After nearly thirty hours since he left, Steven was finally home, and when he stepped out of the teleporter, he suddenly realized that he was still pretty much human.
What does that mean you ask?
He hasn't gone to a bathroom in nearly two days and his stomach was quick to remind him of a thing called "food".He dashed out, going down the stairs as fast as he could without using his powers. ' Pearl would freak out even more than usual if she saw my new speed ability.' And that was another reason to go downstairs as quickly as possible, the gems, especially Pearl must be dead worried about what happened to him.
He could already see it, Pearl pacing around the room while mumbling about how dangerous the world is for a child, Amethyst on the couch telling her to relax but being also secretly preoccupied, and Garnet silent in a corner exploring all the possible futures.
As he went downstairs Steven began thinking about how to explain his disappearance. ' Hey girls, I had an identity crisis in the middle of the night, fled to a random planet where I met an old enemy and we bonded over how alone we are in the world, that's cool right?.' And funny enough, seeing his old record that wouldn't be too far-fetched of a story.
But he didn't have time to think anything better, because he had already reached the living room…and it was quiet. More than quiet in fact, it was desolated, there wasn't any group of gems or humans, not a single thing unchanged since the previous night.
' Weird , maybe they are talking with the gems in Little Homeworld about where I am, but normally they would leave someone here to see if I came back ' He reached for his phone to message Pearl that he was okay, but then he noticed something that wasn't here the other night, a white paper in the counter.
'Dear Steven.
I have left the food in the fridge
We'll come back on the weekend.
Take care, call if you have any emergencies'
At the bottom was a small drawing of a smiling Pearl. 'Oh right, the Little Homeworld's excursion…' He recalled Pearl saying something about it and offering him to come with them to Empire City, she said that it would be good for the new gems to experiment a little the life of city humans. He didn't want anything to do with Little Homeschool after everything that had happened, so he politely rejected it.
"They thought that I overslept…" He checked his missing messages or calls, his last conversations three days ago, a short talk with Connie about studying, and even a shorter talk with his dad about how he was doing.
"Thirty hours in another planet and no one noticed, t-that's good, they respect my privacy, I didn't get into any problems and they finally believe that I'm not a kid who needs to be supervised 24/7, yeah, this is good, truly great…"
It was strange how quickly Steven forgot again about the bathroom and the food, he just sat on the couch, trying but failing to empty his thoughts, it was strange indeed, how Earth could feel lonelier than on a planet many light-years away from his home.
He didn't know how much time passed, but after he got up, his body just went into autopilot, before he knew it, the sky was dark and he was stepping again in the Warp Pad.
The dark sky quickly became bright blue as the light of the teleport faded
' How long are the days here? I still haven't seen this place at night, maybe I'll tell Lapis if she wants to go on an excursion to the other side of the planet, and talking about Lapis...where could she be?'
" Really Steven? Missing me already?"
' Speaking of the devil' Steven turned back, he didn't know how but she always appeared behind him.
She was high up on a tree sitting on a branch, with an alien plant in her lap as she gently petted it, and it was...purring?
"Catch!" Suddenly she grabbed the plant and threw it at Steven, he didn't even move, with a light impact the plant was on his arms, the little alien smiling leaf to leaf.
He was actually impressed, forgetting for a moment that she threw at him a living being like it was a ball "Nice throw! I don't know what's up with you Lapises and baseball, but one day you should play against Bob" Steven put the plant on the ground, it danced a little between his feets and after Steven gave it a little pet, it was on its merry way.
"You are lucky, those little guys didn't warm up to me until a few weeks ago" When Steven raised his head he saw her again, her hair curly, the gem on her shoulder shining with sunlight and a permanent smirk on her face.
"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you tried to terraform their whole planet"
She just shrugged "Maybe, we'll never know" she didn't hesitate in coming back to her cocky attitude "Honestly Steven I didn't expect you to come back so soon, it seems that our little Diamond has fallen head over heels for this lowly Lapislazuli~~"
Steven's cheeks reddened a little as he was feeling a weird mix of embarrassment and anger ' Not even two minutes since I have arrived and she is already teasing me...but she is not the only one that can play this game.'
"Oh, and I wonder why you are waiting in this zone?" He started to stroke his non-existent beard. "Perhaps you were waiting patiently until I arrived?"
Her smug look didn't change much to Steven's dismay "So you don't deny that you have fallen for me eh?" The red in Steven's cheeks only intensified under her glare, he lost this round.
' Dammit, she has practice.'
Lapis gave a light chuckle and lost a little of her sultry demeanor "That's vengeance for making me feel embarrassed last time you dork." Out of the blue she took Steven's hand and began marching through the forest "And for your information, there's not a lot of places to hang up on this planet, at least the Warp pad breaks the monotony a little." Steven didn't know where she was taking him, but he didn't comply.
Lapis was guiding him, so his mind began wandering around, especially to the blue hand that was holding him right now, he started getting a bit flustered ' Cmon Steven, you are not five anymore, you can touch a girl's hand without getting ashamed.' In fact, he couldn't.
But he thought about other things, like the feeling of her skin ' They are cold, even colder than the other gems' He started rubbing her hand with his finger. ' And smooth, the gems always have rough hands from using their weapons so much, even Dad and Connie have a few calluses in them.' He found himself enjoying the sensation, but above all he noticed-
"They are small…" He didn't realize the word leaving his mouth, but a small yelp from Lapis made him come back from cloud nine 'Oh Shit shit shit, I have been rubbing her hands like a weirdo' he began panicking inside, but Lapis didn't say anything, so he decided to shut up as well.
Good thing for Lapis that he didn't see the deep blue color on her ears and face, Steven was not the only one thinking about the physical contact between them, she didn't want to admit it, but the warm feeling that his hand emanated was calming, and she felt a little sense of protection between his big hand 'Ugh, why I couldn't just simply say Follow Me?' but a part of her didn't regret it.
They finally arrived, she let go of his hand and sat behind a bush, Steven didn't know what to do, so he just followed suit.
Only their heads were visible throughout the bush, Lapis skin serving as camouflage, sadly for Steven, his white skin and black hair didn't match the color scheme of the zone.
"Yes, they are still here! This is what I wanted to show you!" She said excitedly. Steven looked at the zone, but he just saw the same forest that he was getting used to.
"Wow! A blue tree! Thanks for taking me here Lapis, this is so awesome." He could feel a punch on his shoulder, this time he was expecting it, still hurt a little though.
"No you idiot! Look at the ground! " Steven's sarcastic commentary didn't take away the happiness of her voice. His gaze fell on the forest floor.
"What?" There were the little plants native to the forest, a whole bunch of them, he didn't know how he could have missed them. "Are they...dancing?"
He could see each one of them tippy-toeing to a silent song formed of their small growls, he also saw a few of them forming pairs and dancing close together.
"This is their mating ritual" She had her eyes glued to the spectacle. "They do this a few times each month, I saw it early today and I wanted to show you." As the whole dance moved on the number of plants dancing in pairs went up. " After they end it, the ones dancing together never separate, I kinda been stalking them" Steven could feel the happiness in her voice, it seems that she liked these little guys more than he thought, but he also detected a hint of another emotion, it was...longing?
"This...this is awesome" This time there wasn't any sarcasm in his voice, the dance even though at first glance looked messy and disorder, began taking form the more he saw it, it was made so every plant could spend time with the one in front of them, and after a while, if they didn't pair up they would move to the next ones, like a very energetic speed dating.
Their eyes meet. For the first time since they were here, Lapis took away her eyes from the dance.
"I'm...glad that you like it too Steven, I didn't have anyone to show it" Sad and happiness mixed in her voice.
He smiled as he recalled old times when he was a kid, he tried to show the things that he liked to the gems and it usually never worked, Pearl would say a few empty words of encouragement, Garnet would give him a thumbs-up, and maybe Amethyst would try to eat it. He wanted a reaction, a connection to the persons he cared about. Maybe this was the time to give it to someone else.
"Why don't we join?" His sudden question startled Lapis more than he thought.
"What?! Are you serious?" She tried her best to scream in whispers, she didn't want the plants to notice them "We can't, they would just run away. "
"Didn't you say that they have already warmed up to you?" Now it was his time to grab her hand, she didn't fight against him as they left the bush and stepped into the dancing zone.
Much to Lapis surprise, the plants didn't even look at them, they just opened a space in the middle without stopping the dance, now the music that formed the growls was much more clearer.
"See? Maybe I'm not that much of an idiot" He grabbed her other hand, the dance that the plants were doing was not really meant for bipedal, but he estimated that a Ballroom Dance would fit the occasion, not that he knew how to do it, but he just imitated what he saw in movies.
"No. You are an idiot because you do things like this " She took a stance and began fixing Steven's sloppy movements, no matter how he looked at it, she had experience in this.
"What?! How do you- Didn't you say that you disliked dancing?!"
"Lapises are high ranking gems" She was expecting the question "Sometimes when I finished a job me and the other Lapis were invited to the Diamond's formal parties" Steven was just letting her do all the work, it looks like she knew what she was doing, and he had all his attention on not stepping on her "And this is the only one that I know, so don't expect me to do the ridiculous dance that you and your Lapis did."
As the song progressed the tempo of the plants seemed to increase, and Lapis movements also became sharper and quicker as a result. ' She is good, she is controlling me as she does with water.' But he also didn't want to be carried around all the time, exercising a bit of dominance, he began imitating her movements and taking the lead, his movements were still clumsy, but not as much as before.
Lapis seemed to enjoy his attempts to gain the upper hand in the dance "This is how you should do it Steven " She got closer until their bodies barely touched, taking his hand and putting it in her backside, then doing the same with her hand. Now, so close together, Steven noticed the height difference more than ever, mostly because his head was so close to her chest, and he thanked whatever God made the gems for not giving them the traits of human females, or now he would be as red as a Ruby.
He began talking to ignore this fact and the little detail of his hand being near Lapis's butt. "So have you met the Diamonds in those parties? " His own experience in them came to mind, and like everything involving the Diamonds, it was not a pleasant one.
"I wish. I'm still just an Era 2 gem remember? Even the Diamonds treated us like we were inferior, we just sat in the far back and danced when ordered too" Steven tried to go for a twirl, he didn't know if it was luck or Lapis's work but it actually went well. "Now be silent and concentrate on the dance, you have already stepped on me seven times."
"Wait what?!"
She smiled at his reaction."It was a joke Steven" He thanked that unknown God again, he didn't want to ruin this " But really, thanks for this, in the past I either dance because I was told or because I had to fuse to complete a job, but dancing with you just because we can, it's fun." He reciprocated that smile, no words were needed, so they just let the song carry on.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry, my bad." This one was real
He was exhausted. "The other day I spent hour after hour running around the planet and I only gained a sweat, why now every inch of my legs hurt like hell?! "
The plants were long gone, the lucky ones with a long life partner, the rest a little dejected, now in the same zone there was only a gem and a human sitting on the grass.
"I may have gone a little wild in there" Lapis was sitting beside him, she also looked exhausted but a big smile decorated her face " But I need to congratulate you, Steven, I have been doing this dance for hundreds of years and you have managed to keep up with me." She began thinking about the situation 'A few hours ago I would have preferred to be shattered over dancing, but it seems that things change when Steven is around.' And change was a thing that no gem was accustomed to.
"Yeah, I began catching on by the end, who knows? Maybe next time we dance I'll be better than you."
She rolled her eyes "Puff, you wish, maybe in a few thousand years" Steven noted how she didn't reject that there will be a next time. "But I'm kinda beat too, you are the experts in friendships Steven, anything that we could do together without moving?"
He thought for a moment, a good idea came to mind, but there were a few inconveniences. ."So...do you like movies Lapis?"
"Of course"
"You have no idea what they are, don't you?"
"Not even the slightest"
"Want to take a trip outplanet?" Steven could see her eyes widen, this caught her attention.
Steven was young, for now, the idea of having children was something that he didn't give a single thought to, but right now, he felt like a father taking his child to a candy store.
" . Steven is that brown?!" Maybe a little too excited.
When they stepped out of the Warp Pad into Steven's garden she looked like a cat, eyeing any potential dangerous threats and using Steven's back as a shield, but that quickly was swept away. He managed to move her to the living room, a considerable feat when you count that she was glue to anything that wasn't blue.
"You know, for someone who didn't want to move planets, you are strangely happy." Steven couldn't help but comment.
While he was preparing something in the kitchen, Lapis was touching and exploring every nook and cranny of his living room, when she heard Steven's remarks she quickly put down the flowerpot she was holding.
"Steven, I have spent I don't know how many days on a planet with only ONE color, let me have this little moment." She sat on the sofa and began stretching her legs " I must say, this is the first place where I can sit without having to clean my butt of dirt later" Steven saw how relaxed she was.
Too relaxed in fact for Steven's liking, she was lying on the couch in a very dangerous position, if he gave a little peek he could see inside her dress.
'Okey Steven, you are a teenager, but you are not going to look, because Pearl raised a gentleman, don't peek, don't…' too late, its eyes darted to her blue friend body and refused to move away, she was raising her leg little by little, in a few seconds, it will be enough of an opening to see what was inside, just a little more, a tiny bit and….
"Hey Steven, what's this?" Lapis spoke out of the blue and Steven's heart stopped for a moment. He didn't know if he was happy or dejected, his inner self having a full-on war, but that was discarded the moment he recognized that Lapis was holding a pink sword handle.
"That's… my mom's sword, or what's left of it" His eyes moved to the portrait in the stairs, a perfect pink-haired lady who looks like she hadn't sinned a single time in her life, Steven would strongly disagree with that.
"You know Steven, is kinda funny, for hundreds of years if you even mention the name Rose Quartz you'll be either shattered or reset, but now she is considered a galactic hero and it's praised throughout all the gem empire. Last time I was on Homeworld they were making a statue of her." She left the sword handle in its place, maybe it was not a good idea to toy with something that can poof a diamond " So, are you jealous that your mom may be even more popular than you Steven~~~" She couldn't help but pinch him a little, but she didn't hear a response, when she turned to Steven to see his reaction her non-existent heart tremble a little.
He hadn't stopped whatever he was doing in the kitchen, but his face reminded Lapis of dead fishes that sometimes she encounters on the shore, his mouth making a thin line, his posture decayed and his eyes seemed lost in something she couldn't see, Lapis wondered what emotion was behind them. She doubted that her remark had done that much damage, but she couldn't help but feel bad about it.
"I don't care." Lapis didn't believe him. "It's just that… it is." Now he looked troubled, whatever words were on his throat refused to get out. "Never mind…"
"Don't you do that to me Universe!" It was Steven's turn to be surprised, he hadn't expected her to get mad. "Don't say to me 'never mind' when you have that face!" She jumped out of the couch and began pointing at Steven with her finger. "I may be no the most social person ever, but even though my only conversation partners for a few hundred years can be counted with one hand." She got closer, Steven was frozen in place." I can tell that you are far from okay" Her demeanor changed, Steven could tell that she wasn't mad, she was preoccupied.
"It's personal Lapis, I don't feel like talking about it" He gave a little wave to dismiss the importance of the whole deal, he really didn't want to go on that road. She didn't back down.
"Steven, we are friends now, we have already talked a lot about our past, and I think that I know more about you in these past days than I did with my Lapis in centuries, which is a little sad." She paused, her experience with these things was near nonexistent, but she needs to see this through "So talk to me, you are not the only one that can hear another person cry about their problems you know? Maybe it's good to be on the receiving end for once." She smiled at him, and for Steven that was like a punch in the chest.
"Lapis, I appreciated it, but for me, my mother is a touchy subject." He tried to sneak his way out of this formed a bubble around all his mom's memories, and he didn't want to burst it open " Even the gems, my dad, Connie… know that it's a difficult conversation, and they have known me forever, let this one go alright?"
"There's the thing Steven '' She was smirking, Steven knew it wasn't a good sign " Want to know the difference between me, your Lapis, and your other friends?" She separated from him." I'm an asshole Steven, I don't sing or dance about my problems, I don't wait until some miracle happens and you feel like talking about it" She stopped in front of Rose's portrait "I threaten."
Before Steven could notice a fountain of water came from the sink, he very much doubted that it was a normal breakdown, the torrent of water levitated in the air and like if it was pulled by invisible strings, it flew towards the painting, it's forms changing in something akin to a lance.
"No! Wait!" Steven screamed, his vision going red, or pink, he only felt anger.
Lapis saw how he turned pink in a single second, and with the speed that surprised even her he jumped from the kitchen and stepped in front of the painting ready to receive the spear for it, but before the water touched his body, it stopped in mid hair, still conserving the form.
"Sooo...ready to talk now?"
"What is your problem?!" He got closer, Lapis could see that he also grew a little, now they were the same height, perfect to see his face filled with rage as he screamed at her.
"For the last time, I'm trying to help you!" She didn't back down, if she failed now, their whole friendship would be over.
"By going to my home and destroying a painting of my dead mom?!" His tone didn't change.
"DON'T act like you actually want it, from the moment I have steep here, you haven't given it a single glance that wasn't filled with sadness, and the moment I mention it, your whole mood took a massive dip"
"Why do you care that much?! Why do you want to hear about it?! "
"Because you are my friend Steven!" Now it was her turn to scream. "I don't want to see you go, the moment you look at this thing, you are not the same Steven I know" As she got closer to him, Steven took a step backwards, he was losing ground. "Don't you dare to consider me as those gems who cry at your shoulder about their problems before you move on to the next one, I'm better than them" Their faces were close, her tone now normal, she knew that he was listening "I got a shit ton of problems Steven, being alone on a planet made me realize that I am a mess inside, and I'm going to need your help to resolve them, so don't think for a single moment that I'm lesser than you, and you can't count me to resolve yours." She looked down on him, in the physical sense, now he was the same height as before, his pink form long gone.
She waited for his reaction, Lapis saw her face going through a lot of emotions in a single second, she didn't have an idea of what was going on in there. But he calmed and gave a long sigh.
"Damit, you are the most annoying Lapis I have met, and mine took my uncle's barn into the moon to flee from the Diamonds" She would have been hurt by those words if she didn't see the corners of his lips turn into a smile.
"Even the plants love me, Steven, I can't be that bad" She resorted, this was what she liked, a constant back and forth, she didn't want to lose him.
" I suppose that they are smarter than they look ." He said in a whisper, but it was perfectly clear for Lapis.
"Now you big pink baby, want to tell me what is happening?"
He sighed again, he was tired, he didn't have the strength to run from his problems anymore. He sat down on the couch, maybe this is what he needed, or maybe it won't help at all, but at least he'll try.
"It's a pretty long story, do you have time?"
"The only one waiting for me back home is a group of plants, so yeah, I got time" She sat down with him, she didn't know what to do in those situations, but she figured that just being silent and listening would be good enough.
"Where to start… you see, there was this thing called cookie cats…"
And so he talked, the sun came and go as he retold the story of his life, the crushing feeling of impotence when he was a child and wanted to keep up with his mom image, the sensation of being neither gem nor human, the crystal gems, the diamonds, Connie, his mom, the more he talked the more problems he confessed.
Lapis didn't say a single word through it all, only giving affirmative nods and sounds to make it clear she was listening, she was trying to process the information too, she discovered a lot about humans and gems in Steven's words.
At last he finally finished his story, he confessed everything, he didn't know what to make out of it, he felt… relaxed, the problems were still there, but talking about them with someone willing to listen made them a little lighter. Maybe this is why so many people liked the old Steven who just existed to fix everyone's problem.
"Your mom is a bitch." Those were the first words Lapis spoke since he began talking, and he couldn't say that he disagreed. " Steven, I… honestly didn't know that the problem was so big, I don't know how to fix it." She sounded sad, maybe she wasn't the right person after all to help him.
"You are doing enough just now." Now he understood. "Talking about it...it's good, Lapis, I'm glad that you have made me do it." He smiled at her and she reciprocated, if he said that it was good then she was satisfied. "In these days that we have been together, you have helped a lot, I'm glad to have met you." Her cheeks became a bluer color than usual, if it was just teasing she would have punched him for saying something so embarrassing, but these were his true thoughts.
He got up and stared at his mother's painting. "Hey Lapis, want to do me one last favor?"
"We both know that it won't be the last Steven, but yeah."
He picked up the sword handle too, with a wave of his hand, a pink bubble engulfed both of them. "Can you bubble this away? Most likely they'll appear on the jungle planet. I don't think that destroying these it's a good idea, but I must admit that they are not doing me any good right now, so please, keep them away until I get things figured out."
She picked the bubble, with a single press she would send it away, she has never tried it, but she has seen it before. "Are you sure? I kinda wanted to break them not too long ago, do you trust me with them?"
"Lapis, I have told you everything, I… I think that right now I believe more in you than I trust myself, so please, do this one for me" She didn't need any more confirmation, with a single tap the bubble was gone as were Roses' mementos in this house.
"Thank you Lapis, for this, for everything " His smile was something she was getting used to.
"What can I say? I'm pretty great. "
Steven went back into the kitchen to grab the things he prepared, he saw the sky taking a deep orange tone, another day that he had passed with his new friend and he didn't even notice, time flew pretty fast when they were together.
"You can take my role as the whole Gem Empire phycologist, imagine curing people with your sarcasm and hurtful remarks "
"Hey, at least it works on you." She pretended to sound offended.
"Yeah, maybe a little too well"
"So what's that you have been doing?"
"This." He let her see the bowl filled with popcorn. " It's for the movie, I thought that maybe you'll want to try eating."
"Wait, you prepare the food stuff? From the rumors I heard, I thought that humans just put grass and rock in their mouths" She wasn't speaking from experience, nope, she totally didn't get curious and tried it herself with something she picked from the floor in the jungle planet, never happened.
"You are a few thousand years too late." He double-checked all the food in front of him, a bowl filled with popcorn, two cans of juice, and a few sweets that he figured Amethyst wouldn't miss. Everything in order. He gave one last look to the living room, now without his mom's stuff, it was like he was seeing it for the first time. "Ready for a movie marathon?"
Lapis picked one piece of popcorn and placed it in her mouth ' Better than rocks that's for sure' she took another handful much to Steven's surprise "If after all this the movies don't blow me away I'm going to get pissed."
"Of course not, I don't want you to get... Lapissed " She punched him. His shoulder was going to be sore in the morning.
"Don't make another joke, ever."
"Can't promise anything."
Dark has settled him again, the only light coming from the TV screen. Steven was sitting on the floor with his back resting on the bed, Lapis was lying in it, with her head on top of Steven.
"Your hair is tickling me". Everytime she moved her curls touched his face.
"That sounds a lot like not my problem Steven, and your hair it's in my face too" Her chin rested on top of his head, his hair being strangely soft.
"Because you choose to be there, I can't move with your head pinning me down"
"Details Steven, details"
The movie played in the background, a horror film, lots of dead bodies, a big bad guy with an ax, and a group of teenagers making the worst possible choices in every case. After facing death so many times and destroying a tyrannical galactic empire, this was not scary.
"I could take him down." Lapis said on top of him.
"What?"
"I won't even need water sources, with the ones on my wings would be enough, small water spear to the neck and then pum, dead. He is too weak, look at him, he can't break a door, and even the plants are faster than him. A ruby could destroy him alone." She sounded proud of herself.
"Are you really doing this?" He felt a little bad for the serial killer monster, like always.
"No, I'm not doing this, we are doing this, how would you take it down?"
"Seriously...well, I guess I'll punch him, and then handed him to the police"
"Booo, Steven you are no fun." He never thought that someone would boo him because he didn't want to hurt people, but things changed when Lapis was around. Even though they were fictional characters he didn't want to plan how to kill them, the gems had raised him to respect everything, so he wouldn't get into her games...or at least so he thought.
"I would bounce out of the shield, fly at top speed, destroy the helicopter and then take the cash." It quickly became a game, now they were seeing some action movie about a bank robbery, the plot didn't matter anymore, they only watched it to see how they'll handle the scenes.
"You idiot, then the cash would blow up with the helicopter, I'll move the water in the clouds to make them blind, then you would sneak him, pick up the cash at top speed and go, they would blame each other when they see the money disappear."
"You are a genius of evil Lapis."
"That's the nicest thing you have said to me."
"I'll take the samurais and you'll take the ninjas in the water Lapis."
"Steven, they can throw lasers with their swords, would you be okay?"
"I have been watching Japanese cartoons since I was a child, believe me, I know all their movements."
"You know what, I'll pass on that, a giant lizard that can breath atomic fire is a little outside my level."
"Steven, don't pussy out! He can't fly, we could just ask the diamonds for a bombing from Space."
"It would be cool if I could transform into something like him and then battle it out."
"You as a giant lizard monster? I can only see you as a giant pink teddy bear."
"Eh, fair enough"
They didn't know how many movies they'd seen, or how much time passed. Steven could see that dawn was near, but he preferred if this could go on a little more, but everything needs to end.
"Steven!" A voice, it came from below. "Are you awake? We have come back! " Pearl.
"Oh shit, oh shit" He got up and quickly turned off the TV, he didn't want them to hear the noise, Lapis watched him with a big smile.
"So that's the pearl that you mention, what's the problem Steven, afraid that you are past your bedtime with an unknown gem in your bed, I wonder how would they react. " Seeing him panic for something so small was pretty darn fun.
"YES, very afraid. " He could hear the sound of footsteps making his way upstairs "What do we do, what do we do!" He tried to speak as low as possible. "And stop being so happy about it!"
"I can't help myself, I love to see you suffer." She took his hand, his mind wasn't working at full capacity right now so it was her turn to help. "Now come here, you have this big balcony right here and we can both fly, any ideas ?"
He jumped before she could say anything else, she didn't know why he was the one feeling from the scene, but she followed suit, honestly, she was a bit scared too, the things that Steven told her made Pearl sound a bit like a psycho.
They ran to the shore, the water tickling their feet. At the distance he could see the house with lights lit only on the first floor, it seems that Pearl didn't enter his room at the end. He saw the sky as it began to clear little by little, the moon going under the horizon carrying all the dark shades of the night.
"Well, it seems like we are clear" But his blue companion wasn't at his side, she was flying on top of the sea. "Wait...What are you doing?"
"What it looks like I'm doing Steven?" She shot back at him. "If they give a single peek out of the window they'll see us, let's fly away." She extended her hand.
He didn't know what he was doing, why he was the one escaping, why he couldn't just explain his situation to the Gems, it wasn't like they did anything bad, he didn't need to use his powers here on Earth, someone might see him, judge him, think that he is a freak, or some gem might see a diamo-
He felt her cold hands on his skin, Lapis, she was lifting him.
"Looks like you can't make up your mind so I'm deciding for you." And as easy as that he was flying, here on Earth, and it didn't feel bad, the troubles melted away in an instant as they left the sand behind.
"I told you, there were two voices upstairs !" Pearl was freaking out.
"You are being PARANOIC like always" Amethyst just plumed into the sofa, she was finally home "It's like a day ago in the bar when you made all of us leave because you thought that there was something in the drinks."
"Amethyst, we had this conversation on the bus, he put something in them, I saw it."
"He was the BARTENDER he was putting ice!" She didn't want to move her head, or any part of her body, but she could guess that Pearl looked like a nervous mess, Amethyst hated when she had to be the voice of reason between the two. "He had probably been watching TV or something, let him sleep, we know that he hasn't been doing much of that lately." 'Or anything else.' She finished in her mind, she missed how he was before, but they had tried to talk with him and it only aggravated the problems, so their plan for now it's just to let him be until he decides to talk about his problems.
Pearl signed, she was tired from their little excursion too, controlling a group of gems wasn't the easiest thing "Maybe you are right" She felt weird saying those words, she had time to check on Steven tomorrow.
"Something is wrong." Garnet spoke behind them, and if that wasn't weird enough she also sounded concerned.
Amethyst got up, Garnet speaking was important enough to lose a little relaxing time. "So you finally talk, you have been quieter than usual these days, and that's saying something."
"Garnet what's happening, did you see something dangerous in the future, it's Steven safe?!"
"Pearl, calm down" Garnet stayed as emotionless as ever "Steven's safe. But the future has been see-"
Amethyst rolled her eyes. " Yeah yeah we know, the future is like a river blah blah there's lakes and streams blah blah we get it, go to the important part"
"Amethyst!"
If Garnet had taken offense it didn't show in her face "A little stream. Something so small that I didn't even search into it. Has become a whole ocean. A few days ago Steven made a decision that has changed his entire future. I don't know if it's for good or worse." She didn't wait for a response, she activated the door of the temple "I need to think this through. Good night."
And she was gone.
"What's her deal? And it's nearly morning already". Garnet's words were disturbing, but they didn't have the mental strength to talk about it, they were very tired. "You know what, I'm going to sleep, or nap, whatever" She activated her door. "Later P."
And so Pearl was left alone in the living room "These girls…" No matter how many centuries they spent together, sometimes she couldn't keep up, but she still loved them. Pearl gave one last look at the stairs, no matter what they say, she was still worried for her child. " Why did he put that damn lock in the door..." She also proceeded to open her temple door, maybe she could try sleeping. As she stepped in her room and the entrance with the beach house closed, she noticed. "Wait a minute, did Steven move Rose's painting again?"
There was only blue as far as Steven could see, not a single piece of land in his vision, they were pretty far from the coast.
"As long as they don't bring another Lapislazuli to hunt you down we are fine here Steven." His blue companion spoke, their hands still together, he lost count of the number of times they touched today, and even though they wanted to keep it a little longer, they began to separate their hands, Steven now flying on his own.
"I doubt it, they don't exactly have the best relationship with Lapis, without me or Peridot serving as an intermediary they prefer to stay out of each other business, the less they talk the better"
"The whole mirror incident, right? Honestly Steven, when you told me that part of the story I was a little jealous, I can create a giant pillar of water too, well, not that big but I could drain the water from your town without problem."
"Please no, you don't need to show up your- Wait, did you say jealous?" He must have heard wrong.
"Of course! We are on a date and you started talking about how impressive was another Lapislazuli." She sounded a little hurt. " Not very smooth Universe."
"Wait, what...date?!" His brain was going into overdrive, his cheek reddens and his tongue dried, he couldn't speak right now, a single word that Lapis had thrown so casually had destroyed him.
"Steven, gems are not the best at the 'feeling' stuff, but c'mon, we danced together, you told me about your problems, we saw movies and talked in your house alone. " She said casually. "We have watched like four films today about romantic things, did you forget already? In one of them, they did basically the same as us but then they did something weird in the bed at the end."
Steven's emotions were all over the place, his flying was starting to fail, having powers based on emotions is not the ideal occasion when you are a teenager.
"I was a little busy thinking how to beat them up, thanks to you and your creepy game." He took a deep breath and relaxed. He began recalling each thing they did together and… yeah he was too dense.
Today has been his first actual date and he didn't notice, well maybe, he didn't know if the stuff he did with Connie can be called that. And that's another problem, Connie. Were they dating? He didn't know, it has been quite some time since he saw her in person, and with all the studying she hadn't attempted to talk to him those days.
His gaze fell into Lapis, she had seen him lost in his thoughts and now she was playing with the water below, using her power to make strange shapes and forms...that reminded him of something.
"Meepmorps?" As he muttered those words Lapis broke her water sculpture and looked at him.
"That's a stupid name that your stupid friend made up, they are only water things, no need for anything fancy." She sounded upset, Steven very much doubted that it was only because of the Meepmorps mention.
' Good one Universe, you are a real piece of work.' He mentally punished himself, he had been overthinking and ruining everything like he has been doing these past months, so what if this was a date? He was too deep already, at least he would finish it on a nice note.
"Lapis, want to go one last place for our date?" He hoped this would work.
"...so you now call it a date." She flew to his side again. Lapis looked at him in the eyes, she was worried. "Look Steven… I got a little upset, I just thought that… well that we were on the same note, but, I overreacted, it's not your fault. Sorry for saying that your friend was stupid."
Steven smiled, maybe the two of them were just stupid.
"Lapis, I'm sorry too, I'm supposed to be the expert on all these things and I didn't see the signs, let's go to a nice place to end this." Steven took advantage that they were close and using his powers a pink bubble circulated both of them.
"Steven...what are you doing?"
"Remember the song that the little crab with the funny voice sang?"
"Under the sea?"
The pink bubble fell into the ocean.
"That was a cute yelp Lapis"
"You little shit didn't give me any warning, why would you want to go to the dark bottom of the oce-" She didn't finish her words, the scenery she was see was seeing was not like any other oceans she has been to, this one was glowing.
"Surprise? Beach City's ocean is a little special, Pearl told me that it was because the plants and creatures evolved around all the gem stuff, so now everything is bright and weird. "
She was mesmerized with the environment, everything was clean, she couldn't sense any current, it's was calm. She saw a group of fishes passing along as the bubble descended, soon they'll reach the bottom.
"Steven, this is amazing" It looked like a perfect sand garden someone had dumped a whole lot of water into, but not a single grain was affected.
"I'm glad that you like it, I tried to bring another Lapis to the ocean but everything went array pretty fast." If this Lapis had some crazy ex-girlfriend that he didn't know about at least he hoped that she wouldn't surprise them here. "This is the second time I come here, last time was with Connie and there was this giant -" ' Oh no, no no, I just did it again.'
"That Connie girl… it's that the one you kept mentioning in your story right?" Steven couldn't detect what her tone implied, she was not angry that's for sure, but she sounded weird.
"Yes, she is...a friend, kinda, maybe, I don't really know."
They reached the bottom, their bubble gently bouncing and then stopping, Steven decided to expand it and create a dome above them, letting the bottom of the bubble vanish so they could touch the smooth sand.
A little too wet for Steven's liking, and it seems that Lapis also thought the same because she collected all the leftover water in a ball with her power and threw it aside, now the sand was cold but dried, they sit on the ground, it was like being in a giant aquarium, all kind of weird fishes passed on top of them.
"Steven, I want to talk, about us." He was seeing this coming, and he needed to fix his situation too. " That Connie, are you two dating?" And she started with the answer that he dreads the most.
"That's hard to answers, you could say that we are supposing to be dating." She gave him a weird look, it seems that she wasn't satisfied with that answer, and neither was him. "It's hard to explain, we know each other since we were children, she was my first real friend, and… I liked her, I liked her a lot." He didn't want to see Lapis face at this moment, right now he was telling the story not only for her but for him as well. " She was normal, and for me that was amazing, she had school, projects, she read books, that's like everyone that I have seen on TV, a human, a human child, what I was supposed to be. I thought that if I was with her, I'll be more human too, I'll grow up, we'll marry, we'll have children and then we die. Like everyone else, like a human…" His eyes redden, this was not supposed to be this hard.
"But, I don't know anymore, I don't know, she is like everyone else in my life right now, she is moving on with her life, she wants to be a politician and she has been studying very hard to get it, while I'm here, left behind, I don't know where to go Lapis, everyone thinks that I'm supposed to marry her, everyone thinks that I'm supposed to be the same Steven, cheerful, ready to help, and always thinking positive but I'm not that anymore, I-I don't know who I am anymore." His cheeks felt wet, must be leaking in his bubble, that's why his eyes were full of water right now.
Something cold touched him, embrace him, he could only see blue, and it was not the ocean nor his tears.
"Steven, it's okay, it's okay. " Lapis. She was hugging him, and he couldn't help but embrace her as well. He needed this right now.
"Steven, when Homeworld changed, I hated you." He could hear her voice from behind, it was so close to his ear that it made it tickle when she talked. "I was lost, a Lapislazuli has a single function, terraform planets, and the diamonds told us that they were going to stop doing it, we were discarded like trash, the entire gem empire moved and we were left behind." He could hear a water drop touch the floor, the bubble must be leaking on top of Lapis too. "I took off with my partner because we didn't know what else to do, maybe if a Diamond saw us she'll think that we are useful again, but then you came, and you took her away too." Those words were like a knife in his back, he didn't know that his actions had ruined a life so much. "But that was not the Steven I know, the Steven that came to that planet was a nervous idiot who only knew how to preach his way of life to other people, he saw us as gems who need to be re-educated in life, you are not that goody two shoes, you talk with me like we are on the same level, we joke together, we fly together, we are equals."
She separated a little and looked him straight in the eyes, he had never seen that much determination mixed with tears.
" We have both been left behind, we both have lost our purpose, but we don't need to stay that way." She took his hands. "I don't want the old you, I didn't know the old you, I want the you that 's in front of me." She squeezed him harder, she didn't want to let him go. "Steven, let's change together, we don't need to march to the pace of the gem empire or the humans, we can march to our own." She let his hand go and separated herself, right now she was afraid of him, afraid of the words he'll speak next.
But he didn't say a word, he got up as well and offered her his hand, she accepted with doubts, she didn't know where this was going. He got close and placed his hand behind her back, now they were close, very close.
He began moving, no, dancing, one dance she knew, one dance they already had done.
"You told me that the plants that dance together never separate, I can't imitate that dance, but I hope this is a good enough substitute" She let him lead the steps, it was true that he got better.
"Does this mean…"
"I'm a mess Lapis, I have spent half of this date crying about my problems and the other half not knowing that this was a date, but, if you are willing to stay with this mess of a hybrid, I'll be more than happy to stay with you, to change with you." He smiled, and she felt like she could poof any moment now.
"Only if you are willing to stay with this mess of discarded terraforming machine" She smiled, and he felt like his heart stopped.
No more words were needed, they kept dancing to a song only they could hear, in the bottom of the sea where no eyes could prey on them, neither of them knew what was going to happen next, neither cared.