Oh, hello there. Didn't expect any visitors.

(I don't own Steven Universe)


Warmth

After a tiring escapade chasing a Gem through the winter snow, Steven helps Amethyst warm up.

One word could describe the night. Well, probably more than one word, but Steven didn't have too large of a vocabulary, admittedly. Regardless of how extensive his vocabulary was, Steven thought one word summed up the entirety. Looking out at the frozen twilight laid before him, Steven took a deep breath, fogging up the window he pressed his nose up against.

"It's so calm."

"Yeah, speak for yourself, buddy," Amethyst bluntly remarked, still shaking the snow out of her boots. Stomping on the boards so as to rid the rest of the ice still attached to her feet, she strode up beside the young boy, taking a glance out the window. Even if she wasn't explicitly touching him, Steven could feel the total lack of heat emanating from her shivering skin. He supposed the snow still adorning her coat didn't help, nor did the frost packed inside of it. Seeing Amethyst rub her hands together with a labored breath, Steven unlatched one of the hands holding his blanket to his body, offering it outwards. "Wanna-"

Before he could say more, the violet Gem was already grabbing the blanket tighter than she had held on to the Gem that buried her in snow in the first place. She didn't rip it from his single remaining grasp, instead falling on the ground next to Steven with a graceless thud and using her other arm to toss away her frozen coat. It splayed outwards, flinging small flecks of ice and snow across Steven's room. His room was already a mess anyways, so Steven didn't really mind. As the cloth hit the ground with a disconcerting thud rather than a soft thump, Amethyst took as much of the blanket around herself as possible without taking too much from Steven. With the blanket only having so much coverage, Amethyst was forced to sit a little closer than intended to Steven in order to give both Gems enough to remain warm.

Steven looked at Amethyst, taking a brief note of how quickly her shivering had ceased. "Warm enough?" he joked to her. As if to answer, Amethyst sighed with her relief, relaxing in a way that could've been defined as melting. She hummed a quick yes, evidently enjoying the touch of something not soaked to the core with frigid water. It made Steven try not to take his more fortunate results of the mission for granted; the only snow forced into his winter attire had been the one snowball Amethyst had decided to put down the back of his shirt. At the time, Steven thought her accidentally stepping in a snow drift a couple feet deeper than assumed was an interesting act of justice. That would make them even, more or less. Not one to hold a grudge, Steven used his now free hand to reach over and grab the steaming cup of hot chocolate Pearl had so graciously made for him earlier.

"Want some?" he offered again, holding out the marshmallow-filled drink. Five of the sweets lazily floated on the surface; just the right amount.

Amethyst opened one eye from her relaxed expression to look at the cup. It was an attractive offer. And like most attractive offers, she took it up without much thought. Still, she forced herself to slow down just a little to avoid being rude. Rather than rip the mug out of Steven's hand, she took it graciously, a little grateful that he shared her views on the perfect amount of marshmallows. Glancing at the melting treats, she looked back up at Steven, noting the color still flushed in his cheeks and nose. Amethyst didn't have to look in the glass's reflection to know she likely had it worse than he had, though she still thought his willingness to share was as nice as it was unsurprising. And maybe a little sweet, but she had a reputation to uphold. To keep her brain from getting the opportunity to ruin years of work, Amethyst took a long drink of the chocolate. Eventually, she lowered the cup from her lips, hoping she left enough for Steven.

"Man," she began, wiping off the excess chocolate from her upper lip as she handed the drink back. Steven took it carefully, trying to sneak a glance at its contents without being too overt for the sake of politeness. Thankfully, there was still a fair amount to go. Putting it back at his side, Steven looked back at Amethyst's flushed face, some of the color fading as she warmed up. "I thought I was supposed to be taking care of you. 'Preciate it."

Steven grinned, finding Amethyst's relief more warming than the drink he just put down. "No problem-o," he granted with a mock salute. Amethyst briefly laughed, then looked back out at the same winter landscape Steven just surveyed. Since he didn't have too much experience being what most people would call subtle, Steven thanked the weather for being so eye-catching before outwardly following Amethyst's example, turning back towards the glass that kept the heat in and the cold out. He hoped he wouldn't offend the weather by not paying too much actual attention, despite what his eyes might've conveyed. Steven slowly rose his arm back into the warming sheet wrapped around both Gems. Amethyst didn't seem to take note of this, talking further.

"Still, I guess it's not too bad." The Gem sighed, looking up at the moon. After the rather stimulating mission everyone endured, cozily sitting around and warming back up was a welcome change of pace. Warming back up with Steven, even more so. Amethyst half-consciously rubbed the rest of the chill from her forearms, some of the night's natural sedation beginning to take effect. "It might be cold as all heck, but at least-"

Amethyst stopped abruptly, feeling a relatively heated touch on her shoulder. Confused, she looked towards the contact, and found Steven's hand wrapped around her. Rather confidently, she might add. Feeling the rest of Steven's arm across her back, the violet Gem turned back towards him, finding him with a wide smile. By now, she would've assumed that the blood in his cheeks would've left. Surely he was warm enough. Amethyst wordlessly looked at the boy beside her, who still held his jaw in a tight grin. Admittedly, it kind of contradicted what his hand had implied. Not having much to say, Amethyst continued looking at Steven in silence, awaiting an explanation, assuming he had one.

Honestly, it didn't look like he did, as much as he probably wanted one. Steven's eyes began looking around purposefully, suddenly finding it a little more difficult to look at Amethyst's. Eventually he understood that she was waiting for words, not some grand gesture of removing his grasp.

"I just figured," he started, attempting a casual tone. He doubted that was an accurate description of his voice, unfortunately. It was probably more correct to describe it as shaky. Still, he forced himself to continue. "Y'know, you looked cold and all, and I remembered reading something about huddling together for warmth, and..."

Steven uncertainly trailed off, hoping that he was just over-analyzing such a little action. At the moment, he couldn't really visualize that. Just before he removed his arm in defeat, Amethyst suddenly unlatched her fingers from the blanket to move her own arm around him, much more enthusiastically and much less subtly. Needless to say, Steven was a little surprised himself. He was even more surprised by the laid-back expression adorning Amethyst's features, finding it rather contradictory of her grasp.

"'Course," she said, still trying to adhere to the calm tone of her expression. "For warmth and everything. Obviously."

Steven couldn't really tell if she was joking or simply trying to downplay the reciprocation of her own arm, but either way, Steven enjoyed her grasp. Now with a lot more real confidence, the young Gem contracted his arm ever so slightly, carrying a kind of softness that was usual with these kind of moments. By comparison to his own skin, Amethyst still felt a tad cold; however, that meant he felt warm, so Steven wasn't going to let go any time soon. Amethyst, reading this, didn't offer any complaints. Instead, she allowed herself to relax a bit further, naturally leaning up against Steven. The tension in the blanket surrounding them might've caused that, but the effect ultimately mattered little. Amethyst only hoped that wasn't too obvious. According to the persistent smile on Steven's face, she was wrong about that. To be fair, subtlety wasn't exactly her forte.

For a while, the Gems simply sat in silence, taking a mute agreement to enjoy the sight offered before them. True to Steven's earlier statement, it was definitely calm. The dark clouds that coated the landscape in white had long ago left, leaving their offering for the night to take care of. Admittedly, the snow might've been only a few measly inches deep, but it was enough. Stars gleamed in the sky, twinkling freely in that chill silence that could only ever be found in the winter time.

"Could be worse," Amethyst inaudibly muttered, absorbing some of the serenity.

Steven nodded, still smiling. The cold had left a while ago, but he still held on to the Gem beside him. It wasn't too often he could simply lounge about with Amethyst and savor the moment without any underlying problems to worry about. Steven glanced at Amethyst, finding her eyelids just a little lower than usual. Quietly so as to avoid disrupting the peace too severely, he asked a one word question. "Tired?"

After a bit of a delay, Amethyst turned her gaze back to him. "Nah," she said through a drawn out yawn. Another delay, and then Amethyst realized how convincing her answer was; that is, not at all convincing. The violet Gem forcefully shook her head, trying to erase any fatigue in a similar manner to kicking the snow off her boots from before.

"Not tired," she tried again, a bit more enthusiastically. "Definitely not drained from the mission. Nope."

"Totally," Steven agreed. He nonchalantly took a sip from his hot chocolate, taking a silent note of how offset Amethyst's eyelids were from each other. Why would she be tired after running after a Gem beast through the snow for over an hour and then fighting for another one? Of course she wouldn't. Steven moved the steaming cup over just a little bit for Amethyst to take; not to revitalize her, but just to be polite. The cup stood in its place as a hand refused to grab it. Steven doubted it was because Amethyst's hands were full.

"Don't want any?" he quietly said, already moving it back to its place before receiving an answer.

All Amethyst offered was a quiet "Nah" that didn't seem too aware. She sighed again, more of her weight leaning on Steven. Her chill skin would normally be something of a white-noise by now, though Steven still felt it with as much awareness as there was when touching a hot stove. That wasn't to say he wanted to rapidly draw his hand away from it. Steven accepted Amethyst's lean, slightly moving his arm to more comfortably accommodate her. He was aware of her eyes being shut long before he turned to confirm that much. The last thing Amethyst said was a slurred "Not tired..." before she fell silent. Steven let out a soft chuckle as he returned his eyes back towards the snowy landscape outside, warmer than ever. He hoped he wasn't insulting Pearl by assuming he wouldn't need the rest of his hot chocolate for a while.


A/N: Whoa hey! You clicked on this! Maybe even on purpose! Yeah, this is really just a collection of random drabbles involving my two favorite Gems. I wish I could expand more, but that's really all there is to this, lol. There's a great deal of variance in these drabbles (both the content and the quality, OOPS I'M INCONSISTENT) but they all have a thing in common; those two quartz/one quartz and one Diamond enjoying each others' presence. Some of these are gonna be romantic, some are gonna be fluffy, some are gonna be intense, some aren't gonna make sense, and... well, you're on this website, aren't you? You know how these things go.

If you have any ideas, I'd be more than happy to hear them! I'm not the most punctual of individuals, but suggestions (or even basic feedback) go a long way in speeding up the whole writin' process.

I'll get to it now, lol. I hope you enjoy these, whether you ship these two Gems or not. Have a good one!