(Context: I posted this on thanksgiving)
Thanksgiving huh? Surprised I found the time to not only finish this chapter in my down time, but edit it as well.
Oh well, enjoy the chapter.
-=The beach house=-
-=Pearl/Spinel/Steven=-
Spinel and Pearl had been sitting together quietly since they had been left alone; they were watching Steven for a while now before they looked at each other, the awkward silence that settling in over the few hours that they were there until Spinel finally spoke up, "So... I uh- I never got the chance to thank you earlier for coming in when that girl started asking me all those questions. I mean, I really am trying to leave all that behind so I can maybe live a normal life without hindering Steven all day."
Pearl just sighed, "No need to thank me, I know that some things are better off being left in the past and forgotten as much as anyone. Also, just so you know, I doubt Steven sees you as a hinderance in the slightest."
"Really? I mean, I'm sure even I would get annoyed if I had someone clinging to me all the time. I try to let him have his own time, but for some reason I still get anxious despite truly believing that he wouldn't forget about me and abandon me...I don't know, I just feel like a nuisance sometimes." She ranted, looking down to the unconscious teen. She gave a slight chuckle as she looked back up to the Pearl. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go off on a tangent."
"No, it's really fine; it's a bad idea to keep your thoughts and feelings all bottled up and pushing them aside, especially when they make you feel bad about yourself, cause then you start believing them when no one else is around to tell you otherwise. Listen, I'm not the best gem in the world to go to for emotional support, but I know that Steven does like you, and quite frankly he probably needs you as much as you do him." Pearl responded, putting her hand on Steven's.
"What makes you say that? He doesn't really look like the type to have too much to worry about...well that was until the rebellion at least." Spinel questioned, wondering just what kind of person he was.
"Trust me, he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders for the longest time and never even told anyone how he really felt. First there was his mother- Rose left him here in our care, and while she wanted a normal life for him, the misdeeds in her life as well as the many corners she cut came back to haunt not her- but him." She explained. "So he had to deal with all that, and then there was in incident with Garnet that made him feel like he had to take on the burden of White Diamond and Homeworld alone, which resulted in Connie and himself drifting apart, and by the time he was able to come back, Connie really seemed to want nothing to do with him."
"Connie? That human girl from earlier? I heard you guys talking about them not being friends anymore, is that really why? I didn't know humans could be so petty, but I mean she at leased seemed nice..." Spinel spoke.
"Honestly, I'm not sure why she decided to stop being friends with him, it really wasn't that big of a deal... but he was devastated to say the least, refusing to leave his room in the Diamond house for a long time; he had locked himself in there and for a while wasn't even eating." Pearl informed her, thinking back to the day that they got a message from the Diamonds about Steven locking himself in his room for over a week.
-=Two months ago=-
-=The main Crystal Gems/The Diamonds/Steven=-
-=The Diamond House=-
Pearl, Amethyst, and even Garnet warped in on the warp pad in the living area of the house. "Where's Steven?" Pearl immediately asked the Diamonds, a bag in her hand.
Blue pointed to the hall that led off the side of the room, looking just as worried as them. "He's back there, the Pink door just two doors down. We can't get him to come out, and his warp pad is deactivated. It's been nine earth days and we still have yet to get him to come out, we didn't know what else to do..."
The three of them made their way back the hallway, Pearl gently knocking on the door. "Steven? We need to talk." She called, noticing that the scanner that would typically open these kind of doors was deactivated from the other side.
"There's nothing to talk about...please go away." She could hear his muffled voice say from inside of the room.
Pearl wasn't accepting it for a second. "Steven, we don't know what's wrong, but we're worried about you, the Diamonds say you aren't eating anything, you can't continue like this, it's not healthy." She argued, hoping to get through to him.
"I'm fine, leave me alone." He responded, resulting in Amethyst stepping up next. "Dude, you can't just be a sad sack forever, we all came here to help you; even Garnet came along, we're all worried for you, so you could at least come out and tell us whats actually wrong."
This time he didn't even bother to respond, prompting Garnet to give a try. "Steven, this is serious, we can't just sit by and let you deteriorate like this. You have ten seconds to open up, or else I'm coming in myself."
After nearly eight seconds, the scanner activated, allowing access to the room. The three of them looked amongst themselves before opening the door. The first thing they noticed was how dark it was; Steven had closed the curtains and turned off all the lights, blocking out what little natural light the planet had in the first place.
Pearl quickly made her way over to the window and pulled them open, letting light fill the room. It was then that they were able to see Steven, huddled up at the head of his bed, laying his forehead against his knees. "Geez dude, you a vampire or something?" Amethyst asked, hopping onto his bed with him, Garnet taking a seat at the foot of it and Pearl standing next to the three of them.
"Why are you guys here?..." He mumbled, not even bothering to look up at the three of them.
"Obviously because we're worried, Steven. We haven't heard from you in days and when we finally hear something about you, it's the Diamonds telling us that you refuse to leave your room; why wouldn't we be here?" Pearl argued, crossing her arms.
"Steven, I know you probably don't want to hear from me, even now, but we all really are worried, you have to tell us what's wrong, ok?" Garnet insisted in her usual stoic voice.
"Fine, but you all have to go away afterwards, I really just want to be alone right now." He sighed, looking up to them, it being obvious that he had been crying at some point not too long ago.
"First, we want you to eat and drink everything in this bag, I went ahead and made you two sandwiches, a bottle of water, and a bottle of orange juice. Please make sure you eat and drink all of this before you do anything." She said, setting the listed items in front of him one by one.
The boy felt his hunger and thirst hit him hard, his gem was no longer enough to sustain his snack a day habits and he was able to feel as much so he began eating immediately. The three gems waited patiently as he finished up in only a few minutes.
Steven felt admittedly a little better, his energy was at least returning to him, but at the same time he still felt terrible. "Thank you..." He said, being sure not to forget his manners just because he felt this way. "Now what do you guys need?"
"Steven, just please tell us what's wrong, we know this isn't like you so don't try and tell us it's nothing." Pearl demanded, taking a seat next to him.
He gave a sigh as he ran his hand through his hair and gave a sigh. "Listen, I know you mean well, but you guys really wouldn't understand." He insisted. "It's best if you guys just leave me to my thoughts, I'm sure I'll get over it."
"Nah man, we ain't goin' anywhere till you tell us what's up; we can't just leave without at least trying. Heck, maybe just talking to someone is what you need anyway." Amethyst shrugged, refusing to leave him like this.
"Yes, plus you already agreed that you would tell us, so we aren't leaving till you do." Pearl nodded, agreeing with her purple friend.
"Alright- Alright, fine." He groaned, giving in. "It's Connie...she doesn't want anything to do with me." He said leaning his head against his knees. "I guess she's mad because I left her there when I came here. Now she doesn't respond to my messages that much, and even when she does, it's just to give an answer to something important, and even then she refuses to deviate from that topic."
"What did I say Pearl? I told you that her apology wasn't genuine, I told you that she was actually like that." Amethyst said, turning to the aforementioned Gem. "But nooooo, your Connie wouldn't be like that."
"This really isn't like her, I don't understand why she would be acting like this." Pearl commented, seemingly ignoring Amethyst. "Are you sure there isn't just some kind of misunderstanding?"
Steven just shook his head. "No, she has a bunch of new friends and a boyfriend. I want to be happy for her, I mean she seems happy about all that, so I should be happy for her...but...it hurts. Why does it hurt so bad?" He said, tearing up as he hugged his legs.
"Hey man, it's going to be ok, just forget about her, I mean you're really popular here, I'm sure many cute gems would kill to be in the position she had." Amethyst said putting an arm around his shoulders. "So cheer up, I mean if Connie would really be so quick to stop hanging out with you and talking to you over you deciding to go to Homeworld and save a bunch of gems without her, then is she really worth it?"
He just shrugged, not bothering to raise his head. Pearl set a hand on his hair with a smile. "Steven, I know how you feel, I really do; I mean, when your mother chose your father over me, I was heartbroken, but eventually I felt better, I was able to find something else to love and care for." She said gently. "Do you know who that would be, Steven?"
He just gave another shrug. "Oh come on, you know exactly who that is." The Pearl said pulling him into a hug despite his resistance, giving a smile. "Go on, I won't let you go till you say it. Who do I love and cherish more than anything in this world?"
Steven could help but give a small smile and a light chuckle as he looked up to her. "Me..."
"Exactly right. Steven, all of us care for you and want you to be happy and will always be there to help you within our capabilities." Pearl promised, her motherly nature truly shining through.
"Yeah man, if you were feeling bad about Connie or whatever, you should've came to us; you'll always have people who love you, so it's best if you share your thoughts and feeling with those people, ya know?" Amethyst smiled, happy to see her brother crack a smile of his own.
Garnet went to say something as well, seeing this as her chance to let him know that she actually does care for him, that maybe he would start seeing her in a better light if she tried to cheer him up as well in his time of need...unfortunately enough though, she thought on it for too long and the moment had passed; the boy was now just conversing with his other family members, seemingly forgetting about her.
In reality, Steven was disappointed that Garnet didn't say anything to him at the time, but he tried to act like he didn't mind by talking to Amethyst and Pearl, letting the fusion sit there without bugging her.
Later that day, the three of them left, Steven agreeing to at least try to come out and find something to do, and while he knew it wouldn't fix the problem at hand, he was still happy that his family came to visit him, he was happy enough to go around and find something to put his entire being towards in an attempt to ignore or distract himself from how he felt about Connie, and that something was creating a proper civilization out of what Homeworld was at the time.
-=Current Time=-
-=Spine/Pearl=-
-=Steven's Room on Homeworld=-
I had no idea that something like that happened, I thought the only thing he had to stress about before the rebellion was Pink, I never would've guessed he had he had to deal with that what with how focused he was on Homeworld..." Spinel said, almost feeling like she failed him as his best friend.
"Well he isn't exactly fond about sharing his emotions and thoughts with others, to be honest I'm surprised he even shared his feeling about Rose with you. I mean, we all have a vague idea on how much he doesn't like her; he's made his opinion on her somewhat clear when he left for Homeworld in the first place, and even I must admit that his distaste for her is more than justified." Pearl sighed, thinking about everything the teen has had to go through as a direct or indirect consequence for her actions.
"I probably could've guessed as much, I mean the only reason he really even said anything about Pink to me was because we shared common or at least similar feeling towards her, and he used that to bring me down from my fit of anger..." She said, deciding to keep the time Steven admitted that he felt like he couldn't talk to anyone he knew because they all seemingly adored Pink to herself.
"I guess that makes sense, I'm sure he would be more willing to share his feelings with someone that he feels connects to those feelings." The White gem sighed, never taking her eyes off of him. "Listen, I would like to apologize to you for my attitude towards you. You seem like a nice gem, Steven really likes you, and you seem to really care for him, so maybe you're not as bad as I initially thought..."
"Don't worry about any of that, I guess I started it after all, I can't really be mad at you because you retaliated to my jealous insults." Spinel responded, holding her gloved hands tightly together. "I mean, she took you and left me in the garden, but in the end, you were probably closer to her than I was in the first place anyway; of course she would take you with her."
"I wouldn't really say that, I mean I don't think she even liked me before I suggested she make herself look like a quartz so she could go and have fun with the gems in the kindergarten." Pearl said, giving a slight shrug. "I guess I just wasn't playful enough for her like her other Pearl was, so I guess in the end, she liked you more than she liked me."
The older gem knew exactly why Rose didn't take her to earth with her, she wanted to be treated like a real Diamond so she abandoned all of those childish things, but even then, she kept Spinel around for a while after she traded in her old Pearl with herself; but Pearl just couldn't find the heart to tell her something like that; that she was abandoned for such a reason.
"Heh, I never thought you'd be good at making jokes." Spinel said sarcastically. "I honestly don't care all that much anymore...or at least I'm trying not to. This is the future, a future I wouldn't trade for the universe, cause now I have Steven, and he doesn't just see me as some kind of toy despite that being what I was made for in the first place; best friend isn't just some title or pet name with him, it actually means that we are best friends, and I wouldn't change that outcome for anything."
Pearl found this gem's love for Steven to be something similar to what she felt for Rose, but this was something more realistic and pure than a Pearl falling for her Diamond.
Lately, Pearl had been thinking about what Spinel said to her, about her being nothing more than a toy and how their love was fake, and the more she went over it, the more she began to realize how true it was. Rose seemed to always be leading her to believe she shared her feelings, but in the end, the only people she ever actually had a relationship with were human men and women who she found interesting..., she just mustn't have been interesting enough for her...her undying love and loyalty amounted to nothing.
Spinel noticed the sad look that the Pearl has and decided to question her. "Hey, what's wrong? Did I say something?"
Pearl just responded by shaking her head and putting on a small smile. "No, I'm fine, really, I'm just thinking about something is all."
Spinel didn't believe her for a second but decided not to force the issue any further as to not ruin what seemed to be their newly developing friendship. "Well, if you say so...Anyway, you were talking with the human who was here to help him, did she tell you when he'd wake up?"
"No, unfortunately she didn't give us any idea of when his consciousness would return, but from what you four told us about his condition, he looks to be healing really fast for a human, so I'm hoping that means he will be up not too long from now." Pearl responded with a sigh. "I don't know, I've never had to deal with something like this before, I have no idea if he'll be ok, or if he will even wake up at all... I don't know, maybe it actually was a bad idea to let him take on Homeworld at such a young age."
"I know what you mean, I'm scared for him too, but I just know he can recover, he promised he would make sure he came back and I believe in him." Spinel said, holding onto his hand firmly as she watched over the unconscious teen
"I can only hope that you're right, the Crystal Gems would take a devastating loss if we didn't have Steven, he's an important member of our family..." Pearl said, not even attempting to hide the heavy worry in her voice.
-=Forty Five Hours Later=-
-=Spinel/Steven/Pearl=-
-=Steven's Room/Beach House=-
Two days. It had been two days since Steven had been put into his bed, and neither Pearl or Spinel had left him for so much as a second, both in constant worry as they waited to see when his recovery would finally allow him to awaken. Greg had also came by first thing in the morning yesterday, and for the most part had been in the room with the two of them, but right now he was getting food for the first time today.
Spinel had her arms wrapped around his, snoring softly as she slept, her head laying between his body and his inner elbow. Pearl watched the two, thinking about how she once would've loved to see Connie and him like this, but for some reason this just looked and felt right, weather it was the fact that she knew this gem would never do anything to hurt him, or if it was beca she knew Connie already had, she couldn't really say.
The sun was setting now, illuminating the room in its warm, orange glow from the sliding glass door that was behind the white gem, Spinel being on the opposite side of the bed, thankfully not wrapped around the arm with the I.V in it.
The Pearls were still here, as were Lapis, Bismuth, Peridot, Greg, and the core Crystal Gems, all of them waiting for further news down in the living room, one or two of them coming up together at times to check on his progress.
Much to the shock of Pearl, Steven shot up from his laying position, his eyes flashing pink for a split second before going back to their normal brown color though that much went unnoticed by her. Spinel was woken up by the sudden jerking movement, her mind and vision all fuzzy from her nap. Pearl sat there for a second as he looked around cautiously.
Once he saw the needle that was plugged into his right arm he began to panic, reaching over to pull it out, though Pearl was quick to grab ahold of him to stop him. "Steven, calm down, you're ok."
"What's going on? How'd I get here? What's all this?" He began asking a barrage of questions, obviously not happy with the fact that he had this stuff plugged into him like this.
"You were hurt really bad and came stumbling into the Pearl's house." Spinel said, trying her damndest not to tackle him in a hug. "How are you feeling? Are you ok?"
Steven took a moment to absorb everything she had said, remembering everything from that day and the conversation he had with his gem side. "Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me, I'm all healed up." He tried to brush it off with a small laugh.
"Steven, we were all so worried, what on earth happened to you?" Pearl questioned, though she felt that she already knew the answer to how he ended up in this situation.
"Well, it's a long story, but let's just say that there are some gems on Homeworld that don't exactly like me and have been causing a little chaos." He explained, purposely leaving out the part about him deciding to use himself as bait.
"Steven, I know what you did; I know you went out there and used yourself to lure them out." Pearl informed him, much to his surprise. "I don't see why you thought that was necessary, you're a mortal boy, Steven, you can't go around risking your life like that!"
"Pearl, it's alright, I'm fine now aren't I?" He said, the memory of him being told he was temporarily dead coming back for a couple seconds, though there was no way he could tell her about that, especially if she was like this over him being hurt in the first place.
"That's not the point, you went out and used yourself as bait for a bunch of gems that hate you, what made you think that was a good idea?" She continued, determined to make him see that this was a bad idea in hopes that he doesn't do it again.
"Well it's better than just taking gems that we think are bad off the streets and hurting them for information they don't even have. Listen, in the end, I came out fine, I still don't see what the big deal is." He argued, even if he knew that was technically a lie and he just lucked out.
This time Spinel spoke up. "Steven, you can't think like that, what if you don't turn out fine one day? If you just go around worrying about everyone but yourself, you're going to get hurt again...or worse." She said, feeling terrible about agreeing to let him go out there alone, or even at all for that matter.
"Guys, it's ok, I'm here, and I'm all good, there's nothing more to worry about, alright?" He said, hoping to just put this behind them.
"No- It's not ok, you weren't alright, everything about this situation is worth worrying about!" The pink gem argued, tearing up slightly. "Steven,...I don't want to loose you. I know we haven't known each other for that long, but I don't know what I would do without you. It's not just me either, everyone cares deeply for you! All the other Pearls took emergency rain checks for their work just to be here until you recovered! Pearl has sat here with me by your side the entire time you've been here! And the rest of your friends and family? They're all waiting downstairs, coming up like ten times a day to check and see if you're awake or if you're going to be ok; and the only reason your...'dad' hasn't been here in this room is cause we had to convince him to take care of his own well-being while waiting for you!"
"You have so many people who love and care for you, when you do something stupid like this, you have each and every one of them worried, now including myself! I understand you want to help others, I really do, but sometimes you have to actually care for your own safety and well-being too!" She continued, the outburst of emotion being a very big surprise to the teen as well as Pearl, the former taking a moment to let her words sink in. "If you won't take care of yourself for you, then do it for us: for the people who love and care for you...please...you're all I have." She said, hanging her head low whitest saying that last part quietly.
"Spinel...I-" He was interrupted by the entire group of gems and his father coming from downstairs and into his room. He watched her lay hear head against his arm without saying a word as they surrounded his bed, asking him questions about if he was ok or not and just over all smothering him with love and attention, making what Spinel said hit harder.
-=End of Chapter=-
Cheeseus christ, thanksgiving is always a difficult day to get through without giving in to the urge to use that carving knife on your family.
Idk, most like today, but it's the most stressful time of the year for those of us who have to cook and clean, so maybe keep that in mind next time you see your parent cooking by themself in the kitchen on the days leading up to thanksgiving; you don't know how stressful it is to have to juggle dirty dishes and not burning the food.
But for those of you that help out, you're helping more than you probably think.
Anyway, I hope your thanksgivings go well, and for those of you who don't celebrate the holiday, I hope you have had a good day nevertheless.
And as always-
Good morning, goodnight, or good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.
