A/N: Oh my god I feel awful for taking months to finish this chapter, but it's finally here! A lot of stuff happened since the last time I updated so I honestly didn't feel like writing and life got in the way, but here it is!

Drunken Hamster: Oh there's a lot I don't like about Connverse, but safe to say it's one of the most boring and underdeveloped ships I have ever seen. And as you can see, I'm not abandoning it, not yet anyway. Hopefully I can get this done, but it's gonna be a long time.

MittenRed: I do really wish you had asked me, but as long as you credit me as the original author, I don't care.

Rubberization: Ha, same. I can't believe the popularity of the ship, it makes me shake my head.

liziliza: You will get your wish next chapter!

RedKnight21: You will find out eventually. And this is early season 1 Steven, so 12 right now.

Chapter 4: Fun Day

On their way into town, Steven decided to explain everything around them to Spinel, who seemed curious by all of the new sights.

"So, this is the ocean. It's like a big pond filled with all kinds of different life, but it's not really safe to drink. I tried it once when I was younger, I don't recommend it. It's really fun to play in though! But we can do that later. And this squishy stuff we're walking on is sand, which makes up most of Earth's beaches. We can have fun with it too! And that over there is-" Spinel listened, enraptured by everything Steven was saying. She particularly liked the idea of being able to play in everything it was pointing out to her. She could not wait until they did.

Steven talked to her the entire way into, what was it called again? Beach City, right. It stopped talking when they got in front of a... building, was it? It was pretty small and had this huge round thing on top of it that had Spinel fascinated.

"This is the Big Donut where they serve the best food in the world - donuts!" Steven said, sweeping his arm as if showing her something far more impressive. She just continued staring at the fake one on top of the building, however.

"Is that what that big thing is?" She asked, pointing at the roof.

"Yep! Well, sort of, it's not rea-" he started, before being interrupted.

"Can I have it?!" Spinel exclaimed, excited, and jumped up and down, her feet squeaking loudly with each land. Steven chuckled nervously.

"Uh, sorry, but that's just a prop for the store, we can't eat it," he said, and her excited demeanor stopped instantly, a sad look crossing her face.

"Oh..."

"Yeah, but don't worry, we can get smaller versions inside. Come on," Steven stated and pulled her inside, the bell above the door chiming to signal their arrival. The two teens at the front were distracted from their conversation at the duo's entrance.

"Oh, hey, Steven, you're here bright and early today. Who's your friend, by the way?" The short, yellow-haired human asked. The tall, lanky orange-haired human just snorted and turned away, grumbling "Steven" derisively under its breath.

Feeling somewhat scared and shy at meeting two new humans, Spinel dived behind Steven and hid, clasping on to its arm as she peeked over its shoulder, eyeing the two humans with wariness.

"Spinel, it's okay, they won't hurt you, they're friends," Steven whispered reassuringly, but she refused to budge, tightening her grip on his arm instead. "Sorry guys, she's feeling shy, I think, but this is Spinel, she's my new friend," Steven said out loud. "Spinel, this is Lars and Sadie, they help run the Big Donut."

"Hey, it's alright, we don't bite, I promise," Sadie said, leaning on the counter with a tired smile. Lars just snorted.

"Speak for yourself," he mumbled under his breath.

Looking back and forth between the two humans, and deeming them safe, Spinel stepped out from behind Steven, though she instantly glued herself to the hybrid's side and did not let go of its arm, especially once she saw the look the "Lars" human was giving her. She did not like it one bit.

"Hey Steven, she's kind of cute, you mind if I take her out for a... spin, heh," Lars said with a lewd look and a small laugh at his own joke. Sadie turned to glare at her coworker while Steven somewhat stepped protectively in front of Spinel out of instinct.

"Lars! Don't be hitting on Steven's friend!"

"I can do what I want to, Sadie!"

"No you can't, that's just rude and besides-"

Steven and Spinel watched the two as they continued to argue, their heads going back and forth as though they were watching a tennis match.

Spinel had no idea what being "hit on" meant. Was it some sort of game? Why was the short yellow-haired human, Sadie if she remembered, so upset about it? Did the tall, lanky human not play the game right? Yes, that must be it! It never hit her to begin with, so perhaps she had to show... Lars, how to play it right.

"Oooh, hit on, my turn," Spinel said with joy, enlarging her fist and coiling her arm up.

"Huh?" Lars said, interrupting his argument with Sadie, and turned to look at the source of the new voice, only to see a huge pink fist flying towards his face. The next thing he knew was pain, and suddenly he was flying into the glass cases behind him, shattering them, and sending glass and donuts everywhere.

"LARS!" Sadie shouted in worry as she knelt down beside him as he groaned in pain.

Feeling the need to get the heck out of there, right now, Steven grabbed Spinel's hand and ran out of the store, the pink gem giggling behind him the entire time. 'We can get donuts later, much later.'

"That was fun, Steven. I won the game! Can we do that again?" Getting far enough away from the scene of the crime, Steven stopped and bent over, panting. Composing himself, he straightened and looked at Spinel in exasperation.

"Spinel, you can't just go and hit people like that, you can really hurt them!" Steven lightly scolded, making sure not to raise his voice. She still looked a bit sad, however. Her pigtails drooped as she grabbed her arm.

"I-I thought we were playing a game..." Steven sighed at her response.

"Lars can be a bit of a jerk, but even he doesn't deserve to be punched. And I don't think he was playing a game." Whatever he had been doing really upset Sadie and it made him twitch in aggravation for some odd reason. He saw Spinel knit her eyebrows in confusion and tilt her head to the side. He would never get over just how cute she looked when she did that.

"What's a 'he'?" She asked and Steven slapped his forehead. Right, from what he knew by now, gems all went by female pronouns, they would not know what the male pronouns were unless they spent a lot of time on Earth. Spinel had only been on Earth for less than a day. Safe to say, he had a lot more explaining to do.

"It's what human males go by rather than 'she', which is what human females go by. Well, not everyone goes by those, but a lot of people do. I go by he and him, and so does Lars," he explained, making it short and sweet. Hopefully she understood because he did not know if he could explain it any better than that or any shorter than that.

"Oh, okay, I think I understand," Spinel said. She did not really know what a female or male really was, but she assumed it was a human thing. Strange, though, that human females went by the same pronouns as gems, but that made it easier at least.

Feeling relieved, he grabbed her hand again, much to Spinel's joy, and started walking, a destination in mind.

"Come on, let me introduce you to my dad. He's gonna love you, I just know it!" Steven exclaimed. 'Well, hopefully this won't go wrong.'

"What's a dad?" Spinel asked, and Steven groaned internally. Well, he would have to get used to this, he supposed. He explained it the best he could as they walked.

They arrived in front of a different building shortly after, and Spinel saw another human lounging in the front of it in some sort of rectangular contraption. It was, er, he was... this human was another male, right? He was rather stocky with a lot of hair on his face and down his back, but not so much on the top of his head. That was rather odd, if she was being honest. Humans were weird. Why have hair on your face but not your head? Also, what the heck was an 'It's-A-Wash'? She was broken from her observations when Steven started talking.

"Dad! Dad, dad, dad!" Steven said excitedly, waving to Greg with his free hand. His dad cracked open an eye, interrupted from his morning nap. A grin spread across his face as he looked at his son.

"Hey Schtu-ball, what are you doing here so early?" Greg asked, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He turned to notice the very pink person standing next to his son whom was latched on to his hand, and looking quite nervous. He had to do a double take when he saw what was clearly a gem situated in the middle of her chest; a unique one in the shape of a heart. Greg had only ever met four, well, technically five, gems in his whole life so far and this one seemed rather different.

"I came to introduce you to Spinel, she's my new best friend! Spinel, this is my dad," Steven said, introducing them, though once again Spinel dove behind him in fear as Greg came towards them. Greg saw this and stopped short, relaxing his posture and put on a friendly facebe. 'She's just as shy as a child.'

"Hey kiddo, I ain't gonna hurt you," he stated.

"Yeah, dad's cool! He's the best dad in the world!"

"W-well, I don't know about that, Steven," Greg said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Deeming it safe, because Steven said so, Spinel stepped out from around the pre-teen and approached Greg a bit hesitantly. She stopped shortly in front of him and he held out his hand with a smile, much to her confusion. When she did not do whatever it was he wanted her to do, his smile dropped in to a confused frown, making her feel like she was dumb for not knowing what Steven's dad wanted.

"Oh, dad just wants to shake your hand. It's how humans say hello," Steven explained as he saw the downhearted look on her face.

Perking back up, Spinel responded with an "oh, gotcha," before grabbing Greg's hand with both of hers, much to his confusion, and started shaking him with all of her might.

"A-a-a-h-h-h, Ss-t-tt-ee-v-eee-nn...! H-hh-h-e-ee-l-pp!" Greg cried out as he was lifted off the ground by his right arm and shaken with such force the whole world blurred before him.

"Ah! Spinel, stop! You're hurting him!" Steven shouted in a panic, causing the pink gem to instantly stop shaking Greg, much to the older human's relief.

"Okay, now put him down gently," Steven instructed, motioning with his hands. She sat Greg down on the ground on his feet, and he immediately fell to the ground, groaning, and grabbed his head as the world kept spinning around him. Steven rushed over and knelt next to him, grabbing his shoulders. "Dad, are you okay?!"

"I will be, just... just give me a few minutes," Greg responded, trying not to throw up.

"Did... Did I do something bad?" The small voice caused Steven to whip his head up and look at Spinel, the distraught look on her face and the tears gathering in her eyes made his heart hurt. He knew she did not mean anything bad, the naive gem just did not know better.

Standing up after reassuring himself that his dad would be alright, he walked over to his new gem friend and hugged her, resting his forehead on her shoulder. He felt her wrap her arms around him in return as she hid her face in his curls.

"It's okay... You didn't do anything bad, I promise." Spinel tightened her grip in response, still feeling awful for potentially injuring someone Steven obviously cared deeply about. How did she not do anything bad when Greg looked like he was in pain? But if Steven said she did not do anything terrible, then she did not.

Trust in Steven. Believe in Steven. Steven was never going to be wrong.

When the world stopped spinning and he was no longer feeling as though he was about to hurl, Greg looked up to see Steven comforting Spinel in a rather close hug. It was definitely a heartwarming scene, but Greg could not help but feel as though he was looking at his future daughter-in-law. Or would that be gem-in-law? Whatever it was, it seemed as though his and Rose's story would be played out again; this time by different actors with a slightly different story. He just hoped they had a better ending, if they do end up together.

Finally feeling like he could stand, Greg lifted himself off the ground carefully, grunting with the effort. 'I'm getting too old for this.' Standing, he dusted off his jeans as he watched the pair in front of him separate, though Spinel seemed reluctant to do so. He smiled as Steven wiped a tear off of Spinel's cheek with such tenderness that it was almost too adorable. If Greg already knew they were not dating and had literally just met, from what he could tell, he would have guessed they were already together.

If the two of them did not end up together, he swore he would cut off what was left of his hair. He still had some concerns, however...

"Hold out your hand," Steven asked softly, and Spinel did so, a little bit confused. Steven grasped her hand and gently, but firmly, gave her a handshake. "There, that's a handshake."

"Ooohhh," Spinel responded, still feeling a bit ashamed and now embarrassed. She did not get the point of this human gesture, but it was so simple that she should have understood it from the start.

They were interrupted by Greg clearing his throat.

"Uh, Steven, mind if I talk to you for a moment?"

"Yeah, sure, dad," Steven said and started towards the older man, but stopped before he got too far and pulled out his phone. "Wait, Spinel, here- you can play with my phone while I talk to my dad." He quickly showed her the games he had and how to get on the internet, not realizing how bad of an idea that really was. She took the phone with gusto and immediately began playing around on it, fascinated by the simple, yet complicated human device.

Getting back to Greg, he had them walk a bit away from Spinel, who was completely engrossed in whatever she was seeing on the phone, and turned around to keep their conversation private.

"Hey, are you sure it's a good idea to keep this gem around, Steven?" The question raised Steven's hackles a bit, but he kept calm.

"What do you mean?" Steven asked in a deadpan.

"It's just, you barely know her, what if she does something..." Greg trailed off.

"Does what?"

"Something terrible!" Greg knew they must have become close from what he saw earlier, but he just wanted Steven to be safe. He knew what gems were capable of in some way, and while this one seemed innocent and harmless, he just was not sure.

Steven narrowed his eyes. He was not mad at his dad, but this protective nature of his that seemed to have bubbled to the surface recently, reared its head.

"She hasn't done anything intentionally awful, dad. She's just ignorant is all... It's why I'm teaching her. I'm her friend now, I'm not just going to throw her away like that!" The hybrid hissed under his breath.

"I know, Steven, I know, I'm just worried is all. You don't know the gems like I do; what they are truly capable of."

"Well, I would if everyone would tell me!" Greg sighed at that and ran a hand down his face.

"It's not my place to tell you, son. Besides, I don't know everything about the gems, just little bits here and there. Your mother... Well, she often kept secrets from everyone, including me. No, especially me. I only know what I know now from just observing them and being around them for so long."

Steven just huffed then sighed as he calmed down, realizing how snappish he got with his dad over nothing.

"Sorry, dad, I didn't mean to act like that. I don't know what's wrong with me... I've just felt this urge to protect her since I found her, and I don't know why," he explained, crossing his arms and looking away. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, Steven looked back up to see his dad smiling at him.

"It's alright Steven, and I'm sorry too, for doubting your judgement. This protective thing you have for her might be because of some gem stuff, but I'm no expert on that obviously. Just be careful, alright? Promise your old man that, for the sake of my old heart," Greg said with a bit of joking in his voice at his last sentence. Steven chuckled a little at that.

"Dad, you're not that old!"

"Well, it certainly feels like it," Greg responded as he cracked his back. He looked over at the pink gem, who was quite engrossed in whatever she was watching on his son's phone; her face nearly mashed into the screen as she held it up close to her face, eyes wide in fascination.

"Might want to go pull your friend from your phone there, bud, she seems to be a bit too into it," Greg stated with amusement in his voice.

"Huh?" Steven said stupidly, whipping his head to look over at Spinel. "Oh, right, we... should probably get going anyway. See ya, dad!" He walked away, but returned a second later to quickly hug his dad before walking away again.

The hybrid stepped up to his new friend and started pulling her along by her arm as he began heading in the direction of the pier, reluctant to part her from whatever she was so interested in. Thankfully, she seemed to come back to awareness on her own as she pulled her head away from the phone of her own accord, blinking rapidly.

"Hey, Steven?" Spinel started.

"Yeah?"

"I found this amazing... something of humans. I don't know what it is they are doing, but I like it for some reason. They look like they are having fun!" She exclaimed, feeling excited.

"Huh, here, let me see," Steven said, holding out his free hand for his phone, which Spinel handed over without hesitation.

He instantly regretted ever letting Spinel touch his phone. His entire face, no, his body, heated up like a furnace as he set eyes on what was clearly two humans making scripted love to each other.

He was no idiot, he had come across this on his own before... Porn. Porn! Spinel had somehow come across porn! Not only that, but the fake stuff as well! How, what?

"S-Spinel, how did you find this?" Steven asked in a high pitched voice, his entire face red in embarrassment.

"Oh, I dunno... I wanted to know more about humans, and I ended finding that. Cool, huh? You wanna try it? It looks really fun!" Spinel exclaimed, rocking back and forth on her heels in excitement, causing them to squeak.

Steven wished he could die right on the spot then and there. Did she just seriously ask him to have...? She had no idea what she was asking, of course, but still. No, no no no, he was not going to deal with this right now, and maybe not ever! Last thing he wanted to explain to a naïve gem was what sex was, something even he did not fully understand yet.

Steven cleared his throat the best he could so as not to sound hoarse in his answer.

"U-uh, S-Spinel, I will explain later, but h-how about we go to the arcade for now? It's got all kinds of fun games we can play," Steven stuttered out. Thankfully, that seemed to easily distract the pink gem from her curiosity about human copulation as her eyes widened and a bright grin spread across her face.

"Games and fun? What are we waiting for? Lead the way!" Steven let out a deep relieved sigh as he grabbed Spinel by the hand to lead her to Funland Arcade.

Discreetly, while she was distracted by skipping and humming merrily, something he found adorable, Steven went to the home screen on his browser and deleted his entire browsing history.

No need for anyone to find that on his phone, after all. Least of all his dad, and Steven shuddered in fear of what he would say if he found that on his son's phone.

He was not keen on finding out.

-TAoLaF-

"Here we are, Funland Arcade!" Steven declared as the two of them approached the sounds of electronic games buzzing and beeping. "Welcome to a wonderland of funtronic gameventions!"

Spinel stared wide-eyed into the building as excitement crept up into her whole being. She did not even notice she began to vibrate with energy as she glanced from one item to another; not knowing exactly what "funtronic gameventions" were, but knowing they were probably fun.

"Come on," Steven said, breaking Spinel from her stupor as he pulled her along and into the building. "You're gonna love this place, I promise!"

They first headed over to what Spinel could only describe as a "platform of slopes" that had holes at the top of them. She tilted her head to the side as she studied them, curious as to what they were and why Steven had come over here first.

"This is skee ball, it's a fun and easy game for arcade beginners. Let me show you how to play it," Steven said, putting in a quarter, not noticing the confused look on Spinel's face as he did this.

Spinel startled as the balls came out of the slot along the side, and frowned as Steven let go of her hand. Steven, noticing this, chuckled a bit.

"Sorry, I'm gonna need my right hand for this," he stated and grabbed one of the balls. "Now, watch closely. You want to roll the ball in such a way that it lands in one of the holes. The bigger numbers are what you want to aim for, but they are the hardest to get. It's what makes it a fun challenge!" Steven explained and concentrated hard as he aimed, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he focused. Feeling he was on point, he gently let go of the ball and it rolled its way up the slope and into the thirty point hole.

"Aww, I was going for the fifty, but that's fine! Here, you try it, Spinel," Steven said and handed a ball to the pink gem, pushing her into place in front of the game.

Feeling both excited and nervous at the same time, Spinel tried to copy Steven's actions and threw the ball a little too hard, resulting in it bouncing off the side of a hole and come rolling back down the ramp. Steven grabbed it before it went rolling on to the floor, giggling like a mad man, especially after seeing the blush on his pink friend's face at her failure.

"It's okay, try again, just be gentler this time, alright?" Steven suggested, and he handed the ball back to the still blushing Spinel, who nodded and narrowed her eyes in concentration.

She was made to play games, she was not about to let this one get the best of her! Sticking her tongue out to the side, she eyed the ramp and the one hundred slot on the left side, gauging her throw. Confident she got her aim right, she tossed the ball more gently this time, both her and Steven watching with bated breath as it rolled up the ramp and directly into the one hundred slot on the left.

"Yay!" Spinel cheered as she threw her hands in the air in celebration. Steven let out a loud "whoo hoo" and hugged her tightly.

"You did it, Spinel! You still have four more balls to throw, though, so let's see if you can get them all into those top two holes," Steven said with a challenging smirk. Grabbing the next ball, she smirked back.

"Oh you're on, Steven. I was made to play games, this is easy!" Steven watched, mouth agape, as Spinel managed to get the next four balls into one of the top two one hundred holes without issue.

"Whoa," Steven mumbled as Spinel cheered at her win, watching as tickets came pouring out of the machine. She gathered them up in her arms when she spotted them, hugging them close and possessively.

"What are these?" She asked, still holding them close to her as she examined them.

"Those are tickets! You win them and turn them into prizes at the prize counter. You might have enough for something, but we can do that later, let's play some more games," Steven explained and suggested, gently grabbing her by the arm and leading her over to his next game of choice: Whacker Man Jr.

"You'll love this game, too! It's Whacker Man Jr.! You just take the hammer and try to hit as many of the little guys that pop up out of the holes. It's easy."

"But... won't that hurt them?" Spinel asked innocently, still holding on tightly to her tickets.

"Nah, they're fake, I promise. Here, I'll show you," Steven said, grabbing the attached hammer from the side after inserting a quarter and whacking one of the little guys who popped out.

"See? Your turn! Oh, wait, let me hold the tickets for you," he said, holding out his arms to accept the tickets. Spinel hesitated a bit to let go of her goodies, but realized she could trust Steven to hold them, so she relented and exchanged items, taking the hammer.

She quickly got the hang of it, even managing to predict where the next guy would pop up somehow, though she ended up being wrong a few times.

They were there for a good fifteen minutes as Spinel continued to play the game, a mass of tickets spilling out on to the floor with each guy she hit. Steven was incredibly impressed, but he knew they had to end it before the game ran out of tickets.

"Uh, Spinel? Do you want to play another game now? There's a lot more we haven't played yet," Steven stated, breaking Spinel out of her concentration as she looked over at the young hybrid.

"But I'm winning tons of tickets, I don't want to stop now!" Steven chuckled a bit.

"You'll win more, no worries! Plenty of other games give you tickets, don't you want to try them?" He asked. Spinel thought about it for all of three seconds before declaring that yes, she would like to play other games. The more games the better, after all. She quickly gathered up the tickets on the floor and followed after Steven as he lead them to another game.

She had not had this much fun in six thousand years!

-TAoLaF-

Spinel held up her prize towards the sky and giggled as she moved it to and fro. She was proud of the object she had chosen as her prize for all the tickets she won. The best part? She still had tickets left over to spare! Steven could not help being totally proud, and a little jealous, of her gaming prowess. Not that she rubbed it in his face, that was just something she did not do.

"I can't believe you chose a stuffed pink lion of all things," Steven said, smiling as he stared at her having fun with her new toy. Spinel brought the stuffed lion, her friend having to explain what lions were and that they were not actually pink in real life, to her chest and held on to it with one arm, the other reaching out to grab Steven's hand.

"Well, it sort of made me think of you, that's why I picked it," Spinel responded, holding the stuffed animal closer. Steven giggled, causing the pink gem to tilt her head a bit.

"A pink lion reminded you of me? How?" He asked, and Spinel gave a thoughtful hum.

"I dunno, it just does. Is that weird? I could take it back and exchang-" She started, but Steven stopped her by holding up a hand with a short laugh.

"No no, it's fine, Spinel, really. You can choose whatever prize you want for whatever reason, it's okay." Spinel let out a relieved sigh that she would not have to give up her toy. It was the first thing she has ever had that was her own without having to share with someone else. Thus she was not too keen on the idea of having to give it up, though she would, reluctantly, if Steven wanted her to.

"So, what are you gonna name it?" Steven asked her, and she bit her bottom lip in thought. Finally she decided with a bright smile.

"Steven!" Steven coughed at her answer.

"Um, won't that get a bit confusing?" Spinel blinked in confusion.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I mean, if you're talking to it and calling it "Steven", I might think you're talking to me," Steven explained to her. Spinel made an 'oh' sound at that revelation.

"Okay then... Lion-Steven!" Steven just sighed with a smile as if just giving up.

"That works. Come on, we still have time left in the day! Let's spend the rest of it on the beach!" Spinel cheered in excitement. She had been looking forward to this all day long. Quickly, she put her new toy in her gem, (something that fascinated Steven she found out), the place where she had put her other tickets, and took off running towards what she thought was Steven's home, dragging the poor hybrid along.

"Wait, Spinel, you're going the wrong waaaaaaaayyyy!"

-TAoLaF-

Huffing and puffing as he bent over, Steven managed to finally get them back to his house twenty minutes later, though he was severely out of breath from trying to keep up with his energetic pink friend as she dragged him across the town in the opposite direction. 'I need to lay off the donuts at some point. Maybe next year. Yeah, that sounds good.'

Taking a minute to catch his breath while Spinel stood next to him, absolutely thrumming in anticipation, he thought about what they could do for the rest of the day on the beach. 'Maybe start with a sandcastle? She might like that, and I haven't built one in a while, so that will be fun! Maybe go swimming, too, though I don't know if she knows how to swim... I could teach her. Let's see, what else...'

After a few moments, Steven was finally able to breathe properly again and corrected his posture.

"Okay, I need to go change into swimming trunks before we can play."

"Swimming trunks?" Spinel asked, ever curious about anything and everything new. "What's wrong with your base form?"

"My... base form?" Steven replied in confusion.

"Yeah! I know those things you have on are just coverings, if that fun human activity was anything to go by." 'Oh no, she's bringing that video up again. Please no...' "Wouldn't it be easier to just go with your base form?" Trying to ignore the raging blush on his face, Steven attempted to speak clearly.

"Spinel, it's not decent for humans to run around in our... base form. It's just something we're not supposed to do."

"Why not? Gems do it all the time, and you're half gem, right?" Trying not to groan in frustration, after all, it was not her fault she would not know human etiquette, or human anything if he was being honest. He sighed. 'I sure am sighing a lot lately, I should put a check on that.'

"It's a human thing, you'll understand in time," he stated bluntly, ignoring her cute pout, "now come on, I need to go change so we can have fun."

"Yay! Fun Time!" Spinel exclaimed with joy, bouncing and squeaking as she followed Steven into his house. Well, their house now.

Ten minutes later they were sitting on the sand near the water with a bucket and a couple of shovels as Steven explained the intricate art of sandcastle building.

"-then you pat it down and voila, you have yourself a castle made of sand!" Steven demonstrated by building a basic tower, Spinel watching like a hawk the entire time.

"Alright let's do this! We're gonna make the bestest sandy cast-le ever!" Not bothering to correct her, they got to work, laughing and chatting as they focused on making a large castle. Steven had wanted to ask her about the garden he had found her in, but refrained for the time being. After all, he did not want to bring down the mood. 'Maybe later.'

It was not long before they were done and the both of them stood a bit away to admire their work. It was far from perfect, with its crooked towers and one side of the main square sloping down, but it was theirs and they built it together, and that was all that mattered to the two of them.

Steven pulled out his phone as an idea crossed his mind; Spinel looking at him in confusion as he did so.

"Come on, let's get a photo with it so we can remember this day down the road," Steven said, positioning the two of them in a way that would include the both of them and the sandcastle. Or, well, he tried to.

"What's wrong?" Spinel asked, seeing his disgruntlement as he twisted his phone this way and that.

"I can't get us and the castle into shot that well..." Steven grumbled as he continued trying to find a good angle.

"Oh, if that's all you wanted, why didn't ya ask?" Spinel stated and grabbed Steven's phone out of his hands, prompting a shout of "hey" from him. He watched as she stretched her arm out in front of them and slapped himself mentally for getting she could stretch like that.

"That's a great idea!" Spinel beamed at the praise. "Okay, face my phone's back to us and hit the middle of the screen on the bottom. If we hear the click we'll know you did it right."

Spinel wrapped her free arm around his body, and Steven did the same, both giving toothy smiles as they heard the "click" from his phone. She quickly reeled her arm in and handed the phone back to Steven and he quickly pulled the picture up.

"Look at that! It looks perfect!" They were off to the side, slightly angled, as they stood in front of their castle.

"Yeah..." Spinel said in awe. They continued looking at the picture for a few more seconds before the sound of a wave of water broke their thoughts. Both swiveled their heads around in time to see a wave totally destroy their sandcastle.

"Nooooooooo!" Spinel shouted in agony as she dove to the spot where the castle of sand had been. "Our castle is gone! This isn't fair!" She pounded her fists in the sand, causing a plume of sand to shoot into the air and land all over the poor gem.

"Spinel! It's okay, it wasn't supposed to last forever. We can always build more, I promise," Steven explained as he walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, I have the picture of it on my phone now, remember? It will last forever that way."

Sniffling a bit, she stood up and nodded.

"Alright, as long as we can build more."

"We have all the time in the world to do that! But first, let's get that sand off of you. Race you to the water!" Steven shouted as he ran laughing, Spinel letting out an indignant squawk as she raced after him and tackled the boy into the water. He sputtered and laughed as he came back up to the surface and splashed the gem in the face, this time causing her to sputter in surprise.

Thus a water war ensued that lasted half an hour as childish laughs filled the area around them.

Too soon for their liking, they decided to get out of the water as the sunset started to light up the waters in a brilliant glow of orange and red.

"Ah shoot, I forgot to grab a towel," Steven muttered to himself as he stepped out of the water, his pink friend following behind him. His face lights up at an idea to get dry pretty quickly. Maybe it was not the best idea, but it was an idea nonetheless.

"Hey Spinel, you ever play a game called "helicopter" before?" Steven asked as he turned to face the gem. She blinked as she stood there shaking off water from her body, but the idea of a new game made her face light up in joy.

"No! How do you play it?" She asked in excitement as she bounced in place, something Steven noticed she did whenever she got excited.

"Well, you grab me around my middle and twirl me around in the air while I pretend to fly. I used to love doing this with Garnet when I was younger, but she won't play it with me anymore for some reason," Steven explained and finished with a pout.

"Oooooo, this sounds fun!" Spinel swiftly wrapped her arms around the hybrid a couple of times and easily lifted him in the air.

"Hey, easy! Take it slow at first, I don't want to get sick."

"Roger dodger!" Spinel responded and started twirling Steven around slowly at first, but quickly picked up speed at his request. They were both laughing with joy for a few minutes before something, or rather, someone, decided to break up their fun.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF STARS IS GOING ON HERE?!"

End Chapter 4

A/N: Ha ha ha, oh I'm evil for leaving it like that, but that's been my original plan since the beginning to leave it right there. Again, sorry for not updating for months, but things happen and my writing muse died, but it sparked again tonight thankfully.

Any who, chapter 5 will be with the CGs coming back, bet you're excited about that, eh? Just try not to expect what you think you're gonna expect, though. You'll see why.