I do not own Jewelpet in any capacity. Normally, I am not into shoujo at all because the pace is normally too slow for me. I've come around, though. Sometime last August, I saw a super-short clip from the original Jewelpet in a multi-anime AMV on YouTube and I decided to look into it because I thought Garnet was a cute alien. I wasn't that far off. So I got into Jewelpet Sunshine and loved the GarnetXDian in episode 25. I wish that the relationship between Garnet and Dian had gotten multiple episodes to develop, and I get the feeling I'm not the only one. I know the last thing I need right now is having three stories going unfinished simultaneously, but I'm doing it. I even drew a picture that, coincidentally, I can use as cover art for this!

This is set in the Jewelpet Sunshine universe, after most of the events of the main timeline and before graduation and the epilogue, but some characters that came out in later series (like Larimar, my favorite Jewelpet) will appear in this story. Also, Granite will appear here because 5 years is way too long for him to go missing as Mikage to undergo his transformation (in my opinion). Enjoy! Pasta la vista, fanfictionistas!

Chapter 1: Missing Him

Day after day, Garnet sat through class, worked in the Strawberry Café, and spent her evenings making clothing in her own unique designs. Undoubtedly a workaholic, she wondered how she had any time to do Masago's movie in the first place. Masago, a human in her class, had been in love with her all of this time, and she never knew. She felt awful because he was so good to her and she simply just couldn't reciprocate his feelings. The main reason was that she was in love with her dream to be the next Nyangelina Jolie and leave second place behind. Besides that, she didn't feel that way for him. Only one male ever really stole her heart, but his belonged to another. Dian…

Luckily, she and Masago were on pleasant terms. Garnet wanted to help Masago move on and be happy in return for his kindness to her, but maybe she needed to take her own advice first. Maybe not. Her mind would resort back to her few dates with Dian and the infinite fun they had together each time. The longer they were apart, the more she envisioned them together. She wanted him back (though she wouldn't let it show), but his heart was in Diana's paws. Diana…the munchkin cat that seemed to rob the pink Persian of opportunities to shine left and right; some could argue that the two mollies were rivals of sorts. Rivals in love, performance, and flair.

"I need to stop this…" Garnet muttered to herself as she shook her head. She was working a shift at the Strawberry Café and needed to set a good example for her junior waitresses, especially Shouko, who really only pulled her weight when Master was looking in her direction.

"Garnet? Is something wrong?" Larimar, a fellow waitress, asked. Her cyan eyes glittered with concern.

"I'm fine, Larimar. I'm just reminiscing. I should be working. I'm alright," Garnet insisted and laughed a bit, hoping to reassure the arctic fox. To add onto the assurance effect, the pink cat reentered the realm of her station. She took three customers' drink orders, and then scrambled over to Master to retrieve the drinks. When she turned back around to deliver the drinks, she saw Dian—who was alone—being seated at a table in her station. She nearly dropped everything she was holding. What was the Maine Coon doing here?! Was he expecting Diana? He had a sullen gleam in his eyes. Did they fight? Did they breakup? Was there a death in the family? Was he just hungry?

"Hey, isn't that…?" Larimar whispered, trying to contain the excitement in her voice.

"Dian…!" Garnet mumbled. Though absent-minded of everything else, she delivered the three drinks to the table she just took orders from and made her way over to him. With a soft voice, she greeted, "Welcome to the Strawberry Café. How may I help you?"

Dian looked at her, his dark gray eyes swelling up with tears. This caught the pink molly by surprise. It wasn't like Dian to cry like this. He was the type who always showed total confidence and concentration. His reply to her was: "I'm the one who should be asking that…after I hurt you the way I did."

"You didn't hurt me," Garnet lied. Though it wasn't on purpose, he destroyed her when he left her in the rain to get back together with his old flame. Her heart ached with angst and sadness every day. She never let it show. She couldn't. Many of her classmates looked to her to be strong when their love lives were hanging by a single red thread of fate.

"I did. I know so because we both know what we had was real. I was so worried about you that night," Dian informed her, his paws trembling. "I dropped Diana off at her dorm, then I started to go back to look for you. Then I saw you walking into the dorm. I hid in a bush. In shame, I hid because I didn't have the courage to face you. Pathetic. I didn't even have the nerve to try to…to…"

"Dian…" Garnet mumbled. Tears welled up in her eyes now. She remembered that night. She cried in the streets. She bawled. No one noticed. No one comforted her. The fact that the rain camouflaged her tears didn't help her in an era where so many people were caught up in their own little world. From that moment on, she had missed Dian. Even now, with him a foot in front of her, she missed him.

"I was being selfish… I know breakups are supposed to be hard, but I tend to make them harder. Unnecessarily. I should have learned my lesson with Diana, but instead, I learned it while breaking the heart of someone who did nothing but help me. I finally applied that lesson," Dian continued.

"Are you saying…?" Garnet began to ask, her dark pink eyes widening in shock.

"Diana and I broke up again. She wasn't happy about it, but it didn't end as terribly as last time," Dian sighed.

"What did you say?" Garnet asked.

"That we've tried this before and it's not meant to be. I said that there's someone out there for her, but that it wasn't me. I said I had to make amends with someone special, and that I was lucky to have had Diana when I did," Dian told Garnet. "She kept begging me not to go. I said I wanted to be friends. I want to say hi to her when I pass her on the street. I want to hang out with her every so often without it being a date or without her making a fuss about how her fur looks. She's not the one, Garnet. I still think about you."

"But we're in two totally different places," Garnet told him and herself, trying to convince herself not to succumb to his words. She wasn't sure why, but even though she wanted him, she was afraid to be with him.

"Not really. I realized that what I like most about you is something that we have in common. We're both in love with our dreams. We love chasing our goals! I don't know about you, and I have a lot of nerve saying this now, but personally, I'd prefer to run with someone than alone in this chase," Dian said with tender, genuine emotion. His white paws took her pink ones thin tear trails matted the fur of his face. His big, deep, dark gray eyes were pools of love, regret, and yearning. They were a gateway into his heart.

Garnet couldn't say she disagreed. She didn't want to be alone. It would have been nice to have someone to support and someone who would support her. She felt tears mat the fur on her face now. She had loved Dian. She craved him. She craved the connection that they had buried in the gloom of that rainy evening. For several moments, both of them were silent. The silence was loud. It spoke volumes. It told them both that some wounds needed more than time to heal. Some wounds needed tender love and care.

Finally, Garnet spoke. She knew it was her time. It took boundless effort not to choke on her words. She told him, "I have to get back to work, but…why don't you meet me here tomorrow night at seven? I'll end my shift early and the bill can come out of my paycheck."

"Seven sounds good, but I'll pay. It's the least I can do," Dian told her. Somehow, she knew there was no arguing with him. She smiled and left the conversation with a simple, pleasant nod.

Getting back to work, Garnet put on a pleasant smile and asked him, "May I take your order?"

"I'll have a strawberry parfait, please," Dian requested with a radiant grin. Garnet couldn't believe this was actually happening to her, or rather for her. Had all her yearning come to this? Her heart was rapidly pounding within her chest as she left him to get the parfait.

Larimar watched as Dian and Garnet made plans for the date, smiling at the two cats. She glanced out the window because she thought she saw a shadow out the corner of her eye, but there was nothing out there.