Amethyst sat in the cave, pacing around on all fours, waiting for Music Man to get there. Their mission had ended only a few hours ago-much longer than both Garnet and Rose had anticipated. Rose had been slightly frantic when she realized the time and had rushed them back to the temple as soon as the monster had been bubbled. Rose had said she needed to handle something and had rushed into her room, trying to finish 'whatever' before Greg was expected to arrive. Pearl had assured Amethyst it was probably something very important, but Amethyst had the sneaking suspicion Rose just wanted to fix her frayed hair and dirty skin.
After Greg got off his 'job' thingy, at around this time now, he would usually come running to the temple, laden with gifts. Flowers, chocolate covered strawberries, or candy. The candy was mostly for Amethyst-though Garnet did like some of the spicier kinds and would eat some now and again. Amethyst had recently discovered her most favorite candy: black licorice; next to caramel it was the messiest candy she ever tried. Greg had promised Amethyst that he would bring her more black licorice as soon he got paid.
Since Rose often spent her free nights with Greg, Amethyst had more opportunities to mess with Pearl. Usually, on nights when Amethyst got restless and 'impish' (as Pearl liked to call it), Pearl would be glued to Rose's side-an impossible target. Now, Rose would disappear for hours with Greg or Greg would be glued to Rose's hip. Greg had started giving Amethyst candy and food innocently at first, but had recently supplied her with stickier, messier candy. Amethyst especially loved smearing the candy all over face and chasing Pearl around the temple. Garnet wasn't in to games like that, so it was nice to have a partner in crime. Amethyst had been so excited during the mission today that Rose had taken to carrying Amethyst in her arms when they weren't fighting.
"Little one you sure are jumpy today, aren't you." Rose had kissed Amethyst's cheeks and mussed up her hair.
"Music Man's gonna bring me candy." Amethyst sung, sticking her tongue out at Pearl as Rose rested Amethyst on her chest.
"I will be in my room then." Pearl had hissed. She had noticed that every time Mr. Universe brought Amethyst candy, she had somehow ended up covered in it.
Amethyst loved Pearl's face whenever whatever sticky glob of candy landed on her or her things. Amethyst had planned on taking a few of Pearl's swords and lathering them in licorice juice, planting them obviously in her messy room. Somewhere that would require Pearl to wade through the worst of her mess. Pearl would go to grab her stuff and have a hand covered in black goo. It would be perfect-she would take that little camera Greg had bought and have a few new photos to laugh over with her new friend Vidalia.
That is if Greg could get here with the licorice. Amethyst gave a hearty sigh before padding out into the sand. She didn't see him or his van anywhere-he was totally late. Which was kinda weird cause when it came to Rose, Greg was never late. Amethyst sunk into the sand and jumped powerfully into the air, shapeshifting into an owl. She soared through Beach City, rolling through the air with ease, ignorant of the humid pressing force of the dying storm. She located the storage unit easily in the misty dark.
She landed lightly on the roof of Greg's van, she shook the water pooled there off her claws before shifting back into her human body. She banged her fist into the roof.
"Music Man!" She yelled, crawling to the back of the van and peeking through the foggy windows. The lantern Greg owned was off and she could barely see a dark shape huddled in on itself. "Hey, you know it's time to go see Rose like normal. And bring me my candy like you promised."
She heard a muffled groan and then some quiet shuffling. Something heavy bumped into the side of the van, rocking it slightly and she heard another pained groan. A lumpy shadow sat up and crawled toward the back doors. Amethyst jumped onto the wet pavement and waited. There was a quiet click as the doors were unlocked and one of the doors slowly creaked open.
"Amethyst?" Greg whispered, his voice hoarse and low. He had slumped back down after he had weakly pushed the door open. Amethyst leaned in, pressing her face against the closed door and peeking in through the crack. It was dark, stuffy and warm. A penetrating scent of sweat permeated the van's air and if Amethyst wasn't Amethyst she might have gagged.
"Uh…are you okay? You look kinda…weird."
Greg's bleak skin rivaled Pearl's paleness, the only color on his face was under his eyes and his cheeks. He was breathing, but it sounded wheezy and gunky. He was sweaty and his hair was tangled up-surprisingly put up into a ponytail. He shook slightly, his red eyes struggling to focus on her.
"M'fine." Greg grumbled, sounding like he had a wad of peanut butter stuck in his throat.
"And your hair is up." Amethyst muttered, ignoring him. She messed her own hair up in a similar fashion to Greg's newest do. "You hate putting your hair up."
"Oh…um I got hot. The sun came out for a bit earlier and it got really warm. I guess I was kinda out of it, I don't remember... touching my hair." Greg stuttered, shuddering as a breeze slipped in. "You want to come in? It's uh…cold out there."
Amethyst crawled in and closed the door for Greg. The van was surprisingly clean, only a few crumpled chip bags on the floor. There was a wet grocery bag in the corner, but no evidence of any other meal anywhere to be seen. Greg's futon sat hunched near the front seat, limp as it sagged in on itself. Greg was wrapped in his only blanket, he kind of looked like a caterpillar.
"Dude, you look gross." Amethyst flinched as Greg coughed into the blanket. "Your nose is leaking junk…can I touch it?"
"No!" Greg rubbed his nose and turned away from Amethyst's approaching hand. "We talked about the touching thing."
"Rose touches you. You let her touch you all over." Amethyst grumbled, she pulled at the damp blanket he was wrapped in. "She's supposed to be touching you about now actually, how come you're late?"
"Late? Now? Wait, what time is it?" Greg sat up, letting Amethyst yank the blanket away from his sweaty skin. A hard shiver wracked his frame as he scrambled to find his digital watch in the dark.
"Night time dude." Amethyst grunted with a shrug, pulling more and more of the blanket off. The blanket slid off easily now that Greg wasn't actively holding on to it. "How come you're only wearing underwear?"
"What?" Greg looked down and squeaked, he began to tug at the blanket. "Give it back Amethyst!"
"Nice undies Greg. I knew you liked pink things, but…"
"I didn't know that you weren't supposed to wash red with white alright!" Greg groaned. "I suck at laundry, give me a break. Can I have my blanket back, please?"
"I thought you said you were hot?" Amethyst asked, releasing the blanket right as Greg pulled with all his might. Greg groaned as his back hit the metal of the van's wall.
"I got cold, whatever." Greg grunted, wrapping himself in the blanket and digging through a pile of clothes in the front seat. "Shoot! Um…your licorice is in the bag over there."
Amethyst grabbed at it and lazily began to eat some while watching Greg get dressed. Greg was a bit wobbly, putting his shirt on inside out and then backwards before getting it right. He had grabbed his infamous pair of jeans, but after trying to stand up, he opted for swim shorts. He undid his hair and grabbed one of his combs and tried to detangle it.
"Did you go to your work lookin' like that?" Amethyst asked, fiddling with her own hair enviously. She had left the lantern off because something about 'modesty', whatever that was (Greg had been trying to teach her why she couldn't take people's clothes off without their permission), but now that he was fuly clothed she flicked it on.
"No, uh…I didn't go to work today actually." Greg stuttered with a flinch, rubbing his eyes with a groan. "Mrs. Carson saw me and she told me to go back home. I guess I've been asleep since noon."
"You sure don't look like you've been asleep all day." Amethyst muttered, getting a better look in the blue light. She had thought that the eerie yellow streetlights had exaggerated the sickly color of his skin, but nope he looked straight horrible. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week.
"Oh, excuuuuse me Little Miss Detective!" Greg moaned, rubbing at his burning cheeks. "So I'm not up to 100%, give me a break."
"If Pearl sees you before Rose does, she may cover you in that smelly blue stuff-."
"Soap." Greg snuffled. "It's called soap, Amethyst."
"That soap stuff, yeah. Even then, she may make you wear a mask-she has tons of those. Pearl does not like snot. Which your face is covered in-which I might also add you should let me touch by the way."
"What is with you and touching nasty stuff?" Greg chuckled weakly before slumping against the seats. He grabbed a shirt from the pile and rubbed his face in it. "So Pearl would freak out and tell Rose?"
"You look like you got hit by a car, even if Pearl didn't tell Rose, Rose isn't stupid." Amethyst said, offering a licorice stick. Food always made humans perk up. Greg shook his head and swallowed thickly.
"I'm not hungry." Greg whispered, he closed his eyes with a raspy sigh.
"You're not dying, right?" Amethyst asked. Rose wouldn't be happy if Amethyst had sat around eating licorice while Greg had been dying. Well…Pearl might.
"It's just a fever." Greg rolled his eyes. "I got caught in the rain last night."
Amethyst nodded, shoving a handful of licorice into her mouth. Pearl had recently taken to dissecting every single fault of the human race-especially Greg (when Rose wasn't around of course). Amethyst was the only one Pearl could really rant to, so Amethyst had been learning a slew of information. One of the facts had been human's general weakness and feebleness. They could get sick if they ate bad stuff, or got too cold or too hot, or apparently if they got rained on.
"I don't want Rose to see me like this." Greg moaned, folding into himself, resting his head in his knees.
"Yeah, you do look pretty gross."
"Thanks, Amethyst."
"No prob dude."
Greg sighed heavily, lifting his head to glare blearily at her. "We really need to work on your understanding of sarcasm."
A/N: Sorry that it's probably moving a little slow, but Greg and Rose confrontation is coming. I promise.
Thank you KiAnson, MrRayney, The Jabberwock of OZ, TheMadCathatter, and natalie1668. I was really worried that nobody wanted Greg stories, but you five have renewed my faith. Thank you so much!
Any and every favorite, follow and review mean a lot. If you can take the time to review, I would really appreciate it.