Lion hopped out of a portal in front of Steven's home with Steven and Connie atop him, skidding as he landed on the sand of the beach beneath him.
"Thanks for the ride, Lion," Steven uttered, following it up with a nervous chuckle.
The two teens hopped off the animal, immediately grabbing the other's hand and turning toward each other, large grins spread across both of their faces. They walked along the beach for a few minutes, finding a nice spot next to the temple where they sat down. Neither of them had an idea of what to do nor say, so they sat there in silence, staring at the night sky. It was peaceful, beautiful, just overall amazing, unlike any events that have taken place in the chaotic last three weeks of their lives.
Suddenly Connie felt Steven's head on her shoulder. Normally she would get flustered over signs of affection such as this, but this time around it felt natural to her. She only chuckled and put an arm around him in reaction.
After their long period of silence, one of them finally spoke: "What now?" Steven asked, turning toward Connie with a soft smile
Connie looked Steven in the eyes; she thought about what the future would hold between the two of them. She opened her mouth to respond, only to close it moments later and look away from Steven's eyes. "I... don't know," she murmured.
"Oh..." Steven responded, looking toward the ground. He sat there in silence for a few seconds before speaking again. "What if we... wait no, never mind..."
Connie raised an eyebrow in his direction, "Steven, it's okay, you don't have to be afraid to ask me something; I won't judge you."
Steven sighed, then nodding, "I'm sorry if I'm asking this too soon after.. y'know, everything that just happened, but..." he felt his cheeks growing warm, "do you wanna fuse?"
Connie's eyes widened, her facial expression quickly turning into a look of shock. "I-I..." she stammered, not able to think of a response.
Tears started dripping from the corners of Steven's eyes, "I-I'm sorry..." he said with a sniffle, "I sh-shouldn't have asked s-so early, I-" he was interrupted by Connie holding a finger up to his lips, who then wiped the tears from his eyes with her thumb.
"Yes," she said with a faint smile.
"Huh?" Steven responded, looking up from the ground and into Connie's eyes.
"I want to fuse, Steven," she said, grabbing both of his hands tenderly, "It's been three weeks, after all. I think it's about time we let Stevonnie stretch their legs.
Steven sat there with his mouth agape, looking into Connie's eyes for any signs of regret or second thoughts. "Y-you're sure?" he asked, making sure he wasn't pressuring his friend into anything she didn't want to do.
"Absolutely," she responded, then standing up and reaching her hand to help him up, "let's do this."
Steven grabbed Connie's hand without temptation, being pulled up in front of her seconds later. He'd been expecting to dance to fuse, but instead, he was pulled into a tight hug, which he quickly sank into. He burst out into a fit of giggles before being enveloped in a bright, pink light.
...
Stevonnie stood there with their arms wrapped around themself, giggling. The fusion opened their eyes, immediately looking at their hands, then to their hair, which was now only about shoulder-length. "Woah..." they said in amazement, "new hairstyle!" they laughed. They fell back onto the sand where they let out a long sigh of both relief and bliss.
"I've missed this, Steven," Stevonnie said, wrapping their arms around themself again.
"Me too, Connie," they responded to themself, "me too..."
The fusion laid there in silence, their smile fading. "Remember when we first fused?" they said, "when we were dancing without a worry in the world," they reached their hands into the sky toward the stars, "and we just so happened to fuse without even knowing that we could."
"Of course! How could I ever forget that?" they asked themself with a chuckle.
"It's funny how that happened almost 2 years ago," they laughed, "Stevonnie- I mean... I have existed for that long, we have existed for that long."
"Yeah," They replied to themself, smirking.
"Hehe... y'know, what's even funnier is how over all of that time I've been afraid to say one thing."
"And what's that?"
Stevonnie giggled, their cheeks darkening.
"I love you."
Their eyes suddenly went wide. The fusion disappeared in a bright flash of light, being replaced by two flustered teens who were thrown in separate directions onto the ground.
Steven and Connie immediately hopped off the ground and looked at each other, redness consuming both of their faces.
"We should go call your mom, she's probably worried sick about you," Steven said, hurriedly.
"Yep!" Connie responded, avoiding eye-contact and walking beside Steven toward his house.