A/N: So my dumb ass apparently forgot how time worked and had an existential crisis thinking I'd have to do a big time skip because of something I put in the last chapter, until I realized I could go back and change 'dinner' to 'lunch'

For those of you I have confused, I apologize sincerely XDDD

Time was still frozen when they pulled apart.

Connie seemed even more reluctant to do so than Steven was, the hybrid still more or less caught in a daze; the situation had registered, yes, but it didn't feel like it was really happening. It was surreal, like he was stuck in a dream - and if that was the case, he worried when he would wake up, when he would blink open his eyes and see something he wasn't expecting. Thankfully, when he did finally manage to force his eyes open, they found Connie right away - smiling at him still, she moved her hands from his face to wrap them around his neck instead, and the hybrid couldn't keep his face from splitting into a wide smile of his own as he slowly brought his own hands up to carefully hook them around both of hers, intertwining their arms and lifting his hands behind his head so that he could properly curl their fingers together again. Neither of them said anything - Steven wanted to speak, but at that moment, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. Connie had just kissed him. She told him she loved him and then she had kissed him. It was his first kiss. Connie Maheswaran had been his first real kiss - and it was definitely not a friendly kiss, Steven had given out many of those in his lifetime, and this definitely didn't fall into that category by any means. Connie had kissed him. She'd kissed him.

"You kissed me," the hybrid finally marveled, breaking the silence with an almost dubious expression now as he tilted his head back a little further to stare at his best friend. After a few seconds of just staring back at him with an expression of mild surprise, Connie snorted and burst into giggles - and Steven just watched the way her eyes lit up and sparkled when she laughed, the way the corners of her mouth creased into dimples as her smile widened further. He didn't even know what was so funny, but he hoped it didn't stop anytime soon either.

When Connie finally calmed down enough to speak, she offered his hands a squeeze and looked up at him again, and her eyes were practically starry as she locked her gaze with his. "Yeah, I kissed you." Another quiet giggle broke through her lips. "Because I'm pretty sure that was the only way you'd realize what I meant by I love you, but, y'know… no regrets anyway."

Steven couldn't help but laugh a little himself, a light, airy sound that was a perfect mix of relief and absolute giddiness. "You definitely got your point across," he conceded. "Uh, thank you…" Connie giggle-snorted again when he said that, and Steven flicked his gaze across her face as he cracked a grin, watching her entire expression light up with laughter once more - while simultaneously trying to figure out what the hell was so funny about that this time. It didn't take him long to come to the conclusion that it was something he had said, but he wasn't sure why thanking her would have been so hilarious - he was a fool in love, sure, but he was still polite when it came to her. She was one of few who could still make him feel like this, he realized - who could make him feel the way he used to, and yet make him feel like someone entirely new.

They both startled - just as Steven was trying to figure out what to say next - when Lion, seeming just a little bit irritated, let out a rather loud huff through his nose and lifted his head from Steven's lap, looking somewhat miffed that the hybrid kept moving. "Sorry, buddy…" Steven offered an apologetic smile, keeping still. "Why don't'cha go rest on my bed, huh?"

Lion side-eyed the bunk bed for a while before finally turning around and padding over, and Steven snorted out a chuckle before he turned his attention back to Connie, who just looked amused by the animal's display of annoyance. "You'd think an immortal pink lion with superpowers wouldn't exactly need to sleep anyway," she commented, looking back up at Steven. She still had her arms around his neck, and he still had his fingers twined with hers. He laughed at her words, and she shook her head with a giggle and added, "I guess he's just lazy."

"You don't need a guessing game to figure that out," Steven teased lightly. "But he's earned it." He fell silent again for a moment, lightly rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles. She just smiled back at him, warm and sweet as ever - the guilt in her eyes had diminished, and Steven found that his own guilt had steadily evaporated for the time being. In fact, almost every bit of negativity had completely vanished, leaving behind only giddiness and excitement in its wake. He wondered how long it would last, and found himself praying to nothing in particular that it didn't disappear anytime soon. This, this was how he wanted to feel - happy, ecstatic, joyful. Not at all the way he'd been feeling lately; no bitterness, no anger, no depression. If he could just figure out how to capture this moment, right here, it would be perfect. He could stay like this. They could stay like this forever - and yet he knew that couldn't happen. This alone wasn't going to fix him, it wasn't going to erase his problems. But for now, for a moment, he wished it could.

"You really love me?" He murmured after a moment, and Connie surged up almost immediately to press her lips against his again. This kiss was a little more passionate than the first one, not quite lacking in the gentleness there had been - but this was the answer to his question, not a reassurance. He pulled his hands out of her grip and trailed them up her arms instead, hesitantly wrapping one around the back of her neck and letting the other one settle against the side of her face, lightly running his fingers through her hair. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't dreamed of this before, that he hadn't imagined it - but this was even better than anything he could have imagined or dreamed. This was real, something he never thought he'd experience.

Connie was gasping when she pulled back; Steven's chest was heaving a little too - not from breathlessness, but excitement. "Is that a good enough answer or do I gotta tell you again?" She whispered, and Steven - while undoubtedly aching for more of that - shook his head.

"Loud and clear." Steven breathed in somewhat shakily, surprised by how fast his heart was racing. Adrenaline, he recognized, but it was like nothing he'd ever felt before. "I know you do- I know you love me. I don't even know why I'm-" The hybrid paused and forced himself to swallow. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and it certainly didn't have to do with the kissing. Maybe it was his anxiety coming back into play, or maybe it was the fact that the room was steadily getting hotter and hotter, the air getting thicker, breathing abruptly turning stifled. The stuttering of his heart this time was different, the fluttering in his chest was more intense. He shook his head, struggling to completely focus. "You love me," he mumbled again. Less of a question this time, and more of a statement - and it made the room just a little bit hotter.

Connie huffed out another laugh and shook her head. "Of course I love you."

Steven ran his tongue over his lips and tried to smile back in response - only to find that the smile on his face still hadn't faltered, the grin still as wide as could be. He also found that every single one of his senses was overloaded with her; scent, taste, sight, touch. He could even hear her, still, even when she fell silent. Every time his heart fluttered, he could hear her - not exactly words, per se, but… her. It was just all her. Admittedly, it was a beautiful feeling; he found himself aching for even more of it, even more of her, wanting to pull her as close as possible and never let go. Though, they were already rather close as it was - Steven was having a little trouble figuring out how they could possibly get closer than that, but he was doing his best. He breathed in, catching another intoxicating whiff of her scent, and he couldn't stop himself from leaning forward to kiss her again in time - not that she had any complaints, if the way she immediately pushed herself closer to him to press her lips against his was any indication.

Unfortunately, though, they didn't get the chance to seal their lips together in another kiss. "Hey, kids!" Greg's voice startled them both enough to abruptly jerk apart, scrambling to unlock their still-intertwined limbs; Connie still had both arms wrapped around his neck, and Steven was still lightly cradling her head in his hands. He was careful when he pulled away, not really worried about getting caught - he knew Greg of all people would be the most understanding about this, in all honesty - but he knew Connie likely would be worried, having lived with parents as strict as Priyanka and Doug could be (which also sparked the reminder that Greg, while he definitely wouldn't be angry, would certainly be terrified of whatever the hell Priyanka might do to him if she found out about this, oh boy). So he wasn't really hurt when she jerked away and practically threw herself backwards from him; in fact, he could hardly keep back a startled laugh.

He covered his mouth and looked up when Greg stopped in the doorway, still wide-eyed and buzzing with excitement from the adrenaline still pumping through his veins. He was sure he had to be blushing, too, but he couldn't tell for himself - he just knew his cheeks were hot as hell and his ears were practically on fire at that point. Even Connie looked slightly flushed, her own face a noticeably darker shade - she actually looked rather adorable - and definitely alarmed.

"Hi," Steven breathed, still covering his mouth. Greg's gaze flicked rapidly between the two teenagers, eyes widening with the realization, and Steven had to bite back another laugh. Connie, meanwhile, was pushing herself to her feet, quite obviously flustered now. Steven glanced up at her, still unable to keep his chest from fluttering when he looked up at her - she was adorable, for sure, but right then she was definitely worried; Steven could concern himself with how cute she looked when she was embarrassed later, he just needed to take the spotlight off of… what had just happened between them, and whatever Greg was thinking right then. Besides, if he knew his father, Greg didn't exactly want to talk about it right then anyway. "Lemme guess, the pizza's here?" The hybrid checked, lowering his hand from his mouth and struggling to keep the huge grin off of his face. He couldn't stop smiling - what the hell…?

"I-" Greg sounded strangled, still in shock. "Yeah, it-"

"Great!" Steven turned on Connie, then, no longer bothering to hide his grin. He was a master at avoidance if there ever was one, and he was going to see to it that this particular topic was avoided until Connie was ready. And, honestly, Steven himself wasn't too sure he was ready to talk about it just yet. He wanted a moment to think a little, to actually process the situation. For a moment, he wondered what they were going to do next - it was something they definitely needed to talk about though. But for the time being… "Let's go get some pizza, then," he urged, searching Connie's gaze. He watched the panic melt somewhat, an almost amused expression replacing it, some sort of affection, or fondness - and his heart fluttered when she held her hand out to him, a warm smile crossing her face in place of the embarrassment that had been there.

Steven took her hand without a moment's hesitation. He'd have plenty of time to think things over later, but that didn't mean he wasn't gonna take what he could get now. Connie pulled him to his feet, helping him up. "Yeah. Let's go get some pizza," she giggled, and he grinned. He caught Greg's gaze briefly as they turned to leave the room, and Greg offered him a small, proud smile as he stepped back to let them pass, gesturing them down the hall to the kitchen.

Aster was sorting through paper plates when they entered the room, while Jasper was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, tossing a rubber ball up and catching it repeatedly. Steven arched an eyebrow in her direction when he and Connie walked in, but he turned his attention back to his brother quickly enough when Aster handed both him and Connie a plate. And he watched, just staring, as Aster's gaze casually flicked down to their intertwined hands, and his lips tugged upwards ever so slightly into an almost smug looking smirk; Steven just stared, thinking back to the way he had calmly, silently left the room when Connie had entered. Well, 'calm' was practically a defining personality trait when it came to Aster, but at the same time, Steven saw the way he usually hesitated when he had to leave Steven's side. Back there, there hadn't been any hesitation. Aster had just left. Without a word. Without any reluctance.

Oh… oh he had so much to say to his brother later…

"Alright, pizza time," Greg cheered, taking a plate and pulling one of the boxes toward him as Steven finally pulled his hand away from Connie's so that they could both sit down. "Aster, do-"

"No, thank you." Aster cut him off instantly. "I don't like food."

Steven offered him a bewildered glance, while Connie snorted, leaning forward and grabbing the other box to open it while Greg flipped the other one open with a smile. "Your loss," Steven finally declared, grinning and leaning forward to study the pizzas. One of them had half pepperoni, half sausage, and the other pizza was just plain cheese. He surveyed both pizzas carefully, eyeing the meat for a while before finally fixing his attention on the plain slices. The smell of the pizza alone was enough to make his stomach turn - enough to make him consider devouring the entire box by himself. But he knew he couldn't do that, he still had to be careful with what he ate. So he selected a small slice of the plain pizza to start, and sat back to eat it.

He was only halfway through the slice, going slowly, when Jasper suddenly heaved herself up off of the floor and walked over to them. She stopped behind Steven's chair - and the hybrid, while he did briefly flick his gaze up to look up at her, eventually continued eating with a shrug, figuring that she'd speak up with whatever was bothering her when she wanted to. And, of course, after a moment, she did; lifting a hand to point over Steven's shoulder to the pizza box, the orange gem spoke, with increasing irritation, "that box says there's fish."

Steven paused and stared at the box. The letters were upside down, but they still very clearly read out 'Fish Stew Pizza'... the hybrid grinned around another bite and shot Greg and Connie a look to let them know he could handle this, because god damn, he could have some fun here. "Yeah, it does," he replied, swallowing. "You're getting better at reading English."

Jasper grunted, her typical response for a compliment that Steven still couldn't decide was a 'thanks' or a 'shut up'. At this point, he had long given up trying to figure that one out - when it came to every other way Jasper communicated with him, he was able to easily discern what she was really saying. But when it came to this, Steven decided that if he still couldn't figure it out, then he probably would never be able to do so regardless. The hybrid ran his tongue over his lips and leaned back with a grin, lifting the pizza up slightly to take another bite - but Jasper persisted, as he figured she would, ignoring the compliment for now to focus on her concern. "So where's the fish at?"

Steven hummed, taking another bite. "Well, sometimes they put it on the pizza…" He couldn't help but peek up at Jasper when he said that, finding absolute delight in watching her expression shift into one of absolute disgust as her eyes flicked down to the pizza slice in his hand. He swallowed again, struggling to keep his expression neutral. "It's not that bad."

"I don't see any fish." Jasper eyed the half-eaten slice. "Is it inside?"

Steven snorted at that. "The day they start baking fish into pizza is the day I lose all faith in humans," he replied, albeit somewhat dramatically - actually, he was kind of curious about that. Didn't mean he'd eat it, of course, and he didn't even think it was something he would have tried even when he was younger. Hell, especially then, considering he had been pretty damn picky about his pizza until he got a little older. "No, it's not in the pizza. We didn't get any fish on it." He ran his tongue over his lips again; the taste lingered, and his stomach couldn't seem to decide whether he was hungry or full right then. He'd really fucking missed the taste of good food.

Jasper was just growing more and more irritated, clearly put off by the lack of fish. Honestly, he was just amused that 'fish' was a topic that kept coming up between the two of them. "So if there's no fish then why does the box say that there's fish?" She demanded, scowling.

"Because the name of the place we got the pizza from is 'Fish Stew Pizza'." Steven finally cracked a grin. "But if you're that upset about it you could test your luck and go catch one."

Jasper sneered back at him at that, but he didn't miss the way the corners of her lips briefly tugged into a grin, amusement briefly replacing the irritation she had been displaying. "Yeah, let me see you get out there fishing first," she retorted. "You're injured and they're too slippery. I doubt either of us are going to be catching any fish again for a while, so don't get all smug yet."

"Please," Steven scoffed. Accepting a challenge from Jasper was more or less instinct, but this was one he felt like he wouldn't be able to. Not because he was 'injured', which he wasn't really anymore regardless, but because he already felt bad enough over the fish he'd already caught and cooked, he didn't need anything else on his conscience right then. "I'm not even that hurt anymore. My leg's fine- which doesn't even matter because I don't need my legs to fish," he emphasized, and Jasper narrowed her eyes at him in response - and he offered her a grin. "Hey, I'm not smug. It was a genuine suggestion. You want fish? Go fish." She reached out to smack the back of his head - which he successfully dodged by ducking his head - and the hybrid snickered as he took another bite of his pizza, silently noting that he should probably stop soon before he became too nauseous. It was tolerable now, but a few more bites would kill him.

"Don't antagonize her too much," Greg warned, but he looked more or less amused as he eyed Jasper from the corner of his eye, reaching forward to grab himself a second slice of pizza. "The last thing we need is her thinking big and bringing home some kind of- shark or something…"

"Well, that's based on the assumption that she could catch a shark," Steven replied as he chewed. "But between you and me I think she'd just end up living in its stomach for a while."

"Fuck off," Jasper grumbled.

Steven grinned, swallowing. "Fuck on."

"Steven-" Greg protested, dropping the slice he was about to bite into back onto his plate in shock, while Connie - who, at first, initially gasped and briefly choked on the pizza she was eating, immediately burst into laughter the moment she was able to do so. Aster simply buried his face into his arms from where he sat across from Steven, letting out a quiet, muffled groan. "Aye yi yi, what am I gonna do with you-? Those friends of yours sure are some influences…" Greg groaned a little, himself, as he reached up to run his fingers through what was left of his hair, and Steven huffed out a laugh. Well, while that was true, he actually hadn't learned that from Parker or Kevin - but he didn't see any point in confessing where he had learned it either. Lars was halfway across the galaxy by now, which meant he was probably safe, but a promise was a promise and it was one that Steven intended to keep. It was a long time ago anyway…

"Sorry, Dad. Couldn't resist." He offered his father an apologetic smile, chuckling a little himself as he exchanged a knowing glance with Connie. He had been waiting for… forever to use that, and he never thought he'd be in front of his father when he finally said it. But Greg was the one that told him it was okay for him to swear now, so he really should've expected this anyway.

There was just something about this, about finally dropping the act and letting everyone know that- hey, I'm not the innocent little kid I used to be anymore- that made him want to laugh. Maybe it was just their reactions - Greg's in particular… before this, Steven might have been absolutely horrified at the idea of exposing this side of him to Greg. He hadn't exposed this side of him to anybody, not like this. A few little jokes every now and again, but the humor was mostly disguised in naivety. Truthfully, he wasn't sure why he felt like he had to hide it back then. He just felt like something specific had been… expected of him when he was younger, and he had done his best to live up to those expectations. Now, though? All of that was out the window. This was a part of who he was. A small part, but it was still something. Something that defined him, and not what everyone else wanted him to be. And, you know what? He was done hiding it. He was almost an adult - he was allowed to say adult things, and let everyone in on the fact that he didn't need to be treated like a child still, because that's what everyone had seemed to think. Greg was seeming to come to terms with it now, and Connie thought it was funny too.

For a second, just a second, he imagined how they would react. Oh, they'd be absolutely horrified. Pearl especially would be more than horrified - she'd be downright devastated. Maybe Amethyst wouldn't be so upset - she'd probably think it was funny… Garnet, he didn't know-

And I don't care, he chided himself, pushing his plate away. I don't care. It was over. They were over. He was done. And he didn't ever have to see them again or think about them again. He didn't live in that house anymore, and he didn't ever have to go back. It was the first time he'd really realized that, and, honestly, he wasn't sure what to make of the emotions that it incited. On some level, there was relief - but there was also a rush of anger, and he wasn't sure why. Sure, he was angry at them to begin with, but they weren't his problem anymore. He shouldn't be feeling angry about that - he should be glad. And he was! He was glad! So why was he pissed off on top of that? Pissed about being glad? No, that didn't sound right. He deserved to be glad, after everything they put him through, that he didn't have to bother with them anymore.

The hybrid shook his head, forcing himself to focus, as Greg glanced over at him, concerned. "You okay, Schtu-ball?"

Steven ran his tongue over his lips and nodded, then shook his head again. He didn't know whether he was okay or not, but he decided against trying to figure it out for the time being. He wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to know the answer. "What time is it?" He twisted slightly, using his left foot to push his chair back slightly so that he could get up, grabbing his plate. This was… lunch, so it couldn't have been too late. He spared a glance out the window as he walked over to discard the plate and half-eaten pizza slice in the trash. Yeah, it wasn't even dark out. He had plenty of time to call the guys at the facility, but it could wait for a little while.

"It's about twelve," Greg told him, finishing off his second slice as the hybrid turned to face them again, reaching out to use one of the chairs to prop himself up a little. He wasn't hurt, but his leg felt a little bit weaker - maybe he'd been walking too much… "Twelve-thirty, give or take…"

Steven raised his eyebrows, thinking. Right, that wasn't actually half bad. If it was twelve-thirty, then that meant the guys were having lunch right then anyway, and he'd just eaten lunch. So he'd be able to call around during free time, before and after visiting hours, as long as he made sure to call before dinner. The hybrid nodded, letting the chair go and heading to the fridge. After surveying everything inside carefully, he pulled out a bottle of water and turned away again. Greg didn't drink coffee and Steven was pretty sure he didn't know that Steven drank coffee, so he highly doubted that there was any in the house right then, but he'd settle for a bottle of water for now and pester his dad about coffee some other time. Maybe in the morning when he was half asleep and cranky - Greg was guaranteed to get him some coffee then.

"Thanks for feeding me, Mr. Universe," Connie said cheerfully as she slid out of her seat to throw her empty plate away, and Greg huffed out a laugh, grabbing another slice from the box.

"You know you can call me 'Greg', Connie. Oddly enough, 'Mr. Universe' makes me feel old."

"You are old, and if that's the case, then you should've thought about that before you decided to use that as your rockstar name," Steven commented, hiding a smirk as he took a sip of water. "Your rockstar name that you plagiarized from another musician's song, might I add - and no, before you ask, I'm not letting that go. You'll be hearing that 'til the end of time, like it or not." Not that he was particularly bitter about that anymore - no, honestly, he'd long gotten over that particular part of their argument, but it didn't mean he wasn't gonna give Greg a hard time for it. Not for any malicious reasons, now, but just because he found he took a certain joy in teasing his old man now for whatever reason, and Greg seemed to find just as much amusement in it.

"I didn't plagiarize my rockstar name from another musician," Greg corrected, grinning as he took a bite of his pizza and swallowed before adding, "I plagiarized my last name from another musician and then used my last name as my rockstar name so that I couldn't get sued first." Steven blinked, slightly taken aback by that admission, and Greg laughed. "Kidding, I'm kidding. My last name was Universe long before I even considered going into the music business. Actually, it was Marty's idea to name myself 'Mr. Universe' when I started playing to begin with."

Connie giggled, stopping beside Steven. "I should probably head home soon. It's a school night, so…" She offered the hybrid a somewhat apologetic glance, but Steven just shook his head, turning to face her again as he screwed the cap back onto his water and leaned back.

"I'll see you sometime tomorrow?" He offered, managing a small smile.

"Definitely." Connie leaned forward to kiss his cheek, and the hybrid didn't have much time to react - just like the first time she had done that, it took him a second to register what had just happened, and by the time he felt his face flush hot with an inevitable blush, she was already pulling away from him and turning to leave the room, calling out for Lion as she headed back to the twins' room. "Lion, time to go-! See you guys tomorrow- thanks again for lunch!"

"No problem, Connie," Greg called, while Steven swooned and sank back against the fridge, clasping his hand over his cheek and letting a grin split across his face, still absolutely certain he was about as red as a tomato. "You good, Steven?" His father asked him with a chuckle.

"Yeah," Steven sighed softly, closing his eyes. "Yeah, I'm good."

The rest of the day seemed to go by pretty quickly after that. Greg ended up hooking up the TV so that they could watch Flixflix, and Steven spent most of the day curled up beside Aster on the couch while they watched. Eventually, the hybrid ended up borrowing Greg's phone so that he could call the guys, and his father let him retreat to his room - as long as he kept the door open - while he was on the phone. At first, of course, after he called the facility, he couldn't decide which one he should say he was calling for, but he ended up deciding to talk to Kevin first.

"You'll never believe what happened," he breathed into the phone as soon as it was given to Kevin, and immediately went on to explain what had happened between him and Connie.

"Like anyone's surprised," Kevin had told him casually. "Always knew you weirdos were practically soulmates. Congrats on making it official, though, I guess. And I'm glad you're having fun- I swear, Parker and Will have been nothing but insufferable since you left and it's only been a day. I'm about ready to become a hermit again, you've got no idea…" Steven listened, with growing amusement, to his complaints about Parker and Will for the next twenty minutes, and repeatedly promised to visit in between the man's split-second breaks in sentences.

"Take care of yourself, Universe," Kevin told him before he hung up. "I mean it."

"You, too," Steven warned. "I'll call tomorrow."

When dinnertime came, of course, Greg debated ordering another pizza - but Steven cut in quickly to say he could cook something for them himself. Which led to his father insisting he didn't need to do that when he was still recovering - an argument that he won because he had both Aster and Jasper on his side - but instead of a pizza, Aster ended up retreating into the kitchen to cook, despite Steven's skepticism over the fact that he'd be able to cook anything considering that one, he apparently didn't even like food - and two, being fused with him while he cooked wasn't the same as cooking alone. But Greg seemed to favor that over Steven cooking, so the hybrid gave in while Aster sent his father off to the store, and Jasper sat in the living room 'watching' Steven while the hybrid flipped through Flixflix again.

(His brother ended up making them chili beans with rice and Steven fucking loved it.)

And then bedtime.

"I'll be just down the hall, and Jasper's probably gonna be on the couch again tonight, so just yell if you need anything, okay?" Greg insisted while he helped Steven into his pajama shirt. The hybrid's back was hurting again - the scars, not his spine. Instead of the painkillers, though, which Steven had argued that he didn't need to take anymore since his leg wasn't broken, Greg had given him some ibuprofen to take. It didn't help as instantly as the painkillers did, and since his father wanted him to 'take it easy' for the rest of the night, Steven obliged in letting him help.

"I'm sure I'll be fine, Dad," Steven assured, looking himself over. He had missed his old, comfortable pajamas, the yellow shirt and blue striped pants. They were much cozier than the ones the facility provided - as great as the place had been, they had been painfully deprived…

"Are you sure you don't want me back in the gem?" Aster questioned when the hybrid returned to their room with Greg. His brother was currently stretched out on the top bunk, with one of his pillows under his chest, but turned around to face the door. Steven glanced up at him when he walked in, and rolled his eyes somewhat playfully as he made his way over to the bed. "I'd be able to meet up with you while you sleep. I don't think I can do that as long as I'm out here. At the very least, it won't be exactly the same concept as it had been- you'll be dreaming again."

"I'll be fine," Steven insisted, climbing onto the bed. Damn, even the bed was comfier than what the facility provided - he'd miss the place, but he certainly wouldn't miss the beds and clothes and food. "Besides, you should enjoy your freedom. Maybe you should try to sleep a little, too," he suggested, laying back and lightly kicking the blanket out from underneath him so that he could pull it up to his chin, snuggling down against the mattress and enjoying the warmth.

"I don't need to sleep," Aster sighed. The bed rocked a little as he moved up top.

"Doesn't mean you can't, though," Steven countered, unable to help a small smile despite himself when Greg leaned over to hug him goodnight, like he always did when he was little. "'Night, Dad."

"Goodnight, Schtu-ball." Greg pulled back and glanced up at where Aster was. "'Night, Aster." His father received nothing more than a quiet hum in response as he turned to leave the room, and Steven watched as he flipped the light off and left, leaving the door open. Not being watched while he slept was certainly a new experience for him after so long, but he was somewhat comforted with the fact that Aster was there physically. It was pretty much the same as having a roommate, except they were sharing a bunk bed and Steven couldn't see him. But that was fine, too; as long as he was there and Steven knew he was there, he was… content.

For a while, he just laid there in silence, staring at the… top of the bunk bed? The bottom of Aster's bed? He wasn't sure what to call it. He considered speaking up a few times, sparking up some kind of conversation, but he knew he should have been sleeping. He didn't want to deprive Aster of the freedom he had - but he was somewhat concerned about dreaming again.

His decision was made for him, regardless, when he heard the faint snoring from above him. But he couldn't help but smile; yeah, Aster didn't need sleep, but he hoped it would be more peaceful for his brother than it was for him. The hybrid sank back and crossed his arms behind his head carefully, closing his eyes with a sigh. He could see the pink glow Aster gave off even with his eyes closed; he didn't mind it, though, it was kind of like a nightlight. He had one of those when he was younger, when he'd first moved in with the gems. They'd given him a little star-shaped lamp to keep with him… Steven shook his head slightly, a futile attempt to rid himself of the memory. Honestly, sometimes he wished he could just forget his time with them. Forget them completely. It would definitely make things easier for him.

He stayed there for a while, only-half trying to sleep, when the pink glow seemed to get a little brighter. It was enough for him to crack his eyes open to look around the room again; Aster hadn't moved, he was still snoring from his bed - but Steven saw the source of the brighter glow rather quickly, and he just stared at the familiar pink portal that had appeared in his room. He knew what was coming, so he wasn't surprised to see Lion jump out - but he was surprised to see that the animal was alone. He skidded across the floor, silent but clumsy, and came to a stop just in front of the door and turned to look around the room, pausing when he saw Steven.

"Hey, buddy," Steven whispered, careful not to wake his brother up. "What're you doing here?"

Lion didn't respond, not even with his usual grunt or huff. He looked upwards, toward Aster, then glanced back down and pushed himself back to his paws to walk toward the bunk bed. Steven pushed himself to sit up, moving his star pillow out of the way when Lion started climbing up into the bed with him. "You're supposed to be with Connie," the hybrid mumbled, but he let the large pink beast crawl into the bed to lay beside him, and eventually turned to cuddle his companion. He ran his fingers through Lion's mane gently, finally laying back down beside him, and let the large animal rest his head overtop of the hybrid's chest, closing his eyes with a sigh. Lion started purring after a moment, and with his neck pressed against Steven's chest, the teenager could feel every rumble; it brought a smile to his face as he carded his fingers through Lion's fur.

It didn't take him long to fall asleep like that.