"Steven, please, you'll catch your death out there!"

"Pearl, I'm fine!"

The tall gem (or 'the hot one' depending on who you ask) was attempting to fit yet another scarf onto the now sixteen-year-old boy, who was fidgeting in response. Garnet sat on the couch with one leg across the other, grinning at how the young gem hybrid had grown into such a steadfast older man. Pearl's stubbornness was starting to rub off on him.

"You can never be too safe! You don't want to catch a cold on your little date, now do you?"

Steven blushed and pushed Pearl's hands away. "It's not a date! We're just hanging out at the library, that's all!"

"Does she know you're just 'hanging out'?" prodded Amythest, who'd come in from her room to see what all the fuss was about. Steven finally forced himself free of the doting Pearl and forced the door open, met with a heavy wall of rain. He'd be driving to meet Connie, it seemed.

"I'll be back around eight! Love you guys!", and he slammed the door. Pearl sighed, half in exasperation that Steven was finally growing up and independent, half out of relief that she no longer had to engage in extensive scarf-based combat. Amythest laughed again.

"Aw, cmon, P. Boys'll be boys. He can dress himself now. And besides, he needs to try and look all spiffy for Connie."

"Well I don't understand why he can't just forgo fashionable pageantry for health and safety! I mean, it's just common sense!"

"Says the gem wearing the punky jacket!"

Pearl huffed, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. "And what I REALLY don't get is why he's so infatuated with that girl anyhow!"

Amythest furrowed her brow. "What do you mean, P? They clearly like each other."

Pearl threw her arms up in annoyance. "Oh, I know! It's just, I'm still confused as to how these terrans like each other so much! What would they possibly have to gain from such a bond?!"

Amythest was sent into a laughing fit at the mere notion that Pearl, who'd previously been infatuated with a large, pink-haired human, could be so mystified as to why humans wanted each other.

"Pearl, human society is built off of special emotional bonds, much like fusion." Added Garnet, still grinning. "Each species has it's own wants and desires."

"Yeah, and, of course, the other thing." Giggled Amythest.

Now Pearl narrowed her own brow. "What 'other thing'?"

Even Garnet looked surprised. "Humans choose to express their bond to one another in unique ways."

"Yeah, it's called 'doin it'" chimed in Amethyst, "Don't you remember all those sounds that used to come from Rose's room?"

Pearl blushed a deep shade of yellow. "I-I don't know what you mean!"

"Yes, you do, P. I know for a fact that you ran in there thinking she was being attacked!"

"I did no such thing!"

Garnet stood, her mere presence rendering the argument moot. "What two humans can share is something more than what we can experience when we fuse. It is a truly unique experience, one that they take a lot of time planning and anticipating. It can take a long time before two humans partake in their bond."

"If you're a prude, sure." Said Amythest, sticking out her tounge.

"And how are you so sure?! How do you know so much about this anyhow?" shouted Pearl, sticking out her arms as to try and force her residual annoynce away.

"Oh, I dabble in, heh, 'human bonding', from time to time." remarked Amytehst, fluttering her eyelashes and pouting her lips. "Once you learn how to shapeshift yourself a stomach, the rest of it is pretty straightforward." She gave a playful swish of her long hair, clearly enjoying how for once she was more knowledgeable than the all-knowing Pearl. "Of course, I wouldn't blame you for not knowing. It's pretty far out of your wheelhouse."

Pearl couldn't help but yell again. "How dare you! I could bond with a human any time I please! I've gotten a multitude of numbers for phones!"

Amethyst leapt up to face the taller gem, now almost eye-to-eye, stub nose to pointy nose. "Oh yeah?! Let's make it a bet! I bet I can get with way more humans than you ever could!"

In the heat of the moment, Pearl grabbed Amythest's hand and shook it up and down robotically. "You are on! Prepare to meet defeat!"

"I'm in too." Added Garnet, squatting down to meet the two. They both looked taken aback now.

"Uuh, are you sure, Garnet? It's a bit involved."

"I can't let you two get mixed up in something like this alone. Last time that happened Steven was banned from the amusement park for life. Count me in."

"Then it's settled," Amythest grinned, "we have until the end of the week. Whoever bonds with the most humans wins!"