As Steven approached the Fryman's residence, he saw Peedee in the front of building. When he got a tad closer, he noticed that he was stapling a piece of paper to the front side of the door. Curiosity washing over him, he picked up the pace a little and called out to his friend.
"Peedee! Hey! What's up?" Steven asked, when he reached his destination.
"N-n-not much." he replied, heavily stuttering from the low temperature. "J-just putting up a sign saying that w-we're c-clo-" Peedee's face suddenly scrunched up and his arm shot up to cover his mouth. "ACHOO!"
"Oooh." Steven visibly cringed. "You don't sound too good, pal."
"Ugh, I got this k-killer cold. My head's p-p-pounding. My stomach is hurting. Plus, I haven't stopped s-sneezing since, like, yesterday!" he sniffed. "Steven, do me a solid and just kill me."
"Heh, well, I'm afraid I can't. Unfortunately, I sort of have this policy of NOT murdering my friends and family soooo you're outta luck there."
Peedee swore internally. "Eck, thanks anyway. What I was t-trying to say ear-earlier is that we'll be closed t-today due to the weather."
Steven nodded. "Yeah, I understand. I heard it was supposed to get worse tonight."
"Seriously? F-for the love of-grrr. Nevermind. S-so, what brings y-you here on this freezing, atrocious m-m-morning?"
"Ah, well, I was just wondering if Ronaldo is home. I want to borrow a couple of movies from him to show to my new friend." Steven jerked his thumb up towards a hill. "Her name is Peridot and she's now an official Crystal Gem! She lives at the barn, currently, and this will be her very first snow day ever! I really really reaaaallly want to make it a special experience for her." He lifted the bag of donuts, signaling Peedee to notice them. "I already stopped by the Big Donut and placed an order for a couple of mini pizzas. She's never tried any earth food before, so I thought I'd be the one to introduce her to one of our planet's greatest wonders."
Peedee hesitantly nodded in confused agreement. He did not entirely understand what the Crystal Gems were all about, other than being aliens who often saved the world. The only other piece of knowledge he has about them is that they apparently had super powers. Part of him wanted to ask more about this 'Peridot.' Where did she come from? When did she get here? How'd she get here? However, another, much more overpowering part of him, was too tired to care. He cleared his throat "I...see. Yeah, my b-brother is here. I think he's in his r-r-room blogging about s-sneeple or whatever." he rolled his eyes. "Hey, that seems l-like a lot of stuff to carry all the w-way to the barn. Want to have one of our plastic bags? It'll be easier to c-carry your luggage that way."
Steven beamed. "Sure! Thanks, buddy!"
"Sweet." Peedee nodded his head towards the door. "Let's go."
The duo hurriedly entered the boardwalk building. Peedee slammed the door shut behind him, blocking out the cold weather he despised so much. He let out huge sigh of relief. In his mind, he swore not to step into the outside world ever again. Well, at least for the day. Taking off his jacket and folding it over his arm, he gestured Steven to follow him.
The first thing Steven noticed when going in the Fryman's place was how dark it was. Almost all the lights in the kitchen were turned off. It gave him a bit of a creepy vibe. Visions of a living Frybo costume, that he fought so many months ago, suddenly seeped into his mind and his entire body stiffened at the horrifying memory. He made a mental note to never go in the place again, unless absolutely necessary. The only source of illumination was the tiny lightbulb inside the microwave, whose door was ajar. Another aspect that was brought to Steven's attention was how the room smelled like cooking oil. Cooking oil and something else. He took a big whiff of the odor to determine what exactly it was. It occurred to him. The scent belonged to that of burnt french fries. Now, he could not only envision Frybo, but smell him, as well.
"Oh, yeah." he whispered to himself as he followed Peedee out of the atrocious room. "Definitely never coming back here again."
"Huh? What'd y-ya say, m-man?" Peedee asked, glancing over his shoulder.
"Oh! Er, um, nothing." Steven sheepishly replied.
As they both turned around a corner, they were now what appeared to be the living room. It seemed much nicer than where he was previously. The wallpaper was a welcoming eggshell white and the carpet was a warm, mocha brown. The lamp by couch was on, which gave the area a soft, fuzzy appeal. Mr. Fryman was lounging in the recliner, looking more bored than ever as he surfed through the television's never ending stream of channels.
"Ugh." he grumbled. "There's just NOTHING good on today!" he griped, his head resting on his hand.
"H-hey, Dad." Peedee said.
swerved around and gave a polite grin when noticing Steven.
"Well, hi there, Steven! How are ya today? Pretty crummy weather we're having, am I right?"
Steven chuckled. "I'm doing great! Thanks for asking. I don't know. I kinda like the snow." He gave a weak shrug. "It's one of my favorite things about winter."
"Kid, I would have wholeheartedly agreed back when I was your age. Unfortunately, as you get older, you become more intolerant to the cold. Plus, it's not good for my business, ya know?"
Before Steven could reply, Peedee spoke up. "D-Dad, I put u-u-up that sign like you wanted m-me to- ACHOO!"
"Yikes, kiddo. I really shouldn't have sent you out there, what with that cold and all. I'm sorry about that." Mr. Fryman apologized with a look of concern. "Why don't ya stay indoors for the rest of the day? Heck, why don't ya also take tomorrow off, too? Sounds like you need all the rest that you can get."
Peedee practically shot his arms up in the air. "Yes! Please! Ugghhh. I-I've been practically D-DYING these past few days. Or at least, I FEEL like I have been. Man, I'm so s-s-sick of being so flippin' sick! Why does snow even exist?! This weather is the absolute WORST!" He took a breath to recover from his brief rant.
"Son, calm down, there."
"Yeah!" Steven piped in. "If you get upset, you might make yourself even MORE ill!" He hated seeing his close friend work himself further into sickness. "Hey, why don't you show me where you keep your bags at?" he asked, trying to get Peedee's mind off the brutal weather.
"Huh? Oh, right. They're down the hall, in the storage closet. Here, I'll go get one for you while you ask Ronaldo about his movies."
"Alrighty! That sounds great!" He turned his head around. "It was nice seeing you, Mr. Fryman!"
"You too! Stay warm, now!"
"Sure will! Thanks!" He then happily strolled down the narrow corridor. On each side of the wall were pictures of the household's residence. In one photo, a baby Peedee was in the arms of his older brother. In another, Ronaldo was blowing out the 7-shaped candle on his E.T. themed cake. Right next to it, was portrait of all three of the Frymans standing next to each other in spiffy suits and ties. There was one specific picture, however, that he especially found interesting. It hung at the very end of the hallway. It was rather small, probably the smallest one out of the entire gallery. Curiosity rising, he stepped forward, the photograph now only inches away from further inspection, he could tell that it was fairly old, though not necessarily ancient. It was definitely taken before he or Peedee or even Ronaldo were born, though. In it, were a happy couple on the shore of Beach City. The man was obviously Mr. Fryman, but younger. He'd never seen the woman before, however. She wasn't much shorter than the man. Long, brunette locks cascaded down her shoulders onto her yellow polka dot sundress. Her mouth was stretched into a laughing smile, her green eyes beaming from the glimmering sunlight.
"Whoah. She sure looks stunning!" Steen thought to himself. He, then, gently grazed his fingertips across it, careful not to leave any smudges. At the bottom left corner was some writing. He squinted. The letters were severely faded, as if they were written by some cheap marker losing ink. Eventually, after some thorough analyzing, he was able to decipher the message.
"N-November 30th, 1985. Our first a-anniversary." he whispered, then leaned back.
"Anniversary? Wait, so does that mean that this lady is...Peedee and Ronaldo's mother?" he scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Hmm, why haven't I ever heard of her? What even HAPPENED to her? I wonder how long she's been out of the picture." He chuckled lightly at the accidental pun. "Did she...leave? Was there a divorce? If so, why don't Ronaldo or Peedee ever visit her? Why don't they ever talk about her?" Steven searched for an answer or even a clue that would indicate the mother's whereabouts. He thought back to all the conversations he had with the Frymans, scanning to find any hints that would be of use. After a moment or two, he sighed in defeat. He locked his eyes to those of the mysterious mother. " Is she even still alive?"
It clicked.
Steven shot his hand up to his mouth in an attempt to cover a shocked gasp. A billion new questions now whizzed around in his, typically, optimistic mind. "Of course. That… makes sense, but why? Why didn't Peedee or Ronaldo or Mr. Fryman ever say anything to me? How'd she even die, anyway?Was it-"
"YES! MY LAST POST GAINED ME SIX MORE FOLLOWERS!"
Steven was jarred from his deep thinking by Ronaldo's voice shouting from the room to his left. Suddenly, he remembered why he even came here in the first place. He lightly tapped on the wooden door and slowly opened it, peeking his head in.
"Um, hey there. Sorry to bother you." he apologized timidly, feeling bad about interrupting.
Ronaldo took off his headphones and swirled around in his desk chair to face his unexpected visitor. "Steven! Hi! Oh, man! You will never believe what just happened to me!"
"Uhhh, more people started following your blog?"
"Nope! I-wait...yes. How did YOU know that?" Ronaldo stroked his chin. "Hmmm, is it possible, Steven, that you have gained the ability to read minds?"
"What? No! I just heard you yelling about it." Steven assured.
"Mmhm. Well, I GUESS I will believe that." Ronaldo turned back towards his computer and resumed typing. "So," he said, after a few clicks on the keyboard. "What brings you to my homebase?
"Oh! Yeah, I was wondering if you have any movies I could borrow? See, my new friend has been pretty down lately and I thought watching some flicks would cheer her up! Got any recomendations? And they'll need to be VHS tapes. She only has VCR, for now."
"I see. Hmmm. Let me go check my collection." Ronaldo jumped up from his seat and speed walked over to his shelf that stood next to his messy, unmade water bed. He glanced through the array of films until his eyes spotted one tape in particular. "Ah hah!" he snatched it out of its slot. "Has your friend witnessed the mind blowing, thought provoking, action-packed sci fi masterpiece that is Galactic Battle?" he held the video high in the air in mighty glory. "It is number one on my 'Top Ten Films Made by Sky J. Walker' list."
"Nnnnoo. I doubt she ha-"
Ronald quickly grabbed another piece from his arrangement. "OR perhaps you'd prefer to introduce her to the classic anime, Captain Luna! The animation is top notch! The storytelling is perfect! The english dub won't make your ears bleed! Overall, it gets a solid A+."
"Wow!" Steven said in awe. "They both sound amazing! Would it be okay if I borrowed both?"
"Well, alright. HOWEVER, I need you to return them to me by tomorrow, if you will. Jane will be visiting tomorrow night, so I need my beloved ohime-sama entertained."
"Sure!" Steven promised, taking the cassettes from Ronaldo. "Will do!
"Hey, Steven"
Both boys turned their attention to Peedee, who stood at the doorway.
"Oh, there you are!" Steven said. "I was wondering what happened to ya."
"Sorry it took me so long, but I had to make a quick trip to the bathroom. Here is that plastic bag for you, by the way."
"Thanks! Oh, boy. This is gonna be a great day!" he carefully placed the movies and the donuts inside the bag. "Well, I better get going. My pizzas should be done by now. I swear to return your movies, Ronaldo. Thank you for lending them to me."
Ronaldo just waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some more blogging to do."
When he was done bidding everyone of the Fryman's residence farewell, Steven dashed out of the building. After stopping by the pizza parlor to pick up his order, he happily made his way to the Crystal Gems' home, cautious as to not slip on any icy puddles that were sprawled across the ground. Giving Amethyst, who was characteristically raiding the fridge, a speedy hello, he warped himself to the barn. Let Peridot's first ever snow day begin.