Lapis and Peridot

No more cryin' in the dark...

[Peridot's POV]

"PERIDOT!" Jasper's voice tore through the control room. I was ready for her; all evidence of what I had been doing was hidden away and I was tapping my way around my screen, scanning the area around the ship using radar and making sure our ship's course was clear. "PERIDOT!" Gahh...

"What is it this time, Jasper?"

"The little blue prisoner-brat - Lazuli! She needs to be punished. You punish her!"

"Punished for what exactly?"

Jasper glared at me. "You don't need to know! You just need to do as I say!"

"Jasper, I've already told you. We need to avoid unnecessary punishment. Lazuli-" whoops, I almost said Lapis!- "is less use to us if injured. And I am not under your command. In case you've forgotten, this is MY mission. Yellow Diamond put me in charge."

"She was RUDE to me, Peridot. Punish her in any way you like but I want her PUNISHED." Jasper glared at me. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Fine. I'll find a way to punish her. Now go back to whatever you were doing before and leave me to my work." I had been trying to avoid Jasper recently, to keep her from discovering anything that could excite her suspicions as to my loyalty to Yellow Diamond. I was loyal, I told myself. I was just checking what these emotions did. At least, that's my excuse. Even my thoughts were sarcastic and self-doubting. Jasper left me to my worries, grumbling that I had better go do it NOW. I decided to take her advice and go check on Lapis. Might as well. I'd compose myself on the way there... goodness knows I couldn't show up at Lapis' cell as confused as I was now.

[Lapis' POV]

Is Peridot going to come and punish me, like Jasper said she'd ask her to? I wondered. A small part of me hoped she wouldn't, but most of me believed she would. I couldn't have changed her that much, regardless of what she had said or let slip. She'll come and - I know Peridot won't hurt me physically, not if she argued with Jasper and told Jasper not to. But she will do something. I sighed and settled down to wait, standing against the far wall of the cell. When I had spoken back to Jasper it had given me a strange feeling of power, and that feeling was only just starting to die down.

Please, please let Peridot be merciful, I pleaded - though with who, I didn't know. The next moment I heard metallic clanks coming down the hallway. Please... I closed my eyes and covered them with my fingers, preparing for harsh words from Peridot. She was going to shout at me - I just knew it -

"Lapis?" Peridot's voice was softer than I would have thought possible. I peeked at her from between two fingers. "Lapis, Jasper wants me to punish you. But I ca- I don't want to do so." She can't? What's that supposed to mean? "So instead... can we just..." Peridot took a breath. "Just talk?"

"Oh. Okay. Good!" Whoops, perhaps that was a bit over enthusiastic. I was mostly just relieved that I wasn't going to be punished. And a voice in my heart whispered that I was glad Peridot was staying. A voice in my heart whispered that maybe she could be my friend. I dismissed the idea. She was my captor and I was her prisoner and she probably didn't care about me almost at all. Friends? That was a silly idea, and I knew it even if my emotions did not.

Peridot opened the cell and stepped in. She didn't bother to close it behind her. Does that mean she trusts me? Or at the very least knows I'm not stupid enough to try and escape? I dismissed the thoughts and turned my mind to the task at hand: interpreting Peridot's actions. Peridot stood across from me in the cell, hesitating. She voiced a single word, a command, then: "Sit."

I sat. She lowered herself to the ground across from me, metal limbs clanking against the ground. Her legs were out in front of her, posture very proper. She wasn't sitting against the wall (it would probably mess up her hair, I figured) and her hands were just crossed in front of her. I, on the other hand, was leaning against the wall with my legs curled under me.

"Now." Peridot closed the yellow electronic barrier, almost as an afterthought. The silence that followed the word was very awkward. I broke the quiet with a blurted thought that I immediately regretted putting into words, but couldn't take back.

"Peridot, do you like me? As a gem, I mean?"

There was an even longer silence, during which neither of us moved.

"...I do not dislike you." That was probably all the response I was going to get from her. She followed it up with her own question: "Do you like me?"

I didn't really know what to say to that, but decided to be honest. I had no reason not to be. "Well, I think I could like you. If we were... in a different situation. Right now, as your prisoner, it's a little more difficult. But you're an intelligent, interesting, unique being - although there may be other Peridots you can't possibly tell me they're just like you because I'm sure they're not - and so..." I trailed off, surprised at the expression on Peridot's face. Her eyes were shining and her cheeks were darkened. She was really sensitive, wasn't she? As much as she tried to hide it. "...right now, I don't dislike you, but I don't really like you either - but I could. And I might."

Peridot didn't say anything for a minute, just nodded. Then she spoke. "Thank you for your honesty."

"...Uh... you're welcome?" I smiled tentatively.

Slowly, warily, as if she hadn't done so in years and was afraid that if she did she would be punished for it - Peridot smiled back.