Greetings, welcome to my Steven Universe AU. If you want some backstory on the characters please see; The Authority: Origins. That will be an ongoing series of vignettes, but it's moving a little slower than this story... Don't want to give anything away.
This story is a slow burn because I'm establishing what's going on in this world. As always, enjoy!
Excelsior!
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Sunlight streamed in from partially closed window slats. Its unbridled glory painting brilliant lines on the well-worn wooden floor in the living room and bedroom loft.
Steven yawned and stretched as he opened his eyes only to find Garnet looking at him.
"Happy birthday Steven!" She clumsily kissed his forehead a couple times as he laughed out loud. She sat up and beamed at him.
"So, what does my 12 year-old cutie-pie want for breakfast?"
"You don't have work today!?" Steven said, hopeful stars filling his eyes. Garnet shook her head, her bushy, kinky, dark curls moving with the motion.
"Sorry, Steven, I could only take a couple hours off. I have an appointment with a client at 11." Steven gave a sad hum as Garnet got up and ruffled his hair.
She was a tennis instructor and personal trainer at the Beach City sports center. Steven should have gotten the clue that she had work just by the gym shorts, tank top, and the wide sports band she wore to keep her mass of curly dark hair back.
"But we have some time, so let's make the most of it." She hopped down the stairs to the living area and opened the fridge.
"I'll be back at six for your party, I couldn't miss that." She looked back with her heterochromatic eyes and winked at him. Garnet was so awesome; she was a little over six feet tall and build like weight lifter. Steady and calm, and one of her coolest features was that she had one sapphire blue eye and one rusty brown eye. She was the coolest.
And sometimes it almost seemed like she could see the future. Steven would play tennis with her, and he could swear that she knew where he was going to be before it happened (not that he was the best player). He's seen her do that with her clients as well when she occasionally brought him to work with her. People commented that she should go professional, but she only shook her head, and calmly stated that she liked being a teacher.
"You'll need to get up and get ready, Amethyst is going to want to take you to Funland today." The boy swung his feet over the side of the bed and gave his guardian a puzzled look.
"She didn't say anything about that..." He padded down the stairs in his banana pajamas when a scratchy voice pierced the air.
"STEVE-O! Happy birthday little man!" The stout woman ran up to him, grabbed him by the neck, and affectionately gave him a "noogie."
"Ha-ha, Amethyst!" He slipped out of the crook of her arm, rubbing the back of his head, all smiles.
"Steven! We are totally going to Funland and getting sick on ice cream and pizza!"
"Don't fill up on too much junk food, your dad's barbecuing tonight, remember?" Garnet said over her shoulder. "That and Pearl will be mad." The tennis instructor added while heating a pan on the stove.
"Uhhhh, when is she not salty? She's a salt mine!" Amethyst rolled her eyes and turned back to Steven.
"Okay, so check it out. The Appalachian is running in reverse today! So maybe a little junk food is a better idea?"
A toothy grin spread across her rounded features. She was maybe a few inches taller than Steven with white feathered hair, and all heart. She held up her hand, and the boy enthusiastically slapped it.
"I didn't know the Appalachian could do that?" Steven said with stars in his eyes, "We have to get to Funland!" The Appalachian was his favorite roller coaster, and until recently, he could only watch people ride on it.
"Old man Smiley usually runs it that way the last couple weekends of summer. Last year you were still too shrimpy to ride, bud." Amethyst walked behind the counter next to Garnet and proceeded to get some dishes out of the cabinet.
"But not this year!" She handed him a plate and some silverware just as Garnet brought the frying pan over.
"Scrambled eggs and bacon? Garnet, you can see the future! I didn't say what I wanted!" Garnet just shook her head.
"It's your favorite silly. Did you take your pills?"
"Yeah man, gotta take those or Pearl will be salty with you me, and Garnet." Amethyst started helping herself to some bacon.
"But Garnet..."
"Put your buts away, Steven. The doctor said to take your medication once a day, so that's what you are going to do." She picked up the bottle from the counter and placed two chalky pills and a glass of water in front of Steven.
Steven obediently took the medicine and chugged it down so he could get it over with as fast as possible. Recently he'd been getting migraines a lot.
Missing out on school, missing hanging out with Connie (his BFF). Pearl and his dad had taken him to the doctors, and after multiple tests, including an MRI, they found nothing. It was a good thing, but the headaches were still a problem.
The doctor said it was "growing pains." He was reaching puberty, and his body was going through changes. Eat your vegetables, and get enough sleep, drink lots of water, have some pills, have a great day.
Easy for the doctor to write off, not so easy for Steven. But the pills did help a little bit, so being the good kid he was, he took them.
"Com' on little man, let's get this party started! We're going to want to hit the park soon, or the lines will be a bummer." Amethyst began cleaning up, while Garnet got her gym bag and her trademark sunglasses out of her room.
"I'll walk you and Amethyst to the Crab Shack, Pearl want's to wish you a happy birthday."
… … … … … … … … …
The Crab Shack was situated nearby, and it usually had a reputation of being an establishment for Beach City "locals." This time of year, however, it was at its busiest due to its proximity to Funland. Pearl was the head manager of the restaurant, she'd worked there for... Well, forever, according to Steven.
Usually, it would have been Pearl who got Steven up and made him breakfast for his birthday, but the owners went on an impromptu vacation. They wanted her to oversee not just the restaurant, but the prep work while they were gone. That meant getting up to meet with the fishmongers at the docks to purchase fresh seafood and oversee quality control.
So she begrudgingly set her alarm for five a.m., and quietly got ready when it went off the next morning. The house was still dark when she crept out of her room, making sure her snowy white dress shirt and black pants didn't have a single wrinkle on them.
Quietly, she walked up the stairs to Steven's loft and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead, she then straightened the blanket covering him and left him to sleep. She grabbed a light windbreaker from a nearby coat rack and slipped out the front door.
It was balmy out, but later, it would be like walking through a sauna. She walked past the Big Donut (waving at a groggy Sadie Miller), and quickly made her way to the corner of Thayer and Waterman Street where It's a Wash was situated.
Pearl clenched her jaw and stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets when she glanced at the van in the parking lot. Greg Universe's current home, a van. Of course, he'd always lived in a van, and Rose lived there with him for a time.
The only person Pearl had ever given her heart too, Rose. For a time, the two of them were happy, after everything they'd been through, they deserved that much. Life before Beach City was... Complicated.
After a while, though, Greg Universe wandered into their lives. "You can't ignore the Universe." Rose was star struck with the failing rockstar from then on out. Before Pearl knew it, Greg and Rose, were a couple. They had a life together, and they were happy.
Pearl couldn't begrudge Rose's joy. If Rose was happy, then she would be content to limp along with the hole in her chest where her heart used to be. She'd just smile, say everything was alright, and bleed.
It happened so fast, they were married then they moved into the beach house. Between Greg and Rose, they couldn't afford it, Greg had just purchased the car-wash, but it was roomy. Soon, Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst had moved in. A mismatched family, but a generally happy one.
Then Rose got pregnant, and everything was moving along splendidly until the birth of little Steven. There were complications. Steven was thankfully fine, healthy as could be. Rose wasn't; there was a postpartum hemorrhage in her pelvic area. She held little Steven for all of 15 minutes before the doctor noticed anything was wrong. The doctor noticed too late.
Rose was gone.
Twelve years ago. Rose would have been 33 years old today, and she would have adored Steven. Pearl knew this because she herself adored Steven. For all intents and purposes, he was her child, and Garnet's and Amethyst's... And Greg's. She couldn't deny it; Greg Universe was an amazing father to Steven. Even if he lived in his van (Even if he was the cause of Pearl's heartache.)
"Excuse us!" Pearl was jarred from her thoughts when a golf cart carrying two teenagers wearing Funland staff t-shirts rolled past, newly emptied trashcans precariously balanced in the back. She had managed to walk all the way from Waterman Street to Bay Street without really noticing.
Pearl gave them an irate look as she passed and made her way to the docks. She walked past the bigger fishing trawlers to a medium-sized one, Yellowtail's boat.
She made her way up the plank, "Hello? Yellowtail? Oh-."
The friendly, bearded man was high up on one of the ship's cranes with two of his crew members.
"Hey Pearl, here to see today's catch?" A somewhat deep voice said from behind her.
"Oh, Sour Cream, I didn't expect to see you here." Sour Cream (his DJ name) was Yellowtail's step-son, he was tall and lanky with bleach blond hair and youthful blue eyes.
"Yeah, summer job, working with yellow dad part-time for some cash for a new turntable." The young man looked up to where his step-dad was.
"Is everything alright?" Pearl said curiously.
"Something messed up the pulley system today on the crane when we were out, he's trying to get it fixed before tomorrow morning. Anyways, want to see our catch? We got some good stuff before our rigging messed up."
He led Pearl over to the crabs they had just caught this morning. She carefully perused the crustacean filled bins while Sour Cream followed behind with a handbill taking her order.
"This is good! Does your dad have anything else?" Pearl was impressed, but then again, Yellowtail was a great fisherman.
"Yeah, we caught some tuna-" Abruptly, there was some yelling from above. Pearl watched in horror as the pulley wheel and hook fell from the crane above. Sour Cream was right beneath it.
She moved blindingly fast; it was instinct mostly. Years of special forces training kicked in, she lunged for the teenage boy, tackling him at his waist. She felt the crushingly heavy pulley wheel clip her shoulder just as she got Sour Cream out of the way. A sharp pain shooting down her back, she would be just fine (bruised but otherwise unharmed). The young man would not have been, he would have easily been crushed or worse.
More yelling from above, Pearl sat up on her knees and looked at young Sour Cream. "Are you alright!?"
"Uh yeah, I mean... Pearl, you just saved my life..."
"Well, I can't have my preferred fishmongers getting hurt now!"
Pearl blushed and gave a nervous smile.
… … … … … … … … …
The day was bright and warm, it was the last two weeks of summer before school started. Families on vacation with their kids milled about the various businesses in and around Funland Amusement Park. A few buses carrying college kids from the area were nearby unloading rambunctious, young adults for one last blast of summer freedom.
Amethyst walked with her hands stuffed in her jean pockets, white hair now tied in a precarious knot. Steven and Connie were practically bouncing in front of her and Garnet as they passed the amusement park. Had to go see Pearl before they were cut loose for the day.
Connie had met the group in front of the Big Donut, while Sadie and an indifferent Lars gave the kids some complimentary b-day cupcakes. It was going to be an awesome day, Amethyst could feel it.
They had just passed the amusement park, when Garnet got a notice on her phone and started texting as she walked, her expression unreadable under her sunglasses.
"We have to go talk to Pearl," Garnet said rather flatly pursing her lips.
"Uh yeah, that's what we're doing now, G."
"No, something happened this morning." The tall woman paused to let the kids run ahead out of earshot.
"She thinks someone saw her use her powers."
"Awww, jeez! She's always getting on my case, and then she goes and blows her own cover." Amethyst said, eyes narrowing.
"She wouldn't have done it without good reason." Garnet adjusted her tennis racket and gym bag and began to follow Steven and Connie around to the side entrance of the Crab Shack.
The kitchen entrance was open, and the smell of boiled crab and freshly baked breadsticks mixed with the salty air from the ocean. Amethyst rapped her knuckles on the aluminum door startling a fresh-faced summer higher from mopping. (Pearl ran a spic and span kitchen at home, why would it be different at work?)
"Yo, we're here to see Pearl?" Amethyst said, somewhat annoyed.
"Oh yeah, she's in the manager's office, she told me to show you in." The short woman looked over to Garnet and the kids.
"Hey Steve-O, Garnet, and I need to have a grown-up chat with Pearl. Think you guys can chill for a few out here?"
"We'll be just fine, ma'am, no need to worry!" Connie said, standing up straight and puffing out her chest a bit.
"Ma'am? Ugh, you act like I'm respectable or something..." Amethyst made a face, and the children laughed.
She and Garnet followed the young man through a dim hallway lined with a couple of freezers. In the back was a dark-colored door with worn gold lettering, "Manager's Office."
"Pirogi, it's us, let us in," Amethyst said loudly, as Garnet said thanks to the busboy and let him pass to resume mopping.
The sound of hurried feet approached, a hand grasping the handle and pulling. "Oh, thank God you're here!"
The willowy woman ushered the pair in. Amethyst looked around; aside from it smelling like a seafood restaurant, it was actually kind of cozy, in a worn-out sort of way. An overstuffed leather couch sat off to the side, and a timeworn wooden desk took up the center of the room. Multiple five-star reviews and award plaques covered the wall behind the desk.
"Tell me what happened," Garnet said as Pearl sat on the couch.
"It was horrible! I was on Yellowtail's ship, putting in an order for the day."
The tennis instructor sat down next to Pearl. Amethyst sat on the low coffee table just in front of the couch as their nervous friend told the pair of what transpired. The falling equipment and Pearl's daring rescue of DJ Sour Cream.
"You alright, P?" Amethyst finally said after a long pause.
"I'm fine, it's just..." She shook her head, her short, medium blonde hair moving slightly with the motion.
"Gotta say P, you made it sound like it was the end of the world. There's no way Vidalia's kiddo got a good look at what happened." Vidalia was Sour Cream's mother and Amethyst's best friend. She often used Amethyst as a model for her paintings. It's how she made a few extra dollars, aside from being a local bartender.
Garnet gingerly put her hand on Pearl's shoulder, "Ow! Do you mind?!"
"You should ice that up. You probably should have done that as soon as you got here today." Garnet's sports trainer expertise kicking in. "Let's see Pearl."
She unbuttoned the top couple of buttons on her shirt and slipped the collar down over her shoulder. An ugly nebula of black, blue, and red was splayed across her right shoulder and part of her back, the strap of her bra standing out starkly in contrast. Garnet motioned for Pearl to turn a bit so she could get a better look.
The manager winced and continued, "It's not Sour Cream that has me worried. If it was just him, I could have brushed it off as him seeing something he didn't. It's the damn video someone took of the incident! It got posted on Keep Beach City Weird!"
Amethyst quickly whipped out her phone and pulled up the web site. There the video was front and center, labeled "Super Humans Among Us." It was only about 30 seconds, and Pearl's face was blurry and partially obscured by some nearby cargo netting. But anyone that knew Pearl's face could see that was her.
Amethyst handed her phone to Garnet, who then swore underneath her breath. "Garnet, I'm so sorry, I couldn't let that poor boy get crushed though!"
Garnet looked straight at Amethyst, "What are the odds of Ronaldo taking that down?"
"Dude, odds are that paranoid kid will get suspicious of us asking, and then make a bigger deal out of it then it already is. Honestly, I think we're better off just playing it down."
Ronaldo Frybo, conspiracy theorist of the highest order, creator and moderator of the Keep Beach City Weird website. Pearl buried her head in her hands and sobbed.
"Hey, P, it's alright. I would've done the same thing, like, you can't just let bad stuff happen to people when you can help."
All of Amethyst's frustration at Pearl dissipated. She was a perfectionist and fussy and too neat, but Pearl was good people. They were two ends of the spectrum, but Amethyst would stick her neck out for Pearl any time. Garnet handed her phone back as Pearl straightened her shirt.
The problem was the video, not that Pearl selflessly flung herself under 500 pounds of steel to save a teenage boy. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl had worked very hard to keep their identities a secret for many years. When they settled in Beach City with Rose all those years ago, it was a relief. They could stop running and start living. This video, though, if the wrong people watched it... Amethyst shivered despite the warm day.
"Not too many people subscribe to the website," Garnet said carefully, looking at her watch. "I think we'll be okay. Pearl, if anyone asks, just play it down. The video is shoddy at best."
"Relax pirogi, there's better footage of Big Foot than that video of you!" Amethyst said with a grin. She clapped her friend's knee and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Thank you, Amethyst, I love being compared to a cryptid." She said wryly while wiping her eyes, a small smile appearing on the thin woman's face.
"I don't know, you do have that beak... The Bird Woman of Beach City!" Amethyst barked out a laugh after she said the comment.
"Rude!" Everything was back to normal.
"That's enough you two, I gotta get to the sports center before I'm late. We also left Steven and Connie outside."
"Oh! Steven, it's his birthday! I am the worst, how could I forget." Pearl quickly stood and looked in a nearby mirror.
Amethyst rolled her eyes, "You look fine! Come on out and give Steve-O a hug."
"Put ice on that shoulder, Pearl, otherwise you'll be in a lot of pain later." Garnet walked out of the office, followed by Pearl.
Amethyst trailing after them. She couldn't help feeling that this was the beginning of something, but she has been wrong before.