DISCLAIMER: I don't own Steven Universe or any of its characters. If I did, I would probably somehow make the show angstier.

Made of Love

"Hey, uh, Garnet?" She turned at the familiar voice to see Greg sheepishly smiling at her. He nervously kicked at the sand.

Garnet returned the expression with a slight smile of her own. "Yes?" She said to be polite, though she already had an inkling of why he had approached her.

"Uh, hey, I just wanted to," Greg rubbed the back of his neck, "I wanted to thank you for the advice. For last night."

Personally, Garnet was glad that he had taken her advice. Pearl certainly wasn't, but something about all of this felt right to Garnet and she had long since learned to trust her instincts.

Love, and she knew this better than most, took time and commitment. It could indeed start with a single feeling or attraction, but real love, true love, was a choice. Every single day, Ruby and Sapphire chose to love each other, and so she was.

Rose Quartz had had several human romantic interests in the past. None of them however would be willing to put in the time or effort to really be with her. Rose would lose interest, or they would lose interest, or just as things got interesting the human would die.

Greg was different though.

Witnessing fusion had been enough to send one of Rose's lovers running away screaming in the past. Garnet suspected that was one of the many reasons Pearl had initiated it. Greg hadn't run though. He'd been fascinated by it and had tried to actually understand it. Partly he had gotten the gist of it.

Garnet knew that humans had a way of intimacy that was somewhat similar, which occasionally brought about offspring, but Greg had known it wasn't like that exactly. He still attempted to find a way to get that same sort of intimacy. He was trying to understand, trying to make this work.

Garnet could admire that sort of effort. She couldn't help but give him advice.

It wasn't the actual merging that made fusion what it was; understanding your partner and sharing feelings and thoughts was where the real magic happened.

And in a way, Greg had been able to achieve that last night.

"You're welcome." Garnet told him. "There's no need to thank me."

"Yeah, I do!" Greg protested. He glanced away for a second. "I mean, I know I've kinda wrecked the life you guys have had with showing up and hanging around. Pearl..." His foot kicked at the sand as he hunched his shoulders a bit and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Yeah, no one had any illusions regarding how Pearl felt about this.

"Anyway, so you giving me advice, and good advice at that," he looked back up with a big grin, "well, I'm glad I've got your approval at least."

Garnet felt her smile grow a bit.

Yes, Greg was most certainly different, and she could see that he would definitely be around for a good while. And thus, she made an impulsive decision.

("What? What are we doing?"

"He's going to have to meet us eventually."

"Right now?! I thought I was the impulsive one."

"Look at what he's about to ask. It's the perfect opportunity."

"Fine. But don't let go."

"I wasn't planning on it".)

"You're really good at this kind of stuff. Do you have a lot of experience with relationships?" After getting the thank you off his chest, Greg's body language became a lot more open, head tilted in curiosity.

"I guess you could say that." Garnet answered. "After all, we've been together for a long time."

"I see." Greg nodded before her words caught up to him. "Wait. We?"

"I think it's time we introduced ourselves." Garnet said. She unfused, leaving Ruby and Sapphire in her spot, hands linked.

Greg blinked in shock as he looked down at the two gems standing before him now. Both Ruby and Sapphire gave him a smile, though they remained hand in hand.

"Hello, Mr. Universe." Sapphire broke the short silence.

Her words broke Greg out of his stupor. "Garnet's a fusion?!" He smacked a fist against his other palm in realization. "Now that I think about it you do usually have two gems! And you've got the - " He gestured towards his eyes to indicate Garnet's three.

"Yes." Sapphire gave a small chuckle.

Ruby glanced over at her, her smile growing at Sapphire's amusement. Then she glanced back at Greg. She was glad that he was taking this so well. Then again, he had barely batted an eye at Rainbow Quartz besides wanting to understand what had happened so she shouldn't have been surprised.

Sapphire probably had seen this though. As per usual, she was right.

"So who are you guys?" Greg crouched down a bit so he was now more at their eye level.

"I'm Ruby." Ruby gestured at herself before raising their joined hands to indicate her partner. "And this is Sapphire."

"Wow." Greg whispered in awe. Then his expression became a bit flustered. "Uh, nice to meet you. I, uh," he was sheepish again, "hope I make a good first impression?" It was more a question than a statement.

The two exchanged a glance. "Technically, our first impression of you was when we tried to toss you back over the fence." Sapphire pointed out.

"Yeah, so your first impression was pretty good actually. Garnet's on the other hand..." Ruby trailed off with a stream of nervous laughter. If anyone should be worried about first impressions, it was them.

"So we're cool?" Greg asked, obviously still unsure.

"Yeah!" Ruby said, speaking for them both. "Besides, you're the first human who's ever tried to fuse with Rose!"

"A most impressive feat." Sapphire added.

At their words, Greg's eyes became starry, and he relaxed more. "Guess I really do have your approval."

Ruby and Sapphire both nodded.

"So you're fused all the time?" His curiosity had returned as he had gotten used to their presence. Then again, one could say that their presence was there whenever he encountered the other gems.

"Yes." Sapphire said as the three of them sat down and got comfortable in the sand of the beach.

"Wow." Greg shook his head in slight disbelief. "From what everyone was saying about fusion, that must mean communication is super important to you guys."

"It is." Sapphire agreed, but it was Ruby who elaborated.

"Yeah, when we really can't agree we can quite literally fall apart. Ugh, I hate when that happens." Ruby made a face of disgust, holding tighter to Sapphire's hand. It was just to remind herself that this wasn't like those times. They were fine, but this interaction was needed.

Even without being fused, Sapphire could sense the direction of her partner's thoughts. She squeezed Ruby's hand in return.

"So, uh, who is Garnet exactly then? Is Ruby like one part or side and Sapphire's the other? I mean, no one really explained that." He said the last part quickly, as if to avoid offense. Of course, no offense was taken to warrant the reaction.

Sapphire took point on this question. "She is neither me nor Ruby exactly." She paused to search for the right word. They had never really had to explain themselves or fusion before. "She is the embodiment of everything we are. Garnet is us, yet more: an experience not like any other. She is more than either of us alone, but she is at the same time us. She is..."

"The answer is love." Ruby interjected, simplifying it. "What she is, what we are, is our love."

"Wow." The stars had returned to Greg's eyes. "That's amazing; it's so romantic."

Sapphire could almost see him composing lyrics inspired by their words. She didn't mind. After all, the world could use more love songs.

"You guys really are the ones to know about love then." Greg's eyes softened.

"Well, I wouldn't say we're experts..." Ruby sheepishly said as Sapphire let out another chuckle. The two gazed lovingly at each other, missing Greg's sappy look.

"Mr. Universe?" The three looked up as they heard Rose Quartz approach. "What are you..." Rose trailed off as she took in the scene before her. She blinked in surprise. "Ruby, Sapphire, you unfused?"

"Yes. We felt it prudent to introduce ourselves." Sapphire stood and brushed the sand from her skirt. Ruby followed her lead.

"Really?" Rose Quartz asked with understandable confusion. After all, Ruby and Sapphire had never felt the need to reveal themselves to any other human Rose had brought home before.

"Yeah, since he's sticking around and all." Ruby said. At her words, Sapphire caught a flash of something with her future vision. It was unclear, but it was almost like...

Sapphire brushed off the possibility. Ruby had shown her time and again that her future vision was not something that was infallible.

Rose grinned at them both, brushing a bit of hair back almost shyly. "I see." And her palpable happiness was enough to tell the two smaller gems that they had made the right decision.

Ruby chuckled and leaned into Sapphire. "Good idea, Sapphy."

"It was Garnet's." Sapphire smiled back.

"Then how about we let her make even better decisions?" Ruby said, picking her up with a little toss.

"Of course." Sapphire said with a laugh as the two spun together.

As easily as breathing, the two fused together.

Once more, Garnet stood in their place, a goofy, loving grin on her face. "Excellent talk, Mr. Universe." She said as she reformed her sunglasses. "Have fun with Rose."

As she walked away, happy with being whole once more, she could hear Greg and Rose's words drift over to her.

Greg chuckled. "So Garnet's one of those couples."

"What couples?"

"The kind of couple where the people are so in love and wrapped up in each other that you can't help but smile at it."

Looking over her shoulder at the couple behind her as they gazed at each other with loving affection, Garnet couldn't help but think that she wasn't the only pairing around that fit that description.

But they hadn't quite realized it yet.

AN: So in Keystone Motel, it was obvious that Greg knew that Garnet was a fusion of Ruby and Sapphire. We also know from Mr. Greg that Rose has had other romantic interests in the past, but Greg was somehow different as he actually got to keep her. In that vein, I was just wondering what the first meeting between Greg and the Power Couple may have been like so I wrote this up. Personally, I think it's fairly plausible, but then again who knows when he found out.

By the way, the possibility that Sapphire saw in that moment was that Greg would be around them in the future longer than Rose.