Thank you alexandra.ross.902 for reviewing! And also to anyone who favorited or followed.
This chapter was originally going to be 3,000 words, but since it was so much longer I cut it and combined it with the next one. Enjoy!
. . .
Pink Steven sat, back straight and hands folded in his lap, in one of the blue chairs in the hospital's main waiting room. It had been a whole night since he had last seen his human counterpart. Pearl and Garnet had stayed with him in the room the whole time while Amethyst chose to sleep things away. He didn't want to sleep, however, that was something Steven did, but he stayed next to her in the waiting room while she snored.
Even if he, as a Gem, needed to sleep, he was sure he wouldn't have been able to. His situation alone was as stressful as heck, and all the talking and shouting and other loud noises coming from everywhere in this hospital wouldn't have helped.
One hollering visitor was loud enough to drown out the whole waiting room, and he recognized that voice. The man was quarreling with a young woman at her desk, saying things like "but he's my son," and "I need to see him!"
That man, of course, was Steven's dad.
Greg was wearing the green zip-up sweater he often wore during the fall, but he had also recognized his dull brown hair, of which he had cut short using Eyeball's dagger to get away from Aquamarine, after the two had fused to form Bluebird Azurite and trick the Gems. His expression darkened at the memory, but he pushed it aside and stepped up to the desk.
"Dad," he spoke up, as soon as he was close enough.
Greg turned to him, and his face blanched. He examined the boy in front of him from head to toe, and his expression went from confused to looking even more confused. "S-Steven?" he asked hesitantly.
Pink Steven frowned. "No."
Greg raised an eyebrow. "Uh... oh, okay. I'm sorry to say that I only have oneson, and he calls me 'Dad'."
He knew his father meant it as a joke, but he ignored the effort by grabbing Greg's wrist and tugging him over to the row of chairs he and Amethyst had claimed as their own. Greg followed this version of his son, puzzled but not wanting to ask questions, for fear of breaking his vow to not mess with "Gem stuff".
"So, Schtu-ball," Greg began awkwardly. Pink Steven turned to him, and saw beads of sweat decorating his dad's forehead— he was obviously nervous.
"How... how're you doin'?" he asked.
Pink Steven blinked, his expression unreadable. "I can take you to his room. I know you want to see him."
Greg looked surprised, but he shook his head. "That's alright. I know he's alive, and well... that's fantastic. I guess I can wait until the doctors let me in there," he tried to sound amusing.
There was a pause. Then, he repeated, more seriously, "So how are you doing?"
"Fine."
"Y'know, Steven told me about his gem detaching a couple years ago. I'm... guessing that's who you are?"
Pink Steven self-consciously fingered the gem on his stomach through his shirt. He was glad his dad had been kind enough to say who you are and not what you are, but at that moment, he didn't really feel like a who. "Mm hmm. I remember."
Somehow that didn't make Greg feel any more comfortable.
Pink Steven closed his eyes, suddenly considering sleep. He shouldn't feel uncomfortable— he wasn't supposed to feel emotion without his human counterpart. But, ditching the idea, he reopened his eyes and turned back to his dad. If he couldn't sleep these feelings away, he could try talking. But it wasn't his favorite, or even best, pastime.
"I don't know what to do," he said finally.
Greg raised his eyebrows. "Huh?"
"I want to be Steven again," he admitted.
Greg looked clueless. "I... uh, why don't you just... um," he made a vague gesture with his hands, making his two pointer fingers touch each other. "Go back together?"
Pink Steven sighed. "The Gems won't let me."
"What? Why?"
He laughed. For the first time since he had reformed, laughed, a hollow, caustic laugh. "I almost died. They want me to wait until he can stand."
This time Greg only raised one eyebrow, in a questioning way. "I thought Steven said he couldn't stand without you."
"He can't."
That's when the woman at the desk called through her tiny microphone, "Mr. Universe?"
Greg stood up, brushing imaginary dust off his lap— or maybe real dust, he couldn't tell— before turning back to the spitting pink image of his son. "Guess I should go. You wanna come with me?"
Pink Steven shook his head. "I've seen enough."
. . .
"Return to the beach house? But what if his human half gets worse?"
"We... think it will be best."
"He can stay there until his human half is fully healed. We'll bring him back home then, and we can see Steven again. That is, if you're alright with it?"
It was around noon in Beach City, the sun reflecting off the ocean and making anyone who looked towards it squint. On the plot of land behind the city and opposite the great Atlantic, the horizon displayed autumn hues due to the leaves changing color with the season. Steven always thought his home looked so beautiful every day of the year... whether it had been blinding sunlight in the summer, flakes of snow in the winter, or flowers in the spring.
Pink Steven tried to see what Steven always saw in the beach, but at that moment, it all looked like sand and rock. Amethyst strutted along beside him as they headed for the beach house, where he would stay until his other half got better.
But he couldn't help but wonder: would he get better? The last time they were apart, his human half could hardly stand, and Connie had to hold him up. If he was weak on his own, how would his health improve without his gem there to give him energy?
Even if he didn't approve of it, he obeyed the Gems and went back home with Amethyst to keep him in line.
Amethyst turned to him, lavender lips pursed, and scanned him skeptically. "You walk weird."
Pink Steven stopped, looking blankly down at his feet. He had been walking in tight, almost robotic steps, his arms swaying slightly where they stood at his sides. He wouldn't say he walked unusually, but compared to Amethyst's casual strut and Steven's more relaxed steps, he supposed he did walk differently.
Not knowing for sure what to say, he replied, "Sorry."
Amethyst was the first to reach the door, with Pink Steven following just behind her. She threw open the screen door, and flicked on the light, letting out a relieved sigh.
"Well, that was interesting," she said, the comment spoken with her facing the warp pad, but Pink Steven knew it was directed to him. "I think I'm just gonna hang in my room. You good with that?"
He nodded as she turned to look at him. Amethyst smiled gratefully in response, before the deep purple gem on her chest glowed briefly, and the door to her room in the temple opened. After she left, the house was quiet.
Pink Steven's glance flicked to the steps, his gaze pausing on the painting of Rose Quartz, before he turned back to the temple door. Steven's room was for Steven, but maybe he could stay in his mother's room to pass the time. He stood there, considering the thought, when a noise on the deck caught his attention. A flurry of voices was heard outside, before the screen door was thrown open once again and a green ball of energy just a foot shorter than him greeted him.
"Steven!" Peridot exclaimed, her dark green eyes gleaming excitedly under her visor. "We came to say hi!"
Following her came Bismuth and Lapis Lazuli, looking much less awkwardly optimistic and more... concerned. Bismuth smiled softly, stepping up to him with her flint-gray arm extended.
"Hello there," she greeted. "Do you know who we are?"
Pink Steven nodded. Yes, he knew who they were. Though he hadn't met the three of them personally, he had all the memories Steven had intact. He shook her hand, appreciating the strength and warmth behind it and admiring her tattoos from the rebellion. Bismuth had always found a special place in Steven's heart— no more than Peridot and Lapis, of course— but she had something that a lot of even his closest friends didn't have: understanding. She respected him when he didn't want to talk. But Lapis stayed behind the larger Gem, eyeing him cautiously from a distance.
She didn't trust him when he wasn't Steven. Like Bismuth, he respected that.
"We heard what happened," Lapis explained. "Peridot wanted to see you."
Peridot nodded. "Yup." A soda can was hovering just above her chartreuse fingers, accomplishment written on her smirk.
Pink Steven blinked without a response. Peridot waited for him to smile, to tell them how happy he was to see them, but when he didn't, her grin faded.
"Ste... Steven?" she asked hesitantly.
Lapis frowned. "He's not Steven, Peridot."
The Gem sighed. "Oh." Looking up at him, she replied, "I apologize for the misunderstanding," in the business-like voice she used to use for the Diamonds.
He nodded again, grateful that she got it— or at least understood the basics of his predicament. He wanted to make them feel better somehow, but to be fair, he didn't know how. If his human half was here, he would know.
The door to the temple opened again, and Amethyst stepped out with her eyes on the ceiling. "Just checking in, how's it... oh, hey Peri." Upon recognizing their guests, she nodded to Lapis and Bismuth.
"Hey Amethyst!" Peridot replied socially. Lapis only narrowed her eyes, her jaw tight.
"Can I... talk to you, Amethyst?" she asked slowly. Amethyst only shrugged, and as the blue Gem passed Pink Steven to get to her, her eyes followed him the whole time. So he stared back.
Bismuth chuckled stiffly as the two exchanged in hushed whispers by the warp pad, beads of sweat shining on her silver forehead. "Heh, so, how's everything going? We haven't seen you since... since..."
"Never!" Peridot answered, forcibly enthusiastic.
Pink Steven wasn't paying as much attention to them as he was the two Gems at the warp pad. He couldn't make out a lot of whatever they were saying. Lapis looked furious, and Amethyst seemed angry with whatever Lapis was telling her, and frankly uncomfortable as well. He did catch things like "What are you going to do with him?" and "He can't stay here, he's a Dia—"
"Hey, hey, what if we did something?" Bismuth interrupted.
Pink Steven turned to her. "Something?"
Peridot caught on, her eyes wide. "Oh, yes, something!"
"Let's go outside while Lapis and Amethyst talk, and..." Bismuth struggled to find the right words.
But Pink Steven knew. They wanted to distract him. And, he supposed he needed a distraction. So, he suggested something he knew Bismuth would enjoy. "Training?"
Her dark eyes widened. "Training? I dunno, there's not much to train for, with the Diamond Authority gone and whatnot... but I'm game."
"Oh, yeah!" Peridot grinned. "Got any metal trash cans?"