Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The dull, rhythmic thudding of Stevens head onto the counter top was all that he could hear. The seagulls were down the other end of the beach where the tourists were, Pearl had made it so none of the kitchen appliances hummed (it wasn't noise pollution, it was music!), and the gems were all out on a mission. Steven wouldn't have minded so much if they hadn't had promised to take him with them.

Well they didn't promise... They didn't so much as say as Steven presumed. Because they had been taking him recently and he thought he was always allowed but now they suddenly changed their minds and it wasn't fair! Dangerous wasn't an issue, He could literally shield himself from anything, wasn't that be what his powers were for?

Steven groaned and finally raised his head from the counter. He stared impassively ahead for a few moments before gently rubbing his forehead, which was sore after hitting it repeatedly. He huffed and climbed up onto the counter and turned to glare at the warp pad with his hands on his hips.

"Where ARE you guys?" he asked the empty space disapprovingly. It didn't reply.

Steven slumped with a groan and sat on the edge of the counter, swinging his feet back and forth as he waited.

The warp pad glowed, there was an upwards flash of light, and the Gems stepped down onto the wooden floor.

"You're back!" Steven cried happily as he ran towards them, stopping just in front of the three with a grin. "Did you guys get me anything, was it dangerous?AWMAGAWSH are any of you hurt?" he stepped back and pointed at them. "All of you, turn around so I can see if any of you are injured," he instructed assertively.

"Steven, we're fine," Pearl assured him, ignoring Garnet as she held her arms out and turned slowly so Steven could inspect her. He looked over Garnet then turned back to Pearl. He frowned and leant forward.

"Then why do you look so sad?" he asked with a frown. Pearl looked hesitantly away, looking to Garnet for advice as she finished her rotation.

"Aw, Steven, it was messed up," Amethyst told him with a squirm. "We had to find this gem that shows you the future and-"

"IT DOES WHAT?" Steven asked with sudden force. "I wanna see! I wanna seeee!"

"No, Steven," Garnet replied firmly, kneeling in front of him and holding up a long white gem in a red bubble. "The gem is cursed. It shows you something good, only to show you something bad. It's a 50/50 chance but it's driven humans mad searching in it for something good to outweigh the bad they see." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "We can't hurt you that way."

Steven looked around at the gems. Amethyst and Pearl looked really shaken up, but Garnet was unaffected, probably because she could see the future all the time.

"Did you all see into the gem?" he asked softly. "Did you all see something bad?"

"No," Amethyst replied instantly, folding her arms. "I only looked in once and I saw something baaaad. Pearl saw two bad things because she dumb enough to look twice-"

"Excuse me, I had to catch it where YOU dropped it!" Pearl replied huffily, raising her chin.

"I wouldn't have dropped it if you hadn't have been watching my back!" Amethyst snapped in reply.

"I saw something good," Garnet admitted, interrupting the pair. Stevens eyes lit up and he stared up at her with wonder.

"What did you see?" he whispered. Pearl looked like she was about to say something dismissive, but Garnet spoke before she could.

"A wedding," she told him, then stood. Pearl and Amethyst stared at Garnet as Stevens mouth opened more and more and his eyes shone happily.

"You said you couldn't tell us!" Pearl gasped.

"I said I couldn't tell you two. If I hadn't had told Steven, I don't think it would have happened," Garnet replied simply, adjusting her glasses. "Steven is the only one who makes it work right."

"It's your wedding, isn't it Garnet?" Steven asked excitingly, staring up at the gem. She simply gave a small grin, adjusted her glasses to wink at him with her third eye, and patted Stevens head.

"I'm putting this away now," she told Steven, changing the topic. "It's not safe."

"Wait a minute!" he cried, grabbing Garnets leg as she turned away. "You said it was 50/50? But if three bad things were seen and only one good thing, that means its more likely to be a good things next, right?" he asked. Garnets face gave no indication of agreeing or disagreeing. Steven took this as a sign to continue and took a deep breath. "I want to see into it! Please?!"

"Steven," Pearl said, kneeling and taking a hold of his shoulders. "The bad things you see, they're not always set in stone but they are... Very bad. Cataclysmic. It could be something you never forget, even if the chance for it to happen passes and never hurts you... It will haunt you, Steven." Pearl looked sad, scared even, with her fingers digging into Stevens shoulders. Steven was quiet a moment before he finally spoke up.

"My moms dead, I don't live with my dad, I'm scared that I won't be strong enough to save the world from a planet that wants this one destroyed, and since Gem technology doesn't affect me as much as it does you guys, I think that the fate of my whole planet may fall onto me," Steven said, staring up at them with wide eyes.

The gems stared at him, Pearl doing so in frightened awe.

"Can I see into the gem? PLEASE?" Steven begged, clasping his hands together. He had made his point.

Garnet held the gem out and the bubble it was in burst, the gem falling impotently into her palm. She knelt down and held the gem at one end, pointing it up so Steven could see into the vertical rivets of the gem. It wasn't entirely see-through... More cloudy than anything. Steven frowned as he looked at it, tilting his head.

"How do I see into it?" he asked.

"You look, and then you see," Garnet told him wisely.

Steven took a deep breath before looking at the crystal with renewed vigour, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"He probably can't even do it right," Amethyst said, leaning towards Steven and prodding the side of his head.

"Perhaps he's too young to-"

In the utmost centre of the gem, was a light. A tiny pinprick of white which expanded the moment he noticed it was there. It filled his whole vision until the world around him was gone.

Steven was sat on his bed, his hair was thick and black, his jaw was slowly coming into shape, and his body was longer and larger. He wore a red shirt and a white jacket, on the back of which had a yellow star. The walls around him were filled with full size posters of video games and movies and of the crystal gems, along with some drawings he himself had done. He was drawing now, using his pens to colour in an image of a beautiful girl with dark skin and ebony hair. She was facing the side and had a strong expression; though he took most of his time with the eyes. They had to have the right light to them... Happiness and determination. That's the kind of expression Connie would have when she practised with the Gems, not just willing but wanting to-

"Is that me?"

Steven turned quickly and paused, blushing suddenly and deeply. "Connie! I didn't see you come in..."

"Of course you didn't, I'm like a ninja now. And by that I mean one of the later incarnations of, where they wore clothes of normal stature and used everyday items as weapons," she said with a small grin, her hair falling over one shoulder where she was leant forward, shining in the light.

"Uhhhh... Where did you learn to use everyday weapons as objects? I mean objects as weapons?" Steven asked, slowly sliding the paper behind him.

"A self defence class my mom sent me too. She says I'm a young woman and have to fend off anyone who may want me without consent... Or whatever." She shrugged. "Show me what you were drawing," she added, grinning wider and looking into Stevens eyes.

"Conniiiieeeee..." Steven groaned. "You know I'm awkward about these things..."

"Steven, you have your drawings up on your own wall," Connie replied, raising an eyebrow and sitting beside him on his bed.

Steven sighed and brought the picture back where she could see it. "I can't lie to save my life," he admitted sadly.

"I know, Steven, I know," Connie agreed, leaning against his shoulder slightly to see his drawing. "That is so good Steven..." she breathed in awe, eyes shining. "Is it me? Or am I being self absorbed?"

"No! It's you," he told her quickly before blushing and looking away. "I-it's you..."

Connie and Steven were silent a while. Steven tried to keep his breathing calm, tried to force his face to push the blood out of it but it just made the whole thing worse. It was hopeless, he was hopeless.

"Steven?" Connie asked eventually. Steven turned his head to look at her and paused when he realised her face was a breath away from his. Connie realised too and blushed. Steven blushed again.

"Y-yes Connie?" Steven asked carefully. She didn't reply instantly. She seemed to have forgotten what she was going to say. Her eyes darted down from Stevens eyes for a moment, then back up again, but he couldn't quite figure out what she had been looking at.

"... Why are we so awkward?" she asked with a sad little moan, breaking the silence. "We've been friends for five years, and I've known for so long you've had a crush on me and I just... Didn't do or say anything. I don't know why..."

Steven didn't know if he was getting very very sad or very very happy from her words. Did this mean she liked him or knew all this time he was a huge dorky loser? He swallowed down his fear. He needed to be strong. If he knew love, which he was pretty good at guessing by now, he knew that either Connie didn't want it, or she very much did. So if Connie didn't, she could just tell him to get lost. If she DID then... He had to be strong. She was just as nervous as he was and the only way to fix it was to be just a little bit stronger. He could always be stronger for Connie.

He held her chin and moved quickly, pressing his lips to hers and tilting his head so their noses didn't bump. Connie gave a little start but shifted and held Stevens shoulder tightly, squeezing it as she gently shut her eyes.

After a few moments where Steven was sure he didn't need to breath, he pulled back and found he did, breathing a little heavily. Connie was doing so too, both of them still holding each other in their own ways.

"Does this... Does this mean we're dating now?" Steven asked carefully. Connie didn't reply but slowly smiled.

"I'm pretty sure everyone's been waiting for us to admit we're dating for a while now," she admitted, "It's time we just say it, you know?"

Steven didn't reply, he just nodded. After a few moments, he slowly began to grin. Then he grinned wider and Connie grinned with him; but then she laughed and it was like someone had tickled an angel. Steven had to laugh, had to join the merriment. He suddenly wrapped his arms around Connie and drew her close, falling back onto his bed and laughing as they held each other.

"Steven, Connie?" came a voice. It was Pearl, walking away from the temple door. "I don't mean to interrupt but-"

"-understand what he's doing?" Pearl asked, crouching beside Steven and looking at Garnet.

Steven looked up into Garnets face, eyes shining.

"Garnet... I saw... I saw..." he breathed, barely able to blink. Garnet nodded and quickly bubbled the gem.

"Don't say anything," she instructed him evenly as she stood. "If you do anything to change the timeline, it may not happen. Your best course of action is to act like everything is normal and you never saw it."

Steven nodded enthusiastically, pressing his hands to his cheeks and breathing deeply and slowly. He kept breathing in as Garnet turned and headed to the temple door, which opened for her as she disappeared inside.

"Steven?" Amethyst asked, watching Steven continue to breathe in. "Hey, are you okay?"

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Steven cried, turning and running through the house, arms outstretched.

"Steven!" Pearl gasped indignantly, watching him go. "That is not the proper way to-"

Amethyst had fallen to the floor in a fit of giggles and snorts as she watched Steven scream happily, running in circles.

"Amethyst, could you please get a hold of yourself," Pearl sighed.

"No way!" she laughed, sitting up. "Look how happy he is! If any of us saw something good, I'm glad it was him! Right?" she asked, looking over at Steven. Pearl was silent before she breathed out and relaxed.

"I guess you're right."

Steven laughed and cried out joyously, running in circles until he ran into the side of the counter, cutting off his noise for a moment until he giggled, face against the wood.

"Eheehee, ow."

Authors note-

Garnets vision was in reference to a Tumblr post about Garnet getting married now that gay marriage was legal in the states. Thanks! X