A Taste of the Flaming Ocean

Chapter Two: Breakfast

Garnet had watched the blue gem through the night, watching her toss and turn, listening to the muttering in her sleep. Every now and then she would leave Lapis' side to observe bubbled gems, though her mind was not really on them. For some reason her mind was focused on the one in her bed. At some point she had given up on the gems and went to just sit on the bed, staring at Lapis.

"What are you even doing here?" She asked quietly so as not to wake the lithe Gem. She reached out and brushed her hand against the other's cool cheek. Slowly, she picked all the debris out of the other's hair, which she had not been allowed to do so earlier.

Some time in the wee hours of the morning, Lapis' eyes fluttered open and, after a moment, she sat bolt up, looking around. Only spotting Garnet, she winced at the memories of last nights 'fixing' her body. She looked at Garnet more, eyes narrowing a little bit. Neither knew what to do, so they just stared at one another. Well, Lapis was staring at Garnet, but the blue Gem didn't know if the other was staring back behind those glasses.

"Why didn't you retreat into your gem?" Garnet spoke first. Lapis looked pretty beat up and Garnet knew, even as tough as she was, if she were in the shape that Lapis was, she would have gone into her gem. Reaching out, Garnet let her fingers ghost over a particularly bad looking bruise, causing Lapis to flinch and pull away.

"I'm tougher than I look, alright?!" Lapis was obviously in defense mode. Garnet kept her face emotionless as she listened. "Even if I wanted to go into my gem, I can't. I have to stay out. I'm not going to become some piece of jewelry or encased in a mirror again."

Garnet now looked surprised. She supposed that she had never really thought of it like that. If a human found a Gem in their gem form, would they make them into some kind of jewelry? Would their earthly metals keep them in that form or would it be easy to make it free from that kind of encasement?

"That's right. Humans are selfish and don't care about Gems like us, don't you get that? They don't even know about the war, how we saved them." Lapis finished as she looked at Garnet, a passion in her eyes that intrigued the taller Gem. She had never seen this side of a Gem before, and yet it made sense that Lapis would feel this way. She had been trapped on Earth in her Gem for over five thousand years.

Garnet was about to say something when she heard the door open. Both female Gems turned to the sound only to see Steven with a tray full of food and drinks walking towards them. Alright, either the boy had mastered his Gem over night or one of the other two were helping him in the temple.

"Goooood Morrrrrning~" Steven said in a singy-songy voice. He set the tray between Lapis and Garnet. He looked from one to the other, grinning. "Are you two getting to one another? I bet you get along great!"

The tray that Steven had an assortment of fruit, eggs, bacon, waffles, milk, juice, water, tea, coffee, and bandages. Garnet raised her brow at the bandages, but reached for those first. She could see that the wrist Garnet had popped back into its socket last night was very, very swollen and bruised a deep blue, almost black. Reaching out quickly, Garnet grabbed the other Gem by her elbow, yanking her forward. Lapis was confused at the sudden movement and tried to pull back, but she couldn't.

"Steven, I need you to hold her so I can tend to her wounds." Steven nodded and grabbed just above where Garnet's hand was. Garnet pulled her hand back and gently touched the bruised wrist, eliciting a whimper from the blue Gem "This'll hurt."

And with that, Garnet began to wrap the wrist and hand tightly, knowing it had to hurt but it was needed to be done. If Lapis was going to act like a human, then she would be treated as such. Garnet looked at Lapis' shoulder which was also bruised from being popped back on and she sighed. This would be fun. Not.

"Steven, I have a mission for you," Garnet started and made a smile form on her lips. "Will you run to the Big Donut and buy me two chocolate croissants, black coffee, and a French twist? You know where the money is." Steven was practically beaming that Garnet had given him a mission, even if it was just a run to the Big Donut. Nodding rapidly, Steven ran out of the temple, singing a silly little tune about Garnet and donuts.

Turning to Lapis once more, Garnet could see the girl scowling at her. Garnet scooted towards Lapis, moving the tray of food out of the way. Staring Lapis directly in the eyes, she felt something ping inside of her, but she didn't know what it was and suddenly was glad her glasses covered her eyes.

"Untie your top." Garnet said as she watched Lapis' face turn from a scowl, to a sheer look of embarrassment, back to anger. Raising a hand to slap Garnet, the red Gem grabbed her wrist before Lapis could even come close to touching her face. "I need to wrap your shoulder. To do it properly, I need wrap the bandage around your chest to give your shoulder the proper pressure and ability to stay still."

Lapis looked at Garnet and suddenly understood why the red Gem had sent Steven on a 'mission'. Garnet didn't want the half Gem to see her half naked. Maybe this one wasn't too bad of a Gem. Turning her back to Garnet, Lapis reached back and undid the top, letting it fall into her lap. Garnet scooted close enough she could do what needed to be done.

Garnet started by wrapping the bandage a few times around the other Gem's chest, her arm hovering just enough away from Lapis' shoulder as not to touch her. When she felt that there was enough support from the chest wrappings, she began to wrap the other's bruised shoulder. Garnet let her warm fingers brush over soft skin, wrapping the wound a little slower than she could have. Garnet didn't know why, but Lapis was…something she couldn't pin down. Feeling Lapis shiver, Garnet stopped the wrapping, her hand gently resting the other's soft shoulder.

"Are you alright, Lapis? Am I hurting you too much?" Wait, why did she care? She had wrapped the other's wrist without caring about Lapis' pain but now she felt guilty. Lapis looked over her shoulder slightly, a flush on her cheeks.

"No, your fingers…they're really warm. I like it…" Garnet was surprised at this response. Lapis liked her warm fingers? Without a single word, Garnet finished wrapping Lapis' shoulder. Reaching forward, Garnet pressed the front of her chest to Lapis' bare back, causing the smaller Gem to shiver and even lean back. Garnet made it seem like she was just getting the other's top, which she did, and tied it back up properly, though she lingered for just a few seconds, before pulling away. Pulling back, Garnet watched Lapis turn to her, flushed deeply but she refused to look Garnet in the face. For some reason, this pleased Garnet.

"You should eat some of the food Steven brought. He'll be disappointed if you didn't." Garnet said in her stoic voice. She looked to the tray and picked up the coffee, sipping it. It was black, just the way she liked it. Looking back to Lapis, who was now looking at Garnet as she was angry, the blue Gem spoke softly.

"I'll eat…if you eat with me, Garnet." Once more, Garnet was surprised but she slowly nodded. Picking up a waffle with one hand, she ate it slowly watching Lapis eat some of the fruit. Coffee in one hand and a waffle in the other, Garnet wondered why she had agreed to this. She rarely ate, but somehow the thought of Lapis not eating made her feel bad. If the other Gem wanted to heal like a human, then she had to eat and, of course, company was always wanted.

So there they sat, eating the food in silence until it was all gone. Each kept looking at the other when they thought that they weren't looking.