B-side logs: On the topic of human behavior and other observations

Contains Logs 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2

by

Silver-Eyed Rukia

Rated: T

Pairing: None (so far), Gem friendship

Note: Please ignore any mistakes. Or point them out and correct me, whatever you prefer.

"Yet unnamed log 1.0: The human-gem hybrid insisted on teaching me more about the earthlings' behavior and rituals, so I opted on starting a new log-series concerning his future teachings. My hopes are, scientifically speaking, fairly low but maybe I will indeed learn more about this rock and its inhabitants while I am stuck here."

Peridot pressed the stop button on her recorder and let out a barely audible sigh as she watched "the dad" approach in his human vessel that everyone just called van. Steven had suggested spending some time with the dad and she had been convinced to join the pair for the day by a very persuasive Garnet.

Greg killed the engine before excitedly hopping out of his car and ruffling through his son's hair, earning him a playful swat at his arms by the now giggling boy. Steven turned around to wave goodbye to Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl before motioning for Peridot to come over and join them.

"Yet unnamed log 1.1: My previous test to see if all of earth's creatures can fly proved that the dad, and in conclusion all humans, are not able to fly, maybe that is why they invented vehicles. Their physical forms appear to be highly ineffective. They consume much more energy than they seem to put out, which results in an," she started, eyeing Greg's midsection with a curious gaze, "increased body mass. I have yet to determine the advantages and disadvantages of said mass but it appears to be…soft." The green gem muttered a quiet "weird" before making her way over to the two humans, trying to ignore the teasing from the purple gem.

"Yo Peri, have fun with the Universes. And try to not blow anything up!"

"That would violate our truce agreements you clod!"

"Come on Peridot, we're leaving. You sit in the back", the black haired boy exclaimed while taking the green gems hand, opening the door for her and leading her inside. She had been sitting in a human vehicle before but that one had been defective and this one was still working. The doors snapped shut and the gem flinched back from the noise, cautiously shuffling to the middle of the backseat. The engine sprung to life and caused a slight tremor and it took some of her newly obtained practice to not get scared by it, thinking it might be the cluster emerging from the earth's core.

"Buckle up buddy, you know this old van is not exactly the safest thing out there", Greg joked and waited for his son to fasten his seatbelt before eyeing his second passenger in the back. "You too."

Peridot raised an eyebrow. "What's buckle up?"

"You have to put on your seatbelt, for safety. See?" Steven pulled on his belt and let it snap back onto his chest, grinning as he watched the offworlder fumble with the black strap dangling down from the ceiling. The fight between gem and safety measure was accompanied by a vast array of grunts and mumbled curses as she only continued entangling herself in the ever longer growing belt until it suddenly snapped back, successfully lifting her with it and strapping her against the roof.

"What is this contraption doing? I thought you said it was a safety measure! Get it off of me!"

Greg had to stifle his laughter as his son removed his own belt before climbing into the back, dodging some green, flailing limbs before stripping the strap off the now whining gem. Peridot plopped down onto the seat below and did her best at trying to look smooth, sitting down with her arms crossed over her chest. "I had the situation under control. Still…thank you."

"Not a problem, Dot", Steven grinned and plugged the seatbelt into its designated opening before returning to his seat, never noticing the faint, embarrassed blush covering the alien's cheeks. The van finally rolled into motion and it didn't take long before they were on the street headed straight for the beach.

At first the ride was a relatively quiet one, only occasionally interrupted by curious noises coming from the offworlder when she saw something new passing them by outside the van. She made mental notes to ask Steven about it later, attention returning to the front of the car as the pair argued about what CD to play during the ride. What a CD was though, she didn't really know.

"Oh, come on dad. I love your B-Side songs. Let's listen to some of them."

The ex-rock star scratched his cheek in an attempt to hide the redness creeping up in them before chuckling and slipping one of his old CD's into the player. "Okay then Stooh-ball, if it makes you happy."

The song started playing and Steven immediately began bouncing along to the rhythm, not missing a beat when the lyrics sprung to life and even his dad, spurred on by his son's enthusiasm, joined in and sang along with him. The pair barely noticed a lime coloured arm reaching between them and cautiously poking the device. Only when a triangle-shaped shock of greenish-yellow hair came into view did the teen pause his singing, looking at the gem in mild confusion and slight discomfort. Why he felt the later he didn't quite know yet.

"How is he singing twice at the same time", Peridot asked, gaze directed at the older of the two humans while pointing at the radio. "Didn't you say music was made by pulling strings? Is there a smaller "the dad" inside this machine?"

"No, that's a CD. It saves singing and melodies similar to how your recorder works, only that a CD is a disk and not a tape", Greg answered and mumbled a quiet "and I am not "the dad" before pushing the eject button, thus stopping the music and holding the disk up for the gem to see. She grabbed it and sat back on her seat, eyeing it from every angle before handing it back to Steven. "What is a B-side then?"

The teen shrugged and looked at his parent for help. "Back in the day people used to listen to music on much bigger disks than our CDs today. One side contained their "preferred" or "better" songs, and the other side contained songs that were more or less just extras, that's why they are called A-side and B-side. Some famous artists had popular songs on the B-Side though, so nowadays the B usually stands for bonus. So B-side songs are bonus songs." Greg gave a half-smile at the utterly amazed look on his son's face before returning his attention back on the road, voicing a short "'We're nearly there" at his two passengers.

"Wow dad, you're so knowledgeable, like a real rock star!"

"Heh, well I certainly used to be. Rose loved music, you know? She would listen to me goof off about it for hours on end."

Engulfed in their conversation about the quartz neither Greg nor Steven really noticed Peridot reaching for the radio again, her thirst for knowledge urging her to find out what all the buttons and wheel thingies were for. It was then that Steven realized why he had felt such a strong sense of discomfort before and he jerked forward, grabbing the alien's arm and pulling her close against him, causing her other arm to slip off the wheel she had been playing with. The volume jumped from just below conversation levels of loud to deafeningly loud in the fraction of a second and scared the living daylights out of Greg in the process, causing him to hit the brakes and nearly slither off the road. The van came to a full stop rather violently and even though the small teen had been holding on to his gem friend Peridot had still slipped from his grasp and slammed back first into the windshield, leaving a remarkable crack in the safety glass.

It took everyone a few seconds to realize what had happened. Greg, realizing he was the only adult around, hurriedly turned off the music and made sure everyone was okay, tapping his son's shoulder and sighing in relief when he received a thumbs-up before looking at the offworlder who was, surprisingly enough, still okay and hadn't poofed from the damage.

"The left wheel increases the volume of the device it seems", the green gem remarked before letting out a small yelp as she slid off the dashboard, landing on Steven's lap. His arms immediately wrapped themselves around her small frame again and she was just about to voice her opinion about the contact when she felt something wet dropping onto her chest.

"Uhm, what is that?"

"Why did you do that?" His voice was both loud and cracking at the same time from the emotions visible and audible in both his face and his tone. "You could have gotten seriously hurt!"

"Your so called safety measure was restricting my movements so I removed it. I also recall my previous encounter with one of earth's greatest trapping technologies, the child safety lock. I assumed that your safety measures always end up with me being trapped. I would prefer not to be locked away anymore."

Peridot looked at Steven's tear-stained face and suddenly became highly uncomfortable, awkwardly scratching her cheek and wiping at his tears with her free hand. "Why is it raining from your eyes?"

"Those are tears, Peridot", Greg softly explained as he watched the two share a moment, "humans cry when they are sad or hurt."

"But he didn't sustain any exterior damage to his physical form."

"No, but you hurt his feelings."

The gem watched as the teen wiped his tears off on his shirt, still somehow holding onto his green alien friend in the process. She cleared her throat and placed both her hands on Steven's cheeks, squishing them together in an attempt at comic relief while gathering the courage to voice her thoughts out loud.

"It seems that I have…misinterpreted your previous use of the word safety and thus came to a flawed conclusion about its actual meaning. I shall proceed with my research on the topic of safety and share with you my newfound results. I appreciate your concern, so stop leaking your emotions on me. It makes me feel small."

A slightly garbled "Peridot!" left his mouth as his cheeks were still being squished by the gem and he hugged her even tighter, causing the alien to voice her dislike about the more than average amount of physical contact. Greg saw a familiar form appear in the rearview mirror and he exited his van, waving at Garnet as she came strolling down the street. Peridot whined and wriggled out of the embrace, jumping onto the backseat and holding a foot out to keep Steven away from her. "I don't need bodily warmth, go share it with the dad!" Said man had walked up to the front of the van, gem fusion in tow, and was now showing her the extent of the damage the smaller gem had accidentally caused.

"Garnet!"

Steven excitedly removed his seatbelt and nearly flew into Garnet's arms, laughing as the tall woman lifted him up and smiled at his happiness upon seeing her. They looked like they actually belonged together, they looked like…"Family", Peridot muttered. It was a word she had caught from one of the many conversations between the Crystal Gems, but she hadn't really understood what it was. She searched the van for her recorder and let out a relieved sigh when she found it to be working still.

"Yet unnamed log 1.2: After an unfortunate accident caused by my still lacking knowledge of the earthling's customs I realized that I still need to learn about many things I haven't even considered up to this point. All these "emotions" humans possess seem to be tied to some sort of physical reaction, which seems odd. They have a visible effect on other humans and even gems, as I have experienced myself today. Note to self, research emotions. But at least I have found a name for my logs now, I think I will call them…B-side logs."

So...I binge-watched Steven Universe (I watched all 78 episodes and all extras in like 5 days) and this is the result. I was stuck in a pretty bad writer's block but guess what: THE GREEN SPACE DORITO SAVED ME! All hail the space Dorito! (Jk, but I seriously love Peridot. And Garnet)

If any of you gals and pals are following my other stories...I hope I can update soon. I wanna get out of this block completely...reviews and messages are welcome, I also like any ideas or prompts you can think of :) Just let me know!

Phrase of the Day

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion and knowledge.

~Plato

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No flaming please.