Peridot curiously peered at Twoie as he hung streamers around the barn. The gems were decorating it for something that Twoie called a 'birthday party,' but she didn't understand why they had to be so quiet about it? The sun had just risen, but everyone was already up and running about. Garnet left to grab the food, Pearl was placing hats and plates on a picnic table, and Amethyst was tying balloons to the table and sides of the barn. She turned at the sound of crackling rocks to see a van and a grey sedan pull into the yard. "Wow. Are birthday parties always this busy?"
Twoie smiled as he floated back down to the ground. A banner stating Happy Birthday! now hung over the entrance to the barn. "Pretty much. It's an important anniversary for humans. We are basically celebrating the day we were born and the fact that we're another year older. Steven will be fourteen today!"
She hummed. "Speaking of Steven, can I go wake him now? This is the time you two are usually done with sleeping, correct?" He nodded, watching as Peridot grinned and ran inside.
"Happy birthday, Twoie!" The young man turned around to see his dad walking towards him with his arms outstretched. They hugged each other before his dad pulled away. "Look at you! How old are you now, Schtu-two?"
"Technically, I'm eighteen years old today." Twoie rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment as his dad ruffled his hair.
Greg's eyes shone with pride and tears. "My little boy is all grown up."
"Happy birthday, Twoie!" At the call of his name, Twoie turned to see Connie and Dr. Maheswaran walking towards them. A loud shriek, followed by maniacal cackling, made every one pause. Twoie started laughing hysterically while the others peered inside.
"L-looks like- hahaha, looks like Peridot woke Steven up!" Everyone else joined in the laughter, especially when Peridot reappeared from the barn, grinning like a cat that caught the canary.
Once everyone calmed down, Dr. Maheswaran introduced herself to his dad, before returning her attention to Twoie. "I see we came overdressed!" Priyanka laughed as she hugged Twoie. Both had dressed nicely for the party. Connie was wearing a simple red sundress with a sunhat, and Dr. Maheswaran was wearing a white blouse with some black slacks.
Twoie had insisted on inviting the doctor to the party this time around. They had become good friends during the hospital fiasco two months prior. The first Sunday after their talk, Dr. Maheswaran had invited him to a café that she liked in her town. It eventually evolved into biweekly hangouts between the two, as Steven and Connie had gotten bored sitting around in the café during the first outing. "Do you have a place to put presents? I can go grab ours from the car if you do." Dr. Maheswaran looked around to see if there was an established gift area.
Twoie held his hands up. "What? No, you guys didn't have to bring gifts."
The mother brushed him off. "It's a birthday party. Of course, I'm going to bring you something." They heard Connie cheer and noticed that Steven had finally come outside.
"Happy birthday, Steven!" Everyone called out together. Steven went around hugging his family and friends, while Dr. Maheswaran grabbed the gifts from the car and set them on the ground beside the picnic table.
Peridot was asking Connie a multitude of questions about humans, and judging by the starry look in Connie's eyes, she was just as vocal with her own questions about gems. Dad pulled out a familiar-looking cape and crown, cheerfully handing them to Steven. The boy came bouncing over to him. "Twoie! Do you want to wear the cape or the crown? We only have one birthday suit, so I thought we could share it?" Twoie chuckled as he grabbed the cape and velcroed it around his neck. It was short on him, but it felt really nice to wear it again. He hadn't worn it for his birthday for a couple of years.
Dr. Maheswaran walked back over to him, smiling as Steven waved at her before running back to Connie and Peridot. Twoie was content simply watching the others interact. The birthday boy had started a conversation between Dad, Connie, and the gems. He figured it was about the robot competition since Steven was animatedly waving his arms around.
"I brought a couple of things for Connie to spend the weekend. She couldn't stop talking about this; she was so excited." Priyanka fondly rolled her eyes. "I swear you two are all my daughter ever talks about."
Twoie flashed her a toothy grin. "With the life we lead, I'm not too surprised. Steven's been excited about the sleepover as well. Speaking of life, boy, do I have a lot to tell you about." Twoie pointed at the green gem, who was pouting at something while the others laughed. "We finally made friends with Peridot, and now we are working together to save the earth from a monstrous version of the gem mutants that attacked the hospital." He pointed at Steven, who was now twirling around while Pearl blushed.
"We also had a robot competition several days ago, and that was pretty chaotic too. Pearl and Peridot built these robots while Steven came up with a bunch of events for them to do."
Priyanka laughed into her hand. "Your family sure is exciting. The only thing I've been busy with is work. You wouldn't believe the incident that happened the other day." She told him a story about a patient that went missing when his nurse went to check on her. Turned out, the receptionist forgot to tell the patient's nurse that the patient had gone for a walk, and the hospital had sent out an alert. The two laughed together at the ending before continuing on with another work story.
His dad joined them soon after, and the three animatedly swapped work stories. Although she had only been there for a couple of hours, Dr. Maheswaran noticed that Greg and Twoie spent a lot of their morning avoiding being alone with the gems. Greg rarely talked to them without Steven or Connie present, and Twoie never left her side.
She hummed thoughtfully to herself as Steven asked if they could open their gifts. Connie had told her how much Steven admired his older brother, so instead of the pink button-up they had originally planned to get him, they opted for a pink hoodie to match his brother's pink varsity jacket.
As he excitedly pulled it over his head, Twoie opened his gift from them. During one of their talks, Twoie offhandedly mentioned that his breakfast consisted of a protein drink. She had promptly scolded him for not taking better care of himself and promised that if he didn't start eating a proper breakfast, she would visit the house every day to make him one. The young man had laughed himself hoarse because he knew she would do it. That's why she understood why he was now guffawing at the two vegetarian cookbooks she had bought him.
"I can take a hint." Priyanka felt a warm feeling of fondness bubble inside her as he excitedly flipped through the pages, telling Steven about recipes he wanted to try. The longer she knew him, the more she felt the urge to mother him. His excitement over the gift only made that feeling stronger.
The two opened the rest of their gifts before everyone separated to set up some party games. Although Twoie was smiling, Dr. Maheswaran realized she could also see a tinge of sadness in his expression. He was watching as Peridot made a snide remark about something to Pearl, running away as the taller gem gave chase. Greg was standing near Garnet, but his body language held some tension. "You know you can join them? You spent this whole party so far with me. Is something the matter?"
The young man hadn't said anything at their last café meet-up nor called her about any serious matters. Twoie's smile turned somber as he sighed. "Is it really that obvious?"
Dr. Maheswaran frowned. "I think it's because I'm good at reading body language. I can tell you're stressed and upset about something." The older woman twisted as she searched for a secluded area. "There. Over by the silo. Do you want to go talk while the others are busy?"
The birthday boy contemplated her offer. "Yeah. I think I need to talk to someone who wasn't involved in the whole mess."
Twoie had found a log and dragged it against the side of the silo, right in the shade. Dr. Maheswaran sat down while Twoie paced in front of her. "I guess I should start from the beginning. So, I've told you already about the gems and their reason for being on earth, right?" Priyanka raised a brow in amusement. "Yes. They are aliens from space that fought to protect the earth from a war that occurred thousands of years ago. I'm guessing this is another 'keep an open mind' moment, isn't it?"
Twoie nodded and took a deep breath. "I'm not actually Steven's older brother."
She sat up straight. "But then, why do you look so much like him?" He bit his lip.
"That's because I am Steven. I'm from the future…" She stared at him.
"The future…" He smiled sheepishly at her as he waved his hands.
"Surprise…" She blinked a couple of times. "Okay. Okay! Time travel. If magical space ladies fighting monsters and other magical space ladies are real, then I can believe time travel is probably real as well." Twoie chuckled in relief at her reaction. She had freaked out when he told her about the gems being aliens and why Lion was pink.
"You handled that a lot better than I thought you would." She snorted at his tone.
"Please. You have a pink lion that can create portals and guardians that can fuse into other people. I've come to expect the unexpected from you and your family." She crossed her legs and propped herself against the wall of the silo. "How have you been faring? You have been here for a while, right?"
He nodded. "The timepiece that sent me here broke after it was used. I can't go back to my time until it's fixed. With the whole 'saving the earth' thing, we haven't had the time to find the materials needed to fix it."
She frowned. Priyanka thought back to her earlier observations with her hand on her chin. "That doesn't explain the tension between your father and your guardians, though." Her frown deepened when he winced.
"Yeah. So, maybe a couple of days after our last meet-up, Steven was kidnapped by Peridot." She stood up quickly.
"What? Why is she here then? Are the kids in danger?" Twoie shook his head.
"She's helping us now. They're fine. That isn't the issue." She watched him as he started pacing again. "The gems knew from the beginning that I was from the future, but they had a hard time… trusting me because I kept a lot of things a secret from them."
Dr. Maheswaran narrowed her eyes. "This better not be going where I think this is going." Twoie flinched at the anger in her tone.
"It was my fault." He tried placating her rising fury. "I didn't tell them about the kidnapping, and then I helped release Peridot after they captured her because she had important information about the giant gem mutant. Of course, they didn't trust me after that, so when we fought-"
She jumped to her feet and started checking him over. "You guys fought?! Are you okay? Why didn't you call me?"
He shushed her, looking over to the party to make sure no one had heard her exclamation. "I'm fine now. I promise I'm fine-"
She hugged him tightly, and his eyes widened in surprise. "It's not fine. You're not fine, Twoie. Please stop pretending. It's not healthy to blame yourself and pretend you're okay with your family hurting you. You might be fine physically, but mentally is a different story." He slowly brought his arms up and hugged her back. Ever since his arrival in the past, he'd been trying to hide his negative feelings. Especially after the fight, he'd been trying to pretend that he was fine, but something about the older woman prevented him from keeping up the mask.
She genuinely cared about him. Not because he was Steven Quartz Universe, Savior of the Universe, or because he was Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond. She cared about him because he was Twoie, her friend, and the older brother of Steven. "It still hurts. I don't like being alone with them right now. Amethyst is okay, but I'm still scared of Garnet and Pearl. Is that wrong of me?"
Priyanka patted his back soothingly. "No, it isn't. You have a reason to be afraid of them. Don't force yourself to be around them if you're not comfortable, okay?" She could feel Twoie nod his head. "Thank you for confiding in me, Twoie. I know it can be hard to rely on others for help. I want you to know that I'll always be here if you need me." The young man hugged her tighter. "Is there anything else you want to talk about?"
Twoie stared off into the distance as she held him. "Yeah. Yeah, there is."