Your girlfriend spends her afternoon standing in the rain. A fluffy fanfic that consists of small misunderstandings, cuteness overload, and a possible cold.
The rain falls in scattered waves– the droplets either dripping as gently as kittens’ kisses or as heavily as the more than uncomfortable sensation of Lapis giving someone the old one-two to the face; there was no in-between. Spinel stands in the rain, gloved hands lifted out in front of her and head tilted slightly back, her expression oddly calm. Her long twin-tails are sleek and dripping, made heavy by the amount of water she had managed to soak up.
You sit at your doorstep, propping up your chin with your hands– you slouch as you watch her stand out in your lawn during the light storm, grinning ear to ear. What on Earth is that lil’ slinky doing? You dearly want to know, yet you don’t want to disturb her; she looks so peaceful and perfect–so very picture-perfect out in the rain, but you have already taken enough pictures of her to fill an entire album. You smile thoughtfully. You still have yet to decide which one would be best suited to be your home screen wallpaper.
Moments pass quickly, the droplets beating with the retreating seconds when Spinel suddenly opens one eye to regard you. You freeze up instantly, feeling as if you had interrupted something. She raises a brow.
“Eh, nice weather we’re having, huh?” you say, grinning nervously up at her. You fight the instinctual urge to do finger guns.
“Pfft.” Your girlfriend smirks slightly at you and closes her eyes once more, her small shoulders rising and falling gently as she takes in a deep breath. She shuffles her feet slightly. “How long have ya’ been watchin’ me?”
You flushed sheepishly at the honey in her voice, and you press your hand against the side of your face, averting your eyes even though she wasn’t looking at you. How were you supposed to casually admit that you had been watching her for about thirty minutes straight without saying a word? How long had she even known you were there?! “W-well, I guess it’s been–I just followed you as soon as you rushed out here, so…” you trail off with an awkward giggle and shot a glance at her.
Spinel was pursing her lips, eyes now closed again, and brows slightly furrowed. “Can’t hear ya very well doll. Could you repeat that?”
“I…you know what? Here,” you push yourself up and off the step with a small groan, brushing off any dirt that might have gotten on the back of your pants. You start walking towards her, nearing away from the overhang of your roof. “I’ll just–”
“WAIT!” Spinel snaps up quickly, eyes expanding into wide, white plates as she stretches out her arm to stop you from moving a step closer. Her open palm goes flying toward you, stops abruptly, and presses carefully, yet firmly, against your chest. You give her a startled look, and she’s starring back at you with such a panicked expression, the side of her wet ponytail still clinging to her face from the sudden whiplash. “You can’t!” she insists almost pleadingly.
“Uh…,” you stare at her blankly, wondering what had gotten into her. “Why not?”
“Why not?! Because! Humans get sick when they go out into the rain! Don’t they?” Spinel says, pulling her arm back towards herself to clasp her hands nervously. She shakes her head slightly, and her water-adhesive ponytail plops back against her shoulder; she’s thoroughly soaked. “Steven told me!”
You quickly slap a hand over your mouth to suppress a laugh. You can’t stand how cute she is, though it’s not necessarily her fault for not knowing better. “Oh Spinel, humans don’t get sick that easily.”
“…Then, what?” she presses, cocking her head almost suspiciously.
“Uh, well…,” you begin, hoping that you could phrase it in a way that made sense for her. You fidget a little. “…humans get sick because change in temperature weakens their ability to fight off germs…and rain is usually pretty cold. So, I’ll be fine.” You flash her a thumbs up.
Spinel doesn’t even blink. She stares at you silently, and you don’t know if she got it or not. Regardless, you take her silence as proof that she was adequately reassured, and you happily walk away out and into the drizzle. She lowers her eyes nervously as you stand next to her. “Uhm, sorry for freaking out.” She rubs the back of her neck, flushing slightly. ‘Hehe–course you would know better than me ‘bout that kind of stuff.”
You smile at her and lean over to brush the few wet strands of pink hair still plastered against her face. From your close proximity, you can see the tiny droplets of rain scattered on her bottom eyelashes. The gem noticeably brightens a little as you touch her. “Well,” you begin, “To answer your question, I followed you out as soon as you rushed out here into the rain like a lunatic. I was gonna stop you from getting all soaked, but…,” you laugh slightly, “you seemed to be having a lot of fun doing whatever you were doing. It was adorable, actually. Wholesome content.”
You could tell Spinel was trying hard to suppress how pleased she really was, but she couldn’t help a small bounce. Her adorable twin-tails bobbed slightly, and you smile gaily, leaning forward to give her a quick peck on the cheek. The gem is absolutely beaming at this and leans her head towards yours, eyes blissfully squeezing shut. One glance at her face, and you can tell that her heart–her figurative one, for that matter– is fluttering.
“You make me really happy,” Spinel confesses, face darkening a bit. She burrows her head into your shoulder and intertwines her gloved fingers with yours.
You melt a little inside as you give her hand a small squeeze. Gazing at her affectionately, you realize the way she’s got her soft face against you reminds you of an adorable puppy you saw a week ago, and your heart aches from just how much you adore her. Without looking away, you lift your free, curious hand out to feel for the rain. It’s seemed to quiet down now, you think to yourself, lone small droplets tickling your palm. After a few seconds it suddenly dawns on you what you had wanted to know all this time: “Hey, but what were you doing?” you ask curiously.
Spinel pulls back slightly and mutters softly, as if her mind was somewhere else: “Ya see…I think I read somewhere about the rain that made me…” –and her expression falls slightly– “…feel kinda bad. I read that when it rains, it means that tha’ Earth is crying.” She solemnly looks towards the dreary gray sky.
“So I was giving the Earth a hug. Like this,” she asserts dutifully, holding her arms out to the sky again.
You are now fighting the impulse to double over and fall into the soggy, wet grass. Your girlfriend had rushed out into the pouring rain and was trying to give the world a hug because she thought it was crying. You want to scream. You don’t deserve her.
You can hardly contain yourself; externally, though, you simply and slowly bring your hands to your face, shoulders shaking with mirth. You wheeze unattractively; you wonder–are your windpipes combusting?
Spinel purses her lips and stares at you with wide-eyed incredulousness. It takes her several beats for her to respond as you struggle for self-control, and she watches you intently as if in a trance. Soon enough, however, her brows arch and she asks sharply, “Wha..Are you getting sick!?” You peer up at her through your fingers to find that she’s bristling.
Without meaning to–obviously–you suddenly sneeze, and Spinel looks like she’s about to cry.
