#added art shield to this. woohoo

[afreakingmilkshake]

so tired of this shit

[tinbutterflies-blog]

Steven Universe: Tricks and Treats

PREFACE: I wrote this for Halloween two years ago, and drew a piece to go with it…but I’m still not finished with the art lol. MAYBE SOME DAY. Anyways, enjoy the story!

***ONE***

“Yeah-ha! We look amazing!” The words spilled from Steven’s mouth so quick and loudly that it had caused Pearl to jump into the air with a start.

“Yes, we do look quite…unusual.” Pearl spoke curiously as she shifted her gaze from Steven to the mirror, giving herself a turn while she examined the ripped and frayed material of her crow-ballerina costume. “Are you sure that these, e-hem, outfits, are necessary though?”

With a nod of his head, Steven turned and looked at the group of Gems; Pearl the crow-ballerina, Amethyst the cat, Garnet the witch, and last but definitely not least: Steven the Jack-O-Lantern. “I’m positive, Pearl. This is exactly the what the point of Halloween is: costumes, scares, and -lots- of candy!”

“Well, if you say so…”

“Yeah Pearl, don’t be a party-pooper.” Amethyst chortled and patted Pearl’s back with a large paw, receiving an irritated look from her in return.

“I am not…pooping…on this party.” She retorted with a cringe, which gave Steven and Amethyst a good laugh. “I just think we look a bit strange is all.”

“I think we look awesome.” Stated Garnet matter-of-factly, flashing a smile down at Steven. “I also think we should probably go if we want to get to that haunted house on time. It’s open for another two hours and ten minutes.” She turned and pointed to the alarm clock next to Steven’s bed; the sleeves and tail of her dress whirled around her wistfully.

The clock read ‘6:50’ in red letters.

“Crystal Gems.” Garnet turned back to her group, and headed towards the door. “Let’s head out.”

***TWO***

The streets of Beach City were filled with all manner of creatures and costumes from Onion the Devil, DracuLars, and even Ronaldo the Snerson. There seemed to be excitement in the air no matter where they were at, and Steven was catching it like a bug.

“Trick or Treat!” Shouted Steven and Amethyst as they reached the doors of The Big Donut, holding their candy buckets out to Sadie.

“Oh, hey guys.” She smiled as she dropped a handful of candy into each of their buckets. She was covered in head to toe with fur; werewolf fangs completing the look. “Nice costumes. Can’t go wrong with a Jack-O-Lantern.” Sadie laughed gently.

Steven piped up.“You know what else you can’t go wrong with?” Sadie shrugged curiously, and Steven thrust his hands from the eyes of his costume; his fingers had transformed into wriggling little worms. “WORM FINGERS!”

Sadie laughed again. “That is pretty neat, Steven. Oh hey, didn’t you say something the other day about going to the Funland haunted house?” He nodded and she continued. “Well, it is already pretty late, you better get going if you want to arrive there before closing.”

“Good idea.” Added Garnet from behind Steven and Amethyst.

With a quick wave goodbye, the group was off to collect more candy before their stop at Funland - Amethyst had already emptied the contents of her bucket into her gullet, devouring wrappers and all.

Steven made a 'tsk’ sound as he shook his head. “I just don’t see how you don’t get a stomach ache.”

“Heheh, what’s a stomach ache?” Amethyst belched, and opened her mouth to speak once more, only to be interrupted by Pearl.

“Excuse you.”

Amethyst waved her hand at Pearl and sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Excuuuseee meee.” After an eye-roll from Pearl, she turned to look at Steven. “I don’t know why we never did this before, man. Free FOOD! Best day eva!” Amethyst shouted the words loudly as she reached into Steven’s bucket; the handful of candy she had grabbed going directly to her mouth.

“Hey!” Steven frowned at Amethyst. “Just because it’s free doesn’t mean you can take my candy.” He nodded towards her, and the smile returned to his face. “That’s okay though, because I still have plenty for now. You’ll just owe me some later.” Pointing a finger into the air, Steven added. “And because, Connie just introcuded me to Halloween. I wish she didn’t have to study. But Mrs. Mahe-” He was cut off by Garnet.

“Gems, we need to keep walking, come on.” She began walking; Funland was in sight down the boardwalk.

Laughing, Steven grabbed Amethyst and Pearl’s hands, dragging them behind him as he jogged to catch up with Garnet.

“I really don’t understand the point of this human holiday…” Pearl muttered as they went along.

***THREE***

“Oooh No!” Mr. Smiley crossed his arms as he looked at the group in front of him, his face utterly displeased at the sight. “Why should I let you into Funland? After the teacup incident?”

“Pleeeaaassee?” Steven pleaded with puppy-dog eyes, lower lip set into a playful pout. “I promise we’ll be good, and I’ll keep the gems under control.” This earned him an unappreciative look from Garnet and Pearl, and a giggle from Amethyst.

“Hmm..” Mr. Smiley pondered for a moment before he spoke. “Okay. I suppose. BUT - one more thing and the four of you are banned for -GOOD- from Funland. Now enjoy my haunted house!” His signature smile and cheer returned as he said the last sentence, gesturing with his arm for them to enter into a darkened, fog-filled room.

“Thank you!” Steven chimed. “Eheheh, here we go guys. PREPARE FOR THE SCARE!” He looked at the gems as best he could in the dark, a massive grin on his face.

“Awesome.” Amethyst said through another mouthful of Steven’s candy.

“We’ll see about this awesome.” Pearl huffed, following behind the rest of them.

***FOUR***

The haunted house was a maze of pitch black rooms filled with flashing lights, fog, and cheap thrills and screams.

Steven and Amethyst were thoroughly enjoying themselves; the latter of the two choosing to shape-shift into a few of her favorite ghouls and creatures. Even Pearl had been slightly frightened a time or two by an overly dramatic Jamie dressed as a zombie. Garnet didn’t seem to be bothered by any of the sudden screams or monster jumping from around the corner, but she did have a content smile on her face.

“Brains…BRAINS!” Jamie groaned the words as he limped down the hallway towards the group, arms extended infront of himself. He even let a few drips of drool trickle down his chin.

Steven let out a goofy laugh, and Pearl rolled her eyes..until something out of place appeared behind Jamie; a Jack-O-Lantern head, moving at an alarming rate towards Jamie and the Gems. The head was propped on top of tentacle-like vines, serving as its legs and thrashing wildly about.

“GEMS!” Garnet yelled, slamming her fists together as her two gauntlets materialized onto her fists. “SUMMON YOUR WEAPONS!”

Pearl and Amethyst followed suit; Amethyst reaching to the gem on her chest and retrieving her whip, Pearl to her forehead to pull out her spear.

Jamie, now confused beyond belief, began to back up.

“Stop!” Pearl held her hand up to him. “Don’t move or you might draw the creature’s atten-” An inhuman screech drowned out her words and one of the tentacles slammed into the terrified actor, wrapping around his waist tightly. With a sudden jerk, the creature hauled Jamie into the air and dangled him there. A frightened wail erupted from his throat, and he began to flail his arms around his head.

One of the tentacles whipped towards Steven, his arms lifting above his head as his rose colored bubbled appeared around his body in an instant. Garnet had also leaped forward at that same moment, knocking the vine away with her fist; the green extremity crashing into a wall, dust and rubble flying everywhere.

While Steven hurriedly moved to a safer spot, Amethyst had cracked her whip, rounding up a majority of the monster’s legs with perfect aim, and slammed its thrashing body into the floor. A loud crash the and an animalistic squeal filled the room.

Pearl had rushed in by then, cutting away the vines that had been imprisoning the still-screaming, and crying, Jamie. Her spear neatly sliced him free in a single fluid motion, followed by her picking him up and dropping him off where Steven was nestled behind a few dislodged floorboards. Steven lowered his bubble as she set the blubbering actor down.

“Now just stay here you two, it’s safer!”

While Jamie sat looking dazed and confused, Steven cheered for the Gems, another tentacle rushing their way through the midst of the fight.

“Woah!” Steven summoned his shield from his gem, deflecting the attack away in the nick of time. “Woohoo!”

With a violent outburst, the monster finally broke free from Amethyst’s whip, scrambling towards Steven and Jamie, floorboards flying and lights crashing to the ground.

“Pearl! Try to pin it to the floor! Amethyst, try to corral its legs again!” Garnet’s voice penetrated over the commotion of the battle, and Jaime’s screaming.

Amethyst and Pearl both managed to successfully pull off their attacks, and without another word, Garnet jumped towards the head of the beast; her gauntlets collided into the Jack-O-Lantern and it poofed away, leaving a corrupt gem in her hands.

“Job. Well. Done.” She stated the words individually, bubbling the gem and sending it back to the temple for now. Compared to the cacophony earlier, the room was now starkly silent.

“We did awesome guys!” Steven cheered, his voice echoing in the room as he helped Jamie to his feet and looked the horrified man in the eyes. “It’s okay. You kind of get used to it after a while.”

Eventually, everyone was smiling, even Jamie.

“Yeah! We kicked BOOTAY” Amethyst placed her hands behind her head and chuckled.

“You know…” Spoke Pearl, her voice tinted with amusement. “That was pretty awesome.”

The group erupted into laughter, everyone, aside from Jamie, nodding in agreement and heading towards the exit.

***FIVE***

“WHAAAT?” Exclaimed a devastated Mr. Smiley, his hands clasped to his face, mouth agape, and head shaking. He scanned the room and the adjoining hallway, taking in all of the damages. “You four are -done- for -good- this time.”

“Aw, come on man, cut us some slack. We could have left the place looking like a complete dump.” Amethyst shrugged nonchalantly, a grin spreading over her lips.

“Yes, Amethyst.” Pearl remarked. “We could have left it looking like your room.”

“Hey, my room has ~Feng shui~.”

“That’s enough, Gems. It’s time for us to leave.” Garnet nodded to the the exit, then to Mr. Smiley. “Sorry about the damage.” She began walking to the broken door frame, but stopped as Steven yelled behind her.

“WAIT!” He threw his arm out as he walked over to Mr. Smiley, looking up at him. “Before you kick us out, can we -pretty please- get a photo at the picture backdrop? To commemorate our first Halloween.” Mr. Smiley crossed his arms arms over his chest, looked at the group, and nodded his head.

“And then you guys are out of here. I can’t have you causing any more damages to the place.” And with that he walked away, grumbling something about expenses.

The Gems all exited the building and made their way to a small patch of dirt a few yards away. The cheesy backdrop that Jamie had made was hung between two 'rotten’ trees; a few pumpkins, gnarled bones, and a tombstone were there for decoration.

Steven plopped onto his knees in the dirt, his worm fingers poking from the eyes of his Jack-O-Lantern costume. Garnet stood at his right. She set her foot atop a bone and held her witch broom in front of her.

To Steven’s left was Pearl, who looked completely naturally in the ballerina-esque pose she was striking. To her left was Amethyst, arms out at her sides and a grin on her face.

“Okay they’re about to take the picture, so everybody smile!” Steven beamed, looking side to side to make sure the other three were smiling as well.

“Now just pose for the picture, and say CHEESE!”

***END***