Calling to ask if Connie could come to the slumber party was a bad idea. Dr Maheswaran was still not quite over the whole Malachite situation, and yelled at Steven for ages on the phone before Garnet came and crushed it in their hands.

So the seven Gems continued setting up until nightfall for the slumber party. They brought out sleeping bags, Chaaaaaps and this slightly heavy box that Steven insisted nobody look at. While doing this, Peridot discovered that their communication device had gone missing but decided to hold off until morning searching for it.

And then it was ready. The green Gem sat on their sleeping bag, frowning suspiciously at Steven.

"Everybody!" Steven stood up. "I'd like to welcome you to the best slumber party ever!"

Pearl lifted up their sleeping bag. "Steven, I think this is too short for me."

"We'll start by handing out gifts!" The boy opened the box and drew out a variety of bits and bobs. Peridot watched suspiciously as they handed one each to Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Lion.

They draped a rather small pink blanket over Lion and then turned to Aventurine. "Look what I made you: It's a friendship bracelet!"

"A friendship bracelet." The Gem stared at the ring of string with various little trinkets looped in it. "I mean I'm chuffed buddy, but where's the catch?"

"Oh, I didn't make it with one. You just slip in on your wrist, like..." Steven gently pushed the bracelet onto the Gem's dark green arm. "Like that, see? It's for showing friends how much you care! Do you like it?"

Aventurine blinked, staring at the bracelet with an unreadable expression. "...Yeah. No catch."

"And for you, Peridot," Steven dumped a massive block of wood at the small Gem's feet.

Peridot frowned. "You brought me a piece of tree? What use is that, or how does it make me 'feel good'? And why are there two P's scratched into the top?"

"It's a replacement for your limb enhancer leg until we find the other one! And I know you're still angry about the ending of Camp Pining Hearts, so I carved-"

"You carved Percy and Pauline's initials into your gift to me?!"

"Actually-"

"Nyargh, you don't understand!" The green Gem curled up into a ball, glaring furiously at the boy. "You clods are just mocking me!"

"But-"

"Hey," Aventurine reached out and touched Peridot on the arm. "Would it make you happy if we burned it?"

They nodded sullenly, and the cloaked Gem grinned up at Steven.

"See? Your gift will make them happy after all."

"But... you aren't supposed to burn it."

"Ah, nobody cares how stuff is supposed to be used." Aventurine shrugged. "You'll learn in life that different things make different people tick, and they'll always do the exact opposite of what you want them to do until you find that. So, maybe get pieslice some matchsticks next sleep party."

Garnet's lips straightened. "Hmmm..."

"Uh, okay!" Steven started to grin again. "That's okay, Peridot; we'll burn your leg later. Now what we need to do is... Listen to a story by Aventurine!"

They plonked themselves in front of the cloaked Gem, who raised their only eyebrow.

"Really? You want to hear another of my little tales?"

The other four Gems had leant forwards. Even Lion cracked open an eye and trained it on the Gem.

"I see... Alrighty then, let me just think of one... Oh, I got one:

So, picture me and BP, scouting the Northa Astroalian coast. There had been a pretty big Homeworld fortress placed there, with a Galaxy Warp set up n'all before we came in and shattered it. But some phony informants had told us CG's there was a weakness in the north defences, and we got sent to investigate, just in front of the invading fleet."

"Phony informants?" Pearl frowned.

"Yeah. Phony as hel- I mean heck. Because it turns out the whole thing was a trap. There were Homeworld hoverships with full cloaking capabilities practically lining the coast, and they didn't want us spoiling their ambush plans.

We, kinda had to surrender at that point. We had one little sloop with one single light cannon, and they had thousands of guns capable of mowing down an army. We got taken into one of the small-fry hoverships, which didn't have a name at the time but we later called her 'the Renegade'. It sounded cool."

Peridot raised an eyebrow "Why'd you name it?"

"Oh, you'll see. When we got on board, BP and I were immediately separated. She went down to the lower decks; I got a consultation with the captain Spinel. They ever so kindly requested that I deflect from the Crystal Gems, but a spit to the face convinced them that I was a little beyond help.

I still got a pretty nice cell though. They planned to keep us there until they defeated Rose's fleet, and then bring a whole bulk of war prisoners back to Homeworld in chains.

I had twenty-four hour watch from this Lapis Lazuli, who could immediately alert a blue quartz only a room away if I tried to escape. So, I decided to try a more subtle approach and gain this Lapis' trust until I could poof 'em and take the guards outside by surprise. Lapises... Lapisi? Whatever, Lapises are pretty easy to mess with like that, and this one was no different. In fact, I'd probably have escaped even if Pearl hadn't beat me to it."

"What did she do?"

"What did Pearl do, Steven? Well, for one they didn't expect a pearl to put up much of a fight, so apparently a single Lapis checking in every few hours was deemed enough. It... well, it wasn't enough; they summoned their spear and slashed the door down, then went looking for me. They found my area, took out the quartz and the Lapis no problem, then the two of us headed to the front of the ship.

Without all their fancy cannons, captain Spinel and their little crew were no match for us. We..." Aventurine glanced towards Pearl. "...threw all the poofed gemstones overboard, then we pirated the vessel outta there. We were long gone from firing range before Homeworld could even notice something was off. Those hoverships were fast!"

"So did you go back and alert the Crystal Gems?" Steven grinned.

"Well yeah, but somebody else had told them about the ambush first. They got venerated as a war hero... BP was pretty angry about that. At least they told us later what exactly Homeworld was creating in that fortress: giant Corruption Bo-"

"Well!" Pearl clasped their hands together. "That was a great story, Aventurine! But I think Steven's a little sleepy, why don't some of us just lie down and rest? I'll just be fixing the drill."

"Pearl!" Steven frowned.

"Sorry, Steven, but sleeping really doesn't do it for me." They stood up with a nervous smile. "Garnet, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Garnet stood up, and the two walked away into the night. Amethyst snuggled into their sleeping bag.

"Welp, I'm going to sleep. Night, guys!"

Peridot crossed their arms. "So, Steven. What is next on your slumber party list- not that I care or anything!"

Steven looked crestfallen. "Sleeping...but I don't understand. This slumber party turned out even worse than the last one!"

"Such is life." Aventurine shrugged.

"Did you like it, Aventurine?"

"Not- wait, you're really cut up about this, aren't you? I loved your slumber party, Steven. And so did Peridot, right?"

"I did not-" The small Gem received a painful kick in the shin."Nyeah! I mean... of course I did! This human activity was certainly... interesting."

"See?"

"You guys really enjoyed it?" The boy looked to have cheered up a little. Aventurine reclined back onto their sleeping bag.

"Of course, pal. Now why don't you do this sleeping activity you talk about all the- what are you doing?"

Steven was dragging their sleeping bag right in between Aventurine and Peridot. When they finished this task, they jumped onto their bed and snuggled in.

The cloaked Gem blinked.

"You know, this slumber party was actually pretty good, don't you think?" Steven started, but then Aventurine sat up suddenly.

"Don't you think, Aventurine?"

"Oh yeah sure, buddy." They heaved themselves to their feet, and continued talking without turning around. "Listen, I need you to do a favour for me. I'm going to go now, and you need to tell the rest of the Crystal Gems to meet by the drill... around one o'clock in the evening. It's nothing serious."

"Uh, okay..." The boy yawned, then rolled over to face them. "But what about-"

They were already gone. In the awkward silence that followed, one could only hear the sound of Amethyst snoring.