Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or any of its characters; I only own my O.C.! I hope you guys enjoy today's exciting chapter!
Garnet: We...
Pearl and Amethyst: Are the Crystal...
Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Moonstone, Steven: Gems!
Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Moonstone, Steven: We'll always save the day!
Steven: And if you think we can't...
Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Moonstone, Steven: We'll..always find a way!
Garnet: That's why the people (Pearl, Amethyst, Moonstone, Steven: Of this world!) of this world! Believe in...
Moonstone: Moonstone!
Garnet: Garnet!
Amethyst: Amethyst!
Pearl: And Pearl!
Steven: And Steven!
So Many Birthdays
Another day arose over the beach house temple in Beach City. The sun was shining, the seagulls were chirping, and inside, something was absolutely STINKING UP THE JOINT!
Steven was trying to concentrate on a video game he was playing upstairs in his room when his nose caught a whiff of something very bad. He scrunched his face up, saying, "Ugh, what reeks"?
Downstairs in the kitchen, Pearl was currently washing the dishes when she smelled something that stunk really bad, causing the gem to reel back and hold her nose in disgust, saying, "What in galaxy's name is that horrible scent"?
Outside on the roof, Moonstone was sitting on the roof, reading a book she pulled out of her bookshelf when an odd odor floated out of the chimney, and she smelled it, making the gem's face turn green and cough, commenting, "Note: that is a VERY unpleasant odor"! The smell was so strong that it caused her to lose her balance, drop her book, and fall off the roof, landing on the ground below.
Steven came down the stairs, holding his nose, greeted by the sight of Moonstone coming into the house. He asked her, sounding nasally, "Hey, Moonstone. Did you happen to smell it too"?
"You mean the really bad odor that is residing in the temple? Yes, I've smelled it," Moonstone replied, sounding a little sick.
On cue, Garnet entered the house via the warp pad, and while she did not physically respond to the bad smell, she did comment, "Something stinks in here."
"We know," Steven, Moonstone, and Pearl, who had both hands covering her nose, replied in unison.
"Where on Earth is that smell coming from," Pearl asked.
Steven noticed an airy trail of the stinky odor coming through the archway draft of the temple door, making him point out, "I think it's coming from in there."
Just then, the temple door opened, showing Amethyst's room; Amethyst currently coming outside, a big green cloud of stink following her and floating into the air, as she said, "Hey, guys! What's going on"?
The scent cloud was enough to make the already bad odor even more overwhelming, causing Steven, Pearl, and Moonstone to cover their noses and mouths and flinch back, trying to avoid a full face-on connection with the bad smell. Garnet did not seem to show any bodily response to the smell but verbally responded by saying, "Steven was right."
"Amethyst! What on Earth do you have in your room," Pearl immediately snapped out loud once she uncovered her mouth and placed her hand back onto her nose, looking up at Amethyst.
Amethyst replied, "My collection of junk and stuff, duh."
"Well, note: one of your "junk and stuff" is making the temple smell like old cheese mixed with a dirty gym sock," Moonstone replied, her voice muffled since she had one hand covering her mouth to avoid puking and the other pinching her nose shut so she wouldn't smell the odor.
"It stinks," Steven stated, trying to avoid breathing in the smell.
Amethyst thought that the others were overreacting, stating, "I don't know why you guys are freaking out; I don't smell anything."
"You obviously can't because your nose is too blinded to smell the stink coming from your piles of garbage," Pearl bluntly addressed, kneeling down so she was at glaring eye-level with Amethyst.
"Hey, it's not garbage; it's stuff I think is cool," Amethyst harshly argued while glaring back up at Pearl.
"Well, whatever you think of it, it smells horrible," Pearl retorted back.
"Maybe to you, but not me," Amethyst argued back.
Before the two could continue into their argument, Garnet stepped in, using her hands to separate the two while stating, "Enough. Amethyst, Pearl is right; whatever is in your room is making the temple smell bad, and we must get it out before Steven or anyone else gets sick."
Amethyst groaned tiredly before responding as she crossed her arms, "Fine. But Pearl better not touch ANY of my stuff"!
"I'll touch it if it means getting rid of that bad smell in what you call your "room," Pearl bluntly reported, making
Amethyst glared back up at Pearl, visibly annoyed.
Steven then asked, "But what if it's something's squishy and really gross"?
When Steven asked that question, Moonstone felt something touch her back and noticed that a long stick had gotten into her hair. She pulled it out and, developing na idea, gave it to Steven, saying, "Here, you can use this so you don't have to touch it if it's too aesthetically revolting to grasp."
Steven accepted the stick, saying, "Thanks, Moon."
"Onward, ho," Steven declared while using his free hand to keep his nose covered as he matched into Amethyst's room, the gems following him inside.
Inside Amethyst's room, Steven was using the stick to poke around for whatever could be the source of the horrible stench.
As they trekked deeper into the room, Pearl was looking up at Amethyst's large collection piles, asking the purple gem, "How can you live like this"?
"It was fine 'til you guys started whining," Amethyst retorted, not seeing the big deal about her room smelling bad.
Pearl, who had kept her nose covered, retorted, "Whining?! The whole temple reeks"!
"Note: I have to agree with Pearl with this one, and i was able to smell this stench OUTSIDE the temple," Moonstone pointed out.
Meanwhile, Steven kept using his stick to poke at each pile until his stick touched something that was covered in tinfoil, and the smell was REALLY strong, which meant that this was where the stink was originating from.
Plus, it luckily did not loom gross or squishy to hold, which was enough assurance for Steven to pick it up while telling the gems, "I found it"!
The gems came over and saw what Steven had found, with Pearl asking, "What matter of magical alloy is this"?
To answer that question, Steven braved the chance and started to unwrap the tin foil, making a gas of stink come out and reveal the contents inside. The source of the bad odor was none other than the smell of a rotten, moldy, expired burrito.
"It's a burrito," Garnet stated.
Moonstone commented, covering her nose, "Ugh, it smells like bacteria and swamp residue mixed with...fish for some reason"?
Amethyst eagerly took the revealed burrito, explaining, "It's the Tuna Burrito from Aqua-Mexican"!
"That place closed like 5 years ago," Steven pointed out.
"Yeah, and you ordered it around 6 years ago; you've been keeping it for that long," Moonstone inquired Amethyst.
"Hey, I was saving it till I got hungry," Amethyst answered before she ceremoniously took a bit from the spoiled burrito, the gross display making Pearl'a jaw drop and her eyes widen in horror, and Steven and Moonstone shudder in disgust.
"Note: I'm gonna be sick," Moonstone stated in a gross-out while clutching her stomach and looking away from Amethyst's gross dining.
Meanwhile, Steven had noticed something standing out in one of the piles, and his gaze met with what he saw, making him ask, "What's this"?
It was a picture in a wooden frame that possessed Rose Quartz (his mother), Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, and Moonstone riding about with some sailors. Garnet appeared to be punching a Great White Shark, and Pearl and Amethyst were helping one of the sailors out of the water while the other sailors watched in awe, Moonstone was taking notes, and Rose was feeling the breeze that blew around them.
Rose Quartz was shown to have pale peach skin, bright pink lips, thick curly pink hair, her gemstone on her naval (just like Steven's), and was wearing a gorgeous light pink dress that went all the way down to her ankles. Though in the picture, she was also shown wearing a white polo shirt, a pearl white scarf around her neck, and a brown bag strapped onto her back.
Pearl, in the picture, was wearing a silver T-shirt with matching long baggy pants, a dark teal jacket with a teal ribbon in the middle and a teal bow tied near the top of the jacket, and dark turquoise ankle-high boots, and her hair looked tightly curled, with a small ponytail in the back that was tied up with a yellow ribbon.
Where Garnet was seen punching the shark, Garnet was wearing round glasses, a white collared shirt with a red ribbon tied on the collar, a pale pink jacket over the shirt, dark-magenta gloves that covered her hands, crimson pants, and brown boots.
Back in the corner where Pearl was, Amethyst was seen wearing a dark purple captain-like jacket with gold buttons, black shoulder pads with light purple tassel, and indigo cuffs, indigo pants, black boots, and a matching dark purple captain's hat with a black rim.
Moonstone was seen sitting behind Garnet, her hair styled up in a long braid, and her outfit consisted of a long-sleeve white polo shirt, a cobalt-blue sleeveless sweater vest with purple buttons, a magenta scarf (bandanna style instead of scarf style) around her neck, purple pants with turquoise boots, and a light blue tricorne hat with a light green rim on her head.
Steven gazed at the picture, commenting, "It kinda looks like you guys and my mom."
Pearl noticed the image and smiled, telling Steven eagerly as she bent down to pick the picture up, "Oh, Steven, that is us."
"Really," Steven asked, surprised to hear this.
"Oh yes," Moonstone replied, adding on, "That was the day we went across the Delaware river with some sailors who were looking for their general"!
"The hard part was getting the shark to pose," Garnet mentioned.
Steven noticed what the gems were wearing in the picture and asked, "Why is everyone dressed like old-timey people"?
"They are old-timey people," Pearl answered while placing the picture on top of one of the junk piles.
"That picture was taken back in 1776, about 236 years and five months ago, to be precise," Moonstone added while looking over her notes.
Steven was trying to process all of this new info, commenting, "Wait... But that would mean..." before he realized something shocking and asked a very daring question, "How old are you guys"?
"Much older than any human," Pearl happily answered, with the rest of the gems nodding in agreement.
Steven was very surprised to hear this; if the gems were older than any human, they must've been living on Earth for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, like immortal heroes! This prompted the boy's eyes to light up excitedly as he then asked, "Does that mean you'll live forever"?!
"Well, not exactly," Moonstone answered as Pearl explained, "No, no. We don't age, but we can still get hurt and die."
Seeing how quickly Steven's frown turned upside down from Pearl's blunt response, Moonstone quickly added to try and make it not sound as bad, "What Pearl MEANT to say is that while yes, we don't age like humans do, our illusional light forms are still capable of succumbing to injuries and fatal extremities, so we aren't "immortal" or "indestructible" as the humans say."
Suddenly, the group heard the sound of someone groaning and noticed Amethyst, whose skin had turned pale green, and she was shaking slightly, holding her stomach as she fell over sickly.
"Luckily though, food poisoning is NOT one of those fatal extremities," Moonstone clarified while shaking her head.
Happily, it did help Steven forget about his worries as he went back to thinking about how amazing it was that the gems had been on Earth for a lot longer than he thought. He exclaimed to them, "I just can't believe you guys are like a bazillion years old," before asking, "How do you find a cake big enough for all those candles"?
"Candles? For...," Moonstone inquired curiously.
"Your birthdays, of course," Steven answered eagerly.
This was new to the gems; they had never celebrated their birthdays before, as there was never really a need to honor the occasion. After all, gems were rocks, and they didn't have an exact birth date like humans. Garnet, Pearl, and Moonstone exchanged a look at one another before Garnet told Steven, "We don't really celebrate birthdays."
As the news befell Steven, he gasped in shock, almost unable to understand this travesty, as he asked incredulously, "Why not"?!
"It's not our way," Garnet replied with a shrug.
"Note: we normally don't even consider the day that we are "born" to be one of great occasion, so there's never been a need to celebrate," Moonstone added on.
Steven, however, was not gonna let this injustice stand! His friends deserved to celebrate their birthday, and he was gonna help them make up for all the years of missed birthdays!
He stood proudly, exclaiming to them, "Well, I can't just ignore this tremesty of unjustice. I pledge that you will have your birthdays with all the candy, cake, and ice cream you've been denied"!
However, the only real tremesty that emerged from that statement was Amethyst, who felt her queasy stomach grow more profound with the sound of all the cake, candy, and ice cream Steven would get for them, causing her to hunch over and throw up in response to her food poisoning.
A little while later, everyone was gathered outside on the beach, with Steven leading a huge birthday party that he worked hard to make all by himself. There was a large table full of snacks, plates, party hats, and a giant cake with multiple candles on it (because Steven didn't know how many to put on for all the missed birthdays). Streamers and balloons with hand-drawn faces were hanging above them, decorating the scenery, and each gem was wearing a party hat. Steven had a yellow party hat on, Pearl, who was sitting on a blue folding chair, had a light blue party hat, Garnet, who sat on a pink folding chair, had a magenta party hat. And Moonstone, who was sitting on the and in between Pearl and Garnet, had a purple party hat.
Amethyst, however, was sitting in a big throne-like chair Steven had pulled out, facing her teammates, and currently had on a red king's cape around her neck.
Steven was standing behind the throne, holding a gold-and-red birthday-themed crown in his hands, and declared as he placed the crown on Amethyst's head, "And the birthday queen is, Amethyst"!
Amethyst was very curious about the "unique" outfit that Steven gave her while Steven said to the purple gem, "I hope you like it, Dad made me this outfit, and it brings me special birthday luck every year."
"Note: luck is technically a superstitous facet of the human beliefs regarding-," Moonstone started to clarify until Garnet interrupted her, saying, "Let it be; Steven is the one introducing the concept of birthday parties to us."
Meanwhile, Steven had pulled out a blue toy microphone and pressed a button, turning it on so it could start playing some music. The catchy tune was more than enough for Steven to start singing, "It might as well be your birthday, so why don't we have a party? Even if your age isn't real and your body's an illusion."
However, he quickly got interrupted when a big pink lion with a light pink mane was seen toying with a blue party hat with gold star patterns. Steven quickly stopped Steven and ran to the lion, telling him to stop and picking it up, placing it on the lion;s head while explaining, "I-it goes like this."
The party hat itself looked very cute on the lion, but the creature didn't seem comfortable with how it felt to wear it, and batted its paws in an effort to try and pry the hat off its head.
Steven tried to get the lion to keep it on, telling it, "Lion, you're killing me."
"I still question how Steven is able to house Lion as a suitable pet, but I will admit it is funny seeing Lion in his element," Moonstone commented to herself while holding back a snicker.
While Garnet, Amethyst, and Moonstone seemed to be enjoying the festivities, Pearl felt very unsure about how to feel about it. Yes, she greatly admired the lengths Steven went to make the party fun, but it all felt a bit...silly to her. Truth be told, Pearl felt like the endearing party and its fun little "antics" would better suit someone of Steven's characteristics, more specifically, a child like him.
This thought prompted Pearl to ask Steven while holding a balloon that had a silly face drawn onto it, "Um, Steven? I know you put a lot of effort into... putting faces on things. But could it be that we're just a tad mature for this ritual"?
Before an answer could be explained, Amethyst had walked up to Pearl, wearing a light green party hat around her face to mimic Pearl's pointy nose, and poked Pearl's nose with it while saying, "Boop."
That really ticked off Pearl, leaving Amethyst to run off while laughing, thinking that it was funny, while Pearl chased her, exclaiming, "You will remove that this instant"!
Garnet maintained her stoic posture while watching Pearl and Amethyst at one another once again, while Moonstone couldn't contain her laughter, chuckling out loud while clutching her ribs.
Steven, however, when he saw what was going on, immediately forgot about getting Lion to wear his party hat and went to stop Pearl and Amethyst from fighting before things could get out of hand.
He ran over, seeing Pearl trying to reach over and grab the party hat right off of Amethyst's face while Amethyst was pulling it forward,d keeping it away from Pearl.
He shouted to both girls, "Wait," before he gave Amethyst a wooden baseball bat with a ribbon tied on it, telling her, "Here."
Amethyst happily accepted the bat, initially thinking that Steven got it for her as a gift that she could use to bash someone's head with, telling Steven in gratitude, "Awww, thanks! I'll use it all the time," before winding the bat up, set to hit Pearl with it.
Luckily, Steven stopped Amethyst by explaining to her, "No! It's for the piñata," before pointing at a colorful donkey-shaped pinata hanging from a stick.
Amethyst seemed to understand, saying in response, "Oh," before grinning excitedly and raising her bat, set to smash it into smithereens.
However, Steven tied a blindfold around her eyes before she could, making Amethyst stumble a bit while asking, "Hey, what gives, man?! What's with the blindfold"?!
"You have to wear a blindfold so it makes it harder to hit the piñata," Steven answered as he picked up the stick and held it high, raising the piñata up with it, telling Amethyst, "Ok, give it a try"!
"Got it," Amethyst responded before wildly swinging the bat around to see if she could smack the piñata.
As Amethyst was up at bat, Pearl approached Steven, asking him while looking at the piñata in confusion, "Steven, what as this strangely-shaped animalistic being have to do with a birthday"?
Steven started to answer the question, telling Pearl, who listened in confusion, "Well, you see, Pearl. The piñata is an artifact from ancient Aqua-Mexico-,"
But before he could finish explaining, one wild swing of the bat that almost bonked Steven hard scared the boy, making him scream and run towards Garnet, handing her the piñata as he hid behind the tall gem.
Amethyst, luckily, seemed to follow where he went and was still swinging the bat around, trying to whack the piñata.
A few of her swings almost hit Moonstone, who quickly ducked and moved to avoid the strikes before retorting, "Hey, watch where you hit that thing"!
Amethyst then turned around, facing Garnet, and wound up hitting her multiple times with the bat while asking with each swing, "Am I... getting... close"?!
One bat swing hit Garnet on the right side of her head, her thick hair luckily cushioning the hit so it wouldn't have done a lot of damage as Garnet replied, "Higher."
Seeing that she was getting nowhere, Amethyst snuck a little peak by raising the blindfold up, exposing her right eye so she could see how high the piñata was. Setting her target, she slipped the blindfold back on, jumped, and gave the piñata a whack so hard that instead of it breaking, the piñata was sent way out into the ocean.
"Note: was that supposed to happen," Moonstone inquired Steven, who shook his head "no" in response.
Amethyst thought that she had "won" by sending the piñata away, asking as she tossed the blindfold away, asking the startled boy, "Ha, what next Steven"?
Steven hesitantly pointed out in relation to the piñata, "Well, you were supposed to get delicious candy when you broke it open."
That surprised Amethyst when she sadly shouted, "Wait, you had candy, and you didn't just give it to us"?
"Amethyst, I think the point of the piñata was for you to try and "get" the candy out so then you can receive it," Moonstone stated.
"Moon's right," Steven commented before telling Amethyst, "But not to worry; there will be more sweet treats at Pearl's party, I promise."
The next spot on Steven's birthday party celebration was the cliffside that faced Beach City. Everyone was sitting on a spread-out picnic basket, and this time, Pearl was dawning the "birthday royalty" crown and cape while Amethyst had on two party hats simultaneously.
The gems and Lion were facing Steven, who was dressed up like a clown with a colorful afro wig, a red rubber nose, a long white tank top that seemed too big to fit, and dark blue sandals on his feet, along with white face powder and pink clown lipstick covering his face.
Clown Steven was ready to put on a show, exclaiming, "Happy Birthday! HONK," and honking his rubber nose, which made a squeak sound.
While mostly everyone was a little "perplexed" with Steven's humorous appearance, Amethyst was having a laugh about it, commenting, "Steven! That is a brave look."
"No, it's funny," Steven happily pointed out.
"I don't know whether to agree with the humorous annotation or to be aesthetically freaked out," Moonstone commented, more confused with Steven's "clown" appearance.
She wasn't the only one confused about it as Pearl asked Steven how his "look" was supposed to be funny.
Steven was about to explain but stopped, realizing, "Oh geez, I'm breaking character."
Deciding to try and bring back the humorous antics, he commented, "Wait, wait, wait. I wrote some jokes," and pulled out some papers with written jokes on them. He read one joke that he thought would get some laughs, "Why did Pearl throw butter out the window"?
However, the joke question was instead understood from a literal aspect, with Amethyst asking Pearl in confusion, "You did what"?
Pearl was very taken aback, about to respond, when Steven exclaimed, "To see a butter-fly"!
"Note: I don't get it," Moonstone stated with confusion, adding in, "Butter cannot fly; it has no levitational appendages or abilities. It possesses no hollow bones, and the force of Pearl throwing it would've-,"
But Pearl quickly interrupted, saying to her and Amethyst, "I never did that," before asking Steven worryingly. "Steven, are you telling lies"?
That was when Steven noticed that the gems didn't seem to understand the joke and worried that they were taking offense from it. He quickly stopped and tried to think of something that could be a quick recovery act that was SURE to make Pearl and the gems laugh before an idea struck him, making Steven grin and say, "Oh, I know! Pearl, do you like pie"?
It seemed to work because the question made Pearl smile and respond, "I DO like pie."
"Which is ironic considering you DON'T like to eat," Moonstone pointed out with a playful smirk, causing Amethyst to snicker and Pearl to roll her eyes in annoyance.
On cue, Steven was pulling out a delicious, warm, tasty pie from his picnic basket, saying, "Well then, you're in luck; I baked you a pie," before adding playfully, "I sure hope nothing happens to it"!
"Yes, me too," Pearl responded.
Then, as Steven was coming towards Pearl with the pie, he intentionally made himself trip so it'd appear that he'd fall right into the pie and splatter it all over.
However, Pearl took Steven's "Tripping Act" literally, thinking he was actually "Stumbling" and about to fall, prompting her to get up and catch Steven while saying, "WOAH! Steven, I've got you."
She stood him back up on his feet, telling him at first, "Be careful, you almost fell right on that-," before becoming very startled when Steven splattered the pie onto his face, pie cream dripping down.
The pie splattering also took aback the other gems as Steven told Pearl with glee, "See, Pearl? It's funnnnnnnnny"!
Moonstone seemed to get it, saying, "Oh, I get it," and laughed, saying, "Intentional misfortune; it IS funny"!
Pearl, however, didn't seem to find it as humorous and hid behind Pearl, whispering something to the tall gem before Garnet told Steven, "Pearl says she's all partied out, and she's ready to go home."
Hearing that, Steven panicked a bit before saying, "Uh, wait, not yet! We haven't done Moonstone's party yet, and it'll be a lot of fun"!
Steven then turned around and said to himself, "I can't give up yet," while taking the wig, adding in, "Luckily, the next party will have the perfect activity I'm sure they'll like."
The next stop that Steven took the gems to was the boardwalk, and this time, Moonstone was wearing the "birthday royalty" outfit.
At the moment, Garnet was sitting on the bench, and Pearl, Amethyst, Steven, and Moonstone were sitting around her, in a circle fashion, and Lion was napping by the entrance sign for Funland.
Steven had a nicely wrapped rectangular-shaped present on his lap with red wrapping paper and orange ribbon tied onto it, and a small radio that was next to him.
Moonstone asked Steven, "So, what's this activity that you have planned next"?
Steven explained, "We're doing a classic party game called "Pass the Parcel"! You get a present, but it's not just wrapped once; it's wrapped up with multiple layers of wrapping paper! Someone plays music and while the music plays, you pass the present around to everyone in a circle. Then, someone pauses the music, and whoever has the present gets to unwrap it! Then, you do it all over again, until the last person removes the last layer of wrapping paper and reveals the gift"!
"But why would you want to cover a present with so much paper when it's already going to be revealed in the end," Pearl asked in confusion.
Steven answered, "Because it adds excitement! you don't know what's gonna be the gift, so it makes it all the mote fun to see what it's gonna be"!
Moonstone thought about it before grinning, saying, "Sounds both mysterious and intriguing. Let's play this "Pass the Parcel."
Steven grinned happily as he turned on the radio, starting to play some catchy Techno music, before he passed the present over to Moonstone, who passed it over to Amethyst, who passed it to Garnet, who passed it to Pearl. The circle of passing repeated itself for another solid round until Steven pressed the button on the radio, pausing the music.
At that time, Pearl had the present in her lap, meaning she got to tear the first layer of wrapping paper open. She carefully opened the wrapping paper, revealing the present still covered but now with purple wrapping paper. Pearl looked at the present and was about to unwrap the second layer when Steven stopped her by saying, "Wait, stop! You already unwrapped a layer; now, we resume the music and pass the parcel around again."
Pearl still seemed confused, commenting, "But I don't understand why we still need to continue passing the present around after it's landed on one person."
"P, quit hogging the present and get to passing it so I can tear me open some paper," Amethyst shouted, growing impatient.
Pearl sighed in annoyance as Steven resumed the music, and the rounds of passing the present continued.
When the music stopped, Garnet was now the one who had the present and unwrapped the second layer, revealing another layer of wrapping paper, green this time.
After another round of passing with music, the next time that the music paused, Amethyst had the gift. She eagerly tore off the next layer, revealing yet ANOTHER layer of wrapping paper, yellow wrapping paper this time.
Another round of passing followed, and this time, once the music paused, Moonstone had the gift in her hands; when she unwrapped it, the present was finally revealed, and it turned out to be a box of chocolates. Moonstone smiled and said, "Yes! Awww, Steven, I love this gift"!
Amethyst noticed what the present was and gasped, shouting, "What?! Moon's got chocolate?! no fair"!
"Uh, note; it's totally fair because I unwrapped the last layer, and the gift was revealed to me, not to you. So, as the humans say, "Tough luck, bub," Moonstone retorted.
The purple gem immediately lunged at Moonstone, who leaned back and held the box of chocolates away from her, with Pearl getting up and holding back Amethyst with all her might.
Steven saw the little scuffle and became very worried, saying to himself, "This isn't going at all like it should."
Determined to make the birthday celebration better and turn things around, Steven looked down at his hands and declared, "I've got to pull out the ultimate birthday"!
The "ultimate birthday" move was gonna be pulled off at the empty lot near the Big Donut. Amethyst was now wearing three party hats on her head, and Garnet was wearing the "royal birthday" outfit.
Steven faced the gems and told them happily, "Okay, there's no way you're not gonna love this," and gestured to what he had laid out for them to do.
Scattered about the lot were little cars; one resembled a standard red convertible, another one looked like a big green army jeep, and the other car was in the shape of a yellow beetle-standard car.
"We're...fixing up cars," Moonstone asked in confusion while adjusting the party hat on her head.
Steven giggled before explaining, "It's kazoo racers! You get in a car, you play a kazoo," and blew into a kazoo before adding, "What more could you want," before offering the gems four kazoos, one for each of them.
"Dad used to do this for me every year, and it's been my favorite birthday tradition," Steven added on while patting the red car's hood as if it were a real car.
While it sounded like a lot of fun, the gems, however, did not know what to think, mainly because they knew that they were WAY too big to fit into any of those tiny cars, one. Two, the event, albeit fun, sounded like something a little kid would enjoy more than they would.
Pearl was feeling overwhelmed by all the earlier birthday antics, and now, witnessing this one and feeling her anxiety rising by the second, she commented quietly to Garnet so Steven wouldn't hear her, "I think this is why aging makes humans die"!
"Note: even I have to admit that this is a little too much for me," Moonstone whispered quietly to Amethyst.
Garnet then stepped forward towards Steven, telling him firmly but gently, "Steven, thank you for the birthday parties, but I don't think we'll need any more."
Steven couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, asking Garnet, "Why not"?
Garnet replied while taking off the birthday crown, "Our age is only an illusion. And Pearl's pretty sure this ritual is more for human children."
"Nothing against children," Pearl added remorsefully, not wanting Steven to feel offended since he was a child.
"Yeah, we're, how would you say it? A bit too "old" for this kind of event. Perhaps you're better suited to be holding these parties with other human children," Moonstone clarified with worry in her voice.
Steven, however, was a little taken aback, clarifying to the gems, "Children? Everyone gets to have birthdays. Seriously, give it a try; you're never too old," while bringing the small red convertible car up for one of the gems to try.
"We're just too big," Garnet pointed out.
Steven didn't think that they were too big to try kazoo racers, and was set on proving his point by trying to get into one of the cars himself, saying as he did so, "You're not too big. Y-y-you just get in, and then, uh..." but even he himself was too big to fit in the little car.
Just then, there was a glow, and Amethyst's voice rung out, shouting, "I can fit"!
Steven turned his head and saw that Amethyst had shapeshifted into a small baby, making her able to fit easily in the Jeep car. Amethyst, meanwhile, was more than happy to try out the car, declaring, " Which way to the baby war"?
She drove off in the tiny jeep, shouting loudly, "EAT TREAD, DIRT BAGS"!
Watching "Baby" Amethyst drive off made Steven suddenly begin to ponder on everything as he asked himself, "What if birthdays are just for little kids? What if even... I'm too old"?
Amethyst had driven back, hearing what Steven had said, as she answered, trying to cheer him u, "No way! You TOTALLY fit"!
She picked Steven up and slammed him into the car, but seeing Steven get wedged in and stuck was more than enough proof to show that he WAS too big to do this. Seeing that, Amethyst commented, "Oh, my bad, you are too old," before laughing her head off as she drove away.
This left a now-sulking Steven stuck in a tiny car, reeling on how he now felt too old to celebrate birthdays.
Seeing how sad Steven looked, Pearl asked him worryingly, "Are you okay"?
"Do you need anything," Moonstone asked in concern.
Steven got up, the car still very much stuck to him, and responded, "I just need to think. Kazoo Racers suddenly seems undignified," and walked away sadly.
Hours later, as dusk was settling over Beach City, Steven was walking all alone, unaware of the mist of clouds that he had entered. All he had with him company was his misery and his own thoughts.
Strolling down the boardwalk, Steven talked to himself, saying, "I never realized birthdays meant leaving things behind. All these parties; ugh, so embarrassing."
He was also unaware that while he talked to himself, his gem was glowing in response to how he felt. Suddenly, his body began to change, making Steven grow taller, his muscles a bit bulkier, his clothes became tighter, his hair became a little longer, and he even had little whiskers growing from right above his mouth and below his nose, with acne building up in the same area.
As Steven emerged from the mist, he was no longer a little boy, but a tall, sad, lonely teenager.
By the arcade, Steven saw his friend Onion, who looked like he was playing a game. The half-gem sighed and said, his voice cracking and trying to find a line between high and low pitch, "Oh, Onion, so young, so innocent."
The only "innocent" thing he was doing was prying a game open and stealing the quarters from it.
Steven entered the arcade and saw a game called Whackman Jr., which sounded like it could be fun, making the teenager exclaim, "Whacker Man Jr."!
Suddenly, he looked around nervously before telling himself, "Ooh, I can't be seen playing a childish game like Whacker Man Jr. I better stick to sophisticated games, like regular Whacker Man."
He turned to face the regular Whackman game and started to play it, but even while playing the game, he couldn't help but feel a little awkward since he was trying to seem mature while playing this game.
A little while after playing the game, Steven left the arcade and walked further down the boardwalk, saying to himself, "That was fun, but a boy on the cusp of manhood can't spend the whole day whackering. I need to take control of my life."
Passing by a nearby store, he saw a "help wanted" sign, and the thoughts of maturing and getting older triggered his gem to glow again, making Steven transform again. He grew even taller, his hair was back to being short again, his clothes became way too small to fit, and he had a goatee growing on his face; he had now become a bulky, full-grown man.
Steven entered the store, saying as his voice was now sounding a little deeper and more profound, "It's time to get a proper job.
Steven went down and looked at the shirts that were on sale, pondering, "But which one? Surf Master? No. Love Doctor? I'm too squeamish."
One shirt seemed to stick out to Steven, making him smile and say, "Ah, now this is the job for me."
After paying for the shirt, he left the store, now shown to be wearing the new shirt, which said "Professional Beach Hunk." Walking out, Steven said to himself, "Ha, this day went so fast, I need a pick-me-up."
He saw the big Donut nearby, giving Steven the perfect idea of a pick-me-up. Unfortunately, his thoughts also triggered his gem to glow again, making him change once more as he went to the donut place.
As Steven entered the Big Donut, he looked VERY different this time. While his clothes remained the same, Steven now had wrinkles, he appeared to be balding, and he looked to be moving and acting slower than usual; he was now in the ever-dreading stage of the middle-aged citizen.
Steven approached the counter and said to Sadie and Lars, who were busy making sure the shelves were fully stocked, his voice sounding a little deeper "Two of the usual, please; I've had quite a day."
Lars looked up and saw who had made the order, but didn't recognize Steven as he thought that the "person" was just a standard regular old man, prompting the teenager to state in a snarky manner, "Ha, you must be confused pal, I work here every day, and I've never seen your mug before."
That statement seemed to offend Steven, though the "boy" was oblivious to what had happened to him. Instead, Steven retorted back, "Oh, hardy har, Lars."
Lars and Sadie looked at one another in confusion while Steven rambled about how, "I used to make jokes, but you know what? I've had a lot of time to think today, and sometimes you gotta smarten up; act like an adult. Because one day, if you don't, everyone you know is gonna grow up without you. And then you won't have little Steven to pick on anymore because I'll be a grown-up, too."
Both teenagers didn't speak a word until Sadie asked, "Steven... who"?
That REALLY got to Steven, seeing how not even Sadie didn't recognize him; who could blame her, though? Thanks to Steven's sudden transformation, he now looked like a deranged old man going crazy about who knows what.
That didn't stop Steven from exclaiming to the teens, "STEVEN QUARTZ UNIVERSE! And I want THAT doughnut, right there"!
But when Steven pointed to the doughnut he wanted, it gave him a chance to look at his reflection and see what had happened, taking the little guy by big shock, stumbling back.
Sadie, growing concerned for this "poor man," asked him worryingly, "Sir, are you okay"?
Steven turned around and shouted in fear, "I'M... OLD"!
"Yeah, and nuts," Lars said in a snarky manner, thinking that the "man" was crazy.
Steven, however, didn't even listen as he was already panicking about being so old, commenting to himself, "I'm going to have to eat fiber cereal, all my teeth are gonna fall out, and then, I'll have to eat oatmeal, and it'll be sugar-free"!
"Sugar-free," Steven exclaimed as his gem glowed again and made Steven transform, rapidly aging. He sat down at a nearby table, sobbing his heart out while Sadie, still a little weirded out, tried her best to comfort the "man".
Once Steven's sobbing had stopped, he exclaimed, "I need to reverse this! I need, a "reverse birthday"...," and he suddenly got an idea, saying quietly, "The king costume."
He turned his head and asked Sadie and Lars, "Will you help me into my birthday suit"?
However, the question itself shocked the teens, mainly because, unfortunately for Steven, they were thinking of the "birthday suit" context as something very different...and much more...disturbing.
That thought led to Steven getting chased out of the Big Donut by Sadie, who was using a stool to force him out, shouting as he disappeared into the night, "Yeah! You better run"!
Steven ran as best as he could before he suddenly felt his back give out, making him wince in pain and limp while saying, "I'm... too... old... for this."
His gem glowed yet AGAIN, and this time, he aged a lot more rapidly, resembling now an elderly man with a long gray beard and many more wrinkles. Old Steven struggled to keep walking but tripped and fell, unable to get up.
To his luck, Lion had approached him and seemed to recognize Steven under all that "elderly mass."
"Lion..," Steven croaked out, reaching for his fierce pet, who picked him up with his mouth and started to run back to the temple as fast as his paws could carry him.
Over at the temple, out on the beach, the gems were busy cleaning up the leftover party decorations. Pearl was folding up a table to put away, Amethyst was picking up all the balloons, and Moonstone was using a rake to clear up the streamers.
Pearl was folding in the other leg as she stated happily, "You know, Steven was right; this is fun."
"Of course you'd think cleaning up is fun," Moonstone commented while picking up the bunch of streamers he had raked up.
Amethyst noticed that Garnet, who finished storing away the leftover cake from the party, was STILL wearing Steven's birthday outfit, and it made her curious. she asked the tall gem, who came over to check up on them, "You don't have to keep wearing that stuff."
"It makes me feel... important," Garnet replied, feeling happy to wear the outfit.
However, their "fun" got put to an immediate stop when Lion dropped the aging Steven in front of the gems, who looked over and were shocked to see what happened to Steven.
Pearl, horrified by what Steven had somehow turned into, exclaimed in panic, "Steven! What's wrong with him?," as Garnet, Moonstone, and Amethyst ran over to check up on him.
Steven wasn't able to respond verbally, but after a quick look-over by Amethyst, she confirmed, "He's okay; he's just really, really, really, really old."
"Yeah, we can see that, but how on Earth did this happen to him," Moonstone inquired while placing a hand over Steven's chest, checking for a heartbeat.
"Gems can't die from aging," Pearl clarified tearfully before pointing out the one fact that had to be addressed, "But he's half human."
"He's organic; organic beings age and die, just like..." Moonstone added, trying to keep herself from crying out of the fear that Steven was...dying too young or too old in his given case.
"Can't we fix him," Amethyst asked in concern, determined to do anything to help Steven get better.
Steven weakly lifted his head up and whispered just louid enough so the gems could hear, "My birthday suit might help."
Garnet wasted no time pulling off the crown and cape and placing it onto Steven, who leaned up against Lion for support.
Seeing Steven now in the suit, Amethyst thought that things would be fixed now, declaring, "Good as new!... Right"?
However, things were definitely NOT fixed. Steven hadn't changed back, and he still appeared like an old man. The boy weakly opened his eyes, telling his friends, "Thanks, guys, but I guess this suit's all out of birthday magic. We had a good run, huh?..."
That response triggered his gem to glow, making Steven age further, and if nothing was done soon, he could possibly age too far and...oh, the thought of what could happen if nothing was done soon made Pearl tear up and cry, Garnet (while not shown on her face) terrified about being unable to help Steven, Amethyst look on at poor Steven in disbelief/fear, and Moonstone to shake in worry about-
No! The gems could not let Steven go to THAT stage, not yet, not ever! If birthdays got Steven into this mess, then perhaps birthdays could pull him out of it. Garnet pulled Pearl, Amethyst, and Moonstone aside, ordering them, "More birthdays, now"!
Steven could barely keep his eyes open as he heard Amethyst shout out loud, "Check it out, B-Day Boy"!
He looked up and saw that Amethyst had shapeshifted into a tiny car and was rolling around, with Garnet, who wore a party hat, riding in her like a real car. Amethyst, in car form, declared while trying to sound like they were having fun, "I'm a tiny car"!
"Beep beep," Garnet commented, mimicking the sound of a car horn, adding in a little fun flair before Amethyst shapeshifted back to normal.
But that seemed to deepen Steven's current thoughts, making him comment, "Kid... stuff..." and trigger another fluctuant wave of aging.
Amethyst panicked and decided to try something different, shape-shifting into a piñata while declaring, "Ooh, piñata time"!
But Steven continued to age, and age fast.
"It's not working," Garnet commented worryingly while Amethyst changed back to normal.
Moonstone then came in, carrying a wrapped present while saying to Steven, "Oh, look! It's time for Pass the Parcel! Let's see what the gift inside might be! Here's Garnet," and gave the present to Garnet.
"Here, Amethyst," Garnet said while giving the present to Amethyst.
"Here, Moon," Amethyst said while giving the present back to Moon.
As the girls continued to play Pass the Parcel frantically, Steven's aging flux didn't stop, worsening the situation.
Amethyst then noticed that Pearl was not present with the group, and she KNEW why. The purple gem called out to Pearl, shouting, "Pearl! Get over here"!
"I can't," PEarl's voice shouted back in response.
"Pearl! That boy's life is on the line; you HAVE to do it if you want him to live," Moonstone shouted.
"FOR STEVEN," Amethyst added while dragging Pearl, who was dressed up in Steven's clown outfit and holding a pie in front of her, over to them.
Pearl looked absolutely mortified to be doing such an act that she thought was way too "immature" for a gem of her "maturity" to be doing. But seeing how pale and sick Elderly Steven looked, she bucked up that concern and did her best to maintain her frantic composure so she could go through with it in hopes that it'd help Steven.
She sniffled, letting a few tears fall, before saying to him, "Oh, look!... I have what, umm... what appears to be a delicious pie... I sincerely hope that... nothing happens to-OH STEVEN," before losing all sense of emotions and broke down crying as she shoved the pie into her own face.
The other gems watched in shock/horror as Amethyst angrily exclaimed to Pearl, "Are you trying to kill him faster"?!
In response, Pearl hugged Amethyst so tightwhile she cried, that the purple gem struggled to break free.
"Stop it! This is NOT helping our case here," Moonstone sternly addressed Pearl and Amethyst.
Garnet then suddenly shoved the gems aside and approached Steven, picking him up before shaking him violently, thinking that it would help wake him up and snap him out of what was happening.
"Garnet," Pearl, Amethyst, and Moonstone shouted in shock when they saw what Garnet was doing and rushed over to stop her.
Amethyst & Pearl
"Wait a minute, what are you doing," Pearl exclaimed while trying to grasp onto one of Garnet's arms.
"Garnet, STOP," Amethyst exclaimed while trying to push Garnet away from the frail aging boy.
"Garnet, are you OUT OF YOUR MIND?! You're hurting him more," Moonstone shouted while trying to pull Garnet back.
Luckily for them, they got Garnet to stop, but it didn't stop Garnet from breaking down emotionally, admitting tearfully, though no tears were shown, as she placed down the still aging boy, "I thought... violence... would be the answer."
"WHEN on Earth is THAT ever the answer to anything," Moonstone told off Garnet harshly.
The elderly aging boy was so close to the brink of death that all that he was able to do was barely see his friends arguing with one another, and his deafening hearing could only pick up on small amounts of shouts and retorts of their argument.
Suddenly, he began to slowly pick himself up, not wanting to hear their argument go on any longer, and weakly but strongly, he started to say, "Would you guys, just please..."
Then, his gem began to glow, and in response to how he was feeling, Steven transformed back into an adult and exclaimed, "Control yourselves"?!
Seeing Steven, now transformed into an adult and not an elderly man in such a quick turnaround, stunned the gems to their very core.
Seeing them so shocked made Steven feel a little awkward, commenting, "Ugh, oh no," and, while suddenly changing into a teenager, he blushed in embarrassment and told them in his cracking voice, "Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled."
Then, he changed into an adult and firmly addressed, "But I can't stand to see you freaking out like this"!
"Wha-," Pearl commented in shock, trying to process what happened and what WAS happening.
"Steven, you're changing," Garnet told him.
"Note: I think something must be linked with your mind," Moonstone theorized to the boy.
Pearl seemed to understand now what was happening and why, explaining to Steven, "Your age is fluctuating; I think your gem is reacting to your state of mind."
"That would explain why Steven kept aging so much; he was thinking that he felt old, and his gem triggered a shape-shifting response to how he felt," Moonstone clarified in a concise explanation.
Now that the gems knew what was happening to Steven, they knew just how to help him return to normal, starting by Amethyst telling Stevne straight up, "Steven! Stop feeling old"!
Steven changed back into a teenager while telling them in response, " But I wasted your time..." and then, the term "time" triggered him to turn into an old man again while he said weakly, "We all have such little ti-ime..."
"Steven," the gems exclaimed worryingly, not wanting Steven to fall into another close state of death again.
Pearl told Steven in a loud exclamation, "You have to feel like yourself! Sweet, and considerate, and only occasionally obnoxious"!
Moonstone elbowed Pearl in response to calling Steven obnoxious before shouting, "Pearl's right, though! We love you as who you are; your caring, funny, and child-like wondrous self"!
Luckily, it seemed to work, as it made Steven change back into a teenager as he asked in his cracking voice, "You really think I'm all those things"?
"Yes," Garnet happily answered.
"Why else would you throw us all those parties," Amethyst added on.
Hearing what his friends were telling him seemed to work, making Steven smile and say, "Oh my gosh, you're right"!
He glowed and changed back into his regular 13-year-old self again, though his new shirt was now way too big, declaring happily, "I am pretty great."
"Oh, Steven," Pearl happily exclaimed while hugging Steven tightly, with Amethyst and Moonstone joining in on hugging the boy; everyone feeling very relieved to see that Steven was back to being himself again.
Garnet patted Steven on the shoulder, reassuring him, "We'll work on the rest later."
That made Steven look down and pull up the oversized shirt, seeing that while most of his body had changed back to normal, the only part of him that was still off were his legs, which were still adult-sized. Steven didn't seem to mind that as he chuckled while bouncing his adult legs up and down playfully.
Steven Universe - Zach Callison
Pearl - Deedee Magno
Garnet - Estella
Amethyst - Michaela Dietz
Moonstone - Anita Kalathara
Lars - Matthew Moy
Sadie - Kate Micucci
Lion - Dee Bradley Baker