Archive of Our Own ^beta

Now that Centi was uncorrupted, that opened up a whole new world of possibilities to her.

Almost every other gem from Homeworld had reservations about eating human food, but her case was different. She had been introduced to the concept while corrupted, meaning that what doubts she had about it didn't really come up at the time. Her mind had been barely held together by glue during those moments, so whether or not it was acceptable to eat the chips Steven gave her wasn't exactly a thought she had.

Since she already knew that human food not only was safe but also good, she had no issue continuing to "eat" when she was uncorrupted. However, while she loved the chips that Steven had introduced to her all that time ago, it did eventually become repetitive. That was when she decided to visit the fry shop. After all, fries and chips were both potato products. They couldn't be that different.

So, she walked into Beach City and found Beach Citywalk Fries, a place that Steven had mentioned on many occasions. At the window sat a boy around Steven's age, maybe a year or two older. He had a small name tag on his apron that read "Peedee", and Centi was reminded of a cloudy memory from her corruption when Steven had told the story of Frybo. The name Peedee had come up a lot in that story, and the fry thing matched up so this was almost definitely the same guy.

He seemed a bit surprised to see a gem show up. Sure, Amethyst came there often and there was another Nephrite that he was friends with, but aside from that it was mostly a human market. Gems didn't need to eat, so the only times they would visit the restaurants were when they wanted to try the whole "eating" thing or if they had a friend who worked there.

"What can I get ya?" Peedee asked with a small smile. "This is my first time here" Centi replied, nervously scratching at the back of her neck. "Do you have any recommendations?" she asked, sending the boy deep into thought for a moment. "Well" he finally started. "Our fries are always a recommendation but..." he sighed in mild annoyance. "There's also the leftover fry bits at the bottom of the fryer" he explained. "For whatever reason, they were a hit so much to the point where dad put them on the actual menu"

"That's strange" Centi said in response to this newfound information. She had no idea what a fry bit was, but it seemed a bit nonsensical to sell leftover debris from the bottom of a fryer. "Yeah, no kidding" Peedee replied with a small chuckle. "But, hey" he continued with a shrug. "People like them so maybe there's something there"

"I think I'll just have a normal order of fries" Centi said with a chuckle, and Peedee seemed very relieved to have someone order something normal for once. "Alright" he said with a small smile before turning around and calling out for someone named Ronaldo to get a box of fries ready. Centi placed some coins on the counter to pay for it, and she soon received a small box with fries in it.

"Thank you" she said gratefully as she accepted the box. "Yeah" Peedee replied. Centi began to turn away but a small "Wait" stopped her. "You know, we're a bit understaffed at the moment, so if you ever need a job..." he offered with a small smile. "You'd get to eat the leftover fries"

"I'll consider it" she replied with a small smile before turning and going home.