Archive of Our Own ^beta

Friday nights, for most people, involved neglecting homework and hanging out with friends, whether that'd be at a party or at something simple like the movies, either was socially acceptable. However, in Peridot's point of view, Friday nights equaled hardcore gaming and screaming at uneducated 12-year-old boys who utter the hopeless phrase "your mom" one too many times in a server lobby. With her headset on and a brand new bag of Doritos on her lap, Peridot was prepared for a successful evening, and it was only 8pm. 

She made herself comfortable on the sofa, readjusting her thin-framed glasses as she did so. Her room was completely dark, the black curtains drawn and any source of light diminished. And, to top off the sheer perfection of her surroundings, her door was locked, so nobody could enter her room without permission.

Or so she thought.

Peridot had barely started a game when her bedroom door opened, and light engulfed her field of vision, causing her eyes to burn for just a second of two. She groaned and covered her face, desperately fighting to hold in the string of curse words that immediately came to mind.

"Why do you insist on keeping your room so dark all the time?" A lamp was turned on, causing orange glares to reflect on the TV screen. 

Peridot paused her game and tossed her controller to the floor in annoyance. She glanced up and made eye contact with her mother, who was standing by the now-turned-on lamp. Mrs Diamond was a tall and elegant woman, who always kept her platinum blonde hair in a tight bun, and always wore only the most fashionable of pencil skirts. Then there was Peridot, who was the exact opposite, save for the 'tall' part. If there was anything Peridot inherited from her mother, it was her height. Other than that, she might as well have been switched at birth. "Why do you insist on walking in here all the time without knocking?" Peridot retorted, making a face. "And I thought my door was locked."

"Hm. The lock must be broken." Her mother said, crossing her arms and casting a curious look at the door. Peridot pushed her hands under her glasses to rub her eyes tiredly.

"Okay, so why did you come in here?" Peridot asked. 

Mrs Diamond did not hesitate. "What are your plans for the weekend?" 

"Um, I was going to play Call of Duty tonight, and I was thinking of replaying The Last of Us tomorrow because that game is amazing--"

"No plans with friends?" Mrs Diamond pressed on.

Peridot sighed through her nose. "I've told you before, Mom; nobody wants to hang out with the mayor's daughter." She said as she picked the controller back up, feeling the conversation come to a close. 

"You and that Lazuli girl have gotten pretty close." 

"Oh." Peridot said, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. She began to fiddle with the joysticks on the controller, not wanting to meet her mother's eyes. And then, in a quiet tone, she said, "Well, Lapis is the only exception."

"That's certainly good to hear," Her mother replied, stepping back out into the hall. With one hand on the door, she glanced over her shoulder. "Because I invited her over for you."

"What?!" Peridot exclaimed, jumping up from her seat on the sofa. "You can't just -- you can't just set up playdates for me, Mom -- I am seventeen years old."

"Your age doesn't define your ability to maintain friendships."

"Mother," Peridot said sternly. As she said that, she caught sight of what she looked like in her mirror. Peridot grimaced at her soda-stained sweatpants and wrinkled T-shirt. Her short hair was in a small ponytail of sorts on top of her head, but that didn't stop it from looking any less greasy. There was no use in texting Lapis and telling her not to come, she was probably on her way over already. Peridot was just going to have to suck it up and actually hang out with her friend for the night.

Except that was it -- they weren't just friends. Peridot and Lapis had started going out a few weeks prior, secretly, behind everyone's backs. They mostly hung out during school, but there was the odd night when Peridot's mother was busy with her mayoral duties Peridot would sneak out to visit Lapis. The two girls had agreed not to tell anybody about their relationship because, in simple truth, some people this day and age were still homophobic, and those people knowing the mayor's daughter was in a relationship with another girl would only cause chaos. Plus, both of their parents never really voiced their opinions on subjects like that, so who's to say their own families weren't homophobic themselves? Is was best just to keep it all a secret until they were both absolutely positive they were ready to come out.

That's also kind of why they never hung out at each other's houses when their families were home; for fear of being caught doing something that exposed their relationship, such as kissing. It was too risky, and now even more so with Peridot's mysteriously broken lock.

However, there was no point in cancelling the hangout now. In actuality, Peridot saw the whole thing as a big ordeal on her mother's part to showcase her love and how much she cared. Maybe that was another thing they had in common; they both were terrible at talking about their feelings. But besides that, the fact that her mother did care about her nearly nonexistent social life was nice.

"What time's she gonna be here?" Peridot asked, accepting the fact that the sleepover was happening whether she wanted it to or not.

"Twenty minutes, probably." Mrs Diamond replied. Peridot nodded in response and her mother finally left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Peridot glanced in her mirror again and scrunched her nose up in disgust. She really needed a shower.

************

Twenty minutes later, Peridot heard the front doorbell ring. She was now clean and smelled a whole lot better, her hair was wet but it was still up in a ponytail, and she was wearing a fresh pair of black sweatpants and a tight lime-green tank top. When Peridot heard the loud chimes echo through her house, she rushed out her bedroom, immediately thinking of about 70 consequences of her mother opening the door.

She scampered down the corridor, weaving through various hallways, mentally mapping out the fastest route to the front entrance. Peridot made it to the top of the grand staircase in seconds, and yet she was still too late. Her mother stood at the door, smiling politely at a very uneasy Lapis Lazuli. Peridot's stomach dropped.

Lapis then looked up and caught sight of Peridot. A huge smile broke out on her cheeks. "Peri!" She said in the sweetest tone, causing a thousand butterflies to explode in Peridot's chest. The latter girl felt her cheeks burning up again and she bit her lip, avoiding eye contact all together.

"Well, I'll let you go on ahead up, then," Mrs Diamond said, stepping out of the way. "Have fun."

"Thanks!" Lapis said, before practically leaping up the marble staircase.

"H-hey," Peridot said when Lapis reached the top. "I'm really sorry about all this, my mom--"

"She didn't find out about us, did she?" Lapis interrupted, her voice dropping drastically in volume. Concern was written all over her face, eyes wide and lips slightly parted. 

"No, no she didn't," Peridot assured, and then paused. Maybe the whole caring-about-your-social-life was all just a big lie to cover up her real intentions; somehow she'd found out about their relationship and now wanted to meet the girl her daughter was dating. Even if it was extremely unlikely, it was still a possibility. Another possibility was that Peridot was just paranoid. "Come on, let's go to my room."

They walked along in silence for a few moments, Peridot fidgeting and mostly staring straight ahead. Lapis kept a tight grip on the backpack strap, eyes glistening as she took in just how large and magnificent the house was. Peridot did have the biggest home in the entire city, after all, and this was Lapis's first time inside it as well. Eventually the two made it down to Peridot's room, and they entered, Peridot locking the door after they stepped in, despite the fact that it was incredibly futile. 

"I like your room, Peri," Lapis said, admiring the deep green walls and the sparkly teardrop chandelier. She made herself at home and sat down on the leather sofa, wrapping one of the wool blankets around her shoulders. "And I kinda got the whole vibe that your mom phoned me without your knowing, so I'm sorry if I'm interrupting any plans you'd made."

"Don't apologize," Peridot said shyly, tentatively sitting on the couch as well. "Yeah, I thought I was going to spend tonight alone, but I'm glad you're here."

"Aw, that's sweet," Lapis replied, smirking. "But even if you are okay with it, I still brought gifts."

Peridot frowned. "Gifts?"

"Yeah," Lapis said, unzipping her backpack. "I have some chocolate bars, a six pack of Mountain Dew and a box of glowsticks. Of course, you will be sharing all of the above, that's not your decision."

"You're amazing." Peridot exclaimed before she could stop herself. Lapis grinned her cheeky little smile and Peridot gulped. "I-I mean, thank you."

"It's no problem." Lapis said. "And it looks like you're already in your pyjamas, so I'm going to go ahead and get changed, too."

Peridot watched her walk away with her bag into the bathroom, and then grabbed her controller. Lapis really enjoyed playing video games, too, and she wouldn't mind if Peridot played while they hung out. One way or another they'd both end up playing together eventually, each of them equally as into the game, shouting rude remarks and cursing at other players. That always happened when Peridot snuck over to Lapis's house.

She set up the game, making sure to connect a second controller and another headset for Lapis. Peridot did get somewhat curious as she waited for Lapis to return, and decided to inspect the box of glowsticks. She peeled off the protective packaging and yanked open the top, her eyes instantly growing in size. For such a small box, they certainly packed a lot of those little suckers in there. There were decently big, too, which added to Peridot's state of awe. She picked out a blue one and cracked it, shaking it to get the full effect. Peridot took a minute to adore how such a small object held so much light and had the ability to illuminate so many things around it.

"Hey, no, I dibs the blue ones," Lapis said jokingly, plucking the stick from Peridot's hands. She dug around in the box before she pulled out four green ones as well as a thick black string. Lapis quickly cracked and shook each of them before sliding them on the string. She tied a knot and handed her creation to Peridot who made a face at it. "It's a necklace, stupid."

"I'm not an idiot." Peridot remarked, slinging the string around her neck.

A few hours into their gaming session, Peridot was subconsciously chewing on two of the glowsticks that were around her neck. Now, to be fair, she should've known better; all her life Peridot's had abnormally sharp teeth. Chewing on something as easily penetrable as a glowstick with teeth like hers was just a disaster waiting to happen. That's why when they did explode, Peridot really shouldn't have been surprised.

"Ah, gross!" She exclaimed, grimacing and trying to keep her mouth open, dropping the two broken glowsticks. Lapis paused the game and glanced over, completely losing it. She burst out laughing at the sight of glowing green goo dripping from Peridot's mouth and onto her clothes. Peridot glared at her girlfriend. "Is this stuff toxic?"

"Nah, they started making them non-toxic when they realized how many children ate them." Lapis answered, still clutching her gut in a fit of chuckles. "But you should probably rinse out your mouth."

"And change my clothes," Peridot grumbled, standing up. She stretched out her arms, shutting her eyes and letting out a yawn. She was then surprised by feeling a pair of lips pressed against her own. Hands snaked around her waist and pulled her close, and Peridot naturally responded to the kiss. Lapis always got a knack out of catching her off guard with surprise kisses, and, truthfully, Peridot really didn't mind at all.

The kiss deepened, and as their tongues met, all Peridot could think about the fact that her entire face was still dripping with that God-awful liquid. She pulled out of the embrace and swallowed, knowing damn well that she had just ingested glowstick goo. "Am I going to die?"

"If you do, then I probably will, too," Lapis said, her now glowing green lips forming a grin. "Come on, let's go wash up."

After having thoroughly rinsed their mouths and brushed their teeth, they exited the washroom. Lapis yawned and rubbed her eyes. "I think I'm going to go ahead and crash, it's pretty late."

"Yeah, same," Peridot agreed. She went back over to shut off the TV and her gaming console, and returned to the opposite side of her bedroom where her bed was. Lapis was already under the covers, eyes shut. Peridot felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she laid down, too, never taking her eyes off of her beautiful girlfriend. Even if the sleepover was totally unplanned for and unexpected, Peridot still had a good time. Maybe they could do this more often at her house from now on. 

And so they both drifted off into peaceful sleeps, neither of them remembering to take off their glowstick necklaces.