Redefined – Chapter 1

Connie hit the ground with a soft thud. Her back stung slightly from the impact, but it didn't feel like there was any major damage; a fact that was entirely intentional on the part of the person who had knocked her down in the first place.

"Pearl" panted Connie as she allowed herself to slump back onto the ground for a moment's respite "you know you don't have to go that easy on me. I know Gems have super strength, but we've been training for years now. You can hit me a little harder than that."

Pearl stood a short distance away, meticulously checking her sword for damage as she did in between every round. The pale, slender Gem didn't even look up from her blade as she replied with a smirk "I didn't need to hit you any harder. I still put you on the ground didn't I?"

Connie pouted at the smug remark. "Yeah, but you still could have gone harder. There's nothing you can do to me that Steven can't heal anyway; I can take some harder knocks" she pressed, already knowing what the reply would be.

Pearl gave her full attention now. "Just because you can take harder knocks doesn't mean you should" replied the Gem, in words that Connie could swear she'd heard hundreds of times before. "Me beating you to a pulp doesn't teach you anything, or at least nothing more than knocking you down just now did. Once you can match me at our current difficulty level, then I'll start going harder. Until then, try to pace yourself. You don't have anything to prove to anyone."

Letting out a sigh, Connie relented. She never could keep arguing with Pearl for very long. "Alright alright; we can take it slow for now."

"Good" Pearl replied with a warm smile as she knelt down to Connie's height. "Now give me that arm."

Connie held out her arm as Pearl began winding a bandage around the scuffed portion of her skin. She was more than capable of doing it herself, but she'd learnt long ago that it was pointless to try to stop Pearl from doting on her, and to be honest, she kind of enjoyed it. Pearl often showed more affection in the space of a minute than Connie's own mother could muster in an entire day. It wasn't that her mom wasn't a loving parent; she just wasn't the… emotional type.

"You know you don't need to do that" she said, attempting to keep up at least a portion of her façade of independence. "I'm gonna have Steven heal me as soon as we warp back to the house anyway."

"And what if he's out?" replied Pearl calmly. I can't have my favourite student sitting around with exposed scratches until he gets back." Connie wasn't sure it was appropriate for Pearl to have a favourite student, given that the Gem now taught a sizable class at Little Home-school, but she couldn't help but smile at the compliment all the same, and allowed Pearl to finish bandaging her without further complaint.

"Aaaand there. All finished" Pearl announced as she tied the last bandage. "I should probably start packing up. My class is due to start soon."

"Ok" Connie replied with a smile. "Are you going to be back before Steven and I go to bed tonight, or do you have… evening plans again?" The smirk with which she delivered the question left no ambiguity as to what she meant. The past few years had seen no reduction is Pearl's frequent hook-ups with any humans pretty enough to turn her head, and Connie knew it.

"Not tonight, no" replied Pearl with a mock glare, the severity of which was completely undermined by her smile. "I should be back in time to see you both tonight."

"Great, I'll see you then" said Connie as she turned to head through the warp pad.

"Make sure to practice your form before our next session!" Pearl shouted after her.

"Yes mo- Ma'am! YES MA'AM!" Connie instantly felt a flush of embarrassment at her slipup, but if Pearl had noticed, Connie certainly didn't see any indication of it. The girl was spirited away by the warp stream before she could gauge the reaction on the Gem's face.

Connie materialised in the beach house a moment later, only half focusing on her surroundings as she stepped off the warp pad. "Come on Connie" she thought to herself "it was just a dumb slip of the tongue; the sort of thing kids accidentally say to their teachers all the time, so why are you freaking out so much over it?"

Her self-interrogation was interrupted when she nearly walked headfirst into Steven. "Woah!" he exclaimed as he steadied himself from the unexpected collision "Hey Connie! You alright there?"

Once again, Connie admonished herself for her absent-mindedness. Of course Steven would be waiting right in front of the warp pad for her to get home; it was what he did every day he got back to the house before her. She would have remembered that if she wasn't fixating on a tiny social faux-pas.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine" she replied hastily. "Just thinking about something."

"Oh?" Steven enquired curiously. Connie held back a wave of irritation. Of course he'd be curious; he was curious about everything she thought, said, or did. It was one of the things she loved about him, but in this particular instance she found herself wishing he was slightly less inquisitive.

"Just these scratches I got from training today" she lied. "Pearl bandaged them up already, but I told her it wasn't necessary. After all..." she continued, her expression shifting to a playful smile "I've got you to kiss it better." She felt somewhat guilty using flirting as a diversion, but she wasn't about to let him pry any further.

Steven smirked and rolled his eyes. "Hey, I thought I was the corny one. Come here, I'll fix you up."

Connie spent the rest of her evening with Steven, taking care not to refer back to her training too much. The pair watched a movie; some schlocky old sci-fi film from the 60s, but Connie didn't take much of it in. She was grateful when the time came to set about making dinner, providing her with a manual task that could actually occupy her mind. As she searched the cupboards for the spices she needed for the curry she was whipping up, she came across a small sticky note in the place she'd expected them to be.

"Hi Connie! I've hidden the spices again so that Amethyst doesn't eat them all before you can use them. You know where to look. Love, Pearl." The message ended with a small drawing of a heart; one which was frankly entirely too anatomically correct.

Connie felt a grin creep onto her face. Every now and again Pearl would help her hide her ingredients before Amethyst could eat them out of house and home. She always put the spices in the one place Amethyst would never even think to look: the box for a 1000 piece puzzle on the shelves behind the couch.

"Hey Steven, hand me that puzzle box real quick" Connie piped up. Steven got up from the couch and quickly obliged, having been brought into the loop on Pearl and Connie's subterfuge weeks ago.

"Here ya go" he said, handing the box over to her. "Man, making dinner's got a lot easier ever since we stopped having to go on runs to the convenience store mid-prep. I've gotta remember to thank Pearl."

"Yeah" Connie replied absent-mindedly as she rooted around for the turmeric. "She's such a great mo-… mentor!"

Connie caught herself at the last second. She'd almost done it again. Steven gave her a quizzical expression for a split second, but Connie spotted her chance for escape before he could enquire any further. "Steven, the rice is boiling over! Can you get that?" she asked, thanking every potential deity in the universe for the interruption. Steven seemed to hesitate for a moment, but quickly acquiesced when froth started to pour onto the cooktop.

This went unchanged for the remainder of the evening, various activities or discussions keeping the pair enthralled enough that they paid no mind to the conversation. It was only after midnight that the conversation died down, and Connie allowed her thoughts to drift back to her dilemma.

Steven stretched and let out a yawn, his early morning that day finally catching up to him. "I think I'm gonna head up and get changed" he said as he rose from the couch "you coming to bed?"

"Yeah" Connie replied with what she hoped was a natural smile. "I'll join you in a minute."

As Steven wandered upstairs to get into his pyjamas, Connie was left alone on the couch. She took the opportunity to dash into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Wandering over to the sink, leant her weight onto it, and stared at her own reflection in the mirror, fixing it with a steely expression.

"Okay Connie: quit thinking so much about this. So what if you have an urge to call her 'mom' sometimes? It's not like that would offend her. I mean, I know it's kinda weird to feel that way about someone who's basically also your boyfriend's mom, and I know it's kinda unfair to your real mom but… Look: just don't make it any weirder than it already is. Be more careful what you say when other people are around, and everything will be fine. Okay?"

"OKAY!" yelled an enthusiastic voice from behind the shower curtain.

"Gah!" Connie exclaimed as she fell over in shock. "Peridot?! Is that you?"

"Yep!" The small green Gem replied as she pulled the curtain aside to reveal herself, as well as a blanket which had been unceremoniously stuffed into the bath. "I like to come back every now and again; revisit the old haunt; reminisce. Y'know?"

"You and Lapis had an argument again, didn't you" Connie replied with an unimpressed expression.

"OF COURSE WE DID!" Peridot yelled with righteous fury. "Do you know what she said to me a few hours ago? She said that Camp Pining Hearts season two, episode three was the best episode; when it's objectively clear that episode five has more emotional payoff! I just needed some time alone." Peridot delivered the last sentence with a melodramatic flair that would make a thespian jealous. Connie simply rolled her eyes in reply.

"Yeah, well, anyway, how much of what I just said did you overhear?"

"Oh, all of it. So anyway this Camp Pining Hearts episode…"

After finishing up in the bathroom, and having Peridot swear to never speak of what she'd overheard, Connie tiptoed up the stairs to her bedroom. Steven was sometimes already asleep by the time she got up there, his tendency to go out like a light having remained unchanged since they were children. Tonight though, he gave her a drowsy smile as she walked in. Connie wordlessly returned the smile as she clambered into bed, and nestled herself in his arms.

Within minutes, Steven was sleeping soundly, leaving Connie alone to her thoughts. "It's Okay" she told herself silently in her head. "Just wake up fresh tomorrow, and never think about this 'mom' issue ever again." As she closed her eyes and drifted off though, she somehow doubted it would be that easy.

Author's Note: Just a quick little story I felt like making. Not sure yet if it'll end up being two or three chapters long. Also, I'm just writing it as I go, so there's no schedule for
the upcoming chapter(s). They'll be up when they're up. That said, I hope you enjoyed chapter 1!