A/N: With how deep Rose and Greg's relationship is, I feel that this could only be Part One of Greg-centered chapters. So basically, this is the "Story for Steven" flashback in Rose's POV. So hope you like it!
Rose has had many human lovers.
On Homeworld, intimate relationships were practically unheard of. No one had the time and patience to get to know someone else on another. Besides, it would be too distracting from work ethics and only be chaos for the both of them.
Earth was different.
Rose hardly ever saw a human on their own without some sort of companion or partner and the way they interacted with each other was much more different than what Rose experienced with her comrades. Often the reason behind such frivolity was to start a family and live together (although over time, Rose realized that not all couples can have children, but that never bothered her).
Intimacy, family, love: these were all foreign words to Rose. But it came naturally to humans like it was an instinct.
A lot of things she didn't understand were often natural for humans. It never had to be taught from parent to child; it just manifested on its own when a human reached a certain age.
In a way, Rose thought it was similar to how Gems popped out of the ground knowing what they were and what they did.
But she was never implemented with such knowledge.
And whenever Rose came across something humans knew and she didn't, she always tried to learn it for herself.
She had many romances with other humans, just to experience the feeling that humans knew and she failed to understand. At first, the men she courted with were more fascinated by her special powers. They tried to study what made her different and even attempted to exploit her for their own purposes.
Naturally, Rose tired of the same thing over and over and tried again after a few centuries.
It was then that humans accepted her as an individual instead of an unearthly goddess. But the men of that time period expected too much from her and often left when she told them she never heard of cooking and cannot provide children.
As much as she tried, her lovers eventually realized that Rose was different from their kind. She cannot provide the same things a human can and doesn't understand the natural instincts humans possessed. Not all of them had the patience to teach them to her. Not all of them wanted the same things as her. Not all of them understood where she came from.
But there were the people who stayed. Those who treated Rose like a normal being and learned to cope with her strange lifestyle. But they couldn't follow down her path. Rose was a warrior who protected Earth and her human lovers couldn't keep up with that. They got lost in the intense everyday events that Rose found normal and failed to understand the reason why she wanted to love them in the first place.
And Rose knew that she could never keep them forever. Even if her lover survived through all the obstacles of their relationship, it didn't prevent them from succumbing to the inevitable.
Every successful relationship ended with the same thing: Rose watched them fade away and strives to move on.
When there aren't any threats to Earth to distract her, Rose went to the human civilization that surrounded the Temple she resided in, otherwise known as Beach City.
She remembered when the city was first being built: Amethyst was excited to see humans for the first time, Pearl was persistent to keep them from seeing what kind of horrors their territory had in store, and Garnet was just happy to see how far they progressed. Rose was always worried for their safety but nonetheless loved how much they built and how it changed from century and century.
What had used to be cobblestone streets lined with snug little shops and taverns were now homey family-run restaurants and tourist stops filled with little plastic treasures. What had used to be rows of thatch-roofed cottages were now houses and apartment buildings of brick and stone.
It was what Rose loved most about humans: as primitive as they are, they never failed to progress and change their values.
The beach at night was always silent and cloaked in darkness but it was different tonight. Lights were set up, setting a bright, incandescent glow on a wooden stage. Plastic chairs surrounded the stage, ever so empty, and enormous speakers were placed along with tables filled with merchandise and equipment.
At first, Rose assumed it was a public gathering orchestrated by the authorities but then she realized what made this event different from other public gatherings: it was completely vacant.
Finally, a voice made itself heard and it was singing. Rose looked up on the stage to see the turned back of a musician, recognizable by long flowing locks of dark hair. He was holding a guitar that was hooked up to the speakers and was singing into a microphone. His song filled the beach air and it crooned the tale of ambitions and dreams, desires to see the stars and the moon, aspirations that everyone else told him were impossible. It reminded Rose of herself, in a way.
When the delightful song ended, the singer looked up to hear the vast silence of his nonexistent crowd. A look of disappointment settled upon him until his expression perked up when he heard Rose's enthusiastic clapping.
"Thanks for coming, everyone," the singer spoke into the microphone, treating as if Rose was an entire crowd. "I'm Mr. Universe. If you like what you just heard, go check out our merch table! My manager Marty can hook you up with CDs, and T-shirts—"
He paused when he saw that the table was completely lacking in management. "Oh, wait he's not there," he continued rather downtrodden. "Guess I'm going over there now."
Once Mr. Universe was settled on the merchandise table, Rose walked up to him and plucked a CD off the counter.
"Space Train to the Cosmos," she read off the cover, interested in the artwork depicting the place where she once resided.
"Yeah!" the musician said enthusiastically. He began belting out another song. "One way ticket and I'm ready to r-ride!"
"How will you get back?" Rose asked.
"Back," Mr. Universe repeated dubiously.
"Back to Earth," Rose replied.
"I'm never coming back," Mr. Universe said casually, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
Rose was rather shocked to hear that. There wasn't any other place as free as Earth. Other planets were either targeted for Homeworld or already under its control. "Oh, that's awful!" she cried. "This is your home."
"Uh . . . you want that?" Greg asked after an awkward silence. "You can have it . . . and it comes with a free T-shirt!" he said as he held up a shirt that couldn't possibly fit Rose's body. "Oh, you probably need a bigger one . . . I've got an extra-extra-large one in my van! Stay right there!"
He hopped off his chair and ran towards his vehicle, splashed bright with paint. Rose hummed while waiting, only to realize just how late it was. Darkness was already cloaking the horizon and Pearl would only assume she was being attacked by Gem monsters if she stayed behind. She glanced towards the musician's van. Perhaps he had more important places to go.
She left the beach in a hurry, Mr. Universe's song still imprinted in her memory.
When she thought that Mr. Universe would carry on with his tour and forget all about her was when she saw Garnet carrying the musician over her head, trying to toss him over the fence that guarded their home.
"Wait!" she cried when she saw the sight. "Mr. Universe?"
She had assumed that he would be off again, signing autographs and singing on stages, like he said in his song, but here he was!
"It's you!" Mr. Universe cried before Garnet dropped him, letting him topple onto the sand with a grunt.
Rose leapt into the air and landed before the disheveled musician holding out her hand to help him up. "Are you alright?"
Mr. Universe's eyes lit up in a way that Rose couldn't either discern as gratefulness or wonder as he took Rose's outstretched hand.
"You know this human?" Pearl interrupted with disgusted shock.
"He was playing a concert on the beach and I couldn't help myself," Rose answered, clasping her hands together shyly.
"No one can ignore the Universe," Mr. Universe bragged, flipping his hair. "I brought you this!" he said as held up the T-shirt he promised her an hour ago. "It's the free T-shirt that came with the free CD."
"Why thank you!" Rose said happily, taking the shirt and pressing it against her body. "His gimmick is space," she whispered when her comrades surrounded her in curiosity.
"Hey, play something, music man!" Amethyst cried out in excitement.
"Better make it good," Garnet warned him, summoning a gauntlet to harden the threat.
"Ah man, I'm working on this awesome set that's going to kill it at my next show!" Mr. Universe said excitably. "Next show . . . oh geez, what time is it?"
"Night . . . time?" Pearl said slowly.
"Yeah, Marty's probably looking for me," Mr. Universe said. "We're supposed to hit the road . . . Big show in a big city . . . and I didn't drop out of community college for nothing!"
"What?" Pearl asked briefly before being interrupted by Rose.
"Well, you better hurry," Rose said. "You don't want to miss your space train to the cosmos."
She was not disappointed, she knew humans lived short lives and they didn't have all the time in the world to follow their dreams and stay by their friends' side.
"Okay!" Mr. Universe said with a wink as he raced off the cliff that housed the Temple. He turned for a brief second before adding, "I hope the stars will align for us to meet again!"
"I'm sure they will," Rose cried out hopefully, even though she knew deep down that it probably wasn't true.
"Bye, music man!" Amethyst blurted out with a wave.
When Mr. Universe trotted off the beach and out of sight, Pearl frowned and said, "I can sing!"
Unable to hold it back, Garnet chuckled, which elicited a laugh from Amethyst which caused Rose to crack a smile.
"What?" she asked, unaware of exactly how desperate she was being.
Humans always surprised Rose, which was why she didn't expect for the man to return to the Temple again, this time carrying a guitar and bringing with him a song to sing.
She could hear his music croon from the other side of her door, and it worried her. She knew that those who stayed were often the ones who faded away the fastest. She wasn't prepared to go through the same things again: a human enchanted by her mystery and power and trudging through impossible obstacles to see her again only to die off after a few decades or so.
It was the same cycle over and over again, and Rose couldn't take it.
Finally, she opened her door and emerged from the cloudy haven that she called her room. She saw Mr. Universe kneeling before the door, amazed to see her again.
"Please . . . go away," Rose said slowly and sadly.
Mr. Universe sprung to his feet and backed away nervously. "I'm sorry . . . did I?"
Rose didn't know how to explain this lightly. How could she ever tell him about her previous failures with love, how quickly her lovers fade away? How could she tell him that it would be impossible for him to be there forever, not when both their definitions of "forever" were two entirely different words?
She sighed and tried to explain it the best she could. "You're awfully cute . . . and I really wanna play with you, but your life is short and you have dreams. I won't let you give up on everything you want."
Mr. Universe bowed his head low and let his hair obscure his eyes. "That's going to be a problem . . ." he said.
"Huh?" Rose piped up.
"You're everything I want!" he cried out, with a burning look of passion in his eyes.
Stunned, Rose let herself give into the laugh inside of her, flattered by how much he cared for her in just one night.
Maybe this time would be different, Rose thought as a tear slid off her face and landed in a puddle by the Warp Pad.
