Lily heard the pitter-pattering of rain on the house as she sat in front of a coffee table.
"So," Stevonnie started, standing at the stove and making tea. They blew hair out of their face, then turning off the flame under the kettle. "how old are you?"
"Fifteen," Lily replied, watching as the fusion grabbed two mugs and poured tea into them. "If you don't mind me asking; how old are you?"
Stevonnie put a hand up to their chin, scratching their stubble. "Depends on whether you're asking me, Steven, or Connie," they answered, "because, well, I was formed for the first time when my components were pre-teens." The fusion walked over to the coffee table, taking a seat next to Lily and handing her a mug. "Me though..." they did math in their head for a few seconds, then coming up with their answer, "I'm one hundred and seventy four years old."
Lily nearly dropped her mug. She looked up at Stevonnie, wide-eyed. "Whoa... you're, like, super, super old!"
"And yet I don't look a day older than thirty, do I?" Stevonnie grinned, winking.
Lily supposed that the fusion was right; they literally did not look any older than thirty. Unlike all of her other grandmas and grandpas, they had no visible grey hairs nor wrinkles. Well, all of her other grandmas and grandpas except her great great great great grandma... who also happened to have pink skin and look like a teenager... she decided not to think too hard about it.
"I get that you're my great great great great great grandma-grandpa and all, but... why don't you look like..." Lily hesitated, then pointing toward Stevonnie's dark brown hair, "a grandma-grandpa?"
The fusion chuckled, wrapping an arm around Lily. "You know how gems don't age, right?"
Lily nodded. She'd been around gems for her whole life; she actually lives with two of them.
"Well," Stevonnie continued, pointing toward the gem on their own naval, "I happen to be able to control my physical appearance. I can age however much I feel like! Well, at least Steven can. Connie just doesn't age because she's been me for so long."
"Wait... does that mean that I, also, can control my physical appearance?" Lily asked, starry eyed.
"Probably! I dunno," Stevonnie replied. They raised their arms above their head and stretched, then sighing and taking a sip from their mug. Their eyes suddenly went wide; "Hey, I should introduce you to Lion!" they said, smiling, "Lion! Get down here, you fuzzball!"
Lily looked up, watching as the head of a pink lion peeked down from the loft. The lion then jumped into the air, landing right in front of the coffee table.
"There you are!" Stevonnie said, then setting their mug down. They stood up, walking over to Lion and petting him behind the ear.
"Oh! Your pet lion," Lily said, also standing up to pet the beast. "He was mentioned in a book I read about the history of the Crystal Gems."
"You hear that, Lion?" Stevonnie asked, "you're famous."
The fusion received a grunt from the creature in response.
Stevonnie looked over to Lily, noticing that the teenager seemed lost in thought as she pet the creature. "What you thinking about, kid?" they asked.
"Oh! Uh... something just clicked in my head," Lily said, then looking Stevonnie in the eyes, "are you the reason that my great great great great grandma is pink?"
Stevonnie's trademark grin faded at the question. "Oh, Stephanie? My first daughter?"
Lily nodded, remembering the time a few years ago that she had asked her grandma about her pink color, only to receive no answer.
"Heh..." Stevonnie let out a fake laugh, "yeah, I am..." they put a hand to their forehead and rubbed it, obviously stressed about the subject. "It happened over a hundred years ago though..."
"Why... is she pink?" Lily asked, hesitating slightly. She noticed how the mood in the room had suddenly changed; shifting from a happy, friendly vibe to a sad one.
"I..." Stevonnie started, then looking toward a specific picture of Connie holding a baby that hung above the couch. Lily assumed the baby was grandma Stephanie. "I don't really want to talk about it, but... I'll at least tell you that people and animals turn pink after I bring them back from the dead using my healing tears."
Lily put a hand to her chin. "So... you have the power to bring people and animals back to life, but at the cost that they turn pink?" she asked, spotting a pink, one-eyed cat walking on top of the counter across the room. She decided against asking about it.
"Yeah," Stevonnie responded, "apparently pink zombies live forever, also. Lion here is about four hundred years old." The fusion scratched under Lion's chin. "Oh yeah; for some reason, pink zombies can also do this!" They proceeded to reach into Lion's mane, the spot their arm was reaching into glowing. "They all have a pocket dimension inside of them that things can be stored inside," they said as they moved their arm around a little, then grabbing something and pulling it out: it was a framed picture of three people. "Aw man, it's been a while since I've looked at this."
Lily looked at what was in the picture. It seemed to be a picture of Stevonnie's two components, Steven and Connie, sitting at the beach with what looked like her great great great great grandma, who was a non-pink teenager.
"Wow, it feels so... weird seeing grandma as a color other than pink," Lily remarked, chuckling slightly.
"It's just as weird for me, kid," Stevonnie sighed, then sticking the picture back into Lion's mane. The fusion sat back down on the couch, quickly being followed by Lily. "Sometimes I wish I could go back to those days: taking care of just one child... living the simple life..." the fusion said as they looked at all of the pictures that lined the walls of their home.
"Just one child?" Lily asked, confused, "I thought that grandma Stephanie was your only child?"
Stevonnie looked surprised by her question. "Stephanie never told you about her brothers and sisters?"
"She almost never talks," Lily said, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Telling me about this temple was the first time she talked to me in about a year."
Stevonnie let out a long, stress-filled sigh, then looking Lily in the eye. "I'm taking care of five kids currently. Four are off at boxing practice right now, but they'll be home very, very shortly. The other one is in the other room napping: he's only eight months old," Stevonnie said, then looking down at their stomach, "it'll be six kids very soon though..."
"Oh! Congratulations," Lily said once she realized the implication of Stevonnie's last line. "Is that all? Just my grandma and those five?"
Stevonnie burst out laughing at the teenager's question. While wiping tears from their eyes, they pointed toward a huge picture that hung in the kitchen. It had somewhere around sixty people in it; all having dark brown hair and a skin tone that ranged from white to a light brown. Everyone's ages ranged from only being a few years old to being around eighty or even older (None of them necessarily looked that old though. It was probably something to do with how they were all 1/4 gem.)
"Holy..." Lily said, her mouth falling open.
"That's from a Universe family reunion I held about ten years ago," Stevonnie said through giggles, "I guess you could say that Steven and Connie really like children." Still giggling, they leaned in really close to Lily's face: "Take a guess as to what the one thing that I unfuse for is."
"Gross!" Lily yelled, playfully pushing Stevonnie's face away as she started laughing herself.
Their laughs were interrupted by the warp pad chiming, lighting up the room for a few seconds before five people appeared. Stevonnie hopped up, outstretching their arms. "Kids!" they shouted, running and hugging four kids at once. One of the kids looked about seven, another one nine, another one thirteen, and the last one sixteen.
"Where's my hug?" Garnet asked, chuckling before Stevonnie hugged her also.