So Many Cool Kids
Part 1 - So Few Birthdays
Steven opened just about every window in the house and sprayed every bit of it with an air freshener. Amethyst had the bright idea to keep a tuna fish burrito from Aqua Mexican. That restaurant closed 5 years ago.
Naturally, it rotted to the point of stinking up the whole temple, and Amethyst was currently busy hurling her insides in the restroom, since not only did she decide to eat the rotten hunk of fish, but also forgot she could get food poisoning.
While he waited for her to finish, he sat down at his bed as he held a certain painting in his hand. It was that of the Gems on a boat with some humans, with Pearl and Amethyst saving someone who fell overboard, Garnet upper cutting a shark, and... Mom, standing stoically for the painting.
...He can't exactly remember where the painting was originally left, but... he felt that, it would be nice to hang it up somewhere, maybe as a... reminder of the past?
...the past. This painting... it evoked something in him... not just the reminder that the Gems were ancient... but also... that he wasn't from here. He's... He's not the starry eyed, overly excited little kid that he was anymore, only... a 16 year old, trying to pass off as his younger self.
...he didn't like the squeaky voice he had anymore. Though he understood that he was sort of stuck with it, he... often considered... changing.
...but it scared him. The... the memories of... withering away... watching his own life slowly fade as he grew older, wrinklier and lifeless... what if... he was scared it would happen again...
...he blinked, realizing he had teared up. He wiped his eyes, letting out a small sniffle, before deciding to... put the painting near the warp pad. It would be a nice little decoration he couldn't see from his bed, a distant reminder of both good and bad times.
...still, it did get him thinking...
Sometimes he... has these moments where... he remembers things that happened, things he sort of... either internalized or pushed down, as to not think about them. In the future, that comes out as him having flashbacks and his body acting erratically. But... now... that doesn't happen?
He still has occasional flashes of those moments, but the fear isn't crippling enough to stun him, nor enough to cause his body to morph. So, he theorizes that, maybe because he's in his old body, it still hasn't caught up with his emotions yet? After all, what should be terrifying reminders of past events are now... a chance to confront his fears.
And most importantly, he's not constantly worried about having nothing to do. He always has it in the back of his head that he has about 3 years worth of work to do. What happens afterwards is a mystery, but for now, he has goals to work towards, conflicts to resolve, and a sense of purpose he lacked in the future.
It was a lot to think about, and frankly, he was a bit afraid of what the future holds. But, he hoped now that, since he was here, he could fix things, make them better and... perhaps create a better future for everyone, including himself.
...it felt as though ages had past... and yet, he wasn't even legally an adult. How funny is that?
...Oh! That's right, before he forgets.
Garnet came over, out of her room, seeing Steven. "I sense you needed my help?'
"O-Oh! Garnet! Perfect timing. Here..." He said, surprised by her sudden appearance. Must be some future vision thing.
"Aaaand... Here it is!" Steven brings out a puffy crown and a red robe fit for a Queen, if that Queen was the Queen of Funland.
"So... how does it feel?" He asks as he put it on Garnet, the often silent Gem contemplating it.
"...it makes me feel... Important." She quietly confessed, finding an odd sense of comfort in them.
"Perfect! You can keep them then, I won't really be needing it anymore." Steven replies.
Though Garnet was not one for... Hoarding things like Amethyst did, she would still keep it. A gift from Steven is a very special gift in her eyes.
"How thoughtful of you, Steven." She takes it off, putting it away in her Gem. "Is there anything else you need?"
"Nope! Oh, wait!" He snapped his fingers, before handing her the painting. "Can you hang this up on that wall? I can't reach up that high."
Part 2 - The Gems and the Cool Kids
"This doesn't look good." Pearl comments as she looks down at the water.
The Crystal Gems were currently looking down at what seems to be a small pond, now infested by some kind of... green moss that wraps around anything it touches.
"What is that stuff?" Steven asks curiously, looking at Pearl.
"It's the moss that Rose Quartz raised on the hill." Garnet answered first.
"Rose Quartz used to climb that hill every spring and tend to the moss at the top." Pearl said, making a hologram of Rose for a moment, before it faded. "But now that Rose is... gone, the moss is on the move."
"It's... Lost then." Steven comments, to which Amethyst puffs.
"It's not lost. It's gross." She dismissively states.
"Yes, but Rose loved it anyway." Pearl reminds her. "She saw the beauty in everything, no matter how gross."
"Fortunately," Pearl says, brushing her hair. "I know just what to do in this situation."
And so, as the Gems huddled together, they saw as Pearl suddenly did a very... intricate and artistic ritual dance to then summon... police tape?
"What...?" Was all Steven could say as he held it in his hands.
"Isn't this Great?!" Pearl says ecstatically. "This way, we don't even have to use magic! Humans will just see this and walk away."
...Steven clears his throat, before shaking his head. "Uh, Pearl, as the resident human here... I know this won't really work. They'll see the tape, think something dangerous is here and try and get in."
Pearl... did not expect Steven of all people to disagree with her plan. It was evident by how she... got uncomfortable, giving him a grimace before brushing her hair again.
"W-Well, this wasn't meant to be a permanent solution, Steven." She clarifies. "Besides... we still need to Do something about it."
"Well... I might have an idea." Steven suggests, seemingly having something up his sleeve.
It was a relatively sunny day in Beach City, calm as usual. Steven went out in his usual shirt and jeans combo with some simple sneakers. He often thought to himself, why does he now wear shoes, when he rarely used to? He finally thought of the answer:
"I'm not trying to fill in my Mom's shoes, or lack of shoes, I have my own now."
Not a very complex answer, but if you want something simpler, its essentially a subconscious reminder that this was a different Steven from past Steven.
Any who, as he walked down the beach walk, he noticed a familiar figure, leaned against a wall by the pizzeria.
"Lars! Haven't seen you in a while." Steven says as he approached the teen, who was... shall we say Very upset at Steven approaching him.
"why now?" Lars whispered to himself, watching the kid approaching him.
"Sorry for not visiting the Big Donut, I've been uh... changing my diet." He clarifies to Lars.
"yeah yeah good for you. better that way." Lars quickly replies, not in the mood for conversation.
"...oookay, well if you don't mind me, I'm getting a pizza." Steven excuses himself.
Lars, however, suddenly gets Real concerned. "Steven, don't go in there right now!"
He looked through the window, spotting the trio. Jackpot. "Isn't that Kiki's sister and her friends?"
"Jenny, Sour Cream and Buck Dewey." Lars sighed.
"Oh, you know those guys?" He says, coming off naive as ever, though secretly enjoying messing around now.
"Uh, not quite, but I'm sure we'll hang out at some point." Lars replied, trying to be all cool.
"You should go in and talk to them, that's what I'd do." Steven casually replies.
"T-That's not how these things work, Steven!" Lars lectures Steven. "The plan is to keep it cool and let them come to me."
As he said that, they all left the pizza shop. "Well, here they come."
"Aah! Steven, turn around! Act natural!" Lars quickly says, turning away from them.
"Mmm... Alright, I'll act natural." And that was when Lars noticed Steven approaching them?!
"Steven, no! Don't go over there! I hate you!" He sorta whisper-yelled as Steven approached the cool kids.
"-muffins that are like, this big." Buck finished describing.
"Those things are too sweet for me." Replied Jenny, before the three suddenly noticed Steven arriving.
"Hey. My name's Steven." He paused for a second, before remembering to offer a high five.
They looked at him for a moment, before Buck returned the high five. "Buck Dewey."
The other two picked up on it, high fiving him as well. "They call me 'Sour Cream'."
"I'm Jenny." She replied last as Lars covered his mouth, starting to cringe.
"Aah, he's gonna wreck everything!" He thought to himself, glancing at them. "What are they saying? I can't hear them!"
"-nd he can hook you up with some Donuts too." Lars hears Steven momentarily, before seeing the kid point at him.
"Ugh! Why is he telling them where I work?!" He turns away from them, staring to tear up. "Nooooo! My life is Horrible!"
"Hey Lars!" Steven approached him, to which Lars quickly wiped his eyes and gave a casual "Yo!"
"They invited you along for a ride." Steven explains, much to Lars' shock.
"Huh? Wait a minute. They? You?" He said, before groaning. "Steven, you got lucky. So, don't ruin this with any of your lame shtick."
Steven merely chuckled, crossing his arms. "Oh Lars, you gotta relax man."
"Hop on in, guys." Jenny offers as they get in the car, which had a funny looking paint job that resembled pizza with toppings.
Lars was... Well, trying to act cool. But as the car ride would show him, it was... going to be tougher than he anticipated.
For now, Steven hurried back to the pond, so they could do the next part quick.
"I just don't understand why he'd need this." Pearl comments, looking at the large plastic tarp on the floor, and the bundle of rope on it.
"I sense that Steven has a plan, and that he will arrive... Now." Garnet says, pointing at the bush.
...it took 12 seconds before he actually went through it, to which she shrugged. "Close enough."
"Hey...! You... Made it...!" Steven said, out of breath as he felt his lungs getting strained from all the running.
"Are you okay, Steven? We got the things you asked for..." Pearl informs him.
"Yeah dude, you alright? Coulda just asked me to, like, turn into an eagle or somethin' " Comments Amethyst, munching on some of the police tape.
"No time! Some... People are on their way here, and we... we gotta move the moss now!" He says, approaching the tarp as he prepares the rope.
"Amethyst, since you offered, I'm gonna need you to turn into something Big that can fly!" Steven instructs, to which she shrugs with a nod.
"Garnet, I'm gonna need you to drag the moss onto the tarp with your gloves." Steven then instructs her.
"On it." She summons her fists, before diving into the pond (that is actually the edge of a lake).
"And Pearl? I'm gonna need your help with tying the rope to the tarp, so Amethyst can carry it." He finally instructs her.
Pearl was... Bewildered to say the least. She... She felt a sense of pride in seeing Steven take charge? And yet, her mental image of the little kid they baby sit was being challenged, and it made her uncomfortable.
"Pearl!" Steven waves his hand in front of her, bringing her back to reality. "Are you in or not?"
"I- Uh- O-Of course!" Pearl hesitantly replied as she began to work her tying skills.
It was an act of pure teamwork as they worked in an odd unison. With her gloves, Garnet dragged as much of the moss as she could, momentarily making them bigger for a wider reach as she dragged it onto the tarp.
With the rope attached to the ends of the tarp, Steven and Pearl pulled on it to seal the tarp, enough to make it like a sort of bundle, making sure not to touch the now seemingly agitated moss.
And finally came Amethyst, who shape shifted into a Huge eagle, grabbing the knotted rope and hauling the heavy tarp overhead.
"Take it to the top of the hill and drop it there!" Steven called out to her.
"You got it, Steve-o." Amethyst replies as she flies away, rather strained from doing this, but willing to give it her best.
It was then that the cool kids arrived with Lars in the back, looking up at Amethyst flying over them.
"Woah, did you see that!?" Jenny said in stunned surprise as they looked ahead, before Buck heard someone approaching.
"Hey look, it's Steven and... the crystal ladies?" Buck said with confusion, before Steven arrived next to them, breathing heavily again.
"What the- Steven, what are you doing here?" Lars asked, bewildered.
"N-No time! We gotta follow that Eagle!" Steven calls out, with Lars shaking his head.
"Steven that is the most st-" Lars started to say before he was interrupted.
"Well, get in then! This is awesome." Sour Cream replied as Buck moved aside for Steven, before they started to drive up the hill, accelerating the car.
Pearl and Garnet, having been left behind, just sort of look at each other. Garnet shrugs, and they decide to chase after the two.
"Why is there a purple eagle anyways?" Buck asks Steven.
"Oh uh... Well, there's this pond that was full of moss. So I uh... asked the Crystal Gems to help me clean up." Steven sorta explains.
"Wicked. Didn't know they had a pet eagle." Buck replies.
"Aren't they like, your aunts or something?" Jenny then asks.
"Oh no, they're like... uh... my step-moms." Steven replies, scratching his head.
"Hah, what like one of those weird, evil step-moms?" Lars pokes fun at them.
"Hey man." Sour Cream suddenly turns around, looking at him. "There's nothing weird about having step-parents."
Lars goes quiet, nervous as Sour Cream looks back to the road, deciding to put on some beats.
"Alright, we're nearly there. I think I see someone up there." Jenny informs them, as once they get close enough, she comes to a halt.
The clouds in the sky rendered it a dull grey as Amethyst looked at the now moss coated tarp with disgust.
"Amethyst! You made it!" Steven says cheerfully as he hops out of the car.
"Well, yeah. I just had to fly up here." She responds, glancing back at the moss. "Why did you want me to bring it here anyways? Stuff's gross."
"O-Oh, well, I uh-" But before Steven could reply, the other two suddenly arrived.
"Steven! We're here!" The rest of the Gems arrived, looking at him, and then the moss. "Why did you need to bring it here? Now it's just stuck here."
But just as these questions were asked, and the Gems noticed the presence of the humans, and the clouds began to part as the first rays of sunshine were cast upon them.
It was then as everyone saw the majesty of it all, as the once lost moss bloomed into hundreds of pink flowers, floating across the skies as they had a perfect view of the entirety of beach city.
"Guys look!" Jenny said to the others, as both the humans and Amethyst went "Woah!" at the beautiful sight.
"You can see All of Beach City up here." Sour Cream commented, amazed.
"It's beautiful." Buck added, full of wonder.
"Lars said he wanted to invite you guys to the pond, so in a way, he's kinda responsible for this." Steven casually adds.
"What are you-" Lars says in confusion, before he's interrupted.
"Nice Lars." "That's real neat, man." "Great idea." They all added, with Lars blushing a bit as... he was kinda forced to accept Steven's generosity.
"It's... Beautiful." Pearl adds, standing next to Steven, one hand on his shoulder and the other on her lips, her eyes tearful.
"Way to go, Steven." Garnet gives a thumbs up.
"Yeah Steven, this is pretty cool." Amethyst remarks, leaning on his other shoulder.
They got to enjoy a relatively peaceful sight... and perhaps, he avoided yet another awkward conversation.