"This is what you wear, Stevann?"

Y-6 gazed intently at his leather-clad arm, wiggling his fingers experimentally.

"Yeah! Well— not me, personally," Steven explained. "That's the sort of stuff cool guys wear. It's called a jacket."

"Jaacket," Y-6 repeated carefully, and his face lit up. "Jaacket! Yes! I like it! But what is a 'cool guys'?"

"Can I wear what you have, Gareg?"

Steven turned and found J-10 standing tall in a pink dress. Connie looked helpless beside her.

Greg visibly coloured. "Oh, this? This is— this is old man stuff!"

"Dad!" Steven cried stubbornly. "You're not old!"

"Please, Gareg?" J-10 pushed innocently. "I like your calothes!"

She enunciated the "th" strangely, like a surprised toddler.

Greg took a step back. "Well, not these but— I'm sure we can find you your own!"

"Yes!" J-10 looked pleased.

Across the store, U-12 was spinning in her new sundress. She stumbled and sent a potted fern crashing to the floor.

"Ah— I'll get it!" Connie cried, and she dashed over to help the dark girl up.

When Steven turned back around, he noticed L-5 (a slender, chestnut-haired youth) by the dressing rooms. Kiki was helping him fit a pair of heeled thigh-length boots on. As she zipped them up for him, he looked incredibly pleased — and then he wobbled and promptly fell on top of her.

After the healing of the corrupted Gems, Steven had approached Yellow and Blue and requested the return of the captive humans. Though Blue was hesitant, Yellow readily agreed, and a few days later, Steven awoke to find the entire Zoo hovering over the town.

Of course, as quickly as he could manage, he hid the Zoo in the Strawberry Battlefields and since then had tasked himself with helping the Zoomans adjust to the new developed Earth. The concealing of such an addition to the town could not be kept a secret, and so he had first told a select few citizens about the situation and, inevitably, enlisted some much-needed help.

And it was working, for the most part.

The first thing on the agenda had been to dress the Zoomans appropriately, and so far Kiki, Jenny, Buck, Sour Cream, Sadie, Peedee and Ronaldo had turned up at the store to assist them. According to Sadie, Lars wouldn't be coming, as he wanted some time to spend with his family since his return.

Steven felt a hand on his arm and turned to see Connie.

"The store's in shambles," she sighed, wincing at another clatter that echoed from behind. "We'll have to come back later and help clean up."

"And replace some things, too, by the looks of it," Greg put in, rubbing his neck.

At that moment, J-10 burst out from behind a changing curtain, followed by an exhausted-looking Jenny. "Gareg, look! I am wearing your calothes!"

Greg flushed and hurriedly averted his gaze. The poor girl had haphazardly thrown on a much-too-big singlet (whose collar dipped dangerously low), and a pair of shorts that barely clung to her hips. Jenny sighed. "I dunno, I think you'd look way better in a dress, JJ."

"I like these," J-10 replied stubbornly, and folded her arms (thankfully) over her cleavage.

"I mean, yeah, but what about Boots over there?" The darker girl jerked her head at L-5. "Dude chose his own clothes and he's lookin' stylin'!"

J-10 blinked.

"Hey," Steven said gently, and took her hand. She looked down at him inquisitively. "You can wear whatever you like, but these clothes don't seem to fit you. Let's find some in your size."

"Of course!" she beamed.

"Hey, Steven." Buck's deadpan voice made him turn around. Standing a head taller beside the teen was F-3, grinning under his fringe of blonde hair and clad in trackpants, a long-sleeved shirt and a puffer vest. "I think my man's ready."

"Steven!" he whipped around and was met with Sour Cream, with what looked like a dark-haired clone beside him.

The boy looked helplessly between them all, blinking furiously. There was way too much going on.

Connie seemed to notice his distress and took his hand. "Hey, I think they look happy. That's two more people crossed off our list. That leaves just. . . thirty-three more. If we spend a few minutes on each person, we should be done by half-past."

Steven nodded helplessly.

"C'mon," the girl smiled, and appealed to Greg. "Mr Universe, could you please take these two to the Pizzas'? I heard Mr Fryman's overloaded with customers today."

"Yeah— okay, sure thing." He sounded uncertain, but ushered them off anyways.

"Buck, Sour Cream, did you get the prices on those?" Connie asked.

They both handed her some crumpled slips of paper.

"Perfect," she smiled, "Thank you! Could you help a couple of others in the meantime?"

"Guys!" Steven called. All the Zoomans dropped what they were doing and turned to look at him. "We've got ten more minutes! Let's pick our clothes and go eat!"

They all gazed at him blankly.

"Ten more minets?" Y-6 asked interestedly.

Steven sighed. "If you're not happy with your clothes, we all have one more change and then we're leaving."

"I'm happy with my calothes," Y-6 replied cheerfully.

"Okay, good." Steven grabbed his hand and led him to the door, pointing outside. "See that shop over there? Can you go there for me? Just knock on the door and they'll let you in."

"Knock?"

Steven rapped his knuckles on the glass shopfront in demonstration.

Once Y-6 made it safely across the boardwalk Steven ran back and returned to the kerfuffle. "Kiki, how's L-5?"

"Hey, Steven! I think he's happy," she smiled, and looked up at him from her position on the floor. "How ya feelin', L-5?"

Her only response was a delighted grin.

"Alright. Could you please take him to your shop?"

"Sure thing."


Thirty-one Zoomans and $3,000 later, they were all gathered at Fish Stew Pizza.

"Will we be eating now, Stevann?" a slight red-haired girl asked.

The doorbell tinkled and Steven turned to find a band of Zoomans walking back out through the front door.

"Ah— yeah," he said quickly, "But in here."

The girl looked confused. "How?"

He never answered as he hurried outside after the others.

The Zoomans were congregated around a pot plant a few paces away. He rushed over.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Waiting for the fruit," J-10 replied simply, her eyes on the plant.

"Um— fruit doesn't just . . . appear, like that, here."

An elderly lady standing at the edge of the circle looked confused. "It doesn't? Then how do you know what to eat?"

"We choose."

"How do you know when to eat?"

"Uh, well . . . we usually eat three times a day. When we wake up, in the middle of the day, and before we go to bed. We don't have to, though. And we can just eat whenever we like in between meals."

Everyone looked confused except for the tall, muscular lady on the far side of the circle.

"Whenever we like?" she said, excitement palpable.

Steven nodded and turned back to the shop. "Yeah. But right now, we're getting food inside. C'mon."


The beach was aswarm with Zoomans.

Steven had only just managed to convince them all to follow him home before "play". As soon as their toes hit the sand, the beach was covered in rolling bodies, much to Steven's exasperation and Pearl's detriment.

"We can't have them all here!" she cried, and whirled to Steven. "Steven! Didn't you put the Zoo in the Battlefields?"

"Well, yeah, but . . . I just decided to take them into town today."

"What are they doing?" the Gem pushed, distressed. "Are they hurt? Are they sick?"

Connie stepped up and laid a reassuring hand on her arm. "It's okay, Pearl. They're just playing."

"'Playing'?" Pearl asked in disbelief.

Y-6 rolled onto his back, stretching his hands toward the sky, and giggled delightedly.

"It's . . . part of their old routine," Connie offered, now shooting Steven a discerned look.

Pearl sighed. "Okay, just . . . please clear them out before nightfall." With one last disconcerted look at the Zoomans, she headed back to the Temple.

Steven cleared his throat. "Okay, everyone. . . we all need to have a shower."

Pearl shrieked. "To the Zoo, Steven!"

With no little effort, Steven and Connie persuaded Pearl to let them in provided they stayed seated in the living room and showered one at a time. Steven relented to B-4's begging and let her in to wash first.

Between them, Steven and Connie had decided that they would take care of the members of their own sexes respectively, and so when the Connie ushered the dark lady into the bathroom, Steven waited outside the door, keeping an eye on everyone else.

From inside came the pattering of water and then a cry.

"B-4, no! Your clothes! You have to take off your clothes!"

"Why?" came the soft, curious voice.

"You wear these in the daytime! You don't want them wet!"

Thirty arduous minutes later and Connie stumbled out with a redressed B-4, whose wet, waist-length hair clung to her back.

"Steven, this will take hours," Connie wailed. "We won't get any sleep if we let them all shower tonight!"

"Ooooooooo."

The chorus made them turn. All thirty-six Zoomans were pressed against the front windows, gazing outside.

"What is that?" one of them murmured.

"It looks like a big splash from the sky," another whispered.

Gingerly, Steven pushed his way to the front and squinted into the darkening night. He let out a gasp of realisation. "It's raining."

"Raining?" J-10 asked.

"Everyone, let's go outside!" Steven called, and opened the door. "You can all get clean in the rain!"

Without reservation the Zoomans pounced at the idea and all filed excitedly outside. There was a collective gasp as the rain kissed their skin.

"Rain! Rain!" J-10 cried happily, prancing about on the deck. F-3 and U-12, hand-in-hand, rushed down the stairs and onto the wet sand. The rest of the Zoomans soon followed.

Steven and Connie stood on the balcony, entranced, watching the happy people. Some of them even took off towards the water, diving and pushing each other into the waves. Steven sagged against the railing, exhausted.

"I never thought this would be so much work," he groaned.

Connie set a hand on his back. "Hey, I think we did great today, Steven," she cooed. "Look how happy they are. And they're adjusting so fast! I think they'll be ready to meld in with town life in no time."

He shot her a tired smile. "You think so?"

She crouched down next to him and gave him a hug. "I know so."


Unfortunately, there were still corrupted Gems roaming the Earth, and Stevonnie and the Gems had agreed to continue their missions until every once had been brought back and healed.

Upon their return from yet another search, Stevonnie separated and their boy counterpart decided to venture into town.

His first stop was the Big Donut. Y-6 had taken up a job there two weeks earlier upon Lars' resignation for hopes to open his own bakery.

When he walked through the door, he found a very cheery Y-6 handing a couple a bag of doughnuts. Upon seeing the boy, the new cashier waved.

"Steven!"

His language was definitely improving, but he hadn't quite mastered it yet.

"How's everything going?" the boy asked, sauntering up to the counter.

"Wonderful! Would you like a doughnut?"

"Ah— actually, yes please." He slid a bill over. "Surprise me."

Y-6 disappeared beneath the counter.

Confused, Steven leaned over, and yelped when the youth shot upright again. "Surprise!"

For a moment, Steven could only stare, and then he broke into helpless chuckles, eyes streaming.

"Did I surprise you, Steven?" the youth grinned.

Steven wiped at his eyes, still giggling. "Yeah, I guess you did. About the doughnuts — I meant, please get me whatever you want, not—" he stifled his laughter with his hand.

"Oh!" Y-6 grabbed a bag and stepped behind the display cabinet. When he reached inside, he glanced at Steven and cocked his head.

"What is that on your arm?"

Steven checked himself. "Oh— right. That's just a cut."

"A cut," Y-6 repeated. "Isn't a cut for paper? Paper doesn't turn red when you cut it."

"That red stuff's just blood."

"Blood?" he said interestedly.

"Yeah, when you hurt your body, sometimes it bleeds a bit. I'm okay, though."

A chittering sound erupted from behind the counter.

Steven craned his neck. "What's that?"

"Oh!" Y-6 slipped two doughnuts into the bag and stood, grinning. "This is Steven Again!"

He made a motion with his hand and a small, humanoid figure waddled its way around the cabinet.

"A Watermelon—?" Steven glanced at Y-6, then at the creature, and back at Y-6. "How'd you—? Where'd you find him— it?"

"He was on the beach!" Y-6 declared, and set the bag on the counter, taking up the dollar notes. "He is my friend. He is a very good helper."

"Yeah. . ."

Steven glanced at the figure uncertainly. It only gave him a friendly wave.

"Don't be afraid, he won't hurt you."

"I know, I know. . . it's just. . . he is friendly, right? He's never attacked anyone?"

Y-6 cocked his head. "'Attacked'?"

"Hm. . ." He stole one last glance at the creature. "Just . . . make sure he doesn't hurt anybody, okay?"

"Of course!" The new cashier deposited the money and waved. "I hope you enjoy your doughnuts, Steven!"

"Thank you! I will," he assured him, and returned the wave as he pushed open the door. Stepping out into the light breeze, he turned towards the town, and checked his phone. 12:00pm.

He'd better get a move on. Surely the others had picked up jobs just as quickly — and with thirty-five more Zoomans to visit, it was sure to take some time.


PROMPT: "The 'Zoomans' are brought back to Earth and have to get used to the 'new' world, while a select number of humans, like those who know the Gems, are made aware of them as well. Maybe throw in a cameo from the Watermelon Steven people, whom the humans of Beach City also seem unaware of." — for Holy Fountains on FanFiction! Hope you enjoyed! :)

My writing lacks in this one. . . egghhh. The dialogue's all yucky! Help!