Steven was drenched. Mud was splattered across his feet and legs, his long curly hair matted against his back, and his clothes dripped like the storm outside. Pearl would have forbidden him to step inside the house without at least tossing a towel at him, but she had seen his expression.
It was a known fact that Steven cried often. Even at seventeen years old, he still freely showed emotion, and so much so, that the gems knew not to worry about him.
But this time, Steven's expression made Pearl pause.
There was no other way to describe it. He was heartbroken.
Interrupting Pearl's shock, Garnet made her way from the kitchen, holding a hand towel, and ushered Steven inside. She had a good guess what brought this on, but she focused first on making Steven somewhat presentable before sitting him down. Amethyst had picked up on the situation quickly and she popped a few frozen waffles into the toaster for comfort food.
He muttered a thanks when Amethyst presented the food, nibbled on it, and then put it down.
Something was very wrong. The gems exchanged worried glances.
Garnet sat down beside Steven and put a comforting hand on his back. With her vision clearing now, she knew exactly what was going on, and how it would be resolved, but they all needed to hear it from Steven. When he looked up at her, she nodded in support.
Steven dropped his head and stared at the toaster waffles.
"She hates me now." He said.
It took a moment for Pearl and Amethyst to catch up, but then they remembered the months that led up to this. From the day she mentioned her interest in studying abroad, to the day she got her acceptance letter. They barely spoke to each the past six months. Each day, Steven grew more anxious.
She wanted support. He was afraid of losing her.
That morning, he made a desperate attempt to make her stay.
It was the worst argument they ever had.
Amethyst moved over opposite to Garnet and awkwardly patted his back. "Awh, no way, bro. You guy's have been friends for how long? Like, the human version of forever, right? Connie wouldn't ever hate you."
"She called me selfish."
Amethyst stilled, having no idea how to respond to that.
Steven buried his face in his hands. "She's right though. Now she's leaving and she'll never want to see me again."
"Steven," Garnet then said earnestly. "I can see many things. I can see how you feel about her. And feeling that strongly about someone can make someone both incredibly selfish… and selfless."
He peeked up at her, his eyes puffy.
"It is selfish to care about someone so much that you couldn't ever lose them. That's love. But love is also being so selfless that you couldn't ever see them unhappy." Garnet drew down her shades, her wisdom shining in her three eyes. "Knowing how to balance that selfishness and selflessness is what makes a good relationship."
Steven picked his head up slightly. "And I don't want her to be unhappy… Connie's so smart, she deserves to go to a really nice school… I'm just… scared she'll meet someone better than me."
"That's what you don't want. What do you want, Steven?"
He stared at the waffles in thought. "I want to always be with her… but I want her to be happy. No matter how. That's what I want."
"Then let her know."
"What?"
"Let her know how you feel about her."
Steven sighed. "She's going to be on the plane in just a couple hours… what could I even say? I'd probably make it worse."
"Listen to what I have to say. You tell her this, and it's how you get what you want."
Steven had straightened himself at that. Garnet told him what he needed to say, and he repeated it back dutifully. She reminded him that he didn't have to say it exactly the way she did, but in whatever way felt most natural to him.
He whistled for Lion, climbed on, and the pink feline was quickly out the door. Steven hoped desperately that Lion wasn't in the mood for any detours, and he thanked his lucky stars when Lion skidded out in front of the city airport.
It was still pouring rain, and Steven squinted as he searched the cars pulling up to the front of the building. He could barely recognize any individual person, all clad in raincoats and huddled under umbrellas. Lion bounced through the crowd, and people ducked out of the way in mixed reactions of shock and fright.
Finally, he spotted her dad's car.
She and her mom were just pulling out her luggage from the trunk, her dad standing on the sidewalk, holding out an umbrella.
Mr. Maheswaran saw Steven first, and he must have said something, because Connie whipped around to stare in disbelief.
In one last leap, he and lion were before her.
Mrs. Maheswaran put herself in front of her daughter and glared at Steven as he dismounted.
"You have a lot of nerve showing up here." Mrs. Maheswaran growled.
Connie pushed at her mom's arm, moving around her. "Mom, I can handle this." She then fixed Steven with a stern look, but he could see her eyes tearing up. Or maybe it was the rain. He couldn't tell.
"What are you doing here? I thought I made myself perfectly clear. I made a choice and you're not-"
"I know." Steven said quickly. "I know, I know I was stupid and dumb, and I shouldn't have ignored you and I should have supported you, I just…"
Connie grabbed the duffle bag sitting upon her suitcase and shrugged it onto her shoulder. "Thanks for owning up, but it's still not changing my mind."
"No, no, that's not what I'm trying to… Connie, honestly, I want you to go."
Her eyes widened in anger and he cringed. That came out wrong.
"Nice to know you care so much!" She grabbed her suitcase and made her way to the sidewalk. He ran up to her.
"I do though! Care about you, I mean… I just…"
"Just what?"
"I didn't know how to tell you before," he took a breath, and let Garnet's advice come out, "but I want you. Like, really, really bad. For better or worse. And if that means waiting for you… I'll do it. I want you to be happy. But I hurt you, and I need to make it better. So I'll wait for you."
The other sounds of the airport hushed away into the background. He couldn't even hear Connie's family protesting from behind her. He could barely feel the rain drowning them all.
All he could hear was her intake of breath.
And then, wet, squishy clothes be damned, she was in his arms.
"Steven," she laughed as her tears began to flow, "you could have said that a long time ago."
"I know," he chuckled at his own expense as he pulled her into the embrace. "I was stupid."
"I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too, and I'm gonna miss you, but you're gonna do really great things."
She looked him in the eyes. They were about the same height and they were both crying. "And you think I won't miss you either? Steven, I hate being away from you too… I just thought you and Lion were going to visit me."
Oh.
They both paused.
She blinked. "You… you didn't think of that, did you?"
"I did… but I thought you wouldn't want me to… I thought you were bored of me."
"What? Steven! Bored of you? What could ever make you think that? Here I thought you didn't think I was good enough to-"
"No way! You're so smart and talented, no wonder you got accepted on a total ride... wait, that's what it's called, right?"
Connie scrunched up her face.
The two burst out laughing.
"We're both idiots, huh?" Connie grinned. Steven nodded in enthusiastic agreement.
At that point, Connie's parents had successfully grabbed her attention and reminded her that she needed to get going. But their expressions towards Steven were a little softer.
"I guess I have to go now," Connie sighed as she went back to her suitcase, "But first… I would like to tell you what I want… before I go."
"Anything."
She blushed, but without breaking eye contact, said, "A kiss."
Steven grinned as he pulled her forward again. He had seen Ruby and Sapphire show their affection a few times before, and imitating them, he brushed a hand through Connie's hair, leaned in, and gave her a light kiss.
She, in turn, grabbed him and pulled him into a deeper kiss.
The two other Maheswaran's were pretending not to notice.
When they separated, Connie was blushing furiously and Steven was beaming.
Mr. Maheswaran came around with the umbrella, even though Connie was drenched now too, and escorted her towards the doors. She gave both her mother and father hugs, who dutifully ignored how wet she was.
Connie waved good bye to all of them as she went through the automatic glass doors, telling them that she loved them, and not to forget to visit.
Steven promised he would. He watched her through the windows until she was lost in the crowd inside.
The Maheswarans had smiled tentatively as they invited Steven to keep in touch with them as well. Then they got into their car, and Steven climbed back on Lion.
Thirty minutes later, Steven had changed into a dry set of clothes and was telling the gems everything that happened. They listened proudly, Garnet especially.
He got a text.
'Hey, getting on the plane, have to turn off phone soon. I love you.' She had added a couple blushing and winking emojis.
Steven texted back right away. 'I love you too. Don't forget to have fun. I can't wait to see you again.'
Author's Note:
This oneshot was inspired by Taylor Swift's How You Get the Girl. This doesn't count as a song fic, right? Idk, instructions unclear, got laptop stuck in ceiling fan.
I own neither Swift's music or Steven Universe.