Steven was awoken by Lion early in the morning. Lion had been strange all night, not leaving Steven's side the entire night. However, Steven glanced at the clock. 9AM. He texted Connie
Hey Connie. What time do you want me to come over today?
He recieved a text back almost immediately.
I was just about to text you to come on over. Btw some of my friends want to meet you. Hope that's ok? 3
Steven replied back with a thumbs up and hopped on Lion and headed to Jayhawk.
Steven arrived on Lion at the door of Connie's dorm and knocked.
Connie immediately opened the door and her boyfriend, giving him a hug and a small peck on the cheek.
"I've missed you, Steven Universe." She said as she continued hugging him.
"I've missed you too. It's been the worst waiting a month to spend time with you. But, you said your friends wanted to meet me?"
"Yeah, well, I may have mentioned you once or twice...or a lot." Connie said, blushing. "You're a good conversation starter and my favorite person after all. Come with me!" Connie said and grabbed Steven's hand, pulling him along with her.
"Hey, um, after this, do you think we could talk about some stuff? A lot has happened recently." Steven said.
"Of course. As soon as we're done with my friends, we can go back to my dorm and do whatever, ok?" Connie asked as she stopped to make sure Steven was okay.
Steven smiled and nodded. He could wait a few hours to tall about the stuff that's happening lately.
Eventually, the couple reached two girls. A redheaded girl and a pink haired girl.
"Bonnie! Gwen!" Connie shouted towards the two girls. They turned towards Connie and then glanced at the boy whose hand she was holding.
"Connie! Wow, is this the Steven we've heard so much about?" Bonnie, the pink haired girl, asked.
"Haha, yep!" Connie said through a giggle.
Steven reached his hand out towards Bonnie. "Steven Universe, nice to meet you."
"I'm Bonnie. And this is Gwen. She's kinda quiet." Bonnie said as she shook Steven's hand.
"Yo." Gwen mumbled.
"So Connie tells us you're part gem. Is that true?" Bonnie asked.
"Yeah, it is. Here, I'll show you." Steven said as he summoned his shield.
"Fascinating..." Gwen said, momentarily mesmerized by Steven's shield. "Um, we have to go..."
"Oh, that's right. I have to go meet my girlfriend in an hour. Well, it was nice meeting you, Steven." Bonnie said as she and Gwen waved bye.
"They seemed nice. But, can we head back to your dorm?" Steven asked.
"Of course."
"...yeah, and so I just barely got any sleep last night. My roommate is the worst."
"Yeah, I kept waking up to either weird dreams or Lion smothering me." Steven said. "So heads up if I fall asleep while we're cuddling, I'm sorry."
Connie laughed. "Yep, same." She said as she opened the door to her dorm and Steven laid down on her bed and the two cuddled with each other. The two were barely awake as Connie laid her head on Steven's shoulder. As they fell asleep, Steven gem began to glow and a large burst of light.
Stevonnie yawned as they woke up. They walked over to the bathroom mirror to brush their teeth to find themselves...existing!
"Whoa, when did this happen? Did Steven and Connie fuse and I didn't realise?" Stevonnie questioned as they slowly began to glow and accidentally unfused.
"Steven!"
"Uh, Connie...I think we spent the whole night fused."
"It's...it's no problem. We've spent longer fused together. Remember when we were kids? We got stuck on Yellow's old base?"
"Oh, yeah...um, so I'll let you get a shower. Maybe we can take a walk after?" Steven asked.
"Yeah, definitely. How about I meet you outside?" Connie asked.
Steven nodded and left as Lion followed.
Connie eventually met up with Steven and they walked and talked together.
"You know, summer's coming up? We'll have a whole 3 months to spend together." Connie said, glancing at her boyfriend.
"Yeah, it'll be really nice. Do you wanna, um, never mind..." Steven trailed off.
"What? What's up, Steven?"
"Do you wanna join me on my trips a bit more this summer? You don't have to, but, I was just wondering..."
"Steven! Of course I'll join you." Connie said putting her arm around him. "I wanna come see you perform sometime too."
"I think I'm gonna open for Sadie next week. If you have some time."
"I'd love to. I'll see if I can make time. Hey, didn't you say you had something really import-" Connie was quickly interrupted by screams as an Opal sized fusion landed not far from Steven and Connie.
"Well, Steven and Connie. It's wonderful to meet you. The name's Sparkling Azurite. But, you can call me Sparkle. You see, Steven, after your human friend cracked Lapis' gem, Bluebird helped heal it and their combined hatred of you allowed me to exist. So, all I have to say is..." Sparkle summoned a sword. "Any last words?"
Steven and Connie grabbed hands and fused into Stevonnie.
"Yeah, actually. I'm really not happy about leaving my sword in the dorm. But, I'm gonna beat you anyway." Stevonnie said as they summoned their shield. They had a bit of leg hair and some stubble, but, otherwise looked like the same Stevonnie as always.
Sparkle was quick to ram into it as Stevonnie started to struggle to keep themself protected from the strength of the fusion.
Sparkle launched swords towards Stevonnie from the front as she flew into Stevonnie's legs, knocking them to the ground.
Stevonnie groaned in pain as a sword put itself against their neck.
"Hey, uh, Sparkle...maybe we can just talk things out?" Stevonnie said, keenly aware of the danger they were in.
Sparkle flew closer to Stevonnie. "Listen, you ruined my collective life. I'm destroying you. And you won't talk me out of it."
Lion's portal suddenly opened as he rammed into her, allowing the sword that was getting too close for comfort to Stevonnie's neck to fall.
"Ow! What is that?" Sparkle yelled as she fell to the ground.
Lion had Connie's sword in his mouth and ducked down to give it to Stevonnie.
"My sword? Thanks Lion!" Stevonnie said as they ran towards Sparkle and slashed the fusion.
Sparkle quickly fell apart into Bluebird and Lapis.
"You...how do you always have a fusion for everything?" The Lapis asked.
"Next time, don't follow me." Stevonnie said as their gem began making strange noises.
"We...we have more on our team. We'll be back, Universe." Bluebird said, as her and Lapis flew away.
Stevonnie unfused and Steven and Connie were apart once again.
"Steven, why didn't you tell me gems were coming after you again?" Connie asked as Steven began getting ready for his trip back to Empire City.
"I was going to. I promise I was. It's actually what I was gonna talk about on our walk before they showed up. But, I'm fine. If any more gems try to attack me I promise you will be the first to know." Steven said as he kissed Connie on the cheek.
"Ok, I'll see you soon, ok?" Connie said as she gave Steven a hug.
Steven hopped on Lion and gave Connie a wave goodbye and with that Lion roared and left for Empire City.
"Dad, I think I need to go be somewhere alone for a bit? I'll see you next week. Can you ask Sadie to text me the date and location for when she wants me to open for her?" Steven told his dad as he hopped back on Lion.
"Wait, Steven. Before I do that, what happened while you visited Connie?"
"Bluebird and Lapis fused out of their hatred for me and attacked us. We were able to beat them by fusing, but, I can't risk putting more lives in danger. I put everyone at Connie's college at risk by being there. I knew gems were following me and I still went. I have to go somewhere where not many people or gems hang around anymore. I promise I'll be back by the time Sadie want to me to open for her. Ok?"
"Of course, Steven. I'll see you later." Greg said as he hugged Steven.
Lion roared and with that, Steven and Lion were gone through a portal.
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Steven and Lion ended up at the Strawberry Battlefield and Steven pulled a sleeping bag from Lion's mane and laid it down. Steven crawled into it. "Wake me if there's trouble, ok?" Lion yawned and laid at Steven's feet.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the old battlefield, a familiar pair of gems were spending their time together.