Chapter Text
It had been a while since the two were in a house together, rather than the Dondai. It was only supposed to be a short visit - Steven had stopped by Connie's dorm just to take a break from his constant traveling. Sure, he loved driving around, discovering new parts of the human world all day, but it can be exhausting. To be alone, sleep in a car, miss family... every few months when he felt especially low he would let himself take a break. Tonight was one of those times, but a short break turned into long one when a blizzard rolled in. Now Steven was 'forced' to stay indoors since the streets were too dangerous to drive on. But nobody was really complaining. Even Connie's classes (the in-person classes at least) were postponed due to the snow. Connie had even finished her homework the night before, and didn't have much to study, so they had a whole few days just to themselves.
Now the two were snuggled in blankets, curled up on Connie's couch enjoying each other's company. The room wasn't very big, but it had a little window and a cozy feeling.
"Wow, it's really coming down!" Steven exclaimed.
"Heh ya, remember when I was at your house and my parents made me come home because of the storm? We might actually get more snow than that tonight!"
"How could I forget? We tried everything to slow my dad down so we could hang out a bit longer."
"Huh? I remember leaving right away, then you slept over at my house..."
"O- Oh, right. Yeah, that's what happened. We watched the snow fall all night."
"Hmm. Much like now."
Connie looked over at Steven with a smirk. He wasn't very far away, as they were sharing a blanket, so he sucked back into the blanket to cover up his reddening face.
"Ya... heh"
Of course, she noticed his shyness. He always does that when he gets flustered, it was cute. So she inched closer, wrapped him up in her arms and landed a kiss on his forehead. This only made him more red, but he leaned into her embrace. Moments like this were so few and far between now a days, he wanted every second to relish in his Connie's presence.
"You know what I could really go for right now?"
"wh- what?"
It was no telling what she could say next. She had that smirk again. Connie always did that when she was messing with him or seducing him, or even just making a dumb joke. Steven could never decipher the look in her eyes, only that they stopped every thought in his mind in their tracks.
"Some hot chocolate and animal bi-product."
"Pfft- Connie, that's disgusting!"
"No, haha. Don't you remember? Hot chocolate and MARSHMALLOWS, silly."
"Ooh- right heh. Yeah, that sounds nice."
She gave him a tight squeeze and buried her face in his curls before getting up.
"Alrighty then sir, I shall fetch thine hot cho-co-lat a-la animal bi-product as you wish!"
She took a bow and used her blanket as a robe. It was a bit they had done since Connie begun sword training, and it never got old, even into young-adulthood.
"Thank you kindly, miss knight! I shall keep-eth thine cushion toasty for the duration of thour errand!"
Once she reached the counter she curtsied again in his direction, and they burst into laughter.
After settling down Connie pulled out two mugs from the overhang cabinet, a white one with a familiar green frog, and an unfamiliar one with a pink frog. But as she opened up the beverage drawer...
"Uh... Steven, I think we're out of hot cocoa mix."
"Aww what? I told you I should've stopped at the store before the storm!"
"Wait, I think it's okay. We have some chocolate chips, we could make it the old fashioned way!"
"How do you do that?"
"Here, do you want me to show you? It's pretty easy."
"But I can't get up! I'd be disobeying my royal duties!"
"Whu- pf, just come over here goofy."
Steven was sad to leave his comfy nest on the couch, but it would be for a noble cause. He took up his blanket and penguin-waddled over to the stove where Connie took out a small pot, chocolate chips, and some milk.
"Now it's really simple. All you have to do is heat up the pot to medium heat, and put in about a cup of chips in. when they are half-melted, add about 5 cups of milk, then stir until its all one color. I'm not the best cook, but that's just how my dad always did it when we ran out of cocoa. I've never made it before myself, but I've see him do it plenty of times."
"oh, that doesn't seem too bad."
"Do you wanna add the chocolate chips?"
"Oh, right. Um- Where are the measuring cups?"
"We don't really have any, but you can just eyeball it. It doesn't have to be exact."
Steven then stuck his hand into the chocolate chip bag, pulled out a handful, and put them into the pot.
"That's like a cup right?"
"Eh- sure. looks good enough to me."
after a few seconds, the pot started smoking.
"Uhhhh, Connie? is it supposed to be doing that?"
"Oh yeah, now we have to add the milk!"
"alright, If you say so..."
The smell of smoke and burnt chocolate wafted into their faces. Connie seemed unbothered, but Steven was a tad concerned. He wasn't a cooking genius, but he had enough skill to know that the chocolate chips should not in fact be doing that. But despite his concern, he let Connie do her thing. After all, she said her dad did this all the time. Thankfully however, the smoke wasn't large enough that it set off the smoke detector, and Steven had instinctively turned on the overhead fan as soon as Connie turned on the stove.
But before he could intervene, she began pouring in the milk.
"Uh- Connie I think that's-"
"Oh, sorry did you want to pour it?"
"Um. No It's alright."
Before, she stated that the recipe called for 5 cups of milk. In reality, she poured about 8, and filled the whole pot. It wasn't a very big pot, but the ratio of milk to chocolate chips was way off, and Steven knew it.
"Well, you can stir now. it should only take about 2 minutes."
Connie had a wooden spoon set out. if the chips hadn't burnt to the bottom beforehand this would be fine, but they were burnt. So instead he grabbed the silicone spatula. Then carefully, VERY carefully, as to not spill any milk off the sides, he gingerly stirred the charred-choco milk mixture.
"While you do that, I'll go find the marshmallows. Their probably still in my roommates room."
"Why the heck are they in there?"
"She likes to snack on them sometimes I guess. I mean real, but at least put them back, right?"
Steven glanced back worriedly at the concoction before him for a moment to make sure it was behaving.
"Uh yeah, sure."
"Anyways, I'll be back."
As soon as Connie left ear and eye-shot of the kitchen, Steven grabbed the oven mitt they'd been using to pick up the overflowing pot, and chugged the excess milk straight off the top. It was a crude solution, but it was the only way to save their late-night beverage while not wasting anything. Thankfully, there was so much milk that it wasn't too hot yet, and he could easily drink it. As he continued to stir, the hot chocolate was looking much better. there were still a few bits of char, but it could still be enjoyable.
As Connie returned, she held a half-full bag of marshmallows.
"Alrighty! I'm glad there were still some left heh. How's it comin' Steven?"
"Good! I think it's almost done."
"Wait, wasn't the pot a lot fuller earlier?"
"uh- um... I think it just like, evaporated from the heat."
"Oh, you're probably right. It looks pretty good, you ready to pour it into our mugs?"
"yup!"
Steven again picked up the pot with the oven mitt, and slowly tilted it to pour into the first mug. Connie held the cup by the handle in place as he poured so it wouldn't move by accident. Then with minor spillage, he moved on to the next mug. When it was filled, he set the pot back onto the stove. There was unsurprisingly a lot left.
"Don't' worry Steven, I got this."
"What are you-"
Without hesitation Connie grabbed the pot mittless, and began to chug the remaining hot chocolate. When the last drop was gone, the aforementioned charcoal chunks were visible on the bottom. Steven was understandably worried, despite him doing the same thing earlier.
"Connie, holy crap isn't that hot?"
With milk dripping down her chin she just set the pot back down and winked at him, giving him the same, indecipherable smirk. He stared at her in awe and once again red in the face, as she dropped a few marshmallows in their mugs, handed him his cup of cocoa, picked up the blankets on the floor and escorted him all the way back to their comfy spot on the couch. Once again, they were wrapped up together in blankets, cuddled, and staring out the window into a snowy world, but now with cups of homemade hot chocolate.
"How is it?"
Steven took a cautious sip. Connie thought it was because it was hot, but Steven wasn't worried about temperature in this scenario.
"It's actually pretty good! it's thicker than normal, but I like it."
"I'm glad. It might be a strange recipe, but it always reminds me of winters at home when I was little. I love being at college and independent, but I do miss my parents."
"Yeah... I can relate."
"Don't you have any recipes that remind you of home?"
"Well the gems don't really need to eat (Besides Amethyst, but anything she eats is practically inedible). Though before I moved in with the gems my dad would always make these waffle-iron cheese egg sandwiches. Oh, I think you actually tried one on the day of that snow storm!"
"Uh- I don't remember that, but I'd like to try it sometime!"
"Oh right... well all you need is a waffle iron, shredded cheese, and eggs. Oh! Since we'll still be snowed in, we could have it for breakfast tomorrow morning!"
"That sounds great, Steven."
The sleepy notes of night were kicking in as the sun went down and the cocoa cast its spell of slumber. Connie finished off her drink, then rested her head on Steven's shoulder. Steven held her closer as he too succumb to sleep. There they stayed in each others arms, warm, content, reminiscing on their childhood and the scents of home. It was perfect.