Eyeball was completely drenched. A small wisp of steam arched above her head, dancing softly as the ruby stepped off of the warp pad, light still sparkling out of existence around her. She sighed, blinking, looking across the room halfheartedly. She half expected to see the geometric, sharp lines of Homeworld, however, she only saw the relatively simple scape of the Steven's - who's name the gem had just recently learned, after a long time of referring to him by Rose or Rose Quartz - home. Eyeball sighed once more, one of her hands reaching up to her burgundy hair to attempt to ring out some of the water.
"Aw, Eyeball!" Squeaked Steven, chasing her lightly down the steps leading up to the warp pad. "I'm sure Lapis didn't mean anything by soaking you! She's just a little... I don't know, umm... Off put? by trying to have another ruby join her and Peridot's little barn!" His tone was hopeful, a concerned smile plastered on his face as he pulled up to the right of Eyeball, making sure she could see him. Steven had usually done this, as he was aware of Eyeball's tendency to be easily frightened and slip into an aggressive state.
Eyeball growled, her hands still wrapped around a lock of her hair.
"Well, that sounds like HER problem! I didn't do anything! She's the one who needs help! I barely even said hello, for stars' sake!" The ruby's voice grew as she spoke, more steam rising from her cubelike hair, sizzling a bit. "I knew I shouldn't have come back to this cruddy planet…"
Steven frowned, gingerly putting one of his hands on Eyeball's shoulder. Eyeball flinched, but Steven didn't take his hand away from his new friend.
"Eyeball… Lapis is just a bit wary, alright? She'll warm up to you, I promise. C'mon, let's get you dried off."
The half-gem carefully guided Eyeball towards the bathroom, steering her away from the wall and the couch, which he knew she wouldn't be able to see due to the placement of her red gemstone. He wrapped his hand around the knob of the bathroom's door and twisted it, carefully pulling it open.
"Gentle gems first!" Steven chirped.
The ruby didn't bat her eye at Steven's politeness, but she mumbled an instinctual "thank you" as she passed into the room. Still dripping, she slowly looked up to take in her surroundings. Eyeball was a very scrutinizing and observant gem, so she made sure that no detail went unnoticed. The walls of the room were made of something Eyeball knew as wood from her time in Pink Diamond's court, with a painfully inaccurate depiction of stars and ringed planets in yellow against a reddish pink background on another wall, which appeared to be made out of a different material. Some sort of oblong, open-topped cube with red cloth in it was to her left, with a rectangular, soft-looking shape of a similar color sprawled out crookedly on the floor. Yet another 3D, boxish shape was to the right of her. This one had a pipe-looking thing with two smaller pipe-looking things on either side, perched over a basin with a few other objects scattered near it. Above the faucet was a reflective surface, which Eyeball had decided to not pay much attention to. Nearer to the door but still on the right was something the Peridot had informed her was called a 'toilet', and next to the toilet was a freestanding pocket with primitive information recorders. Her eye scanned the room over once more, stopping on something that looked a bit like a gun, but that was when Steven interrupted her.
He walked into the bathroom, not shutting the door behind him. He passed the red gem, beckoning her over to in front of the cube with the basin on top, his hand resting on the object that appeared to be a gun.
Eyeball flinched, hesitating before following Steven, her guard totally up. She could nearly feel herself reach up to her eye and pull out her chisel, knocking the unknown object out of Steven's hand and destroying it before apprehending him. She barely danced on the edge of trusting him and fleeing.
"This is called a hair dryer. Us humans use it to dry our hair when it's wet, just like yours is!" Steven explained with a smile, beginning to point at a few simple buttons on the handle's belly. "This top button here can make it so the air is cold, and this button below it controls how hot it is, and then this final button here is the strength of the air that comes out! I think you're gonna wanna get dry fast, so I'm gonna put it on the highest setting with the highest heat because that'll dry you off fastest!" Steven adjusted the settings on the handle before he handed the hairdryer to Eyeball. Then, he whispered something to her. "Switch this little thing at the veeery bottom to turn it on, Eyeball!"
Eyeball scowled slightly but didn't speak or growl, and doubtfully took the dryer from Steven's hands. The ruby examined the buttons, taking in the symbols on them and reciting their functions in her head, though she knew Steven had just set them to the ideal settings. Eyeball turned the dryer in her hands just a little bit before sighing, her thumb migrating to the switch which would activate the hairdryer. She then flicked it to on mode, a choice she would instantly regret.
Whiteness instantly blinded her vision.
"HEY- WHAT THE FR-" Eyeball stammered, anxiety overcoming her. She didn't know what happened, but next thing she knew she was back at Pink Diamond's palanquin, crystalline powder coating onlookers who were silent in shock. The atmosphere sparkling. Echoes of a glass-like plink echoing around, before all chaos broke out. Gems shouting, agates thundering around with weapons in hand, screams of despair from pink, orange and red gems with the occasional sob. She could feel herself frozen in shock, ears ringing, body tense. Luckily, she soon snapped back to reality, confusion tinged with horror replacing her anxiety and despair triggered by her flashback.
In front of her, the ruby could see Steven, but with a pinkish overlay. A bubble, just like when they were both left drifting aimlessly through outer space. He looked terrified, yet worried, and was stuttering Eyeball's name, though she took no notice. She glanced down at her left hand, which was trembling furiously. In her tightly gripped hand was her chisel, and she quickly put the pieces together that she had been trying to attack her friend, without even realizing it. Eyeball gasped softly, taking a step back and dropping her chisel, disbelief mixed with rage spreading across her face. The ruby clenched her fists, digging her fingernails into her palm to assure her she wasn't having a flashback. And she wasn't, the bathroom around her was all completely real.
Steven dropped his bubble, shaking slightly, yet still walking over to Eyeball and touching her shoulder, the way he did when Eyeball was stressed or upset. A faint look of concern edged it's way on to his face.
Eyeball looked into Steven's eyes for a moment but ended up averting her gaze, shouldering past him and storming out of the bathroom. The powdery ruby stomped across the living room, flopping down in a puff of flour on the couch in the nook nearest the front of the building, burying her hands in her face.
She heard the pitter patter of Steven's flip-flops approach her, followed by the seat below her raising, signaling Steven had sat next to her.
"Eyeball…" He said, causing the ruby to look up at him, though her eye was tired and glistening with what could have become tears. "It's… It's just some flour, alright? N- nothing to be afraid of, I promise! It's just an ingredient humans like to use in baking…" Steven leaned closer to his friend, wiping some of the flour off of her hair as if to demonstrate it was nothing to be afraid of.
Eyeball looked at him, completely deadpan. She sniffled and touched her own hair, following his lead, inspecting the flour that was on it. But she couldn't shake how similar it was to the dust of her shattered diamond, the ash and gem particles of war. It was almost like smoke that stuck to things. Her lip began to tremble just the slightest bit, her eye following its lead and starting to sting. She knew what was going to happen, and she brought her hand up to her eye, wiping away the potential tears quickly. Her shoulders trembled, but she held her breath. She wouldn't cry, not today at least. Her mind drifted back to the flour briefly. She didn't want to have to look at the white powder again. It simply reminded her too much of traumatic events in her past. Whenever she saw it, her stomach began to churn and she became lightheaded. Anxiety would rise in her chest. Her hands would tremble. The ruby sighed, blinking, and looking up at another gem who exited the door behind the warp pad. She was purplish and short, with long pale hair and a white tank top. She held a bag of Chaaaaps in one hand, and she wandered over to Steven and Eyeball.
"Sup, Lil' Stee? Ya got Ruby number 6 there?" She said, flopping down next to Steven, munching loudly on her Chaaaaps.
Eyeball instantly shot her one of the most venomous glares she had ever given out, a ball of anxiety forming in her throat. She remembered how this amethyst had shapeshifted into Jasper and Eyeball had opened up, believing the lie, putting in all her trust. But that was only half the reason for her glare. Did she have to munch so loudly on those damn crunch sheets? And 'Ruby number 6'? This gem was worse than a coprolite, as far as Eyeball was concerned. Even if she didn't know about Eyeball's self-esteem issues, it should've been obvious to not call a common footsoldier just 'Number 6'. Eyeball began to feel herself tremble, hands tightening into fists.
"Nothin' much. Someone put flour in the hairdryer and Eyeball got covered in it, though. Do you know who did that, Amethyst?" Steven inquired, not seeming to mind Amethyst's eating at all.
Eyeball shook, her head starting to pound. Thoughts half raced through her mind, though they were less of words and more soft yet urgent feelings of consideration, though that didn't matter. She seemingly lost control of her body and stood up, snarling, and ripped the bag of Chaaaaps from Amethyst's hands and chucked them across the room, where they landed with a hearty smack. She stared Amethyst directly in the eyes, appearing much larger than she actually was in her anger, perhaps added to by the expansive power of the color white.
"Yo, EB… What was that about?" Amethyst asked, seeming not so much nervous but more taken aback by Eyeball's sudden spurt of aggression.
Steven made a weak attempt to try to break up the oncoming fight, though Eyeball cut in, not caring what he had to say.
"You just romp over here, gnashing your teeth together like some kind of organic?! With those crunch sheets?! And you call me 'RUBY NUMBER 6?!'" Eyeball shouted, spittle flying from her mouth as she scolded.
"Calm down, EB. Ya could'a just asked me to not call you 'Ruby number 6' or not throw the Chaaaaps across the room…"
Eyeball shook violently, smoke rising from her hair and from her eye as she blinked back a tear. This Amethyst was denser than mercury.
"GUYS!" Steven cried, standing up and pushing a smoldering Eyeball away from Amethyst, yelping and shaking off his hand, which he had obviously burned.
The red and purple gems snapped their attention to Steven instead of each other, Amethyst mostly dumbfounded and Eyeball regretting her impulsive decisions.
"Can't we just talk this out?!" Steven mewled, sniffling. "Amethyst, I know you planted the flour. You both apologize to each other!"
Both Eyeball and Amethyst regarded one another for a moment, but Amethyst was the one to speak first.
"Dude… I'm sorry for putting the flour in the hairdryer. Lapis n' I were gonna pull this super cool prank on you, where you try to join her and P-dot in the barn, then she acts all angry and sprays ya with water, then you try to use the hairdryer and get all powdery." The quartz laughed a little bit as she spoke, most likely out of satisfaction that her plan had worked.
Eyeball pursed her lips, unsure of what to do next. She had never been apologized to before. She had always been the one giving the apologies.
"...Eyeball," Steven said, glancing at the red gem. "It's your turn to apologize now."
She nodded, taking a deep breath, already calming down.
"You put the 'flour' in the hairdryer… And then it came out and reminded me of diamond dust! And not only that, but ash in WAR!" Eyeball hissed, her mind flicking through brief snippets of battle. "Not only that, but you called me 'Ruby number 6'! How would you like it if I called YOU 'Amethyst number 8719'?! You just called me a clone! And I KNOW that I am, you don't have to keep pointing it out!" Despair welled in her chest, remembering how expendable she had been called back on Homeworld. A throw-away scout. A common gem. Being called just 'number 6' hurt more than being hit in the gem by an asteroid. Plus, she wouldn't trust this gem with this part of herself. She had already betrayed her once. On earth, she had learned she could make herself an individual. But obviously, that wasn't working out.
"I meant about the Chaaaaps!" Steven exclaimed.
Eyeball shot a sharp look at Steven, not saying anything, but listening to what he had to say. "And… And I'm sorry I threw your 'Chaaaaps' across the room. I wouldn't have if you knew how to be quiet while you smashed the organic screens into mushy goop!"
Amethyst seemed regretful, perhaps even a bit melancholy. "Man… I'm sorry for callin' you 'Ruby number 6', EB. I was just trying to give you a cool nickname, but I guess I was a bit insensitive… Still friends?"
Eyeball hesitated. She had never been offered a friend out right. She was frozen like a sapphire.
"Not one for hugs, huh?" Amethyst chuckled. "C'mon EB, let's getcha cleaned up." Amethyst stood up, sighing, and the three short gems went back into the bathroom to help Eyeball clean herself up.
(A/N) hsdfgasdjhfgsdjfh this was pretty fun to write i guess? i thought the world needed more wholesome eyeball fanfics since most are lemons (ew!) or there's like one that hasn't been uploaded since about dec 2016 lol... i'm pretty sure nobody else loves eyeball as much as i do and nobody else was gonna write some wholesome eyeball stuff. anyway, this takes place in an au where lapis never stole the barn and eyeball is in the midst of her redemption arc (quick summary of how she got to this point- she was angry about not being recognized on HW and took an escape pod to earth to try to retrieve jasper on her own, then she learned jasper is corrupted, and decided to do everything in her power to help jasper heal.)
i don't ship eyeball with anyone, this is just some platonic fun! i might do a chapter 2!