Steven was spending the day with his dad.

It was a surprisingly warm day when compared with the frigid temperatures that preceded it, and Steven was glad for the momentary break in weather. Father and son sat together on lawn chairs in the front of the car wash, watching for any potential customers while also enjoying their time together. At first, it had just been talking, and then talking delved into a competition: who could spit watermelon seeds the farthest.

Greg had presented the watermelon to Steven shortly after their day together began. You don't usually see ones this healthy this late into the season, Greg had said, and big too! I was lucky to grab this one up. Steven didn't know how to separate the good watermelons from the bad, but hoped he would someday; his dad only had to tap on the melon, it seemed, and he knew everything about it.

Steven took another bite of the fruit, drinking all the juice but storing the seeds in his cheek. When the rest of the watermelon had gone, he readied himself, and spat the pile as far as he could manage; none of them quite beat the farthest seed, which just so happened to belong to Steven.

"Great shot!" Greg commented before taking a bite of his own fruit. He cleared his mouth of all but the seeds, held onto the armrests of his lawn chairs and leaned forward to spit; the small black projectiles shot through the air like tiny rockets, and landed a good distance away on the grass.

Greg threw up his hands in celebration, and Steven threw back his head in the exact opposite.

"Heyo!"

"That's not fair!" Steven protested playfully, leaning over the side of his chair to point accusingly at Greg, "You cheated."

"No I didn't!" Greg argued, then crossed his arms and gave a proud smirk, "My butt remained firmly planted in the seat!"

"You leaned forward!"

"Where's your proof?" Greg prompted, "Can't make such an accusation without proof, can you Stewball?"

"I saw you!" Steven laughed out.

"Did you? Did you really? Cause I don't think you did."

"Okay, okay!"

Steven took the final bite of his melon, locating all the hard seeds and psyching himself up; this was his last chance, after all, to beat his father. He took a deep inhale, thought about the seeds reaching their destination, and spat them into the wind.

The seeds just barely fell short.

"Noooo!"

Greg laughed in celebration, "Oh yeah! That's right! Your old man's still got it!"

Steven made a playful fist and shook it to the sky, "One of these days, dad, one of these days!"

Greg suddenly grabbed his son, lifting the small boy with ease and swinging him around like a stuffed toy.

"Just admit it Stewball, you're just not as good as your old man! I've had more time to practice."

Steven pushed his body up and wrapped his arms around Greg's neck, "I'm gonna beat you at it one day."

Greg laughed at that and placed Steven back on the ground, ruffling his fingers through the tangled mass of black.

"Maybe grow a few feet first, Stewball."

"I'll do my best!" Steven laughed.

Steven woke suddenly to the call of the phone. Head spinning and thoughts not quite collected in his pool of awareness, he shoved off Drake and Lion (both of which had insisted on sleeping right on top of him) and nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to reach the call before it ended. He made it there by the fifth ring, and answered with a tired, "Hello?"

"Hey Stewball?"

"Dad?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so."

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"At the moment? Yeah. But strange things are happening and I need you to get here."

"What?"

"I-I don't Steven, I think it's a gem thing. I'm not really supposed to uh, you know, get involved. Can you maybe just get here, now, please?"

"Yeah. I'm on my way.

Steven hurried over as fast as he could, but not before letting his pets outside and grabbing his special mirror; he didn't know how long he would be gone for. He caught a break of luck, and halfway to the car wash Jenny slowed down beside him in her delivery truck and offered him a ride, which he gladly accepted. He had only been outside for a few minutes and already the cold had begun to sting the heat from his body and leave him a stinging, shivering mess. The delivery girl dropped off the pizza first (to Steven's great impatience) before circling back around to drop him off at the car wash.

It didn't take a genius to see just what Greg had called him about.

Near a hundred small, human-shaped objects littered the front lawn of the car wash; not just objects, watermelons, and not just human shaped, but Steven shaped. Both of those things were unmistakable. They even had faces, with two beady black eyes and a jagged mouth that almost gave them the appearance of a jack-o-lantern.

"Now that is some freaky shit." Jenny didn't seem to care that she had sworn in Steven's presence, and Steven was shocked that he didn't mind.

"Can I swear too?" He asked.

"Go for it."

"What the heck."

"Wow. That was intense, Steven."

Steven got out of the car, and only then did he notice his dad among the strange occurrences. Greg hurried over to him, wide-eyed and with hair that looked as if he hadn't had the chance to comb it; Steven didn't blame him. If he had woken up to this, he wouldn't have combed his hair either.

"What happened?" Steven asked.

Greg shrugged. "If I knew, I wouldn't have called you, stewball! They just appeared overnight."

Father and son turned to face the field, and the fruit growing in it.

"I figured it was some sort of gem thing."

Steven shook his head. "Nothing like this ever happened before. Then again, before a couple weeks ago I never made a bubble, or shot a light cannon with my gem, or healed Connie with spit."

Greg blinked. "You really gotta keep me updated on these things, kiddo. Is this some sort of freaky, gem puberty?"

"Maybe; I dunno. Gems don't usually go through puberty, they just come out full grown."

"Well, you didn't. You were born like a human, so isn't it possible?"

"I guess? I'd have to have Garnet or Spinel, but they aren't here."

"Well, what do you want to do with these things in the meantime?" Greg asked, "They can't stay here, they're scaring off customers."

"That guy doesn't seem too scared."

Steven pointed to an expensive-looking car that had just pulled up, with an impatient-looking teen leaning out of the drivers side.

"Hey, is this a car wash or what?"

"It is!" Greg answered hopefully, "You looking for a wash?"

"Duh!" The driver's eyes widened, and suddenly he wasn't looking at Greg or Steven anymore, "What are those things?"

Greg looked behind him, "Oh uh, those are just some melons my son grew."

"Give me one."

"Oh geeze." Greg began, "I dunno if they're for sale."

The driver wasn't listening; he was too busy looking at his nails, and half way through Greg's sentence, reaching into the passenger's seat beside him and grabbing something.

"Here." He held a wad of cash out of the window, "Kevin gets what he wants, and he wants one of those melons. Now."

Greg looked at Steven, and Steven looked at Greg.

"Right away sir." Greg said.

"I'll get it!" Steven added.

"And I'll get to washing!"

Steven stumbled into the patch of melons, and reached for the first one he saw.

"Not that one." Said the driver (who Steven assumed as this 'Kevin' he talked about), "Get me that one." He pointed toward a different, darker melon.

Steven obeyed and quickly collected the dark melon, detaching it gently from the vine and caring it carefully over to the car; Greg had already started lathering up the hood with a bubbly soap, and was taking his time to get off every scrape, scratch, or speck he could find. Steven maneuvered the melon through the window.

"Careful, it's heavy."

Kevin took the melon, looked it over, and then said, "This will do." And held out the money for Steven to grab, which he did.

"Hey Steven," Greg said, "Go put that money inside and come help me with this."

"Okay!"

Steven did as he was told, and when the money was safely deposited, he returned and grabbed the extra sponge to help his dad. They talked as they worked.

"Listen, I don't think it was such a good idea to give this guy a melon. I mean, we don't know what they are, or what they'll do."

Steven thought, and he could see why Greg could be uneasy around the strange sight; those were a regular occurrence in Steven's life.

"But what the gems don't know won't hurt them" Greg went on, "And we could always use the extra money. I don't want to be labeled a bad dad for letting you sell that thing, so do you think you could just keep this between us?"

"I dunno." Steven responded,"I don't like keeping secrets from the gems."

"You don't have to keep it a secret, you just have to not mention it to the gems. Ever. After we're done washing this car, you can help me load this melons into my van and we can take them to the temple until the gems get home, so they can figure out what to do with them. And I'll even give you ten bucks for the arcade! Sound fair?"

Steven beamed. "Yeah!" Ten dollars could buy him half an hour of gaming, easy! And he might even get enough tickets to buy a prize, or cotton candy.

They finished washing the car quicker than Steven had expected them to, and the customer drove away down the road without another word on the matter. Then, as promised, Greg started to help Steven load the strange melons into his truck. Big melons and small melons, heavy melons and light melons. Dark ones and pale ones, flawless ones and ones covered in blemishes. When they came to the last of them, a small, pale one with marks of brown and grey streaked throughout its body, Steven couldn't help but think it cute.

"Aw, it's just a baby." Steven held it as such, "I'm gonna hold you the whole ride home."

It took them nearly an hour to load all of the watermelons into the beach house. Steven could only carry one at a time, and Greg could sometimes take two if they were small enough. Down the stairs, to the van, back up the stairs, and placing the watermelons in the kitchen. Dozens of times, over and over, until they were all finally inside. Steven counted exactly 87.

"Whew." Greg breathed, "Carrying all those melons really did a number on my back. Mind if I rest a bit?"

Steven shook his head. "Go for it."

Greg collapsed on the couch with a breath of relief.

When Steven looked back to the kitchen, a chill shot through his body. They're all staring at me.

When Greg left, and Steven was alone with the melons and the ten dollars his father had left him, an air of eerie tranquility filled the room. In the short time Greg had taken to rest, Steven was able to ignore those beady eyes that seemed to follow him wherever he went. Now he was alone with them, without the comforting presence of someone older and wiser, they seemed more alive than ever. He would have to move them when the time came to sleep, he knew; it would be impossible to sleep with them staring at him.

Maybe he'd move them to the bathroom, but then again that would give him a nasty scare when he would undoubtedly forget about them the next morning. He couldn't leave them outside either, and he couldn't get into the temple no matter how hard he tried. Maybe he'd put them on the couch and floor right below his loft, where he couldn't see them. Yeah, that seemed okay. But for now, he just wanted to get rid of their deadly stares and just enjoy the rest of the day at Funland.

The moment he arrived at the arcade, it was as if Onion had been waiting for him. The moment he stepped inside, the boy crawled out from one of the vending machines and made a swift beeline toward him, bouncing and holding out balled fists.

"Yes, you can share my time, Onion." Steven said.

Onion cheered, but continued to bounce and hold out his fist.

"You have something for me?"

Onion nodded. Steven held out his hand and Onion placed something in it; something wet and slimy and moving.

At first Steven cringed, when he caught a glimpse of the creature, all that ill feeling went away.

"Aw. It's a little worm."

Onion nodded.

"Don't you think we should put him outside? Back in the dirt?"

Onion thought about it, and then nodded and held out his hand. Steven took the younger boys hand in his hand (the one without the worm in it) and they walked together out to a patch of dirt, placed the worm safely on it, and then returned inside to play their games.

When Steven returned home later that day, a strange feeling made him stop in his tracks halfway up the stairs. Something didn't feel right, like he was being watched. He looked around for Lion, or maybe Drake, but the only living thing on the beach was a seagull pecking at an annoyed crab scuttling across the sand. Steven shook the feeling away and took another step, only for the feeling to return again stronger than ever.

Stop being silly, he told himself, you're a Crystal Gem now and you have to act like it.

He took a deep breath, swallowed the emotion, and walked the rest of the way to the beach house. The moment he opened the door, his eyes ventured to where he had left the watermelon Stevens, and he froze.

They weren't there.

His eyes naturally scanned across the rest of the room, and the cold emotion radiating in the air only served to make Steven even more frozen in fear. Heat rushed to his face and his ears when he finally scanned the rest of the room and came to see just where his strange creations had gone; on the couch and floor beside his loft, right where he was going to put them.

"What…?"

The baby melon was at the front of the collective gathering, all gazing to the door with equal, unwavering attention.

Baby Melon blinked.

"NOPE!"

Steven turned around, fueled by the heat spreading quickly through his body, and ran all the way back down the stairs. He stopped the moment his feet hit the sand, and looked back up at the window to see if he could catch a glimpse, only to receive yet another explosion of heated fear when he saw all those beady eyes staring back at him.

Steven yelped in terror and kept running. Toward the boardwalk, toward the Big Donut, until he saw it; that solitary big, dark melon standing right in front of the Big Donut and staring him down like something out of a horror movie.

"I'm sorry!"

Steven didn't know what he was apologizing for, but it seemed like the right thing to do. Steven didn't think; he just ran. Around the stony cliff, to the steep grassy slope that lead up to the old lighthouse. It wasn't much, and it definitely wasn't safe, but he would do anything at the moment not to be outside.

It was lighter inside than he expected, cleaner too. No layer of dust or grime, no broken furniture or old peeling paint. In fact, the paint was even cleaner than the paint in his own home, and the wooden planks uprooted and leaving a wooden floor beneath his feet. As he caught his breath, he spotted the old, rotting wood discarded in a careless pile against the far wall.

"Steven?"

Steven flinched at the voice, until he looked up and saw a familiar, friendly face staring down at him.

"Peedee!"

Steven ran all the way up the stairs to the safe presence of his friend.

"Steven, what's going on?"

Higher up, Steven could see Ronaldo's scowling face peering down at both of them.

"I made weird watermelons and now they're alive!"

"What?!"

Ronaldo was on them in a second.

"Where?!"

"Look outside." Steven said.

Ronaldo grabbed his brothers hand and raced up the stairs, but before Peedee could be dragged along, he grabbed onto Steven and all three ran up together to the top of the lighthouse, to a room far too clean and technology-filled to be anything but modern. Ronaldo pressed his face against the glass and gasped.

"What?" Peedee asked, and then repeated himself louder "What?!"

Ronaldo ran across the room, grabbed a camcorder, and ran all the way back as he activated the recorder.

"I'm here in the abandoned light of house of Beach City," He breathed out, "Currently outside, there appear to be at least a hundred living, boy shaped watermelons trying to break in!"

"There's 87!" Steven said.

Ronaldo looked at him. "I'm sorry, whose recording is this?"

"Sorry."

A loud thud from downstairs made all of them jump. Then there was another, and another.

"They're trying to get in!" Peedee cried.

There was a crash, the unmistakable sound of a door being piled upon and broken off his hinges. Steven dared a glimpse down at the ground floor, and to his horror saw several of the living, moving melons piled on top of each other, and on top of the door, with even more crawling through the newly formed entrance. It was almost like something out of a horror movie, but this was real, and so was the fear.

Peedee let out a wail of terror and ran to hide behind his brother. "Why did you bring them here?"

"I don't know!" Steven admitted.

There was a steady drumming, and another look into the horrors below revealed all of the creatures marching in a single-file line, timed perfectly in their motions, as if they were a single hive-mind following a single command.

"They're climbing the stairs!" Peedee cried out.

Ronaldo kept recording.

Steven backed up slowly until he could back up no more, and as the minutes passed by slow, the drumming of the approaching feet seemed almost to match with the beating of his heart. The faster his heart beated, the faster they walked. It wasn't long before he saw Baby Melon rise over the stairs, with his army marching behind him.

They slowly began to fill the room.

All three teenage boys of varying ages backed up together, one sobbing, one still recording, and Steven stuck in silence by his fear.

"Don't touch me!" Peedee shouted at a nearby melon that made an attempt to reach toward him.

"I should of live streamed this!" Ronaldo wailed, "Now they'll never know how the Fryman brothers died!"

"Not helping, Ronaldo!"

Steven felt their fear stinging through the air like a lightning bolt about to strike, and suddenly his fear didn't seem nearly as bad. His heart was beating in his ears, his breathing was shallow, but everything seemed somehow calm. The tears brimming at the corners of his eyes had no emotion behind them, and the ringing that came to replace the cries of his friends meant nothing.

Steven closed his eyes, bared his teeth, and said, "GO AWAY!"

Everything stopped.

Steven opened his eyes.

The army was staring back at him, drinking in his emotion as he had theirs. They all blinked as a single being, and then they began to file out in the same order they had filed in. Baby Melon lead them down the stairs, through the hole where the door once was, out onto the cliff and around to the beach. Across the sand, into the shallows, and eventually disappearing beneath the waves.

The warp pad beamed to life. Where there was nothing, suddenly there were four things (five, if you counted the creature one had in her arms).

"You're back!"

Steven leaped up from where he sat, curled up with Lion and Drake, and ran to the gems. Drake was ahead of him, however, and zipped past his head in a flash of pink, landing perfectly on Spinel's shoulder and wrapping around her neck like a snake.

"Drake!" Spinel laughed, "Calm down, I gotta get this girl into the temple."

Steven, in the middle of hugging both Pearl and Amethyst at the same time, paused his greetings just long enough to take in the snake-like creature in Spinel's arms. A rainbow body and a sleeping red-colored head and neck. The creature blinked awake and yawned, lifting its head, and then another. Another, and another, and another. Steven counted seven in total, all different colors of the rainbow.

"Woah!" He gasped, "What's that?"

"A story for another day!" Spinel announced.

"I still can't believe you brought that thing home." Pearl pouted.

"Well, Elemental can't take care of the strawberry fields and a baby both! Besides, she's small."

"It gets bigger."

Spinel ignored her, and welcomed a hug from Steven.

"I have so much to tell you!"

Spinel silenced Steven with a finger to his lips.

"Give me one second to put this baby where she belongs." Spinel gave the baby creature a gentle rock, "And then we gotta put this baby back where he belongs." She stretched her arm out to bop Drake gently on the nose.

She spun around and marched proudly toward her room, Drake still perched on her shoulder, and the tail of the baby wrapping around in a tangle of knots.

"Don't be long." Garnet called.

"I won't!"

The heart-shaped gem beamed to life, and Spinel disappeared into the temple. Pearl placed her hands on her knees and got down to Steven's level.

"While she's gone, Why don't you tell me everything that happened?"

Steven opened his mouth, expecting the events of that week to all come falling out. The mirror talking to him, more than one, calling him family. Bringing those melons to life and then sending them off to where it is they went. Something, anything. What he ended up saying was:

"Nothing really happened. Just, you know, the usual."

He made up his mind then and there. He wouldn't tell the gems.

As of right now, I plan to post one chapter every Saturday, so if that changes, I'll be sure to let you know. I hope you're all enjoying the story so far, and that you'll enjoy the future chapters to come!