Temper: To strengthen through experience or hardship
The wet beach sand brought the van's pace to a bumpy, sluggish crawl, and Steven hoped that it would stop altogether. Nervous anticipation bubbled up bigger in his chest the closer they got to the temple. Seeing the newly-constructed beach house come into view, he hugged his overnight bag even tighter.
"You okay back there, kiddo?" his dad asked, glancing over his shoulder from the driver's seat to check on him. For the entire trip, Greg's eyes had been trained on the rearview mirror almost as much as they had been on the road. "You're starting to look a little green there, bud. Try not to hurl in the van!" he said, forcing a laugh.
Steven caught his dad's frown in the mirror when he didn't laugh back.
Greg stopped the van abruptly, putting it in park before turning around to his son. "Alright Steven, what's bugging you?"
"Oh, I'm okay dad," Steven told him, looking down to avoid his gaze. "I'm fine."
"Steven, you haven't said a thing the whole way here; that's not like you. Usually you'd be talking up a storm about getting to see the Gems, and how cool they are, and how excited you are to…" He trailed off, pausing for a moment. "I thought you were excited, Steven."
"I am excited," Steven said with more than a little uncertainty, "but… I'm kinda tired. Can't I just stay home tonight?"
"I told you; I have to go help one of my buddies move this weekend. It'll be easier if you stay here."
"I can help," Steven insisted, holding up his arms to show off imaginary biceps. "I'm strong!"
Greg chuckled. "Whoa, you put those guns away, kid," he said, ruffling his son's hair. He sighed. "No, Steven; you're gonna stay with the Gems this weekend. We've been planning this for weeks- the house is finally finished and they've been really looking forward to this. Why are you so down all of a sudden?"
"Well, uh…" Steven looked back down at his rain boots.
"C'mon buddy," Greg pressed.
"I… I don't want you to leave me with the Gems," Steven admitted.
"What? Steven, the Gems babysit and hang out with you all the time, and it's just for one night-"
"No!" Steven cried. "I know about how you're gonna make me live with them. You helped them build the house at the temple, and you're getting rid of a bunch of stuff from the apartment, an-and you've been telling them all that stuff about how to take care of me!" His eyes started to water. "You're gonna leave me, dad! I don't want you to leave." His tears flowed uncontrollably now. "I-I don't want you to leave me!"
"Steven, I-" Greg jumped out of the van and went around to the other side, throwing open the door to climb in next to his son. "Steven, I'm not abandoning you!" he assured, placing a hand on Steven's shoulder. "I'd never do that! I'm coming back to pick you up tomorrow, I promise."
"Bu-but what about after tomorrow?" Steven insisted. "I know you're gonna leave me there soon."
Greg sighed again. "Look, Steven," he said, "I know we haven't talked about it much with you, and I'm sorry, but this is just what has to happen. Do you understand?" Steven shook his head in a definite 'no'.
"Well, this has always been the plan, Steven," Greg explained. "I can't afford to rent out an apartment for much longer. Even if I could, while I may be able to take care of an ordinary human kid alright, I'm not really qualified to handle a… gem kid," he said, poking Steven's gem, eliciting a burst of laughter from the boy. Soon after he stubbornly sobered himself back to his previously gloomy mood.
"There's a lot of stuff you're gonna have to learn, Steven," Greg told him, "stuff I can't teach you." Steven pulled up the edge of his jacket to examine the pink jewel curiously set where his bellybutton would've been. He squished it between his tummy fat; poked it as far into his belly as possible; picked fruitlessly at the edges with his chubby fingers, inspecting it like he had done many times before. Whatever he did, the translucent rock refused to part with the rest of him.
"I'm not sure I'm ready for that," he confessed.
"You don't have to be," his father said. "Not yet, anyway."
"But… what if I'm never ready?"
Greg bit his lip, thinking for a moment. "You will be," he decided. "Probably a lot sooner than you think."
"And I'm not going anywhere!" Greg insisted, pulling Steven in for a hug. "I'll still be around; someone's gotta run the car wash, right? And you can come pal around with me whenever you want, okay?"
Steven nodded, wiping the tears from his face. "Yeah, okay."
"Good. So, you ready to go see the Gems now?"
"Yup!" Steven unbuckled his seatbelt and started to shrug on his backpack.
"Whoa, I can drive you up to the temple, buddy!" Greg said, dodging to the side as Steven plowed past him and out the door.
"It's okay dad; I've got this." Steven pulled up his hood against the rain and took off across the beach, waving back to his father mid-stride. "Bye, daaaaaaaadd!"
"See you later, son!" Greg stood out in the sand for a moment, waving back, before he realized how drenched he was getting and hurried back inside.
Sprinting for the temple, Steven looked back over his shoulder every so often, each time finding the old van still there, his dad still waving back at him. Even after he made it safely up the new wooden porch steps, the van still hadn't left. Steven would've kept waving, but the rain poured on, urging him inside.
Thank you for reading, I always appreciate it! Any reviews, whether it be constructive criticism or a quick comment saying you liked it, would make me the happiest writer this side of the cosmos!
Big thanks to ABirdWhoSquawks for beta reading and editing this fic for me! Be sure to go check out their fics as well!
This little ficlet came to be after I started brainstorming ideas for a fanfic about Steven's first overnight with the Gems. When I started thinking about what might've transpired on the way there between Steven and Greg, I decided to make that its own separate one-shot! The original fic still has not been written yet, but I hope to get that out there sooner or later! While both fics will be companions to each other, each will be able to stand on its own as a one-shot and will be published on FF.n as its own story. So…. look out for that sometime in the future!