[Sorry if this chapter is all over the place or rushed. Enjoy!]

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Chapter 9
 Big-Hearted Pursuit 
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This time, Greg and Steven placed an air mattress on the floor for you and Spinel after dropping Connie off at home. You weren't out for long and just quietly tried to play with Spinel's goodie bag from the Arcade. Spinel had been pulling back a small green sticky hand which kept sticky slapping your face, but you would get her back with a rainbow colored sticky hand. 

Amethyst had been there too….to your dismay and played with the small trinkets though not long after the purple gem fell asleep. Out cold and snoring loudly. 

Under the blanket, two glow sticks are the only source of light upon the darkness of the room. A purple and a hot pink glow. Spinel just random plays with the glow stick in a tiny bit of boredom, but also in exhaustion from the fun night. Her arm stretched over you and her to keep the blanket away from your faces.

'I wonder if I should try contacting the Diamonds tomorrow.' She thought until her eyes caught the movement of the purple glock stick beside her. 

Your light had landed on the mattress and your eyes were closed, lightly breathing in slumber. 

Spinel smiles softly and takes the glow sticks, putting them back in the treat bag, then moving so the blanket is tucked under your chin. She sighs in content and snuggles into her pillow before going to sleep herself. 

Slowly, your eyes open and take a glance at the pigtailed gem until you get up to walk quietly to the bathroom. The door closes and locks, leaving the purple and magenta gem to sleep peacefully. 

The other gem, Nelly had been upstairs the whole time still watching cartoons with Lion who had curled up around her. Her back leaning against his fur and Steven's soft snores in the room were faint compared to the cartoons playing. She takes a glance at the stairs. 

Quietly, she turns off the tv and tip toes down the steps. Luckily, her shoes doesn't squeaks Nelly makes her way past Amethyst and Spinel. Her eyes look up at the door with five colors on the star. 

One color on the door glows pink and the entrance opens up like a rose. 

The small gem steps inside and it closes. 

~°♡°~

The next day, Spinel had half of her body off of the mattress and snoring with a whistle at the end. Something pokes her cheek once, then twice, until it became obnoxious and caused Spinel to groan in annoyance. 

"Spinel." A voice whispers. 

"Hm?" The gem turns to curl up in the blankets to get back to sleep. 

Nelly was squatting down and leans close to Spinel's face, "Can you watch my friend for me?" 

Spinel mentally sighs, "Yeah, sure, whatever." Her voice trails off and she barely managed to hear the smaller gem squeal out a thank out before peace filled the room. Unfortunately, not for long, Spinel felt something slimy and sticky curl around her head. 

Magenta eyes fly open very wide in terror. 

"GAHHHHHH!!!!" 

Spinel's scream alerted everyone in the house. Steven hops out of bed and nearly runs into the wall while skipping down the steps. His shield appears and his eyes widen until Amethyst is laughing her butt off. 

Greg, Garnet, and Pearl watch Spinel trying to yank an Octopus from her head. In her ferocious attempts to remove the sea animal, things around the house are knocked to the floor. When the octopus goes flying from the gem's head, Spinel shoots over to Steven and immediately coils herself onto his back. 

"What IS THAT?!" Spinel breaths heavily and shivers at the way the octopus moves.

Nelly skips in from outside and picks up the octopus, "This is Morty! He's an octopus." She giggles and hugs it. The eight tentacled sea animal seemed to roll its eyes, then slips away out the door. "BYE MORTY!" Nelly waves then looks at the mess in the house, "Did I miss something?" 

Spinel glares at her and turns, noticing the red marks on her face here and there through the window reflection. She grumbles and rubs at her face. 

Steven sighs, "Nelly. I told you to stay in the house unless someone is with you." He makes his way to the bathroom and the door doesn't open. "Amethyst, seriously? Did you lock the bathroom from inside again?" 

Amethyst calms down from her laughing fit, "Pfft! No, but I would love to know who did and congratulate them." 

Spinel raises a brow at the scene and realized you weren't in the room. 'Where's (Y/n)?' By the mattress, she looks under the blanket and bites her lip. 'I hope I didn't scare her away.' This brought the anxious feeling back and she again tries to reassure herself. 

Before she could, her phone goes off.

'Oh thank goodness.' Spinel's mood is better once she reads that you were at work and that you'll be getting off earlier. Around one. 'Now….what should I do until she comes back.' The gem glances at Nelly who sat at the table again and continued drawing with crayons from yesterday. 

Nelly swung her legs back and forth while seeming to have a bowl of berries that appeared out of nowhere. Of course, her hands were always covered by the very long sleeves of her sweater and it made it difficult to draw. The small gem looked up and smiled widely while waving at Spinel. 

Spinel turns away stubbornly and shakes her head, walking over to the door and slips on her pink converse. 

"Where are you going?" Nelly appeared beside Spinel  making the pigtailed gem jump at the sudden appearance.

"Somewhere….until my friend comes back anyway." She goes out and frowns at the squeaking following behind her. 

Nelly skips in pace with Spinel and looks up at her, "Can I come?" 

This is where things felt mixed, mainly Spinel's feelings. She wanted to say no, but the thought about how she felt when she was left behind…...Spinel groans deeply. "Fiiiine." Her pigtails drop slightly in annoyance. 

"Spinel, wait!" Steven finally caught up to the two gems, "You don't mind if I tag along? I need to grab a few things from the grocery store. More ingredients to make more cookie cat to be specific." 

This relieved Spinel at the extra company and she honestly had no idea where she wanted to go, so might as well go with Steven. 'Wait….' "What type of store is grocery?" 

Nelly still skips along and ends up prancing backwards, "It's a place humans get their food. It has many types of food and other small necessities human need." An octopus plushie is taken out from behind Nelly's back and she held it up to show Spinel. "Look what I got from Funland!" She moves it and tries to mimic a deep voice, "My name is Sherman." 

Steven chuckles and plays along, "Hello, Sherman. My name is Steven." 

Nelly grins happily at him and looks to Spinel. 

Spinel grimaces at the plushie's big black eyes staring back at her and she glances at it stubby arms. It might have been cute to anyone, but to Spinel? It just reminded her of the real Octopus. 

Nelly moves it closer to Spinel, but the gem backs away each time. 

"Get that away from me." Spinel huffs, though Nelly kept moving closer. "I said stop. Hey!" 

Nelly laughs and starts chasing Spinel with the plushie still in her hands. 

"Steven Universe! Do something!" 

The teen just laughs and watches the two pink gems run around. One, obviously, very annoyed and the other loving the reaction she was getting from Spinel. 

~°♡°~

At the store, Steven pushed the cart down the aisle with Nelly inside the basket and grabbing the things on Steven's list. Spinel's eyes wandered at all the types of food the humans had and she grew curious at every single one. Leading her to ALMOST open boxes and containers if Steven hadn't taken it away. 

It started to get boring, especially when Steven asked Spinel to watch Nelly and the cart while he went to customer service. So Spinel around the corner and kept a hand on the cart when she collided into another cart. Half of herself was in someone's basket.

"Spinel?" Your voice spoke with concern. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" 

Spinel sprung up and her face flushed in embarrassment, "H-hi! I thought you were-"

"Who are you talking to?" Nelly interrupted and tries to peek around the corner, but Spinel shoves the cart down the aisle away from you two.

"I'm fine. I should be sorry though, I didn't-" Again she was cut off by a loud crash and tons of things falling to the floor from somewhere in the store. The gem tenses and takes a cautious peek. "Oh shoot. I'll be right back!" Spinel takes off and searches around the piled mess of canned food, though she didn't see the cart with Nelly. 'Why did I do that?! Why am I even worrying?!' Spinel calls out, "Nelly?" 

The sound of the smaller gem's giggles were muffled, yet close by. 

You walk up next to Spinel in confusion until both your eyes follow a runaway cart with Nelly inside as she zooms down the street…...enjoying the ride. 

"Nelly!" Both of you yell and scramble out of the store. 

Spinel facepalms at her weak attempt at "running" and forgetting about her abilities. She wraps her arm around you and springs her body to launch up into the air. Her magnets eyes search for the speeding cart until you point at the direction of slightly busy street. Spinel shoots her other arm out and latches a hand on the cart, landing you and her in the basket with Nelly. 

"What were you thinking?!" You grab onto Nelly's arms in a soft grip. 

Nelly just shrugs sheepishly and chuckles, "Wasn't my fault. The cart took off on it's own and I'm just enjoying the ride!" 

Spinel raises a brow in confusion at your interaction with Nelly. 'Do they….know each other?' When she's about to say something, there's a loud honk from a truck and it was heading straight at you three. 

"AHHHHHH!" You and Spinel yelled in surprise and fright, while Nelly cheered throwing her hands up. She yelled out louder and laughed as Spinel took the cart into a sharp turn with her stretched limb, causing the cart to roll onto the boardwalk. 

"WHEEEEEE!!!!!" Nelly throws up her arms. 

The cart hits a random place ramp and flies into the air. In slow motion, the three of you are catapulted right into the ocean when the cart sticks into the sand at an angle. 

Nobody didn't pay much attention to the incident, though they did take a glance and shrug and went about their business. The only ones who seemed mildly concerned were two human standing together outside the Big Donut. The smaller female pulls out her phone and calls Steven. 

Spinel lifts you and Nelly out of the water first before going up above the surface to spit water out. 

You were coughing at the sudden water going down your throat and in your nose. Your arms holding onto an inflated arm of Spinel

Nelly giggles and shakes her head, causing water to sprinkle onto you and Spinel. "Can we do that again?" 

The two of you frown at her, "No." 

You run a hand down your face the push back your wet hair. You wanted to be angry until a chuckle leaves your lips, making the situation have a lighter atmosphere. "Well I didn't expect to be catapulted from a cart into the ocean today." 

"Neither did I." Spinel let's out a hearty chuckle as well. "So….do you two know each other?" 

"No."

"Yes."

"Yes."

"No."

Spinel raises a brow at your answer and Nelly's. "Which is it?" 

You lightly glare at Nelly as she again looks sheepish. With a stressful sigh, you hang on as Spinel gently swims toward the shore. "Well- AH!" Something wrapped around your ankle and you're dragged underwater. 

Spinel panics, "(Y/n)!!!!" Before the gem could dive down, the water began to rise, but not like a wave. 

Something was rising up and the water cascaded down it's very giant and slimy body. Long tentacles wiggle about the ocean surface and one held held you in its grasp. Gem shards littered across its head and glimmered in the sun.

The shadow towered over the two gems like a five story building and Spinel froze up in fear. 

A giant octopus gem.

Nelly blinks up at it and points, "Hey! It looks like Morty and Herman. HI!!!- Mmph!!!" Nelly waves, but her mouth is covered by Spinel. 

The mutated gem moves all its eyes to stare down at Spinel and Nelly. 

~°°☆°°~°°♡°°~°°◇°°~°°☆°°~°°♡°°~°°◇°°~°°☆°°~°°♡°°~

[Random picture of Nelly holding a donut.]