Welcome back peeps, how's it goin'?...I'm never doing that again...
Anyway, Welcome to the next chapter, good to see you're still around after all this time.
Now, I have been gone for a while so I gotta pump out a chapter right away while still having content that makes sense...okay, sure, I like challenges.
Anyway, Spinel is having strange feeling towards this boy that she hardly knows, let's just see where that goes.
-=The Diamond House/Steven's room=-
-=Steven/Spinel=-
Steven sighed as he came out of the shower with a towel on. He couldn't find a way to explain to the pink Gem that shower time was a private thing that he needed to do alone, so he just had her sit in the corner and face the wall to prevent her from having a panic attack due to her believing he wouldn't come back.
Now he knew he had to help her get better; this was just as bad as when Peridot took his bathroom, if not worse. He would have to make her wait in one place while he went somewhere at some point, that way she would trust that he would return more often, but it just didn't feel right to do that to her after what his mom had already done. He was going to at least give her a while to become more comfortable with the people around her first.
"Alright, you can turn around." Steven spoke, wrapping his towel around his waist.
"So, what's the point in this again? I don't really understand the whole...'shower' thing." She questioned him as she left her corner.
"It's not really important, it's just that it's kind of customary that you do it alone, cause you can't be dressed while in the shower." He explained as he left the room, Spinel in tow.
"Y-yeah, you explained that much." She said with a nod. She hesitated and glanced up at him. "...Steven?"
"Yes Spinel?" He responded, using a second towel to dry off his curly hair.
"Am...Am I a nuisance?..." She asked, now beginning to think about how her clinginess could be making him upset at her.
Steven gave her a look of confusion. "What? What do you mean?"
"I-I don't want to make you not want me around anymore by being too clingy, I don't want you to be annoyed with me, but I-..I just-" She seemed to be freaking out internally and it was spilling out.
Steven cut her off as he put a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok, Spinel. I understand why you need someone to be around; my mom left you there and I guess that really messed with your head, but it's ok, I'd much rather you be around me constantly than you be alone like that."
"I know...you say that, but I mean, Pink said a lot of things too... I told myself that I can trust you, and you haven't really done anything to break that trust...but I just don't want to be hurt like that again...so...can you please, just promise me you'll never leave me? You can say no, I would understand, I'm sure if I'm not being annoying yet, I will be eventually...I know it seems kind of silly and even rude of me to ask, but still...it would mean a lot to me..." Spinel asked, her eyes swelling with tears.
Steven grabbed her hand with both of his and gave her a smile. He then wrapped his pinky around hers, giving her a nod. "I promise to always be here for you, you don't have to worry about me ever leaving you behind...if I can physically help it at least. And don't worry about all that, you really are good company to have; I've been alone here on Homeworld, I could use a friend."
Spinel took his words to heart, but still just looked down at his pinky that was still wrapped around her own, with confusion. "What's this for?..."
"It's an earth thing that's called a pinky promise. It just means that there is now an unbreakable promise between us. Also, I think there's a rule in somewhere that if I do break the promise, I have to eat needles or something horrible, but that rule holds as much ground as 'jinx, you owe me a coke'." Steven stops and chuckled a little bit. "You probably don't understand a word I'm saying, but just know that it means I won't break my promise." He explained.
Spinel just smiled and wiped her eyes with a small chuckle. "Alright Steven, heh sorry for all that,... and thank you."
Steven just laughed as he opened the door to his bedroom. "Of course."
He walked over to his dresser, pulling a curtain around the area and getting dressed. After he was in his night cloths, he jumped over to his closet.
"I guess you'll need a bed huh? Well, this is why I'm always prepared." Steven grinned as he opened his closet door. The entire thing was the size of his room back home but he kept it neat so it didn't end up like Amethyst's room.
After a minute, he spotted what he was looking for: a blow up mattress. He grabbed it along with the manual air pump that was set on top of it. "What's that?" Spinel asked.
"Well, you'll need a soft place to lay down, so I'll just blow this up and you'll have your own bed." He explained as he unrolled it. "It'll be kinda like a sleepover."
"Oh, I don't need anything like that, I'll be fine just sitting here." She tried to argue, already finding the hospitality of being aloud to live in the same house as the Diamonds to be more than what she could rightfully ask for.
"It's no trouble, I'd feel kinda weird if I just had someone sitting here next to me while I sleep anyway; Pearl used to watch me sleep a lot. Either way, it could do you well to lay down and relax, I'm sure you of all people need it." He said as he began to fill it with air.
"...alright then, if you say so." She nodded, waiting for him to tell her what to do. After a couple minutes, Steven had filled the mattress up a comfortable amount and grabbed some pillows and blankets.
"So, sleeping is fairly simple. You kind of just lay down, close your eyes, and clear your mind. Well I guess some people find it easier to fall asleep to their thoughts, but that's up to you." Steven instructed, laying down in bed and clapping twice, making the lights turn off.
Spinel copied him and got under her covers, she turned on her side to face him and closed her eyes. "So, what's supposed to happen?"
"Well, you end up falling asleep at some point, I'm not sure how to explain it, but if your mind ends up drifting off and you suddenly find yourself in some weird unrealistic situation, it probably means you've fallen asleep and you're dreaming." He explained, closing his eyes.
Spinel did as he said and closed her eyes; she felt that she could believe him when he said he would stay with her, so she didn't have any problems with not knowing if he was there or not,...because he had promised that he would be.
Eventually the two of them drifted off into a deep sleep, resting up for the next day, as they would be visiting earth.
-=Spinel's Dream=-
(You didn't think that I wouldn't add in the over used fanfic trope of teaching a Gem to sleep only for them to have a nightmare, did you? Lmao, you must actually think highly of me if you did. Sorry to disappoint I guess.)
Spinel has been walking around Homeworld with Steven again, meeting new Gems for the entirety of this new day.
Spinel then began to think about how she couldn't remember a single person that he introduced her to...as a matter of face, she couldn't remember anything that they did today. That thought was interrupted and forgotten about when Steven grabbed her hand and pulled her through a crowd of Gems.
"Wait, weren't we supposed to go to your earth today?" She asked, speaking up over the many voices of the crowd.
"Oh, yeah, we'll get to that eventually." He replied. The sea of Gems around them reminded her of yesterday when Steven accidentally let go and she got lost.
She remembered how she felt the world around her disappear, how her breathing became erratic, the painful feeling that settled in her Gem.
The more she thought about this, the darker and more distorted the world around her became. She was now alone in the crowd, Steven had disappeared again.
She tried to stay calm as she looked around for him, calling out his name as loud as she could and jumping in the air, trying to get a better view...but no, he was gone.
She backed up against a wall, feeling herself freeze up as tears came to her eyes. "Why? Why is this happening again?" She whimpered.
She balled up on the floor and covered her head with her hands. She couldn't concentrate, she was going to be forgotten again.
The voices around her got louder, though none of them were clear. Then...she woke up.
-=Steven's room=-
Steven woke up to a trembling hand gently shaking him. "Steven?..."
He gave a tired groan as he opened his eyes, turning to the one who was waking him up.
"Spinel? What's wrong?" He asked with a yawn.
"I'm... I'm scared; I don't think like sleep..." She said shyly, holding her hands behind her back.
"Oh, I think I understand. Did you have a nightmare?" He asked, sitting up in bed.
"I...I think you said it was a dream. It was that weird situation you were talking about." She said quietly, looking away, kind of ashamed of herself for not being able to even go a whole night without bothering him. "We were walking through new Homeworld, and I lost you in the crowd...I was scared and confused. I don't want to go back to that again, can I please stay awake?"
Steven gave her a puzzled look before he understood the situation. "Oh Spinel, no no no, I just wanted you to try it so you could relax. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to," He explained. "I don't order Gems to do things they wouldn't want to."
"Thank you." She said with a nod. "I'll just wait here for you to wake up..."
"Well, if you really want to..." Steven said, slightly uncomfortable. "but I have some stuff in that closet over there, maybe you can find something to entertain yourself with for now?"
She turned around and looked at the door he pointed at. "Alright, sure." She walked over to the closet and opened the door; the automatic light turning on right as it picked up the motion.
Steven laid back down, almost instantly falling asleep while Spinel began to examine things in the closet out of curiosity.
-=Next morning=-
Steven woke up with a yawn, dropping his legs out of bed. He walked over to his dresser, pulling out one of his teal shirts along with his usual jeans and whatnot. His dad had ordered him special made shirts for his birthday as he had managed to grow a few inches overnight, making all his shirts too small for him, he enjoyed the new design.
After he pulled his curtain around his dresser, he got dressed for the day. He looked around, noticing that Spinel was nowhere to be seen.
He thinks back to last night, remembering that he told her she could find something to play with in his closet.
He approached the large storage space and opened the door. It seems that she had helped herself to some of his books, as she had a pile next to her.
"Oh, hey Spinel, I see you found something to do after all." He chuckled as he approached her.
"Yeah, it was kinda hard to read at first but I think I understand all the words." Spinel said with a smile. She picked up a book from behind her and opened it up. "but I am confused about this one."
"Oh? What is it?" Steven asked, moving some books and sitting down next to her.
"This book has a lot of weird words and actions that I don't really understand." She handed him the book, already opened to a page for him.
"Let's see... 'the alien prince grabbed Johnny by his memb-'" his voice caught in his throat as he realized what he was about to read out loud.
He slowly closed the book and turned it over to see the cover. And there it was: the gag gift that his dad had given him along with what he hoped to be a joke letter about manhood.
(In reference to the book that Greg took from him in Maximum Capacity)
"You know what, how about we just go get some breakfast." He chuckled nervously as he tossed the book away.
Spinel watched the book fly through the air before looking back to him. "Um...okay then..." she says with a raised brow. "So what's breakfast?"
Steven gave a sigh of relief that she didn't continue with the questions. "Well, it's the first thing you eat after you wake up...actually I guess that depends on what you eat. Now that I think about it, breakfast is complicated; if the first thing I eat in the morning is pizza...is that now breakfast instead of a lunch or dinner food?"
Spinel just sat there with a confused look as Steven seemed to begin contemplating life. "Well...I guess I'll just pick all this up real quick and then we can go."
Steven shook out of thought and looked over to her. "No, that's okay, we can do that some other time."
He stood up and pulled her along with him, leading her out of the closet before taking her to the kitchen. There, the Diamonds all sat together. Yellow read over news reports, White drinking tea for some reason, and Blue doing her best to make an earth breakfast; something for them to eat.
All the Diamonds had gotten in the habit of shapeshifting themselves to be smaller every morning so they could enjoy mornings with their Steven.
"Hey guys, how's it going?" Steven asked with a wave as he and Spinel entered.
"Good morning Steven." Yellow said absentmindedly, not looking up from her holo-screen.
"Did you sleep well Star Shine?" White asked before taking another sip from her drink.
"I slept well, thanks for asking." Steven said as he went to the kitchen closet and pulled out a spare chair for his pink friend.
The two of them sat down as Steven spoke to Blue. "So, what are you trying to make today?"
"Just trying to to make some of those pancake things that you told me about." She replied with a smile. Blue had taken to cooking earth food, finding the creation of something that she found delicious to be a fun and entertaining process. Yellow always tried the food, and though she never really liked eating it, she did it anyway in supported Blue's hobby.
"Oh that's nice, I'm sure you'll do great. Do you think you can make an extra plate today?" Steven asked his blue mother figure.
"Oh? Are you really that hungry?" Blue asked, looking back to him with a small laugh.
"No, I was actually going to let Spinel eat with us today." Steven replied as he set her chair next to his.
"Oh, I see. Yes, I can make some extras for your little friend." She said with a nod as she began making another plate.
"I-I can help you with that." Spinel said quickly as she ran over to the Diamond.
"Don't worry about her, she enjoys cooking." Yellow said dismissively, still reading the news.
"Are you sure?..." She asked nervously, obviously still not understanding that the Diamonds were just like any other Gem now...for the most part.
"Of course, go and take your seat next to Steven, I'll have something cooked up for you real soon." Blue said, glancing back with a friendly smile.
Spinel sat down at the table with Steven as instructed while speaking to Blue. "Thank you, I appreciate it."
"Don't worry Spinel, you're basically part of this family now, you can be comfortable around them." Steven reassured her before walking to the fridge and getting two glasses of orange juice.
"Right...new Homeworld, new customs...sorry, it's just hard to get used to." Spinel replies with a nervous chuckle.
"It's fine, you've been here for like one day, you don't have to rush things." Steven reassured her.
"Right, thank you." She responded with a slight nod. Steven handed her a cup of the juice before returning to his seat next to her with his own cup.
"So...what do I do with this?" She asked, picking the cup up and inspecting it.
"Well, you drink it. Just put the stuff inside the cup into your mouth, and then swallow." He explained before doing it himself.
Spinel copied him, takin a gulp of it before making a weird face. "Ugh, why is it so sour and bitter?"
"Oh, I guess you taste it like that huh? Yeah, I used to think so too, but I dunno, I think it tastes nice now; would you like some milk or something instead?" He offered, getting up from his seat again.
"I-I really am fine with this, I'm sure I'll get a taste for it." Spinel said, dipping the tip of her tongue in the juice but flinching away from it right after.
"It's okay Spinel, don't force yourself to drink it. I usually drink like two cups every morning anyway." Steven shrugged, pouring her a glass of milk. He sat down next to her and traded cups with her, him now having two glasses.
Spinel tried the new drink, finding it surprising when she actually enjoyed it. She continued to sip on it while Blue finished breakfast.
After they got their food, Spinel poked at it curiously. "What's this?"
"It's food, you do the same thing as you did with the drink, but you chew before you swallow...also, you use a fork, knife, and spoon to put it in our mouth." He said, laying the utensils out in front of her before finishing his first cup.
She did as instructed with her pancake, finding this to be yet another enjoyable taste. Unable to help herself, she began to scarf her food down.
Blue handed Yellow her plate before turning to White. "Would you like to try some today White?"
"No, that's fine. I'm okay with my tea." She dismissed the other Diamond.
Blue gave a nod, slightly disappointed that her sister wouldn't give her cooking a chance, sitting down with her own food.
Steven noticed her disappointment before giving a smile. He took a large bite of the pancake and made a big deal of just how good it was. "Oh wow Blue, this is really good! Are you sure this is your first time cooking these?"
Blue looked over to him with a slight giggle. "It's okay Steven, you don't have to do all that."
"No, it really is." He argued. "Just look at Spinel, she loves it."
He had a smile as he pointed over to the pink Gem. She looked up with a smile of her own and a moth full of food, saying to Blue, "Yea, ish really guhd."
Blue couldn't help but laugh more. "Well I'm glad you two like it, I always try my best when making something new."
They ate in silence for the rest of the meal, Spinel finishing first, then Yellow, then Blue, and then Steven.
"Oh, by the way guys," Steven spoke up as he collected plates and began to wash them all. "I'll be heading back to earth today, just a little visit."
"Oh but Steven, you were just there yesterday." White said, sounding disappointed that she couldn't spend the day with him yet again.
"I'll be back later tonight, we can watch a movie or something together, I'm sure I can find something back home that we will all like." He reassured them as he put the dishes up.
"Very well, as long as you're back tonight." Yellow said with a sigh. "Just be careful out there...I think something bad is stirring."
"I will. See you guys later." Steven said with a wave as he slipped his shoes on. "You ready Spinel?"
"Yeah, let's go." She replied with a smile, bouncing over to him. "We're going to your planet, right?"
"Yep, I have the whole day planned out for us, I'm sure you'll really enjoy it there." Steven explained as he stepped onto the warp pad.
Spinel joined him before they warped away in a flash of light, leaving the three other Diamonds alone.
"So...somethings coming?" White questioned as she looked over to her Yellow sister.
"A storm is brewing. These changes may look good on the surface, but it's happening too fast..." Yellow explained. "I feel that Steven may be in danger, he'll be safe enough with us and on earth though..."
-=End Of Chapter=-
Okay, so I know that we are lacking content here, but I did this in a night, so I couldn't give it my all, I mean after editing, it's 7 in the morning...also it's storming, so it's hard to stay awake and do this while listening to the rain at the same time.
Anyone else find extreme storms peaceful? Like, if I tree has fallen over because of this storm, it still has a feel of calm and peace to it.
Anyway, I digress. So, why did I only write this in one night and try to get it out fast? Well, I've been gone for like a week if not more, I need to put something out.
Anyway, I hope you still enjoyed the chapter nevertheless, and you aren't too upset about my absence.
And as always-
good morning, goodnight, and good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon!
