It's Becoming Crystal Clear (Jasper x Reader)

Chapter 9: Insult to Injury

You woke to the sound of birdsong and the warmth of the rising sun. Stretching and rubbing your eyes, you sat up. A perfect morning. But something was off. It was too quiet inside. A chill went down your spine. What if she'd turned into a gem monster again, and was prowling silently somewhere in the house?

Don't be ridiculous, you told yourself, a beast that size wouldn't even fit in here, the ceilings are too low.

“Jasper?” you called, not particularly loudly. No reply. You put on some clean clothes, then tiptoed into the hall and down the stairs. “Jasper?” you called again, rather quietly this time. Still no response.

You began to creep on tiptoe through the living room, when you suddenly saw her. She was lying on her left side on the couch, one arm hanging to the floor, sound asleep. You took a cursory glance at her arm. Nothing had spread. In fact, in this lighting, it didn't look half as severe as it did last night. No more unsightly than a human’s arm having freckled in the sun.

She looked so cozy and peaceful, part of you wanted to lie down and cuddle right up to her. But another part of you wouldn't have felt comfortable taking advantage of her ignorance of the meaning of such an act.

You crept over and crouched down right in front of her. You tried to keep from giggling as you leaned in until you were almost nose-to-nose… or was it nose-to-gem? Her hair was hanging in her face, and her mouth was slightly open, drooling a bit. Cute.

“Good morning, sunshine,” you cooed teasingly. Her eyes flew open and she leapt to sitting upright, looking about in confusion. You couldn't help laughing. Turning towards the sound, she locked eyes on you and breathed a heavy sigh of relief, even cracking a smirk.

“Did I..?”

“You fell asleep again, silly.”

“Oh no.” Jasper was visibly panicked as she started looking herself over.

“Relax,” you told her, placing your hand on her arm and guiding her to lower it. “It's no worse than it was last night. Doesn't even look as bad in better lighting.” She sighed in relief again. “So I guess you weren't having any more dreams?”

“Actually,” she replied, a little hesitantly, “I did.”

“Oh?” you replied, but from the way she was smiling warmly at you, you could tell that there was no need to ask.

“I know I asked this last night, but can we..?”

You smiled and nodded, leaning forward and sharing a brief, tasteful hug. You felt a shiver run down your spine. There was something very nice about feeling so safe around someone so dangerous, about knowing she could easily have crushed you in an instant just now while also knowing that she would never do such a thing.

You switched the television on to the morning news, then went into the kitchen to get yourself breakfast. You got yourself a bowl of cereal and a banana, and were going to the refrigerator to get the orange juice when you heard a sad moan from the living room.

“What's the matter?” you asked.

“I thought you said there were people on Earth who didn't hate me. So why did they make the villain in this program orange like me?”

You looked at the television and struggled to contain your laughter.

“Oh, Jasper, no, that's not - that's the State of the Union address!”

“What is that?”

“I'll tell you another time. It's nothing you need to worry about anyway. Although I should warn you not to tell anyone you're an alien.”