Ezra had his mouth agape as he stared down at Nova. Nova had his eyes closed as he prepared for a big fall, but he wasn't moving. He opened an eye and saw that he was floating. He looked around as he was slowly falling to the ground. He didn't know what to say at all. He looked up at Ezra as the boy smiled slightly and rubbed his eyes. "You can fly!" Ezra told him.
Nova smiled brightly. "I'm flying! Well, kinda." Nova said as he kept floating down. "Can you get some help?" Nova asked as Ezra nodded and left Nova's sight.
While Ezra was gone to get help Nova sat in the air, cross-legged as he waited for him to touch the ground. He got bored as he tried finding a way to go down faster without becoming a splatter on the ground. "Nova!" He heard his name get called making him look down just as his father jumped up and floated next to him with Ezra on his back.
"Dad!" Nova smiled brightly, hugging his dad as Steven hugged back.
"Hey, bud. I see you're a little stuck. I had an experience similar to this. I discovered I could jump to ridiculous heights and froze up when I was too high in the air and couldn't get down. There were donuts that were going to be freshly made for me, I had an alarm and everything, but I couldn't fall fast enough and even with the help of the gems I couldn't go down any slower." Steven told him.
"How did you get down?" Ezra asked as Steven scratched his chin.
"I realized my powers were affected by my emotions, so I thought of how the gems stayed with me the whole time until I was falling faster and hit the ground with a little thud in the grass. If I think of depressive thoughts my speed instantaneously goes up and falls faster and faster. It could've ended badly for me if I didn't think of happy thoughts." Steven told them as Nova hummed.
"Why does everything have to be connected with emotions?" He whined flying back as he was just floating on his back now.
"Yeah, you'll get control over it eventually." Steven patted Nova's leg.
Nova hummed as he stared at the clouds before sitting up. "Wait, how did you find my dad so quickly, Ezra?" Nova asked as Ezra grinned.
"He was heading to the Blacksmith to see Bismuth and I ran into him." Ezra smiled.
"He was freaking out and I managed to calm him down enough to tell me what happened. I came here as fast as I could." Steven told him and gave him a smile. "I'm glad you made a friend already." Steven smiled making Nova smile back.
"Yeah, you're the coolest friend I've ever had." Ezra had making them all laugh.
"We're getting close to the ground we're going down and I'll catch you once you're close enough," Steven told him, ruffling Nova's hair before going back down on the ground putting Ezra down next to him as they waited for Nova to get close enough to grab him.
Nova looked down seeing both his dad and Ezra waiting for him, he was already falling faster because he was already getting scared about being dropped or worse. He shut his eyes as he felt the wind past him as he was falling before feeling himself get caught.
"Got you, bud." Steven smiled as Nova opened his eyes as Steven put him down.
"You really scared us, you can't do that again!" Ezra told him, hugging the boy.
"Good thing you got that floating ability as I do," Steven said as Nova nodded in agreement. "I think after all of this excitement some ice cream would calm things down." Steven smiled as the two kids nodded in agreement excitedly.
So Steven led the way as the two kids followed behind, he wouldn't be lying if this completely scared the life out of him. Just the thought of losing his son made his body run cold.
Nova and Ezra talked to each other like nothing had happened. "Wait, so your dad doesn't eat meat?" Nova asked as Ezra shook his head.
"No, he can eat meat he just doesn't eat pork and bacon. He's Jewish. I'm of Jewish heritage. I don't really do Jewish things like my dad, I'm not part of a religion, but I join him in taking part." Ezra told him.
"I don't get it." Nova frowned as it confused him, he wasn't Jewish but he takes part because of his dad?
"Well, basically at home I'm Jewish for my dad, even though I don't need to be. He doesn't force me to be Jewish, but I feel bad if I don't join him. Besides Hanukkah is fun to do with my dad." Ezra smiled as Nova nodded. "Hey! Maybe you can join my family for Hanukkah, both you and your dad." Ezra exclaimed with excitement.
"Well, maybe not for all eight days, but sure we could celebrate Hanukkah," Steven told him, looking back as he was listening to their conversation. "I'll have to ask my wife to come too if that's alright?"
"Of course! The more the merrier! Just don't be afraid of Arrowhead." Ezra told him with a hum.
"Arrowhead?" Steven asked as Nova spoke up.
"His Great Dane! He's a huge dog!" Nova told him making Steven chuckle.
"We'll be careful," Steven reassured them with a smile as they headed to the ice cream parlor outside of Little Homeworld and into Beach City. "This is place is new, let's see if it's good." He grinned opening the door hearing a bell chime as he let the kids walk in first.
Nova and Ezra ran up to the glass looking at the different flavors. There were so many, they didn't know what to pick. "Hello, what would you like to order?" A blue gem asked as they went to the counter with a smile on their face.
"I want chocolate!" Nova told them as Ezra was still deciding.
"I want mint-no! I want... Vanilla and chocolate swirl." Ezra said as the gem started scooping their ice cream.
"Cone or bowl?" They asked to them and both of them asked for a cone. Steven just asked for a strawberry ice cream on a cone. "Here you are, one chocolate, one vanilla-chocolate swirl, and one strawberry. That will be three-ninety-five." The gem said as Steven took out his wallet as Nova and Ezra got into a booth with their ice cream, enjoying the dessert.
"Man, today was awesome! I can't wait to find out what happens tomorrow." Ezra told him as he licked his ice cream.
"Yeah, you can come over to the temple and we can hang out there sometime." Nova smiled brightly.
"That would be cool, you can show me all the cool gem stuff." Ezra grinned as Nova laughed.
Things were starting to turn out great for the month Nova would be here, he made a friend day one and this friend quickly turned into his best friend only after a week. Ezra came by almost every day to hang out while Nova would train with his father and the gems about his powers. This month was going by too fast for Nova, he wanted to do so much, but summer was almost over.
"Nova, come on, let's go to Funland!" Ezra exclaimed as he held some money in his fist as he ran into the temple. Nova was on the couch writing in a journal and looked up at Ezra.
"I have to get ready for school, it'll start in two weeks," Nova told him as Ezra plopped next to him.
"That just gives us a bigger reason to have fun while it lasts! Come on, you're leaving in a week, that just gives us seven days to hang out now." Ezra told him making Nova hum as he stared at his pencil.
"Funland does sound better than studying," Nova muttered making Ezra grin. "Okay, I'll go!" Nova smiled making Ezra fist bump the air with a 'yes'.
The two headed out of the temple and ran along the beach into Beach City to head over to Funland. Ezra grinned as he led him inside of the arcade. There were other people there too, but they were focused on having fun before Nova would have to leave.
The two made sure not to get caught as they climbed on the skee ball machines with the balls in their hands as they just put the balls into the scores they wanted, both grinning and giggling as tickets came out of the machine.
They were having the time of their lives as they got off of the machines and gathered all of their tickets with big grins on their face as they drained the tickets from the arcade games until they had enough to buy prizes for both of them.
Placing the tickest on the counter as they peaked up from behind their pile of tickets as they looked at the prizes that were available. "Ooh! I want that one!" Ezra pointed to a black bunny with red/orange eyes.
So Ezra got a giant stuffed bunny while Nova got a giant lolipop. "I can't believe we didn't get caught." Nova said licking the lolipop as Ezra was squeazing his stuffed rabbit.
"It was fun! Let's ride a rollar coaster!" Ezra bounced in place as he grabbed Nova's wrist and dragged him to the coaster.
"Ezra, my lolipop!" Nova exclaimed as he almost dropped it as they climbed into the carts. They were strapped in, Ezra extra secured with his bunny on his lap. Nova bit his lip as he gripped onto his sucker.
After the ride Nova was still holding onto his lolipo tightly as they got off the ride. "That was awesome!" Ezra said jumping in the air.
"Yeah, awesome..." Nova said calming down from almost losing his lolipop as he continued licking the treat as they decided to head back to the temple.
"I can't wait for tomorrow." Ezra smiled as they made it up the stairs.
"Me neither." Nova grinned as they headed inside. Nova stopped when he saw their stuff packed up. "What's going on? I thought we were leaving next week?" Nova frowned as he saw his dad.
"Change of plans, your mom's coming early, we're going to be leaving tomorrow." Steven ruffled Nova's hair as the two kids gasped.
"What, no! I don't want to leave." Nova whined, they were supposed to stay for this week, not just for today. "Can't mom just come here?" He asked as Steven shook his head.
"Come on, Nova, your mom wants to hang out with the both of us at home, she'll only be here for a couple weeks before going back to work. Don't you want to see your mom?" He asked as Nova looked down.
"It's alright, you should go home to spend time with your mom, we can always video chat! Besides I'll see you next summer!" Ezra grinned as Nova smiled slightly.
"Yeah, next year we're staying for the whole summer, it'll be here before you know it." Steven grinned as Nova nodded.
"Okay..." He said before hugging Ezra. "Bye, Ezra." Nova told his friend as he hugged back.
"See ya! I had fun, can't wait for summer!" Ezra grinned as he headed to the door, waving at them before leaving.
"Come on, summer will be back before you know it." Steven smiled.