Hello,
Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe. That glory belongs to Rebecca Sugar and the Crewniverse. The only thing(s) that I own are my multiple OCs and the plot of this story.
Enjoy!
Chapter 2:
Comeback
It's been a few hours since he left Keystone and officially drove into Delmarva. As he was making his way through the state, he couldn't stop thinking about what he was going to do and say when he sees everyone? Actually, would he need to do everything? For all he knows, they could be sitting on the porch outside the temple waiting for his arrival. If that's true, it could make things a whole lot easier for him. He wouldn't have to worry about walking though the door surprising everyone and possibly embarrass himself.
After getting through some traffic, long freeways and a quick lunch break, Steven could see a sign with words he was happy to read to himself, "Welcome to Beach City". As he passed the sign and drove into town, he noticed the people and gems he hasn't seen since he left town last time.
He could see Peedee walking around with two other teens around the same age as him, a boy and a girl. When Peedee noticed Steven driving by, he quickly waved with a smile, as a way of saying "Welcome back" without actually saying it.
He also noticed a group of four walking together as they were staring at their phones. Two humans, a man and woman, and two gems, who Steven recognized as Lace Amethyst and Orange Spodumene.
As he turned a corner, he noticed Onion and his friends playfully chasing some sentient vegetables. Knowing Onion though, Steven's hoping the chasing is playful. However, he also noticed that Onion is still sporting Stevens old Cheeseburger backpack that he left him after he left town.
"Glad you're taking good care of it Onion." Steven said to himself happy to see that Onion was taking good care of it. Of course, part of him did worry about what Onion was possibly carrying inside the backpack. Toys? Strange videotapes? Bags of hair? Steven didn't want to think about it too much, so he just kept driving, assuming that Onion was keeping normal stuff in it.
As much as Steven wanted to stop and say hi to all the people he hasn't seen in a while, he had one important thing to do first before he could do just that, see his family. As he drove toward the beach and turned to the direction where the temple was, Steven quickly noticed his dad and gems waiting outside for him, waving at him. When pulling up in front of the temple and parking his car, he couldn't get out of his seatbelt and get out of the vehicle any faster.
"GUYS!" Steven said out loud.
"STEVEN!" The gems said at the same time as they were happy that he's back.
Steven, not even trying to hold back his excitement, ran towards his family as they did the same towards him while Greg stayed behind, knowing that the gems and Steven are running towards each other could only lead to one thing, a gem dogpile. With Steven crushed by the weight of his gem family, he felt warm throughout his entire being. It was one thing to feel happy and loved by his loved ones over the phone, but it was completely different when it's face to face, or in Steven's case, body to body, especially when you travel alone for a long time.
"It's about time you showed up Steven!" Amethyst said as tears of joy came from her eyes.
"Usually I'd disagree with Amethyst and say I'm glad you made it safely. But for once I actually agree. Oh I wish this day showed up sooner!" Pearl said as her happy tears showed themselves without much resistance.
"What they're trying to say Steven, is that we missed you, and we're glad to see you again." Garnet said more calmly than the others. Of course, she didn't even try to not cry. Just like when Steven left the first time two years ago, her tears burst out like water breaking through a dam.
With the the three of them finally getting out all their feelings of missing Steven, they got back up. However, they realized that they soaked Steven with those tears. He didn't seem to be bothered by it though. As Steven was starting to get back up too, he responded to their feelings.
"Thanks guys. I'm glad to see you guys too" Steven said as he wiped away their tears from him. Of course, some of those tears were his own, as he truly missed them too.
As he stood up on his two feet, he saw his dad right behind the gems. He knew his dad would show his love to his son at his own pace. What surprised Steven more was that his dad was actually keeping his hair the same shorter length as it was when he left. After noticing that, Steven slowly made his way over to his dad with a smile on his face as Greg walked towards his son with the same expression on his face. As they got closer to each other, they opened up their arms and finally embraced each other in a long awaited hug.
"Welcome back Schtu-ball"
"Thanks Dad"
After the five of them made their way back up the temple and Steven carried his luggage along the way, Steven took a long awaited seat on the couch.
"Ah that feels nice. It's been too long" He said as he truly felt relaxed.
"You've had a long drive, so why don't you just relax and I'll bring your bags up to your room." Greg told his son.
"You know Dad, it's your room now. You don't have to sleep in the van while I'm here. I can just sleep on the couch." Steven commented to his dad. He wasn't sure if getting his old room back was a good idea, especially if it means his dad going back into the van, with no bed.
"Don't worry son. If I can live on my own in a van for years, I'm sure I can handle doing it again for only a few months." Greg told his son. Although sleeping on a bed was nice, he didn't mind going back to sleeping in his van so his son could sleep on his old bed.
"Well, ok. But only because you insisted." Steven reluctantly accepted. He wanted to suggest something else, but he was feeling so nostalgic being back at the temple that he didn't want to argue.
As Greg moved his bags up, Steven looked forward to the rest of the day. Sure he just drove for miles through the state, but Steven still had excitement he couldn't contain and hold down for the next day. When he was settling down, the gems came back through the temple and were ready to spend time with Steven.
"Are you sure you want to see everyone at Little Homeworld Steven? You did have a long drive over here." Pearl asked Steven. Wanting to know if Steven wasn't too exhausted from driving all morning.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I know I just got back and although resting up is tempting, I want to see everyone else before I can sleep in. The gems in Little Homeworld, everyone in Beach City and whoever else we come across." Steven explained to them.
As the gems looked at each other, they knew that even though he got older in the past years, he still had that "Steven spirit".
"Alright, but do you mind we wait until we're all here?" Garnet asked Steven
"Sure, Dad should be downstairs any minute." Steven said, thinking that his dad would join them. As Greg made his way down the stairs, he decided to burst Steven's bubble.
"Actually, I'm gonna be chilling here son. I'm calling Sadie and Shep to see how they're doing." Greg told his son.
"Oh, well then, who are we missing" Steven asked as he directed his look of curiosity towards the gems. As he said that, behind him appeared a pink portal right in front of the door to the house. Steven knew it could only mean one thing. Jumping out of that portal was the fluffy pink Lion and riding on top of him, was Steven's best friend, now girlfriend, Connie!
"Steven!" Connie said with happiness as she gladly hopped off Lion and rushed towards her boyfriend. Afterwards, she gave him a small, but loving peck on the lips and he gladly accepted it. Seeing those two together, everyone in the room was happy to see it, especially Garnet.
"I'm surprised you got here so fast, I only got here like 20 minutes ago." Steven said, surprised at how fast she and Lion showed up.
"Well, Pearl texted me that you arrived, so as soon as I got it, I took a break from my homework, called Lion and we made our way over." Connie explained and after she did, Steven shifted his attention to his fluffy buddy and hugged his head.
With Steven's arms embracing Lion, he also felt relieved that the way things are going right now are not how it happened in his nightmare from the previous night. His family met him outside the temple instead of inside it. Connie showed up on Lion through a portal instead of alone at the front door and the Gems and Connie would join him on the walk instead of just him and Connie. He broke out of that thought and snapped back to Lion.
"Hey Lion! I missed feeling your mane against my face." Steven said as he closed his eyes reminiscing about the times he cuddled up to Lion. And the time Lion kept cuddling up to him, and nearly suffocating him in the process.
"So, you ready to see how everyone is doing?" Connie asked Steven. As Steven gave a nod of affirmation, he, Connie and the gems made their way over to the warp pad to teleport to Little Homeworld.
"Bye Dad! Bye Lion! I'll see you later tonight!"
"Sure thing Schtu-ball, tell everyone I said hi!"
After Steven nodded his head, showing that he will do that, everyone warped away, leaving Greg and Lion in the living room. As Greg was about to call Sadie and Shep, he can't help but look at Lion and think if he and Lion were ever alone together.
"So, what's new" Greg asked. As he did though, Lion just made his way up the stairs to Stevens room.
"Good talk." Greg said, slightly annoyed that Lion didn't really want to spend time alone with him.
After their quick warp to Little Homeworld, Steven saw how much the settlement evolved since he was last there. He remembered that whenever he came back to town during his quick visits, he would see Bismuth and everyone else working on a couple new buildings during the time, but it goes without saying how much work they got done. There were more new homes for the gems that stayed. Aside from the baseball diamond that was in the middle of Little Homeworld, Steven also noticed that there were multiple sports fields too. A soccer field, tennis court and even two basketball hoops across from each other. The most notable change however seemed to be the newest and widest building. When Steven looked inside, he could see multiple sculptures, paintings and other artworks around being seen by multiple gems and humans.
"Little Homeworld has an art gallery now!?" Steven asked in excitement.
"Actually, the owner prefers it to be called a meep morp gallery", Pearl corrected him.
"Owner? Wait, meep morp? Don't tell me –" Steven was about to ask before being interrupted by a certain gem who would soon answer the question he was about to ask.
"Steven!"
Steven looked up to see that voice belonged to none other than Lapis Lazuli, who was sitting on the edge on the roof of the gallery.
"LAPIS!"
After he said that, Lapis summoned her water wings and flew down to Steven and his group to give him a hug.
"It's great to see you again Steven!" Lapis said in happiness, glad to see the first friend she ever really made on Earth.
"It's great to see you too Lapis! I missed you." He said as he enjoyed the hug before breaking it to ask her a question or two.
"So Lapis, this is your gallery?" Steven asked her.
"Yep. Bismuth and Peridot helped me build this so I could have Little Homeworld gems make their own meep morps and present them here." She explained as Steven nodded and understood where she was going with this.
"That, and I was kinda running out of space at my house with all the meep morps and paintings I already have there" Lapis added on. Although she wanted this gallery to be for artistic gems, she had to admit that her home was kind of turning into a storage unit.
"Still, all the work in there looks great and you brought it's definitely getting a lot of attention" Steven said as he noticed a fair amount of people in the gallery, both gems and humans.
You should have seen when we first opened, at least half the town was here." Lapis mentioned.
Lapis then showed Steven and everyone around the gallery. There were art works made not only by Lapis, but other gems and even humans too. He noticed there were a couple paintings of Amethyst and Steven knew that they were Vidalia's. He also noticed a big water color portrait of Steven along the way of the tour.
"Told you I would make one of you. Made up of my tears" Lapis told Steven proudly as she saw him looking at it.
As they finished the tour, Steven thanked Lapis for showing them around. After that, Steven was wondering if she knew where another gem friend of his was.
"Lapis, do you by chance know where Peridot would be? I haven't seen her yet."
"Yeah, she's at the greenhouse. In fact, you can probably go see her now. She should be done with the interview by now."
As Lapis said that, Steven was confused at what she just said Peridot would be doing right now.
"Interview?"
The group made their way to the greenhouse, but before Steven could open the door to surprise Peridot, he heard her voice along with another voice that didn't belong to anyone he know.
"Steven!" Peridot said happily as she noticed Steven enter the greenhouse with their friends.
As Steven walked in, he noticed who the other voice belonged to. A young woman that appeared to be in either her late teens (18-19) or early 20s (20-22). She had a light skin tone, curly brunette hair that reached the top of her shoulders and green eyes. She was wearing a light green polo shirt and jeans. Right next to her was a tripod holding what looked like a video camera.
Before Steven could put any more thought about all of this, he was brought back to reality when a short green gem rushed into him with, just like everyone he saw again, a hug.
"Steven! You Clod! I missed you! You need to come back more often!" Peridot said with tears in her eyes, but a smile on her face. This tells Steven how much she missed him. And of course he missed her too. At least now while he's here in town, he'll be able to watch their favorite show together instead of discussing about it over text messaging or face-time.
"So you're Steven Universe huh?" The woman asked Steven as he looked at her wondering what she looked like on the other side. "Everyone here can't stop talking about you" she added on.
"Heh, yeah. That's me. Steven Universe" Steven told her as he put his hand behind his head, kinda embarrassed that he's so popular in Little Homeworld despite him being absent for a while. "So, who are you?" Steven asked the young woman, curious about who she is and why she was interviewing Peridot.
"I'm Shawna. Shawna Gatsby" She answered as she extended her right hand out as Steven did the same thing before they shook hands.
"So what brings you to Beach City? On vacation?" Steven asked.
"Actually, I'm here for a semester to make a documentary as part of the Journalism program I'm in at the University of Truman." Shawna answered
"University of Truman? Where's that?" Steven asked.
"Funny thing, it's actually a rival school of Jayhawk. It's at the next state over." Connie answered her boyfriends question.
"Bring the Fire, Tiger!" Shawna playfully saying her school's chant. Everyone else gave a small chuckle at her enthusiasm for her school.
"So, what's your documentary about?" Steven asked.
"I wanted to look into the lifestyle of the gem race, its culture, and how they feel about living on Earth" Shawna explained.
"Wow, I know I've been gone for a few years, but I didn't think Gems and Little Homeworld were now well known throughout the nation." Steven commented
As he said that, Connie pulled out her phone and started
"Funny thing Steven, you'd be surprised how many articles and videos of Little Homeworld tourists have been posting. Even Ronaldo's blog is getting more followers" Connie said as she showed Steven her phone with the "Keep Beach City Weird" blog and news articles about Little Homeworld on her screen and how many people are reading them.
"Wow, that's a lot of people" Steven said as he saw the number of followers.
"And because of that, a lot more people have been showing up to Beach City to explore Little Homeworld" Pearl added.
"That's why I decided to come here. I know at some point other reporters are gonna do more here than just simple interviews. So I might as well be the first one to make an actual documentary about it." Shawna explained.
"That sounds pretty cool." Steven said.
"She already interviewed us and asked us about how you and us made Little Homeworld and homeschool." Garnet told Steven as she gestured to the rest of the Crystal Gems, indicating that Shawna interviewed them too.
"Really? I can't wait to see it then" Steven said as he showed the excitement in his voice.
"Well, hold your horses tiger. I still have a lot of interviewing to do. Not just here at Little Homeworld, but in Beach City itself too. The mayor gave me the go ahead to do this for both, but I still have to get as much as I can before I can go into editing back at school. It could take a while before it actually gets made and released" Shawna told them. As she did, she asked Steven a question.
"Hey Steven, would you mind if I interviewed you?
As Steven processed her question, he thought that if the rest of the Crystal Gems got interviewed for this, it would be weird if he didn't. Plus, he is one of the people that founded Little Homeworld & Homeschool. Even though he just met Shawna, if everyone was willing to help her with this project, why can't he?
"Sure. When do you want to interview me?" Steven asked her.
"How about a few weeks from now? Does that work for you?" She replied.
"If I'm not to busy, that should be perfect."
"Great! Thank you Steven!" Shawna thanked him. As she did, she took her camera and tripod and made her way to the door.
"I think I got enough video for today. I'll see you again Steven." She said as she left.
"Ok, see you later" He said as he waved at her goodbye.
"Well, now that that is taken care of, who wants to check out Lapis's meep morp gallery" Peridot asked everyone still in the greenhouse.
"Sorry Peri, beat you to it" Lapis told Peri with a sly smile on her face as she already showed Steven and co. around the gallery while Peridot was being interviewed.
"What? LAPIS!" Peridot said in an angry yet goofy tone.
After Peridot and Lapis's little argument, Peridot was free to join the others and spend time with Steven on his first day back. There was still one more gem missing from their group. Just like Pearl and Garnet, the other original Crystal Gem herself, Bismuth.
The group made their way towards Bismuth's blacksmith shop. Along the way, they bumped into some familiar gems and humans that were in town and took a minute or two to say "hi" to them and for them to welcome Steven back. However, the objective remained the same, get to Bismuth.
Once they reached her mini forge, they took note of the flag that was raised on a pole on top of the forge. Steven recognized it as the original Crystal Gem flag he gave Bismuth before he left for his trip.
Inside, he was glad she not only held onto it, but raised it with pride. After seeing the flag, everyone made their way into the forge. As they did, they saw Bismuth using her shape shifted arm, in the form of a hammer, and banging it on some rather small objects on top of a new anvil, since her original one was accidently broken by Steven. However, before Bismuth could give another whack, she turned her head and noticed her friends and widened her eyes at seeing Steven. After doing so, she smiled, morphed her hammer hand back to normal and made her way to the group, more specifically Steven. Even though Steven was tall enough for the tip of his head to reach up to her chin, it didn't stop Bismuth from not only hugging him, but also lifting him up. Even though Steven wanted to think that he was too old to be lifted off the ground, he had to admit that it was a fun feeling.
"It's been too long Steven" Bismuth said happily.
"Yeah, it has" Steven replied. When Bismuth put Steven down, Amethyst changed the direction of their reunion back to what Bismuth was doing before they entered her forge.
"Yo Bismuth! Hate to get all up in your Bismuth, but whatcha making?" Amethyst asked with excited curiosity. Bismuth laughed and gave her response.
"First of all, the "Bismuth" lines are my thing. So don't go copying my bit." Amethyst and the others laughed at that and nodded in response.
"Secondly, I'm working on something that's actually harder than I thought"
When she said that, Steven looked back at the objects on the anvil and realized what she was making.
"Wait a minute. Bismuth, are those throwing stars?" Steven asked in surprise and a bit of excitement in his voice.
"You bet they are. They may be small, but it's hard to get them to the final detail. Especially etching out the pointy edges. In case you haven't noticed, they're not my strong suit." Bismuth directed her gaze towards a pile of throwing stars that were either chipped, bent or just completely broken. This indicates that she's had multiple attempts at trying to make a great throwing star. It's ironic that the symbol (Star) of the group she's a part of is hard to make a weaponized version of it.
"But enough about that, I've been waiting for all of us to hang out together since I heard you'd be coming back into town Steven. These stars can wait, I want to hang out with the stars in front of me right now." Bismuth boldly told them as she faced them.
"Alright then. Let's go!" Steven declared happily.
As Steven and friends, now with Bismuth, left her forge, they spent their day walking around Town. They talked to their friends around town, spent some time at Funland and even laid on their backs on the cliff in front of the lighthouse as they looked up at the clouds.
As they all relaxed, Garnet knew that there was someone else watching them and with the assistance of her future vision, she knew who it was. However, the future didn't show that someone causing any trouble, so Garnet just let it be. As almost all of them were unaware, that someone, that being Jasper, was looking over at them from another viewpoint, more specifically, Steven. As she watched him, she felt relieved that he's been ok the past few years and that no one has caused him any harm. From her tall, muscular form, she uttered four words.
"Welcome back, my Diamond"
After saying those words, she left her viewpoint, and receded back into the woods. Even though she knew that Steven would be against it, she promised herself that if anything were to happen to him, she would be there for him. No matter how much he objects to it.
After a long day of getting to see his old friends and even some new faces, Steven felt like it was time to wrap up his long day and get back to the temple. After Peridot, Lapis and Bismuth made their way back to Little Homeworld, Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst wanted to head back to the temple, but before Steven could join them, Connie suggested if Steven wanted to have a little something before he would head back home.
"Hey Steven, I know you're tired, but do you want to have a donut? For old times sake? It's on me"
Steven was surprised that he forgot all about the Big Donut. Sure, he's tried other donuts during his road trip, and although some were pretty good, none of them could top the one he's had for years. With the sound of his stomach rumbling, it made his decision even easier to make.
"You know what? That sounds like just the right thing to end today." Steven replied to Connie.
As they made their way to the Big Donut and opened up the doors, they saw a new face. The "new face" was a young Hispanic woman with long raven hair with a thin white colored streak and green eyes that looked to be in either her late teens or early 20s. The couple read the nametag on her shirt, Val. Val, noticing them right away after she heard the door make its usual chime whenever someone enters or leaves.
"Hello! Welcome to The Big Donut, how can I help you?" Val said welcoming the young couple as they entered the building.
As they were about to order, a familiar person to the couple made his way out of the backroom. That person was none other than the former mayor of Beach City, and now manager of the Big Donut, Bill Dewey. As soon as he saw them, he couldn't hold back his excitement.
"Universe! Connie! It's great to see you two!"
"Thanks Mayo- I mean, Mr. Dewey." Steven responded to his welcome. Man, he hasn't been mayor for years and I still almost called him mayor. Some habits really are hard to break, hehe.
"Oh come on Universe, you don't have to be so formal. Just call me Bill."
"Alright…. Bill" Steven said correcting his formality earlier.
"Anyway, what can I get you guys?" Val asked the two.
"We'll just have two donuts please. One for each of us" Connie ordered.
As Connie paid for the donuts, Val was getting the donut out of the display, but realized that they were running low on donuts.
"Hey Bill, I'm running low on donuts here. How's Liam handling the next batch?" Val asked her boss.
"He should be wrapping up. I went through the "how-to" with him earlier this week. Hopefully he mastered it by now. I'll go check." As Bill went back to the back room to see how his other employee and Val's co-worker has been doing, Connie couldn't help but wonder if she heard Val say the co-worker's name correctly.
"Wait, Liam? Liam Aiuchi?" Connie asked with slight worry.
"Yeah. Do you know him?" Val asked her, surprised that she knows his full name.
Steven couldn't help but give Connie a look of curiosity too. He's been chatting with her for the past two years while he was on the road and although she mentioned her friends from school to him before, she never mentioned a guy named Liam.
As Connie looked at both Val and Steven's look of slight suspicion, she gave a light sigh and answered their looks of curiosity.
"He goes to my school and is in a few of the same classes as me. That's all."
Steven knew that Connie wasn't lying when she said that, but he could tell that there was something more about this "Liam" guy that Connie wasn't telling. Why can't she say any more? As he was thinking about that, he heard the back door open again as he saw a new face come through it with a tray of fresh donuts.
This young man is Asian-American and had a skinny, yet slightly muscular figure. He appeared to be about Bill's height, but could see that he looked around Connie's age, around 17-18. His hair is short and black and is also sporting a nose ring piercing. Unlike Val, this Liam guy wasn't all enthused about bringing out the fresh donuts. Looking at his eyes and body language, it was just telling Steven and Connie how much he didn't care. He just wants to be done with work and would rather be home. This guy sort of reminded Steven of how Lars use to be before he went into space.
Steven also noticed that Connie was trying to avoid eye contact with this guy. Why's that? Was she nervous around him? Isn't he one of her classmates?
"Thanks for the donuts Liam. Just in time too. I needed one more for these two." Val thanked her co-worker. As she did, Liam turned his head towards the two she was referring to. When he looked over, Connie again avoided eye contact with him and Steven was turning his head to her about to ask why she would, but he then noticed Liam didn't seem to care if she was avoiding him or not. Liam then turned back to Val
"Sure Val. Enjoy the donuts." He said in an uninterested tone as he said the latter to Steven and Connie.
"I gotta get back to the back before Bill gives me another hard time."
As he went back to the back room, Val got one of the fresh baked donuts and put it in the bag to join the other one she previously put in.
"Alright then, you two have a wonderful night!" Val said to them.
"Thanks Val, see you another time." Steven said to her before he and Connie made their way out of the shop. What neither of them noticed when they left, was that through a window on the door to the backroom, Liam watched them leave.
The couple decided to enjoy their donuts on a bench back on the boardwalk. As they each chose one of the two donuts in the bag, they made a little "toast" with there donuts and after that, they each took their first bite. Both of them savored the taste and at the same time, reminisced about the time when they were both kids and the events of there childhood.
"Man, when was the last time we had a big donut together?" Steven asked Connie.
"Geez, I can't really tell exactly. All I know is that it's been a while and it's long overdue." Connie replied as she took another bite.
As they laughed together and watching the sunset, Steven couldn't help but think about this Liam guy, who not only reminded him of the old Lars, kinda, but also the uncomfortable feeling he was giving Connie.
"So, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, but is there something about Liam I should know about?" he asked her.
Before she said anything, she sighed. She wasn't exactly sure if she should say anything. She didn't want to come across as a gossiper, especially when it's about someone she doesn't know to well. Whatever was going on with him wasn't her business to tell. However, she also knows that she should be honest with Steven, especially if it's about something that's making her uneasy.
"I'll be honest, I don't know everything about him, so don't take my word for it. Like I said, he's in some of my classes this year. And actually, he's new to the school. We only know his name because teachers called it during roll call. However, he didn't exactly make a good first impression."
"How so?" Steven asked
"Well, when I first saw him, he was sporting a black leather jacket and he barely talked at all during classes."
"Ok, so he's not much of a talker." Steven said before Connie continued.
"Well, there's more to it than just that. See, after the first few days, while I was eating lunch with some of my friends, we saw people rushing over to somewhere in the cafeteria. It turns out Liam was fighting some of the varsity athletes. Now these guys were well known jerks throughout the school, but still, I saw Liam punching and kicking these guys mercilessly."
"What?" Steven asked shocked hearing that this guy fought out of the blue.
"Before I could step in and do anything about it, teachers showed up and broke it up. But still, he beat those guys pretty roughly. Mostly bruises and a little blood."
As he was hearing this, Steven was thinking what reason could this guy have to hurt those athletes like that. He also thought about how earlier he compared him to Lars. Maybe Lars use to be a jerk before he changed, but he never caused anyone to bleed, let alone fight anyone. This guy wasn't like Lars at all.
"After all that, he was suspended for a few weeks. When he came back, everyone steered clear away from him. I wanted to try to get to know him better, but he just avoided me or refused to speak. I didn't know him too well, so maybe whatever's going on with him wasn't my business. That and considering none of us really know him at all. So I hope that later on, he'll be more open. And now that he's working at the Donut, maybe he will.
"Maybe he will. I mean, he did talk to Val and Mr. Dewey when we were there." Steven noted as he remembered that Liam wasn't the only employee there. Even though he just met her today, Val seemed like the kind of girl who would work hard and pick up the slack, just like Sadie did when she worked there. Also, Bill Dewey is the manager of the Donut. He went from questionable mayor who would consider pointing the finger at someone else rather than himself, to someone who works hard and takes responsibility. If Liam was a terrible employee, Bill was sure to have fired him right away, but since Bill said he's been there a week so far, he must be doing somewhat of a good job to not be let go right away.
Moving past their talk about Liam, Steven and Connie continued spending time together on the bench and talking about what they ought to do together whenever Connie was available and when summer would come and she would be a high school graduate. After a couple of texts from her mother telling her to come home, Connie got up and said her goodbye to Steven.
"I better head back home. I got some essays to work on that are due at the end of the week and my mom wants me to write a new paragraph before I go to sleep." Connie said as she laughed. Steven joined her in laughing, knowing full well that Connie's in the homestretch of her high school career and that she'll need to focus on that when she's not spending time with him.
"Ok, good luck with that" he said as he gave her a warm hug that she gladly accepted.
"I'll call you when I'm done with the essay. Should take a few days." Connie told him
"Sounds good" He told her.
As she made her way back home, Steven went the opposite direction heading back for the temple.
When Steven opened the door to the temple, he was greeted by the gems and he happily gave them a hug in response. As he talked about the time he spent with Connie after they left, he was still feeling tired after all the walking he was doing today. The donut he had definitely made it harder to stay awake.
"Alright guys, I'm gonna turn in for the night." Steven told the gems as he made his way up to his room.
"Alright Steven, sleep well" Pearl told him as she watched him go up.
"Yeah man,
"Thanks guys, I will.
"It's great to have you back Steven." Garnet repeated the first thing she said to Steven after he got settled back in.
"It's good to be back". He told her before he was out of their sight.
As Steven got into his pajamas and lied down on his bed, he looked out the window and couldn't stop thinking about what he'd be doing for the rest of his time here. He'd be spending time with Connie and help her study for finals. He'd hang out with his dad, spend some time with the gems, both here AND at Little Homeworld and maybe even get to know some of these new faces he met today.
However, as he thought of the latter, he wondered if he should get to know Liam too. On one hand, this guy was apparently more than just a "lone wolf" type of person if he apparently fights against people like some sort of thug. Maybe Steven should learn more about him and maybe that way, he would try to see things from his perspective.
On the other hand though, he couldn't help but think back to how he himself acted when he was losing control over his powers and himself. Keeping things to himself and not telling anyone about his troubles. With that being said, maybe it would be best for him to stay away from Liam. The last thing Steven wanted was to face someone that reminded him of himself from back then. He was making good progress with himself and his trauma and didn't need someone like Liam to bring those memories back to the surface.
Look Steven, a part of you may want to know more about this guy, but you didn't come all this way to be someone's possible therapist. Heck, you have your own therapist, that you need. Besides, I'm here to spend time with everyone and help Connie through her last semester. I'm sure Liam has someone to help him through whatever's going on with him. For now, all you need to do is get to sleep and enjoy your time here.
As he finished his thoughts, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. Now that he got his "Hello's" and "Welcome Back's" out of the way, it was time for him to fully enjoy being back home and not have any sort of trouble.
Hopefully
That takes care of this chapter. As you can see, it just mostly focuses on Steven reuniting with everyone and how they're doing. Also, I decided to introduce some of my OCs in this chapter (Shawna, Val & Liam) that will develop more as the story progresses. Again, these are only some of the OCs. There will be a lot more as the story moves forward. So be prepared.
See you next time!
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Next time on Steven Universe: Beyond, One Step at a Time!