Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe!

Title: Restless

Summary: Captain Lars faces his hardest challenge yet; getting re-accustomed to Earth.

Chapter Title: Rude Visitors

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Demo-nisshu jinketsu Duke- I plan to bring more on them soon! =)

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"Hey, Steven," the left Rutile greeted as he opened the door. "Captain Lars asked me to come get you."

"He asked me too!" the right Rutile chirped.

"Oh. Um..." Steven craned his neck out the front entryway to the beach house. The angle wasn't quite right to see the Sun Incinerator from here. "Is there a problem?"

"STTTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

"There's a problem," Rutile agreed, stepping aside. "Take a look."

Steven raced out onto the porch, slamming into the railing. Down below he could easily make out Lars, his hair and clothes disheveled from sleep, wrestling with Lion. Though, really, wrestling was too nice a word for the scene, as the teen was pushing the great creature away from him by the muzzle, and Lion, while not exactly forging on ahead, showed no signs of backing down. "Lars!"

"Steven!" he yelled up at him. "Get your stupid cat offa me!"

He turned to the Rutiles. "What happened?"

They both shrugged. It was the right one who answered. "We were all just settling in when the pink blob made a portal into our ship. Next thing we knew, it was dragging Captain Lars out."

"You didn't stop him?"

"The Captain told us not to get in the way."

"Oh." Steven frowned, leaning over the railing. "Lars, we're gonna have to talk about your bad habit of putting yourself in danger when you don't need to!"

Lars released Lion's jaw and jumped back, the critter swinging a hefty paw to try and cuff him. "I'll talk about that as soon as you start talking about your self-blame issues!"

"You have me this time, Barriga!"

"Hey, not that I don't enjoy a bit of witty banter or anything-" Lion tackled him to the sands. A small cloud of yellow grit flew up. "But this is a really bad time for it!"

The boy took the quickest route down via hopping off the porch and floating to the ground. Lars rolled out from under Lion and put him in what best could be described as an amateurish headlock, grunting with effort. Lion looked quite bored.

"Lars, don't hurt my pet lion!" he cried.

"I'm not hurting him!" Lars snapped. "I'm incapacitating him. There's a difference, okay?" He grit his teeth as Lion attempted to fling him off. "You listen to me, furrball. I didn't die and commit multiple galactic felonies just to get done in by some... some... some wannabe-Simba!"

That seemed to be the straw on the camel's back. Lion bucked him off, bending down to grab Lars by the back of his neckline. Lars let out a choking noise and dug his heels in, struggling to get free as he was pulled towards the waves. Steven put on a burst of speed to help, but it was for naught- Lion has chucked him into the ocean.

Lars came up spluttering and displeased. "What? Why? Who?"

"Awwww!" Steven gushed. "He was giving you a bath!"

He pushed his wet hair out of his face. "I call baloney!" he cried. "He didn't even start pulling me this way until you came out!"

The boy let out a little giggle as Lars spat some of the salty water out, helping him up once he was finished. "Well, whatever the case, I'm glad it turned out okay."

Lars squinted at Lion. "I'm on to you, fuzzy-wuzzie."

Lion snorted and padded away. True to Lars' word, the creature looked slightly disappointed in how things had gone, but that might have just been because the teenager hadn't floated.

Author's Note: Ooh, things are heating up between the two pink floofs. More on this bit later, I promise.

Next Time, on Restless: Lars and Steven attend a horror movie session.

-Mandaree1