Steven Universe fic

part 17 Chapter Two: Sneak Away

Spinel sat at Connie's couch with her legs tucked to her chest, watching her mother move about the kitchen. She was a kurt woman, very blunt but seemed to take a liking to her regardless.

"We can play some games if you want." Connie suggested, leaning over so the gem could see her face. Spinel nuzzled her face further into her knees.

"No, thank you." She answered softly. She didn't want to do anything. Maybe hurt, but Connie wouldn't let her out of her sight, let alone be gone long enough for Spinel to release the aching guilt and shame in her head.
Connie looked at the floor, swaying as she struggled to find something to occupy the pink gem.
Steven had convinced her mother she was staying for a simple sleep over but Spinel's demeanor made it clear she didn't want to be there, but he didn't trust her alone.
It was one of the things Steven had confided in Connie regarding Spinel.

"You wanna go for a walk? It's still light out." Connie requested, glancing at the slowly setting sun. Spinel's eyes flickered to her window and she reluctantly pulled her legs down to stand, though moving felt incredibly hard in her fog of thoughts.

"Okay." She replied dearly, perhaps the cool air would make her feel somewhat better. Connie smiled, standing up and pulling Spinel with her. She could turn her mood around if she managed to steer her toward the carnival.

"Cool, maybe we can stop at the Big donut? I know you like strawberry." Connie offered her a smile as she pulled on a jacket, and slipped on her shoes. Spinel followed her put the door, dropping somewhat as Connie held her hand a lead her wherever she intended to go.

He left her here and she was doing everything she could to not feel the suffocating weight of inadequacy. Connie helped yes, but it was only surface level. Spinel knew what her purpose served, and went along with it to please Steven but the nagging feeling of failure pervaded her mind. And somewhere the small thought of impending danger loomed over her like the darkest clouds in the sky. She didn't want to be here.

"Look! There's hardly anyone at Smileys  park!" Connie exclaimed, causing the gem to lift her head to look.
Of course no one was there, it was cold out, why would any human go on a contraption that made you move faster in the already cold air?

Connie pulled her into the park and into one of the rides, waiting for the harness to latch them both securely into the seat.
Connie held up her hands with glee as the two crested the first climb, dropping down with voracious speed. Though Spinel didn't smile, even though the ride was made to elicit joy, and elicit joy from a gem who was made to have fun, she couldn't care less.

Connie unbuckled herself at the end of the ride, laughing at how poofy her friend's hair had become from the sheer wind. It didn't work.
Spinel was too distracted by her own thoughts to even notice her own accidental hilarity.
Connie was trying, she really was.
But Spinel wanted absolutely nothing to do with her efforts.
So she opted for a more serious approach.
She lead the gem to the pier, hoping the familiar place would remind her of their last conversation, and sat down at the waters edge.

Spinel dropped down next to her, immediately closing in on herself and holding her knees to her chest so she could hide if she wanted.

"I know you wanted to go." Connie said, gazing out at the icy waves. Spinel tucked her chin into her knees and let out a small sigh, not formally answering Connie.

"I wanted to go too, but sometimes it's for the better to stay, he just doesn't want you to get hurt." She tried to console the pink gem, but Spinel only dug further into her knees and wrapped her arms tighter around herself.

"You gotta trust that he-"

"It's not that I don't trust him." Spinel spoke softly, cutting off Connie in her attempt to reason. "It's that I'm worried- I know he put you up to this..."

Spinel blinked her tears away, feeling Connie's pity like spikes in her skin.

"I know he told you that I- that I hurt me. I know he's only making me stay here because he cares.." she couldn't help the tears that burned her eyes and drifted down her cheeks, but she smiled a little at the thought.
That he cared, that he took the infuriating precaution of having Connie tail her all day as though she were a destruction prone toddler. It was charming, in a frustration inducing way.
Connie looked once more at the waves, contemplating the gems words. At least she understood that he wasn't leaving her behind as some sort of punishment.

"I'm worried about him."

Spinel spoke quietly, but she drew Connie's attention regardless, of course Spinel would be worried, after what White had done to him, what she did to her. She couldn't not be worried.
Connie almost chuckled at the idea, though she held her silence.

"I have this...nagging fear that something bad is gonna happen and I don't want him to get hurt, so I wish I could have gone. To make sure that it didn't." Spinel lifted her head, staring off into the small stars that began appearing in the sky, signaling the end of dusk.

"What if they don't come back?"

Connie dropped her smile all together, she knew where Spinel was about to go, and how fast she would be able to get there.

"They will come back, Steven will come back." She rubbed the gem's back softly, reassuring her.  "He's got something he has to come back for."

Spinel smiled at her words, Connie was a good friend, she knew that, she was easy to talk to, more than Steven was.
Nut that might have been because Steven garnered so many discombobulated thoughts when Spinel tried to tell him anything on her mind.
Connie never did that, instead she would pick each word apart until the whole mess made sense.
Spinel greatly appreciated it.

But it didn't stop her from leaving.

Well after dark, Spinel flattened herself just enough to squeeze through the slit in the kitchen window, gem and all. Lion lay on the front porch guarding the small home, though he was entirely asleep.
It didn't matter, Spinel snuck her way to the beach house.
Stretching herself quietly over the balcony leading to the green house, put of sight from Peridot, Lapis and Bismuth who were inside the home itself.

Steven had a habit of leaving coordinates in the diamond hub, so she didn't have to worry about knowing where they went. If it was just a moment, she could make sure everything was okay, just for the night, and be right back in Connie's house before the sun rose.

No one would even know she left.