After Steven and his group left the university, they went to Pasta La Vista where Bernard's friends are also heading to. They've been wondering, after learning that Steven is still around to where he was after watching the movie that he'd picked out. Not to mention that Steven's more in a good mood after spending time with his best friend, Kenneth. After Steven parked his car, he and his friends walked inside the restaurant with Gibson, Cariss and Amina took notice.
"Bernard." Gibson said. "You're feeling better?"
"Just enough to come here." Bernard answered. "Did you order anything?"
"We didn't." Cariss replied. "We agreed to wait to have lunch with all of you."
"I thought you already did when I texted you three before we left the university."
"Was it because of me?" Steven guessed as Bernard's friends laughed.
"I think it is."
"So much for an ordinary goodbye, am I right?" Kenneth smiled.
"When we heard you were sticking around, we agreed to come here while we waited." Amina commented "It's great it didn't take you too long."
"I was making a friend." Steven walked up to Bernard's friends. "Would you take the time with someone you're growing a liking to?"
"He's not lying." Kenneth agreed. "If you saw what we did at the university, we had a blast after going to the animation class."
"But I'm still not old enough to attend."
Bernard's friends didn't only keep their eyes on Steven, their eyes were also on Kenneth the moment he appeared inside the restaurant. Kenneth walked next to Steven while lifting his hand up. "I'm Kenneth by the way."
"Nice to meet you." Gibson shaked his hand.
"I like your hairstyle." Cariss added, also shaking his hand.
"Did Steven enjoy the animation class?" Amina wondered.
"He did. He liked one of my animations through the pages I showed him." Kenneth said.
"His amateur days have passed him by." Steven smiled.
"Great to know." Amina replied. "So what are you gonna have here?"
Steven and the group looked at the myriad of options they could have for lunch. Steven remembered he had bread sticks and a salad when Bernard showed him his and Alexis's job as employees. Despite the incident Craig and his friends caused, he still enjoyed the food regardless.
"You're gonna eat something else?" Kenneth wondered.
"I don't know, are you in a pizza mood?" Steven asked.
"From other pizza places, yes but I didn't know Pasta La Vista had pizzas."
"Seems you didn't check everywhere in Herkleton." Alexis giggled.
"Not everyone needs to be everywhere to enjoy the town."
"I do go to places in Beach City, but not every single building, including the neighborhood houses." Steven replied.
"Did Beach City have a Pizza place?" Amina asked.
"Yes, it's called Fish Stew Pizza. Let's just say I had nonstop dreams saving an employee's nightmare of never saying no to her sister."
"Must have been an overdose of pepperoni induced nightmares." Cariss commented.
Steven awkwardly grins from Cariss's complement. "It only got me sick from Pizza for a while…while I couldn't stay awake."
Bernard and Alexis catched on that's probably his experiences with his powers while still keeping his life private. "If that was your childhood, we always have weird times, especially dreams." Bernard smiled.
"Yeah, weird but still part of childhood."
"Pizza is all part of childhood, who doesn't like Pizza?" Kenneth replied. "Pizza haters?"
Everyone laughed from Kenneth's sense of humor as they all took a seat by the table. They agreed to have pizza as a group as Bernard used his gift cards he earned from working to buy squared pizzas. After waiting for their pizzas to come out, they began eating them. Steven took a bite of his pizza and enjoyed it. Kenneth who sat next to him took his bite and found Pasta La Vista pizza's a good alternative.
"This is really good pizza." Kenneth taking another bite.
"We don't make the food as employees, but we do have pro chefs in the back." Bernard pointed at the back.
"Are you two working on being chefs?"
"A little bit." Alexis answered. "We mostly do dinners."
"Then you might as well work at a fancy restaurant if you do dinners."
"They would need to be more professional to make dinners." Steven replied. "Besides, I've seen their job here days ago, they're doing alright."
"Would you do any better?"
"No, not really." Steven wished he could find a way to impress Kenneth, but on the other hand, he can't lie about having a job since he doesn't have one. For every time he took a bite of his pizza, he wanted to find another thing to talk to Kenneth about even with Bernard's friends but with him closer to the creek, he wondered if he was familiar with the location like Craig is. "Have you ever been to the creek?"
"Used to." Kenneth responded. "I was the first ever king of the other side."
Steven catched on that Xavier was the former king but he's close to connecting the dots. "You were the first?"
"It was for fun until I got older. I passed my title to my sister."
"Bet your sister had the time of her life until she also got older."
Kenneth thought otherwise, but still respected Steven's choice of words. "She's not like me, she takes her royal duties a little too seriously."
"If you were doing it for fun, I would've done the same thing you did." Amina smiled.
"Me and Bernard would've been a prince and princess if we grew up in the creek." Alexis added.
"There's no princes, princesses or queens, even if there's a queen in the sewers." Kenneth filling in. "There's only one king who takes over the other side of the creek. Co-kings can be possible but it will be the first ever to happen."
"I would love to consider what it would look like to be a king in the creek, but me and Alexis are heading in the proper direction." Bernard commented.
"Bet the current ruler isn't making any arrangements for the future." Cariss said.
"Don't say that." Kenneth responded. "While there isn't a ruler right now…what happened afterwards put the former king…into…" He couldn't finish his sentence which took Steven by notice.
"Into what?" Steven spoked.
Kenneth took a deep breath however, he couldn't hide his brother's identity anymore. "Into what my younger brother's doing."
Steven dropped his pizza with his eyes shot open, finally completing the puzzle that Xavier is Kenneth's brother all along. "Your brother…was the one who bamboozled me?"
"Yes, he did."
"Is that a problem?" Gibson replied.
"No…not really."
Steven's mood had turned from happiness to almost the opposite, but he refused to take it out on Kenneth and the others. "Kenneth, can we talk outside?" He replied.
"Good idea." The two got out of the table they sat as they got out of the restaurant.
"Who's your brother's name?"
"Xavier." From the answer alone, Steven closed his eyes, while trying to be calm as possible.
"Okay, so he wanted to keep his name anonymous just so you can be friends with me?"
Kenneth lowered his head while attempting to be honest with Steven. "I can't say yes. We did enjoy being friends, right?"
Steven placed his hands on his hips. He doesn't want to say no, but it got harder for him to say yes. "You didn't betray me, I still want to be your friend. But now that photo you have really has something to do with your brother, Xavier."
"He's just trying to help."
"Sorry, but I seriously doubt that." Steven knows something is really wrong, in fact, he's now aware that Xavier is in an alliance with Ruby and Aquamarine. "Don't you think we should've met without his help?"
"I wouldn't have gotten the photo without him. Would you feel the same way if you had the photo?"
"The photo of me or you hugging a kid would mean something, but I didn't save his life."
"It felt real with the tears in your eyes."
Steven's memory of hugging Craig in the Tea Timers' Club felt too generous of him protecting kids, as it was the closest he got with Craig yesterday, aside from the failed fusion. "It's hard to believe but…" He then looked in the distance where the creek is located. "...should we talk about this tonight…at your place?"
"It's still the middle of the day."
"I'm sorry, but I really need to go. This is really important."
"Is it about that kid?"
"Yes. I don't know if I'm gonna take him along, but I'm gonna check up on him."
"Should I come along?"
"No. As much as I want help from a friend, I've done this many times before, alone."
Kenneth wanted to know how Steven can handle any problem involving a child, even if the photo was real or not. But he understands that his friend got bamboozled from his brother, especially since he wants to know if he got bamboozled.
"Okay. After lunch, You go right ahead to that kid."
"Thanks." Steven responded. "I wish we could do more today but…"
"There's always tomorrow or the next day." Kenneth placed his hand on Steven's shoulder. "Tonight, we should come up with a plan."
"Okay. I think of something." Steven smiled. "Let's go back inside."
Steven and Kenneth went back inside of Pasta La Vista to finish lunch with the others. Soon after, they all left with Bernard's friends heading to their homes while Steven dropped off Kenneth to his house. He drove back to Craig's house as he, Bernard and Alexis came out.
"Do you patch things up outside of the restaurant with him?" Alexis asked.
"Yes, I agreed to come over to his house for a meeting." Steven answered. "I can handle myself, you two can have the rest of the day to yourselves."
"I'll let mom know about the friend you're making, I'll show her the pictures I've taken." Bernard added.
"Thanks Bernard."
"Aren't you coming in with us?" Alexis wondered.
"I'm gonna take a walk in the neighborhood, I'll meet you back as soon as I can."
"Okay."
"Understand you have my brother for the whole day in the creek tomorrow. No need to do it today." Bernard remained.
"I'm aware." Steven smiled.
Bernard and his girlfriend entered the house, while Steven waited until Bernard closed the front door. He turned around, focusing on the creek without anything in his way. He ran across the road and entered the creek. He may not know where Craig is, but it's not stopping him. Before he gets to the bottom of this involving Xavier, he'll make sure his best friend is safe and sound.