CHAPTER TWO

Later that evening, the happy couple were curled up together on Peridot's sofa, watching a movie, and actually watching it this time. Or at least, Steven was watching it, chuckling to himself as one poor character was hit in the head with a wrench. But when Peridot failed to react, he tore his eyes away from the screen and finally noticed her staring blankly at the screen, a thoughtful look on her face. "Peri? Is everything all right?"

"Hmm?" Peridot blinked and glanced up at him. "Yes, everything is fine. I was just thinking."

"Yeah? What about?" Steven asked cautiously. He hoped she wasn't still dwelling upon their conversation in the restaurant, because there really wasn't anything he could do about that until he had a chance to talk to the gems.

"I was wondering…" She shifted slightly in his arms. "…What's fusion like?"

"Fusion?" Steven looked surprised. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious," she replied, but her quick glance over at her computer gave her away.

Of course, Steven realized. The encrypted report, plus Pearl's enthusiasm over Stevonnie had obviously put the subject of fusion into Peridot's mind. He thought for a moment, wondering how to explain it. A few years ago, he would've immediately gushed about how wonderful fusion was, but now he was a little older and a little wiser. "Well, I guess it depends on stuff. Like why you're doing it, and who you're doing it with. The first time I did it was with Connie and it was by accident, and Garnet said we weren't two people or one person, we were an experience. And we were friends and we just wanted to dance and have fun and it was pretty nice." Until Kevin, he added internally. "Then with Amethyst, well, you saw that. It was an accident again, but we'd kinda reached an understanding about ourselves and what people were expecting from us, and it gave us the push we needed to help each other fight Jasper together."

"I… think I understand?" Peridot frowned. "So when Lapis and Jasper fused…"

"It was for bad reasons," Steven finished. "They didn't like each other and they had ulterior motives for fusing, so it was a bad experience for them."

Peridot tilted her head in confusion. "But Jasper wanted to do it again?"

Steven shrugged helplessly. "It's a rush," he admitted. "You share your partner's power and I guess if they're a lot more powerful than you, you miss it afterwards." He shivered, remembering how Pearl had tricked Garnet into fusing because she'd craved her power. "And Lapis was a lot more powerful than Jasper."

Peridot thought about that for a while. "But your fusions have all been good experiences?"

"…Mostly," Steven admitted. "There's been a couple of times where it wasn't so good. But me and Connie and Amethyst got it all worked out quickly, so most of the time, it's been good, I've enjoyed it," he hastily added, sensing that he wasn't doing a very good job of selling fusion to her. "And hey, don't forget Garnet! She's fused for the best reason!"

Peridot's lips twitched upwards at that, but her smile quickly faded, to be replaced by a look of apprehension. "Does- does it hurt?" she asked in a small voice.

Somehow he knew she wasn't asking for herself, but for the fusion experiments she'd been sent to check up on, and he hastened to reassure her. "No, not at all." It was a little white lie, he knew perfectly well that there was plenty of emotional trauma in a bad fusion, not to mention what had happened to Jasper, but of course, she already knew that. "There's no physical pain. It might be a bit exhausting when you unfuse, but it doesn't hurt."

Peridot relaxed, looking reassured by that statement and Steven gave her a small, hopeful smile. "Do you want to try it sometime?" he offered. "Not right now, obviously," he quickly added as her eyes widened. "But y'know, sometime, just for funsies. I bet we'd make a great fusion!"

"I don't know." She bit her lip. "I don't think I'm ready for that."

"I can wait," Steven said at once. "For as long as you need."

Peridot shook her head slowly. She was relieved to hear that it didn't hurt, but the idea of fusion still scared her. Lapis had always refused to talk about it, and she'd seen what it had done to Jasper. And Steven's powers were so much stronger than her own. What if she got addicted to the power of fusion too? Besides… "I don't even know if I can," she confessed. "I wasn't made for fusion."

"You weren't made for metal-bending either," Steven reminded her. "But even if it turns out you can't fuse with other gems, you might still be able to fuse with me. I can fuse with humans, after all, and they definitely aren't made for fusion." Seeing that she still looked nervous, he backed off. "And if you can't, it doesn't matter. We don't need to fuse to have a relationship."

"We don't?" Peridot asked in surprise.

"Nope!" he smiled down at her. "My mom and dad couldn't fuse, but it wasn't as important as being able to talk to each other."

"We've definitely done that then," she said with a small laugh, then stretched up and gave him a quick kiss.

They turned their attention back to the movie for a few minutes, and then Peridot spoke up again. "I suppose if you think about it, you are technically the fusion of Greg and Rose."

"Mmm," Steven agreed. Then he actually properly thought about it, and groaned in disgust. "Oh. Ewwww! Why would you tell me to think about it!? That mental image is gonna haunt my dreams forever now!"

xxx

beep beep

The sound of an incoming text dragged Steven out of his slumber and he rolled over and fumbled for his phone, dropping it on the floor twice before he was actually able to open the message from Connie.

Hi Steven! Back home now, fancy joining me 4 breakfast big donut? My treat :)

His gaze flickered up to the time in the top corner - 7:56, which was a little earlier than he liked to be awake, but he and Peridot hadn't had a dream date after all, so getting up now wouldn't make him want to die, so he sent back a quick reply.

Sure, sounds good! See u soon!

He hit send, and then grabbed some clothes and ran down the stairs to the bathroom to get washed and dressed. That done, he then crossed over to the door that led to Peridot's room. He knocked and waited, and a few seconds later, the lock clicked and she pushed the door open. "Goooood morning!" he sang cheerfully.

"You're up early," she commented, standing aside so that he could enter.

"Connie just texted me and asked if I wanted to meet her for breakfast at the Big Donut," he explained, stepping inside and closing the door again before pulling her into a quick hug. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not," she said, looking mildly insulted that he'd even ask that. "Go! Have fun! I shall continue tinkering with my decryption algorithm while you're gone."

"Have you managed to decrypt anything else?" he asked with interest, looking over at the computer in the corner where code was scrolling across the screen, too fast for him to actually read any of it.

Peridot shook her head. "I did hope that they might have used the same encryption key for all the files, but they're all individually encrypted. There may be a pattern to it, but to be honest, I think I'm going to have to wait for a few more files to be decoded before I can really look into that."

Steven shook his head, giving up the pretence that he had the faintest idea what she was talking about. "You'll crack it," he reassured her. "I wish I could help, but the most technical thing I can manage on a computer is the Konami Code."

She grinned and stretched up on tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. "Your encouragement is all the help I need."

"Yeah?" He grinned back. "I could get you a motivational donut too if you like."

"A motivational donut would be nice," Peridot conceded and reluctantly let him go. "Go and have breakfast. I'll see you later."

"OK, love you, bye!" Steven gave her one last kiss and then set up on the short journey across the beach, towards the Big Donut. As he approached, he could see Connie loitering outside, and sped up his pace. "Hey, Connie!"

Connie straightened up and waved. "Steven!"

"Is the Big Donut not open yet?" he asked glancing over at the door. The store was supposed to open at 7am, but Mindy, the new employee hired to replace Sadie, was not always the most punctual person.

"No, it's open," Connie said cheerfully. "I just decided to wait outside. It's a nicer atmosphere." As she spoke, a seagull landed by her foot and raised its tail, releasing a stream of white poop onto the ground. Steven stared solemnly at her and she shrugged. "Still nicer."

"You don't have to convince me," he said with feeling. Mindy was also not the most welcoming person either. She made Lars look almost cheerful and efficient in comparison. Still, the Big Donut was the only place to get coffee and donuts, so Steven took a deep breath and pushed the door open. "Good morning, Mindy!" he greeted with faux cheer, strolling across the store and leaning against the counter. "And how are you on this bright and-"

"Shush." Without raising her eyes from her phone, Mindy held out a warning finger and Steven promptly shushed.

Thirty seconds passed in silence. Beside Steven, Connie's shoulders began to shake with mirth. After another ten seconds, Steven cleared his throat. Mindy ignored him. A small snort of laughter escaped from Connie, and a muscle in Mindy's cheek twitched. Finally she put down her phone and stared at them impatiently. "What?"

"Two coffees and two donuts please," Steven said quickly before she could shush him again.

"What donuts?"

Steven looked over at Connie and she stepped forward. "Powdered Lemon-" she began.

"We haven't got those," Mindy said flatly.

Connie gave the shelf marked 'Powdered Lemon' a pointed look. "Then what are those?"

Mindy leaned over, stabbed one of the donuts with a grubby finger, and licked it. "Powdered Blueberry. Do you want one?"

"Um, no thank you." Connie shuddered and pointed to the shelf marked 'Glazed Lemon' instead. "One of those is fine."

"Oh, that might be wrong too." Mindy reached out her finger again. "I'll just check-"

"NO! I-I mean, it's fine, I don't care what it is," Connie said hastily, and took the bagged donut out of Mindy's reach as soon as possible in case the girl decided to lick all the glaze off or something.

"And I'll just have that one," Steven added, pointing to something covered in crumbs that claimed to be New York Cheesecake, but could've been any sort of cookie combo, or possibly even a random donut that had been dropped on the floor. Then Mindy punched in the wrong code and overcharged them. It was a frequent error and Steven had given up arguing with her about it, but Connie was not about to let 75 cents go so easily, so Steven left her to it while he poured out the coffee, which was lukewarm and far too strong, but eventually they escaped and sat down on a bench outside to eat.

"She really is awful, isn't she?" Connie commented as she took a sip of her coffee. "I thought maybe I was remembering her wrong. Are you quite sure she isn't a mole sent to sabotage the Big Donut?"

"I did suspect that too," Steven admitted, glancing down the Boardwalk towards A Pizza The Ocean, the restaurant that had replaced Fish Stew Pizza and was owned by Mindy's parents. "But she works at her parents place in the evenings and she's just as bad there." He raised his donut to his mouth and bit into it, then froze, a look of horror on his face.

"What? What is it?" Connie asked warily, lowering her own donut. "Did she drop something in the batter? Bottle cap? Used band-aid? Earring? Severed thumb?"

"No, it's just, I told Peridot I'd get her a motivational donut." He jumped to his feet. "I'll be right back."

"You're willingly going back there again?" Connie smirked. "Wow, it really must be love." Steven poked his tongue out at her and she laughed. "You can give her this one if you like," she offered, holding the bag out. "Kinda lost my appetite now."

"You sure?" he asked, already reaching for the bag.

"Yeah, I made the mistake of actually imagining a severed thumb in it and now I'm scared to put it anywhere near my mouth," Connie admitted.

Completely undeterred, Steven sat back down and took another bite of his own donut. "I won't mention that to her."

Connie watched him eat for a few seconds, took a sip of her horrible coffee and decided she'd waited long enough. "So how are things with you and Peridot? Everything going well?"

Steven smiled. "Yeah, it's going pretty good. We've been on a couple of dates now, it's been fun."

"Yeah? That's good." Connie looked up at the lighthouse that hid the Temple from view. "And what do the gems think about it all? Were they OK with you two?"

"Actually…" Steven blushed and ducked his head. "They kinda… we haven't exactly… I haven't told them yet."

Connie paused, her coffee cup raised halfway towards her mouth. "What? Why not?"

"They might, I dunno, think it's weird," Steven mumbled.

"So what, are you just gonna try and keep it a secret forever instead?" Connie lowered her cup and frowned. "That's not gonna work, Steven. You guys all live together, sooner or later one of them's going to find out, and they'll be more upset that you didn't tell them first."

Steven carried on staring at his feet. "I know, but… they um, they still think me and you…"

"Steven!" Connie wailed. "You said you'd tell them! You promised!"

"I am! I'm gonna tell them today!" he insisted. "And then I'm gonna give them a couple of days to process that before I tell them about me and Peridot, but I am gonna do it! Really," he added, seeing from her expression that she didn't quite believe him. "Peridot got upset yesterday when I wanted to keep it quiet longer, I don't want her to think I'm messing her around."

Connie glowered at him. "I asked you to tell them I wasn't your girlfriend four months ago," she said through gritted teeth.

"I know, I'm sorry." Steven rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I was kinda hoping while you were away, they might drop it, but Pearl at least still thinks we're a thing."

Connie sighed, her anger vanishing as quickly as it had flared up. She couldn't really blame him for ignoring the problem in the hope it would go away. It was a strategy she used on her college assignments, and unfortunately, was equally as effective. "You need to do this, Steven. I mean it, I'm not coming over your house until you do, I'm tired of all the hints about me giving up everything to become permafusion Stevonnie, full-time monster hunter."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Steven said again. "So um, what about you?" he asked, quickly changing the subject. "What happened with that guy in your Creative Writing class you had your eye on?"

"Oh, him." Connie grimaced. "I asked him to coffee, and it was going so well, we were chatting about Harry Potter, and then…" She paused for dramatic effect. "He said Harry and Hermione should've got together."

"Oooooh." Steven winced. "Movie fan?"

"Movie fan," she confirmed and took another sip of her coffee. "Also he said Hermione could only be a white girl, so yeah, that ended before it started."

"I'm sorry," Steven said sincerely.

"Oh, it's OK." She grinned widely. "I'm dating his sister now instead."