From the kitchen table, Steven turned his head to see Pearl bringing in the teenager known as Malachite. It was nice to see the transmasculine teenager finally come down here and meet up with Garnet's friends.

"Hey, Malachite!" Steven called out to them from the kitchen. "It's nice meeting you here!"

"And who's this?" Malachite asked Pearl curiously.

Pearl gestured at Steven. "This is Steven. He's the friend I told you had just come back from West Virginia. He brought his grandfather and his family to meet us."

Malachite pursed their lips before speaking again. "So... how many other people live here besides Garnet and her moms?"

Pearl wasted no time in answering. "Well, there's me, my girlfriend Belinda, our mutual friend Amy Traversie, Amy's birth mother Jasper, Jasper's ex-girlfriend Nyoko, Peri, and then Steven's father Greg. Steven also lived here all his life until he moved away fairly recently to try to heal himself."

"Oh... I didn't realize Garnet had been living with so many people."

"Well, we all get along... for the most part anyway." Pearl turned back to look at Nyoko listlessly scrolling through social media on her phone while Jasper looked out the window. "Jasper and Nyoko's relationship is... uh, complicated to say the least. Long story."

"I'm sure it is."

Pearl cleared her throat. "Anyway, let me show you around the place. I want to make sure you have a good idea where your child will be growing up."

After Pearl showed Malachite around the beach house, she and Steven decided to invite Connie over. Steven was absolutely certain that Connie would want to see him after he'd been away for four months. Surely, they'd both been pining for some physical interaction, something that couldn't be achieved with Zoom meetings, FaceTime calls, or regular phone calls. He wanted so long to hold Connie, to feel her embrace. He wanted nothing more than to deepen the bond between him and Connie.

"Hey, Steven," Connie just said. "How's West Virginia been treating you?"

Steven just gave her a little smile. "Not too bad. I invited my therapist and his family to meet you guys in person."

Connie gaped at him. "Really? Oh my gosh, Steven. Did you tell Mr. Scheele about, uh...?"

"Yeah, I told him about how hard you've been working in school."

"Did you also tell him how I managed to get into the Honor Society while only in 10th grade?"

"Yeah, I told him about that, too. He said it was impressive that you were able to do it."

"Really?"

Steven nodded again. "Oh yeah, I could tell by the look on his face how pleasantly surprised to hear all that. Man, whenever you get into college, your professors are so gonna get blown away by how great you are."

Connie smiled and then blushed in quick succession. "Aw, that's sweet, Steven. Thank you."

"No prob." All of a sudden, Steven's face lit up as if he'd almost forgotten something. "Oh, have you met Malachite yet?"

"Malachite? Oh, you mean that person who's giving their child up for Garnet to adopt?"

"That's the one. Come on, I'll show you."

A couple hours later, Steven and Connie sat at the foot of Greg's bed, watching the latest episode of the darker and edgier "Lil' Butler" reboot. The whole time they sat and watched, the young lovers couldn't help but reflect on everything that had happened in the last four months, especially with Steven's hospital stay following his suicide attempt.

With everything that had happened to him, Steven hardly even seemed to notice his 17th birthday passing him by, and that was only two months ago. He wasn't sure how to feel about that, not feeling any strong emotions about his birthday. As for Connie... well, as much as she enjoyed 10th grade, it could be pretty stressful at times. She'd already had to deal with having Zoom meetings with Steven while he was staying in West Virginia, but she never imagined that she'd have to do Zoom meetings whenever in-person classes were cancelled. Just as well, as great as her grades had been, the amount of homework she had to deal with every night hadn't been doing great for her mental health. As determined as she felt to get into Harvard or Yale, she sometimes had doubts on what all she could do in this world. She was certain Steven also had his doubts on what he was capable of achieving. As a result, she empathized with him on a level far deeper than most young lovers had managed to go to.

"Steven, I know how hard it must be to maintain your mental health," Connie began to say. "It's been hard for me, too."

"I bet," Steven replied. "Especially where Zoom classes are concerned. Doesn't it get exhausting for you after a while?"

"Well, I mean Zoom fatigue is a thing." She turned her head to face him and laid her hand on his shoulder. "Whenever I have to take a Zoom class should an in-person class be cancelled, I can't help but wish I had some free time. It would help to alleviate the stress."

"I know what you mean. Dropping out of high school was probably the best thing I could've done in regards to my mental health. I mean, how was I supposed to learn when I wasn't in the best mindset? The counselors didn't do much to help, either. They just dismissed my problems as regular teenage problems."

"Oh my gosh, that's awful!"

"Tell me about it."

"So... once you finish up your therapy sessions with your grandpa, will you want to enroll back in school?"

Steven shrugged. "Depends on how well the students and teachers treat me."

Connie's eyes cast down onto the ground. "I'm sorry. I wish there was more I could do for you."

"I mean you're already doing your best to support me by calling me on Zoom and calling me up every day, asking how my day was and telling me how much you love me. Isn't that enough?"

"I guess, but somehow, it doesn't feel like I'm putting in as much effort as I should."

Steven smiled warmly at her. "There's no need to worry about that right now. We've still got the rest of our lives ahead of us."

Connie smiled back at him. It always seemed like he knew what to say.