Trying on Different Shoes Pt. 1
Supermodel- SZA
Amethyst kept poking him. "Come on Shadow let's go do something."
He looked up from his book to swipe at her. "No Amethyst I just want to sit here and read my book."
She suddenly morphed into a bird and started to peck at him. "Let's go," she said, "Let's go!" Amethyst pecked his face again.
Shadow leaped up off the couch and started chasing bird Amethyst around the house. "Get down here girl!" He jumped up to try and reach her. The gem landed on top of a high beam.
Amethyst returned back to normal and laughed. "Shadow I'm bored let's go out and do something. Everyone else is. Or go steal Greg's car or eat up all the donuts at the donut shop."
"All those things sound either illegal or fattening. Why don't we just… I don't know…" Shadow thought back to the donut shop." He snapped his fingers. "Yeah, why don't we go get some donuts. That kind of sounds good right now." When he turned to Amethyst she was on the couch reading his book.
Amethyst looked over the book at him. "Nah," she turned another page of the book. "I'm kind of bored with that idea now."
He squinted his eyes at her. "So you decided to read MY book instead?"
"Yup."
That was fair he couldn't get mad at that. It was a good book.
The door burst open and Connie came running in. This was the first time since being back on homeworld since he's seen her. The little girl still wore her lens-less glasses and coveralls. Her hair was cut short which stunned him more than her sudden appearance.
"Hey Connie been a long time-"
Connie ran to Shadow and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Shadow I'm so glad you're okay!" The little girl's eyes started to tear up.
Shadow chuckled at her. "Hey hey relax Connie I'm safe and alive so don't worry."
Amethyst hopped up and ran over to them. "Why you here Connie. Isn't it a school week?"
Connie let go of Shadow and turned to the both of them. "I'm having a problem," Connie went to sit down on the stool across from them. "Today is a parent-teacher conference and both of my parents are working. They missed to many and if they miss another conference will have a big problem on our hands."
"Are you suggesting that I act like your parent?" Shadow asked.
"I'm asking you Shadow. Please, my parents, are always busy with their work and don't have time to come to a conference. Do you think you could act like my dad and attend?" Connie blushed when she asked the question.
Shadow looked at Amethyst for an answer but the gem just shrugged.
Connie looked uneasy now cause of his long delay. "I'm sorry if it's a weird request. I didn't mean to make things weird or anything."
"Yeah, will do it." Shadow smiled at her.
Amethyst rubbed her arm uneasily. "Hey, I don't know about this. We're not her parents so wouldn't it be wrong to pretend?"
Shadow wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her in close. "Don't worry Amethyst. I don't know about you but I can be a pretty good actor if need be, I can pretend to be her father no problem. She still needs a mom though." He grinned at Amethyst.
"A mother?" Amethyst felt her cheeks warm up. "So you'll be the dad and me the mother?"
"Yeah, that would totally work!" Connie had stars in her eyes.
Both of them were staring at her now waiting for an answer. "Y-yeah," she agreed nervously, "I might as well right. It shouldn't be too hard."
Connie hugged them both in excitement. "Thank you so much. The conference is tonight, so I'll see you then!" Connie ran out of the house where lion was, sleeping on the grass till the girl mounted its back and off they went.
Shadow shook his head, he could barely remember what it was like being at that age. He used to dread parent-teacher conferences, it always reminded him that he didn't have a father. His mother was a cop so she wasn't able to attend have the time.
"My mom is sick and can't come today." The best excuse to use every time. Now Connie was in the same predicament and he would help her.
Amethyst stood where she was at, lost in thought.
"You having flashbacks of a better time or something?" He joked with her but she didn't laugh.
The gem scoffed at him with one hand on her hip. "I don't know why you told Connie we would help her. We're not parents."
Shadow noted how she didn't specify that they weren't Connie's parents.
"I think if anyone has experience with something like this it would be you. You raised Steven since he was a baby."
"Yeah barely! I wasn't the best of influences for him compared to Garnet or Pearl." Amethyst kicked at the ground. "I suck at these kinds of things."
Now that Shadow thought about it this was the first time he and Amethyst had a face to face like this. Jasper had been dragged off with Steven again which gave him the day off but Amethyst decided to stay in too, her mind quickly changed when she came out of her room and saw Shadow.
"If you don't want to help Connie I'm sure I can ask Jasper," Shadow saw Amethyst cringe, a reaction he was expecting. Seems like there was still some hidden animosity with those two. Who could blame her, Jasper did almost shatter her.
She opened her mouth to say then closed it, what she was about to say wasn't all that nice so she decided against it. "I never said I wouldn't. Ugh, you're making me lose my mind. If you don't mind I would like to finish up my book."
"My book." Shadow corrected.
Amethyst laid down on the couch, kicked back, and planted her face in the book. "No, I mean my book."
Shadow headed into the kitchen to get something to drink when the door opened.
"We're back!" Stevens' voice rang out.
Jasper came in looking more tired than ever.
Steven ran to the stool to see down. "Hey, Shadow."
Shadow pulled out another glass to get him something to drink. 'Hey, little man. You dragging my lady of all her energy? She looks like a zombie."
Jasper could hear her grunt an insult that made Steven chuckle.
"We walked all around the town. Sour cream was having a public show and my dad needed help at the car wash-" Steven went on and on about how their day went and Shadow listened.
The giant gem was so drained she could barely stand. When she turned to the couch she caught Amethyst staring at her from behind a book. Jasper clicked her tongue in annoyance. "You got a problem runt, why are you staring at me?"
Amethyst looked up, an angry glint shown in her eyes. "I'm not! And stop calling me runt, I don't like it."
Jasper stared her down, she wasn't in charge of her. "If you want to fight about it then let's go. Don't expect to win like last time, things are much different now."
Shadow felt his hand twitch. These two were driving him nuts, fighting when they just got back didn't look so good.
Amethyst hopped up to meet Jasper face to face. Though Amethyst was small she seemed so tall in that moment. Jasper wasn't going to let this pipsqueak be in her face like this.
"Jasper. Amethyst. Please don't start right now." Shadow stepped around the corner to step between the two.
Jasper tried to push past Shadow but he wouldn't let her. "Shadow you don't understand," Jasper gave him a toothy smile. "Amethyst was created to be a warrior, it's in her gem to fight, so we will."
Amethyst was startled. She looked past Jasper, the gem winked at her. Her cheeks started to blush, she was expecting that.
"Amethyst I only call you a runt to bust your butt. When I look at you I see what I could have been. We're alike but so different. I know we've had our differences but I'm serious about changing." When Jasper was finished talking she coughed into her hand, it was weird talking like this.
Only Shadow saw this side of her which was rarely. Shadow put a hand on her shoulder and leaned over into her ear. "Good job Jas. I think you just made yourself a new friend." He planted a kiss on her cheek.
"Oh get off me!" Jasper shoved him playfully, she turned away from Amethyst so that she wouldn't see her blush.
The little gem was smiling at both of them. She was thinking that maybe Jasper wasn't so bad after all.
"Now come on Amethyst let me see what the Crystal Gems are made of." Jasper pulled Shadow along and tucked Steven under her arm. The gem ran over to the warp pad with them and teleported them to the Colosseum.
A few more minutes and they were ready to fight.
"Yeah woo fight!" Steven shouted.
Shadow grinned at his enthusiasm. Anticipation welled up in his stomach, he was really excited for this fight. Things were starting to turn around for them. He leaned back on the stone bench to try and get himself to relax. The last time he was in a place like this he was the one in the ring with his life. Anxiety started to hit him hard but he suppressed it.
Jasper smashed a fist in her hand. "You ready to get this party started pip- Amethyst?"
Amethyst gave the gem a grin, from her gem on her chest Amethyst pulled two whips forth and whipped to and fro. "All that talk Jasper. Hope you have enough weight to back it up."
Jasper summoned her crash helmet with a crazed smile. "Yes! That's what I'm talking about Amethyst!"
The two of them dropped into a ball and winded up. They were off, spinning towards each other till they collided sending sparks of orange and purple across the spectator's eyes. Amethyst was knocked back but quickly recovered. She spun her whips around her body and launched them at Jasper, both of them charged with a purple flame.
Jasper knew better to take that one so she jumped into the air to let the whips strike the ground destroying the area where she once was. Jasper flung herself helmet first at Amethyst in a comet. Jasper would have made contact if it wasn't for Amethyst's quick thinking. She launched both whips behind her to wrap around two large pieces of debris. With pure strength, she pulled forward on her whips and sent both of them at Jasper. That didn't stop the gem though and Jasper smashed through both of them with ease. Amethyst just barely had time to roll out of the way to avoid the attack. Jasper collided with the ground sending rubble and rock all over the place. A large dirt screen made visibility almost impossible.
"You've grown since last time we fought." Jasper stood up from the crater she had created. She bent over and dug her hands into the ground. With a loud roar, Jasper grabbed a large boulder size piece of the floor and tossed it through the smoke.
Amethyst dodged again but forgot who was behind her.
Shadow had to squint to see what was happening. When the silhouette of something started to come into view Shadow thought it was Jasper. Until a boulder came flying out towards them. He rolled over and grabbed Steven in his arms to protect from the boulder.
Two whips slashed the things in half to slam on either side of where they were sitting. Even though it did a large chunk of it slammed into Shadows shoulder. The man shouted in pain and fell over on his side.
"Shadow!" Both Amethyst and Jasper shouted in unison. The two jumped into the air to land next to Steven who was getting ready to lick his hand.
Jasper grabbed Steven by the wrist before he could. "What are you doing!?" Jasper couldn't hide the anger from her voice she was too worried to try and play nice.
"Hey ease up he's just trying to help!" Amethyst snapped.
Steven yanked his arm from Jaspers grasp and pulled the rest of the torn sleeve off. Gently he placed his hand on Shadows shoulder. There was a bright glow then nothing. Shadow opened his eyes when the pain subsided he sat up.
Shadow started to stretch his arm out. "I-I don't feel anything, it feels fine," Shadow started to chuckle. "You know I think that's the fifth or sixth time you put spit on me to heal me." A punch came from Jasper that knocked him over again.
"You were just joking don't start making jokes now!" Jasper barked at him. In her eyes, she was more worried than how she was acting. If Steven and Amethyst weren't around she would have smothered him.
Steven started to smile when he realized something. "Hey since your finally back now," he flashed Jasper an uneasy look that she noticed. "Why don't we try and fix your eye, I mean with Jasper back and all we could-"
"No."
That took them back.
"Buddy why not? Don't you want to be better?" Amethyst let her whips disappear so that she could touch his arm.
Shadow pulled back slowly as to not seem rude. "I do. Just not now. It helps me remember that I myself am still human and that I can still make human mistakes." Jasper went to stand up when Shadow grabbed her wrist. "Don't worry about it you. I know your beating yourself up but don't worry about it, I'm a big boy."
Still, Steven didn't like the fact his friend wouldn't let him help him. What could he do though? Maybe in the future Shadow would let Steven, to pay him back for his sacrifice on homeworld. An act that he would never forget.
"I wish you would have told me about this four hours ago." As much as Jasper grumbled she didn't partially mind her attire.
Dress pants with a crimson shirt and tie. She couldn't get over the fact how good he looked in the suit.
Amethyst stood on the side. Dressed in a violet colored dress and heels. Her hair was put up in a bun by some elegant chopsticks Pearl supplied to her. The girl looked and felt out of her element.
Connie had called them a few hours ago. The girl was ready to go and was just waiting for them. The only reason why they took so long was that Amethyst couldn't figure out what to wear. After she and Jasper scoured through some magazines they finally both decided on what she was currently wearing.
Jasper wouldn't say it out loud but she was jealous that Shadow didn't take her instead of Amethyst.
"It's because you would probably smash someone's head in," he explained. As right as he probably was she still didn't approve. Nothing much she could do about that though, she knew that when Shadow set his mind on helping those close to him there was no changing his mind.
"You better treat her with respect Shadow otherwise I'll do more than chuck a rock at you." Jasper poked him in his chest making him stumble back against the wall.
Amethyst chuckled. "Can you two lovebirds hurry up. Our daughter is waiting for us Shadow so lets no dilly dally." When Jasper shot her an annoyed look Amethyst shot her a wink and stuck her tongue at her.
Shadow grinned, he was glad the two had no more hate towards each other. Amethyst kissed her arm through Shadows and started to drag him off. It was time to be a parent.
In the rearview mirror, Shadow could see Connie twiddling her thumbs nervously. The girl was dressed in a dress just like Amethyst except for hers was a summer yellow. Almost like the same one Marybell Blume wore. The thought of her and her family saddened him.
"You doing alright back there kiddo?" He asked.
Connie snapped her head up, she almost forgot that it wasn't her parents taking her to school. "Y-yeah I'm fine…" Connie went back to playing with her fingers.
A bead of sweat rolled down Shadows face, being a pretend father was going to be harder than he thought.
Amethyst leaned over to whisper in his ear. "I think she's sad that her own parents couldn't attend the meeting. Honestly, we should just turn back."
He puffed at her. "Amethyst we told her we would help come on. Where's your enthusiasm?"
She lowered her head. "Yeah, maybe you're right. I'm sorry I'm ruining the mood. I'll do better." Her voice didn't match what she said and she went to staring out the window.
Shadow parked the car outside Connie's school.
The school looked like in any other middle school. A blue tiled roof and brown bricks formed to make an educational facility for students. Lights from different classrooms lit up a path for them to follow where a plump woman waited by the entrance to usher them in.
As they slowly approached the woman Shadow started to feel himself sweat a little bit. "Connie I'm going, to be honest… I don't even know how old you are."
Amethyst nudged him when they were within earshot of the woman.
"Hi Ms. Bridges," Connie exclaimed. Seemed like the little girl was getting into character more than they were.
The old women looked down to see the small Indian-American girl. "Hey, Connie!" She looked up to see Shadow and Amethyst. She didn't even bother to hide her shock when she saw that Shadow had an eye patch on and that the woman who had her arms linked between Shadows was the wife. She had to rub her eyes to make sure that she wasn't seeing this woman in purple.
"Go ahead mom and dad," her tone sounded more like a question than a go ahead. "Connie should be able to lead you to her classes.
They walked past the teacher and headed inside where they were hit with an amalgam of noises. Students laughed and dragged their parents to and from classes. Some teachers stood by their respective classes talking with parents about their child.
Connie scooted to closer to Shadow, she seemed so nervous. "Hey, little one what's wrong?"
Connie adjusted her fake glasses on her face, her cheeks flushed a little red when she spoke. "I don't think this is going to work. We can just turn around now."
Shadow arched his brow in confusion, then laughed. He got on one knee in front of her. "Connie I completely understand how you feel right now."
She perked up at that. "You do?"
"Yeah totally," he would have felt prouder if his childhood memories weren't so bleak. "When I was a kid my mom was always working, she was a cop. Every time a conference was called I never showed up. I had no parents to attend any of these conferences."
Connie was surprised to hear that. She didn't even know that Shadows mom was a cop. "How about your dad?"
Amethyst was low listening in on the conversation. Now that she thought about it herself, she didn't know much about him either. It actually made her sad that she had known him this long and knew almost nothing about him.
Shadow turned away from Connie to get some bearing when he looked back a sad grin was on his face. "Why don't we talk about that later hmmm?" Shadow didn't wait for a response and stood back up.
Connie laced her arms around his and they continued to her English class.
Her first teacher was a petite small woman with glasses too big for her face. The teacher gave them an odd look but smiled nonetheless.
"Good evening parents," she reached a hand out for them to shake. "You must be the Maheswarans?"
Shadow took her hand clumsily, with the way she was looking at his eye patch kind of made him feel insecure. "Yes, we are the Marshmellowarrants."
"I'm sorry?" The teacher looked at him so confused.
Amethyst bumped in for the save. "What Sha-" she caught herself before she slipped. "What my husband was trying to say is that yes, we are the Maheswarans. It is a pleasure to meet."
Both Connie and Shadow stood on the sideline eyeing Amethyst up and down. Someone must have kidnapped the Amethyst they knew cause whoever this was was an alien.
The teacher smiled at the mother, despite her odd skin color she could see where Connie got her looks from now, or at least her height.
"Please step in, we have much to talk about." The teacher outstretched her arm invitingly.
They were all relieved that things were going so smoothly this far. Guess the hardest part was getting in. Still, the night was still young and there was still enough time for something to go array.
Author notes:
Hey everyone. So I've been thinking that I want to republish Of Gem and Man on a different site. The first story at least to try and draw in a bigger crowd, the question is should I or what would be the best site to do this. If anyone has any ideas I'm open to suggestions. There will probably be a part two of this chapter come later this week. I'm on duty and just like last week I was able to get two chapters out, well at least for my other fic. The only reason why this one is even out cause I still have a few more hours to go. So thank you for the views, and as always I hope to continue working on this fanfic. Stay classy people.
Shadow...