"Hmmmm...."

"...hmmm..."

"...hmmmm..."

"...hmmmm."

"...you can do it, steven."

Came Sadie's voice, breaking Steven out of his thoughtful stupor.

"Thanks, Sadie." Steven smiled. "It's just, we could get a donut, which would be tasty, but we always get donuts." He then turned to face spinel, who was playing with lion's mane as he merely rested on the ground near the counter. "Shouldn't we be living life to the fullest and try new things?"

Spinel smiled enthusiastically. "Yeah!"

Steven's smile widened at spinel's shared enthusiasm and turned back to the tired blonde. "So tonight, I'm thinking... spicy pretzels?"

Spinel tilted her head, scrunching her face in thought. "Mmm... I dunno. Lion, what to you think?" She prodded lion's shoulder, to which he responds by getting up and trotting over to the freezer that contained the lion licker ice pops, and pressed his face into the glass door.

"Ugh," Steven groaned in disapproval. "Lion, those are gross. No offense."

"You kids better hurry it up," Sadie cautioned. "Lars and I are closing up-"

Then, as if on cue, the teen in question suddenly exits the break room, munching on a donut as he jammed out on his headphones, lost in his own world entirely as he exits the building, without even acknowledging anyone.

Sadie's face crumples in annoyance at the boy's insolence. "I'm closing up for the day."

"Aw." Spinel frowns instinctively, glancing down at a nearby fridge and squinting at a particular bunch of colorful baggies that were located at the bottom. "Oh neat! There's a snack named after ya, Sadie!"

"Nah, those are all my lunches my mom packed for me." She states, resting on the counter in disinterest.

"Awww, that's so nice." Steven notes, looking touched.

"Ehh, actually it's pretty embarrassing." She grumbled. "She's been doing it for years. I mean, I know how to feed myself. They just make me feel like a kid."

"Can we try one?" Steven asked.

"Sure, but choose wisely." Sadie said, with an air of caution yet again. "Some of those have been in there for a few months."

"Alrighty, let's see what we've got here."

Spinel watches curiously as Steven started to list off the food items that he had laid out across the counter.

"Looks like a classic PBJ sandwich cut into triangles. Very nice, it's the only shape a sandwich should be. Mama Sadie, thid lunch is a win." He praised out loud.

Spinel smiled, though it didn't carry as much enthusiasm as it did before. "Not bad."

"And for dessert, we have..."

For some reason, Spinel found herself becoming disinterested with the foodstuffs being listed, and had her attention stolen by lion suddenly flailing about from getting a paper bag stuck onto his muzzle. Instinctively, she gets up to try and help the large pink feline, but was stopped at the sound of Steven's excited voice.

"Woah! Spinel, Lion, look!" He runs up to the pink duo, holding up a small sugar cookie, which was ironically in the shape of a star, the very logo of the crystal gems. "It's a cookie shaped like a star." He pipes enthusiastically, placing the small morsel upto his own shirt's design. "I guess you can say this cookie is... out of this world, eh?"

Spinel snickered at the joke, while lion finally snorts forcibly, blowing the back off his muzzle and hitting Steven in his face. Spinel Instinctively catches it, and looks down at the colorful doodles on the bag, while Steven munches on the star cookie, his eyes idly drifting up to the familiar pink portrait hanging over head.

"I wonder what kind of lunch my mom would have made me," Steven wonders out loud, catching Spinel's attention. "Maybe actual space cookies!"

"What about (name)'s lunches?" Spinel questions, her brow lifted in sharp suspicion. "Aren't they good?"

"No, no they are! They're the best!" He reassures quickly, before looking back up at the portrait. "I'm just wondering about how my mom's lunches would be."

He stares up at the portrait a moment more, before sighing glumly. "I just wish... I knew a little more about her." Spinel stared at him, her brows furrowed in sympathy while lion's stare becomes more intense.

"Well..." spinel itched her head, trying to think of something that would at least bring some comfort to the boy. "At... least... (Name)'s here to fill in for her...?"

Steven looked over at spinel, his brow quirked at the claim, and opened her mouth to question what she meant, but that was when lion suddenly nudged his shoulder, staring at him intensely.

Instinctively, the boy forgot his quarries and instead focused on the seemingly affectionate big cat with star-filled eyes. "Blink if this means you love me."

No response. Just a blank stare.

Spinel's eyes flickered between Steven and lion for a brief moment before discreetly blowing into the pink feline's face, causing him to blink instinctively.

Thankfully this went unnoticed by the gem child as he squishes his cheeks with a cheerful smile. "He loves me!"

Spinel smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Eheh... I bet."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There." You hummed, finishing up the finishing touches to lion's bed, under Steven's request. "(Name) made it extra plush, just how lion likes it."

You stepped back to let lion inspect his new bed as he jumped onto the couch and stood on it.

...however no sooner after he stood on it, he leapt up onto Steven's loft, crawling into Steven's bed.

"Whup!? Hey!" You and Steven shouted in unison, as you scrambled up the stairs. "Lion! Get out of Steven's bed! Lion's bed is downstairs!"

At your demand, lion leapt off the bed, though in the process, he took the blanket with him. Spinel giggled to herself as you grunted in frustration, tearing the blanket off him. "And blanket belongs to Steven!"

And in taking the blanket off, you revealed that lion had also taken one of Steven's plushies; a dark brown bear in a suit and monocle. You huffed through your nostrils and held a paw out to him. "Sir Bearington, please."

Instantly he drops the bear into your hand. "Good. Now. Lion go downstairs and sleep in lion's bed."

He stares for a moment, but he then turns and leaps off the edge of the loft, onto the couch.

"Good night, lion." You then turned to Steven as he jumps into bed, smiling eagerly at you. You smiled, purring as you walked over to him. He sits up and gives you a peck on your muzzle, before snuggling back down into his bed. "Goodnight, (name)."

You gave him his bear and pulled the covers over him, nice and snug before giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Goodnight, Stevie."

Steven closes his tired eyes. "Love you... in the morning..." he trails off, and he instantly starts to snore, falling fast asleep in seconds.

Purring, you walk back down to the waiting spinel, who in turn smiles as you start to circle your usual sleeping spot, and plop down. After getting situated, you look over at spinel, a giving a silent cue to come to you.

Wasting no time, she immediately goes over to you and gets herself situated in your midarm, a soft, barely audible purr rumbling in her throat. "Good night, spinny."

"Night night, mama."