Happeh Annibersary, da ting is a year old yaaaaaaay
"Amethyst, why is there fried noodle stuck in the exhaust fan?" Pearl scowled. She was nearly on top of the poor stove. Burnt noodle and flour had somehow mysteriously ended up in the deep crevices of their kitchen unit.
"I dunno." Amethyst shrugged. She had been watching Pearl scour the kitchen for an hour now. Amethyst usually would be lounging about her room eating who-knows what, but after Pearl nearly cleaned up all her junk, she was content to sit here until she was in the clear to get everything back to normal. "Life P. Life."
Pearl rolled her eyes and continued scrubbing until she heard the pitter patter of tiny feet coming up the stairs. Steven opened the door and Pearl turned to greet him.
"Good aftern-WHY ARE YOU SOAKING WET?!"
"H-huh-Hi P-Pearl, A-Amethyst." Steven stuttered, unable to contain a shiver when a gust of wind hit his back. "Dad and I-I had a h-h-huh-hose fight."
"Goodness, did he have to get all of you wet?" Pearl scolded, picking him up before he could protest. She hurried to the bathroom. "Bath time right now, young man. Oh, I just cleaned these floors!"
"Ahhhh, but the new episode of Crying Breakfast Friends is gonna come on soon." Steven grumbled, watching Pearl run his bathwater. He could already tell that he was not going to get out of this bath. He reluctantly tried unsticking his heavy t-shirt from his tummy but it wouldn't budge, it was too saturated. He tugged on Pearl's tutu with a frown.
"What's wrong Steven?" Pearl asked, noticing his rather grumpy face. "Did you lose the hose battle? Amethyst will avenge you tomorrow."
"No, I won but I still don't wanna take a bath." Steven pouted; crossing his little arms just like Garnet did (though he looked particularly less intimidating.)
"You have too. You're shivering." Pearl stated simply, grabbing some bubble bath and sprinkling it in the growing water. "Unless you know some other way to get warm and clean?"
"Isn't there some cool gem magic for that?" Steven grunted, letting Pearl strip his soggy clothes.
"There might be." Pearl chuckled, easily plopping him into the warm water. "But for Stevens the method of choice is baths."
"Ahhhhh." Steven groaned. Despite his grumpiness, he still managed to create a nice foamy beard and crown to match.
…
Steven stumbled from the bathroom, adorned in the fluffiest towel they owned. He waddled to the couch, where Garnet was now sitting with his pajamas on her lap.
"Garnet! Look my hair has points." Steven pointed to his makeshift spikes with a tired smile. He had been styling his hair in the bath, trying to tame his curls with the power of bubbles. He usually romped around in the bath, actively playing with all his toys, but he had just been so…tired.
"Very nice." Garnet praised, picking him up and pressing her right hand against his forehead. "You feelin' alright?"
"Yep." Steven yawned, rubbing his heavy eyes with a snuffle. "I wanna watch Crying Breakfast Friends."
"What about dinner?" Garnet asked as she helped him into his PJs. Lingering her gem embedded palm over his chest, feeling the steady thrum of his heart and his breathing.
"I'm not really hungry." Steven mumbled, liking the cool pulse of her gem against his chest.
"You ate at Greg's?"
"Uhhhh-."
"Steven, come here I need to blow dry your hair!" Pearl interrupted. "You'll catch a cold if you don't."
Steven crawled off Garnet's lap, hurrying back to the bathroom before Garnet could stop him.
Garnet crossed her arms with a slight frown, standing up to sit in the bathroom doorframe to watch Pearl methodically dry Steven's fluffy hair. From here, she could see that Steven was tired, his usual big eyes were lined and puffy and he constantly fidgeted with his red nose.
"Did you have fun today?" Garnet asked. "Pearl told me you got plenty of sleep last night."
"Yeah," A giant yawn contradicted him. "Um…Dad I played hose fight and then I helped wash some cars then we played more hose fights."
"I hope you took a break to put on sunscreen." Pearl sniffed, gently tracing the blotchy red patches of skin on Steven's forehead. "You and Greg always forget and you're going to get a sunburn!"
Garnet thought sunscreen was the least of their concerns.
…
All of Steven's blankets and pillows were piled neatly at the end of his bed, a giant nest right in front of the TV. Pearl had positioned each once with the utmost grace and care. Steven hadn't really gotten why at first, but then she had explained that with this unique arrangement, that the little divot between Garnet and herself would be especially warm.
Steven snuggled into the little dip, his head on Pearl's lap and his feet tucked under Garnet's thighs and with Amethyst long hair as a blanket over him.
"Yay…les-les watch it." Steven slurred, his eyelids heavy.
"You doing alright buddy?" Amethyst frowned, flipped upside down on the bed. "You look kinda…muggy."
"Muggy? I don't think that's a proper adjective to describe humans" Pearl snorted. "She is right though. Steven, you do look pale."
"No." Steven sat up slightly, eyes puffy. He lightly batted away Pearl's hands. "We gotta watch the show. I'm fine. Look i-it's c-uhh-coming on-chooo!"
"Bless, here." Garnet untucked a tissue box from somewhere and handed it too Pearl, who wiped Steven's nose before he could bury his face back into the blanket. "Quite a few sneezes today." She commented quietly.
"Nu uh." Steven snuffled. He stood up shakily, trying to escape Pearl's tissue grip.
"You were sneezing this morning." Pearl hummed, pinching the tissue over Steven's nose. "Blow, please." Steven complied reluctantly.
"Is it allergy season already?" Amethyst asked, eyes screwed up. "What's it called, like spring fever?"
"Hay fever." Pearl mumbled, pinching the used tissues between her fingers and quickly handed them to Garnet. "Greg would have informed us if it had. Besides, this seems more like a cold."
Steven coughed. "No it is not a code."
"A what?" Amethyst asked. "The heck is a code?"
"Code!" Steven stomped his foot, his cheeks flushed an alarming red.
"Cold." Garnet corrected, frowning. "And I think you're right Pearl."
"Ndo!" Steven whined, collapsing onto the blankets face first. He felt too hot to be arguing this much. He just wanted to bury himself in his blankies, watch 'Crying Breakfast Friends', and maybe have Garnet rub his belly since it was still all achy.
"I'm going to go get the thermometer." Pearl sat up in a flash, rushing downstairs.
Garnet picked Steven up, letting him sit at her shoulder and began to pat his back as she had done when he was younger. She didn't like the heat seeping into her skin. This is had all set in so fast, which couldn't be good.
It took some persuading to get Steven to even look at the thermometer. Amethyst finally got him to stick it in his ear when she cracked a joke about boogers – much to Pearl's disgust.
"103°F." Pearl hissed quietly, looking up worriedly at Garnet. "That's too high."
"What do we do?" Amethyst's smile from her joke had slid off her face, replaced with a weary grimace.
"Greg." Garnet decided, sitting up with Steven still in her arms. "Let's go, gems."
A/N: Sup. More updates later. Working on that incredibly long list of awesome people who I'd like to mention. Hey fun fact before I get back to work, more people have read this fic, than live in my city. That's really weird to me. Anyway, thank you for your favorites, follows and increíble reviews. Be back later.