Party Preparation

Greg sat in the bedroom gifted to him by his son about a year and a half ago with his phone in hand. Steven had mentioned wanting to come visit for a few days and around now was when he was supposed to arrive. There was only one thing Greg was asked to do. Keep it a secret so it'd be a surprise for the Gems. That, however, was easier said than done. The amount of times he's almost spilled the beans on this surprise is more than can be counted on two hands, and he only had to keep it a week.

The reason for this visit was no mere coincidence either. It was August fourteenth which was a day before Steven's birthday. It would be the big eighteenth birthday for him. This is something Greg was both looking forward to and dreading. He looked forward to seeing the man his son was becoming and dreaded this officially being the end of his childhood (if you can call Steven's early life that). No parent is ever truly ready for this day.

"Where are ya, Schtu-ball," Greg quietly asked himself while looking out the window. Any moment he'd see that familiar car pulling into the beach from just around the corner… Almost as if reading his mind, his phone vibrated with the alert for a text he just received. It was from Steven telling him he was only a couple minutes away. Greg texted back, "Okay. I'll get everyone into the living room."

Practically running down the stairs, Greg shouted, "Everyone! Come to the living room! It's important!" He almost tripped in his excitement but caught himself.

The first to walk out was Pearl who was holding several swords in her hands. She was partway through reorganizing them when Greg had called. "If this is about the TV not getting signal again, I swear to…"

The door behind her opened again with Garnet being the one to come out this time. "It's not," she replied to Pearl's question despite not being there to hear it. Her future vision told her why Greg had called, and she decided to play along with the surprise. "It's important."

The door opened one last time for Amethyst who was yawning and stretching as she arrived. "Just hit it on the left side three times. Medium strength," she said.

"It's not the TV this time apparently," Pearl said.

Greg cleared his throat to regain everyone's attention and get things back on track. "I need you three to stand right there. There's someone here who'd like to see you," he explained to the three gems. He pulled his phone back out and texted Steven the go ahead to come.

Just a ways away from the temple, Steven got the text. He knew they'd see him coming if he tried going through the front door so he hopped up high and floated down onto the balcony just outside of Greg's room. He silently slid the door open and snuck inside. Maybe there should've been a lock installed on that… Oh well. Problem for later. Steven walked up to the door, braced himself, then opened it. He made it about three steps down before being noticed.

The first to notice him was Pearl. "S-Steven?" She was elated to see him and could barely contain it. She even dropped the swords she was holding.

Amethyst's attention was drawn to Pearl, who then followed where the tall gem's eyes were staring at. "Woah…"

Garnet was already looking in his direction before he even walked a single step down those stairs. "What a surprise," she said totally convincingly.

Greg turned around and immediately lit up upon seeing his son. "Schtu-ball! You've changed so much," he shouted.

And change Steven did. Walking down those stairs was a grown man with a stockier build and more facial hair than the boy who had left a year and a half ago. The beard he was growing was shaping up to be fuller than his dad's goatee though he still had a decade or two of growing it out to catch up. The biggest surprise, however, was Steven's hair. He had let it grow out, and it looked so much like his mother's in shape and volume. Just in brown instead of pink and not nearly as large in size as Pink's. "Hey everyone," he said casually.

It took only a moment before Pearl and Greg were hugging him and saying how much they had missed him. Amethyst walked up and offered Steven a fist bump he was just barely able to reciprocate with how restricted the hug made his movement. Lastly, Garnet ruffled up his hair with a smile. Despite growing so much, he still had to physically look up at Garnet.

"Steven…" Pearl said holding her hand up to his hair, "it looks so much like…" She hesitated on saying Rose or Pink, which was a good call as Steven backed up and started to somewhat try and cover up his hair with the back of his shirt. Guess his feelings about his mother are still very conflicted and touchy.

"Y-You don't say," he replied with an awkward, forced chuckle. "It's been awhile since I had a haircut… Or shaved… Never really got around to it…"

Greg stepped in real quick to save the moment. "You give it that unique Universe flair. And look on the bright side! Having your mom's hair means you probably won't start going bald like your old man." He ran his hand through the now shoulder length hair he managed to keep. It would still be a long while before he got back those long locks Aquamarine forced him to sever.

Garnet stepped in real quick to save the moment that Greg was attempting to save. "I'm sure the others would love to see you again, Steven."

"Oh right," Steven exclaimed. He was silently thanking the stars and Garnet for her abrupt change in topic. "I haven't been to Little Homeworld in ages. Wonder how the place is holding up."

"Then just go see it," Amethyst said. "Warp pad's right over there." She pointed to the familiar old warp pad sitting in front of the temple door.

"Alright. I'll be right back guys," Steven said as he ran over to the warp pad while being careful to step around the swords Pearl had dropped earlier. "See ya!" And with that, he vanished in a bright flash of light.

At Little Homeworld, Peridot found herself working on fixing some minor damage done to a building by one of the Rubies. She was on the roof using her ferrokinesis to straighten out some metal shingles. "I told her," she was grumbling to herself, "Mayor Nanefua was perfectly safe. But no, both Rubies just HAD to be certain there wasn't any danger... Don't see why they thought this building was suspicious." Her work was then interrupted by the sound of the warp pad activating. Peridot turned to see who had arrived and froze in place upon seeing who it was. "S-STEVEN!?" She had to do a double take to make sure it was really him.

She shouted plenty loud enough for him to immediately notice. "Sup Peri," he said waving up at her.

The green gem quickly started running over to him but forgot she was way up on the roof and fell down face first into the ground. She'd hop back up and continue running to him like nothing had happened. "YOU'RE BACK! WHEN DID YOU GET BACK?"

"Like… five minutes ago," he answered. "Where's Lapis and Bismuth?" Steven looked around taking in the sight of Little Homeworld for the first time since he left. It looked largely the same but with a few new additions here and there. Nothing radically different. "Hope they're still around."

Peridot suddenly ran off without warning, and when she returned she had Lapis in tow. The blue gem hadn't changed a bit from the last time he saw her. "Steven," Lazuli said quietly. She was looking him up and down and seeing how much he's changed. "You look…"

"Different," Steven tried to answer.

"Good," Lapis replied. "I really like what you did with your hair."

"Oh, really?" He ran his hand through his hair with a nervous chuckle. "Thank you." Shame he still intended on getting it cut soon.

"No problem," she replied casually. "So what brings you back?"

"Yeah, what brings you back," Peridot repeated. "You just miss us too much?" She was only joking. Or more like half joking.

"It's my birthday in," Steven pulled out his phone to check the time. "About six hours. Figured I'd hang out with friends and family for the big eighteenth birthday, ya'know?"

A booming voice caught their collective attention the moment they heard it. They all looked over to see it was none other than Bismuth exiting her forge looking like she hasn't been away from it for a good few days. "Well I'll be… If it isn't Steven Universe!" She walked up to the man and gave him a good pat on the back with enough force to nearly knock him flat in an instant. A minor consequence of her being larger than him. "How've you been, Big Man," she asked with a smile.

Steven caught himself, taking her pat like a champ. "Been much better since the last time you all saw me. Still got a way's to go, but still better," Steven answered. He rubbed his shoulder where she had hit him and when he looked, he saw black soot covering his hand. "Looks like you've been busy. The forge getting a lot of bismuth lately?"

The large gem appreciated his joke even if Peridot and Lapis didn't find it as funny. "You know it. I've been prepping some stuff for a little event in Beach City next week on Monday. It's to help strengthen Human-Gem relations since some people in town still aren't too keen on gems."

"I'm sure they'll come around," Steven said.

"I hope so," Bismuth replied. "Otherwise, all this work was for nothing." And given the state of Bismuth's appearance, it had to have been a lot of work so far.

"How about you take a little break." Steven returned that pat on the back though not moving Bismuth as much as she had moved him. "Swing by the house tonight. We're having a little get together. But uh… Just you three. We're trying to keep this on the downlow. Don't want to crowd the place. Ya'know?"

"Downlow. Got it," Peridot reaffirmed. "You can count on us showing up," she answered for all three of them.

"Alright! See you guys in let's say… a few hours?" Steven gave all three of them a quick smile and a wave before hopping back onto the warp pad and disappearing in a bright flash of light once again.