Steven eagerly dug into his eggo; ignoring the gaze of the girl in front of him. Something felt vaguely... off about her; but he couldn't quite tell what about her was making him uneasy. Either way, she looked away every now and again and didn't leave her eggo unattended for too long; but still, her dark eyes didn't leave his curly hair for very long.

He tried to keep his gaze away; not let her know that he knew, because then she'd probably feel embarrassed. Still, though; had no one taught her it was rude to stare? He'd had that drilled into him by Pearl and her lectures. When she looked away, he decided to seize his opportunity and make the situation less awkward.

"Uh...hi, I'm Steven."

By initiating a conversation.

The girl looked back up at him; her brown eyes meeting his own for a few awkward, yet strangely intense seconds. Then, she said, in a quiet voice, "I'm... El."

Steven brightened a bit as she looked back down at her eggo. "Nice to meet you, El."

The two sat in a slightly more comfortable silence for awhile, shooting each other much briefer glances every now and again while the other wasn't looking. Suddenly, though, El spoke up.

"You're... not from here."

Nearly choking on his eggo, Steven swallowed and looked up at El. Her eerily knowing eyes gazed right back. Her gaze was... somehow more intense than before. Steven nervously cleared his throat before speaking.

"Oh! Well, I-uh-wh-what do you mean?" He stuttered with forced cheerfulness. El's gaze was unimpressed. Gosh, it reminded him of before he'd gotten control of his powers and constantly suggested stupid things to Garnet on missions. The vibes he was getting from this girl were even very similar to how he'd first felt around Garnet when he moved into the temple a year and some change ago. Quiet. Mysterious. Intimidating.

It seemed silly-no-downright ridiculous that this girl could make him uneasy after all he'd been through; after all the corrupted Gems-after Jasper, Bismuth, and Eyeball-but here he was.

"You feel... different," El noted. "Not Human. Not all the way."

Steven gasped in shock. How did she...? Did she have ESP or something? How did she know?

The intensity of her gaze increased; unfazed by his reaction to her statement.

"Explain."

Picking his jaw up off the floor, Steven blinked a few times before registering her command. He frowned; feeling a bit defensive. "Alright, alright. I'm half-Gem, okay?"

El squinted her eyes in confusion. "Gem?"

"Yeah. I'm half-Human, half-Gem."

Standing up, Steven pulled up the hem of his shirt just enough to show off the glittering pink jewel he had in place of a bellybutton; a glittering pink jewel he once displayed with only pride; now something he felt insecure about. El's eyes widened a bit.

"What... is a... Gem?"

Steven's defensiveness disappeared as he sat back down; chuckling easily. "You might not believe me, but it's a type of alien. I'm a Gem on my mom's side, and a Human on my dad's side. Because I'm part-Gem, I have magical powers; but since I'm also Human, I just look like a normal guy, y'know?"

El's eyes widened further at the words 'alien' and 'powers'. "Powers?" She asked, wanting clarification. Steven smiled slightly; some of his insecurity melting away at El's childlike curiosity.

"Here, let me show you."

He brought his hand before his Gem, and with a thought about Connie and Cookie Cats, summoned his shield over his hand. El flinched backward in alarm; mouth agape. Steven's eyes widened and he de-spawned the shield; which dissipated into diamond-shaped sparkles.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked. "I didn't mean to scare you."

El got up from her seat and walked briskly over to Steven. Despite being, he estimated, about the same age as her-fourteen-he hadn't physically aged aside from his voice since his eighth birthday; meaning she was a bit taller than him; with his head only going up to her chest.

Shakily, she took hold of his left arm and looked at it, turning it over and over, then checked his other arm and did the same. She backed away as she sighed in clear relief.

"Uh... what was that for?"

Ignoring his question, El asked him, "Where did you come from?"

Frowning at her evasion, Steven answered, "Beach City."

"Always?"

"Huh?"

"Have you... always lived there?"

"Yep, my whole life, heh heh..." Steven answered nervously. What was this girl's deal? "Have you always lived in a house?" El asked. Okay, these questions were getting weird. Not that his dad hadn't done a fine job raising him before he moved into the temple, but Steven, not being exactly eager to share the fact that he'd lived in the back of a van for most of his life, decided to fib a bit with his next answer.

"Yeah. I've lived in a beach house my whole life."

El relaxed fully and sat back down at the table. Steven hesitantly returned to his seat, keeping a wary, curious eye on her all the while. There was something off about her. She freaked out at the mention of powers, wanted to know if he'd lived in a house his whole life, and was somehow able to "feel" the fact that he wasn't fully Human. He caught a glimpse of something black beneath the blue hair band on her wrist. It had slipped a little, revealing what looked like a tattoo. Three numbers.

011.

What was going on?

A/N: For reference, this takes place the morning after Steven met Hopper in the middle of the night in the last chapter. The second half of that chapter with Steven and the other kids was later in the day after this chapter. I looked up a picture of El posing for her mugshot in season 4 to find out her height: 5'6. Fun fact, that's 16 year-old Steven's height! Current/14 year-old Steven is, according to the Internet, 4'2. Looking back at El's mugshot, that places him at about her chest in terms of height. Way taller than he looks in the show, obviously. That's the thing that's always hard about cartoon/live-action crossovers. I never know how I'm supposed to translate the cartoon character's cartoony proportions to live-action; but hey, since fans of both SU and ST like to think Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin's actor) would play a live-action Steven, I like to think Steven looks a bit like Dustin in this fic.

Review and tell me your thoughts! Like what you see so far? Hate it? Want me to continue? Tell me! Reviews fuel my motivation! I hope you enjoyed, and, as Steven would say (even if it's not the weekend)...

Have a great weekend!