Steven held the door open, leaning against it as he waited for his family and visitor to pass by him. First came Amethyst, who had her arms stretched backward behind her, Pearl, who had her fingers pressed against each other anxiously, Garnet, who stopped to pat Steven's head, then carried on following her teammates, and finally Jasper, who stopped just in front of the doorway. Steven looked at her curiously, thinking that she was second guessing her decisions. He offered her a shy smile.
"It's okay, we're not going to throw you in a cell or anything," he assured her. However, the gem showed no signs of hearing him, and instead observed the wooden door frame, looking at it as if it were the most pathetic thing on Earth. She then took a step inside the house, having to duck under the frame above in order to fit, but her width would not cooperate with the narrow entrance. With a frustrated grunt, she squeezed in her large, corrupted arm through the gap, creating a dent in the frame's side as she did so. Steven did his best to not react to part of his house already being damaged, and pinned the corners of his mouth so that his grin would stay put.
The quartz refused to do so much as glance at him as she treaded past him and into the space in the middle of the house. He closed the, trying to ignore the fact that it wouldn't close properly due to the newly-made dent. As he turned around, he heard Pearl whisper,
"She could at least respect the house."
He winced as he saw Jasper roll her eyes, having heard her, before turning to him.
"So, where exactly are you going to keep me prisoner?" she grunted, a sneer beginning to show on her face. Steven blinked, surprised by her statement.
"Prisoner?" he echoed. "I'm not keeping you prisoner. If anything, you're just out guest!" He smiled at her, hoping to create a less tense atmosphere. He failed in doing so.
"How ignorant do you think I am, Rose?" she snarled, eyes amber slits. Steven frowned, then let out a sigh.
"I don't want to see you as a prisoner, Jasper. I guess only time will tell if you'll ever see it the same way." He then shook his head, wanting to move on from the subject. "But, since you will be staying here, you're gonna need your own space!" His grin returned as he scanned the house, wondering where Jasper would be most comfortable in staying.
"She can always stay in my room," Amethyst offered half-heartedly. Pearl immediately shut the idea down.
"No. There is no way we are allowing her in the temple!"
Amethyst pursed her lips. "Alright! Geez." She huffed, folding her arms over her chest.
Jasper letting out an irritated groan and stalking over to the couch drew Steven's attention back to her. The soldier dropped onto the sofa, leaning back on the plush cushion and crossing her arms (or at least, tried to). An idea suddenly came to mind, and his eyes sparkled.
"You can just live down here!" he suggested happily, then directed Jasper to his bed up the stairs, to which her gaze followed, clearly disinterested. "I'll try my best to stay up there so that I don't bother you."
"But, also keep in mind," Garnet then added, head turned towards Jasper, who looked disgusted when she spoke. "At least one of us will be here to monitor your behaviour. If, by any chance, you act violently towards Steven, we will be forced to take action."
Jasper didn't respond, just glared at her, as well as the two other shorter gems standing next to her.
"So… uh…" Steven awkwardly broke the silence, twiddling his fingers. "Are you okay living on that couch for now?"
The quartz muttered something under her breath that he didn't quite catch.
"...I'll take that as a 'sure thing'." He then grinned again. "Well, let's just hope I can heal her, and we'll all be happy!"
Both Garnet and Pearl gave a smile, though it they were built out of uncertainty. However, Amethyst's grin was very real.
"Haha, yeah!" She laughed, skidding over to stand by Steven. "We just got ourselves a new roommate!"
Her enthusiasm brought a hopeful smile out of him, however it was immediately taken away from him once he looked back at Jasper, who face was scrunched up with hatred. In response, a voice screamed at the back of his mind.
This is a bad idea.
He took a deep breath.
No, it's not. I can do this.
Outside, Steven could see that the sun was retreating behind the ocean, a dark purple sky being dragged behind it and placed over the town. The first few stars were beginning to twinkle, burning millions of miles away, and while dangerous when too close to them, they were a beautiful addition to the black sheet that was the night sky. It added some sort of life to the darkness, and Steven had come to appreciate that.
"The stars look really pretty tonight," he mused as he sipped his milk, before turning to the fusion leaning against the wall beside him. "Don't you think so, Garnet?"
She chuckled, and nodded in agreement. "I can see that they'll look even better once the sun's disappeared."
His eyes shone with wonder, wondering if he'd be able to see the view that she was talking about.
"Oh! I wanna see!" he declared, beaming. "Can I stay up late to see the stars, Garnet? Please?" He gave her a sweet smile as his pupils glittered with their own stars. The corners of her mouth shifted so that her smile would widen.
"If you can stay awake 'til then, I'll allow it."
"Challenge accepted!" He smirked proudly, then took another sip of his milk. After he did that, he yawned.
"Good luck," she teased, before walking over to the kitchen table and taking a seat on a stool, facing towards the other gem in the room who hadn't said a word since she had sat down on that sofa. Steven gazed over to the striped gem and tilted his head, expecting at least some sort of taunt about his lifestyle. He knew that she hadn't dazed out, for her eyes had been following his every move for hours. She herself hadn't budged from that one spot.
Another yawn hit him. His bed was beginning to look very tempting.
But he wanted to see the night sky that Garnet had described, so he was going to stay awake for as long as he could.
"I need to keep myself awake." He cupped his chin as he tried to think up an activity to keep him occupied.
Cards, perhaps?
He cantered up the steps that led to his room, his bare feet carrying him over to his drawers. He pulled one out of the stand, the one that he had placed his cards in, and his hand scrounged around for the deck. His fingers soon brushed the smooth surface, and he grasped the cards that were held together with an elastic band. He shoved the drawer back into the stand and called down to Garnet.
"Hey, Garnet! Do you wanna play Chase the Ace with me?"
The gem raised her head to look at him through her visor, before raising a hand and waving him down, smiling. Excited, Steven hopped down the steps and sat down on the wooden floor in front of her, ripping the band off and tossing it aside. Garnet sat down in front of her and crossed her legs, waiting for the boy to give out the cards.
Their piles of cards were three each, when he paused. He tore his gaze away from the game and looked at Jasper, who at this point, wasn't even looking at them. As a matter of fact, Steven couldn't tell who or what she was looking at, for her bleached bangs were flopped over her face, covering her eyes as her normal fingers twitched at the blue-green spikes coming out of her arm. The sight was still alien to Steven; he never expected to see Jasper so… lost. Honestly, despite everything that she had done, everything she'd said… Steven just couldn't find it in his heart to resent her.
"Hey… Jasper?" he chimed sweetly. "Do you wanna play?"
Her head jerked upwards, the shadow cast by her hair disappearing, allowing her eyes to shine through. And those eyes weren't friendly.
She didn't say a word, instead just stood up, took a few long strides towards the door and swung it open, before sauntering out, not bothering to close the door behind her, thus letting a draft in that tickled Steven's skin that caused him to ma shiver. He stared after Jasper sadly, knowing that he couldn't do anything at this very moment. Letting out a depressed sigh, he continued to give out the cards. He'd given Garnet three more and was about to make his number equal, when a gloved hand was placed over his own. He finally looked at her, and saw she was frowning.
"Don't feel bad, Steven," she said softly, gently pushing his hands down, causing him to drop the cards. "Jasper isn't like Peridot or Lapis Lazuli. It's unlikely she'll accept your friendship."
His eyes drooped. "I know she isn't… but I just wish she wouldn't…" He glanced over his shoulder at the open door. "I wanna leave a good impression, y'know? Even if we never become friends, I don't want her to hate me so much." His eyes trailed along the floor and landed on the clumsy pile of cards, all facing different directions rather than one neat pile. "She hates me because of the stuff mom did. And I understand why she'd hold a grudge. I mean…" He curled up into a ball, wrapping his arms around his tucked knees. Before he found any more words to continue, he saw Garnet shift over to the space next to him and draped her long arm around his back. He leaned on her side, her warm body acting like a blanket, shielding him from the cold draft Jasper had let inside.
"That's not your fault, Steven," she murmured. "Jasper only thinks you're Rose Quartz because you have her gem. And because you act so much like her."
He knew that was meant to be a compliment. He knew he should take it as a compliment. But in this case, when Rose Quartz was the problem, rather than a solution to chase after, he just couldn't accept it. He could hardly bring himself to smile.
"Thanks, Garnet…"
"You're welcome." She smiled, shuffling back to her original position, sitting opposite Steven. "Now, do you still want to play Chase the Ace?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"Even though I always win?"
It wasn't really a question. It was a statement. Steven chuckled.
"I don't mind. It's still fun playing with you." At that moment, he found his truthful grin once again.
Amethyst's boots sank into the sand with each step. She took pleasure in the feeling of the mushy, chewed up food being swallowed and digested, as well as the taste lingering on her tongue. These weren't the best chips she'd ever tasted, but it was late, and most stores were shut at this time, so these were all she could grab hold of. Whatever. Food was food, right?
She eventually reached the white steps, now painted a blue-purple hue, due to the sky having changed colour already. Amethyst really liked it when the steps - no, anything - looked this colour when they weren't meant to.
Granted, she was meant to be this colour, just not her tiny size. Close enough, she'll take it.
She trudged up the stairs, salty-flavoured crumbs sticking to her fingers and scattered around her plump lips. Her tongue flickered to grab the tiny flakes as she relished the flavour, no matter how small and little impact they made.
Her own thoughts and daydreams blinded her path on the way up the steps, until a large, orange figure came into view. She was taken aback to see her there, but she didn't show any signs that she was startled in any way. Because she wasn't.
"Oh, 'sup, Jasper." She gave a casual nod to her, her eyes half-lidded as she gave a lopsided smile. "Mind budging over a little? I wanna scooch past."
The half-corrupted gem didn't even react to her presence. She didn't even look up, and instead continued her staring contest with her own heavy boots.
"Yo, did ya hear me?" She waved one hand close to her face, but not as close as she would do with literally anyone else. "I asked you to move over. Just for a second, then you can go back to… whatever it is you're doing."
Her eye twitched. "You can fit through that space, runt."
There it was. That nickname. Amethyst arched a brow and glanced at the space she was referring to.
It was, what, an inch wide?
She groaned.
"Look, we offered to help you out with… this," she gestured her free hand to her corrupted arm. "And this whole time you've been an ungrateful sad-sack. The least you could do is respond to tiny requests like shuffling over." She then built up the strength in her legs, before leaping over the quartz, landing on the patio behind her with a loud thud. "Or, y'know, a 'thanks for helping me'," she muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.
She had taken two steps forward, when she heard her raspy voice hiss quietly,
"I didn't want to be helped."
Amethyst scoffed crudely.
"You needed it though."
She slammed the door shut behind her, leaving Jasper outside. The loud noise caught the attention of Steven and Garnet, who were sitting in the middle of the floor, both holding several cards in their hands.
"Oh! Hi, Amethyst!" Steven greeted, waving to her. Amethyst raised her hand to return the polite gesture, before dipping that hand into her bag of chips and throwing the crisp potato slices into her mouth.
"Aww, what ya playin'? And why didn't ya wait for me t' get back so I could tag along?" she complained, moist flakes spraying from her mouth.
"We're playing Chase the Ace!" Steven replied joyfully. As he said this, Garnet slipped one of his two cards he was holding from his fingers.
"We were playing Chase the Ace," she corrected him, smirking as she dropped her two cards into the middle, leaving her empty handed. Steven widened his eyes and whipped his head around to look at the last card he was holding.
"Oh, bother!" he cursed, pouting.
Amethyst chuckled. "Don't be surprised. Garnet wins at every card game."
"I know. I was just so close!"
She snickered again, taking a seat in between the two, creating a triangle shape. "So, what's the next game?" she asked, dropping her chips packet and stretching out to crack her knuckles. "Ever played Irish Snap? Oldie but a goodie!"
"No, that's too violent for Steven," Garnet stated dryly. Amethyst rolled her eyes.
"And, what, being trapped in a spaceship miles away from the Earth, then staying in it while it plummets towards Earth isn't?"
Steven chuckled. "What is Irish Snap, anyway?"
"It's like Snap. But Irish."
Steven raised a brow, until Amethyst laughed and proceeded to explain the rules. It was a simple game, just with a few more rules. The most important rule, apparently, was to slam your hand on top of the pile of cards in the middle when there was a match, a queen, or a number that matched the number they had counted up to at that point, because the hand on top of the pile would be the one to pick up all the cards.
They proceeded to begin from 'ace' and count up from there, going round in a circle clockwise, placing a card each time they added a number to the count. Occasionally they'd get a pair or a queen, to which they'd literally throw themselves into the middle, aside from Garnet, whose hand was already clamped on top of the cards every single time. It was Steven who got the first pile of cards, but luckily for him it was only a pile of about six. The next one to pick up the cards was Amethyst, for she had been too busy rummaging her hand in her chips packet, searching for left over bits. Unfortunately for her, the pile was pretty damn big, and she muttered her frustrations under her breath. It wasn't even worth it - no food left for her to eat.
As the gem gathered the cards together, trying to pick them off the ground with her chubby fingers, she couldn't help but ask,
"So, what's up with Jasper?" she questioned, in a tone that implied that she didn't care, despite the fact that she really was curious.
"What do you mean?" Steven asked, a little quiet, might she add.
She shrugged. "I dunno, I was just wondering why she was sitting on the stairs outside."
He sighed as he threw a card into the middle, that was now empty as Amethyst had picked up all the cards, not bothering to straightening them up. "Ace. And I don't really know. I invited her to play cards… and she just walked out. Not saying anything."
Amethyst huffed, flinging her card onto the pile. "Two. And it wasn't like she was gonna say yes to that, Steven."
"Three," Garnet said, placing her card on the pile, but didn't remove her hand. Steven and Amethyst gasped and flung their hands forward, Steven being the one on top of the pile.
"Aw," he whined, waiting for Amethyst and Garnet to remove their hands. They did, and Steven saw Garnet and placed a queen. He picked up the three cards and added them to his pile, shuffling them before beginning the process again. "Ace." He pouted. "I kinda guessed she wouldn't. But it was worth a try, right?"
"You were just trying to lighten the mood," Garnet pointed out, watching through her visor as Amethyst flicked her card into the middle. She then added her own on top of it. "Three."
"Four." Steven added the next card.
"Five." Amethyst's turn. "Yeah, Garnet's right. Not your fault she's being moodier that Lapis on a bad day."
Steven wouldn't usually have laughed at a joke at Lapis' expense, but he couldn't help it. Probably because his energy was slowly draining.
"Yeah, I guess. Seven- oh!" He lunged forward, his hand landing on Garnet's, while Amethyst slapped her hand on Steven's last. It hurt. "Ow!"
"Oops." Amethyst let out a 'pffft' as she reluctantly added the seven cards to her already huge pile. "Ugh, I suck at this. Can we play something else?"
Steven laughed. Garnet clicked her tongue.
"You were the one who suggested this game," she insisted. "We're finishing it."
"Aw, man." She groaned. "Okay, fine. Ace." She threw her card in the middle. "Maybe it's a good thing Jasper isn't playing. Her slamming her hand down would be enough to poof someone." She huffed. "Speaking from experience."
"Yeah, I feel you." Steven rubbed his arm with his free hand.
"Two." Garnet said. "And me too."
The trio paused to look at each other. Then they laughed.
"So… we've all been punched by Jasper?" Amethyst arched a brow.
"Yep."
"Yeah."
"Pfft." The purple gem chortled. "Remind me why we're doing this again?"
Steven tilted his head. "Irish Snap?"
"No. Helping Jasper!" She laughed. "I mean, she's gonna hate us no matter what we do, right? She hasn't even thanked us for letting her out of that bubble."
"I know… but…" He pursed his lips. "Just give her time. Who knows what could happen?" He tried to smile at the thought, but Amethyst could tell that what he was saying was only half true.
"...I guess so." She decided not to continue with this subject and return to their game. "Uh… where were we up to?"
"It was Steven's turn. Three," Garnet answered.
Steven stared at his cards for a while longer. "Hey, uh… I might play later," he murmured, a forced smile glued to his face. "I'm gonna go look at the stars. They're bound to be out by now." With that, he abandoned his cards to stand up, walking over to the shut door to slip out of it once he had made it ajar. Amethyst blinked, staring after him before shooting Garnet a worried glance.
Did I say something wrong? She thought, but didn't need to say. Her expression did that job for her.
Garnet shook her head. It's something else.
Amethyst squinted, glancing at the boy who was now standing outside, on the patio, gazing at the dark sky above him. She then looked back at her.
You sure?
She nodded her head.
Promise.
Steven had actually forgotten about staying up to look at the stars. It had merely been an excuse to come outside. Even so, the sky was really pretty tonight - different shades of purple and blue, all blended into a messy, yet pretty-coloured blanket. On top of that were the thousands of stars gazing down at him from millions of miles away. Each one was important; if one wasn't important, that means none of them are, meaning the sky would be just… empty.
The chilly breeze easily sliced through the thin fabric of his banana pajamas, and the wood was no better on his exposed feet. Still, it wasn't painful. In fact, it was rather welcome, considering it was usually so hot in Beach City. He rested his arms on the fence of the patio, his head sinking into them.
For a while, he eyed the sky above him, until the urge to look to his right was too much. His eyes trailed over to the steps, where a large figure sat, motionless, the breeze occasionally picking up her wild hair before dropping it again. He bit his tongue, though not enough that it would hurt, then blurted out.
"Do you want to go inside, Jasper? It's pretty cold out here."
Silence. Then her hunched shoulders faintly bobbed up and down.
"If this is what you consider cold, then you're more than weak," she jeered. Steven frowned. Of course she wouldn't find this type of weather cold. She was in the arctic at one point, and she didn't look phased at all.
"Right… sorry." He wasn't sure why he was apologizing. It may had been a silly offer, but it was still friendly, regardless. Still, he didn't take it back. "So… you're okay sitting out here?"
"Leave me, Rose Quartz."
Steven furrowed a brow, before sighing.
"You won't need to worry about that…"
He treaded back inside, closing the door behind him as quietly as he could.
