Work Text:
When Steven wakes up, the world is quiet. Muffled.
He gets up with a yawn and shuffles into the bathroom. He's halfway through brushing his teeth by the time he actually looks out of the window.
"Oh!" The beach outside is covered by a layer of snow, and more is drifting down.
"Finally," he exclaims, stars in his eyes. He rushes up to get changed out of his pjs and collides with something firm.
"Easy there, Steven." Garnet sounds amused, even as she reaches out to steady him.
"Garnet! Garnet look! It's snowing!"
"Good morning to you too," she says, gently booping him on the nose.
"Sorry. 'Morning. But it's snowing!" He repeats, waving his hands around excitedly. "It's winter!"
"That does tend to happen around this time of year."
Steven snorts, disentangling himself from Garnet's loose hold and rushing up the stairs. He keeps talking even as he starts pulling on clothes. "I'm going to make snow angels, and snowpeople, and ask Sadie and Lars if they want to have a snowball fight, and maybe even build an igloo with Connie!"
"What about breakfast?"
"I'll grab some at the Big Donut!" He waves her off, already putting on his shoes.
"It's closed."
Steven pauses. Future vision really is convenient sometimes. But why...?
He glances at the calendar stuck to the fridge and groans.
"I forgot it's Christmas today!"
Which means that Connie is out of town, since she's spending the holidays with her father's side of the family. Lars and Sadie are probably busy too.
Before he can get too mopey, a hand settles on his head and ruffles his hair affectionately.
"I'll play with you, Steven." She messes up his hair again when he beams up at her. "But first..."
Ignoring his complaints, Garnet hustles him into the kitchen and watches sternly as he makes and eats breakfast.
Then she bundles him up in even more layers - going ridiculously overboard, Steven thinks right now he could literally roll away - and insists on gloves, a scarf and earmuffs.
Her concern makes him smile, but he does have to negotiate down on some of the clothes so he can actually fit through the door.
Finally, they step out the door and Steven looks around in wide-eyed wonder. They don't often get snow here, so every time they do it's like a little miracle.
"We should head closer to town," he suggests. "There'll be more snow there."
Garnet just inclines her head and follows.
Steven keeps up a steady stream of chatter - he can't help it, he's excited! - that ends abruptly when a snowball collides with the back of his head.
He turns and stares at Garnet, who looks back with a completely straight face. There's a moment of silence until Steven breaks out into a wide grin. "You're on!"
He grabs several handfuls of snow and starts throwing them at her. She ducks out of the way of every single one.
Steven yelps when Garnet retorts with a snowball roughly the size of a car engine. It takes him clean off his feet.
He's lying on his back, a little dazed and staring up at the clouded sky, when Garnet comes into sight. She stands above him and the part of her face not covered by her visor looks distinctly sheepish.
Garnet helps him up, carefully brushing bits of snow off of him. "I'm sorry, Steven. Want to build a snowman?"
When he's done shaking snowflakes out of his curls, Steven smiles up at her. "Does it have to be a snowman?"
To his delight, Garnet starts quietly humming the melody.
"I love that movie," Steven says as he pats some snow together to form a ball. "Don't you think having ice powers would be super cool?"
He has his back to Garnet, so a smooth, calm voice replying with "Yes, it can be convenient." takes him by surprise. He spins around.
"Sapphire! And Ruby! You've unfused!"
Sapphire smiles at him. "Hello, Steven."
Ruby chimes in with: "We thought it would be more fun to do this together."
"Pfff. But you guys are always together."
Sapphire reaches over and takes Ruby's hand. "Yes," she says warmly, making Ruby blush, "we are."
"I just like looking at her," Ruby confesses. Now it's Sapphires turn to blush. "Besides, wouldn't a snow ball fight be more fun if there were three of us?"
"I promise not to use Future Vision," Sapphire adds solemnly.
Steven beams at them. "This is going to be so much fun!" He says. Then he turns back to his unfinished snowman and frowns. "But I'd feel bad to leave him like this..."
Ruby and Sapphire share a glance. "We'll help you finish it first, then."
"Great! You can help me with the tophat."
"Tophat?"
"Yeah! Because this is Mr Fancypants. He's wearing a snow tuxedo - a snux - and a tophat."
"I think I can help," Sapphire says, reaching over and carefully touching the snowman's head. The area ices over completely before expanding into a thin brim and hat.
"Sapphy, Sapphy," Ruby says, shaking her head. "You made it way too small! It needs to be bigger."
She scoops up some snow and clumsily pats it on. When she's done, she steps back to where Steven and Sapphire are and eyes their creation critically.
Mr Fancypants is leaning a little to the left, only has tiny twig arms and has no face. Its tophat is ridiculously oversized. Before Ruby can say anything, Steven bursts out with: "He's perfect!"
Sapphire giggles and Ruby puts an arm around Steven's shoulder. "Of course he's perfect. We all made him together."
Their fond little moment is broken when Steven sniffles.
"Steven, are you cold?" Sapphire asks.
"Nooo!"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm fine," he insists, but Ruby reaches over to properly wrap him in his scarf anyway.
"Snowball fight now?" Steven asks hopefully.
Ruby grins back. "If you think you can handle us."
A second later, a snowball collides with Ruby's chest. She looks down, and then at Sapphire with a betrayed look on her face. "Et tu, sapphire?"
"We're not ganging up on Steven," Sapphire chides, already rolling another ball.
"Fine. If that's how you want it..." Ruby shrugs casually before grinning wildly. "It's a free for all, baby."
Sapphire and Steven share a look. Then the two of them simultaneously throw their snowballs at Ruby.
"Hey!" Ruby sputters, brushing snow off of herself. There's not really a point, since a moment later another snowball hits.
"Ahhhhh!! You're going to get it now!" She crouches down and starts to furiously gather up snow. Sapphire laughs as she ducks away.
They spend twenty minutes like that, throwing and shaping and dodging, all accompanied by laughter and the occasional child-friendly curse. They call a short truce in which they decide they can't use any of their gem powers (since Garnet was dodging with Future Vision and Ruby has started radiating heat, melting the snowballs before they can even hit her) and then keep going.
Steven is out of breath and sweating in his heavy coat by the time they finish. Neither of the gems seem to be tiring but Ruby has retreated almost completely behind Mr Fancypants. Every now and then she ducks out from behind her cover and throws a snowball back to where Steven and Sapphire are crouched with their own supply.
It's one of those throws that goes wide and hits Sapphire square in the face.
Everyone freezes for a second, then Ruby scrambles over. "Ohmygod Sapphire I'm so so sorry I didn't mean to are you okay I'm sorry-"
Sapphire brushes her fringe out of her eye and blinks a few times. Ruby is hovering next to where she's sitting, almost vibrating with anxiousness, while Steven carefully helps her get the snow ouf of her face.
"I'm fine," Sapphire says. She reaches over to lace their fingers together and says to Ruby: "Apology accepted."
"If you're sure..." Ruby says, helping her up. She doesn't let go of her hand, Steven notices.
There's a bit of an awkward silence broken by Steven sneezing suddenly.
Immediately, both gems turn their entire focus on him.
"His nose is red," Ruby says.
"Cheeks flushed, too," Sapphire agrees. "Could it be a fever?"
Ruby's eyes widen. "I'll get a doctor!"
"Guys, guys! I'm fine," Steven says. After a second he admits: "It might be time to go back inside for a bit."
"Of course," Sapphire says, gently steering him back in the direction of their home.
They walk through the snow in silence. They're almost at the temple when Sapphire stops and turns to him. "Steven. I feel that I should tell you now so you won't be disappointed shortly." She pauses. "We're out of mini marshmallows."
Steven gasps. Then he falls to his knees, devasted. (Someone has been spending too much time with Jamie...) "But.... Hot chocolate is just not the same without them. Aw man!
"Did you have to tell him?" Ruby whispers to her. "Look at his sad little face."
"It would have been a lot worse if he had found out when he'd already starting making some," Sapphire reasons. "This was the best option."
After a few seconds of moping, Steven gets back up. He looks ready to move on with his life. Stage five, acceptance.
"Let's get inside," Ruby says, leading the way up the stairs onto their porch.
They each walk in, Steven stomping the snow off of his boots politely before entering.
He immediately starts striping off the layer and layers Garnet bundled him up in. When he's down to one pair of pants and a christmas sweater, he sighs in relief.
He ends up sitting on his bed, TV on and showing reruns of old cartoons.
After a while, he says: "You know, it's weird. I was so hot under my coat but now it's kind of cold..."
Ruby and Sapphire, still unfused and apparently entirely content to watch cartoons with him, share a look.
"I think Ruby can help with that."
They grab the big duvet and wrap it around all three of them, Ruby in the middle.
"Tell me if it's too hot." Ruby waits for Steven to nod before closing her eyes and focusing.
Instantly, there's a toasty warmth beside him. Steven leans into it a little.
The day's excitement and now the warmth and the low volume on the TV are making him drowsy. Steven quickly drifts off.
At some point, someone moved him and helped him get into bed properly. He thinks he can remember waking up long enough to see Garnet tuck him in. She'd asked if he had fun today. And Steven can't recall if he replied or not, but he knows his answer.
Yeah. He had a lot of fun.
Today was pretty great.