COMMERCIAL BREAK

JIMMY struggles to balance his phone, car keys, pens, wallet, and ID in his hands.

JIMMY

Oh, no no no no━

JIMMY curses as several items fall from his grasp. He crouches down and tries to retrieve it, but fails.

NARRATOR

Ever had trouble keeping things in your hands while walking to your car?

JIMMY turns to face the screen in defeat, nodding.

NARRATOR

I know what you mean. Yet, some people would just tell you to bring a bag to put them in.

JIMMY

Uh…

JIMMY shakes his head, reaching for his stuff from the ground.

NARRATOR

What? Too lazy to bring a bag?

JIMMY shrugs in response.

JIMMY

Eh.

NARRATOR

Of course you are. You only need pants with good pockets to put all your stuff in!

SLIDE━

JIMMY stares in his new pants in confusion.

NARRATOR

These limitless pockets can help store your keys, wallet, pens, and phone!

JIMMY pats his pants, pulling all items from what seems to be very shallow pockets.

NARRATOR

Heck! Why add a flash drive too! Crayons? No problem!

JIMMY gapes in bewilderment as he puts more items in his pockets and sees it fit inside no problem.

NARRATOR

The all-time pocket universe jeans will make sure to store all your beloved items within reach! Imagine the universe simply being in the palm of your hand! or should I say inside your pocket? HA!

END━

The commercial was then abruptly interrupted by the TV glitching, a sign that said 'PLEASE STAND BY' took over instantly.

"Pft, maaaaaaaan …what gives!" The purple gem drawls, leaning back on Steven's bed and blowing her bangs in exasperation. "Did 'ya really make me pause my game so you could watch some lame commercial, G?"

The fusion only remained silent, quietly watching how the channel put the commercial back after a few seconds of the sign glitching.

"Er…earth to Garnet? Hello━"

"Amethyst," The fusion turns to the purple gem, who jumps a bit from her instant response. "I want you to keep tabs on this channel. If something peculiar happens, call me immediately. If Pearl's nearby, let her know too."

"Uh, okay?" Amethyst says hesitantly, a brow raised in question. "I didn't really take you for an 'anticipating-TV-spots' kinda gem." She chuckles, getting comfortable in bed and ignoring how the other gem's posture quickly became tense of a sudden.

"This might have something to do with Steven." Came Garnet's grim response.

Amethyst quickly jumps from the bed, abandoning her relaxed posture.

"What?!"

"I just need you to keep an eye on the TV on this exact channel." Garnet tells her carefully, pointing to the box as the commercial ends, looping back to the sign that said 'PLEASE STAND BY.'

"What's going on? Is he having another meltdown again?"

"...We're not sure yet," Garnet quietly replies, a hand touching her visor, specifically where Sapphire's eye should be.

"Can you stop being so cryptic! We should call him━"

"Not yet," Garnet interrupts. "I still can't identify what sort of threats we're going to face in the future."

"Threats?" Amethyst repeats uneasily. "Man, I thought we were finally getting our happily-ever-after- 'after' !"

Garnet keeps quiet and turns to take one last glance at the TV.

"Just keep an eye out. I've been hearing rumors of an era 3 rebellion happening,"

The purple gem's eyes widened at that. "You can't be serious…"

She huffs indignantly, glaring at the glitching screen.

"There can't be that many gems that are against the new rule, right? Besides, won't they upset their beloved Diamonds if they rebel now?"

"It could also be the reason for them to want the old world back." Garnet simply replies, the glitch from the screen reflecting off her visor. "And I have a feeling that they won't be the only challenge for us to face."

Amethyst narrows her eyes at the other gem, folding her arms stubbornly.

"Dude, we've faced homeworld and the Diamonds before! We're talking about the super uber powerful empress-dictators that can't even be poofed! And now they're on our side! Well," She pauses, flicking her wrist and rotating a hand for emphasis. "Technically on Steven's. If it's an Era 3 rebellion and something else, I'm sure whatever it is we can handle it."

Amethyst eyes her studiously. Despite Steven growing up as an excellent leader for the Crystal Gems, Garnet was still ultimately the glue that strengthened the whole team altogether. So seeing her looking anxious, even with the visor on, was making her a bit anxious too.

"It can't be that bad," Amethyst reasons, hoping to be comforted by the fusion but all she received was silence. "...Can it?"

Steven wasn't sure if everything around him was one-hundred percent real. He eyes the new people piling in, some of them looking almost complete, the red glitch that helps form their missing body parts was completely thorough with everything. Even their gibberish voices from before were beginning to sound coherent.

The houses, the trees, the grass and even the pavement they were all clearly walking on were real enough. This certainly wasn't a dream. Dreams don't make sense in context, whatever world he's in it was a lot like his own room from the temple, except exponentially better? It was constructing Eastview and people to live in it and so far nothing was malfunctioning. It was trying to make sense.

Despite the small comfort that it wasn't his own powers going haywire, Steven dreads that whatever being did this must be incredibly powerful. And by being, he's most definitely sure that it's Billy and Tommy's mother doing all the construction. The question now is, what does their mother want with him? Was she responsible for dragging him to Eastview? He hopes she isn't related to whatever problem Rose did, dragging him yet again to her own messes.

"So, Steven," Natasha breaks his thoughts, walking beside him while the twins are accompanied by Agent Barton in the front. "Why did you drag the twins outside of town?"

"Oh, uh…I didn't?" He squeaks out, feeling a bit nervous all of a sudden. Natasha was looking at him calmly, yet he could feel something behind her eyes that felt really intense and if he gives an incorrect answer ━

That'll be it.

Steven blinks. The fear he was just feeling felt foreign as if the feeling itself intruded on him while he wracks his mind to come up with a safe answer.

W̵h̴a̵t̴ ̶w̶e̵r̵e̷ ̴y̷o̵u̴ ̸d̷o̴i̷n̵g̶ ̴w̶i̷t̸h̸ ̴m̶y̵ ̸k̶i̸d̸s̴?̷

"Nothing!" He shouts in alarm, sweat pooling down his forehead.

Billy and Tommy look back at him in concern, stopping mid-walk.

"Is everything alright, Steven?" Billy asks him, sounding a tad bit worried as he eyes Agent Barton and Natasha.

Before he could tell them 'he's fine' Natasha quickly cuts him off.

"I was just asking him why he brought the two of you outside of Eastview," She explains to the twins, hands on her hips. "Your mother even made your father announce it out loud for everyone to hear."

"We were the ones who dragged him cause we were bored," Tommy mutters, pulling his hands behind his back and swaying slightly, posing to look cluelessly innocent. "Billy and I thought if we had Steven with us then it'll be okay to explore what's outside of town."

"Oh?" Natasha raises a brow. "Did your mother make him your babysitter?"

"There are no other kids around!" Tommy reasons. "There's no one to play with!"

"Well, there's plenty of kids that are now moving to Eastview," Natasha explains, looking over the newly moved-in neighbors with their own set of children.

"Steven was just looking out for us," Billy pipes up confidently. "When everything got loud and overwhelming for me, he tried his best to help." Tommy nodded at his brother's words, hoping it would convince the agent to be lenient with Steven.

"He did nothing wrong."

"Really?" Natasha teases.

"Yes, really!" Tommy defends his brother.

"Then why don't you two give Steven a chance to talk instead of talking for him?" Clint interrupts, kneeling down on the twin's level before staring up at the gem-hybrid.

"Whatcha say, pal? You much of a talker?"

Steven feels his face growing hot, seeing how the man treats him like an embarrassed and shy kid. He still didn't know what happened earlier.

And that voice ━

It sounded familiar. Though, the eerie echo and darkness behind it, he thinks, is what concealed a bit of their identity.

Clint snaps his fingers in front of Steven, stopping his thoughts from escalating. As he blinks, Clint merely gives him a smile.

"For a second, I think we lost you there." The man chuckled, but he was adamant about an answer.

"Look, I'm sorry for having to let their mom worry about them. If…If I knew what was really going on out there, I would have convinced them to stay and just roam around the neighborhood." Steven replies, hands tucked in his jacket and looking down to his feet in shame.

"To be perfectly honest, sir. I kinda just ran into them this…uh, morning? Noon?" He would have pointed out that everything was black-and-white before, which makes things harder to tell whether it was noon or morning. Things were also so extremely peculiar and weird, and he understands that these people were ━

What? Exactly?

Made by Billy and Tommy's mother? That they barely batted an eye at the houses, people, and new landmarks glitching further out of town.

"Well, technically…I think the kids ran to me." He corrects himself, a hand scratching the back of his head. "Tommy first, with uh, his super speed. Then Billy came after him. They told me they wanted to play with other kids."

"Well, that won't be a problem anymore." Natasha proclaims, going over to the twins. "Your mom is making sure you both won't grow up lonely or without social groups from peers your age to hang out with."

"Pft, Whatever," Tommy grumbles, folding his arms disgruntledly. He then quickly looks up to Natasha, an idea forming in his head as he smiles brightly. "Can Steven maybe come later for tonight's dinner? Dad's making burgers!"

Steven grimaces, giving the younger boy a hesitant smile while Natasha and Clint quickly exchange glances.

"I'm sorry, you guys. It's just that…well, my m-uh ━" He quickly cuts himself off. "...parents. Already had plans later with the uh, Maximoffs? I think? It was the whole ━"

He stops himself mid-sentence, bringing his hands to his face and only realizing what was missing. "... reason for the fruitcake," He sighs in defeat.

"Wait a second," Tommy brings up, one arm folded and a finger rubbing his chin. "You're our neighbor?"

Steven releases his hands from his face, taking a peek at both twins gaping at him.

"Your last name is Universe?"

"Well, it's actually 'Quartz Cutie-Pie DeMayo Diamond Universe' in full. So uh…yeah?"

Tommy laughs, while Billy tries to hide his giggle.

"That doesn't sound like a real name," Clint tells him. "You just made that shit up, didn't you?"

"Language, Clint," Natasha tells her partner. "There are children present."

"I can't believe we're neighbors!" Tommy beams, speeding around Steven in a circle and then stopping beside him. He tries to place his hand on top of the teenager's shoulder, despite the other being taller than him. "I can't wait to use some of Uncle P's pranks on you! This is going to be fun!"

"Haha━well, as fun as that sounds, I hope I cleared up some misunderstandings cause I do want to ask some really important questions right now though,"

Billy stares at him in understanding while Tommy looks at him questioningly.

Steven nodded nervously, hoping the two other agents guarding Billy and Tommy seemed okay with him now. On the bright side, if he was neighbors to the twins, he'll likely meet their mother later tonight. Considering that she was busy until Dinner, it probably won't hurt a bit if he asks around to know more about his predicament.

"You don't look so good, kid," Clint observes, eyeing him a bit worriedly. "Got something on your mind?"

"Yes. Like…a lot, actually," He inhales deeply, gathering his thoughts before continuing. "While I do think it's fun that we're neighbors and all…I don't belong here." He starts, eyeing all four sets of eyes staring back at him. "When I woke up here, everything was black-and-white. I don't know if you guys were super aware of it, my parents don't seem to. I keep hearing like uh, like uh ━ laugh track? In the background sometimes? It feels like I'm in a show…with the way my ━ m-mom has been acting. I don't really know. Honestly, I thought at first it was my powers acting up again but my gem isn't here and none of my other powers are working ━"

"Your powers?" Natasha cuts him off. Steven turns to look at her and is chilled to the bone upon feeling the familiar fear clawing at his mind and chest.

"You got inside because of your powers?" She repeats, and Steven couldn't even get a reply out of the way as Natasha inches closer to him. The familiar hum of red energy he felt outside of town was somehow ringing in his ears.

Clint also moved from the corner of his eyes, gone was the worry on his face and was replaced by suspicion…a motive to fight.

w̸̫̏h̷̬͗o̵͗͜ ̵̤̋t̴̝̍o̶̜̍l̴̖̋d̶̬̾ ̴͙̈́y̴̰̆o̶̬̓u̵̧̔ ̴̹̈ẗ̷̨́ö̸͇ ̸̯̇c̷̖͝o̴͕͂ṁ̸̮ḙ̴̅ ̷̭̀i̶̢̒ṇ̴͘ ̴̙͆ḣ̴͕e̶̳͘r̸͖̉e̴͇̕

'MOM. STOP.'

Steven was breathing hard, trying to catch his breath as if he was running a long marathon. His hand clutched his chest, feeling that his heart was ready to burst out. He wasn't sure if he was having a full-on panic attack or having to forcefully feel that unbearing and unexplainable fear yet again.

He soon realizes that Billy was beside him, eyes glowing blue, and Tommy as well, trying his best to understand the situation.

"Stop it, please. You're scaring him." Billy says, looking at Natasha and Agent Barton.

The two blinked, looking unaware of their actions for a moment as if they weren't in control before.

"Oh, my stars! You must be the Avengers!"

A familiar voice pipes up. Despite looking disheveled and on the brink of fainting, Steven watches his mother arrive with Greg, arms looping with each other.

"Oh, thank goodness I dressed for the occasion." Greg sighs in relief, now dressed in a suit and hair tied to a ponytail. "Can I please have your autograph?"

As the familiar laugh track loops back while Greg and Rose rush to the two avengers, Billy grips Steven's arm tightly, causing him to look straight in the boy's glowing eyes.

" There's something I need to tell you," Billy whispers, quietly eyeing Steven's parents fawning over the two agents. "But we have to wait and look for somewhere mom can't see or hear us,"