Don't let me be alone

Chapter Eight Comfort

"Why would you do all of this for me? I don't understand." Lapis said. She was confused and slightly defensive towards the modern age gem, but at the same time she had obviously taken the effort to design the room for her, which she though was pretty sweet of her.

Peridot looked at the ground, pretty embarrassed. "I wanted you to have a safe place to reform...and for you to hate me less for working for Yellow Diamond..." She said quietly. She knew Lapis was never going to accept her. This whole project was a big waste of time.

"Oh...well, it's really sweet of you to do this Peridot...thank you. And thank you for being so nice to me when Yellow Diamond had me interrogated. I needed a friend..." Lapis said, biting her lip.

Peridot really had tried her best to ensure no harm came to Lapis while she was back on Homeworld. In fact, one of the main reasons Lapis had come back to earth in the first place was because Peridot didn't want the guards torturing her, forcing her to fuse with other gems. It was vile what they did.

"I just wanted you to be safe." Peridot said with an awkward little smile. "Um...Steven offered to let us stay in the temple, but I didn't want Pearl to be so close to you. And this is a lot roomier. Assuming you want to stay here that is! I mean I can't make you do anything you don't want, but I just figured you would want to live here." Peridot said incredibly awkwardly.

Lapis giggled a little bit, causing Peridot's heart to melt. "It's okay. I'll stay here...with you. I don't like the Crystal Gems anyway. Only Steven. My Beach Summer Fun Buddy." Lapis said. She went into the small pool and enjoyed the warm water on her feet. "I can't believe you did this for me..."

Peridot gulped, hoping she wasn't looking into it too far. "You deserve a little luxury after what you've been through. I was just about to decorate our rooms. Would you like to help with yours?" Peridot asked, her little robonoids standing at attention by her feet, and number one beginning to climb up onto her shoulder.

"Hey what are those?" Lapis said, smiling. "They're super cute!" She bent to pick one up and one of them ran into her hand and onto her shoulder. She gave another one of her giggles that made Peridot all warm and fuzzy inside. She turned away before Lapis could see her blush and headed up stairs, Lapis following.

"What do you want your room to look like?" Peridot said when the reached her room. She pulled up her finger pad and the Robonoids stood at attention.

"Make it all oceany like downstairs, but put a nice big bed right in the middle of it. I'm kinda sleepy...being Malachite was...stressful." Lapis said, clutching her arm.

"What is sleepy?" Peridot said after punching in the commands. Her robonoids focused on building the bed first.

"Sleep is when you kinda...put your brain on auto pilot. You're mind is free to wander while you are unconscious." Lapis said, trying to explain. When the bed was finished she went and flopped down on it, giggling.

"Mmmm...soft..." She said. She looked up at Peridot, who stood awkwardly by the door, not really knowing what to do.

"Lapis...I'm sorry..." Peridot said, looking at the floor. "I'm sorry for having to keep you trapped. I'm sorry for bringing you back to earth. I'm sorry for what Jasper did to you...I'm just...I'm sorry."

Lapis frowned and got up, standing in front of Peridot. "It's okay...I know that you didn't really want to do any of those things, and you've always treated me very kindly. Thank you for keeping me out of Homeworld prison...I owe you one I think for doing that." She said. She gave Peridot a hug, causing her to blush a dark shade of green as she hugged back.

"Hey I have an idea. I could show you how to sleep!" Lapis said, poking Peridot in the side. She twirled Peridot in such a way that she fell on the bed onto her back with a yelp. Lapis dove in next to her, laughing.

"I-I don't know about this Lapis..." Peridot said shakily, trying to hide her glee behind a shroud of awkward nervousness.

"Oh I insist! You'll love it! Dreaming can be so fun!" Lapis said. She pulled the covers over them. "Let's get this off of you." She said. She removed Peridot's visor and placed it on the floor for one of the robonoids to handle, then she scooted a bit closer to her.

"All you have to do, is close your eyes and try not to think too hard" Lapis said, snuggling up against Peridot.

"O-okay..." Peridot was practically melting. Never had she thought she would be this close to Lapis, ever. She wrapped her arms around the blue gem and soon, remarkably, they were both fast asleep.

That is, until Peridot's dream hologram started playing.