A fic for Amedot Week Day 2: First Kiss
Summary: Amethyst and Peridot figure out yet another way to improve improv.
Peridot had had a lot of bizarre experiences since coming to Earth, and while she had gotten used to many of them, every once in a while, there was a moment so weird that she had to mentally step back and wonder: How did I get here?
Take now, for instance. Here she was on an Earth beach, on stage, surrounded by humans (plus one undersized but otherwise remarkable quartz), staring at a non-existent mountain in front of them figuring out how to climb it.
Just another night of improv class for the Beach City Laugh Guards.
Their teacher, Jamie, whistled and gazed into the starry sky. “Whew! That sure is one gigantic mountain! I hear only the bravest souls will DARE to climb it.” He flung the back of his hand against his forehead dramatically. “HowEVER will we make it up there?”
“I’ve got some rope,” declared Mr. Smiley, holding out his empty hand.
“No need!” Barb exclaimed. “It just so happens that yesterday, I invented this anti-gravity belt. We can float our way up the mountain!”
Peridot interrupted, pointer finger raised. “Actually, there’s no such thing as an anti-gravity belt. You mean anti-gravity shoes… otherwise known as gravity connectors. Obviously.”
Jaime sighed. “CUT! Time out, everybody.” Breathing deeply, he steepled his fingers against his lips, then brought them down and stared at Peridot with a hard look. “Peridot, if Barb says she has an anti-gravity belt, then she HAS an anti-gravity belt.”
Peridot felt Amethyst brush her arm as she came up alongside her. “Uh, dude, I think Peri would know. At one point, she pretty much, like, OWNED the equivalent of anti-gravity shoes.”
“Exactly! Thank you!” said Peridot. Not for the first time, Peridot felt a rush of gratitude that Amethyst was doing this class with her. She always had her back. Not to mention the fact that everything was so much more fun when Amethyst was around.
“Shoes or no shoes, that’s not the point,” Jaimie interjected. “You are forgetting the fundamentals of improv. This noble art is all about saying ‘yes’ to the creativity of your fellow performers.” He clenched his fist and thumped it to his chest in emphasis. “We come together as mere lumps of creative clay in the kiln of fellowship.” Eyes shining, Jamie opened his palm in a large swooping motion across the group. “And our imagination gives rise to a creation all our own!” he finished, voice breaking with emotion.
Peridot leaned sideways closer to Amethyst and whispered, “Is he crying?”
“Yep,” she replied, with a pop on the p sound at the end.
He glared. “I heard that. The point is, you can’t contradict the other cast members. It derails the whole scene; it throws people off. It doesn’t matter whether it’s shoes or belts. Barb made a belt, so in the context of this story, you have to agree with her. Ok? So, if Barb says she has an anti-gravity belt, you say?”
Peridot blinked. “I say, um, that’s right! You DO have an anti-gravity belt!” She patted Barb’s arm congenially. “But let’s use my gravity connectors, which are better because they actually exist.”
Jamie sighed again and covered his eyes with his hand. “Ok, here, why don’t we get back to basics and switch to a new game. Do you remember how to play ‘Yes, And’? One actor says something—”
“And I reply, ‘Yes, and.’ Then I add something else onto it. I remember.”
Across the stage laid an old, weathered hat on a tall table. Jamie reached inside and rummaged through the slips of paper inside. “Peridot and Amethyst, you two start things off using the worrrrd,” He grabbed a slip and peered at it. “Ring!” He paused a moment while the two gems centered themselves onstage. “Ready? Annnnnd, ACTION!”
Immediately, Amethyst dropped to one knee and mimed opening up a tiny hinged box. “Oh, darling Peridot! Light of my life, apple of my vision sphere: Will you marry me?”
Peridot snickered, then got control of herself. “Yes, and… let’s do it today!” She glanced to Jamie to see if that was the right thing to say.
“Good,” Jamie whispered, nodding. “Keep going!”
Amethyst pretended to slip a ring onto Peridot’s fingers. “Yes annnnnnnd…” She took a moment to think. “And luckily, we’re right in front of a Vegas chapel, so we can get married right now!”
Suddenly, Mr. Smiley slid into the scene. “Yes, and I’m the ordained minister. I would be happy to marry you lovely folks today.” He straightened up and cleared his throat, adopting a very solemn demeanor. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to witness the union of these two lovebirds in holy matrimony.”
Peridot jumped in mild surprise as Amethyst reached for both of Peridot’s hands and clasped them in her own. Even though she hadn’t had much experience with weddings, Peridot thought she remembered enough about them from TV to recognize that Amethyst was attempting to act like a real couple about to take their vows. Turning to face her and looking into her deep violet eyes, Peridot felt a twinge of an emotion she couldn’t quite name, so she dropped her eyes down to linger on their intertwined hands. There was a tingling feeling in her fingers, and when one of Amethyst’s thumbs brushed against Peridot’s, that feeling rushed all the way from Peridot’s hands, up her arm, and through every part of her.
Mr. Smiley turned to Amethyst. “Repeat after me: I, Dolly Parton, take thee, Princess Leia, to be my lawfully wedded wife.”
“Yes, I… Dolly Parton? What the… Are you seriou–” Amethyst caught the death glare from Jamie and continued on in a thick southern accent. “I, Dolly Parton, take thee, Princess Leia, to be my lawfully wedded wife.”
Mr. Smiley turned to Peridot. “And you, repeat after me: “I, Princess Leia, take thee, Dolly Parton, to be my lawfully wedded wife.”
Peridot cleared her throat and continued, “Yes, I, Princess Leia, take thee, Dolly Parton, to be my lawfully wedded wife.” At the last second, she added, “And I definitely know who that is, and I’m not confused at ALL.”
Chuckling, Mr. Smiley said, “Yes, and that’s a good thing, since you’re getting married. AND, I now pronounce you wife and wife! You may kiss the bride.”
Oh. She had forgotten that part of the ritual. Whipping her head back to face Amethyst, Peridot looked at her with wide eyes.
Amethyst looked taken aback first, but then she recovered and shrugged nonchalantly, “Meh, alright, yes. Pucker up, buttercup!” Leaning forward, she pursed her lips and made a high-pitched kissing noise that Peridot supposed was exaggerated for comedic effect.
Except there was nothing funny about the feeling of Amethyst’s hands in hers. Nothing funny about the way her soft hair fell forward and tickled the sensitive stretch of skin on Peridot’s forearms. Nothing funny about gentle curve of her inviting plump violet lips.
“Yes, and…” Peridot said weakly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Barb, Jamie, and Mr. Smiley all looking on at the couple, waiting. She could hear a chuckle from Mr. Smiley. Peridot dropped Amethyst’s hands, and the purple gem’s eyes flew open. Peridot turned slightly and began to step back. “Annnd, I have some flavored lip gloss just for the occasion.” She was even closer to the edge of the stage steps now. “Let me just… grab it from home. Bye!”
She rushed away, leaving the rest of the Beach City Laugh Guards staring as she scurried away from the stage and across the beach.
Soon after, there was some debate about whether to call it a night or continue the class, especially once Amethyst had decided she should also leave to go find Peridot. Mr. Smiley felt especially bad about the whole thing, never having intended to make Peridot feel uncomfortable.
“She’ll be OK. You guys keep going!” Amethyst insisted. After all, with their next performance scheduled for tomorrow night, the group needed all the class time they could get to practice their improv skills.
And so, Amethyst set off on her own to search for her friend. Scanning the beach for any sign of the green gem, Amethyst tried to fight back the feeling of being discouraged. Not just about how long it was taking to find her but about the way the wedding scene had ended between them.
There was one particularly depressing thought that kept crossing Amethyst’s mind: ‘She’s a kindergartner whose whole job was to make gems come out the right way. She must be disgusted to kiss a defective gem like me.’ That was a harsh statement to make about herself, and probably not true. Amethyst knew this. Peridot must have just been nervous, that’s all. And just because Peridot hadn’t really shown any romantic interest in her didn’t mean she thought Amethyst was repulsive. Still, there was a tiny part of Amethyst that wondered.
Once Peridot was in eyesight, she was easy to spot with her bright green and yellow coloring and pyramid of hair, even at night. There she was, sitting on a large flat-topped rock in a deserted part of the beach, staring at the crashing waves.
Amethyst approached, clearing her throat quietly so as not to startle Peridot too much. “Hey. Mind if I sit here?”
Peridot still jumped. “Oh! Oh, Amethyst. Um, yes. Here.” She scooted over to make more room on the rock, and they both faced the deep blue ocean. It was sort of peaceful here, listening to the waves and seeing the bright expanse of stars shimming in the night sky. It might have been nice to just sit here in silence and enjoy the scenery, but certain things had to be said first.
“Hey listen,” Amethyst said hesitantly. “Forget about all that ‘You HAVE to say “Yes” all the time’ stuff from Jamie. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. OK?” Peridot didn’t say anything, so she continued, hoping a self-deprecating joke would break the tension. “I mean, I know I wouldn’t want to kiss me, so…”
Peridot stared at her feet, shuffling them through sand. “That’s not why I didn’t want to do it! You’d be a perfectly…. acceptable partner for kissing.”
“Perfectly acceptable, huh? Look at me, I’m blushing,” she teased sarcastically. But, Amethyst felt herself relax a little, as a little voice in her head said, ‘See? You were just being hard on yourself again.’
“It’s just that I’ve never kissed anyone before. And doing it for the first time is nerve-wracking enough, but to do it for the first time in front of all those other people….” She lifted her head, her nervous expression so unlike her normally confident demeanor. “And what if I’m bad at it in front of all those other people?”
Amethyst rubbed her palm against the back of her neck. “I mean, I’m no expert or anything. Just kissed some friends a few times as a goof, but from what I’ve learned, I think pretty much everybody is bad at it when they first start doing it. Just like anything else.”
“But you see my point,” Peridot pressed on. “I’ve never done it before, so I’m going to give a bad kissing performance in front of everyone.”
“Peridot, look at our improv class. We’re ALL giving embarrassingly bad performances in front of everyone.” She threw an arm around Peridot’s shoulders. “But you don’t need to worry about that anyway. Jamie’s a good guy. He won’t make you do scenes like that if you’re uncomfortable with it.”
“But isn’t this something that all actors need to learn to do? Kissing scenes?”
Amethyst sighed. “I don’t know what to tell you, Per. Heh…Unless of course you want to practice at it together, first.” She gave her a flirtatious wink.
That type of teasing might have caused Pearl to blush and look scandalized (always a hilarious result), but much to Amethyst’s surprise, Peridot exclaimed, “Amethyst! That’s exactly what we should do.”
“Rehearsal!” Excitedly, Peridot stood up and began pacing through the sand. “If I’m a novice at this, and you said you were maybe, what, an intermediate, then it only makes sense that we practice together first! That way, we can practice in private.” She turned to face the stunned purple gem with a self-assured smile. “I can’t believe no one’s ever thought about doing a rehearsal for an improv scene before. Look at us! We just keep improving improv.”
Amethyst rubbed her hand against the upper part of her arm. “I dunno, you sure you wanna do this?” she said, trying to play it cool. Well, maybe this didn’t have to be such a big deal. She knew kissing didn’t necessarily have to mean anything. After all, how many times had she planted a big wet kiss on a friend’s lips as a joke?
Of course, those friends weren’t Peridot. Cute Peridot, whose smile lit up a room. Funny, smart Peridot, who could always make Amethyst laugh with her own clever, unique take on the world around her. Her friend, Peridot, who made Amethyst feel like a spark lit up inside her even with an accidental brush of her hand.
Still, it didn’t have to be a big deal, right?
Peridot nodded. “Absolutely, I think we should do this.”
With a deep breath, Amethyst steeled herself with resolve. “Ok. So how do you want to start?”
Her smile faded slightly. “Start? Now?”
Gesturing around the dark, secluded beach, Amethyst pointed out, “You said you wanted privacy. There’s no one here now. Otherwise we’ll have to wait until the beach house is empty.”
Peridot looked somewhat hesitant about the idea, but she still relented, “O—Ok. Well, I suppose we should replicate tonight’s earlier scene.” She tentatively reached out a hand to pull Amethyst up from the rock. “I believe we were standing face to face.”
Amethyst smiled as she stood. “Yes, AND we were holding hands.” She reached for Peridot’s other hand hanging at her side.
At the realization that Amethyst was starting the “Yes, And” game once again, Peridot let out a little laugh and continued, “Yes, AND you were leaning a little more forward.”
“Like this?” Moving in, Amethyst was now only a few inches from Peridot’s face. Even in the dim moonlight, she could see a blue blush beginning to form on her cheeks, and saw her gulp nervously. Amethyst gazed admiringly at her sweet face and a wave of affection came over her. Peri was just too damn adorable sometimes.
“Y—yes. And your lips were protruding.”
“Yes, they were,” Amethyst said, but she wasn’t quite ready for that part yet. “And my head was tilted a little. You might want to do that too.”
Tentatively, Peridot tilted her head to the side so that her ear was practically touching her shoulder. “Like this?”
“Not exactly. Here…” Amethyst took her right hand and gently tilted it up a bit to a position that was bound to be much more comfortable. She might have taken her hand away after that, but there was something about the feel of Peridot’s soft cheek against her palm and the soft look that had entered Peridot’s eyes when she touched her there that made her leave it in place. Experimentally, she stroked her thumb against green skin, and she could have sworn she felt Peridot tremble. “Is that better?”
“Yes,” Peridot said faintly. “And I think we should kiss now.”
Amethyst moved even closer now, so close she could feel Peridot’s breath on her lips. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” And before Amethyst could make her move, Peridot’s mouth was on hers.
If touching Peridot’s hand felt like a spark lighting up, this was felt like every part of her form was on fire. The kiss started off a little rough at first, with Peridot pressing too firmly into her lips, but it soon softened into an amazing feeling, their lips meeting again and again in a beautiful harmony. She moved her hand on Peridot’s cheek back into her thick golden hair to cradle the back of her head, and they released their intertwined fingers to move their arms around each other. One of Amethyst’s arms was slung over Peridot’s lower back. She pulled her even tighter, and Peridot let out a sound in her throat that was something like a cross between a gasp and groan, sending a feeling of pure thrill running up Amethyst’s spine.
When they finally pulled back from the kiss, Amethyst found she couldn’t quite bring herself to unwrap her arms from around Peridot.
“Holy smokes,” murmured Peridot, gazing at Amethyst breathlessly.
“Holy smokes,” Amethyst repeated back. That about described it, alright. The intensity of the moment had left her mind in a fog, and she struggled to regain her cool composure. “Well—uh—I don’t think you have anything to worry about with kissing scenes. You’re a fast learner.”
“Oh good,” she replied faintly. She seemed to be lost in a fog too. “But um, I’m thinking I could definitely use some more rehearsal anyway. That is, if you want to?”
She could have jumped for joy, but instead, Amethyst simply grinned. “Yes!” And she pulled her closer once more.
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