With Robin's questions, including listing his powers, history of the Gem race, Gem war, and his own backstory, answered to a satisfactory degree, Steven entered his new bedroom. With his new furniture delivered, the room had begun to actually resemble a viable living space.
A window let in the sunlight, illuminating Steven's space. In the centre of the room along the back wall was a Queen sized bed, metal framed with a pristine white duvet cover. On the same wall as the bed was a dark oak wardrobe which would hold Steven's clothes once he decided to unpack his belongings. A television was mounted on the wall opposite the bed, currently set to the local Jump City news, although Steven made a mental note to plug his games console into it. In the corner was a desk, a laptop resting on it next to a picture of Steven surrounded by the Crystal Gems.
Glancing at his Cookie Cat clock, Steven realized he had only a few minutes until he was scheduled for his therapy session with his psychologist.
Deciding he had enough time, he walked from his room to the room that neighbored him and knocked. "Come in," the voice inside sounded. Pushing open the door, Steven and Connie met eyes. She grinned, putting down the box of books she was unpacking. Their rooms were identically sized but that was essentially where the similarities ended. Connie's bed was a double bed with forest green bedding, but where Steven had a laptop and desk, Connie had a training dummy and a treadmill. "Hey Steven, what's up?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Had some time to kill before my therapy session. Thought I'd check in." He walked over and took a seat on Connie's bed.
"I'm good," she replied as she joined him on the bed. "Didn't think my Mom would be living with us but-" she shrugged, "what can you do?"
"Well, I didn't think we'd be in a team of superheroes. Thought we'd finally have a chance at a normal life." He slumped slightly in the bed.
"You know you'd never turn down a chance at helping people. Are you going to talk to Doctor Crane about all this?"
"Probably. Not like he can help me if I lie about all my thoughts." He smiled, quoting his therapy sessions, "'The only way to battle your fears is to confront them head on.'" Connie's reply went unsaid as Steven's phone began to buzz. Fishing it out of his pocket he looked at the screen which was ringing with a video chat request from Steven's psychologist. He quickly showed the screen to Connie with an apologetic smile before he answered and left to his room. "Hey Jonathan," Steven greeted the man shown on his phone.
The man, Jonathan, was a tall and thin man, his mahogany brown hair neatly brushed away from his face. A pair of white framed glasses rested on his nose, highlighting his icy blue eyes. In contrast to the sunny weather in Jump City, the window behind Jonathan showed that it was bad weather where Doctor Crane was, the sky full of dark grey clouds that hung in the air. "Hello, Steven. Or is it 'Shield' now?" He smiled good-naturedly from behind his desk.
"You saw that then?" Steven sat at his desk, the sunlight glaring in his eyes making him squint slightly.
"I must admit, metahumans and superheroes are an interest of mine. Shall we talk about your need for helping people?" he prompted.
"I didn't mean to help them. There was a bank robbery and then an alien attack, I could help so I did."
"But why? I'm sure many people ran, and I'm sure not all metahumans in the area defended your new city. Why is it that you and the 'Teen Titans' were able to fight instead of being scared?"
"They needed help!" Steven countered. "They needed somebody to help them."
"A bank would have been robbed. Nobody would have been injured and the worst that would have happened would be some missing money and scared people. The alien attack was due to you helping a stranger that first attacked you." Steven was stunned into silence and Doctor Crane leant forwards from behind his desk. "Do you want my opinion Steven?" Waiting for Steven to nod, he continued. "I believe you have Paralipophobia, the fear of neglecting one's responsibility. You believe it is you that is responsible for others, simply because you are in a position to do so. You have spent your life helping them before helping yourself, even at the expense of your own mental wellbeing and self-esteem. Even when you wished to stop this by traveling the country, you fell into your usual pattern of helping."
Steven, still silent, simply stared at the psychologist on the screen.
"If you really wanted a normal life," Doctor Crane continued gently. "You would leave your new team, leave them to protect Jump City, and retire from this hero business."
Remaining silent as he thought it over, Steven eventually answered. "I don't think I can do that."
"I agree." Jonathan smiled, a smile that barely reached his eyes. "Because, I believe, you do not truly wish to have a normal life. You have a need to constantly help. One that is likely only to end when your life ends."
Steven's eyes widened at his words.
"I suggest you consider my words. Let's call the session to end now." Before Steven could even formulate a reply, the screen went blank as the call ended.
Steven walked to his bed, his mind swarming with thoughts, and lay on the bed. He contemplated Doctor Crane's words. He looked around at his room, the majority of his belongings were still packed in boxes, it would be easy for him to simply leave, let the others defend the city if needed.
He wanted a normal life. He knew that for a fact.
But, he also knew, his definition of normal was far different from other peoples.
His version of normal was battles, the fate of his city and the galaxy, the lives of his friends and family, resting on his shoulders.
This was his normal life. Whether or not he was in Beach City or Jump City or any other place in the world, he would continue to help.
Satisfied with his own thoughts he left his room again to head to Connie. He reentered her room, noticing that her books were now carefully organized on her shelf, although Connie herself was practicing her new bo staff against her training dummy. "Steven, you're back," she greeted after a hard swipe of her staff against the dummy's legs sent the dummy to the ground.
"Yeah, Doctor Crane ended the session early." He walked back to the bed to take a seat.
"That's weird. Why'd he do that?" Connie rested the bo staff against her spine, allowing the magnet clip to hold it in place.
"Guess he wanted me to think about what he said. That I should leave the team before it kills me. He thought that'd be my best chance at normality."
Connie sat next to him, placing a gentle hand on his leg. "And what do you think about that?"
"I think this is normal." He rested his hand on hers. "This is the kind of life that was expected of me, even if nobody actually wanted this for me."
Connie gave a squeeze of his leg. "Agreed. I never thought this would be my life. But, I wouldn't change this for the world."
Robin's voice sounded from the intercom system. "Everybody to the roof," he ordered. "Training will begin shortly."
Steven and Connie rose from the bed and walked to the elevator at the middle of their hallway. Opposite their bedrooms were two other bedrooms, Beast Boy's room faced Steven's while Connie's faced Raven's.
The occupants of the other rooms exited at the same time as Steven and Connie, and so the four went as a group.
"You think Robin's going to a strict teacher?" Beast Boy asked as he raced ahead to call the elevator. "I'm not going to be a fan if he is."
"Yes," Raven replied. "Yes, I do."
The group entered the cramped elevator space and Connie pressed the button for the roof.
The elevator started to ascend as Connie looked at the others. "So, what do you think training is going to be?"
Robin stood at the edge of the roof as he waited for everybody to arrive. "Training will be simple," he announced. "I need a baseline of your skill level and abilities. So, training is to spar each other while I observe."
Everyone looked at each other in concern. Eventually Connie asked, "And how do we pick who we spar with?"
"I'll match you based on perceived strength levels," Robin explained. "And if one person is stronger, I'll re-evaluate and pick a new partner for next time."
Steven and Starfire were matched, presumumbly equal in power by Robin's standards.
And he was right.
As Steven and Starfire sparred, Steven had to admit it was nice to be able to fight without holding back, the alien taking his attacks with ease while countering strong blows of her own.
Balls of green met walls of pink as the two clashed and it was a strenuous few minutes as they fought.
When Robin ordered them to stop, both combatants smiled at each other and complemented the other on their battle prowess.
Steven felt no shame in admitting he liked this new place.
This new team.
This new normal life.