A/N: Dear stars above it's been forever since I've written a story, but I tend to have the motivation of a sloth when it comes to this, so if I never finish this story, don't be shocked whatsoever.

But anyway, this has been on my mind for a while and I don't know if anyone else will write it, so here we are. Maybe it will inspire others to write about this same thing, maybe not, guess we will just have to see.

Anywho, it's a friends-to-lovers story with Steven and Spinel, with the question of "what if he found her early on in the series?" And by early, I mean before Bubble Buddies (where he meets Connie). I despise Connverse with a passion, so it definitely won't be happening in this story. Though Connie does gain a crush on him somewhat, but Spinel won't be having any of that I assure you. While she's not possessive of Steven like a lot of authors make her out to be, she is quite clingy and in some ways territorial over him spending time with anyone else. As Steven gets older and matures, he addresses the issue and eventually she will calm down, but that won't be for a while in the story. As you'll see, Steven doesn't mind it in the beginning at all.

Anyway, we need more fluffy Stevinel fics, there aren't enough of them right now and I need my fluffy Stevinel. So I'm writing it myself.

Right, on to the story. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: To the Garden

Steven was bored. The gems had gone off on a mission hours ago and he had been left with nothing to do. Well, that was a lie; he had played the new video game his dad had gotten for him last week, The End of Fantasy 7, but he had beaten it earlier in the day. After which he had watched TV until he had gotten tired of it.

So now he had nothing to do, and the gems still had not returned from their mission. Sighing, he flopped backwards on to his bed and stared up at the ceiling, daydreaming. It was better than doing nothing, he supposed. 'I wish I could on missions, too.'

His thoughts were interrupted moments later by the growl of his stomach. He laid a hand on his belly and gave a thoughtful hum.

"Guess I'm hungry. I did skip lunch earlier. Better not tell Pearl that, though, heh." Stretching, Steven sat up and hopped off of his bed, heading downstairs to fix himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Humming an aimless tune to himself as he made his sandwich, his eyes slowly drifted over to look at the warp pad in front of the temple. The twelve-year-old had tried to use it many times to follow the Crystal Gems on their missions with no success, and it had frustrated him to no end. He was a gem too, so why did it not work for him? It just was not fair!

Feeling down all of a sudden, but still hungry, he quickly finished preparing his sandwich and poured a glass of milk to go along with it. He sat down on one of the bar stools and quickly ate his pb&j, still eyeing the warp pad in curiosity. It was as if something was... calling to him to try it once again.

Finishing his late lunch, he put his plate and cup in the sink and hurriedly walked over to the warp pad, staring at it in question. Putting a hand to his chin, he narrowed his eyes in thought before shrugging and deciding to go with the flow.

Stepping on to the warp pad, Steven extended his arms out and closed his eyes, concentrating.

"Pad, take me to the Crystal Gems." Nothing. "Please?" Still nothing. "Pretty please?" No go.

Growing agitated, Steven stomped his foot like a petulant child and huffed.

"You never want to work when I want you to! What do I have to do, ask to be taken somewhere?" Ah, now there was an idea! "Pad, can you please take me to the Crystal Gems?"

When nothing happened, Steven growled and plopped down on top of the warp pad, punching it lightly in the process.

"Okay, fine, let's try something else then. Let's see..." Resting his chin on his hand, Steven thought hard. His arm accidentally brushed against his gem, breaking him from his thoughts momentarily as a new thought occurred to him. 'There's an idea!'

Positioning himself so that he was laying on his front with him gem against the warp pad, he repeated his request. The warp pad did not so much as even glow.

Angry, and feeling defeated, Steven stood up and threw his hands up in the air, a look of irritation on his face.

"Oh come on! What do I have to say to get you to work? 'Take me to a place mom used to visit'? Because I don't think-" Steven's rant was cut off abruptly as the warp pad activated in a blinding flash of light, transporting him somewhere.

He laughed and cheered as he was lifted away by the stream, unknowingly traveling further and further away from Earth.

-TAoLaF-

In an overgrown garden several light years away from Earth, surrounded by crumbling pillars of stone, stood a lone gem, looking just as worn and dirty as the rest of the place. Her once bright pink attire now faded, a winning smile she once adorned flipped upside down into a frown, and her whole body covered in dirt and grime, she was the perfect visual of "pathetic".

Underneath her exterior, however, was a gem who was incredibly lonely, as the feeling of abandonment started to slowly settle in. However, she continued to stare at the worn warp pad, just as she had done for the past six thousand years, in hopes of seeing it activate once more. For her best friend to reappear so that she could win their game and get back to playing like they used to. She was getting a bit tired of this game, after all.

Sighing, the gem looked down at her interlaced hands with a despondent look on her face as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She really did not want to be alone anymore, but she refused to stop playing the game, so she knew she was stuck here. Stuck there in the garden, surrounded by dead plants and broken stone. She felt like she had become part of the architecture by this point.

'What if I just... stopped playing? No, no, I won't lose! She'll be so disappointed in me if I quit, but it's been so long, what if she forgot about me? No, she couldn't have, what am I thinking? Maybe something happened to delay her? Yeah, that's it! She's just been delayed is all.'

Her thoughts kept spinning around in her head in this fashion, just as they had for the past few thousand years. She was so lost in her thoughts that the gem nearly missed the vine-covered warp pad activating for the first time in millennia.

Her eyes widened as the 'shing' of the warp pad resonated in her ears, a hope blossoming in her chest. If she had an actual heart, it would be beating so fast that it would feel like it was trying to jump out of her body.

Alas, her hope was crushed faster than a guilty rebel gem as instead of the one gem she was waiting for, a weird creature she had never seen before appeared with a big "oof" as it fell face first on to the warp pad.

Definitely not the most... graceful landing she had ever seen. It almost tore a giggle from her. Almost.

-TAoLaF-

Steven slowly stood up from his rather, disgraceful, landing, and dusted himself off before panning his eyes around the area he had accidentally warped to, not even noticing the little pink gem staring at him with wide, curious eyes at first. He scratched his head in confusion as he studied the place.

"Why did it warp me here? And where is 'here' anyway?" The place looked completely abandoned and dead, the complete opposite of Earth. The whole area was deathly silent, too, which set him on edge in a way that he had never felt before. It sent a shiver down his spine and he almost begged the warp pad to send him back home immediately if not for the tiny, cracked voice that answered him in the dead silence.

"The garden..." Steven's head immediately swiveled towards where the sound came from, finally noticing the figure standing there staring at him. How had he missed that the first time?

"Huh?" Came his eloquent reply.

"You're in the garden, Pink Diamond's garden." Steven just blinked at that, not recognizing the name. It sounded important in some way, though. Taking a chance, he slowly stepped towards the unknown figure, watching as her eyes widened even more as he crept closer. He stopped a couple of feet in front of her and tilted his head up and to the side a bit in curiosity.

"I've never heard of Pink Diamond," her sharp intake of breath startled him a bit, but he pressed on with a smile, "but what's your name? Mine's Steven! Steven Universe!"

"My name's... Spinel." Spinel was quite perplexed at this point. What kind of gem name was Steven Universe? Strangely, though she did not know this creature, the name suited it somehow. She looked on as stars appeared in the creature's eyes and a look of wonder appeared on its face. It made her rather uncomfortable as no one had ever looked at her in that way before, not even Pink.

"Spinel," just the way the creature said her name sent a pleasant shiver through her body, "that's such a pretty name!" Okay, she was definitely blushing up a storm now, and she turned her head away in embarrassment. No one had ever complimented her before; it was such an odd, yet warming, feeling.

"It's just my gem name, it's nothing special." The loud gasp from the creature nearly made her jump in fright, almost losing her the game. Wild eyes turned to stare at the creature, who had its hands on its face and an awed look on its face as it stared at her in the face, and then finally at the pink, heart-shaped gem settled on her chest.

"You're a gem?! I'm a gem too! Well, half gem, on my mom's side," Steven said, lifting up his shirt to expose the gem nestled in the spot where his bellybutton would be if he had one. He noticed Spinel staring at it before she reached up with a hand to gently touch her own gem, still staring at Steven's.

"It's... pink," she stated rather quietly, though Steven still heard her through the dead silence of the garden.

"Yeah, both of our gems are pink, how cool is that?" Steven responded rather happily.

"Cool..." she parroted, stretching out an arm towards Steven's gem, wanting to touch it for some odd reason, though she quickly retracted her hand as if burned when she realized what she was doing. She looked down in embarrassment but gasped in surprise when Steven gently took her hand and guided it back towards his gem with a small smile.

"You can touch it if you want, I don't mind." Did this creature, gem, half gem, or whatever it was, not understand the trust it was placing in her? To allow someone to touch your gem was the ultimate showing of trust, for that was the core of a gem's being. Giving another gem permission to touch your own gem was a way to say 'I trust you not to crack or shatter me'. And now that Spinel thought about it...

Pink never let her touch her gem. Spinel had let Pink touch hers plenty of times, but she was never allowed to do the same in return. Perhaps it was because of her status and she was not allowed to, but...

Shaking her head minutely to rid of her thoughts, she was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She had never before been allowed to touch someone else's gem in such trust, even if this gem was some weird hybrid with a creature she had never seen before. Hand trembling, she lightly stroked Steven's gem, causing him to gasp at the sensation. She drew her hand back at his gasp. Did she do something wrong? Did the creature change its mind? Or did-

"I didn't know I could feel anything in my gem!" Oh, so that was it. Apparently no one had ever touched its gem before if it was shocked at such a simple touch.

"Only if another gem touches it," she murmured, giving a simple answer, but feeling ecstatic to finally be trusted enough to touch another's gem. Even if it was someone she did not really know.

"Can I... touch yours?" Spinel stared at the creature in shock at its shy request. "I mean, you don't have to let me if you don't want to, I'm just cur-"

"Yes."

"Huh?" Steven said stupidly.

"I said yes, you can touch my gem," Spinel said, rather nervously. She just hoped she was not making a mistake.

Excited, Steven reached up an arm and softly ran his fingers over the heart-shaped gem, feeling fascinated by all of its facets and smooth surface. He could see and feel Spinel shudder at his gentle ministrations.

It had been so long since anyone had touched her in such an affectionate way that Spinel almost cried out in distress when the creature removed its hand, but she held it in.

"Wow, thanks! The gems have never let me touch theirs." Whatever gems this creature was living with must not trust him in the slightest. She felt almost... giddy at the fact that she was the first gem in its life to show it trust. Why? She did not know, but she was.

Steven suddenly sighed, setting Spinel on edge at his forlorn countenance.

"It's been fun meeting you, but I should get home. The gems are probably worried about me. But, I'll stop by again, soon, okay?" Steven said with a small smile, turning around and started walking back towards the warp pad. His walk was halted, however, as a hand grabbed on to one of his arms, then preceded to wrap itself around it like a boa constrictor.

Shocked, Steven whipped around to see that Spinel had stretched out her entire left arm what must have been several feet.

"Whoa," he mumbled, absolutely amazed. Not even Amethyst could achieve something like that so easily and without effort. The panicked look on Spinel's face made him pause, however.

"Please, don't leave me! I- I can't-!" She could not spit out the words, but Spinel could not be alone again, she just could not! The sheer fear and panic that coursed through her body caused her to have a mental breakdown and she started sobbing.

After finally getting to talk to and be around someone in over six thousand years, the silence and loneliness would surely drive her mad. She refused to deal with that again.

Steven looked at Spinel in great concern. He had no idea him wanting to leave would upset her this much, but regardless, he had to get home at some point.

"Bu- but I-" Steven stuttered, feeling helpless as he stared at the crying gem. Her head was down, but she kept her vice-like grip on his arm, preventing him from even moving.

Suddenly, he had an idea, and a big grin stretched across his face.

"Hey, why don't you come back home with me?" Her head snapped up so fast that Steven would have been worried she broke her neck if she were a human. The utter look of surprise and shock on her face would have made him burst out laughing if not for the tears streaming down her face.

"Wha- what?" Did she hear this creature right? It wanted her to leave the garden? No, that could not possibly be what she heard. Not even Pink wanted her to leave this place, why would some half-gem creature she just met want her to?

"Come back to Earth with me, Spinel," he said, starting towards her once more. She unwrapped her arm from his as he approached, which Steven was thankful for as she was unintentionally cutting off the blood flow in his arm and making it go numb. He stopped a couple of feet in front of the pink gem, who was still staring at him as though she could not believe he was there in the first place.

He held his right hand out with a grin on his face and waited, but his grin faded when she looked away with a morose look.

"I- I can't." Steven blinked in confusion and lowered his arm.

"But... why not?" He asked, bemused. Certainly she did not want to stay in this place, did she? He did not think even Amethyst would want to live here, and he had seen her room before. Everything was so dead and lifeless that is was bringing his mood down the longer he stayed.

She seemed a bit reluctant to answer, but Steven waited patiently until she was ready to explain. His patience finally gave him the explanation he waited for. She kept her head turned to the side and refused to look at him, though.

"Because... it's a game Pink and I are playing. I'm supposed to wait here for her to return. She's left me here before, but she always returned, so I guess she wanted to make a game out of it," Spinel explained, sighing a bit as she said under her breath so that Steven would not hear her, "but she's never been gone this long before."

Lifting an eyebrow and tilting his head to the side, the bewilderment was clear in Steven's voice.

"A... game?" Steven was quite concerned. To him, this sounded straight up like tying your dog to a tree and promising to come back, only to never return. Just to get rid of it and out of your life. Whoever this Pink Diamond person was, Steven was ready to dislike her for her actions alone. He would give her the benefit of the doubt for the time being, however. He was not one to dislike someone without just cause, after all.

"Games are meant to be fun; are you having fun with this game, Spinel?" That was the question, was it not? A stricken look crossed Spinel's face as she processed the creature's question. Oh she knew the answer right away, but she did not want to even think about it, let alone answer with it. However, she had no choice at this point.

"N- no," she whispered so quietly that Steven had to strain to hear her.

"Huh?"

"I said no." Spinel gritted her teeth and shut her eyes as she said that a bit louder, upset over having to face the truth that she did not enjoy this game anymore. She was just tired; so, so, tired. She wanted to leave the garden and get away from it forever.

Leave...

Turning her head to look at the creature, he once again had his hand out and a grin on his face. It was as if it knew her thoughts somehow.

"Then come with me." Spinel knew she was beat. Then again, she was probably beat six thousand years ago when she was left here in the first place.

Hesitantly, after staring at Steven's hand for several seconds, she reached out towards it and grasped on to it gently, this action causing Steven to beam brightly, and her metaphorical heart to get caught in her throat.

Tightening his hold on her hand ever so slightly, Steven took a step backwards towards the warp pad, still facing Spinel, as he waited for her to take a step forward.

Nervously, Spinel silently swallowed, and, for the first time in six thousand years, took a step.

End Chapter 1

A/N: So originally I was going to continue it from here, but I changed my mind since I felt it would kill the flow of this chapter.

Let me know what y'all think!