hand back onto the tree, but this time grabbed an ornament that was tied to one of the branches.

It was a beautiful silver, shiny enough to see her own reflection. She flustered at the sight of her own aghast face, rubbing at the blush on her cheeks as if she could smear them off. Lapis stepped up from behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a soft but firm squeeze. "Merry Christmas, Peri."

Peridot felt her face turn an even darker shade of turquoise at the contact, and she couldn't help but stiffen in response to the touch. The comforting hand soon left her shoulder, and she spun around to quickly apologize for her defensive reaction to her gesture, only now Lapis was bent down on her knees, crawling underneath the tree and all its decorations to reach something placed at the far back. With a grunt of effort, Lapis grasped a small, palm sized box, one wrapped with glistening red paper and finished off with a sparkling emerald colored bow. On the top a small white tag stuck out from the side. It read "To Lapis and Peridot" in soft black lettering.

"Open it." Lapis giggled and sat back on her knees, shoving the small gift into Peridot's hands, which she fumbled to grasp. Sinking to the ground, still slack jawed, she carefully slid off the ribbon and grabbed the top of the box with one hand, lifting it off.

Peridot tilted her head and cocked an eyebrow at the sight of her gift.

"Pumpkin.. seeds?" She questioned out of utter confusion, squinting and holding the little box closer to her eyes for a better look. Lapis put the tips of her fingers on the rim of the box, gently pulling it down so she could meet Peridot's befuddled stare. "Not just any pumpkin seeds, our Pumpkin's seeds, and we're gonna grow them when the weather warms up, just like we did before." Lapis whispered, reaching from her pocket and tugging out a small printed picture, holding it out in front of her.

In the small frame was the two of them in their old homeworld attire, but what made her breath hitch was the little, smiling orange gourd in the center.

The moment became rather bittersweet when a mixture of joy and sadness caused Peridot to slump over with a small cry, tears welling in her eyes as she finally understood the gift. Lapis held her breath as she watched Peridot's seemingly distraught reaction. She hadn't upset her, had she?

As if on queue, Peridot burst into a series of laughing sobs, hugging the small box of delicate seeds close to her chest with the accommodation of both tears and a toothy grin. Lapis, tagging on with the moment, felt her own eyes begin to water profusely. She shuffled forward until she was a few inches away from her and gave her a tight hug, pressing her cheek against Peridot's with a small sniff.

The moment was rather brief, as Peridot pulled away with a look of worry and embarrassment. "B-but I didn't get you anything! I didn't even think-" Lapis cut her short. "No, Peri, it was a gift from me and Steven. He had the idea and I helped him with it. It's a gift for both of us, really." Lapis sat back and scratched the back of her head, looking away bashfully. Peridot looked down at the small box still cupped in her hands with blurry eyes, fighting back another wave of tears. "I still feel like I owe you something though."

"No, you don't, seeing you happy was enough," Lapis shook her head with a soft chuckle. "Well.. maybe you can do one tiny little favor.."

...

The sky had gradually turned darker as the evening turned to the night. Inside of little homeschool, a small tamed fire crackled from within its barrier, emitting small glowing embers that danced around the room in the warm flurries. Tucked away on the far side in the faint light of the flames strung a gently swaying hammock.

Peridot was laying face up, her eyes every so slightly cracked open with one hand propped behind her head and the other gently combing through Lapis' wavy blue hair. The water gem was tucked up against her side, her head resting on Peridot's stomach as she unconsciously mimicked her sleepy purr. Peridot gave a sigh, and finally felt her eyelids begin to droop shut. With the entrancing sound of the roaring fire and Lapis' content snores, she soon found herself off into a lulling sleep of her own.

A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Also this was pretty rushed and short. I wanted to get it out ASAP for the holidays!

EDIT: HEURURHF I SAID "DROOP SHIT" IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH IM SO SORRYYY