Connie hummed as she swept the floor, Nova, now one-year-old, was sitting on the carpet in front of their tv, sucking on his pacifier as he played with some stuffed animals and blocks. Nova was giggling as he played by himself until Steven came home from work, early. "I'm back." He said going over and hugging Connie, giving her a kiss on her cheek before going over to Nova who whine and held his arms out.
Steven chuckled as he picked up Nova, placing some kisses on the infant's face. "Yes, daddy missed you too." He said as Nova hugged his father as Steven sat down on the couch.
"You didn't tell me you were coming home early." Connie smiled as she placed the broom she had against the wall before leaning against the couch, giving Steven a kiss on his cheek.
"Yeah, it was a slow day, and the cleaners got there early, so I decided to just close up and leave them to it," Steven said picking Nova up in the air making the boy laugh.
"Well, just because you're job is done for today that doesn't mean you don't have work to do," Connie said going back to the broom. "You can help me finish cleaning." She told him, making him whine.
"But, I want to play with Nova," Steven whined before a towel landed on his head with a thud as Connie threw a wash towel at him.
"Nova's not going anywhere, the faster we do this, the sooner you can play with Nova," Connie said as Steven sat Nova down while taking the towel off of his head.
"Okay, okay," Steven told her, getting up and looking down at Nova. "We can play later, bud." He cooed ruffling Nova's black hair making Nova giggle.
As the parents cleaned Nova watched. He crawled over to one of the brooms and tried pulling it down to help. Connie immediately went over and caught the broom before it could fall on Nova. "Woah there." She smiled and picked up Nova. "Do you want to help Mama and daddy clean?" She asked as Steven smiled as Connie walked over. "Can you put the towels in this drawer?" Connie asked opening the bottom drawer for Nova.
Nova sucked on his pacifier as Connie demonstrated, putting a folded towel in the drawer before kissing the top of Nova's head before letting him continue. Nova grabbed one of the towels, accidentally unfolding the towel and placing it in the drawer while doing the same for the other towels.
After cleaning for a couple of hours Steven and Connie were both on the couch, Nova sitting on Steven's lap. "My baby boy, look at you!" Steven cooed, ticking the baby's stomach making Nova laugh. "I love you so much." He cooed picking him up and kissing all over his face smiling.
"He's growing fast." Connie giggled laying her head against Steven's shoulder looking at Nova with a smile on her face.
"Yeah. I can't wait until he's older." Steven said holding Nova on his lap as Nova played with the remote for the tv. "He's going to go to school with other kids, make friends and if he does have powers, train using them." Steven smiled wanting Nova to have the best life he can, experience human life as well as gem life.
"Yeah, I can't wait either." Connie smiled as the family relaxed against the couch.
As the years went by Nova grew and so far showed no signs of gem powers. He was ten years old now, double digits. So far just because he didn't have powers like his dad it didn't bother Nova at all. He was fine with being human, like his mother.
Nova giggled as he was in the backyard with Lion, his face being licked as Nova buried his face against the lion's fur. Connie was sitting on the porch as she watched Nova play. Steven was at work and she had the day off.
"Fetch!" Nova shouted throwing a ball of yarn to the Lion with a grin as Lion just laid down watching the yarn roll by him before hitting it back with his tail making Nova giggle, going after the yarn. This continued until Lion just ignored the yarn making Nova pout. Nova went over and climbed on Lion's back, laying on the lion giggling as Lion just acted like nothing was happening.
Connie just smiled as she watched her son lay on Lion, getting up and picking up the toys Nova got to play with Lion. Nova relaxed as he pets Lion's fur with a soft smile on his face.
Nova kept petting Lion, slowly falling asleep. "Nova!" Connie shouted making Nova wake up with his arm in Lion's fur. Nova had wide eyes as he pulled his arm back. He can enter Lion's mane like his dad.
"Mom, did you see that!?" Nova asked excitedly as he held his breath and stuck his head into Lion's mane looking at the mini pink world. Before he can do any exploring he was pulled out by his mother. "That was awesome!" Nova exclaimed as Connie was just in shock.
Connie immediately took Nova inside making Nova whine about it. "Mom, I'm fine," Nova said as she sat him on the couch.
"I know you are, I just need to find my head." Connie said as she processed what happened, did Nova have powers? She didn't know for sure. "Honey, you know daddy's healing powers right?" She asked making Nova nod with confusion. Connie got out one of Nova's broken toys. "Try fixing this." She told him as Nova was confused.
"Okay..." Nova said picking up the toy and kissing it but nothing happened. He looked up at his mom as she just kept watching. He placed the toy down and licked his finger and touched the broken part of the toy. Nothing happened. "I don't think I have healing spit, mommy," Nova told her as she sighed.
"It's alright, things like this just don't happen first try when you want to," Connie said, knowing she would tell Steven about Nova starting to get powers, he'll be ecstatic for sure and he was the one who knew how to use this powers while being half-human.
"Can I go back outside to play?" Nova asked as his mom was still thinking about his powers.
"Huh, oh, yeah." She said as she took out her phone to call Steven.
Nova ran back outside smiling brightly as Lion was still there and climbed on his back again. He took a deep breath before going into Lion's mane seeing the pink world again. He hurried over to the island where a chest was along with one of his dad's shirts from when he was younger. He looked into the chest seeing nothing making him disappointed. He held his neck as he kept trying to hold his breath longer before hurrying back and sticking his head out of Lion's fur with a gasp.
Taking some deep breathes he went back in to look at more of the stuff in Lion's mane. Nothing was really interesting, he saw another island, but it had nothing on it from where he was. He went back out of Lion's mane and laid on the grass taking some deep breaths as he stared at the sky. "That's cool." He told Lion as Lion just yawned closing his eyes.
He had an idea, but he didn't know if it would work or not. Nova stood up and hurried back inside and went into his room. Inside his room were a bunch of plants and toys. He got his love of plants from his dad and it showed. He went under his bed taking out a packet of seeds that were already open and took out a maple seed and got his plastic pail and shovel from when they went to the Beach in Beach City.
Before he went back into the pink dimension he took a water bottle and ran back to Lion's mane and jumping into the dimension. He headed to the island with the chest and took out his shovel and tried digging up the ground. It took some work but he managed to make a hole and it wasn't really dirt that this land was made of, but that didn't stop him from placing the seed and buried it and started watering the ground. 'Now air can be made eventually!' He thought to himself proudly as he got up and jumped out of Lion's mane seeing his parents there, his father looking at him in awe.
"You can go into Lion's mane!" Steven exclaimed running over and picking him up with a big grin on his face. Nova didn't get the chance to say something as Steven kept hugging him and span him around excitedly. "My son has powers!" He exclaimed as he stopped spinning and just held Nova up as the boys' eyes span, getting dizzy.
"But I can't do your healing powers," Nova said as he was put down, stumbling a bit, getting his balance back.
"I couldn't at first either, all of my powers are connected to my emotions, but with the right training you can control that," Steven told him already expecting Nova to have all of his powers, but he also expects it won't happen instantaneously just like when he was new to his powers. The only problem was that he knows when his powers activate with his gem, but Nova didn't have a gem.
"So I really have your powers?" Nova asked getting excited about it. He couldn't wait to show people at school once he masters these powers if he actually had them.
"We just need to start training! Every day after school, are you up for it?" Steven asked as Nova nodded excitedly.
Connie walked over and placed a hand on Steven's arm. "Wait, Steven, he's only ten-years-old. Shouldn't this wait until he's a little older?" She asked.
"I was thirteen when I started and got my powers. Just a three-year difference. It'll be fine." Steven looked down at her giving her a reassuring smile.
"Alright, when you're thirteen I'll start teaching you sword fighting." Connie grinned as Nova squealed in excitement.
"Will I be able to fuse with other gems and humans like you?" Nova asked his father as he nodded making his excitement grow. He then remembered what he did in the pink dimension and smiled brightly. "Dad! I planted a seed in Lion's Mane. Since trees produce air why not plant it in there." Nova told Steven.
"I don't think that's how that works in that dimension, son," Steven said as Nova grabbed his hand.
"Come on! Just kiss it and it'll grow faster. We won't know until we try." Nova said making Steven sigh and nod.
"Alright, let's go." He said as he picked up Nova and climbed into Lion's mane. Nova jumped to the ground, holding his breath and lead Steven to where he buried the seed. It was where he left his pail and shovel. Steven looked at the ground looking over at Nova who looked at him expectantly making him smile before going on his knees and pressing his lips on the ground over the mound.
Almost immediately a sprout popped out of the ground making Nova grin excitedly. Steven chuckled before covering his mouth and hurrying out with Nova. "It works!" Nova exclaimed to his mom running over to her, hugging her with a big grin on his face.
"I didn't know it was possible to plant in the pink dimension." Steven rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe it is possible to make a breathable atmosphere in that dimension."