"aaaand... stop! we're here!"
Steven suddenly halts in front of a rather colorful building with his arms up. spinel, who took her place back on your withers looked up at the building with a confused grin. "...where?" you tipped your head back to stare up at the large circular confectionery and squinted at the text below it. "...big... donut...?" Steven smiled broadly. "yup! this is where we can get all the donuts we want! we can even get other snacks to!" it looked as if the information flew over spinel's head as she almost stared through the boy. "...what's a donut?" Steven's eyes went wide for a moment, before quickly realizing her unfamiliarity with earth still. "it's uh... pastry with frosting on it. you can eat it to! and it's circular with a hole in it." he explained, best you can. "like that one." he points to the giant fake donut atop the building. spinel looked up at the giant pastry with wide eyes. "We're gonna eat that WHOLE thing??" steven giggled. "no, silly! there's smaller ones in there!" he points to the double glass doors. he then walks over and pushes one of them open. he then looks over at you and gestures you over. "come on!" you shrug and padded forward following the boy inside.
immediately you were hit with the almost overbearingly cloy scent of fried dough and sugar. of course it was pleasant, you've never smelled anything so delectable. but at the same there was so much, it was enough to make you snort in minor revulsion. that's a tad strong... in your withers, you heard a content hum. "mmmmhh... sure smells good here!" you look around the small joint. small and simple, littered in shelves covered in all sorts of human delectables, wrapped in colorful packages. it had a warm, cozy feel to it. you grinned to yourself. I like it. while you were looking around, Steven ran up to the counter. "Lars, Sadie! I brought some new friends with me!" he piped to the duo behind the counter; a friendly looking short, pale skinned girl with short blonde hair, and a tall tanned boy with short curly red hair atop his head. he looked as if he didn't want to be there. after exchanging a few words, Steven points to you. at once, both of them recoiled at the sight of you, the small blonde throwing her hands up to her mouth to squeal into them and the tall male jumping back with a yelp. you curled your lip in minor offense, but then again, you should've expected as much. "oh, don't worry!" steven assured quickly. "that's (name)! she doesn't bite. watch!" he turns to you and gestures you over. at once you slowly pad upto the counter, the duo tensing up as you did so. "hello there." you greeted. Sadie's eyes widened and an incredulous smile bloomed across her face. "oh, she even talks!" she exclaimed, almost in disbelief. she steps closer, hand extended. "can... I pet her?" steven nodded with a giggle. "she likes it best if you itch her here." he reaches up and itches behind your horn, earning a content purr from you. she nods in affirmation and follows his movement, her delicate digits softly itching behind your horns gently. when you purred, she relaxed a bit and let her hand roam your head, prompting you to lean forward in content. the Lars kid blinked and relaxed a bit, but still rose his eyebrow in suspicion. "so.. what is it..? some sort of... (color) mutant.. yak... of some type?" you narrowed your eyes and glared at the boy from under your bangs.
mutant yak... that's a new one... "er... no... she's a gem. just... um..." Steven's eyes kept flicking to you as he staggered for the correct words to describe your condition. you rumbled in a surge of despair and case your gaze to the side. there's no sugarcoating when it comes to this... Spinel must have sensed your tension because she leaned forward and wrapped her hands around your neck into a tender head hug. Sadie saw this and squished her cheeks with stars in her eyes. "aw, is that her baby?" your eyes widened, and you feel your face heat up yet again. again with this silly yet... accurate... assumption? "does she have a name?" sadie's eyes were on you. it took you a moment to realize she was directing the question towards you.
"...spinel." you answered unconsciously. Sadie smiled and patted her on the head, earning a smile and giggle from the gem. "she's really cute!" Lars narrowed his eyes at spinel in bewildered suspense.
"...did... that... lion of yours have a-"
Steven suddenly threw his arms up and flailed them frantically. "AH! HA! haha! w-we'll talk about that later!" he quickly objected. "right now, they need to try out their first donut!" he turns to you and gestures to the display case. "here, (name)! pick any one you want!" you nodded and padded over to gaze at your options. oh... wow.
there were many types of 'donuts' to choose from.. size, shape and all! "ooooh..." you heard spinel from the top of your head. "so many to choose from..." she muttered in contemplation. your eyes darted back and forth across the baked goods, until your eyes catch sight of a (flavor) donut, with (color) frosting and (color/no) sprinkles. that one right there looked good. you rose a forepaw and delicately tapped the glass with a claw-like finger. "(color) donut." you stated. spinel's eyes flicked to the one you pointed to and starts formed in her eyes. "I'll have that to!"
~~~~~~~~~~~
"so, what do you guys think?"
Steven asked, watching as you took a bite out of the donut. it was so sweet, filling your mouth with a slightly cloying but at the same time savory flavor, causing a grin to curl your muzzle. "delicious!" you lick the frosting from your muzzle. Steven looked quite pleased as he bit into his donut, smiling to himself. you turn to spinel, who was sitting beside you, with your tail curled around her. "did spinel try-" the words died on your tongue as you saw spinel seemingly jam the pastry into her mouth, getting crumbs and frosting all over her mouth in the process. she appears to be pleased with the flavor. maybe too pleased.. after she finished her treat she looked up at you innocently smiling, with stray crumbs falling off her face. "pardon?" you blinked down at the messy pink gem for a moment before huffing in minor irritation. "spinel messy." you reached down with a midarm and gently wiped her mouth with a thumb, ridding it of the substance. spinel giggled in response and playfully pushes your hand away. you snorted and patted spinel's head. "spinel needs to be clean." you then straightened the ribbon wrapped around her head with your other midarm. you were so caught up in straightening spinel up, that you didn't realize Steven watching.
"you... you really are like a mom." he mutters out loud. you turn to face the boy, eye squinted in concerned suspicion. while he sounded relatively cheery, there was an air of solemnity in his tone that made your chest prick. he had a small smile on his face, but it didn't seem very... happy. "steven okay..?" he casts his gaze to his lap, biting into his donut again. "y-yeah." he mutters. "I-it's... nothing." you watched as his free hand slid upto his belly, suddenly clasping at the shiny pink gem in his navel. you watched this and frowned deeply. he looked not only mournful...
but almost... guilty.
you chuffed loudly and rose to your paws sharply, causing steven to flinch in alarm and snap his head up to you. "(name)?" you gave the rest of your donut to spinel, in which she happily took, before fully turning to the boy, lower lip puckered into a pout. there will be no frowning while I'm here. after a moment of staring, you lurched forward and started nibbling at his ear gently. almost immediately he starts to giggle and try and push you off him. "(n-name)! wha-what are you doing!?" you didn't answer and instead moved down towards his neck, nibbling at it lightly, causing the boy's laughter to hitch. spinel, who had finished her donut looked over at your activity with a raised eyebrow. she quickly puts the pieces together and lets a smile burst across her face. "oooh, what game is this called?" you stop your activity momentarily to inform the pink gem smuggly. "game called 'tickle the boy'! spinel join?" spinel's smile becomes mischievous and she rubs her hands together. "well! don't mind if I do!"
at this steven broke away from you, and started to run off, giggling. "you're gonna have to catch me first!" spinel laughed and leapt onto your back. "Challenge accepted!" spinel grasped your horn with one hand while pointing with the other. "AFTER HIM!" you reared onto your hind legs momentarily and galloped after the boy, tongue lolling out of your mouth into an elated grin of pure joy.