Ages
Steven - 10
Pearl was cleaning. There wasn't anything left to clean or set up, but still she cleaned. Ruby sat on a stool and watched her "You can stop, Pearl." She said.
"But it has to be perfect!" Pearl protested.
"It is perfect." Amethyst pointed out lying on the couch.
"Amethyst! You're going to crinkle the pillows!" Pearl said frantically.
Amethyst rolled her eyes at Ruby who smiled back at her, Pearl had been cleaning for three days straight since the house had been finished. Trying to get everything ready for Steven.
They spent the last year building a house for Steven attached to the temple. Greg had come by every day to help, and Vidalia and Kofi had come by to help with some of the finishing touches like painting the walls.
The lower floor was a kitchen living room with a bathroom off to the side, the wall beside the stairs leading upstairs was covered in photos of Steven and the other children, occasionally featuring a gem or parent. Intermixed with the photos were a couple of small paintings by Vidalia and Ruby which Vidalia had declared added a 'homey' touch. Ruby liked the sound of that. The stairs on either side of the front door lead up to two lofts, the left one had been made into a bedroom for Steven, and the right one had been made into a space for the gems, spilt by different wall paint into three different sections. The stairs lead directly to Amethyst's section, painted a dark gray, she had a small bed for her to sleep on, a drum set and a radio.
Ruby's section was next and was by far the best. Ruby had painted it a pastel orange and set up an easel with a massive section of paints in a set of drawers next to it. A bench was in front of the easel so that Ruby could draw from life, and her favorite painting of Amethyst, Pearl and Steven was on the wall. Ruby didn't draw realistic paintings like Vidalia did, the painting was of streaks of colors and shapes, Amethyst was a round purple blob, Steven was a yellow star, Pearl was a sharply turning line, mimicking her prim sitting posture.
Pearl's part of the loft had been the last to be completed, she had been unsure what she wanted, eventually she had painted the walls in the palest blue and settled on having a laundry station and a whiteboard to keep track of the children's schedules. Ruby had asked her if she was sure she didn't want any swords in it, but Pearl had said she didn't want the children playing with them. Ruby felt her section was a little barren next to theirs, but Pearl had seemed happy sorting out her markers by color.
The markers had been resorted three times. Ruby's paints five. The stove polished twice, Steven's bed made no less than seven times, Ruby thought Amethyst was about to explode in frustration.
"Steven doesn't care about all this, Pearl."
Amethyst was worried in her own way, which was coming off as her being more aggressive than normal, and Ruby well, Pearl squawked as the stool Ruby was sitting on caught fire and moved her to a solid metal one.
Amethyst laughed. "We put too much wood in this house."
"That one has a metal seat! It's fine!" Ruby protested.
"Be careful!" Pearl said. "Steven will be here in minutes!"
They all glanced towards the clock. Ticking calmy away.
"Steven knows us." Ruby rebutted. "He wants to move in with us. It will be fine."
"Yeah. Ruby's not worried at all." Amethyst said, rolling her eyes, "we just should have made the whole place fireproof."
Ruby glared at her, she was right, nervous butterflies fluttered in Ruby and she worried that as much as Steven wanted to be with them, he wouldn't like the house.
"Come on." Amethyst said, sitting up and patting the spot next to her on the couch "let's just wait for him."
Ruby hopped down and took Pearl's hand and guided her to the couch. Pearl worried, it was comforting to Ruby. Sapphire worried too, and Pearl was easier to sooth, worried about fixable problems and not the abstracts of the future.
Ruby took Amethyst's hand - who made an annoyed expression- and sat between them. The seconds ticked by impossibly slowly.
And then they heard a child pounding towards the house, his father's heavier footsteps trying to keep up.
The door banged open, "I love it!" Steven yelled, and all three gems beamed as they jumped up to greet him.
"We did good." Greg said, looking around the house.
"Yes," Pearl smiled at him. The closest Ruby has ever seen to them getting along. "We did."
Steven threw himself around Pearl's legs. "Thank you so much."
"Hey. She didn't do all the work." Amethyst said, poking Steven in the ribs only to be tackled. "Thank you." He said again.
He hugged Ruby next, already slightly taller than her, the ten-year-old was growing too quickly for her to believe, but Garnet had never paid much attention to human growth.
"Can I have PeeDee over this weekend?" He asked.
"If his father says it's ok." Pearl answered, glancing at her whiteboard.
"I'll ask him." Greg offered.
"You sure you don't want to move in?" Amethyst asked. "I got a couple beds in my room we could-"
"It's all good Amethyst." Greg cut her off. "I like my van. Steven just needs his own space. He's getting older." He glanced at Pearl as he spoke, but she deliberately avoided meeting his eye.
"Come on!" Ruby said, taking Steven's hand and dragging him forwards to see the house.
Amethyst and Ruby showed Steven every bit of the new house, like he hadn't been there while it was being built. Pearl made dinner for the first time, Kofi had written up a few note cards of recipes for her, and Steven and Amethyst happily gobbled down the casserole before Greg was halfway done with his first piece.
They settled down to watch Lonely Blade together and then Greg stayed around until Steven was in bed, mostly winding down from the movie and popcorn. They watched from the other loft as he drifted off to sleep, and then Greg gave Ruby and Amethyst a hug and headed out the door. They were alone…well, that was an exaggeration Ruby had to admit, Greg was just down the road and would come running in a second if they needed him. Their other friends would be dropping by over the next few days. Still it felt like an enormous responsibility, Steven was living with them, he was their charge, if anything happened to him, it was their fault.
"Well. Night." Amethyst said, flopping onto her bed, but her eyes remained open, staring over at Steven's still form.
Pearl and Ruby glanced at each other, before Pearl went to her white board and Ruby her easel. "Can I paint you Amethyst?"
"Shut up. I'm asleep." Amethyst grumbled.
"Can I paint you while you sleep?"
"Sure, whatever."
The night passed silently. The sleepless gems watching their young charge with anxiety, although nothing happened.
He bounded out of bed the next morning and played tic tac toe with Ruby and Amethyst while Pearl cooked waffles with a furrowed brow. After he ate, he asked excitedly "So, what's first? When do we start Gem training? When do I get my weapon?"
"Your gem Weapon is inside of you, S-man." Amethyst said. "Just get it out."
"Don't rush things." Ruby reminded him. "I'm sure it will come eventually."
"Let's start with something a little simpler." Pearl suggested. "Like going on the warp pad."
"Yes!" Steven said, hurrying over, and waited while they slowly walked over.
"Warps were a primary way gems traveled." Pearl told him as they stepped up.
"Yeah. You pretty much just think about it-" Amethyst said as the warp activated.
"Where are we going?" Ruby asked.
"Mask island." Amethyst said as she grabbed Steven's foot with one hand.
"Steven. You have to be careful." Pearl said, grabbing him and placing him back down "Your body doesn't adjust for gravity changes like ours."
"This is a gravity change?" He asked, "but we're still on earth?"
"Steven, you wouldn't be floating off at normal earth gravity." Pearl pointed out as they stepped off the warp and the gems' eyes darted around for threats.
The island was as peaceful as Ruby remembered it and they let Steven look around for a minute, Ruby sticking close to his side before they brought him back to the warp.
"How many times you want to practice today?" Amethyst asked.
"I can do it all day!" Steven said, "you guys don't need to worry about me, I can keep up with you."
"You most certainly cannot do this all day." Pearl said. "You need to eat your lunch and meet with your father for your music lesson before the other children get home from school, you are eating dinner at fish stew pizza, Kiki has that big soccer game tomorrow, the longest we can be here is three hours."
Ruby highly doubted Steven would actually last three hours of warping back and forth, and it turned out she was right. He barely lasted one before his feet started to drag and he didn't seem interested in getting back on again. Amethyst and Ruby brought him over to the beach to show him the unique fish on this island.
They passed another hour enjoying the beach before Pearl suggested they head back so Steven would have time to rest before maybe getting an early start on his music lesson.
They warped back and Ruby toasted the bread before Pearl spread peanut butter and jelly on individual slices and handed them to Steven. Who slapped them together and ate them. Amethyst took a piece of bread from the bag and munched on it absentmindedly as the three of them leaned against the counter together.
As they watched Steven eating his sandwich, Ruby felt an enormous sense of pride that the first day had gone so well, but that didn't stop the worried feeling itching at her, Steven was their responsibility, more entirely than ever before. The weight of keeping him safe, happy, and helping him become someone he would be proud to be threatened to overwhelm her. But that was all in the future, for now, he was happy, he was safe, and she had helped make a sandwich.
AN: Because of the holiday season and still having a young puppy (although he is calming down a little) I am only planning on getting one chapter out in December. Thank you so much for all your kind comments!