A/N: Liam Connaughton (Guest): To answer your review, the idea in this AU is that Steven was too young to remember that he ever met Ruby and Sapphire.
When the bus finally stopped for good, lurching slightly when its brakes gave a massive squeak, they finally were allowed off.
Because this was a new place and none of them knew their way around, they had the buddy system.
"Okay everybody. Hold hands real tight with all your might with your buddy. Don't let go except for emergencies." Mrs. Song called from the front of the bus. The group of children seemed only to squeeze tighter and they stayed this way well into the entrance tunnel. Steven didn't mind being snuggled tightly between Peedee and the others – it was kinda like a weird hug. His initial excitement had dwindled significantly since this morning and he wouldn't mind very much right now if his Dad came and picked him up.
He tightly held onto Peedee's hand, shyly nodding at the attendants who kindly greeted them. Steven received a big page of stickers and a pretty lion mask. It only covered the top half of his face, but he liked it nonetheless. He would show Ame-…Dad. Dad loved lions.
The zoo truly was amazing. The animals here were awesome. He would have to ask Pea-Dad, he would have to ask his Dad to send a letter to the publishing company people that wrote his Alphabet Animal book that they really had not captured the super coolness of any of the animals in it. Tigers were humongous, their eyes luminescent and golden and surprisingly scary. If only Ga… he sighed as his thoughts were slammed to a stop once again.
He shook his fuzzy head, clenching his fists and stubbornly walking past the next few cages, not even looking. Peedee was walking alongside him, sometimes trotting to keep up with him. Steven stopped in front of what looked like the empty lion exhibit.
"Um…Steven?" Peedee asked, sidling up beside him. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything is perfect." He grumbled.
"Yeaaah, cause that's what perfect sounds like." Peedee rolled his eyes. "You've been acting funky the whole time we been here."
"I just…wanna see the lions." Steven pressed his head against the thick shield separating him and his favorite fearsome beast.
"Well, there's only that little one." Peedee mumbled. "It's…purple?"
Steven snapped up, eyes searching for the little purple lion Peedee was talking about. Where there had been nothing before, except perhaps an empty cave, now there was a tiny, lavender cub. He squinted closer.
Yep. On that teeny little cub's chest was a very familiar violet gem. The cub stumbled towards the glass, fluffy tail held high. It waved rather enthusiastically at them both.
"Whoa did you see that? It waved at us!" Peedee gasped, waving back. "They must have them specially trained or something!"
Steven glared at the cub with a pout. That wasn't a 'specially trained' anything. It was just Amethyst just being dumb and shapeshifting.
"Ugh, I gotta go to the potty." Steven growled.
"Wha-wait!" Peedee reached for Steven's hand. "The buddy system!"
"The potty is just right there. Just stay here no matter what." Steven said, hurrying toward the bathroom.
…
"Whelp, he is definitely ticked." Amethyst sighed, returning to the cave, climbing over the original lion inhabitants and into Garnet's impressive mane. "You know lions don't wear shades right? And lady lions don't have manes."
"Hmm." Garnet growled, her long tail flicking anxiously against the ground. She was twice as big as the current male lion, her black mane looking reminiscent of her afro.
"How mad do you think he is?" Pearl asked, tiptoeing over Garnet, her own long tail thudding against the floor. Her thin frame and long legs made her look less like a lion and more like a cheetah.
"Like, super mad." Amethyst grumbled. "He shot me the death glare."
"He hasn't done that since you tricked him into eating that cookie-cat with spinach in it." Garnet hummed. One of the original lion cubs had climbed on top of her side and begun licking her mane.
"Even after I said I was sorry, he wouldn't hug me for like a week." Amethyst collapsed onto her fluffy middle with an exasperated mewl. "He's not gonna hug us, much less even talk to us for like forever."
"A-Are you sure?" Pearl sidled up to Garnet anxiously. "Maybe the glass was blurring your vision."
"Trust me Pearl; these cat eyes were not mistaken." Amethyst rolled over, letting one of the other lion cubs snuggle into her furry belly. "What are we going to do?"
"We simply will try again." Garnet stood up slowly, letting the three cubs who had found her impressive warmth quite comforting, gently fall off her. They waddled back to their mother, mewling their disappointment. "What's the next exhibit?"
A/N: Oops, meant to upload this on the 5th, but totally slipped my mind. Trying to get back to a more regular upload schedule. And to accomplish this, I'm going to need some help. I am running extremely low on prompts and though I'm working on unfinished story lines, fresh ones would definitely help with the whole process. So if you have any, please feel free to leave it as a review or pm me.
Thanks for the favorites, follows and wonderful reviews.