Author's notes

Sorry for the long wait for the new chapter! I hope this makes it up.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN STEVEN UNIVERSE OR ITS CHARACTERS


Jasper and Steven walked down the boardwalk in silence. Jasper was glad she didn't bring the cheeseburger back pack with her, in this heat it would undoubtedly cause her to sweat uncontrollably. Besides, the quartz gem didn't need any of the medical equipment before so she probably wouldn't need it for this little endeavor. The boy was always a few feet ahead of Jasper but the quartz gem didn't mind. The space gave her a chance to look at the beach. She could still see the remains of the fire that Garnet and Greg had put together if she squinted her eyes. The sound of Steven groaning in despair made Jasper's eyes snapped to the boy.

Steven was frowning at the arcade, closed off to the public by metal roller shutters. Jasper walked over and saw that Steven was frowning at the sign taped to the metal sheet.

Arcade closed for the day! - Mr. Smiley J

The sloppy writing led Jasper to believe that Mr. Smiley may have celebrated New Year's Eve a little too much and was now paying for it. She looked down at Steven who kicked at the metal gate with a huff.

"I was going to show you Road Killer and Meat Beat Mania," Steven whined, looking longingly at the gate as if he could will it to rise up to allow them access to the arcade. He turned his head back towards Jasper. "What do you want to do today?"

Jasper was going to suggest that they just head back to the beach house but now that she was outside, the quartz gem was less inclined to go back to the stuffy temple. She thought about it for a bit and nodded to herself. "I want to get another book. Fangs of Love was horrible the first time I read it and it didn't improve much the ten times afterwards."

Steven grinned and started walking back the way they came. "I know I place with lots of books and it's a few blocks away! You'll love it." He turned his body to face Jasper and walked backwards, making sure that the quartz gem followed him.

The two continued to travel this way to the place Steven was going on about. He kept telling Jasper different names of authors or different book titles that he thought Jasper might like. The quartz gem kept an indifferent face throughout his rambling but she made a mental checklist of the authors and book titles to look for when Steven led her to wherever he was leading her.

Finally after half an hour of walking, Steven gave a joyful shout. He sprinted over to the building in front of them and slipped inside. The quartz gem frowned at the words that were displayed near the top. Buddwick Public Library. A terrible name, Jasper thought. She wasn't really impressed with the architecture, it was just a brick building with the front wall covered with windows. The two rows of hedges growing out of their stone encasement and creating a lane that led to the library did remind Jasper of the lighted pathways on the ship she had taken with Peridot. At the reminder of the ship and in consequence the green gem, Jasper shook her head and quickly headed towards the entrance, as if she could leave her thoughts outside the building.

Jasper stayed in the doorway, the glass door held out by her right hand. She couldn't stop staring at the inside of the library. There were so many books! The table displayed at the front of the library alone must hold at the very least twenty different novels, each set of books stacked in neat rows. Jasper never really put much stock into her ever-lasting life but right now she was grateful that she never aged. A sudden thought occurred to Jasper that she could just live here and spend the rest of eternity reading. She wouldn't get into any trouble and the gems wouldn't have to worry if she was ever going to run away. All Jasper needed was a fridge, bathroom, and a bed or maybe she could just use the couches in the reading center.

"Close the door! You're letting all the cool air out!"

The fantasy that Jasper was creating was crushed by the harsh voice to her left. Jasper took a step inside the library and let the door swing shut. She looked to whoever had yelled at her and saw an elderly woman glaring at her from behind her desk. Jasper blinked her eyes at the woman, the human looked like she was going to drop dead any moment and yet she yelled at Jasper like she was some child! The quartz gem was liking this library more and more. She walked over to the desk and elderly woman. The human didn't shy away from her in the slightest, in fact it seemed that she straightened her back in her little chair every step Jasper took. The human had to lean back and crane her neck up to look at Jasper but the mean glare never faltered. "What do you want?" she asked in a gruff voice.

It was official. This library was Jasper's new favorite place, not that she had many in the first place. "I want to know where the Spirit Morph Saga is," Jasper answered. Connie had tried to get Jasper to read the series numerous times before when the quartz gem complained about Fangs of Love but she never took Connie up on her offer. It would be shameful if she borrowed the books from a human but after hearing about the witch Lisa and her falcon Archimicarus, she was intrigued and knew she had to get her hands on the books somehow.

The woman gave a little annoyed grunt and typed away at the ancient computer set up next to her. Jasper could easily make out the words the old woman was muttering under her breath and each insult she threw at the quartz gem only made her want to stay in this building more. At long last a human that wasn't afraid of her! It was just too bad that the woman probably only had a few years left. Jasper wondered if Steven's healing powers could reverse time and make the old woman live longer.

"That childish series is in the back next to those god-awful vampire books." The elderly woman gave Jasper a smile but it was more of a sneer. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No," Jasper said, already heading to where the librarian had said the books where.

"A thank you would be much appreciated you doped up teenager!" the old woman yelled at her.

Jasper simply smiled to herself. Why hadn't she been shown this wonderful place before? Even the people stop reading their books in shock to stare at her didn't spoil her mood. The quartz gem found the book shelf that the series was held in and scanned all the different titles. It took her about ten minutes to find the series she wanted but she now had an entire list of books she was going to read after the series. Jasper grabbed all of the books, seven in total. She looked at the cover of the first book and grinned at the sight of the falcon. Hopefully there would be lots of fighting.

With the books safely tucked under her arm, Jasper started to search for Steven. She knew that he was most likely where the comics were but she had no idea where the comic book section was. Maybe she can ask the delightfully angry librarian. Jasper turned and took a step back to the front of the library but she must have kicked a foot ladder because she heard something crash a second later. She looked down and gulped.

What she thought was a foot ladder was actually a green gem. Peridot rubbed at her head with her eyes shut in pain. "Watch where you're going, clod!" Peridot opened her eyes to glare at the person who so rudely knocked her over but her eyes widened at the sight of the quartz gem looking down at her with her arms full of books. "Jasper!?"

Jasper grunted in a response, words failing her. She had knocked down Peridot and the gem was lying on her back, staring up at her in shock. Jasper shook her head to get rid of the sudden images that bloomed in them, all of which involved Peridot staying on her back. A part of her feared that she was going into heat. "I didn't see you," she said, her voice rougher than normal.

Peridot didn't seem to noticed the strange pitch because she got up and brushed off some imaginary dirt from her uniform. "Well you should look where you're going." She eyed the stack of books that Jasper was holding carelessly. "Are those for Steven?"

Before Jasper could answer another person that she hoped not to see for a great while walked out from between two bookshelves. Lapis was reading a magazine but she seemed to know where to go because she walked straight towards Peridot, somehow unaware that Jasper was standing right in front of her. "Hey, I found the magazine I want. We can go now unless you wanted to look for those manuals on cars." Her eyes lifted from the magazine and landed right on Jasper. "Jasper?" Unlike Peridot, Lapis's eyes focused on Jasper's clothing. "Why are you wearing Greg's clothes?"

"Nothing else would fit me," Jasper answered with a shrug, her mind scrambling to find an excuse to get away. To hell with the fact that she was supposedly the greatest quartz warrior to be ever created, all Jasper wanted to do was to leave this place and never return.

Peridot's chest puffed out and she raised her pointer finger while her other hand went behind her back. "Actually, that is incorrect. Humans have advanced far enough in their technology to create clothing in your size."

Jasper's right eye twitched when she remembered Garnet's little comment on buying new clothes. The fusion saw this occurring! She was going to make Garnet pay for trapping her in a corner like this. Jasper fought to keep calm, especially with the fragile books in her hands when she realized that she could do nothing to the fusion. Garnet had Jasper on a tight leash and they both knew that. Damn the fusion!

Jasper's attention went back to the two gems in front of her as Lapis rolled her eyes and closed her magazine. She nudged Peridot's side with a chuckle. "I'm sure Jasper doesn't want to hear about humans making clothing." She nodded towards the books in Jasper's arms, the bottom ones now boring holes where the quartz gem's claws had dug in. "You might want to stop that or the words won't be legible."

The quartz gem cursed and shifted the books so that her claws were not near the covers. Jasper looked back at the gems and noticed that they were studying her, probably trying to figure out what caused Jasper to bury her claws seemingly on accident into the books. "I didn't know that humans had clothes in my size and the fusion tricked me into wearing Greg's clothing," Jasper said half-truthfully.

"Well if you must know," Peridot began, both her arms folded behind her back as she started to explain the history of human clothing. Jasper doubted that half of what Peridot was saying was fact but hearing the green gem talk got her mind away from Garnet.

Lapis sighed and opened her magazine again, glancing up at Jasper. "You're going to get it now," she said low enough that Peridot didn't notice the water gem was speaking to Jasper. "The last time she got like this, she wouldn't stop talking for hours about a television show's characters' romances." Lapis's eyes lifted from the page she was pretending to read as she tried to recall something. "I think she called them ships."

Jasper cocked her head at the name. "Why would she name a relationship after a water vehicle?"

Lapis just shrugged and her eyes flashed back to the magazine when Peridot gave an exaggerated cough. Even though Jasper and Lapis were caught not paying attention, Lapis gave the green gem a small grin while Jasper just shifted the books again, the top one leaning a little too far to the left for her comfort.

"As I was saying," Peridot continued on her lesson and Lapis gave a whisper of a laugh. The green gem was now talking about where humans could buy clothing and even places where they pay for their clothing to be washed. Jasper didn't really listen to the words but she kept looking at Peridot like she was. Jasper noticed that Peridot would sometimes glance at Lapis or to the ceiling when she was trying to remember some fact.

Cute, Jasper thought to herself when Peridot blushed as she stumbled over the name of a particular article of clothing. Jasper's eyes sneaked their way back to Lapis who had her magazine open but her eyes were trained on Peridot instead of the page. Jasper decided that the way Lapis had a small smile like she didn't even know what her lips were doing was cute as well.

"Hey, are you even listening?"

It took a moment and Lapis's eyes lifting to look at her for Jasper to realize that Peridot had caught her not listening once again. "Yes," Jasper lied.

Peridot's eyes narrowed as her foot tapped on the ground. For a moment, Jasper connected Pearl with Peridot but threw the thought away at once. "What was I saying then?" Peridot asked.

Jasper frowned at the question and racked her brains to remember what the technician was talking about a second before. The quartz gem almost fidgeted when blue and green eyes stayed on her. "Something about humans buying clothing for special occasions," she answered at last.

Peridot continued to stare at her for a few moments before nodding her head in approval. "Correct." The green gem started talking about something else but Jasper couldn't even hope to listen to the words.

"Found you!"

Jasper was eternally grateful for the human boy. Steven hurried over to the trio, his arms full of comic books. He smiled at Lapis and Peridot. "Hi guys, how do you like the library?"

Peridot shrugged while rolling her eyes. "It's all right but there aren't a lot of books on electronics and there's nothing on meep morps." She gestured at Lapis. "She loves coming here though."

Lapis gave a noncommittal hum. "The magazines are fun to read if they have the right issues."

Steven nodded and held up the comic books he was holding. Jasper was slightly impressed that the boy was not straining or leaning forward with all the weight he was carrying. "I know how you feel, Lapis. I've been reading the same comic books series for over a year now because someone always checks out the next issue before I can read it." A devious grin spread across his face. "But now I have all the issues! All twenty-one of them!" He looked back at Jasper and noticed what books she was holding. "You're gonna read Unfamiliar Familiar!? Oh, you're so going to love it!" He shifted the comic books so he had a free hand and grabbed Jasper's arm. Steven pulled and Jasper took a step forward, nearly sending Steven to the ground with the sudden slack. He grinned at Peridot and Lapis and waved goodbye. "I'll see you two later."

Jasper and Steven went to the front desk to check out the books. Jasper looked behind her and saw Lapis bending down to whisper something into Peridot's ear. Whatever it was caused the green gem to blush madly but Jasper couldn't make out the words because Steven was rambling about how great the Spirit Morph Saga was. The two placed their stacks of books on the front desk and the elderly woman went to work checking the comic books out under Steven's name. The librarian was a quick worker, Jasper noted, but her hands faltered when they reached the bottom Jasper's stack. She picked up the book delicately and examined the holes that adorned the cover of the first book. "Who did this?" she asked, anger laced in her words.

"I did," Jasper said honestly. The librarian glared at her with so much venom that Jasper's claws instinctively lengthen in case of a fight. "I didn't do it on purpose," she explained.

"Didn't do it on purpose?" Her voice had barely concealed rage. "I've been working here for most of my life and this," she pointed a sharp nail to one of the holes, "does not happen on accident. You'll have to pay for it."

Jasper shrugged and reached down to grab the wad of cash. At least Garnet sent her here prepared. It didn't mean that she despised the fusion any less for holding the bathroom incident over her head but nonetheless, she sent Jasper with some money to pay for the damage she inevitably caused. The quartz gem handed the wad of cash over to the librarian.

The elderly woman quickly counted the money and glared at Jasper. "I only need fifteen dollars, you moron." She tossed the rest of the cash back and the quartz gem caught it without flinching.

On a whim, Jasper pushed the wad of cash back into the librarian's hands. "I want to buy all of the books. Mine and Steven's."

The librarian grabbed the wad of cash without a hint of a smile and rescanned everything. Steven frowned at the price of it all but didn't express his concern. The old woman counted the money that the two owed and gave the rest back before putting the books into plastic bags for the two to carry. Apparently the comic books and novels didn't even cost all of the money Jasper had. Jasper frowned at the money she still had. If Garnet foresaw this then why did the fusion give her so much extra.

Jasper and Steven grabbed their respective bags and left the library. Steven's hand disappeared into his bag and pulled out the first issue. He opened the first page and began reading, having walked home from the library so many times that he didn't need to look up. Besides, if Steven was about to walk into any trouble, Jasper would just hoist him up. "That was brave, you know," he said without looking up. "Margery is really mean."

"Margery?" Jasper asked, looking both ways before crossing the street with Steven. She grimaced at how Steven didn't bother looking to make sure it was safe. Perhaps she should leave a note for Pearl.

"Margery is the librarian," Steven answered with a laugh. "The first time I took Lapis to the library we almost both got banned. She was playing with some water in a vase and Margery threatened to throw her out."

Jasper gave a bored hum but her mind was working overtime. What had Lapis told to Peridot to illicit such a reaction? The quartz gem rubbed at the back of her neck at the abrupt fear that Garnet had somehow informed them of what Jasper did in the bathroom. Jasper cursed the idea but it still loomed over her like the sky. The closer Steven and she got to the temple, the more Jasper convinced herself that Garnet had ratted her out to the two gems.

After walking for half an hour, Steven engrossed in his comic book and Jasper absorbed in her own mind, the temple grew from the horizon. Jasper could just make out a figure leaning against the railing of the porch and with a sinking feeling, realized it was Garnet. The fusion did not make any move to greet the two as they headed towards the beach house. Steven finished the first issue and made a noise that was in between a gasp of surprise and a laugh of delight. The boy ran up the stairs ahead of Jasper and the quartz gem could hear him talk about his new comic books and how Jasper was nice enough to buy them for him.

For the most part, Garnet didn't show any reaction asides a small lift of her lips and an occasional hum. When Steven was finished speaking, Garnet ruffled his hair. "Make sure you put them away where Amethyst can't find them. You might not see them ever again," she warned.

Steven gave a grunt and a nod before hurrying inside the house. At this point Jasper had reached the top of the stairs and had just opened the door to let herself in.

"How is Lapis and Peridot?" Garnet asked, her back still turned towards Jasper.
A dangerous hiss came out of Jasper's mouth as her hand tightened on the doorframe, her claws just barely scratching the surface.

Garnet only chuckled, a hand lifting to push up her visors. "Just wanted to make sure they were fine."

Jasper entered the house, the words, "Freaky fusion," slipping from her mouth dripping in venom. Damn the fusion.


Author's notes

I love Garnet sass in the show. There is no way Steven did not show Lapis the library. Also normal libraries may have resident cats or even a dog or two. Beach City has a resident Jasper.