Steven followed Amethyst up the beach, making his way to the town ahead.
It was time to finally show himself off to the citizens of Beach City, to reunite with his old friends and take another, tentative step into the life he'd forgotten. Searching for more puzzle pieces, and weaving himself back into the simple, quiet town, and a simple, quiet, normal human life. Garnet and Pearl had wanted to tag along, but Steven had been a little hesitant to invite even Amethyst along with him to the city. He knew too many people would overwhelm him, but he also knew a somewhat familiar face at his side might keep him at ease. He chose Amethyst because, well… she was the only one that didn't really openly fuss over him. She worried enough to stop him if he was getting overwhelmed, but she didn't hover too much. He adored Pearl and Garnet, but he knew he was going to get enough attention out here. Basically coming back from the dead - coming back from space - was going to raise some questions. Questions he had to be careful with answering, because they might not take it as well as the gems did. That being said, he was determined to get through this. He needed to get through this.
"So," Amethyst sounded rather cheerful as the hybrid fell into step with her, sweeping his gaze around as they entered the city. "Anywhere in particular you wanna head to first, Ste-man?"
"Mm…" Steven puffed his cheeks out, looking up toward the buildings ahead. He almost startled at the sight of it, how… familiar, and human it all was. Just the sight of the quiet, peaceful town he'd forgotten was enough to relax him a little. He remembered walking down the boardwalk… coming into town for food - huh, I actually liked it back then - talking to some of his friends. He remembered… ah, he remembered another kid. A boy, about his age. But he couldn't put a name to the face in his mind. "I don't know," he admitted, rolling his shoulders back slightly. "Where would I usually go? I know I used to come here for…" He paused, looking around again.
"Eh, you used to just come into town whenever you felt like it. Sometimes you'd get a snack or something from the fry shop or the Big Donut." Amethyst gestured ahead of them, and Steven paused to let his gaze fall onto the giant donut atop the building she had directed him toward. Instinctively, he couldn't bite back a grimace, and Amethyst seemed to notice, because she huffed out a laugh as she continued leading him forward. "Relax, it's not gonna like, fall off the building and into your mouth or anything. We don't have to go there if you don't want to, but I think one of your friends works there or something. The donut girl, and the jerk donut boy…" Admittedly, Steven kind of just let her voice fade out while he walked. For a moment, everything felt like static - it wasn't quite like zoning out again, he could still see, and he was moving fine. But the sounds muted, muffled like he was hearing through water. The hybrid shook his head, forcing himself to focus, and let his gaze drop to his shirt to tug it upwards and tie it silently. "Yo, maybe we could check out Funland," Amethyst was saying when Steven finally tuned back in. "Or…" The purple gem smirked, suddenly, glancing over at him. "We could get some alcohol."
Steven arched an eyebrow at that, looking up. "No, Amethyst." It wasn't the first time Amethyst had mentioned it, obviously, and he doubted it would be the last. It amused him, in all honesty - he didn't know what alcohol was, but he knew Amethyst was for it, and Pearl was against it.
Amethyst chuckled. "Doubt it'd work on you, anyway-"
"Is that Steven?!"
Steven paused, and even Amethyst stumbled, coming to an abrupt halt and snapping her gaze up in surprise. The hybrid, himself, couldn't keep himself from stepping forward almost protectively to stand beside her, tense as he swept his gaze around. It didn't take him too long to pinpoint the source of the yelling; the human running toward them looked relatively harmless, but the hybrid couldn't help but startle at the sight of him anyway. He wasn't much taller than Steven himself, but his giant, messy, yellow hair could have definitely attributed to that. Actually, the hybrid was a little confused over whether or not that was hair on top of the human's head. It looked more like those fry bits Amethyst had given him, but a little longer and not… fries. It was definitely hair, and he could see it when the guy got closer to them, but from afar, it honestly just looked like he had giant fries on his head. Despite himself, he couldn't bite back a slight laugh.
"Oh, jeez," Amethyst groaned quietly from beside him, taking a few steps back. Steven paused and blinked, glancing over at her, then looked back toward the human curiously. He didn't recognize the guy, but the guy definitely seemed to recognize him. And Amethyst seemed to recognize him, as well, if her groan and obvious dismay was any indication. He looked excited, running up to them - only to stop, bend over, and put his hands on his knees with a gasp when he reached them. He hadn't even come from that far away - why in the stars was he sweating? The hybrid found himself stepping back, no longer amused, but confused and concerned now.
The human stayed like that for a while, catching his breath, before he straightened up again with a gasp. He was wearing something on his face, like… a visor, but smaller, with the glass only covering his eyes? They seemed to hook around his ears, at least on one side. The other side was a little lower, hanging crookedly across his face. He reached up quickly to adjust them. "Steven!" He exclaimed, taking a few steps forward with his arms stretched wide - to which Steven skipped another startled step back - but he seemed undeterred by the hybrid's retreat. "You're alive! I thought those aliens took you away to do weird experiments and probe you in weird places and probably eventually kill you, but you're alive!" He balled his hands into fists, looking even more excited. Steven exchanged a bewildered glance with Amethyst. "Do you have any cool space stories I can put on my blog?! Oh, and also, are you okay, 'cause like-"
"Hey, fry guy," Amethyst interrupted, irritated - and Steven had never been more glad for an interruption in his life. "Why don't you cool it a little, huh? Where's your dorky brother?" The purple gem demanded after a moment, leaning to the side to glance around the human.
"Uh…" 'Fry Guy' paused, only for a second, then turned away. "Peedee!"
Steven's shoulders jerked sharply at the name, wide eyes snapping up to the human, then back over his shoulder. That name. That was the name of the boy, connected to the face in his mind.
It only took a few seconds for the door to one of the buildings to fly open. "Ronaldo, I'm working-" Steven's eyes widened slightly, watching as - sure enough - the boy he'd remembered stepped out of the building, somewhat reluctantly. He was wearing a white tank-top and shorts, and, like the taller human in front of them, he had a headful of hair that looked like fries. The hybrid just stared as the boy turned toward them, nose wrinkled, mouth opened to call out to his 'brother' - and he stared as the boy froze, blinked, and flicked his gaze past the other human abruptly, locking his eyes on Steven. The hybrid tensed, not out of alarm, but out of surprise. Peedee shared the same reaction, every muscle in his body seeming to pull taut right then.
"Steven…" The boy uttered, shocked, and took a few steps forward. Then, with a shriek, he practically launched himself forward, dashing across the boardwalk. Steven found himself walking forward instinctively to meet him, while the other human quickly jumped out of the way. Peedee threw his arms around the hybrid, squeezing his middle tightly - and Steven vaguely noted that he was definitely a lot taller than his old friend than he used to be. But at the moment, he didn't care; he simply wrapped his arms around the other boy, a smile finally crossing his face. Yeah, he remembered Peedee. He'd known Peedee since… stars, he didn't even know. "Dude!" Peedee abruptly pushed him back, and the hybrid stumbled slightly in surprise, but he righted himself quickly. "You're alive-! And- holy crap, Steven, how did you get so freaking tall-!"
Despite himself, Steven snorted out a laugh. "I have no idea," he admitted excitedly, flicking his gaze over his old friend's face. He found his smile widening even more, absolutely ecstatic. Now, this was someone he was definitely excited to see. Someone he, admittedly, hadn't made as much time for as he should have in the past… had he? He couldn't remember spending that much time with him as the years went on, as he slowly became more and more invested in gem stuff than human stuff. That, he decided silently, was something he definitely had to fix now.
"Okay, yeah, reunion, great," the other human - Ronaldo - began, and Steven paused, flicking his gaze to the side and turning his head to focus on him as he brushed himself off and walked forward again, despite Amethyst's irritated protests, now that he seemed to have recovered from almost being squished in between two overexcited teenage boys. "Steven's back, yay, he's alive, we know, that's all great, really, you missed each other- really, do you have any space stories? Because I totally need more material for my blog, and I'm gonna need a lot more information if I'm gonna be able to warn Beach City about those aliens that keep coming-"
"Ronaldo," Peedee hissed.
Steven offered the human a perplexed look. "What's a 'blog'?"
At this, both of the humans paused to stare at the hybrid now, and Amethyst let out a quiet groan and shoved past Ronaldo, causing the human to stagger slightly. "So much for trying to start small, am I right?" She turned her gaze to the other two, lifting her arms and offering an admittedly half-hearted shrug in their directions. "Basically, Steven's memories are wacky."
"Wacky?" Peedee echoed, a concerned look quickly flitting across his face as he glanced up at Steven again, and the hybrid barely had time to open his mouth to try and explain that better.
"Oh my God," Ronaldo gasped, reaching up to grip his hair. Steven watched, with increasing concern, as the human started tugging, staring down at him with a mixture of horror and astonishment written across his face. "He has space amnesia!" Before Amethyst could open her mouth to object, and before Steven had a proper chance to back away from the human, he suddenly rushed forward and leaned in to grab the hybrid by the shoulders. Steven yelped, shoulders tensing at once under his grip, and it took just about all of his self-control not to shove the human back and slam him to the ground, fighting against every bit of his battle training as Ronaldo offered a rather rough shake to the hybrid's shoulders. "Steven! Do you remember me?! Do you remember all the theories I told you about the Great Diamond Authority?!"
Steven didn't have a proper chance to gently brush the human's hands off of him and explain carefully that he, indeed, did not remember the poor human at all, not when he finally registered the words. Amethyst visibly tensed from behind Ronaldo, and Steven slowly flicked his gaze past the human to stare at her, and then looked back up at the human, startled. "You know about the Great Diamond Authority?" He asked slowly, blinking. The fact that Connie knew some things about the Diamonds didn't surprise him, as she was part of the Crystal Gems herself, but even her knowledge was limited, at best. So how did this human know about them?
He frowned a little to himself, but Ronaldo looked pleased as he finally pulled back, and Steven took a few stumbling steps away from him to somewhat recompose himself. He didn't mind physical contact for the most part - as touch starved as the poor kid was, he absolutely adored it. But this guy was a little too much, and this wasn't the kind of physical contact that he liked. Affection was fine, but this guy was definitely not showing affection. "Yeah! It's like, so totally obvious that the Diamonds are the rulers of the extraterrestrial species of sentient light force created by the stars and tasked with the duty of colonizing the galaxy for their own resources," Ronaldo retorted, reaching up to adjust the tiny visor-like object on his face. Steven just narrowed his eyes, still more or less perplexed than anything, while Ronaldo went on, "see, my theory is that they were trying to destroy the Earth with a sentient polymorphic geo-weapon. But that didn't work," he lowered his voice, and Steven stared, puzzled, as he continued, "but they're not finished yet, Steven. The last invasion and your kidnapping just proved that the Great Diamond Authority is still out there, and now they're more determined than ever to destroy the-"
"Hey, Ronaldo," Peedee called, and Ronaldo paused, looking up. Steven continued to stare at him, still bewildered. This human was… interesting. He seemed to know some things at least. His 'theories' weren't exactly wrong, and he had the whole 'rulers of an extraterrestrial species' thing down completely, but the hybrid was still baffled. Again, it wasn't like the Diamonds were exactly common knowledge here on Earth, but gems were. He wasn't sure what to make of this human, and the information he was rapidly spitting at him. "Don't you have this written down?"
"Oh! Ohhhh!" Ronaldo shrieked, and Steven winced. "Yeah! Steven! Stay right there!" The human was already running off before the hybrid had a chance to respond. He stopped with his mouth half-open, blinking as he watched the human go. That interaction had undoubtedly been the weirdest one he'd had since he got back to Earth. He had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.
"Let's get outta here," Peedee urged, stepping toward Steven. "Before he gets back."
Steven shook his head, baffled. "Fine by me…"
"Hey," Amethyst hummed, nudging her shoulder against the hybrid's, and jerked her head toward the building with the giant donut on the top. "You don't gotta eat, but it's a hiding place." While the hybrid hesitated, Amethyst threw an arm around him, and Steven couldn't help but giggle despite himself as the purple gem lifted a hand to ruffle his hair, ducking his head instinctively without quite pulling away from her. After a moment, he gave in, chuckling quietly.
"Alright, okay," he agreed, and the purple Quartz pulled away from him with a victorious 'whoop!' and took off toward the building ahead. Steven took the chance to stretch and compose himself again, lightly running his fingers through his hair to fix it. Peedee walked forward to stand beside him again, and the hybrid glanced up to offer his old friend a small smile. A perplexed expression crossed the other boy's face, worried, once again, as he flicked his gaze over Steven's face carefully. He stayed still for a moment, letting his old friend continue his quiet assessment, before finally straightening up and walking forward to follow Amethyst again. Peedee fell into step with him quickly, still seeming worried as he continued to study the hybrid.
"Are you, uh… okay?" He asked suddenly, and Steven paused a few feet away from the door, just out of arm's reach. Amethyst had already retreated inside, and it looked like she was speaking to someone else on the other side of a counter; the hybrid watched for a moment, then turned back to Peedee again, offering the other boy the most reassuring smile he could muster. It didn't do much to reassure his old friend. "I mean, like- you're having memory problems? Do you remember me? Or…?" He gestured vaguely around them. Steven got the hint quickly.
"I remember you," the hybrid assured quickly, offering another smile. "And I'm remembering some things, I think. Uh…" He trailed off, smile wavering for a second as he glanced around. "Mostly, it's coming back pretty slow, but experiencing certain things helps a little more."
Peedee stared at him for a moment. "... what did they do to you?"
Steven paused, finally flicking his gaze back over to his old friend. Those words were familiar. He'd been asked that before, for certain. And, he figured, he had felt just as much uncertainty then as he was feeling now. Uncertainty, but no hesitance, no anger. He didn't want to hide the things he went through, he didn't want to keep secrets - but he also didn't want to dump more on this human than he thought he'd be able to handle. He remembered Peedee had never had anything to do with gem stuff, and he didn't want to be the one to bring him into all of that now.
He supposed, after a moment of hesitation, if Peedee wanted a specific answer, he would ask more specific questions. So he'd answer as simply as he could for now, and just go with that. "Alot," he admitted quietly after a few seconds, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "But I'm okay, honest. I'm getting memories back, I'm fine." The hybrid shook his head slightly. It took a few more seconds, hesitating, before he could force himself to cross forward and reach out to open the door. Peedee stepped after him, looking even more concerned by the answer, but he wasn't asking any more questions right then, and Steven wasn't about to complain. Again, he didn't mind answering any questions, but that was provided that Peedee actually wanted the answers to begin with. The hybrid fell silent, pulling the door open, and winced.
A familiar, musical chime echoed above his head as he pulled the door open, nearly prompting him to lose his grip and let it swing shut again. Honestly, the sound left him dizzier than it should have; for a second, everything seemed to shut down all at once. Sight, sound, smell; all of it. And then, just as quickly, it was back - and he found himself dead center in the middle of the building with Peedee up ahead at the counter now, as if he'd somehow skipped forward in time.
He shook his head slightly, taking a moment to recover. At that point, the human Amethyst had been talking to had noticed him, and it didn't take him long to recognize her as she suddenly stepped out from behind the counter. Like with Peedee, Amethyst seemed content in letting the human approach Steven - choosing instead to jump over the counter to the cases of donuts - while the human approached the hybrid oddly cautiously, looking concerned and excited, but somewhat wary, of all things. Again, he recognized her quickly, but he found himself unable to connect a name to her face right then. He knew she was one of his friends… his memories of her often involved memories of another boy, a teenager he also recognized, but couldn't name.
"Steven…" The human paused in front of him, seeming to falter a little once she'd gotten a good look at him. He was taller than she was; like with Connie, it felt off. "I- I can't believe it, you're…"
Steven offered a hesitant smile, still struggling to remember her name. But he didn't move back when she stepped forward to hug him, accepting the affection happily. He couldn't help but giggle as she squeezed him, even while feeling her hands press against the scars on his back. That was familiar, he thought. That was how she'd always hugged him… well, maybe a little softer and gentler now, but definitely still as warm and affectionate. Her caution surprised him, somewhat; everyone else so far had been more than eager to throw themselves at him. And while he didn't particularly mind that, the gentleness was definitely a very welcome change.
The hybrid offered a squeeze of his own before pulling back, and the human offered him a warm, somewhat relieved smile. And, finally, it clicked; the name clicked into place, another puzzle piece he'd been missing. Sadie. Her name was Sadie, and she was his friend. "Amethyst… told me you were back a few days ago." The human glanced over her shoulder, pausing for a second. "But, uh, she said you were having some memory problems, so…"
"Yeah…" Steven trailed off, offering a small smile. "Things are kinda coming back kinda slowly, but I think I'll be alright eventually. Just filling in the blanks." He paused, taking a deep breath, and leaned himself back on his feet a little before settling again. "It's good to see you, Sadie."
"You too," Sadie replied warmly. She opened her mouth slightly, but hesitated; Steven furrowed his eyebrows, watching as the human struggled to compose herself again, to put her thoughts back in order. And he waited patiently, watching Amethyst pass donuts across the counter to a nervous-looking Peedee, until the human finally spoke again. "I, uh… I don't know if…" Sadie trailed off, hesitating a little more, and Steven glanced down at her again. "Do you… know what happened to Lars?" She finally asked, looking up at him. "He was still on the ship when you…"
Steven paused, staring at her. Lars… that was the name of the other boy. The teenager that he remembered was usually with Sadie, here in the store. He had been on the ship, and on Homeworld; they'd been trying to escape, they found a group of gems, Lars had died… but… but he wasn't dead, was he? No, Steven had spoken to him after that. Only he was pink, and he looked a lot different, and he had scars, and he had a sword. He'd spoken to him during the battle, after he'd poofed Angel Quartz. Another piece clicked into place, another gap in his mind filled. It was still fuzzy, but he remembered. He remembered fighting him, he remembered telling him to just go back to Earth. Lars had stayed behind to try and rescue him, only Steven hadn't wanted to be rescued at the time. He'd wanted to stay, and try to fix Homeworld instead.
"I told him to come back here…" The hybrid whispered, furrowing his eyebrows. Sadie blinked at him, seeming to tense up slightly as he spoke, and Steven added quickly, "he… we… we were fighting. We were in the battle- he was with the rebels, and… and he was trying to take me back. He had a ship, but-" Steven paused, sucking in a shaky breath, and shook his head a bit. "But I told him to come back here…"
Sadie stared at him, startled. "Battle- rebels-? Lars was…?"
Steven hesitated for a second, glancing away from her to look back toward the other two briefly. "Lars is… different," he finally mumbled, swallowing and glancing back down at Sadie again. "Back on Homeworld, he… we had some trouble, and- and he died, kind of, and then I brought him back to life with my tears and he turned pink- stars, it's a long story. But he's- he's alive," he added quickly, as Sadie's expression quickly flitted between mixtures of confusion, horror and shock as she stared at the hybrid. "At least, he was the last time I saw him. I told him to come back to Earth, and he left on the ship so I'd figured maybe he…" The hybrid hesitated, frowning.
Sadie seemed to falter, looking even more confused now. "I… wow…" She trailed off, glancing away for a moment. Her expression had shifted when she turned back to him, concern replacing the bewilderment and horror that had been there. "Sounds like you've been through a lot."
"Yeah…" Steven trailed off, shifting his feet slightly. He offered her a reassuring smile after a moment, but he wasn't sure how convincing it was. "I don't know. Maybe he's on his way."
"Maybe," Sadie echoed. After a moment, she abruptly seemed to realize something, stepping back and turning to gesture toward the counter. Amethyst had the sense to stop before the human could see her shoving donuts into bags, hiding them behind the counter before Sadie could see. Peedee, meanwhile, was busy sifting through his wallet, looking somewhat panicked. "D'you want a donut or something? A few of your favorites just finished baking, I think."
"Ah." Steven cracked a hesitant smile. "I don't really… like donuts anymore."
"What." Peedee's voice was flat, but his expression was nothing short of shocked as he looked up at the other boy. Steven offered a small shrug. "Wait a sec, how- why don't you like donuts?"
"Flavor." Steven shook his head, gesturing toward the many donuts still left in the containers. All things considered, Amethyst hadn't gone too all-out with the ones she'd practically stolen, but he figured Sadie wasn't going to be too happy about it regardless. "It's all really weird, I guess. Tasting things is just… different. I mean, it's not like there was anything to eat on Homeworld…" He trailed off, offering another shrug and picking at the knot he'd tied in his shirt. "So now anything with taste is just kind of pushing it. It's overwhelming. Donuts especially, they're too… sweet for me. I don't like fry bits either, so." He glanced at Peedee, somewhat apologetically.
"Pearl's gonna try and get him on a fruit diet," Amethyst cut in, when neither of the humans seemed to be able to think of anything to say, just staring at the hybrid in absolute surprise. "Or something like that. Stuff with less flavor, y'know. Like apples, salads… basically rabbit food." After a moment, the purple gem stretched her arms down to wrap them around the bags she'd hidden behind the counter, lifting them up to put them on top instead. "I got two of everything."
Sadie glanced back at her, rolling her eyes. "You always get two of everything."
"You're right." Amethyst paused. "I bet I could amp it up to three."
"I'll have to start charging you for that," Sadie warned. Amethyst's face split into a grin, snickering, while Peedee ended up sliding his entire wallet onto the counter, looking flustered. "Hey, uh- I don't think we've met," Sadie said suddenly, looking over at Peedee curiously.
"Which is weird, since your shops are literally on the same block," Amethyst commented before Peedee could respond, the boy looking a little more flustered than he had been before now. "And considering he's been Steven's best friends since, like, he was in diapers or something." Steven couldn't help but laugh at this, and even Peedee managed to crack a small smile at that.
"I'm Peedee." The teenager offered a nervous wave. "Peedee Fryman. It's nice to meet you."
"Sadie Miller," Sadie replied with a smile. "You too."
Steven smiled a little to himself, watching them for a moment. Sadie eventually retreated back to the counter to stop Amethyst from grabbing a third of everything as the gem had promised, and Steven took to the window for a bit, looking out at the boardwalk. Admittedly, he felt a little bit guilty when he saw Ronaldo outside looking around for them, but it didn't quite prevent him from ducking out of sight when the human turned toward them. Maybe eventually, the hybrid would brave himself enough to face him again, but right then, he was almost… spooked by him. Not really scared, just kind of startled. Intrigued, of course, but his interest and curiosity could wait until he was at a point where the guy didn't overwhelm him so much; he knew it wouldn't be good for anyone if he got too stressed and ended up having some kind of emotional breakdown. Once Ronaldo had retreated back to the fry shop, Steven leaned against the window again and stared outside, leaning his head against the glass and admiring the town from where he was.
He glanced over when Peedee walked up to stand beside him, offering his friend a small smile and pushing himself away from the window slightly. Briefly, he glanced over his shoulder to see what Amethyst and Sadie were up to; at the moment, they were just talking and laughing together, the purple gem seated on the counter and the human leaning against it with a smile. Honestly, Amethyst looked happier then than Steven thought she had since Peridot had poofed. At the very least, she seemed content and relaxed, distracted from her worry for the time being. The hybrid smiled to himself, while Peedee leaned forward beside him, peering out the window. "So you really don't like food anymore, huh?" His friend asked suddenly, and Steven paused.
"I guess not." Steven shrugged, glancing back over at the other teenager and offering a hesitant, half-smile. "It's just a little weird for me now, I guess. It's not like I really need to…" The hybrid gestured at nothing in particular, briefly letting his hand press against the window. He looked up toward it again, glancing out toward the boardwalk, and let out a quiet sigh as he leaned back on his feed and shrugged again. "Not to survive, anyway. I guess in terms of… basic health and strength. And I haven't been zoning out like I was before, when-" He barely managed to stop himself in time, catching the concerned expression on his old friend's face. Again, he hesitated, staring at the other boy for a moment, then ducked his head and looked away again, lightly rolling his shoulders back and running his tongue over his lips with a frown. "Sorry." Leaning his forehead against the glass, the hybrid huffed out a quiet, nervous chuckle. "It's just gem stuff. You don't have to worry about it or anything like that, I'll be okay."
"I…" Peedee faltered slightly, and Steven glanced over in time to see his shoulders sag. Instead of continuing, his friend just shook his head after a second with a somewhat uncomfortable expression on his face, and ended up changing the subject. "So what are you doing tonight?"
Steven blinked, studying him. "Uh… probably sleeping?"
At this, his friend huffed out a laugh. But the uncomfortable expression quickly fizzled away, replaced with something akin to amusement. There was also relief there, and he could see that clearly; nothing but absolute, pure relief flickering through his eyes, if only for a few seconds. "No, I mean…" Peedee chuckled again. "If you're not busy, maybe we can… catch up, or…"
"Oh!" Steven couldn't bite back a smile at that, nor did he try to; he turned to face his friend after a second, leaning sideways against the window instead. "Hey, yeah, that sounds kinda fun. Maybe you-" He paused for a second, rethinking what he was about to say. If there weren't so many gems staying at the beach house now, he'd have invited Peedee over. And if he wasn't avoiding Ronaldo right then, he'd have suggested maybe going over to his friend's instead. Neither of those seemed like particularly good ideas at the time; he wanted to keep Peedee out of the gem stuff, and he definitely didn't want to interact with Ronaldo again, not so soon. The hybrid paused, sinking sideways again, and twisted his mouth slightly as he thought. Catching up with Peedee sounded fun, but he wasn't sure what they could do around the city at night, since 'sleepovers' were pretty much out of the question. "... whaddya think we should do?"
"We could just go for a walk down the boardwalk," Peedee suggested, looking contemplative. Steven brightened slightly at that, and Peedee chuckled. "Been a while since we've done that."
"Yeah," Steven agreed, letting out a quiet laugh. "That'd be fun. I gotta check with the gems, but…" He figured Pearl would be willing to let him out for one night, as long as he wasn't out too late and still went to sleep. One night out of the house and catching up with his friend wouldn't hurt - if anything, Steven thought it would be the break from all the planning and stressing and worrying that he really needed right then more than anything. "Catching up sounds really nice," the hybrid sighed, sinking back against the window. "I missed you a lot. I missed everyone."
"Yeah…" Peedee trailed off. "I missed you, too." After a pause, he chuckled, "still too bad about the food thing, though. I kinda miss you stopping by the shop and begging for 'the bits'." He rolled his eyes, and Steven couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "Ordering off-menu…"
"I can still stop by and beg for the bits," Steven conceded. "I'll just give them to Amethyst."
Peedee snickered. "That'll work." He looked out the window again, while Steven grinned and tilted his head back, letting his eyes slip shut for a second. "So, what're you gonna do about the rest of the town? I'll bet everyone's gonna want, like, some kind of 'welcome home' party," Peedee joked, and Steven giggled despite himself. He didn't know if he could handle that just yet, but the thought was still amusing regardless. Right then, he just wanted to take things slow. He knew too much too fast would just overwhelm him - he found it hard not feeling overwhelmed already as it was - so throwing himself at a bunch of people probably wasn't the best idea now. Baby steps, the hybrid decided, was probably his best bet for the time being. Taking it slow.
"Baby steps," Steven murmured, opening his eyes again. "The town'll still be here when I'm ready to face everyone again." He paused, glancing out the window, and heaved out a sigh. "And I'm not going anywhere, either…" He trailed off, biting the inside of his cheek. "Not yet."
I hope so, anyway. He stared, watching one of the white, flying creatures dive down from the sky to grab a bunch of fries someone had discarded on the boardwalk. I'm not ready for that.