Ok, a few notes.
1. I will not be posting next week because it's finals week for me.
2. Oh man guys, the world is really crazy right now. But we need to stand together and support each other. Text your friends, make sure that they're doing ok and that they feel safe where they are.
(Steven's prospective)
Something was shaking him awake, he flung his eyes open. A bead of sweat was rolling down his forehead and hot tears were gliding down his cheeks. Steven opened his eyes and felt his skin jump. The two children stood over him, their eyes glimmering.
Mabel had been shaking him to wake up. Steven abruptly sat up and wiped his face with his sleeve.
"W-we came in to find uh- Waddles…" As Mabel spoke her face turned red with embarrassment "You, er, looked like you were having a bad dream." Steven frantically looked around and saw the TV on. His shoulders sagged and he let out a sigh.
"You saw it didn't you?" Steven looked at Mabel whose eyes were full of pity, and Dipper who looked shocked.
"Saw what?" Dipper chuckled awkwardly. Steven looked from the TV back to the twins. He gave them an unbelieving glance. Steven knew they had seen his dream. Dipper stepped towards the TV that was playing static again, his face twisted with curiosity.
"Was that your home?" Mabel asked quietly, sitting down on the opposite end of the couch, she wanted to give him space.
"Yeah, just some stuff that happened a while ago." Steven's eyes felt tired, he hadn't slept peacefully in days.
"Wait, so all that destruction… actually happened? Dipper spun around to look at Steven. The room was quiet and Steven looked at the floor.
"Yeah, but that wasn't the worst of it." Steven thought of Spinnelle trying to hurt everyone in town, his friends, his family. He shuddered.
"Why was everything pink?!" Mabel asked loudly and quickly hushed herself after Dipper shot her a glance.
"It's a really long story." Steven groaned. Dipper sat down on the couch arm next to Mabel, looking straight ahead of him.
"You don't have to tell us, if it's too hard to talk about." Mabel smiled up at Steven and Dipper spun his head to look at Mabel. His face had a shocked expression.
"Oh!" Mabel shot up from the couch, startling Steven "Our Grunkles said you could stay here, if you want! You'll just have to work a bit!"
"What's a Grunkle?" Steven thought about it. That's such a kind offer, and I really don't have a set destination or time. This could be interesting.
"Our Great Uncles! We just mashed the two words together" Mabel clapped her hands together.
"Oh!" Steven smiled.
"So! Do you want the job?" Mabel's smile spread across her face.
"Yeah, I mean I didn't have anywhere I needed to be." Steven smiled and Mabel extended her arm to shake Steven's hand.
"Great! You can start tomorrow. We'll probably have to go to the copier store to get the paperwork or whatever there is to have a job" Mabel placed her hands on her hips.
"Paperwork?" Steven tilted his head and Dipper look up and scrunched his nose up.
"Have you ever had a job before?" Dipper leaned forward.
"Sorta, I was a teacher, sort of. And a Doctor. But I've never done paperwork or anything." Steven shrugged.
"Wait wait wait." Dipper shook his head "You've never been to school or done paperwork, but you were a Doctor?!" Dipper fell off the armrest. Mabel started laughing and clutched her stomach. Dipper groaned and got up, he had scratched his arm and it was bleeding slightly. Dipper inhaled through his teeth and winced.
"Do you need help with that?" Steven pointed at his arm, but Dipper drew back.
"No, it's ok. I'll just get a band-aid." Dipper's face was red with embarrassment as he got up to leave the room.
"I should probably go back to my room, Waddles can stay here for the night." She pat Waddles on the head before skipping out of the room. Steven sat in the now empty room, his mind racing. He lay down again to fall asleep and thought of his home. He concentrated on breathing to help himself sleep.
He was in Beach City again, but it felt different, it wasn't a dream. The sun had set, but the boardwalk was alive with people and gems enjoying the early summer night. Steven was standing in the heart of Fun Land, but no one saw him. He nimbly leapt off the ground and began to make his way towards his home. In one leap he made it to the fry shop. He ran and lept again, making it to the edge of the beach. He galloped down the sand towards his home. He needed to let the gems know he was ok. He had talked to them before when he was out of body or whatever.
Steven leapt up onto the porch and walked through the door. It was weird, he couldn't really touch anything, but he sort of could, he didn't really know how this worked. Confusion washed over him as he glanced around the living room. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Greg were there. But so was Connie.
"I don't know!" Connie nearly wailed and Steven flinched, "He hasn't even SEEN my messages for a couple days!" Steven wanted to comfort Connie, but he stayed frozen in place.
"I'm going to call his therapist and see if he checked in on Tuesday." Greg got up and left the room, phone in hand.
"Garnet you haven't said anything, do you see him at all?" Pearl anxiously asked the taller gem.
"N-no, I can't see him." Garnet clutched her head. Connie looked up from her pacing when Greg re-entered the room. He shook his head.
"Connie, maybe you should go home, it's late. We'll call you if we figure anything out." Connie nodded and quietly walked out the door, Steven followed. She ran down the stairs and down the beach, tears streaming down her face. Once she was out of sight from the house she sat down on the sand and cried.
Steven reached out to comfort her, but hesitated. Would it work? He gently touched her hand and Connie looked up, startled. She held out her hand and Steven gently grabbed her hand.
"Connie I'm ok!" Steven felt his eyes sting.
"Steven?" Connie barely whispered and she looked at her hand. Can she not hear me? Connie's face suddenly lit up. She placed both of her hands out.
"This one is yes," Connie waved her left hand, "and this one is no." She waved her right hand, "Do you understand?" Steven squeezed her left hand and she smiled.
"Did you break your phone?" Yes
"Are you safe?" Yes
"That's good, uh I need more yes or no questions…" She trailed off "Oh, Are you in Oregon?" Yes
"Are you still on the road" No
"Did something happen?" Yes
"Can you talk to me right now, like when the Diamonds came?" No
"Ok, ok, uhm, did you crash your car?" Yes. Connie's voice shook.
"Was it bad?" Yes
"Are you hurt?" Yes. Steven could feel himself waking up. Connie's hands trembled. Steven squeezed both of her hands and kissed her forehead. She smiled even though a tear rolled down her face.
Thank you for reading! Love Y'all!