Alternate Universe! Gems egg! Geodes! Gemlings! Oh my!
The familiar bump of the van, as it travels down the long road, lulled Steven to a doze. The waxy, warm paper bag in his lap, is filled with half-eaten crusts of breakfast sandwiches. There are still crumbs around his mouth, the familiar taste of syrup and process meat still heavy on his tongue. He can smell Dad's coffee and the dying scent of the ocean. And if he presses Sir Bearington against his face, he can still smell the sweet, supple scent of home. He does that occasionally, because whenever he looks out of the window and sees the foreign horizon, his heart begins to race painfully in his chest.
He can't even clutch at his usual shirt because he's wearing a thick, textured blazer over a button down shirt. There's a tie around his neck which might as well be a noose and real trousers around his legs. His worn pink sandals which he had been wearing since he could walk, had been traded for the shiny confines of dress shoes.
He had never owned anything like this before. Nanefua had taken lots of pictures; having helped raised Steven and she felt it important to document Steven wearing formal wear for the first time. She had given him lots of kisses and the best hugs a kid could ask for. Their little town had come together to send him off, all raving about the wonderful opportunity he was being given. Everybody had touched his uniforms, reading over the dozen of pamphlets he had been given over the last few months, and had even gifted money to buy him a gem-tech tablet.
He had cried during their last get together, unable to stop the many tears from running down his face. He would miss Beach City, his friends, the ocean and especially his Dad. He knew it was a wonderful opportunity, but he didn't want to leave.
Steven looked up a bit, blinking heavily as he woke up from his doze. Dad was still driving, his face lined and apprehensive. Steven looked around and with a shiver, realized that they were now in Gem territory. The brown-yellow weeds that had been a constant blur alongside the road had disappeared in favor of flat, expansive colorless land.
Steven had seen very few gems before. They inhabited the Earth, almost as populous as the human race, but they lived separate of human beings not interacting with his race much outside of politics and resource distribution. The gems he had seen had mostly been on television or the random shape-shifted gem traveling through town. He had seen a number of brightly colored animals with sharp eyes and wit growing up around town-but they never spoke, only observed and quickly left. He didn't know very much about them outside of his own few interactions, the history books at his elementary school had been pro-humanity. He knew that they had been sharing the Earth for only a few thousand years, they had gems on their bodies which was kind of like their heart (?), and were super strong. Steven had always liked that-they were like super heroes in his comics.
The Gem's land was mostly absent of plant life. Every now and then regulated zones of green alongside the glowing road, would pop up. The plants inside these glowing domes, weren't like any Steven had ever seen before. Sharp, angular, glittery green leaves and fluorescent, bright flowers that seemed to glow without aid of light. The dark tar on the unprotected road that they had been driving on had transformed into a glowing, white lane that had a shield-tunnel overhead. A quiet hum had joined in the symphony of groans and grumbles of the van. When Steven looked up to the sky, an unnatural shade of blue slowly began to brighten and he couldn't see the sun rising or the fading moon or the twinkling stars. Just a blank, bogus sky.
"Hey…um Steven. You awake their bud?" Dad asked, his voice a little hoarse. He took a long swig from his cold coffee with a grimace.
"Yeah, Dad." Steven whispered, dragging his gaze away from the unnatural sky.
"We're about to…about to get to the checkpoint. Y-you remember what's going to happen?" Dad asked, letting his hand rest on top of Steven's. Steven gripped his Dad's thick fingers.
"They'll do a security scan to make sure I don't have a destabilizers. Then the ship's gonna pick me up. A gem will be with me on the ship and she'll escort me to the school." Steven mumbled. A tiny gem, who had been named their guide to the long, process of sending Steven off, had arrived at their house, ensuring his Dad that Steven wouldn't be alone during the exchange process.
"Yeah, you'll be fine bud." Dad patted his slumped shoulders. "This school is going to be super fun. They'll teach you all sorts of cool stuff you don't get to learn in regular school."
"They teach you how to be a gem, Dad." Steven sighed. He slipped his free hand inside his blazer and felt the cold surface of his gem surrounded by his pudgy, warm skin. "What if I don't wanna be a gem?"
Dad sighed heavily. He ran his hand over his head and shifted his weight uncomfortably. "You don't have to be a gem son. You know that, you'll always be my Steven before anything else, right?"
"Yes." Steven said quietly, his eyes downcast on the fuzzy carpet of the van.
"The gems are just worried is all. You're one of a kind. Not many humans are successfully born from gems. The fact that you've made it to ten, it's amazing to them."
"D-do most kids not make it?" Steven asked, clutching his chest.
"What? Oh, um…it's just that…I mean…no Steven." Greg's hand on the steering wheel tightened. "Not many kids like you really exist. Humans and gems are kinda a new thing. Nobody really knows how any of this works."
"How I work?"
"Yeah, how you work."
They sat in silence for a moment, Greg focused on the empty lane ahead and Steven gazing blankly at the sky again. He wanted to turn around, hoping to see the sun. He had seen the sun yesterday morning, so why did he miss it so much?
"S-s-so are there are other kids like me, out there?" Steven asked, not able to stand the silence any longer.
"Uh…yes. I think, maybe a few dozen across the world." Greg mumbled.
"Will they be at the academy too?"
"Probably not, bud. Most of them are on the other side of the world." Greg shrugged.
"Oh." Steven slumped back into his seat. He rummaged a crunchy edge of a biscuit from the greasy bag and nibbled it gloomily.
"But there will be other gems there who are way younger than you and some your age." Greg said, panicking slightly as the healthy pink glow of his son's cheeks seemed to drain into a pallid gray.
"Yeah, but gems are super smart, even when they're babies!" Steven huffed.
"The school teaches gemlings as well as fully mature gems." Greg said, trying to sound upbeat. "I know you've never seen a gemling before, but they're super tiny and they're like human toddlers. They're clumsy, they cry and need lots of help from their parents."
"Then they'll put me with the gemlings then, cause I'm all of those things!" Steven snapped. His breathing began to quicken and he felt like his blazer was going to swallow him alive. He wanted to rip it off, fling it out into the spotless road and go back home and feel the sun on his skin.
"Steven, I know you're scared. You're worried and I am too. But we don't really have a choice. The United Gem Authority isn't asking. And even if they were, you know I can't afford to send you to junior high." Greg whispered, shaking his head with his hand against his aching temple. "The car wash business is good and all, but I don't want you to like I did. I want you to go to college and be able to live in a real house and have nice clothes-."
"What if I don't want that stuff?!" Steven yelled, shoving the greasy bag in his lap onto the floor. "I like our apartment! I like the barn a-and the van! I like our clothes! I like our lives!"
"I know you do Steven. It's the only life you've known." Greg sighed. "But when you get older, it's going to hurt when you can't afford to give your son new shoes every year or take him to the amusement park. You deserve a real bed, toys and you should be playing-not working at the carwash to help your old man. The academy can give you that."
Steven had known that they weren't well off. He knew normal boys got new clothes for school each year, got BMX bikes with real glossy paint instead of rickety bikes from the seventies, and that it was strange that he had never eaten a meal not once frozen or from a fast-food joint. He hadn't minded though. His Dad worked really hard to make sure that every day was fun and he gave Steven the best he could. But if he could give his Dad a house-a real awesome house that had space for the van and a room for them to sing in-it would be amazing. He didn't know how much money you needed to buy a house, but he knew working at a carwash with his Dad wasn't going to cut it.
"But what if I fail, Dad?" Steven asked. "I can't summon my weapon, only that dumb bubble."
"Steven, that's why they contacted you!" Greg exclaimed. "Most kids aren't contacted until they're teenagers. You can summon a bubble and you're really strong."
"Can't all kids like me do that?" Steven asked.
"No, most kids your age to the academy to learn how to activate their gem. You won't be with gemlings-they often need help to activate their gems to even project clothing! You'll definitely be with gems around your age."
"I thought gems were really old." Steven asked. Steven was under the impression that most gems attending the academy would be older than his Dad and probably even older than Nanefua.
"Well, yes a lot of gems are pretty old. The academy teaches gems as young as six months old to as old as like five hundred. They want to make sure you're comfortable though, so you'll be with gems around your age and only a little older."
"How much older?" Steven asked wearily.
"As old as Ronaldo or Sadie." Greg shrugged, glancing at a holographic sign revealing the distance to the Checkpoint.
Steven liked talking to Ronaldo and Sadie. They were a little older than him, but they had been good friends.
"Steven, we're uh…getting to the checkpoint." Greg whispered, struggling to clear his throat. Steven was silent, only looking down at his unfamiliar dress shoes. He missed being able to see his stubby, blistered toes. He missed the warm sunny feeling that he usually felt on a road trip with his Dad, the rich scent of pizza that Nanefua's hugs always contained, the creamy, sugary frosting of donuts from the Big Donut, or the constant stream of music that had been following him around since his birth. The awkward silence pierced his heart and he wished the van's radio wasn't busted.
"Dad, you'll call. Everyday right?" Steven whispered, his voice cracking as tears filled his eyes. He hadn't wanted to cry again. It felt as though he had been crying since the unexpected acceptance letter had arrived at their apartment's mailbox.
"Oh, every day like clockwork son." Greg said with a watery smile. "And you promise to try your best. I know school isn't too easy for guys like us. But you promise your old man, that you'll give it your best shot?"
"I promise, Dad." Steven blubbered, unable to stop the tears from leaking down his cheeks. He covered his eyes with his hands, trying to wipe them away. He looked up when he felt the van come to a gentle stop.
"Dad? What are you doing?" He snuffled, his nose refusing to stop running.
"I thought maybe we could hug it out now. Gems aren't too big on the whole crying thing." Greg mumbled, unbuckling his seat belt and opening his arms. Steven launched himself into his dad's arm. His Dad's worn fancy sweater smelled like warm hot dogs, concentrated soap and the wax on guitars. His familiar broad arms easily supported Steven and his scratchy cheek rubbed Steven's cheek. Greg squeezed with all his might.
"You're gonna be just fine, son." Greg whispered. "Just fine."
Steven laid his head on his dad's shoulder, breathing in his sweet, sun burnt scent. Even as he was holding him, Steven already missed his Dad so much.
A/N: I had a dream about Steven Universe AU and I HAD to write it. Steven's pretty clueless about how the gem world works and since this is written in his POV, as he learns, the reader will too.