Hello, my lovely people! I hope everyone is having a great week! From now on, I will be updating every week on Tuesdays at about 2 pm eastern standard time. This is one of those fanfics that takes a bit to get into, so thank you for the favorites, follows, and comments! As always, thank you for clicking and reading; if you like this chapter, leave a comment and follow for more! It helps me know people care and keeps me motivated!

Have fun reading!

Chapter Two: Love

The sun began to set outside his top-floor window. Steven reached for his new ukulele and pulled it in close. Greg got it for Steven's birthday since he gave his old one to Pearl. His fingers stroked the strings while Steven listened to the tune.

"Of course, it's out of tune," he mumbled. He twisted the nobs and plucked the strings until the ukulele rang the right notes: G, C, E, and A. Then, he started to play a song he had made up what felt like a long time ago.

"Life and death and love and birth," he strummed slowly, somberly, quietly, "And peace and love on the planet Earth," he took a deep breath, "Is there anything that's worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth?" he sang, "ooh-" his phone rang. The strings dinged out of tune as Steven quickly stopped playing, "WHOA!" He lunged for his phone on the nightstand but knocked it to the floor. Steven put the ukelele to the side, hopped off the bed, grasped the phone, and hit accept.

"Hello?"

"Hey!" Katie said on the other line.

"Katie?"

"Yeah, that's me! Are you doing anything tonight?"

"Nope," Steven said, excited.

"Great! Do you want to go to a party with me?"

"Uh, yeah! Sure, sounds fun!"

"Sweet! Meet me in my dorm room; I'm on the second floor. I'll order us a ride!"

"Sweet! I'll be down in a bit. Wait, what should I wear?"

"Whatever you want! I'll see you when you get here," Katie hung up the phone. Steven jumped out of bed and stood in front of his closet. He grabbed a black jacket with pink liner on the inside and a black star shirt to go underneath. Steven put on his new outfit and took a quick look in the mirror. A smile snuck its way across his face. He had been to parties with Connie as Stevonnie and a couple with Pearl and Amethyst. But he hadn't been to a college party before; Steven couldn't help but be excited; he got to do something normal people usually do. It was like he was making up for lost time.

Steven grabbed his keys and phone, stuffing both in his pocket as he left the dorm room, locking the door behind him. Maybe everything was going to be ok. The world could wait for one more night, and so could studying for that test. He deserved to have a little fun.

Just not too much fun; he has had plenty of that in his life already.

Katie heard knocking at her door; Steven must be here. She put down her eyeshadow brush and yelled, "Coming!" Katie stood in front of the door and looked through the peephole, just as she thought it was Steven. She smiled as she opened the door, "Hey Steven, come in!"

"Hey!" Steven smiled, "Thank you for inviting me!"

"Of course! No problem," Katie said. She returned to her spot in front of the mirror while Steven sat awkwardly in her desk chair. Though the sink was small, Katie's makeup covered every inch of space. Makeup brushes in all different sizes stood inside a coffee mug with the school's mascot, a tiger.

Katie held a makeup pallet full of natural-toned eyeshadows, ranging from light to dark, pressed into circular shapes. Katie dipped a smaller brush into a sparkly black color and applied it tightly to her lash line. She wore a cropped, low-cut tank top with black ripped jean shorts. "I'm almost done; wanna play some music while I finish up? I got a boom box with an aux over by my bed."

"Sure! Anything you'd like me to play?"

"I'm not picky; you decide!" Katie gushed, "I wanna hear what you're into." Steven opened his music app and scrolled through his songs until he landed on the perfect song to play. Technically, it is a mashup of two songs he liked. Both songs were perfect on their own, but just like fusion, they were not two songs, not one song; they were an experience.

The song started somberly and slowly started to pick up. Katie began to sway to the music; she closed her eye shadow pallet and placed it back on the sink, perfectly balanced in its small place. She danced as she grabbed her mascara wand and started mouthing the words; Steven smiled and started lip-singing with her. They began to dance, both to their own beat.

Katie and Steven sang along, "Please don't go, please don't go, I love you so, I love you so, please break my heart!" Boom, the beat dropped, and the guitar rang; Steven and Katie bumped into each other slightly. A glow came from Steven's Gem, his eyes widened, and he quickly turned away. Katie tilted her head in confusion, "What was that?"

"Nothing!" Steven said nervously, "I think I just got a text message." Steven got out his phone to sell his excuse for the mysterious glowing. He opened up his messages app, purposely so Katie could see it.

"Oh, ok," Katie shrugged, turning back towards the mirror. She opened the mascara and began to apply it, "Nice pick! I love alt-j, but I didn't hear that version of Breezeblocks before."

"Thanks, it's a mashup with another song called Take a Slice," Steven enthused.

"I'll have to listen to that song separately then," Katie said, "to understand why two things are better together, one must understand why they are special apart."

"That's a nice sentiment," Steven said. She reminded him of Garnet talking of fusion.

"My grandma taught it to me while making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," Katie laughed.

"Your grandma sounds like a cool person."

"She was," Katie said sadly, "she really was." Katie pulled out her phone to change the subject. "Anyway, I'll go ahead and order the ride now; it'll be ready after I put on some lipstick."

The driver stopped as close as he could to the house party; a lot of traffic covered the road. Katie and Steven stepped out of the car and waved bye to the driver. They walked along the crumbling sidewalk. The street was dark, only lit by the neighboring house's porch lights. The thumping base struck their ears; they could see the house making the racket. LED lights flashed through the windows, and the figures of bodies moving around to the music gave it away.

"There it is!" Katie said, "Some of my friends should be inside; I'll introduce you!"

"The place looks crowded," Steven said, slightly concerned.

"Yeah, it is," Katie agreed, "It won't be for long. People usually end up leaving and going to the bars in town."

They walked up the steep steps to the front door; Katie was about to open it when a hand blocked her way. A skinny, frat boy with blonde hair and a backwards hat stood in front of the door. He sized up Katie, moving his gaze from her feet up. Katie rolled her eyes. "Seriously?"

"What? I have to see if you are carrying any weapons of mass destruction," the frat boy grinned, his eyes landed on her chest, "Good, it looks like you are carrying weapons of mass destruction, two of them, to be exact."

"Shut up," Katie huffed, "just let us in." Katie crossed her arms; being looked at like that made her uncomfortable. Steven furrowed his eyebrow and put a hand on Katie's shoulder.

"Leave her alone," Steven commanded, "She doesn't like that!"

"Who is this?" The frat guy asked, "Is he your boyfriend."

"No!" Katie groaned, "Would you just let us in already!?"

"Hmmm," the frat guy pondered, "I don't know, it's pretty full tonight."

"So? I've seen this place way worse," Katie stated.

"Let's see, for you. It's free. But, for him…" the frat boy stated; he held up his hand and rubbed his fingers together.

"I'm not giving you anything," Katie said, furious.

"Well, that's too bad; it looks like your friend has to stay outside," he said, "I can always find you a better one anyway. Or, be a better one." He walked forward into Katie's personal space. He smelled like day-old beer and smoke. Steven shoved him back, getting in between the two of them.

"Step off," Steven said, glaring at the frat guy—his eyes were full of murderous intent; the last time he looked at someone this way, their Gem ended up shattered. The frat boy felt a chill run down his spine. "Why would anybody ever want to talk to you?"

"Ok, ok!" The frat boy said, scared. "God, can't you take a joke?! Go ahead." He stepped out of the way and let the two enter.

"Whatever, asshole," Katie muttered quietly. She grabbed Steven's jacket and pulled him inside with her. The frat guy shut the door behind them. The music pounded even louder inside; the crowd stood together in the living room, participating in various shenanigans. People stood on tables, holding boxed wine and squeezing it into the open mouths of willing participants below. Girls stood on top of chairs, singing drunkenly to each other, and the DJ worked his set up in the corner with two speakers shaking the floor.

"Are you ok?" Steven asked.

"Yeah," Katie said, shaking off her encounter at the door, "let's just go find my friends." Katie offered her hand, "So we don't get separated in the crowd." Steven nodded and took it. Katie weeded through the crowd, saying "excuse me" to every person she had to push past. Through the sea of bodies, she saw a couple of her girl-friends dancing with two guys.

"Katie!" They yelled.

"Hey, guys!" Katie gave both girls a hug, "This is Steven! We are in the same History class!"

"Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too!" Steven said. The bass thumped, and the crowd moved to the music; a flow took Steven and Katie over. They found themselves dancing along with the swaying crowd. Their untrained movements to a song they both didn't know made them laugh awkwardly.

While they continued to dance, the front door opened. A man stood in the door frame, scanning the crowd. His eyes landed on Steven, unaware of the man's presence. The mysterious man opened his jacket, pulled out a fifty-dollar bill, and handed it to the frat guy. He seemed overly excited to receive such a gift.

The man approached the DJ booth and beckoned the DJ to lean in close. He whispered a request in the DJ's ear, but the DJ disagreed and tried to return to the music. When the DJ looked back up, a fifty-dollar bill dangled before him. The DJ nodded and took it without a second thought.

The crowd erupted, screaming the lyrics to a rap song as it ended on a high note. Everyone cheered, a microphone screeched on, and the DJ spoke into it, "Is everyone having a good time!?" Katie and Steven cheered as the crowd hollered and clapped. "Alright! I got something out of the ordinary for you guys. This song comes from outer space and enters our party with grace! Steven, this song's for you." The DJ put the microphone down, and the song started to play. The first few cords played, and suddenly he was in his dad's van listening to that song for the first time, learning where Greg got the last name Universe from and why he ran away from his parents.

"Lookin' for your place in the Universe-" The first few lyrics played for the confused crowd, who never hear this song before. But Steven knew it; he was the only one in the room who knew it. His face turned pale; his heart raced like it was going to beat out of his chest. Katie grew concerned and tapped him on the shoulder, pulling him out of the vortex of bad memories and fear.

"Huh?" Steven said, startled.

"Hey, it sounds like a pretty cool song," Katie said awkwardly, "Who requested it for you?'

"I-I'm not sure," Steven stated. His head was on a swivel, gazing from corner to corner, seeing if he'd recognized anybody.

"Hey, you alright?" she asked, "you're looking a little pale." A displeasing look appeared on his face as his eyes landed on the man in the corner. He was clearly out of place in this college frat party world. Too nicely dressed to be a frat guy, too old too. The man stared at Steven with a sly grin and smoking a cigarette. "What is it? What are you looking at?" Katie followed his eyes to the man in the corner; she could feel the dread oozing off him.

"Welcome to the party Mister Universe! We're so glad we are a part of you." The song continued to play as Steven and the man stared at each other.

"Who is that, Steven?" Katie asked, "Do you know him?"

"I have to go," Steven stated without looking away.

"What? But we just got here," Katie said, concerned, "is everything ok?" The man threw the still-lit cigarette on the ground and stomped it out. He fixed his jacket and exited the house through the front door. Steven shook his head and put on an apologetic smile.

"Yeah!" he said enthusiastically, "I just really need to study for my test."

"Well, I'm coming with you," Katie proclaimed, "I don't need to be here; I can go to another party next weekend."

"No, I'll be fine, just," Steven hesitated, "just, please stay here. And have fun! I'll come with you next weekend, I promise."

"No! No, you cannot leave without someone with you!" She said, worried. "This isn't a safe neighborhood, town, or city! I'm serious; you could get hurt!"

"I'll be fine," Steven said, making his way through the crowd, "Stay here!" Steven disappeared into the sea of people. An overwhelming sense of fear and anxiety plummeted into Katie's stomach. Flashes of a friend of hers beaten up and mugged came flooding in; she couldn't stop worrying and couldn't shake the ominous feeling that etched into her skin. Before she knew it, Katie pushed people out of her way, cutting through the dense crowd. "Steven!" she called out, but he had already left.