" Sooo, you live in a place called Beach city, your house it's just in front of the beach, and this is the first time that you are actually going for a swim?"

Two people in swimsuits stood on the shore of an empty beach.

" Not my fault, the gems had no interest in swimming if it wasn't for a mission, and most of the time the beach just became a battlefield...and maybe when I was a kid I wasn't exactly the ' athletic' type." He didn't want to mention the whole not having a neck thing.

"Must suck being a human, I was already born perfect." She flaunted her usual smile as she played with one of her curls.

Steven looked at her, Lapis's outfit didn't change a lot, she just shorten her skirt so she could swim better. 'Must be nice having the option of changing clothes with a thought.' But the biggest change was in her chest, a zone that this past few days he couldn't help but give a few shy glances to, there wasn't a diamond there anymore, and neither was a star. He smiled at the thought, she wasn't like the others, she isn't a crystal gem, she is different.

"Yeah we suck, but so do gems, being a child is the best, no preoccupations, no trauma, you don't know that your mother it's a space tyrant that has screwed you for life… you know, the usual." Lapis saw his smile and she couldn't help but reciprocate, she also didn't know why seeing him only trucks gave her a weird feeling, maybe all those movies had influenced her.

"Look at you! Now you can even joke about your mother with a smile, where's my Steven who became a mess with a mere mention of the diamonds? I miss him, he was much more fun to tease." Steven had a strange guess that she wasn't completely joking, but still, he was getting too accustomed to her personality to get mad at it.

"You always seem to enjoy making fun of other people, so I'm giving it a try too." He wondered for a moment what the gems would say if they heard that. He imagined a high five, a silent disappointment, and a full-on lecture.

Steven got closer to the water and proved temperature with his feet, the small yelp that he threw and the quick retrieve of his feet made Lapis guess that it wasn't to his liking. A giggle escaped from her lips as she saw it.

"You can't make fun of anyone until you can enter the water without complaining you big whinny." Lapis went deep in the water, not bothering to look back at Steven and his fake hurtful expression, she only felt a small tingle as she went in. This is also something she discovered recently, she didn't feel the heat and cold as much as Steven, which right now, much to Lapis pleasure, was fighting and suffering every step of the way to reach her.

This was strange for her, she could feel the entire ocean right now, the slow raising of the waves, the small currents of water… all of it calling her to use it, for a lapis water was not something where you relax, it's a weapon, a tool to terraform.

A warm sensation stopped her train of thoughts, something that could break her gem's natural numbness. Steven's hand pressing against her own, she remembered terraforming planets with active volcanoes and not even getting a sweat, but recently every time they touched she could feel that gentle heat emanating from him, something that made her gem tingle.

"Steven! I was in the middle of an internal monologue!"

"Oh, I have tons of those, believe me, you didn't miss anything, you never reach any good conclusion and you always feel really bad afterward."

She thought that he was an idiot, a big idiot, but her idiot nonetheless, just looking at his face made her forget about her internal struggle, she didn't remember being this soft.

"Hey, this is more fun than I thought!." Steven was swimming slowly at her side, she could feel his movement...if for movements you call paddling like a dog. Lapis sighed. ' Steven is right'. I'm overthinking, we promised each other, that now the Gem Empire wouldn't affect us anymore, I don't need to play by their rules.'

She took a deep breath and lay on top of the water, letting buoyancy run its course, good thing about being made of light it's that you are not very dense. Now she only concentrated on her body, relaxing as much as she could, the rays of sunlight making her gem shine, her hair letting itself loose in the water, the summer air- 'Okay this is extremely boring. Let's spice things up.'

"Steven! Check this out!" If the ocean wanted to be used she was going to take his offer, hundreds of years using her powers just to destroy were over, the empire was over, and her old self was over too. It was time to use her power like they were meant to be used… for her enjoyment, totally disregarding collateral damage and every life that wasn't Steven's.

"What the…" The sea rose in front of his eyes, a tower made of water, it was even higher than the lighthouse on top of his house. He saw it once before, this wasn't as big, but it reminded him of his first time meeting the Ocean Gem. He put a hand inside and he could feel the current upwards, fishes and other wildlife were swimming inside like it was not their problem.

"Told you that I won't lose to that Lapis, not again." She stopped exercising her power, just keeping a small part of her mind in maintaining the water column. " Don't expect a day on the beach with a Lapis to be easy Diamond Boy." Water wings sprung from her back, she gave one last look at the still surprised Steven. "Catch me if you can!" She darted to the top of the tower.

"Wait! Using wings is cheating!" His shout only gained a laugh from her. Steven gave a sigh, but still smiled nonetheless, she wasn't the only one who's going to enjoy their powers.

He concentrated, trying to imagine a catalyst for his fury, a pink-haired gem always did the job.

Steven was not going to run away anymore, he didn't want to spend all his life fixing his mother's mistakes, he didn't want to spend his life regretting his existence. These powers were his, not Pink Diamond's, and now he had his sight fixated on dominating them. All these days that they spent flying and playing on their planet together worked as a great exercise to control them, they were not going to ruin his life anymore.

Steven grew taller with a faint pink glow, his skin and hair matching the gem in his stomach. He looked at the top of the tower, when he was a kid, Lapis nearly killed them trying to reach it, just for her to run away right after, but now he wasn't going to lose this one.

He jumped straight into the water column, and with his new gain strength from this form began to swim at a speed that he couldn't even believe. His muscles burned, that feeling again, like he did when he was a child. ' Having powers is awesome.'

"Ahhh" Air. He reached the top, and his only prize for it was his new girlfriend's smirk.

"Let me tell you Steven, pink is so not your color." He took it as a compliment. Steven began seeing the scenery, he could see every single part of Beach City, or maybe even the entire country of Delmarva, Little Homeworld seemed so small in this position. "See? You are not the only one who can make pretty date spots."

"Talking about date spots, why did you want to spend time on Earth today?" These past few weeks he had developed the morning routine of waking up and going straight to the warp pad, but today he had been tackled by Lapis right after appearing, and before he knew it he was in swim trunks in front of the beach.

"I-It's nothing…" She sounded flustered, and even though his heart moved a little for seeing her cute like that, it didn't convince him, and she knew it. "Dammit Steven! It's a surprise, we can't go right now, just trust me on this one okay?" He trusted her, but that didn't mean that he couldn't pinch a little, and seeing her shy like that only made it better.

"What, do you have the plants for a surprise party? I appreciate the thought, but my birthday it's still months away, and Pinktmas was last Sunday, which by the way, I still refuse to accept that's an actual new gem holiday." She rolled her eyes.

"Don't make me smack you cause I'll do it." He didn't find the joke funny either, but he loved her reactions. "Remember that we are in water Steven, at any moment I ca-" She felt water splash on her face, the culprit not even trying to hide it. "Haha, very funny Steven but if- '' Another batch of water was thrown at her face, her bottom line was crossed. "Steven… do it again and I swea -" Don't need to tell what happened.

"Hehe, cmon Lapis, it was a joke." A figure began looming over him. "O-oh, I see that you also know the water avatar thing that Lapis did when you met her." Even though he was still in water he could feel a cold sweat. A giant water version of Lapis was emerging from the tower. " You know that I love you a lot right?" If movies were right, sweet works always worked in these types of situations.

"Run" Dammit movies.

"We may have gone a little too far this time." Steven opened his house's door for Lapis and gave one last look at the beach, there were a few Steven and Lapis shaped holes and one or two craters in the sand.

Lapis waved off the problems as she made her way inside. "Don't worry, later I'll just pull the sea, water will clear any shreds of evidence of our little game." Thanks to her powers now they were dry, but sadly the sand couldn't be removed, and right now she could feel it in every nook and cranny of her body. Poofing right now just to get rid of it was tempting.

"Little game?" Steven scoffed. "You chained me to the deep part of the water, and I lost count on how many water sawblades I dodged."

They made their way to the couch, and right now they needed some rest.

"Because someone wouldn't stop throwing me pink energy shields, they had spikes Steven, spikes!"

It wasn't the first time they fought, these mock battles were a very good way of burning stress and learning how to use their powers. Though the real battle was convincing Steven of doing them, even now she knew that he wasn't giving it all.

Steven gave a deep sigh, he was tired, but when you feel sand grinding in your asscheeks it means that it's time for a bath. He got up, or at least he tried, something cold was on his way.

"Lapis, what are you doing?" Her head, she had laid on the couch and used Steven's thighs like a pillow.

"Really Steven, you can't tell? You are the one that taught me how to sleep." He looked down to see her cheeky smile and half-open eyes. It seems that the bath will need to wait. "So what do you want to do now? I can destroy you in games again if you want."

"It doesn't make sense! I'm good at them, you have never touched one, but every time I play against you I end up losing." Though he was glad to finally have someone to play against. Amethyst had tried to eat his console more times than he could count and Connie always ends up quoting something that she read of video games being bad for you. And he'll never try to make Garnet play games again...

"That's just the power of love Steven, you can't use your hundred percent against me because you like me too much... and maybe I use my powers on the sweat of your hands to make you commit mistakes."

"What was that?"

"Nothing~"

They stayed here, enjoying the cold/warmth of each other, Lapis began looking at the room, she had been here a lot of times these past weeks, Steven always brought here when he knew for sure that the gems wouldn't come back. She looked at an empty spot on the wall.

"So, what did you tell the gems about your mom's painting? From what you told me, I can't imagine your Pearl not destroying the entire house trying to find it."

Steven gave a light chuckle. "She is not that bad anymore, in a few years I think that she'll get over my mom, well, maybe decades...or centuries, never mind." But Lapis saw the light of his eyes flicker. "We...we don't really talk that much anymore."

"Steven…" She hated that face, that fake smile over his lips, trying to fool others into thinking he was alright. "Why? We have come so far since we met, you are always smiling when we are together." She raised her hand to caress his face, Steven's smile became a little less fake when he felt it.

"I know, but...Lapis, when I look at you I think of the jungle planet, I think of the time we spend together, the laughs, the plants…" She smiled at that. "But, with the gems… it's..it's hard Lapis, I love them, I'll always do, but there's so many bad memories now tainting all of the good ones. Thanks to you I feel happy again, I don't spend all the time thinking about mom or having an existential crisis, and I want to show that to the gems, show that I'm fine again, but when I try to approach them… I don't know, everything comes back."

"And I thought that you spent so much time with me thanks to my good looks and charming personality." That managed to draw a smile on Steven's face.

She got up and sat normally in front of Steven, right now it wasn't time for jokes, he needed her. She grabbed both of his hands and hoped that he also liked the difference in temperature between them.

Steven stared at her deep blue eyes, she was thinking hard what to say. "I...Steven, when Frea- I mean, when my Lapis went away, it felt horrible , someone that I thought was going to be with me forever went away in an instant, so many things left unsaid, I-I don't want that to happen to you, that crushing feeling of loneliness… I don't want to see you going to the same thing I went before." Steven could feel her hands squeezing him harder. "You need to talk to them, if you can't do it alone, then I'll be there with you, we promised, didn't we? We'll go through all this together."

He let go of her hands with some reluctance and got up. ' Her smile shouldn't be this bright.' A flying thought. "Lapis, you….you finally moved! My legs were starting to go numb, well, time for a shower."

He made his way to the bathroom, Lapis's eyes wide as plates, anger rising on her face. "W-What?! You idiot we were having a nic-"

"Thank you Lapis." Steven stood at the bathroom door. She didn't get to finish. " All of this means a lot, if you weren't here...I don't know where I would be right now, I swear that I'll make things right." As he opened the door he gave her one last smile. "I also promise that I won't leave you." He quickly made his way inside before a flying cushion hit him in the face.

The one throwing it with a big blush on her face. "That idiot." She hugged the other cushion next to her. It wasn't as warm as him.

Coldwater swept through Steven as it carried the sweat, sand, and tiredness of the day.

" Ohhh! He's a frozen treat with an all-new taste!

Cause he came to this planet from outer space!

A refugee of an interstellar war!"

He relaxed as he sang, he missed the musical numbers, now with his dad going on tour his life was a little less melodic.

"But now he's at your local grocery store!

Cookie Cat!

He's a pet for your tummy!

Cookie Cat!"

These past few months he wasn't exactly in a singing mood, and he had the feeling that his blue companion would shatter herself before even speaking in rhymes, well, at least she wasn't here to laugh at him.

"Hahahaha, a cookie Steven ?! Really? I thought you were singing about your mother hahaha." ' Nevermind…'

He got his head out of the shower. Lapis was in front of the mirror with a comb in hand.

"What makes you think that the song had anythi-" Wait a moment, he began repeating the lyrics in his head. ' Holy shit, it does, it's literally my mom's story.' He pushed that thought aside for the moment. "Forget about that, what are you doing here? We already talked about privacy Lapis, we don't want to repeat ' that' again."

"It was only ONCE and you don't let it go!"

"You forcefully tried to pull down my pants!"

"I was curious! Gem's don't have that thingy, and I didn't know about your silly human cultures, on top of that, your Peridot spent a lot of time here, so why does she get to see it and I don't?"

"I was a kid and Peridot is like a big puppy, you broke my favorite pants trying to see it"

"All your pants look the same!"

Steven gave a soft laugh and decided to stop teasing. It would be a very good idea to get a Lapislazuli too worked up in a bathroom. Not when he wasn't sure how the pipe and electricity worked in this house.

He made his way out of the shower and covered himself with a towel, Lapis' patience with the comb reached her limits. Throwing it aside she decided to use a combination of water and hands too tied up her hair.

"And yet again, human tools proves to be extremely useless"

"Cmon, you still can't even use a fork." She glared at him from the mirror. " And gem's things are worse, every time I tried one it nearly killed me." 'Thought I almost died that time when I ate a penny too, I almost died a lot of times thinking about it.' He got closer, she moved a little to give him space in the mirror. "Didn't know that you care so much about your hair."

"I'm a girl Steven, of course, I care about my hair, and sand it's stealing your previous number one spot on things I want to erase from existence." She looked at the shower. "Might as well try it."

"A girl?" Steven scoffed. "Before meeting me you didn't even know what gender was."

Lapis passed him and made her way to the shower. "I already have the human girl's private parts, so too late if you decide to like males Steven." She said without a second thought.

"..."

"...:"

"L-lapis, w-what did you say?" He blurted out, Steven could see his own face in the mirror. He gave a silent thanks for wearing a towel right now.

Lapis was still stunned, she could feel the temperature of the room rise, or maybe that was her own body, she wasn't sure.

"W-well, I-I'm not good with shapeshifting, but, well, I-I tried, I mean." The words got stuck in her throat, speaking wasn't supposed to be this difficult." I d-don't want to fuse, but I want to get close to you, so I, I di-I thought that…... get out."

"What?"

" Get out !" She screamed. Steven could see the panic as well as a few tears in her eyes, a distinct sheet of blue coloring her cheeks. She began pushing him out.

"Wait! Lapis, what you sai-" She didn't wait, pushing him with ease. ' How the hell is she this strong?!' "Let's talk!" That didn't stop her. "We can talk about it over breakfast!" That also didn't stop her, but it made him hungry. "I'm still wet!" As he said it, all the leftover water on his body began floating behind him and forming a hand, which also pushed him. "We can-" Too late, he already reached the door.

"We won't talk about this ever! " She closed the door with a bang.

Steven was left in front of the door, trying and failing in emptying his thoughts and needing a cold shower now more than before. He hated puberty.

On the other side of the door, the gem was watching her reflection, she was slightly trembling. "Stupid." She didn't know which one she was referring to.

Steven already got dressed in his normal attire, the previous incident totally forgot, yep, he wasn't thinking about it at all, hundred percent forgot, the fact that has been tying his shoes for the last ten minutes while looking at nothing has anything to do with it. He still didn't realize that he was wearing flip-flops.

He looked at the bathroom door, the noise of the shower could be heard from there. Steven needed something to distract his mind right now. He'll take anything.

Blue light shone behind him accompanied by a familiar sound.

The warp pad.

' Oh no, oh no no no.' From the blue light, a figure emerged.

"Steven." Garnet.

Steven froze. His brain right now going into overdrive. ' Why is she here?! School should end in the evening!' She stood there, not moving or saying anything, her eyes darkened by the glasses, but Steven could feel her gaze weighing heavily on him. ' This is bad, they still don't even know about Lapis…' She was still in the shower. ' Wait, in the movies the people in a relationship always have some sort of special link between them, maybe if I think hard enough she'll get a message.' He began concentrating. ' Don't leave the bathroom, don't leave the bathroom, don't lea-'

The bathroom door opened. "Hey Steven! What's wrong with humans? What maniac species would make a shampoo that smells like candy but tastes like -" She noticed the third person in the room. "Shit ." The bathroom door closed again.

Garnet's face didn't change even after seeing the blue gem. "We need to talk."

In Little Homeworld, two blue gems are discussing in a studio filled with paintings.

"It doesn't make sense!" The one with a ponytail spoke to her companion. "How can I be doing something wrong? You always say that there are no rules in painting!" She tried to sound angry, but her face and demeanor were as intimidating as a small puppy giving cute barks.

"For the last time, you need to understand the rules so you can break the rules." The other gem spoke, she didn't have a brain but she could feel a migraine forming in her head. Lapis, the crystal gem. She looked at the drawing her 'apprentice' made. " That's a good… sheep? But it lacks form...and LOTS of other things."

She hated teaching, though more accurate would be that she hated being in contact with others for a long period. Her list of people she didn't mind spending time with started with Steven and ended with Peridot. But because they are both lapis, she had been assigned as her personal teacher. A little racist if you ask her.

"It's not a sheep! It's a ruby playing basketball!"

"Then why is it brown?"

"Because it looks cuter that way!" She said proudly. A smile formed on her lips. "You are just mad because people are calling me Nice Lapis." She said as a matter of fact.

"I'm not mad." Lapis began rubbing her temples. ' Why can't they leave me alone with my art? Didn't I do enough already? I miss Steven.' She began concentrating on her own artwork. " It's only that, if they are calling you Nice Lapis, and me just Lapis, it's like saying that I'm not nice." She didn't need pallets, the watercolors began floating and combining in the air.

"You threw a Jasper and a Quartz in the sea when they asked you to play beach ball."

She shrugged. "I'm not good with their ' type.' " She began recalling old experiences, but quickly brushed them aside. "All this wouldn't happen if you would pick a name, it's confusing having the same one."

"I had one." The crystal gem Lapis looked away from her painting, sadness, something that didn't even enter her blue friend's vocabulary now filled her voice. " My companion and I gave each other names long ago, we were both Lapis, so we used it to talk between us, the little we did talk that is…"

"The lapis with a gem in her shoulder...you are still thinking about her?"

"Of course I do! We have been together since forever!" Her voice picked a little bit of energy. "But I don't think she liked me very much, nor do I think that she misses me now, and I had to whine for a millennia before she agreed to give each other names."

"Sounds like a normal Lapis to me, you are the strange one with all your energy and smiles."

"But I wanted to talk!" She was pouting. "I tried to convince her to come here together, but she just ignored me! Imagine how fun it would be if we were three lapises together!"

Lapis felt a cold shiver. "Yes…' fun' it's a way to put it I guess." She came back to her drawing.

"What's wrong with you today? You are even grumpier than usual, is it because that pearl came to you screaming earlier?"

Lapis ground her teeth, she got mad recalling her past conversation earlier today. "Don't even mention her! She was accusing me of trying to attack Steven this morning! Something about a water tower in beach city, didn't even listen to her ramblings, at least Garnet came and calmed her down."

"Yeah, how could you attack Steven? It's the only person you don't badmouth behind backs."

"I don't badmouth peo-"

"And every time you talk about him you always have that smile and happy look on your face"

"What?! That's not tr-"

"You also talk about him every time you get the chance."

"That's just because he is my frie-

"Oh, and you have all those drawings of him in your close-"

Something passed beside her, something pointy, extremely fast, and made of water had pierced her ruby right in the face, making a perfect hole in the wall behind it.

"We are going to stop talking this instant and you'll go back to your sheep."

"It-it's a ruby..."

"Did I shutter ?"

"Yes mam! Right at it mam!" She began painting over the hole, quickly forgetting the threat and having fun smashing colors together.

Lapis gave a sigh. ' I'm indeed not good with people, a walk would be nice right now.' She looked at her canvas, a garden made out of blue and pink flowers, with a young man sitting in the middle. ' Steven…'

"Steven what do we do?!"

" I don't know!"

Two people were screaming in whispers, Garnet in front of them with an expressionless face, not even a word from her lips since last time, which only made Lapis and Steven feel worse, like they were guilty of a crime and this was the interrogation.

It was strange how interesting the floor was for both of them, eyes glued on it and only giving side glances to each other, not even daring to look at the older gem.

" You know her, say something! This pressure is shattering me"

"Shut up! She can hear you."

"No she can't, I can't see her ears."

" Neither can I see yours!"

"Cof cof." They raised their heads at the same time, Garnet had just uttered the fakest cof they've heard. Not that they will ever say it. "Steven, and… Lapis I presume."

"What gives it away? My blue hair, blue skin, or blue gem?"

"Your blue personality most likely." Finished Steven. Lapis wanted to punch him for the joke, but it wouldn't be a nice first impression in front of his mother. One of the three that it's, or two of the four?.

Garnet didn't acknowledge the interaction between the two. "Earlier we received a call from the mayor. She told us about the water demon coming back and trying to steal their water again. She also mentioned flashes of pink emanating from the water."

" Geez, that other Lapis did a number on these people, calling me a water demon…"

"Yeah, a water gorilla would be more accurate." This time the punch came in his shoulder. "How are you so strong!?"

Garnet flinched a little when she saw it, but Steven was calmly talking with her a few moments later, so she didn't act.

"I can see what happened." Both of them calmed again and fixed their postures. "Steven, you have Pearl very worried, she was in our Lapis's neck when I found her. She calmed only after I explained that you were safe using my future vision."

Her dementor changed a little, she got more emotional, only a hint but for Steven it was a big switch. "But I lied Steven, I can't see you. Something is wrong in this timeline, your future is clouded in mist." Lapis felt three eyes on her. "And I think that I know the reason."

"W-Was that an insult? Steven, she is half Sapphire, I'm no good dealing with gems with more authority than me."

"I'm half diamond and you don't seem to have a problem."

"But your other half is human, so you are half idiot too."

"You are wrong, diamonds are very dumb, so I'm a hundred percent idiot."

"Steven!" A shout. Both of them jolted at that, Garnet raising her voice wasn't something he had predicted. Her glasses disappeared, Steven could see her three different color eyes looking at him. "What is happening?"

"W-well, you see this morning…"

"I'm not referring to that Steven. I'm talking about you." Her voice maintained a serene tone but he could feel something different in her eyes. "You...closed yourself, didn't speak to us, Connie, or your dad. Greg told us that it's normal for a teenager, that we just needed to give you space. But… that didn't work." Steven felt like someone was grabbing his stomach from the inside.

"Steven… we are not humans, we don't know what you are going through, and we are scared. Pearl these days it's always at edge, Amethyst tries to sound the same but she has lost her usual energy, and me… I'm the leader, Steven, but I can only rely on Sapphire's future vision and Ruby's determination to keep the team together after Rose's part, and that isn't working right now." Steven saw how her hands formed a fist, she was angry, more with herself than anyone else. " I… I can't do anything for myself."

"Garnet…"

"But, a few weeks ago, you changed, when Rose's painting disappeared you began smiling again. And it seems that wasn't thanks to us." Her eyes darted from Steven to Lapis and then back." What is happening, Steven? I want to help you, I want us to come back to normality." She smiled at him. "I want to be a team again."

He wanted to flee. He wasn't ready for this, to hear about his depression not only screwing his life, but those around him as well… It was crushing.

The room was silent, Garnet's face lost its smile seeing that he didn't answer. Steven could feel his pulse-raising, a slight ringing in his ears.

Someone grabbed his hand, a cold feeling traveling through his body. He looked at his side, he was welcome with a blue smile. "I'm here." Just two words, but that was enough.

Steven looked at Garnet, memories of his childhood began resurfacing. Garnet fought with Pearl, the time she let him be captured by Blue Diamond, the despair he felt when he knew about his mom's true identity, but he had to push that aside to deal with Sapphire and Ruby's drama…

Anger began surging, it was their fault, they trained him to be Rose because they could not be without her, they deprived him of things a human kid should have, and now that there are no more fights left, no more of his mom's problems weigh on him, they abandon him.

His hand formed a fist. ' They don't want me, they want the me who resolved all their problems, the kid version who could only speak positive and be happy. The moment I changed, I was alone…' Pink colored him, he thought that he had dominated this form, that it wouldn't cause any more problems, but it seems he was wrong. He applied more pressure into his hands, knuckles becoming white, he couldn't contain himself much longer.

Garnet's warrior senses screamed at her to summon her gauntlets, the aura that surrounded Steven was more akin to a monster. But she didn't flinch, she trusted her son.

'Why I'm the one that should explain himself?! I'm the victim here, and they didn't even try to help me, I would have done it for them!'

A small yelp of pain. From a voice he recognized.

He quickly forgot about his internal drama, and moved his head to the side, Lapis, her eyes looked to the front determined, but she was clenching her teeth, like she was enduring a great amount of pain. He looked horrified at his fist.

He was crushing her hand, the very thing that gave him courage a moment ago was being broken by him in his fit of anger and didn't even notice.

Alarms began ringing in his head, he was just like his mom, doing damage to the people close to him, this was wrong, so wrong, he quickly removed his hand from hers, he needed to leave the house now. But before he could start running that cold feeling washed over him once more.

The same broken hand grabbed him again. He helplessly looked at her face, like trying to find an answer, but she didn't move her head, only her mouth. "Don't even try it." He could see the determination in her eyes between all the pain. "You promised! That you will deal with this, and I promised to stay. You don't hate them Steven, you have that dumb lovely face every time you talk about them." She smiled at him.

Tears began filling his eyes. "L-Lapis, your hand, I'm...I-I'm a monste-"

"Steven! I'm not your mom's Pearl, nor I'm your human friend." She put on her cheeky smile. "I'm tough as shit, you can grind my gem to dust and I'll come back the next day to kick your ass." Steven knew that she was lying, the pain was clearly showing behind her smile, yet…

"So you big idiot, you are going to wipe your tears, sit down and fix your goddamn life, because you love these gems." She grinned at him. "But not as much as you love me I'm sure."

He took a deep breath, then another, the fire of rage on his heart began to subdue under that cold feeling, he dared to look again at Garnet, she didn't move an inch even after that display. Two diamond eyes meet three.

The memories came again, memories that no child should have been part of, memories that have been haunting him for quite some time now. But this time was different, this time he wasn't alone, he wasn't going to run away from them.

He wasn't a child anymore, now he understood the world, he knew that life is not black and white, but only different shades of grey. His mom was never the mighty savior of Earth he once thought, but she also was never the demonic tyrant that he was now making her be. She was not here anymore, he couldn't blame her for all his life problems. Nor could he blame the gems. They did their best, with faults that's clear, but…

'That congratulation party after I completed the fake obstacle course.' A smile ' When Garnet listened to my rambles after she came from a mission.' Pink was dissipating. ' They believed in me so much that they trusted me with Peridot and Centi.' His hair normal. ' The wedding…' Steven came back.

He breathed, now he felt light, slight pain in the head but a weight that was placed on his heart had been lifted. Steven let go of Lapis' hand, he could think normally again, before she could protest, and he knew that she would, he gave a kiss to her hand.

" Wait ! What are you- Ohhhh, that feels good." She could feel a nice sensation taking over the pain, she closed and opened her hand.

"Ouch!" A punch came to Steven's shoulder.

"Yep, like new. And that's for kissing out of the blue."

"Of course it's out of the blue, you are a Lapis." A groan escaped her lips. A giggle escaped his. "Garnet." For the third time, he saw her face, this time with a smile.

He told her everything, from the moment he knew about his mom, his problems with Pearl, the diamonds, himself… the duality of being a human and a gem but the feeling that he was neither, his loneliness. He opened his heart, if Lapis could accept him as he was, then Garnet could do it too.

Garnet stays silent, she listens to Steven retold old stories, now from his point of view. A lot of moments she wanted to scream, say sorry for some things, tell that he misinterpreted anothers, but she stayed quiet. He finished with his meeting with his new blue friend, but he was being noticeably less descriptive with this one.

He finished. Garnet felt her eyes getting wet, now she understood.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what you and the girls were going through. I was only thinking about myself these past months, I never thought that my misery was affecting you as well." His cheeks took a red color. "Can...Can I be part of the team again?"

Garnet looked at that face, her kid smiling for her once again, a fire began to bloom in her belly, she had to hold her fusion together. She launched at him. Steven was startled as he was pressed in a bear hug with no way out. "Steven!" Her cold and indifferent demeanor lost, tears began roaming her face. "Of course! Of course." She heard something crack, and with some reluctance she freed him.

"Don't laugh." A blue face near him had a shit-eating grin, she'll make fun of this later. He composed himself. " I have been an idiot Garnet, I still have problems, but this time I'll ask for your help."

"Steven, you are no idiot." She swept the tears from her eyes. They were finally together. "We didn't see any of what you were going through, we thought that it was a human thing and we needed to give you space. But you needed us more than ever.

"Excuse me." Lapis raised her hand."I would like to disagree about the idiot part. He lost a game of checkers against a plant with a peanut for brain."

Steven faced her with a smile. "One, that plant was cheating by eating my piece when I didn't look, and two, you lost against her too!."

"But I didn't know the rules! And I won against you!"

"I don't call flooding the entire mountain because you got mad a win."

They began to argue, Garnet watched from the side, Steven didn't tell her about their relationship, but she knew two dumb love birds when she saw it. Well, she was made from two dumb love birds.

"Steven, you are gonna need to tell the others." They froze in mid-discussion, he knew what she meant. He still had to talk with Pearl, Amethyst, and the rest. He hoped that it wouldn't be as dramatic as this one, but with Pearl… Garnet saw some shadow of worry on his face. "Don't worry Steven, I'll go to homeworld and ease you the way." Steven smiled at that, and she reciprocated, this time she was going to protect that smile. " But , Steven, you also need to talk about your new friend with those two and especially with Connie, I don't know how things are going between you two but she deserves an explanation."

"I know, I didn't want to be scummy, but with everything going on…" And he was afraid of losing her if he said something, but he had time to worry about that later. "I'll also talk about Lapis with Pearl and Amethyst." She was at his side a little happy, at least one of them didn't disapprove of their relationship.

"I believe in you Steven, I know that you would." She smiled, but Steven saw something amiss in that, an entire month with Lapis has made Steven capable of differentiating the ' I'm happy smile' from the 'You are about to get screwed and I'm going to laugh smile.' "But I'm not talking about Pearl and Amethyst…"

She began to glow.

"Wait...Oh no no no! Garnet please no !" He understood her, Lapis confused at his side.

"Sorry Steven." Her form began to split, two different gems glowing as they parted. "But these two take romance more seriously than me." Last thing they could see of Garnet was a grin as two smaller forms appeared in her place.

Ruby and Sapphire stood side by side, looking at the taller couple.

Steven was afraid. "H-Hey, Ruby, Sapphire, i-it's so good to see you." Lapis didn't understand his nervous state, Garnet was a gem that exhaled power, she would be a tough challenge even though the sea was a few meters away. But these two midgets couldn't pose a threat, she could take a ruby in her sleep and a Sapphire is not made to be in the front lines. But Steven was suffering for something stupid so she was happy at least.

Ruby began advancing toward Steven, he was fearing the worst, he shut his eyes tight, whatever she would do at least he won't see it. But he felt something warm embracing him, and he could hear sobs.

"Steven! We missed you so much!" Ruby was hugging him tightly, and it seems that she also wasn't controlling her heat very well, he feared the burns. "Garnet didn't say it, but she also suffered a lot! You made us so worried!" He smiled, he was worried about anything.

Suddenly the hug began to intensify, the heat also raised, he looked down to see Ruby's face, he didn't like that expression. " So, about your new girlfriend..." Oh no.

She took him by the collar and began shaking him. "HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO CONNIE?!" His ears hurt. "How?! You were meant to be together! And you didn't say anything to her! What about Stevonnie?!" His head was going back and forth, a small smell of burn in the air.

"Ruby, calm down." A serene voice, Sapphire, she took Ruby by the hand and moved her away from Steven. "Steven." Before he could react she embraced him as well. "I have missed you a lot. I'm sorry. If I had explored more paths for the future this wouldn't have happened…" Tears began to flow from a big eye. He knew that she was always the more mature of the two, things were going to be just fine.

The hug began to intensify as the freeze crept to his body. ' The universe hates me."

"We had the entire wedding planned! It took us so much effort! Ruby burned three catalogs in a row!" Her rage was more calmed but she was still furious.

"Wait, let me do it." Ruby began to shake him off too.

"No sweetheart, you need to apply more force."

"I think that I know a thing or two about hitting people!"

"You can't be so hot head love, vengeance tastes better cold." Chill and warmth began fighting in Steven's body, before he knew it these two were arguing.

He felt a third force, a cold more gentle than Sapphire swept him away from the conflict.

"Why am I always helping you out in these situations?" Lapis. She helped him recompose himself. "Look at these two, they didn't even notice."

They were arguing, but their hands held together and every three seconds they said a compliment to each other.

"They are probably the oldest romance in all of the galaxy, it's sweet." Oh no, they began to hug each other, now it went from sweet to diabetes inducing.

"Puff, I hope that in a few hundred years we don't end up being lame like them."

'Hundred years…' Those words had a great meaning behind them, or at least for Steven it did, but it was not the moment for that. "Wait, I'm screwed! They are already kissing! If they make up then they are going for me!"

He felt a tap on his shoulder, Lapis was smiling and pointing at their feet.

The warp pad.

"I don't know how you have survived so many years without me Steven." She had dragged him without Steven noticing.

"A combination of dumb luck, crying and loooooots of songs." She couldn't help but laugh.

Now. With Lapis busy laughing it was the moment. A soft kiss on the lips. "Lapis, thanks for today." He closed his eyes and brace himself for impact. But no punch came.

He dared to open them, she had a light smile on her face. "You kept your promise, Steven." Few times he has seen her this happy. "And I'm going to need your help now, there's someone I want to meet."

"Are you talking about her?"

A nod. "Can you help me on this one Steven?"

She didn't have to ask." We need to give Garnet some time to explain this to the gems in little homeworld."

"And we still can't go to our planet, so…"

"You showed me around the jungle planet." He began to visualize a place and activate the warp. "Let me show you Earth."

With a shining light, they left the beach house.