Chapter XXIV

Pearly Whites

With a stumble, Steven's game of 'One Person Tag' was cut short as he fell onto the sand.

"Aw man, it's no fun when everyone's busy on the house." He thought, rubbing his cheek despondently. "Huh?"

Something small and white was in front of him. Eyes widening, Steven checked his mouth and sure enough, his finger was met with a gap.

"O-oh no! My tooth! Aaahh!"

"What's all the commotion?" Greg walked over and knelt by his son, tapping him lightly on the head with the spanner he was holding. "Looks like you've lost your first tooth Shnu-ball!"

"B-but I didn't mean to!" The six year old was beginning to become tearful. "Can't I put it back?"

Greg chuckled, "No no it's okay, a new one will grow back in its place. All your teeth are going to be replaced by new ones sooner or later."

"All my teeth are gonna fall out? Can I still eat Cookie Cats?"

"Don't worry, they're not going to be falling out all at the same time." He picked up Steven's tooth and placed it in his son's hand. "Why don't you go and show the Gems? I'm sure they'll be happy to know that you've lost your first tooth."

Steven's composure brightened at that, and with a one-less-toothy grin, he ran across the beach to the almost finished house.

"Pearl!"

"What is it, Steven?" The gem stopped nailing floorboards to look at the young boy smiling down at her.

"Guess what!"

"Has Greg put the fittings together correctly?"

"What? No, it's something awesome!" Steven stood closer, stretching his mouth as wide as possible.

"Greg got a job?" Pearl put her hands together hopefully.

Steven rolled his eyes and gestured to him mouth. "No! I lost my tooth, isn't that cool!"

Pearl's expression went blank for a second, and then turned to horror when she noticed the gap in his teeth. "Steven! How on Earth do you manage to lose a tooth, it's fixed to your gums! How will you eat? What happened? I'll get the glue-"

She kept mumbling to herself as she sped out of the house in search of some glue, Steven watched on in confusion.

"I guess gems don't lose teeth." He thought.

"Amethyst! Open up I have something really cool to show you." Stood in front of the purple gem's door, he gave it a light knock. It split open, revealing the vast expanse of personal treasures skyscraping throughout the room. Steven was always in awe when he entered Amethyst's room, it was like an adventure in itself.

The gem was perched upon one of her many piles of objects, lazily avoiding construction work with the new house.

"Hey wassup man." She said as Steven managed to climb up to her.

"I lost my first tooth, look!" He showed her his smile and Amethyst looked closely with intrigue.

"Woah cool, it suits you. Don't you want a new one though?" She asked.

"Dad says another one will grow back in its place. All my other teeth are supposed to fall out as well."

"You're gonna need a lot of teeth dude, hang on." She stood up and took a dive to the other side of her pile and rummaged around for a bit. "I mean, you think that one measly tooth is cool? Check out these!"

Steven craned his head then took a couple paces back. "Eeeew Amethyst!"

She had a string of teeth dangling from her hand. "There's loads more where this came from, here." She thrust it towards him. "Take your pick, now you don't have to keep growing new teeth."

"U-uh thanks, but I think ill pass." He hastily scrambled down to ground level.

"Garnet?" Steven bumped into the stoic gem after emerging from Amethyst's room. He looked up at her with his mouth closed this time.

"This tooth business is exhausting." He thought.

Garnet picked him up and nuzzled him. "Have you lost something?"

"I-I lost my tooth today." He unclasped his palm and showed her. "How did you know?"

She lowered her visor to reveal her third eye and winked, "I have my ways. Good job Steven, I'm proud of you." She kissed him on the forehead and put him down.

"Why did we act calm about this, Steven's missing a tooth!" Thought Ruby.

"I can forsee him having one in its place, dont worry Ruby." Answered Sapphire calmly. "Besides, even you can admit that he looks adorable with that smile."
"Hmph, true."

With six year old safely tucked up in bed, everyone was grouped in the kitchen in the dark.

"Look at him, losing his tooth has made him mentally exhausted." Said Pearl incredulously.

"Uhhh I think you making him explain for the millionth time that he doesn't need glue in his mouth is mentall exhausting." Sighed Amethyst. "So what's the plan again?"

"One of you guys needs to take Steven's tooth and exchange it for this coin here, okay? Oh and Pearl you're the tooth fairy." Said Greg

"Wait what? When was this decided?"

"Before you got here." Said Garnet, handing her some fake wings and a wand. "Make sure you get into character."

"Hmph! You're lucky I'm doing this for Steven's benefit." The disgruntled gem got into her fairy wings, much to Amethysts entertainment, and made her way to Steven's room. She looked down at the others and gave Amethyst a peeved look as she couldn't contain a snort of laughter.

"This was a great idea Greg." She slapped him on the back.

Pearl inched her way closer and tried to extract the tooth from under his pillow carefully. She froze as Steven rolled over and yawned, then managed to fish it out.

"Haha!" She whispered a bit too loudly.

"Huh?" Steven's eyes peeled back slightly. "Pearl?"

"Oh, uh- I-I am not Pearl, I am the Tooth Fairy. I cant take the tooth whilst you're awake so go back to sleep…child." She could almost hear Amethyst collapse on the floor with laughter.

"Oh, okay. Goodnight." Steven mumbled, already still tired from his long day. He rolled back over and smiled to himself.

Pearl replaced the tooth for a coin and ran back downstairs to the others, finally exhaling in relief. "I did it!"
Meanwhile, "I have the best family" Steven thought, before drifting back into his slumber.