As Steven tightened his bow tie in front of a mirror, Pearl was combing his hair from behind him.
"So, Steven," Pearl began, "do you know all of the proper dancing techniques for the big dance tonight?"
Steven pulled his hands away from his bow tie and put one to his chin as he thought, then responding with "I believe so, or at least all I need to know to be able to have a fun night at the dance without anything turning awkward."
"Awkward?" Pearl questioned, "What do you mean awkward?"
"I mean like... What if Connie wants to dance but I don't know how to do it well with other people? That would be awkward, right?"
"I mean, yes, but I'm sure she'd understand. You're talking about Connie here."
"I guess you're right..." Steven sighed, "I just don't want anything to go wrong. Especially since this is so important to her. She seemed so excited to be able to go with me, and I would never wanna let her down."
"It's okay, Steven. I'm sure you'll do fine," Pearl said with a grin.
"Thanks.." Steven responded, then hugging Pearl and walking out of the bathroom to wait for Connie to arrive.
Right as he sat on the couch, he heard the pounding of footsteps running up the stairs in front of the house. Connie busted the door open and quickly grinned widely as she saw Steven.
"Steven!" she shouted as she ran toward the couch and nearly hopped on top of him.
Steven was too slow to react and found himself in a tight hug, which he quickly melted into. When Connie finally pulled away after a few long seconds, Steven got a good look of her and quickly went wide-eyed. She was wearing a big teal dress that complimented her brown eyes very well, along with having very soft hair, and... was she wearing perfume? It smells like strawberries.
"Steven?" Connie said.
"Oh! Uh, what is it?" Steven asked.
"You kinda zoned out for a second there," Connie responded. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah everything's fine. We should probably start heading to your school now for the dance," Steven said, shifting his gaze toward the floor to avoid his whole face turning red from looking at Connie.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Let's hop on Lion and get going!" Connie said as she hopped off of Steven and ran over to the door, which she held open for Steven. "After you, biscuit."
Steven chuckled slightly as he walked out the door, and he was quickly followed by Connie who lightly put an arm around his back as they walked over to Lion.
A sparkling pink portal appeared out of thin air in front of Connie's school, Lion hopping out of it seconds later with the pair of kids on his back. The two got off of Lion and started walking toward the school.
"Connie," Steven began, looking at the ground slightly as he walked, "have you ever told any of your classmates about me?"
"I uh..." she started, "don't really have anyone to tell about you..."
Steven sighed, then grabbing Connie's hand and looking her in the eyes.
"I don't get why people wouldn't wanna be your friend.." he muttered, "You're so nice and just overall amazing.."
"It's fine, Steven. I have you, and I wouldn't trade you for any amount of friends in the whole universe," Connie responded, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks, which was quickly matched by Steven's.
The pair walked into the front entrance of the school where they found a lady sitting in front of a fold out table that had multiple papers stacked on top of it.
"We're here for the dance," Connie said to the lady.
"Do you both have your school IDs on you?" the lady asked.
"I do," Connie responded, "but he doesn't since he doesn't go to this school."
"Okay, five dollars then, please," the lady said as she held her hand out toward Steven.
Steven reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled up five dollar bill seconds later, handing it to the lady.
"The gymnasium is the second door to the right," the lady said, pointing down a dimly lit hallway to a door that had music blaring from behind it.
"Thank you!" Steven said, then taking off running down the hallway beside Connie.
When the pair reached the door, they paused in front of it before opening it, both of them taking a deep breath. Everything is gonna be fine, Steven thought to himself, right before he was pulled into the door by Connie.
Loud music filled the pair's ears as they walked into the giant, dimly lit room with multiple people scattered throughout it.
"So uh.. What should we do first?" Steven asked as he looked at Connie out of the corner of his eyes.
Connie thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind, so she shrugged in response.
"How abouuttttt..." Steven said as he looked around the room, then looking at the center of it where multiple boys and girls were dancing to the music being played, "we dance!"
"N-No, I'm good," Connie muttered nervously in response. "How about we just sit down for now and then try and think of something to do?"
Steven looked slightly disappointed, then shrugging and responding with "I guess we could do that..."
The pair walked over to a fold out table and sat at it, where they awkwardly made eye contact and nervously grinned at each other.
"How about I just... Go get us some food for now," Connie muttered.
"Yeah, that sounds good, I guess," Steven said in response, smiling lightly.
Connie got out of her seat and walked over to the snack table, where she looked at the giant assortment of food. There was so many selections that she just couldn't decide what to get, but when her eyes met a pink cupcake with a single strawberry on the top of it, she quickly grabbed it for Steven. She began to walk back toward the table Steven and her had been sitting at, but as she walked, a boy crossed her path and she bumped into him. The boy quickly turned around and met eyes with Connie, then smirking.
"Connie Maheswaran," he said, getting a smug look on his face, "who'd you bring here as your date? Your dad?"
Connie opened her mouth to respond, only to be pushed onto the floor by the boy, making the cupcake fall out of her hand and onto the floor beside her.
"Like your dad would even wanna take you," the boy said as he walked closer to Connie and knelt down beside her.
"Leave her alone!" Steven shouted as he ran over to in between the boy and Connie. "What did she ever do to you!?"
The boy chuckled for a few seconds, then saying "Your boyfriend is puny just like you, Maheswaran."
He pushed Steven back and walked away while laughing.
Once the boy was out of sight, Steven shifted his attention back toward Connie, who was sitting on the ground staring up at him with a mixture of embarrassment and amazement written all over her face.
"Are you okay?" Steven asked, holding his hand out for Connie to help her back up onto her feet.
"Y-Yeah," Connie muttered in response, grabbing Steven's hand and being pulled back up onto her feet. "Let's go grab another cupcake for you, since the one I grabbed before is kinda.." She glanced at the splattered cupcake on the floor, "ruined."
The pair walked back over to the food table and grabbed another pink frosted cupcake with a strawberry on top, then walking back to the table and sitting down at it. Steven was about to take a bite of the cupcake before noticing Connie frowning out of the corner of his eye.
"Hey, is everything okay?" he asked.
Connie looked up at Steven, then sighing and saying "I was hoping we wouldn't see that kid here..."
"Wait, you know him?" Steven asked, going wide-eyed.
"Yeah, he's always picked on me ever since sixth grade. I've tried telling on him, standing up to him, even begging for him to stop, but nothing ever works. He always just comes back and picks on me some more."
Steven gasped, "That's terrible! Why wouldn't you tell me about this before!?"
"I don't know..." Connie muttered, "I guess I've just never taken into consideration how mean he is to me..."
"Well I'm gonna go find him and tell him that he should be a better human being! Nobody messes with you on my watch!" Steven shouted, hopping out of his seat, only to have his arm grabbed by Connie.
"Steven, wait. You going over to him and scolding him won't make a difference. It will only make it worse for me since he'll think I need my 'boyfriend'" Connie rolled her eyes, "to stand up for me."
"Oh.." Steven mumbled, sitting back down, "But I can't just sit here and watch you get.. literally pushed around!"
"I know it sucks, Steven. But it's fine, I guess. He's moving a few towns over in a few weeks, anyways. So he won't even go to this school anymore."
"Well that's good," Steven said through his teeth, "because he better never show his face in the jam kingdom ever again!" he chuckled.
Connie also chuckled alongside him.
"I'll eat my cupcake, and then we can go find something to do," Steven said, raising the cupcake to his mouth and taking a bite. "Do you want the strawberry that's on top of it?"
"Even though I love strawberries, I'd hate to take the best part of the cupcake away from you," Connie responded.
"It's fine! I love strawberries too," Steven said as he took the strawberry off the top of the cupcake, "but I love to see you happy a lot more."
"Fine," Connie responded, her face turning red, "After all, I'm the jam," she chuckled as she took the strawberry from Steven's hand.
"And I'm the biscuit," Steven said, then taking a bite from the cupcake with a chuckle.
"And together we're jam buds," Connie muttered, slightly leaning her face in toward Steven's.
Steven quickly caught onto what she was doing and went wide-eyed.
"So, uh, Connie," Steven partially shouted while sweating nervously and glancing away from Connie, "What are we gonna do once I'm done with my cupcake?"
Connie stopped leaning her face in and felt warmth fill her cheeks. "I.. I don't know.. maybe we can dance? Well, if you want to, I- I mea-"
"That sounds fun, Connie," Steven cut her off, then taking a bite of his cupcake.
"G-Good!" Connie responded, then sighing. "I'm sorry I had to ruin this night for us..."
"Ruin!?" Steven nearly spit the cupcake he was chewing out of his mouth, "I've had fun here! And I also got to learn a lot more about you!"
"I-I'm sorry, I just feel like I always ruin stuff when I'm involved with it..." Connie sighed, burying her face in her hands, "I probably sound pathetic..."
"Connie, you don't ruin stuff when you're involved, in fact, you make it ten times better!" Steven said, then taking Connie's hands in his. "How do you think the last three years of my life would've been without you? I would be so.. so lonely! And I wouldn't have anybody to talk to when I'm feeling bad.."
"Steven, I.." Connie started as her face burned redder, "I really mean that much to you?"
"Of course," Steven muttered, "I don't have really any friends beside you, my dad, and the gems, who are always on missions so I can never do anything with them..."
Connie wrapped her arms around Steven, and the two teens both let out a long sigh, then pulling apart and confidently smiling at each other for the first time that night.
"I really like you, Connie," Steven said, keeping his hands on Connie's shoulders.
"I really like you, too, Steven," Connie said before wrapping her arms around Steven once more.
The pair suddenly noticed the lights turn dimmer around them, so they pulled away from each other and looked toward the DJ.
"Alright, all you couples, this song is for you, so you know what that means; get off the dance floor unless you're dancing with someone," the DJ said as slow music started to play.
Steven and Connie slowly turned back toward each other, both of them blushing.
"Do you wanna..?" Steven asked.
Connie didn't respond, she only grabbed his hand and nodded "yes". The pair hopped out of their seats and walked into the center of the dance floor, where the two of them both looked around themselves awkwardly to make sure nobody was staring at them.
After they both reassured themselves, Connie grabbed onto Steven's shoulders and Steven put his hands around Connie's waist. The two of them swayed back and forth with each other as the music played, and they were both trapped in an awkward silence; neither of them had ever gone this long without making an excuse to get away from the other to avoid having a nervous breakdown.
"Connie..?" Steven broke the silence.
"Yes, Steven?" Connie replied.
"Have you ever just.. liked someone so much, even beyond the lines of friendship, yet down know how to tell them it without ruining what you have with them?" Steven asked, getting a strange look from Connie in return.
"That's.. oddly specific," she responded.
"I-I'm sorry, it's just a dumb question..." Steven said, sighing and looking at the floor.
Connie stared at Steven for a few long seconds before taking in a deep breath and muttering "Although, I do think that way about someone..."
"Really?" Steven asked, the frown on his face fading.
"Yeah.." Connie responded, leaning in a little closer toward Steven's face. "Do you wanna know who I think about that way?"
"Y-yeah!" Steven responded, moments later feeling Connie pull him closer to her. "W-what are you doing?"
"Something I tried to do two and a half years ago.." Connie responded, then closing the gap between her and Steven as she pressed her lips to his.
The kiss was very sloppy, but nonetheless, it was still a sign of deep affection, and that's all the two teens cared about.
They were so deep in the moment that neither of them noticed the glow around them that was slowly getting brighter by the second, and before they knew it, there was only one person standing on the dance floor rather than two.
"Woah," Stevonnie said after realizing how they had fused, then looking up from their hands and noticing that everyone in the room was staring at them.
There was a mixture of amazed, terrified, and surprised faces among the crowd that was staring at them, and nobody dared to utter a single word.
Stevonnie went wide-eyed as they realized they were the center of attention, then with a giant, bright flash of light, they were replaced by their components, who fell on the floor with a thump. The two teens quickly hopped back up onto their feet and ran past the crowd, then out of the room.
Steven and Connie walked out of the school and toward Lion, both of their faces red. Neither of them had enough confidence to talk to the other after what had happened inside the school.
"This is what I was hoping wouldn't happen.." Steven broke the silence. "I didn't want anything between us to become weird, but I guess that's just a normal thing that happens after you.. kiss someone."
"Steven.." Connie started, "I-I didn't mean to be awkward.. am I?"
"Yeah, kinda.." Steven responded.
"Sorry.." Connie muttered, "that all just happened so quick, a-and I'm sorry that I kissed you without permission.." she started tearing up.
"No, Connie, don't cry!" Steven shouted, "I-I wanted to kiss you too, and I enjoyed it a lot!"
"Really?" Connie asked, "You wanted to k-kiss m-me?"
"Of course!" Steven responded, "I've been wanting to ever since I healed your eyes!"
Connie wiped her eyes, then slipping her hand in Steven's. "Well, that's good to know, I guess..."
A pink portal opened in front of Connie's house, Lion with Steven and Connie on his back hopping out of it seconds later. The pair hopped off Lion and started walking toward Connie's house, hand in hand. Once they reached the door of the house, Steven opened it for Connie and let her step inside, then turning around to go get back on Lion and leave.
"Steven, wait!" Connie called out from behind him.
Steven turned around and looked at her in the eyes.
"I need confirmation of something..." Connie said, warmth filling her cheeks, "Are we... y'know.. more than friends now that we... kissed?"
"I haven't really thought about that.." Steven responded, "but I.. I think so?"
"That's all I needed to know, thanks.." Connie chuckled, "Bye, Steven."
"Later, Connie," Steven said back, then turning back around and starting to walk.
"I love you!"
"I love you more!"
"Take that back!"
"Only if you kiss me again."
"Fine, get over here."
Author's Note:
Can this honestly even be called a rewrite LMAO it's so different from the original story, but I liked the idea of the original one so much and felt like I needed to make it 1800 words longer and even somehow fluffier.
Anyways, sorry if you don't know what's going on in this, sorry for my sense of pacing, and sorry if my grammar is messed up in certain places.
Btw, I've been working on this for 2 weeks. Lord save me.