CHAPTER SEVEN

As soon as the door closed behind Steven, he dropped his head into his hands and groaned loudly. "Nice going, Steven!" he berated himself. "Why don't you just give her a roundhouse kick next time? That'll be really romantic!"

The only response was his stomach growling. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the time and was surprised to see how late it was. He'd slept for longer than he realized, and all he'd had to eat since breakfast was a slightly gross donut. Brooding over his mistake in the room would have to wait. Right now, he needed to eat.

He opened the fridge, expecting to see either food or nothing, depending on whether Amethyst had been there or not. What he wasn't expecting to see was a yellow glowing orb suspended in a framework of… wire hangers? "What the hell?" he murmured to himself. He suddenly looked back suspiciously at the Temple door and opened the camera app again. Nope, this was real. Unless… what if his phone wasn't real? What if the room had produced a fake phone to make him think everything that had happened after he'd stepped in the room was real? Except he couldn't think of any reason why the room would let him think he'd hit Peridot if it really was fake. Or… maybe he was still asleep and none of this was real! Maybe he still on the sofa at his dad's house! He pinched his arm and winced. "Ow. OK. I'm awake, and this is probably real."

Still, in his experience, there was really only one way to be certain. He peered into the fridge again and spotted a plate of sausages behind the glowing orb thingy. All he needed to do was bite one. He reached into the fridge and dragged out the strange contraption, intending to put it on the counter while he went back for the sausages, but before he could do so, it suddenly began to spin and glow brighter. "Ah. That's ominous." He gulped and tried to put it down, but it seemed to be somehow stuck to him. "Uhhhh… guys? Is this supposed to be doing this!?"

At that moment, Peridot stepped out of the Temple. For a split second, she froze, her eyes widening with horror, then she ran towards him. "Bubble it!"

Steven did as he was told, but he was unprepared for what happened next. Which was Peridot grabbing him around the waist and, with surprising strength, throwing him halfway across the room, where he stumbled and fell over with a yelp. "Stay down!" she shouted, and flung herself to the ground next to him.

For a moment, the bubble floated serenely in the middle of the kitchen, then all of a sudden, it began to bulge outwards as the orb expanded, glowing ever brighter. Just as the light was getting painful to look at, the entire thing seemed to turn inside out. A powerful wind sprang up, tossing up loose paper, cutlery, plates and assorted kitchen décor, and Steven felt himself being pulled across the floor, but before he could start screaming, the whole thing winked out of existence and everything crashed to the floor.

He sat up slowly and stared at the mess in the kitchen. "What the hell was that!?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

They both turned to see Garnet standing in the doorway, staring sternly at them. At least, Steven assumed she was, it was always difficult to tell when she had her shades on.

Peridot climbed to her feet and folded her arms crossly. "It was a fuel cell for a faster-than-light drive I was developing before it turned into a black hole and collapsed."

Steven gaped at her in disbelief. "And you put it in the fridge!?"

"Yes?" Peridot looked blankly at him. "It needed to be kept cool while it stabilized."

"So… you put it in the fridge," Steven repeated. "Where the food lives."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I was not made aware that the fridge was off limits-"

"If I may interrupt," Garnet interrupted, "why exactly were you making a fuel cell for a faster-than-light drive in the first place?"

"To help!" Peridot exclaimed as if it were obvious. After her nightmare, she'd found herself thinking about Rose Quartz, uncomfortably wondering just how hypocritical it was of her to judge Rose for not doing more to help gems when she hadn't done anything to help them either. Rose, at least, had been hindered by the technology of her time. How could she help the gems on Homeworld when she was trapped on Earth? But Peridot had no such excuse. They'd even had a ship at one point, and let it slip through their fingers. Suddenly inspired, she'd spent the rest of the night working on her tablet, drawing up plans that would take them to Homeworld again. "I know that realistically, we don't have the power overthrow the Diamonds, but if we could get to Homeworld, we could do at least do something! Rescue the off-colors, or release the bubbled Rose Quartz gems or-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Garnet said before she could go any further. She reached up and flicked away her shades, fixing all three eyes upon Peridot. "I applaud your initiative, Peridot, and if you want to continue trying to build a faster-than-light drive, that's fine by me. Although I would prefer that you not do so in the house. But at this moment in time, I have no desire to make any strike against Homeworld, no matter how small."

"What!?" Steven sat up straighter and Peridot's jaw dropped in dismay. "Why!?"

Garnet's gaze flickered over to him and she smiled sadly. "Surely you remember what happened when we tried to rescue Lars? The only reason we survived was because he discovered his teleportation powers in time. Now Homeworld believe Rose Quartz is finally dead. We've had four years of peace since then, you've finally been able to just be human, like your mother wanted. You were never supposed to have to fight her battles. It's one of the reasons why we haven't unbubbled Bismuth either," she added as Steven opened his mouth to protest. "Pearl and I have discussed it, many times. Rose did her a great wrong, and we were worried that she might still blame you for that. After all, it took years for us to fully understand that you were a completely separate being to Rose. Bismuth had less than a day to process that information."

Steven grimaced. He knew it wasn't his fault, but it sure did sound like it was his fault. "You know I can beat her if I need to," he muttered.

"I know." She reached out and ruffled his hair. "But I don't want you to have to fight her. No, that's not true," she immediately admitted. "I don't want to have to fight her."

"I'll fight her if you like," Peridot offered.

Garnet laughed and ruffled Peridot's hair as well, much to her annoyance. "That's very generous offer. Thank you. But maybe just stick to making the faster-than-light drive for now." She flicked her fingers and her shades reappeared. "This peace won't last forever, Homeworld may have left us alone for now, but sooner or later, Yellow Diamond's going to wonder why her Cluster still hasn't emerged. When that happens, it would be nice to have some modern technology to fight back with." And then, apparently deciding the conversation was over, she turned and walked back into the Temple.

"So," Steven said after a few seconds of silence, picking up a shard of broken crockery and tossing it into the bin. "I guess that means Bismuth stays bubbled for now."

Peridot pulled a face at the Temple door and patted her hair back into place. "I was actually serious about fighting her if the need arose," she muttered. "After all, I have no emotional connection to her that would hold me back. Not in a brawl, obviously," she added quickly as Steven shot her an incredulous look, "but I could construct some drones to defend you if she were to attack, mount a blast cannon in your room… ooh!" She snapped her fingers. "I assume you all kept the debris from my ship, if I were permitted to examine it, perhaps I could attempt to build a destabilizer barrier around your bed."

"Wow." Steven whistled in admiration. "You are amazing, do you know that?"

She grinned, blushing slightly. "Well, yes, but it's nice to hear it occasionally."

"I think it's amazing, I think you're amazing," Steven sang at once, grinning widely as she blushed harder. "Da da da da, da da da, da da da- ow." He winced and hopped over to the kitchen counter, held onto it with one hand and took off his sandal. A small fragment of broken plate had stabbed him in the foot. "Ow ow ow. Ow. That hurt."

"Sorry." Peridot rummaged under the sink for the dustpan and began sweeping the floor. "Next time, I'll take Garnet's advice and store the fuel cell elsewhere."

"It's not your fault," Steven reassured her. "You'd think by now, I'd know better than to go handling glowing stuff I don't recognize." His stomach rumbled again, reminding him exactly why he'd taken the fuel cell out of the fridge to start with and even though he was now at least 98% certain this was reality, he looked back inside the fridge, grabbed one of the sausages and bit into it.

Real.

But not very nice. Definitely needed to be reheated. He stepped back and looked around. "Where's the microwave?"

Peridot looked away guiltily. "Ummmmmmmmm…"

He sighed and closed the door again. "It's in the black hole, isn't it?"

"Bits of it," she admitted. "Mostly the parts that were required to make it function. I didn't see any point in keeping the rest of it."

"What did you do with it?" He opened the door again, idly hoping it had been magically restocked in the three seconds it had been closed. "Not much in here," he muttered mostly to himself."

"Yes, Amethyst offered to make some space in there for me," Peridot said brightly. "She took the rest of the microwave too."

"Ah. That explains it." He closed the door again one more time and considered his options. Last time he'd looked, there had been some chaaaps and a box of mac and cheese in the cupboard, but he wanted something more substantial than just snacks, and he really didn't feel up to cooking. "I'm gonna head into town and get some food." He hesitated and then impulsively added, "do you wanna come with me?"

"Me?" Peridot looked to see if somebody else had walked in while she wasn't looking, but they appeared to be alone.

"Yeah, you. It'll be fun." A thought occurred to him, and he held up his phone. "I don't know if you saw yet, but Lapis updated her blog. We could read it together."

"Oh! No, I've been so busy, I hadn't had a chance to look yet." Peridot smiled, pleased by the invitation. "Very well, I shall accompany you to dinner."

"Great!" Steven immediately abandoned his half-formed plan to stop by Beach Citywalk Fries on the way to his dad's. Dinner with Peridot required something a little more upmarket than greasy fry bits. Fish Stew Pizza wasn't an option either; Kofi had sold the restaurant when Jenny and Kiki left for college and the new owners had made a number of bizarre changes, including 'deconstructed' pizza and serving the drinks in miniature fishbowls. "I'll see if I can find Lion and bribe him to take us into Beach City. Or I can call a cab." Recalling exactly why he was planning to head over to his dad's, he started heading towards the Temple door. "I just need to talk to Garnet first. Can you grab a Lion Licker from the freezer and try calling Lion?"

"Sure."

He knew he could enter via his own room and then make his way to Garnet's room, but after what had happened, he was in no hurry to go back in there, so instead, he knocked on the door. "Garnet?"

The door opened at once and Garnet smiled down at him. "Hello Steven. Would you like to come in?"

"Thanks." He stepped inside and the door closed behind him.

Like Peridot before him, he looked around at the bubbles with interest, and it didn't escape Garnet's attention that his eyes also sought out Bismuth and Jasper's gems. "What can I do for you?" she asked gently, drawing back his attention.

"Hmm? Oh. Right." He dragged his eyes back to her. "I was wondering, could we try the room ceremony again tomorrow? Peridot really needs her own room."

"She does," Garnet agreed mildly. "And you need your space back. I've noticed you seem to be having a little trouble sleeping these past few days. It's not your fault," she continued as he opened his mouth to protest. "The house was only ever made for you. You've never really had to share it before."

"Whaaaaat!? I can share!" Steven protested in outrage.

"You live in a single bedroomed, open plan house," Garnet pointed out. "There simply isn't space for another person. Or her six hundred pairs of shoes," she joked. Then her face turned serious. "Pearl did briefly mention the issue earlier, but I'll talk to her and Amethyst again and tell them to prepare themselves for another ceremony. Hopefully now they've had a few days to get used to the idea, they'll find it easier to concentrate."

Steven nodded, but it took a few more seconds for his sleep-deprived brain to process her words. "Wait, you knew they'd messed up too?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Did anyone manage to concentrate properly? Did you manage it!?"

"The first ceremony was never going to be successful," Garnet admitted cheerfully. "I spent the time looking for spoilers for TV shows." She adjusted her shades. "The Harry Potter TV series is going to be good."

"Harry Potter TV series?" he repeated, momentarily distracted.

"It's going to be announced in two months."

"I gotta reread the books," he said mostly to himself. "Is Peeves in it? No, don't tell me!" he quickly added before she could speak. "Don't tell me anything!"

Garnet nodded solemnly. "We can try the ceremony again tomorrow," she said, getting back on track. "But you need to get a good night's sleep."

"Not a problem," Steven confidently reassured her. "I'm going to stay at Dad's tonight."

"That's a good idea," she said approvingly. "I'll see you in the morning then, bright and early. Well, mid-morning," she amended. "No rush. Sleep in."

"I'm going to turn off my phone and sleep for ten- no, twelve hours." Steven closed his eyes blissfully. Then he kept them closed for another five seconds because it just felt so nice.

"Steven."

"I'm awake."

xxx

Lion skidded to a halt in the middle of Main Street, and Steven slid off of his back and helped Peridot down. "Thanks, Lion. We'll bring you some leftovers."

"So…" Peridot looked up and down the street, at the various restaurants scattered along its length. "Where are we bringing him leftovers from?"

"Hmm." Steven looked around as well. The familiar bright lights of McDonalds halfway down the block beckoned, but he rejected it as an option at once. Wok This Way was just across the road, but still, it didn't seem quite good enough. He turned slowly, and spotted fancy chairs and tables arranged underneath a maroon awning. "Tammy's… Disco?" Somehow that didn't sound quite right. He blinked his eyes and the letters came into focus. "Tommy's Bistro! It's an Italian restaurant. Have you ever tried Italian food?"

"I tried a piece of lasagna once," Peridot said. "I don't think I did it correctly though, it was extremely bland. And is it supposed to crunch?

"No, that doesn't sound quite right," Steven said with a smile. "Come on, let's go in, they'll show you how it's done."

They stepped inside and were quickly directed over to a table for two, decorated with a stereotypical red-checked tablecloth and a red candle jammed into an empty Chianti bottle. A smiling waitress handed them each a menu and then vanished to let them peruse them in peace. "So do you wanna try lasagna?" Steven asked. "Or something else?"

"Hmm…" Peridot ran her eyes down the menu, but she quickly realized she was out of her depth. "I don't know," she admitted. "I don't even know how to pronounce many of these dishes. What do you recommend?"

"Well…" He looked at the menu himself, blinking a few times as the words swam before him for a moment before slowly becoming clear. "Spaghetti bolognese is a classic. Can't go wrong there. Or you can have spaghetti al pomodoro if you'd prefer it without meat.

"That sounds acceptable," she said quickly, before he could complicate things by offering more choices. "What are you going to have?"

"Lasagna," he cheerfully replied at once. "Talking about it has given me a craving."

The waitress returned and took their order, politely refused to serve them any wine and returned a few minutes later with two glasses of iced tea instead. Then while they waited for the food to arrive, Steven pulled up Lapis's blog on his phone. "Bum Bum Island," he read aloud, "does not seem to have done anything to capitalize upon the fact that it is named Bum Bum Island. I was completely unable to find any sort of bottom-related merchandize. In conclusion, I award Bum Bum Island two out of ten raspberries."

"Is that it?" Peridot came around to the other side of the table and leaned over his shoulder to see the screen for himself. "Where's the rest?"

"There's a selfie," Steven offered, holding up the phone so that she could see the slightly blurry image of Lapis stood on a beach. Evidently unable to find a suitable sign to take a picture of, Lapis had instead written 'Bum Bum Island' in the sand. "But that's it. Do you know where she's planning to go next?"

"I believe her next destination is Burrumbuttock," Peridot said thoughtfully. "If I recall correctly, which I do, she was planning to visit bottom-related places first. Bum, Bum, Bumbum, Bare Bum, Lovely Bottom, Butthole Lane, Ass, that sort of thing."

"She should finish by visiting Uranus," Steven quipped.

Peridot grinned. "She did actually consider it, but in the end she decided that for her first tour, she would feel safer remaining on Earth."

"I suppose that makes sense," Steven agreed. Then out of curiosity, he searched for Burrumbuttock on his phone, and they both spent the next few minutes reading the results until their food arrived. After generously allowing Peridot a small bite, Steven attacked his lasagna with gusto while she struggled to stop the spaghetti from sliding off of her fork. "Try twirling it around your fork," he suggested.

Peridot obediently spun her fork. Spaghetti and sauce immediately spattered over them both. Steven burst out laughing at the look of stunned surprise on her face and handed her a napkin. "Sorry, I probably could've explained that better," he said, grabbing another napkin to wipe his own face. "You kinda stab the fork at the plate and spin it- here, I'll show you."

She watched attentively as he spun the fork through the spaghetti and raised it aloft, pasta perfectly wound around the tines. "Ohhhhh!"

"Now you try," Steven said, absently popping the fork into his mouth. "Ah, sorry."

She waved away his apology. "It's fine, I already ate your lasagna. Now we're even." She put down the napkin and hoped she didn't still have sauce in her hair or something. And of course, her nice, clean shirt was now covered with red splotches. Actually… "Excuse me." She pushed back her chair and stood up. "I'm just going to try and clean up a little better."

She weaved carefully though tables of dining couples towards the restroom. Then she slowed down and took another look around as something occurred to her. Couples. Everywhere she looked were couples, talking and laughing and exchanging loving looks across the candlelit tables. There was one small group of friends over in the corner, but no families, and no children. The lights were dimmed, the music was soft and lilting and the entire atmosphere was one of romance. She pushed open the door to the restroom and frowned thoughtfully at her reflection in the mirror there.

Was this a date?

No. Of course not. She shook her head, dismissing the thought at once. That was just wishful thinking. For starters, she was pretty sure that both parties had to agree it was a date before it could be a date, no matter how much it felt like it might be a date. This was just Steven being his usual nice self, nothing more. He was probably just lonely because Connie had left for college. And he definitely wasn't interested in a little green gem who couldn't even eat spaghetti properly. She scowled at her reflection, held a towel under the faucet and began dabbing at the red stains on her shirt.

Still… her expression softened slightly. There was no harm in pretending it was a date. OK, she wouldn't get her hopes up about a kiss at the end of the night, but if he asked her if she'd like to try sleeping again when they returned to the house, she was going to say yes.

Cheered by that thought, she finished tidying herself up, tossed the towel aside and stepped back out into the main restaurant only to find that Steven had fallen asleep face-first in the remains of his lasagna.

xxx

Happily Lion didn't seem to mind the fact that the leftovers had Steven's face imprinted in them, and a few short moments later, he skidded to a halt on the beach outside the house. Steven slid off of his back and staggered towards the steps, feeling ever-so-slightly off balance. The stairs seemed to go on forever, but he valiantly dragged himself up each one until he reached the top.

"You should go straight to bed," Peridot spoke from somewhere behind him. He looked up at his room, where his lovely comfy bed beckoned, and was deeply tempted to do as she said, just climb up there and sleep. But the slightly more sensible part of his brain pointed out that if he did that, he'd only wake up three hours later, all uncomfortable because he still had his clothes and shoes on. And then a whole bunch of other stuff was bound to happen to stop him falling asleep again, because it had been that kind of week. Besides, his dad was expecting him.

He shook his head and turned towards the bathroom instead. "I gotta wash. I can still smell lasagna. I think there's some up my nose," he grumbled.

"Very well. I'll wait until you're done." Peridot sat down on the sofa, and was surprised to see Steven smack his hand against his forehead.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you, you have the place to yourself tonight. I'm gonna sleep at Dad's. So you can watch TV and stuff!" He smiled brightly and turned away, completely missing the way her face fell at the news.

He blew his nose (and discovered that there was indeed still lasagna up his nose) and washed his face in cold water, after which he felt a little more alert. Then he grabbed his phone charger and headed towards the door. "I'll see you in the morning, bye!"

The door slammed shut behind him before Peridot could speak, and the sound echoed through the empty house. Suddenly it felt a lot bigger and lonelier than it ever had before.