Hello! This series was an idea I'd had in the back burner for a while; I feel like for as much rich character and plot development Steven Universe has, it still doesn't fully touch on the evolution of Lapis and Peridot's friendship. I mean, they weren't exactly on the best of terms in Barn Mates, and yet the next time we see them interacting in Beta, they're getting along quite swimmingly. So, yeah. I've planned on making a series of vignettes about the budding relationship of these two unlikely friends. The stories are all in chronological order, picking up between the events of Hit the Diamond and Steven Floats, after Steven leaves Lapis and Peridot by themselves at the Barn and returns to Beach City.

Please note that this series does NOT have a definite ending point; after this series is up-to-date with the events of the latest Steven Universe episode, I will keep updating it as new moments between Lapis and Peridot are shown in canon.

I think we're good now. Thanks for the read! :)

Penetrating the Solidified Water

(i.e., Peridot Desperately Attempts to Make Lapis Break the Ice)

Click.

"Log date: eight one seven two." Peridot took a deep breath.

"AAAAGHHH!"

Click.

Steven kept encouraging to use her words, but that was the only way Peridot could sum up her feelings right now. Within the span of a single Earth revolution, she had successfully managed to land on the gemforsaken planet, survey the Cluster, forge an unlikely alliance to destroy it, and become a savior to humankind (not that she ever got enough credit for it, anyway, but that was a different problem entirely).

But her latest mission? It was an absolute disaster.

Despite saving Peridot's life from those loudmouthed, violent Rubies, the Lazuli had refused to talk to her since. And in all honesty, Peridot herself was a bit too scared to push it any further. The Lazuli had agreed to live with her; that in itself was more than she had expected. And she had seen for herself what could happen if you push things too far on this planet.

But Lazuli wasn't from this planet. She was just like her: a lone Homeworld gem on a strange planet with no way back or any desire to go return to her original dwelling.

So, naturally, she should get along with Peridot. Like meets like. The only logical outcome.

But logic never worked on Earth, either. Logic. Peridot's go-to method for cracking any problem. But by logic, Peridot would never have had the desire to befriend a wild, unruly Amethyst. By logic, Garnet should not be so comfortable as a permafusion, made of total opposites who were somehow always melded together. By logic, Pearls belonged alongside their masters as an accessory, not as the pilot of a spaceship or a robot. By logic, a hybrid gem species such as Steven shouldn't even exist. But the Earth seemed to love harboring the impossible.

It also seemed to love messing with Peridot's mind. Logically, she could still continue her day-to-day activities without holding any conversation with Lazuli. So why was she still trying to find a solution? Was there any problem to solve in the first place?

"Rrrrgh," she grumbled, a bit softer this time. She plopped down onto the barn floor, her head propped up by a small, green arm resting in between her chin and knee. She glared pensively at the planks of wood below her, thinking about that ridiculous thing Steven had told her before he had left Peridot alone with Lazuli.

Just try to break the ice! he had said cheerfully, stuffing his pajamas into his duffel bag (why humans needed to change their appearance modifiers before resting was beyond Peridot. What was the point if they'd just close their eyes and not look at their new attire? Just one more thing that made no sense on this planet).

"Hmm..." Peridot wondered aloud. "Break the ice. But why? Is it because Lazulis like water?"

But this particular Lazuli didn't seem quite fond of water, and for good reason. Peridot couldn't imagine being stuck with Jasper, of all people, under an entire sea of water for for more than an entire Earth revolution. What a nightmare. She shuddered. Steven's advice must have had some other reason behind it. And Peridot would never admit it openly, but she was out of ideas. She wasn't quite sure which one it was, but Steven either knew Lazuli longer or better than Peridot. Perhaps it was both.

She stood up, resigned to get to work with Steven's suggestion. This planet didn't give her much leeway for logic, anyways. She might as well just throw it out the window altogether.

Approximately one Earth rotation later, Peridot went running up to the silo, making her presence known to the Lazuli through both the noisy clangs and sloshes the bucket she was carrying made and through her incessant yelling.

"HEY LAZULI! LAZULI! HEY LAZULI! HEY!"

No response.

"Hmm...maybe I should yell louder," Peridot muttered. She took a deep breath. "HEY, LAZ—!"

"SHUT UP!" came a cry from a above. Huh, so she had heard Peridot.

"BUT YOU HAVE TO COME DOWN HERE QUICKLY BEFORE THE ICE MELTS!"

"Wait...what?" A blue head peered down from the silo, looking somewhat confused.

"THE ICE! IN THIS BUCKET! YOU HAVE TO—"

Peridot stopped in mid-sentence as the blue gem floated down to the ground.

"You don't have to yell. I can hear you perfectly fine from up there."

"...Oh. Well then, why don't you ever answer?"

Lapis snorted. "'Cause you're annoying."

"But I don't want to be!"

"Well, good luck with that."

"No! Really." Peridot stuck the bucket out to Lapis.

Lapis peered into the bucket, narrowing her eyes. "Ice? Are you trying to offer me more water? I told you I want to stay away from it."

"I know you do!" Peridot said, nearly dropping the bucket in frustration. "That's why I had no idea why Steven told me to do this!"

"Wait, Steven told you to give me this?"

"Well...not exactly. I asked him how to get on better terms with you and he told me to break the ice."

Lapis's nose wrinkled in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know! But I have ice in this bucket. And an axe."

"Where's the axe?"

"It's, uh—" Peridot set the bucket on the floor, scanning the grass around her before slapping her gem with her hand. "I left it back at the barn. Uh...I'll be back! Don't move!"

Peridot frantically ran to the barn, scrambling to get the axe before the Lazuli flew back up to the silo. Miraculously, for some reason, she had decided to speak with Peridot. This was her one chance to take advantage of that. This ice had to be broken before it was too late.

That's why she was beyond aggravated when she came back to see both the bucket and the gem gone.

She stamped her feet in the dirt, dropping the axe. "Where did you—ack!" she yelped. Something small, cold, and wet hit her nose from up above.

Peridot stared up at the silo, where Lapis was sitting, a bucket nested in the crook of her arm.

"What the...what are you doing?!" she demanded.

"Breaking the ice," Lapis responded coolly. She scooped up a handful of it from the bucket and showered it on the green gem, resulting in a series of incoherent screeches from below.

Peridot wiped water off her visor. "You're not supposed to do that by throwing it at me!"

"Hey, it's working."

"Yeah?! Well, take this!" Peridot violently tore out some grass from the ground and threw it upwards when she remembered that gravity did, in fact, not work that way. The blades floated back down as more icy shrapnel fell on her from above.

She shook herself dry, picked up the axe, and tramped back to the barn, face burning with humiliation as she heard the Lazuli snicker loudly in the background.

Wait. She stopped in her tracks. Laughter. She had successfully managed that surly gem laugh. Perhaps she was getting somewhere thanks to her strangely above-average knack for being 'funny'.

But as Peridot picked out shards of ice buried in her hair, she knew that she couldn't get showered in frozen water every day just to make Lazuli hate her less. There had to be some other ways to make amends that didn't involve buckets of ice.

And she was determined to find out what they were.

Lapis isn't known by Peridot as 'Lapis' just yet—in canon, Peri initially refers to Lapis as 'Lazuli' before gradually calling her by the first half of her name.

Also, yes! I am aware that Lapis destroyed Peridot's tape recorder in Barn Mates, even though it is implied that she is using a tape recorder in this chapter. More on that in the next chapter!

Midterms are coming up in school, so the next update may take a while. I'm enjoying writing this series and getting a feel for the characters, though. I had a bit of trouble with getting a feel for Lapis, but hopefully she is in-character enough. Until next time! :)