Steven Universe and the court of Blue Diamond.
Chapter Six
Was there anything more beautiful in this entire world than the small bits of fried perfection that were fry bits? Steven could say for certain that he was sure that there was not. He popped one into his mouth and chewed on it, delighting as the saltiness and oil of the delicious half a fry flooded into his mouth and overtook all of his senses, well, really just taste but still.
"Uh, Steven?" Peedee Fryman spoke as he leaned on the serving counter of the Fry Shack, his dark eyes narrowing in mild annoyance as he held his hand out towards his friend. "I know you love them and I know they aren't really on the menu but you still got to pay for them, fork it over."
Steven, slight annoyed that his voyage into salty heaven had been disturbed by such a small concern as monetary reimbursement, merely sighed as he dug into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a crumpled five dollar bill which he then handed to Peedee before resuming his course of destruction on the helpless, but oh so delicious fry bits.
Once the bits were all safely inside of his stomach Steven leaned back against the counter and stared out across the beach towards the sea and let out a sigh of satisfaction as the waves lapped at the beach and the bright sun shone so high above them and coated the entire boardwalk in it's golden light. "Ah Peedee, this is the life is it not? What could be better than simply sitting down and enjoying the sun?"
"Not being at work." Peedee spoke with a roll of his eyes. "Steven, buddy. I love ya a lot but you're holding up the line." He said as he gestured to the long line that had formed behind Steven as he had placed his off menu order and had eaten his fry bits in front of the shack, to say that the people in the line looked more than a little irritated would be an understatement. "So, in the spirit of that love, could you kindly get lost?"
"Ah, yeah. Sorry everyone. Got a little bit carried away." Steven said with a apologetic smile as he pushed himself off from the counter and walked off up the board walk, throwing a wave back to Peedee as he went.
Now, he had planned as he walked to head back to his room and maybe take a nap for the rest of the day when his eyes drifted away from the mountain and turned to the beautiful sign that hung above the Big Doughnut, which was itself a big doughnut which Steven had to guess was why it was called that which was odd that he never really put that together before now, and decided maybe he would get a chocolate doughnut with sprinkles before headed home.
Lucky for him, there wasn't a line inside of the shop and even luckier, it was Lars at the counter. He had a pair of headphones in his ears and his head was bobbing up and down and his eyes were screwed shut as he moved violently from left to right in a series movements that could have been called a dance.
"Hi Lars!" Steven called happily as he walked up to the counter with his hand up in greeting, Lars didn't respond as he spoke and instead kept moving and tapping his fingers against the counter as he danced. "I said hi Lars!"
Still nothing. So Steven rested his head on the counter and waited for Lars to be done, and he waited and he waited and he waited and he waited and he waited and he went to the ice cream freezer to go and get a Cookie Cat only to then remember that they had been discontinued and that he would have to get a Lion Licker instead and after a moment of questioning everything that he had ever believed in, he with great regret took the Lion Licker and carried it back over to the counter.
Lars looked no closer to being done than he had before so Steven put some more money on the counter and ripped off the wrapper of the Lion Licker and set about giving himself up to fate as he he took his first lick of the ice cream treat that might look like a lion if you squinted at it in a dark room. It wasn't that the taste was bad, per say, Steven just hated poor craftsmanship.
The ice cream was almost completely gone when the bell above the door of the store rang out and an annoyed cry went up into the air. "Are you serious?!" Sadie growled as she stormed up, throwing a glance at Steven as she went. "Sorry about this Steven."
"No prob Bob." He said as Sadie reached out and ripped the headphones out of Lars's phone which caused the older boy to jerk back and his eyes to snap open in a fierce glare which Steven was kinda sure was just how Lars face looked all of the time.
"Hey! What's the big idea!?"
"I told you to watch the store while I went for a Doctor's appointment, can't you ever just do one thing that I ask you to do? Just once!?" Sadie looked angrier than Steven had ever seen her before which was kinda weird, he had seen her be kinda annoyed at Lars before whenever he didn't do what she had asked him to do sure but this wasn't annoyance, this was anger and it just seemed...wrong, somehow.
Lars seemed surprised as well but it didn't last that long as his own anger came up to meet Sadie's and on Lars the anger was very familiar to him and so Steven took a slight step back. "What's the problem, you were only gone like twenty minutes and no one came in while you were gone anyway."
"One, how could you know that? Your eyes were shut and you had your headphones in. Two, you're wrong because Steven is standing right there!" Sadie cried as she gestured at Steven which caused Lars to look at him.
"Hi Lars!"
"Oh for-He probably only just got there, I promise Sads, I closed my eyes for like half a second. Right Steven, you only just got here, right?" Lars said with a smile that for some reason looked really painful and Sadie narrow her eyes at him once again before she turned her own gaze at Steven, on the hunt for even the slightest lie.
"Uhhhh...yeah! I totally only just got here like, a few seconds before you did Sadie!" Steven shut his eyes, shook his head and tutted. "Honestly Sadie, didn't you see me coming in from outside?"
Sadie did not look convinced before Lars put an expression of perfect innocence on her face and Steven matched it with one of his own and it soon became clear that this was not a war she was going to win. "Fine, whatever. What did you want to order Steven?"
"Well, my fair lady Sadie, I would like three chocolate covered double fried doughnuts if you please. Hold the sprinkles."
"But of course good sir Steven." Sadie said with a smile as she fell into a low bow which Steven of course returned, as Sadie turned and saw to his doughnut needs Steven held out his arms towards Lars while smiling brightly.
"Ugh, dude, what are you doing?"
"Waiting for my hug Lars?"
"And why I am going to hug you?"
"Cause I just lied to Sadie for you?"
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have lied to her cause it's never going to happen."
"Aw man."
Sadie came back to the counter to find a Lars with his headphones back in and a Steven pouting with his arms crossed under his chin. "Here ya go bud." She spoke and Steven grinned before he took the bag which held the perfect chocolate covered treasures within which might be the only thing in the world that might be better than fry bits.
Before they could get down and get the payment for these treasures out of the way, the bell above the door rang once again and Steven turned and grinned once he saw who it was. "Lapis!" He cried as he threw himself at her and threw his arms around her legs, the bag of doughnuts left temporarily abandoned on the counter while the more important matter of hugging Lapis took over all other priorities.
"Heya little man." Lapis said with a soft little smile as she patted down Steven's dark curls before gently pulling herself away from him and walked over to the coffee machine in the corner and poured herself a cup of it and took a sip. Steven knew that none of the gems needed to eat or to drink but that didn't mean that they couldn't and Lapis in particular really liked the taste of coffee
Lapis walked over to the counter and dropped a few coins on to the counter, most of the Gems didn't bother with money and Steven had no idea where Lapis kept finding her own. It was clearly good enough for the Big Doughnut at least as Sadie took the money and placed it into the cash machine. "Thank you for choosing the Big Doughnut for all your fried dough, or in this case coffee, needs."
"What did you say?" Lars asked as he moved one of the headphones he was wearing off of his ear and opened his eyes, and then he dropped his phone once he saw Lapis and he hardly seemed to care at all. "HelloimLarscanIgetyouanythingrightnowallyouneedtodoisaskiloveyou."
"Um, I'm good. Thanks Lars." Lapis said as she turned around and walked back to Steven while drinking her coffee, behind her Lars was reaching out and looked like he was trying to say something else but couldn't get the words out and Sadie...Sadie looked angry again and turned back around and muttered something about checking out the storeroom for something.
Lapis walked out of the Big Doughnut still drinking her coffee and Steven hurried after her as the tall deep blue gem sat down on the boardwalk near the railing, her long blue legs hanging over the golden sand as she stared out towards the deep blue sea that stretched endlessly towards the horizon.
Steven sat down next to her and stared up at her with his dark eyes widened in amazement. "You are so cool."
"I am, aren't I?" Lapis said with a smirk as she drank from her cup of coffee once again. "Why am I so cool again, I mean, we've established that I am always cool but what has brought this revelation on to you, young Universe?"
Steven honestly didn't know the answer to that, Lapis was always cool. She always seemed to fit in where she went and she talked to everyone she met and she could fly, which was a whole other level of cool and Steven didn't know why she was cool, she just was. Water was wet, snow was cold, birds flew, fish swam, the sun was hot, fry bits were perfect and Lapis was cool. It was just the way that it was. "I don't know, you just are."
"Sounds about right to me." Lapis said with a soft smirk on her face before she threw her empty coffee cup into the trash can a little further down the board walk without bothering to look. "So, what you got planned for the rest of the day little man?"
"Well, I just had some fry bits and I got some doughnuts so I guess I'm just going to head back home...But we could hang out within one another instead!" Steven exclaimed with a grin as he jumped to his feet with his eyes shinning bright. "It's been ages since we've actually hung out together and that is a crime! Let's do something."
"Sure, why not?" Lapis said with a grin as she stood up and stretched her limbs and Steven had to wonder if she had really had to that, Holly Blue had taught him that the Gem's physical forms weren't exactly real, well, it wasn't that they weren't real but they weren't organic. Their bodies were made of light, like a hologram but with mass.
Lapis had been there that day and had teased Holly that she had a massive amount of mass and Holly had growled at her and told her to get lost, well, that was what Dad had told him she had said because before she had been able to say anything Steven's dad came up and covered his ears before she had been able to say anything but Steven had certainly seen Holly screaming something and Lapis had laughed without a care in the world as she walked out of the house, stood on the balcony and took to the skies.
It must be so awesome to be able to fly, Steven wondered if Mom had been able to fly. He had always asked the others about the powers that she had but they never told him what they were, that his Mother had wanted him to find them for himself at his own pace. Well, that was great for Mom but Steven wanted to know what he could expect but none of them had told him, not even Pearl.
That thought dimmed his mood slightly but not enough to stop him from smiling as he grabbed Lapis's hand as he jumped from foot to foot. "Taking me flying with you!" He shouted and Lapis's eyes widened slightly for a moment before she chuckled and summoned up her water wings, each one one stretching out proudly from her gemstone.
"Hop on little man!" If it was even possible, Steven's eyes grew wider and a whoop of victory escaped his mouth as the both of them took to the air and, at least for the moment, left Beach City behind.
And as they flew away, neither noticed a little girl in a flowing dress and large book in her hands staring up with wide eyes as vanished on to the horizon.
End of Chapter Six
Another chapter done and dusted, sorry for the wait everyone but yeah, these early chapters are going to be about flushing out Steven's relationships with the other Gems. Lapis here is basically Steven's aloof, cool big sister who doesn't much care about anything at all but she does have a massive soft spot for Steven himself.
Anywho, I hope you enjoyed and please consider leaving a review, a follow and a favorite.
Lots of love, and fry bits,
DiscordantSymphony