#oh and lets not forget connie was bound by pearl before that

[artsycooky13]

for just a moment, only two were left in that head

[cafedanslanuit]

♡   —   pairing: eren x reader

♡   —   tags/warnings: mentions of cheating and alcohol. side aruani and yumihisu. honestly just a feel-good fic, with humour and fluff <3

♡   —   a/n:  honestly, this is the most “romantic comedy” fic i’ve ever written and i love it <3 shout out to @ofoceansandtombstones​ that beta read this one mwah thank u

♡   —   masterlist

There was an ill taste in your mouth that wouldn’t go away, no matter how many drinks you had. And you already had more than a few. From your spot on the table, you could see your friends dancing and having the time of their lives. You really wished you could join them. Nevertheless, you had wasted all your energy forcing a smile and clapping along during the ceremony. Once you had arrived at the hotel reception with the rest of the guests, you had slid a bill to a kind waitress and told her to keep the drinks coming. 

Ymir and Historia were dancing in front of you. Stoic, sour-faced Ymir couldn’t help but smile as her sweet girlfriend twirled and giggled, her cheeks red and eyes just the tiniest bit unfocused. Next to them, Sasha, Jean and Connie were owning the dance floor, moving in sync to the happy music. A grin formed on your face as you saw Connie lifting Sasha up and her almost falling to the floor. Jean was holding his stomach as he laughed loudly.

On a nearby table, Mikasa looked over at them, a small smile on his lips. She was sitting next to her girlfriend, who was holding her hand as they watched their friends dance. You saw her girlfriend leaning over to her and whispering something in her ear, to which she chuckled. It was so strange -and so beautiful- to see Mikasa laugh that it took you aback. And apparently, also the girl she was with, because her lips slightly parted as she watched her in awe.

“How’s the party animal doing?”

You looked up and saw Eren staring down at you with a funny expression. He was wearing black dress pants and a white shirt. The first two buttons were undone, and he was carrying his suit jacket over his shoulder and a beer on his other hand.

“Someone’s gotta keep an eye out for everyone,” you replied with a shrug. Eren scoffed and took the seat next to you on the empty table, leaving his jacket on the nearest chair.

“I mean, I know attending your ex’s wedding isn’t bound to be a good time, but you’d think you would try to put on a happy face.”

You rolled your eyes. “Hey, at least I’m here.”

“After Mikasa tried her best to convince you during a whole week,” he said. You turned your head to Eren, eyes wide open. “What? Of course she told me.”

“That little… That’s it, I’m going to tell her girlfriend about that one time Mikasa got drunk with us,” you muttered angrily, standing up. Eren was quicker and pulled you back to your seat.

“You and Armin broke up a year ago. Why are you so upset he’s moving on?”

Before you could answer, the music stopped and the dance floor erupted in applause. Eren and you watched as Armin and Annie walked in between their guests, greeting everyone as they made their way to the bride and groom table, covered with a pearl cloth and decorated with the finest flowers. Every detail screamed elegance and you knew Armin had been the one to decide most of it. It had his taste written in every napkin and strategically placed flower.

Armin’s smile was almost too big for his face and if you had to guess, those small red marks on the external corner of his eyes meant he had been crying just a few minutes ago. You rolled your eyes. So sentimental. On the other hand, Annie’s smile was far less noticeable, but for someone who always repressed her public displays of emotions as much, that little smile must have felt heavenly to her new husband.

Husband. You took a big gulp of your drink.

“I’m telling you this because I care for you,” Eren said, redirecting your attention to him. “You’re looking like a petty ex.”

“Rather be petty than a cheater,” you shrugged, finishing your drink. You gestured to the waitress and she immediately walked to you, handing you a full glass. Thanking her, you wasted no time in taking a sip.

Eren’s eyebrows were deeply furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Armin never told you why we broke up, right?”

Eren scooted his chair closer to you and you bit back a laugh.

“He said you just weren’t good together,” he said, trying to remember his friend’s words. “And you said something similar when I asked you back then. Where does this ‘cheating’ thing come from?”

You let out a long sigh. “Maybe it wasn’t cheating. Not by definition, at least. But when your boyfriend starts dating someone else a week after you broke up a two-year-long relationship and he gets engaged four months later… you draw your own conclusions,” you explained, taking another sip of your drink and making a grimace. “Fuck, this one’s strong.”

After not getting a response from Eren for a long moment, you finally turned to look for his emerald eyes. You could almost see the numbers flying around his mind, trying to make sense of everything you had just told him. It was endearing.

“Wait, no-- wait,” Eren gestured at you with his hand. He stopped himself again and took a sip of his beer. “The first time Armin told me about Annie was in February. I remember it clearly. We were shopping for Mikasa’s birthday gift and then he went to pick something for Annie. And you guys broke up around Halloween, that’s the time I found you crying-- in Jean's backyard during our costume party.”

“We had a big fight at that party. We hadn’t broken up,” you clarified with a smirk. “He broke up with me after Mikasa’s birthday party. The same party he convinced me not to attend.”

Eren’s face dropped once all the pieces clicked together. He turned his body to look at the bride and groom table, where Armin and Annie were taking a sip of their champagne glasses and talking to each other enthusiastically, while the rest of their guests kept dancing.

“That son of a bitch,” he breathed out. You burst out laughing at his reaction. “No, I mean it! I really thought you had broken up during that Halloween party! You didn’t upload any more photos together, I don’t even remember even seeing you together--”

“I told you, we were fighting and… not in the mood for photos or public dates. Most of those months were spent at his apartment, fighting over really, really stupid things or just not texting each other for days,” you explained. “Honestly, when he broke up with me he made the decision I was too afraid to take. He was right, we weren’t good for each other anymore. But... fuck,” you chuckled icily. “I wish he would have broken up with me before getting with Annie.”

Eren listened in silence, his eyes still on his friend. You gave him time as you kept drinking, your gaze drifting to your friends again. You really wished you could have the energy to join them and forget Armin and Annie. It was true you didn’t love him anymore, yet seeing them together only made you remember how you had been fooled by someone you thought loved you the most.

You had had many dates ever since, but no one ever stuck. It was fun, getting someone’s attention for a couple of weeks, but then you couldn’t help but ghost them, putting up shitty excuses like wanting to focus on yourself and not having enough time to spare with them. You had lost so many amazing opportunities with both boys and girls that a couple of months ago you had decided to stop dating at all. It was lonely for sure, but at least you didn’t find yourself feeling guilty for not being able to open yourself up emotionally for someone else.

“Want to get back at him?”

You turned to Eren so fast you almost hurt your neck.

“What?”

“I have an idea. Just play along,” he explained, standing up.

“Eren, hey, what are you--”

“Everybody! If you could give me a minute please!”

You watched horrified as your friends started turning to you and Eren, confused at the commotion. Eren kept waving his hand, gathering more and more people’s attention, Armin and Annie included. He even gestured to the DJ to lower the music and she complied. In a few seconds, all the guests of the party were looking at you, who was still sitting down with a confused expression, a drink in your hand. Once he deemed enough people were looking at him, you saw him fumbling with his hands nervously.

“Eren,” you called for him again in a whisper, but all he did was take the drink you had in your hands and put it on the table.

“Sorry for interrupting, I know a lot of you were having a lot of fun dancing. But all I’m asking is one minute of your time. I hope that’s okay with you guys,” he grinned back to the bride and groom table, where they were as confused as all the guests around. “I have something really important to say.”

“Eren, no, you can’t tell them about--”

“No, no, give me a moment,” he hushed you again. The DJ walked to both of you and handed an inalambric microphone to Eren.

You didn’t like how devilish his smile turned.

“Great, thanks, this is much better,” he told the DJ, who just kindly smiled at him. “Anyway, I don’t want to take much of the bride and groom’s time, so I’ll try to be concise. The thing is…” he said, turning to face you. “I love you.”

Your mouth flew open as you heard multiple gasps coming from the guests. Yet, you couldn’t bother with looking anywhere but Eren’s eyes. What was he doing? Since when did he have feelings for you? If he wanted to say something, he could have easily said something a few minutes ago, when--

Just play along.

Oh.

Your questioning glare turned into a big smile and you noticed Eren softly nodding at you.

“You already know how much I love you. Honestly, I never get tired of telling you so. And hiding our love from our friends has probably been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Sorry about that, Mikasa,” he said, gesturing to the woman.

You could imagine your friend’s dumbfounded face, but you knew better than to turn and check for yourself. You knew you wouldn’t be able to hold in your laughter.

“So I’m here in front of all our friends and some other guests I don’t know to ask a simple question.”

In a swift movement, Eren got down on one knee. Your hand flew to cover your mouth, trying your best to hide any trace of laughing on your face. The flash of the cameras startled you for a moment, but that only meant Eren’s plan was working. The excited murmurs and squeals only fueled Eren, as he pulled up a ring and showed it to you. You immediately recognized it as one of the rings he had been wearing a few moments ago. 

“Would you marry me?”

A huge, honest grin made its way to your face and you nodded quickly. You grabbed the microphone Eren was holding and spoke right into it.

“Yes, I’ll marry you!”

You hadn’t listened to a crowd erupting in applause and cheers as loud as the guests at Armin’s wedding when Eren slid his ring on your finger. Once again, the flash of the cameras were right into the both of you as you leaped into his arms. He stood up while holding your body close to him, even giving you a small spin and you buried your face in the crook of his neck.

When he finally put you down, the music resumed and all your friends began running to the both of you.

“You’re fucking crazy,” you whispered to Eren, holding his face between your hands. He laughed.

“Kinda ruined the reception, huh?”

“When the fuck did this happen?” Jean inquired as soon as he reached you.

“Dude, why didn’t you tell us?” Sasha whined, with a small pout. “But congratulations!” she quickly followed, hugging you tightly. As you hugged her back, you felt someone taking the hand that was now wearing Eren’s ring.

“This is one of your rings,” she noted, shooting Eren a dirty glance. He lifted his hands in surrender.

“Hey, I didn’t plan this! But I will get her a prettier one soon,” he said, winking at you. You laughed and shook your head.

“Nah, I like this one,” you replied. You shared a knowing grin and soon it was Connie’s turn to hug you.

While you were hugging your friend back, you saw in the corner of your eye Armin getting up from the table and starting to walk to both of you. Your smile immediately vanished from your face and once Eren caught it and followed your eye trail, he understood the reason why. You heard him mutter a curse before he pulled you from Connie’s embrace.

“Well, we’d love to stay, but my fiancée and I want some time alone.”

“C’mon, you haven’t told us yet how you got together!” Sasha complained.

“Next time, we promise,” you hurriedly assured her.

Eren picked his suit jacket from the table and before Armin could reach your group, you quickly walked away, exiting the hotel. Eren whistled to a taxi and you jumped inside, telling the man behind the wheel to drive. Loud laughter filled the vehicle as soon as it began moving.

“How-- how did you even have this idea?” you asked him, holding your stomach as you laughed. “Dude, Armin looked so upset, we totally stole his thunder.”

“That was the plan,” Eren shrugged, a winning smirk on his lips. “Knowing the gang, everybody’s going to be talking about us and the engagement for the rest of the party.”

“Remind me to never have you as an enemy,” you chuckled, leaning back on the car seat. Letting out a long sigh, you took off Eren’s ring and handed it to him.

He shook his head. “Nah, keep it. As a souvenir of today,” he winked.

“Thank you,” you smiled. You put the ring on your thumb this time, since it was too big for your ring finger anyway. “You didn’t have to do this at all, and yet--”

“It’s okay,” he assured you.

“No, really. It’s just-- I’ve been having a tough time since the breakup,” you admitted. “To have you doing this for me means a lot. Makes me feel someone really cares for me. I never said anything to anyone back then because Annie is also a part of the group and I thought…”

Eren leaned his head towards you.

“You thought…?”

“I thought you would pick her too. It’s stupid, I know,” you shrugged, turning your head to Eren. “But Armin had just broken up with me and a week later he was already in public with Annie. Back then, I thought everyone knew we had just broken up and if no one had said anything was because they didn’t care. So I just… stopped hanging out with all of you as much as I did before.”

“Yeah, I noticed that,” he muttered.

“You did?”

Eren nodded. “That’s why I asked Mikasa to pressure you into coming to the wedding. I hadn’t seen you in a while.”

“You could have just asked me to hang out, you know,” you teased him. Eren chuckled, pushing some of his loose hairs behind his ear.

“I think we know by now I don’t take the conventional route.”

“Yeah, all of the guests know that too,” you quipped, making both of you laugh.

This time, when the laughter came to an end, you realized how close your faces were. Your noses were almost brushing as you both were lying your heads on the back of the car seat. You looked into Eren’s emerald eyes and noticed he wasn’t looking away from yours either. Was it the alcohol that made his cheeks turn a lovely shade of pink? If it was, then you could say the warmth crawling up your face was its fault too. It had to be the alcohol, or else, you would have to also ponder about the reason your heart was beating out of your chest at having your friend so close to you. He was handsome, he had always been and you knew this. But why were you losing all your composure just now?

A brief look at Eren's lips gave your thoughts away and, in less than two seconds, he was pressing his lips against yours.

For a spur-of-the-moment kiss, as you thought this one was, it was rather soft. Eren kissed you as if he thought you were the most expensive and fragile thing he had ever seen. But of course, this was just a product of the adrenaline and the fact that -as far as you knew- he hadn’t been dating anyone as well, right?

Your small theory crashed and burnt when you felt his hand softly cradling the side of your face. No. This wasn’t an adrenaline kiss, neither one that you gave without a thought. Maybe it had been unprompted and maybe you hadn’t seen it coming, but it sure as hell seemed he did. Eren’s lips gilded against your with ease, revealing a soft tenderness you didn’t know he possessed. You kissed him back, matching his rhythm as you softly pressed your hand against his chest.

Eren pulled away from you softly, and if his longing eyes were any indicator, a bit reluctantly.

“Hi,” he breathed out, making you grin widely.

“Hi,” you replied. You gently caressed his cheek with the knuckles of the hand that was previously resting on his chest. Eren took it and kissed your palm, making your heart flutter.

“Sorry to interrupt kids, but where are we heading?”

The voice of the taxi driver startled you, making you pull away from Eren. He chuckled at your reaction and then looked back at the man.

“Take us to that pizza place near the central park. Gotta have a celebratory dinner with my fiancée,” he said cheekily, taking your hand into his. You squeezed his hand back, his ring digging a little on your skin.

“So young and engaged already? Congrats!” the driver said, turning left and heading towards the direction Eren had given him.

“Thank you!” you smiled brightly at Eren while he took your joint hands to his mouth and placed a kiss on your knuckles.

A part of you knew you weren’t taking that ring off anytime soon.

[maximumjinx]

Steven Universe Gravity Falls AU

~Yknow what they say, if you run out of content, ya gotta make it yourself. This is a ? shot (I might continue or not who knows not me) please don’t ask for more I have 18 unfinished fanfics on this site.~

California was nice, Steven had to admit. The people were nice, the food was fantastic, and the weather was splendid. It reminded him a lot of Beach City. Though there were just so many people, and traveling north, Steven was beginning to long for something small and simple again.

Oregon was the perfect place for that, right?

“Ronaldo wants pictures of Bigfoot, and if anyone can find him, its you Steven.” Petey’s voice was faint on Steven’s phone speaker, tossed into the passenger seat as Steven blindly picked a highway exit.

“Sure Petey, but couldn’t Ronaldo just go to a circus?”

“Not big feet Steven,” Petey emphasized, “Bigfoot.”

“Saying it twice isn’t helping buddy.” Steven was half paying attention. He was focusing on the winding roads and the looming trees surrounding him. Deep, in the pit of Steven’s stomach, he felt something start to tug him toward one direction farther away from the highway. He wasn’t quite sure if it was a good or bad feeling yet.

“Forget it, I’m going to take a blurry photo of that mean Gem in the woods and say its Bigfoot.”

“Just don’t let Jasper catch you, she’s no joke when she’s angry.”

“I saw her ripping grass out of the ground I think I’ll be fine. Later dude.”

Steven heard a small click and smiled to himself. He’s happy to see how far the people of Beach City have come and how they’ve taken to the gems. He remembers when the Crystal Gems were once the outcasts of town that locals warned you to stay away from.

He looked up to see a welcome sign.

“Gravity falls. Well, that’s a funny name.”

—

Steven wanted small and simple but he feels he may have overshot it.

This small town had exactly three attractions. A town museum that mentioned marrying woodpeckers (Steven couldn’t figure out if that was a normal human thing, like taxes and velcro), a small diner, and as one local described it ‘some tourist trap’ deep in the woods. It was a sticky summer day and the former two attractions didn’t have airconditioning. Steven gambled on the last stop in hopes of stretching his legs and maybe finding a source to the strange feeling in his gut. It had become much stronger since he entered this small town. Alluring, but nothing related to Gems as far as Steven could tell.

He parked in the nearly empty lot and stepped out. Jacket wrapped loosely around his hips, Steven made his way inside.

A girl that looked about 13 was petting a pig on the front porch. She was incredibly reflective, and depsite the heat wore a knitted bedazzled sweater that made her glow like a disco ball in the sun.

She looked Steven up and down as he approached, a wide smile taking up her face and Steven saw bright braces with colored bands.

“Hi!” She launched upwards, startling the pig away, “I’m Mabel, but you can call me anytime.” The girl winked and stuck out her hand, palm facing the floor.

Steven blinked.

“Mabel, stop scaring away the customers!” A gruff voice yelled through the screen door, and soon an older man stepped out in a suit, wearing a fez and eyepatch.

Immediately the old man squinted at Steven, sizing him up.

Stanley Pines knew this teen wasn’t local, but he wasn’t sure if he had any money. For all he knew he was another boy trying to hit on his giftshop cashier, Wendy.

Oh well, a customer is a customer.

“Come in, come in, and see our mystical and magical wonders!”

“Magical?” This could be it, Steven could figure out why this town has felt off. Maybe it was gem related after all.

Quickly this older man who had introduced himself as Mr. Mystery gave Steven a tour of what looked like failed taxidermy projects. Now Steven may have a lived a sheltered childhood, but he felt pretty confident there was no such thing as a Sashcrotch. And so far, nothing had felt magical or mysterious.

“That concludes our tour! Here is our mistifying giftshop and it’s purchasable wonders!”

“Right...” Well, at the very least he was able to spend some time in airconditioning.

There was a girl behind the desk in plaid that looked about Steven’s age, and just a half inch shorter than him. She looked bored, flipping through a magazine as a young boy that looked a lot like Mabel made googly eyes as he swept by the door.

Steven guessed there was no harm in asking around.

“Hi, I’m Steven.” He smiled easily, walking up to the register.

“No refunds, even if an exhibit bit you.” She sighed, peeking up before turning back to her magazine.

“Oh no, nothing bit me, I just wanted to know something.”

She looked up to get a better look at Steven and gave a small smirk.

“Sure, but only because I like your shirt. Mr. Universe merch, now that’s a deep cut.”

Unbeknownst to Steven, Dipper Pines would had been watching the exchange felt a twinge of uneasiness as this out of towner talked with Wendy.

“Have you ever seen anything strange or weird actually happen in this town?”

Wendy’s smile dropped.

“Why do you ask?” Her eyes flickered to Dipper, just for a moment, and that was all he needed to rush over.

“Excuse me sir, please buy something or exit the store.” Dipper spoke in the deepest voice he could muster.

Steven looked over with a questioning expression.

“Oh sure uh-“ He blindly reached for the wad of bills that his dad had given to him before he left. Steven pulled out a hundred dollar bill and put it on the counter. Wendy looked up baffled as Steven stuffed the other cash back in his wallet.

“Boy was I wrong about you kid!” Mr. Mystery, seemingly materializing out of nowhere, now bounded over. He had loosened his tie and lost the eyepatch which turned out he never needed.

“Whaddya wanna know? I’ll tell you everything. There’s gnomes in the woods you know-“

“Grunkle Stan!” Dipper protested loudly, dragging his Stan away and harshly whispering at him.

“Did you steal that money?” Wendy asked as Steven watched the pair whisper fight in the corner. He turned back to the girl and gave a sheepish smile.

“Uh no, my dad gave it to me before this roadtrip. He’s actually Mr. Universe.”

Wendy lit up.

“No freaking way! Your dad is Mr. Universe? I only got into him since he managed Sadie Killer and the Suspects and they always perform covers of his songs on tour, I can’t believe he’s your dad!” She rambled, stars in her eyes. Steven beamed, he loved when people praised his dad’s music. Greg really deserved it.

Steven learned Wendy’s name and they swapped stories back and forth, only interrupted as the girl from outside slowly rose from the behind the counter beaming.

“A cute musician that loves weird stuff, take me now.” She swooned. Steven blushed profusely, not used to the attention.

“Sorry, my girlfriend Connie probably wouldn’t like that very much.” He said gently. Mabel looked him up and down and pouted.

“I can wait, but not forever.” She warned, and winked, bounding to break apart her grunkle and Dipper, who are now whisper screaming with arms flailing.

“I wasn’t going to mention that Dorito shaped jerk! Just the normal stuff!”

“It’s dangerous! He could be a spy, or government, or another stack of gnomes!”

Steven raised an eyebrow and looked at Wendy. She chuckled and shrugged. Steven carefully approached them.

“He can hear everything you’re saying anyways so might as well tell him!” Mabel interrupted, nodding towards Steven as he came up.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m definitely not government.” Steven technically didn’t exist at all. He never had a social security card and didn’t have a birth certificate.

Dipper only glared. Rich strangers with an interest in the paranormal didn’t come through gravity falls without some kind of agenda.

Steven hated the conflict he was starting. No information was worth this family fighting.

“Okay,” he surrendered, hands up, “I’ll just go. I’ll stick around town until tomorrow if you change your minds”

“Wait Steven-”

“Let him go Wendy,” Dipper glared as the boy in pink walked out, “We can’t trust him.”

“But I was going to ask for Sadie tickets...” Wendy groaned, defeated.

“There’s something weird about him.”

“Great!” Mabel beamed, “He’ll fit right in.”

~.~

Steven wasn’t crazy about sleeping in his car, but was seriously considering it after seeing the state of his motel room. It looked like it hadn’t been used in decades, a thin line of dust covering every surface. He was also pretty sure they didn’t even have free ice. 

“Wish Pearl were here..” He mumbled, exhausted. He curled up on top of the covers, fully clothed, and let sleep take him.

Being Steven Universe however, meant rest was sure to allude the half alien. 

Steven found himself in a dark space, fog all around him. Before a word could come out of his mouth he heard a fast, repetitive muttering. 

“Stranger...Wendy looked pretty today..Can’t trust...Tell no one...Ford isn’t here..”

“What, the-” Steven quietly walked toward the source of dialogue, and saw the faded silhouette of the boy from the Mystery Shack. His back was turned to him, but Steven recognized the blue vest and mosquito bitten legs. 

“I thought I was over the dream hopping.” Steven spoke a tad too loudly, starting the young boy - Dipper.

“What-” Dipper’s eyes grew wide in panic, and the boy fell back harshly.

“No, no, you can’t be in my head!” 

“Wait, I’m not-” Steven tried to reassure him, stepping carefully towards the boy but Dipper let out a screech of terror, sweat gathering around his temples.

“Bill sent you didn’t he?! He’s not really gone- he’s going to hurt Mable again-” Dipper began to hyperventilate. 

“Dipper please,” Steven took a step back, arms in the air in surrender. 

“I-”

“I’m not going to hurt you I swear on the gems.” He placed a hand over his heart. “This is a total invasion of privacy but it’s something that happens when someone’s emotions are out of control-”

“How are you here?” Dipper demanded, scrambling to his feet. “Tell me what you are and what you want.”

“I’m just passing through!” Steven insisted, then lowered his tone to calm the younger boy. “I’m kinda of magnet for weird stuff. I just wanted to help in case anything was going on.”

“We deal with things just fine around here.” Dipper spat, then watched as Steven deflated. He seemed tired, like he hasn't slept well in a while. 

“So what are you anyways? How can you be here?”

Steven winced, and laughed nervously. “It’s kind of a long story..”

Dipper raised and eyebrow and swept his arm around the void dramatically. 

“You have until dawn.”

~

“I thought that was a conspiracy theory, it wasn’t even covered by major news outlets.” Dipper look exhausted, cross legged on the unseen floor as he ran his hands through his hair. 

“I think Garnet is pretty persuasive when it comes to government and reporters. They all kinda fall in love with her.”

“She’s the one that’s really two aliens?” 

Steven shook his head with a small smile. “It’s hard to explain but yes, I guess that comes close.”

“That’s actually insane. I’m insane, aren’t I?” Dipper stood up, leaving Steven on sitting next to an empty space. “It’s been too quiet around here and now I’m so desperate for weird, that I’m making it all up in my head.”

“I get that feeling.” Steven smiled without humor, “but no, this is real. I’ll prove it when you wake up.” Steven felt a shift, the fog in the void getting denser. 

“Sooner than I thought, you’re an early riser huh?”

Dipper looked back at Steven, panicked. “You’ll come to the Shack again right? In just a bit?”

Steven smiled. “Promise.”

~

Dipper woke up to his sister braiding his hair. Mabel still had her pjs on, and a make up kit next to the bed. Dipper frowned, tasting strawberry shortcake. 

“Stop testing party looks on me, Mabel.”

“Stop having my face structure and maybe I will.” She grinned, covered in blue glitter. 

Dipper quickly washed up and got dressed for the day, feeling like he was anxiously waiting for something but not quite remembering what. 

He felt like he had a strange dream last night...

He quickly remembered, choking on cereal as Steven walked into the shack right as it opened. Hair slightly frizzy from the heat and eyes strangely tired. Maybe dream hopping took energy that he anticipated. 

“Steven!”

“Meal ticket!” 

“Grunkle Stan.” Mabel chastised as Dipper rushed over to the older boy. 

“Good morning everyone.” 

Dipper stopped short, slightly hoping that everything he experienced wasn’t just his imagination. That everything exciting and weird and interesting wasn’t always trying to kill him, ruin his life, or steal his candy. 

Steven looked tired, like he had been doing this much longer than Dipper, but he had still come out with enough energy to smile. 

“Not insane?” Dipper asked hopefully, quietly. Steven snapped his attention from his Grunkle and Mable bickering down to the Dipper. He gave a reassuring smile, eyes quite serious. 

“Not insane.”

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 8: Black and White (originally published on January 25, 2021)

Author's Note: At long last, the long-awaited conclusion to Part 1 of Steven Universe: Alternate Future is upon us! This may seem like an innocuous love letter to the mockumentary genre (I even watched This is Spinal Tap on HBO Max for inspiration), but the ending will change everything you will see in this chapter! But I'm through being dramatic, let's boogie!

Synopsis: A Black Rutile and her partner White Topaz want to get answers from Steven.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven, Onion

Estelle as Garnet

Michaela Dietz as Amethyst, Ocean Jasper

Deedee Magno-Hall as Pearl, Black Rutile’s Pearls

Uzo Aduba as Bismuth

Jennifer Paz as Lapis Lazuli, Zuli, Mean Lapis

Shelby Rabara as Peridot

Kimberly Brooks as Cherry Quartz, Jasper

Ian Jones-Quartey as Snowflake Obsidian

Michelle Maryk as Little Larimar

Amy Sedaris as Teal Zircon

Aparna Nancherla as Nephrite

Grace Rolek as Connie

Crispin Freeman as Doug

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Priyanka

Tom Scharpling as Greg

Zach Steel as Ronaldo

Eugene Cordero as Jamie

Joel Hodgson as Mr. Dewey

Reagan Gomez Preston as Jenny, Kiki

Brian Posehn as Sour Cream

Lamar Abrams as Buck

Matthew Moy as Lars

Kate Micucci as Sadie

Alastair James as Rainbow Quartz 2.0

Shoniqua Shondai as Sunstone

Della Saba as Aquamarine

Charlyne Yi as Eyeball

Jinkx Monsoon as Emerald

Christine Pedi as Holly Blue Agate

Hayley Kiyoko as Morganite

Olivia Olson as Black Rutile's Citrines

Featuring Noël Wells as Black Rutile

And Lauren Ash as White Topaz

--

"Is the camera ready, Topaz?"

"It's ready, my Rutile!"

"You idiot, you forgot to turn on the lens!"

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry, my Rutile, let me fix that!"

A camera was turned on inside a black-colored dropship, where a matching-colored Rutile in a green visor and white cape sat down in a captain's chair, confident and charming. "Hello, universe!" the Rutile greeted. "My name is Black Rutile, and welcome to Eye on Era 3, the special interview show where we discuss with Gems about the changes a certain Steven Universe brought to our proud culture!"

"And I'm White Topaz!" the Topaz operating Black Rutile's camera turned the lens to herself and cheerfully waved to the audience.

"Uh, Topaz, over here." Black Rutile ordered.

"Oh, sorry!" White Topaz muttered and turned the camera back to her superior.

"Anyways, we've traveled across the stars to chat it up with all sorts of Gems." The Rutile continued ecstatically. "From Pearls free from slavery, to proud Emerald pilots! Agates with no one to order around, Lapis Lazulis thinking they're lost in the world, and even a few fusions here and there! But today, we're gonna get answers straight from the mouth of this so-called "new Pink Diamond" himself!" she stated, making air-quotes while calling Steven the new Pink Diamond.

"My Rutile, we are closing in on Earth." A Citrine piloting Black Rutile's ship announced. "Is there any good spot you'd like to land?"

"Let's try that Little Homeworld place I've heard so much about." Black Rutile suggested. "We're bound to get tons of special guests there."

"Yes, your clarity." The Citrine complied, and she returned to her station.

"In case you were stuck in a Kindergarten for the past couple hundred years, Little Homeworld is where tons of Gems formerly corrupted by the Diamonds at the end of the Rebellion have made their home." Black Rutile narrated over footage of Little Homeschool. "The number one hotspot of this little bit of home is Little Homeschool, where Gems from all over come to learn how to mingle with the life on Earth and let go of the old ways."

"Hey, you think maybe we could go to that place, BR?" White Topaz grinned eagerly.

"Don't forget about our plans." Black Rutile said under her breath to her Topaz bodyguard. "I mean, we should be nearing Little Homeworld any minute now, so stay tuned!"

--

Gems began to gather when Black Rutile's ship made its landing in Little Homeworld, and the landing door opened to reveal its owner and her sidekick strolling out.

"Oh my, we already have quite a crowd here!" Black Rutile laughed into a microphone. "Now then, I'll pick a few lucky Gems from our audience here to answer some questions about their experiences on Earth." Looking around, Black Rutile managed to pick out Bismuth, Peridot, and Lapis Lazuli from the huddling Gems. "Ah, you three, over there!"

"Us?" Lapis asked.

"Could you care to tell us how life has been on Earth for you?" Black Rutile asked, sticking her microphone out to the trio.

"I've actually been on Earth about as long as Lapis here." Bismuth answered, gesturing to Lapis. "I was one of the original Crystal Gems under Rose Quartz, chosen because I wanted to build whatever I wanted, with no uppercrusts to order me around! But my methods of dealing with the enemy was a bit more extreme than what she was used to, so Rose took one in particular a bit personally and had me poofed & bubbled. In hindsight, maybe Rose was worried that her cover would've been blown."

"As Bismuth said, I was on Earth for a very long time." Lapis began speaking into the mic. "I was supposed to be there for only a little bit to assist in terraforming, but then I got caught in the war and was poofed before being confused for a Crystal Gem. I was interrogated while my gem was stuck in a mirror, but that kind of got cut short when the Diamonds unleashed their final attack and forced everyone to flee. I was left behind by accident, and someone cracked my gem by stepping on it, and years later, I was found by Pearl, who kept me in her gem until Steven freed me."

"Aw, what a happy ending!" White Topaz cooed.

"Yeah, no." Lapis sardonically corrected White Topaz. "After I was freed from the mirror, I nearly drowned tons of people because I wanted to get home, but then home turned out to be a lot different from when I left it. I was once again made a prisoner by Peridot and Jasper, who then invaded Earth because I met the Crystal Gems that everyone thought were defeated in the Rebellion, then I fused with Jasper to protect Steven, which took a number on both of our mental states, I was freed yet again, then I left Earth because I was told the Diamonds might be coming, before coming back only to get poofed by Yellow Diamond."

"Much like Lapis, I was only supposed to be on Earth for a short while to perform my duties." Peridot began telling her story. "I was supposed to check up on the old Galaxy Warp, but then the Crystal Gems kept getting in my way no matter what. Before I knew it, I was without help, without any working technology, and then without my limb enhancers. I don't think I even bothered to ask where the Gems put them."

"A Lapis, a Bismuth and a Peridot. What an unlikely trio." Black Rutile mused. "Tell me, what was it that made you three decide to work alongside each other in the first place."

"Well, it all began when Steven and the Crystal Gems left Earth to convince White Diamond to help them cure corruption." Bismuth said. "I elected to stay behind on Earth to watch over these two."

"Ooh, ooh, can I do a reenactment?!" White Topaz asked, to which Black Rutile responded with a sigh.

"Proceed." Black Rutile muttered, tapping on her camera to produce a light shining on the surface of the dropship. White Topaz began to shapeshift her fingers into various characters, and started a shadow puppet show.

"Bye Bismuth, I'm gonna go to Homeworld and hope we can convince White Diamond to help us save the corrupted Gems." White Topaz said, imitating Steven. "You do you kid. I'm gonna watch over those other Gems while you're away." She continued, now impersonating Bismuth. "Have fun!"

Steven's shadow puppet was raised into the air as White Topaz made rocket sounds, followed by turning more of her fingers into Peridot and Lapis. Black Rutile just gave an annoyed glare to the camera.

"Hey, where's Steven?" White Topaz's impression of Lapis asked. "Oh, him? He ran off to Homeworld with the Diamonds." Her mimicry of Bismuth answered. "Oh my stars, are we too late?!" an aping of Peridot cried out.

"Do I really sound like that?" Peridot muttered as the shadow play went on.

"No little guy, he's fine!" White Topaz's impression of Bismuth continued. "Just something about corruption or whatever."

"Okay, I think we've seen enough!" Black Rutile laughed awkwardly as she interrupted the puppet show.

"Aw, but I was getting to the good part!" White Topaz moaned sadly.

"To be fair, you were almost spot on." Bismuth stated. "When Steven told us through some weird watermelon creature that looked just like him that trouble was indeed brewing on Homeworld, Peridot and Lapis reformed not too long after and we came together out of a desire to help him out."

"United by a common goal, how quaint." Black Rutile smiled and folded her hands behind her back, trying to hide their fidgeting. "Now then, would anyone else like to come up and chat?"

"I would, I would, I would!" Teal Zircon cried as she pushed her way through the crowd. "Hi, name's Teal Zircon, nice to meet you!" she greeted Black Rutile while rapidly shaking her hand. "So, you wanted to learn about my time here on Earth?"

"You're awfully excitable." Black Rutile pushed up her visor by the bridge with a grin. "More to the point, I'd like to hear your story Ms. Zircon."

"Gladly!" Teal Zircon exclaimed. "Like many of the Gems here, I was once corrupted by the Diamonds and became a long-tongued speedster that Peridot tried to capture no matter what, through hell or high water. Eventually, she did succeed, and I was stuck in the barn she and Lapis called home, until the Crystal Gems took me to their place. One day, I was healed by Steven along with a Cherry Quartz and shown around Little Homeschool. That same day, Steven took me along to see a Jasper who didn't want to go to school, and I was willing to become her friend, but I'm pretty sure she hates my guts."

"I'll have to check up on this Jasper sometime." Black Rutile commented. "Now then, anyone else care to share?"

"I'd like to." Zuli answered as she flew up and touched down next to Black Rutile. "I only came here a few weeks ago after Steven recommended the place to a former friend of mine and me. We were terraforming this moon called Aozul 2, but Steven and this other Lapis that we were buddies with back in our terraforming days told us that wasn't cool anymore, so they taught us new ways to express ourselves. I was a lot more accepting, but my ex-friend didn't want to change. To this day, I still don't know where she's at."

"May I go next?" Cherry Quartz asked Black Rutile.

"Sure, go ahead." Black Rutile answered, passing the mic to the Quartz.

"I was an average Quartz soldier made to fight in the war, but then I got corrupted, of course." Cherry began. "Then Steven came along and healed me along with TZ, and introduced us to Little Homeschool. I was a little nervous at first, but while Steven was away, I met up with some fellow Quartzes who told me all about how great it was here."

"I was the first corrupted Gem Steven helped defeat." Nephrite said, taking the mic from Cherry Quartz. "I was actually brought back out a few times, the first was a complete accident & I was poofed soon after, but the second time was when Steven thought he could try to heal me, but instead he reunited me with my old crew."

"Okay, we're running out of time here folks, I got other people to interview, and I haven't got all day!" Black Rutile yelled. "Which one wants to cap off this part?!"

"Little Larimar and I wanna talk." Snowflake Obsidian answered. "Hi, I'm Snowflake Obsidian. This is my buddy Little Larimar."

"We were corrupted Gems too." Larimar said. "I remember when Steven dropped us into that fountain, and we were all right as rain. Then years later, he helped us all find jobs that he thought were right for us, but then hilarity ensued."

"Wow, pretty much everyone here has such nice things to say about Steven." Black Rutile commented while putting on an eerie fake smile. "Isn't there anyone on this planet that doesn't love him?"

"Well, there is Jasper, kind of." Bismuth answered. "I say kind of because I have no idea what's even up with her ever since she was uncorrupted. I mean, she does express a teeny bit of gratitude for it, but she still would rather stay as far away from us as possible."

"To be frank, I wouldn't blame her." Lapis agreed. "Anyway, if you want to interview her, she's in a cave in the woods nearby."

"Good to know, Lapis." Black Rutile thanked Lapis. "I do hope we can see each other again sometime." She laughed as she and White Topaz began leaving Little Homeworld. "Perhaps even sooner than you think."

--

"We've all had our fun in Little Homeworld, but there's still a Gem we've yet to cover as we move on with our tour of Earth." Black Rutile continued narrating while walking in the woods. "This Gem, in particular, has been living in the woods ever since she was cured of an unfortunate case of corruption, and refuses to join her fellow Gems at Little Homeschool! Well, let's see if she can tell us why."

"Is that where she's living over there?" White Topaz asked as she pointed the camera to a cave with a tarp over the entrance.

"I think you might be right!" Black Rutile exclaimed as she raced over to the cave. "Excuse me, does Jasper live here?!"

"No she doesn't, now get out." Jasper's voice grumbled from within the cave.

"If Jasper isn't here, then who are you?" White Topaz asked, forcing Jasper to emerge from her cave.

"Someone who's going to pulverize you if you don't leave me alone." Jasper snarled.

"But we just wanted to ask about your time here on Earth!" Black Rutile nervously explained.

"Guess what, I'm not interested." Jasper added. "Now let me repeat myself, beat it, or I'm gonna beat you!"

"I think we should do as she says, my Rutile!" White Topaz began sweating nervously and slowly stepping away from Jasper.

"Righto." Black Rutile agreed before they ran away from Jasper. "But trust me, I think she might be useful to us."

--

"Well, that went horribly." White Topaz commented the farther she and Black Rutile got from Jasper. "Now where are we?"

"I'm not sure." Black Rutile answered while gazing at a terraced house. "But I do believe we have our next interviewee!"

"Which is?" White Topaz asked her superior.

"The residence of one Connie," Black Rutile declared, bringing up data on Connie on her visor, but then stopped at her last name. "Moo-hee-swear-ann. Seriously, how do you pronounce that?" The reporter decided to brush that off with a shrug and proceeded to knock on the door. "Good day Ms. Moo-hee-swear-ann, my name is Black Rutile, here to interview you about your experiences on Earth."

"It's Maheswaran, in case you're struggling to pronounce it." Connie's mother Priyanka corrected the Rutile. "Now, can I help you?"

"Oh, my apologies." Black Rutile said. "You look a lot taller than my data says."

"I believe you have me confused for my daughter, I'm her mother." Priyanka stated. "If you wish to speak with Connie, she's busy with college preparations, so you can only speak for 15 minutes."

"Uh, question!" White Topaz raised her hand. "What's college?"

--

"So you're doing all this for a TV show?" Connie asked Black Rutile moments later in the living room.

"You could say that." Black Rutile answered with a grin. "I'm working on an investigative report chronicling everyone's experiences with Era 3, and I'm working towards interviewing all the Crystal Gems and their allies, you included little girl. Now tell me, how did you first meet little Steven?"

"Well, it all started a few years ago." Connie began retelling her first meeting with Steven. "I was minding my own business, Steven was trying to get my attention because he wanted to be my friend, but one thing led to another, and we were stuck in a bubble together."

"Not how I'd expect your species to make new friends, but you do you." White Topaz commented with a grin.

"Anyways, it's all thanks to him that I was able to get out of my comfort zone a bit over the years." Connie continued. "I learned sword fighting from Pearl, became able to fend for myself, and we even fused!"

"Yeah, we still find that a little strange." Her father Doug interjected.

"Fusing with humans, just like they said." Black Rutile whispered to herself.

"Did you say something, miss?" Priyanka asked.

"Oh, nothing." Black Rutile covered up what she just said before moving back to Connie. "It seems like you two are just inseparable!"

"Well, mostly." Connie stated. "When Steven let himself get captured by Aquamarine to save everyone, we were all so worried sick for him. And even when he came back perfectly fine, I still felt like this all could've been avoided if we fought together."

"Oh, poor little girl." Black Rutile comforted Connie, though with a secret hint of condescendence in her voice. "It must be hard to lose someone so dear only for them to come back and disregard your feelings by acting like everything's fine."

"It's okay." Connie said. "We did get back together eventually, and now our bond is stronger than ever!"

"Woo, love wins!" White Topaz cheered, inciting yet another angry glare from her boss. "Um, can I do the shadow puppets again?"

"Go ahead." Black Rutile frowned in embarrassment.

"Wait, your documentary has shadow plays?" Priyanka wondered aloud.

"Don't ask me; this was all her idea!" Black Rutile replied grumpily. "What a childish clod."

"Hey Connie, I'm back from Homeworld! Hope no one missed me." White Topaz began another puppet show, this time of Steven and Connie's brief falling out, while trying her best to mimic Steven. "We did kinda miss you, you could've died!" she continued while imitating Connie's voice. "I don't see what the problem is, I'm standing right here!" the Steven puppet replied carelessly. "Well, we could've stopped Aquamarine together, but you gotta make everything about you!" the Connie puppet declared. "So screw you Steven, I'm going home!"

"Wait, I didn't say anything like that!" the real Connie said nervously.

"Sorry kid, I'm just making this up as I go." White Topaz apologized, and just as she was about to continue her show, Black Rutile cut it short. "Aw man!"

"Well, I think we've just about wrapped up here, friends!" Black Rutile announced. "We've got places to be, people to meet, and more opportunities for me to be humiliated by you, Topaz."

"Well, it was nice to see you." Doug said goodbye as the two Gems left the Maheswarans' house. "Hope your documentary is a big hit!"

"Thank you; you're too kind!" Black Rutile waved back and closed the door, allowing some privacy as she scolded White Topaz. "Was it really necessary for you to go all "love wins" on us, you softhearted fool?" she scowled as they began walking away from the house.

"I'm sorry, I just think they're so adorable together!" White Topaz tried to justify her actions, before Black Rutile pulled her down by her collar.

"We have no time for sappy romances!" the Rutile yelled in her bodyguard's face. "We are here to gather information, and that's final! Are we clear?!"

"Yes, your clarity." White Topaz bowed her head in shame.

"Good, now where were we?" Black Rutile tapped on the side of her visor and pulled up a map of the surrounding area. "Ah, yes! Beach City!" she declared while the map began pointing to the little seaside town.

"Ooh, that place sounds fun." White Topaz commented. "Think maybe we could take a vacation there some time, just you and me?"

"Apologies, but we're on a mission." Black Rutile declared as she put the map away. "We'll have time for fun later, but it'll be my choice of fun. Understand?"

"Yes, boss!" White Topaz gave a comical salute, and the two began setting off for Beach City.

--

"Now then, this place should be full of Steven stories!" Black Rutile announced as the duo strolled into town. "And maybe we could find some of his weaknesses too."

"Hey, check out this funny sign!" White Topaz said while gazing at the sign for It's A Wash. "What do you think is a wash?"

"Hey new Gems, welcome." They heard Greg greet them. "If you came here to sign up for Little Homeschool, you should take it up with the Gems first."

"Oh no sir, we already saw that school." Black Rutile said. "It's all part of a series of interviews I'm doing for my show, Eye on Era 3. Which reminds me, how would you describe your experiences with the Crystal Gems?"

"My experiences?" Greg wondered. "Well, it all started one night when I was just a young rocker on tour. I had arrived in Beach City for a show, and Rose Quartz was the only one who showed up."

"Ah yes, Pink Diamond always had a fascination with humans," Black Rutile interjected. "often at the expense of her own kind."

"Yeah yeah, Pink kinda stunk, but don't we all sometimes?" Greg philosophized. "Like I was saying, Rose was the only one who came to my concert at Beach City, and from then onward, I felt like it was destiny. I even wrote a song about it!" He then walked to his van to search for his guitar, and began to play. "Do you believe in destiny? Close your eyes and leave the rest to-"

"I'm sorry, we have no time for a song." Greg's interviewer cut him off. "Could you please continue, sir?"

"Sorry if I was any trouble." Greg apologized, putting away his guitar. "The Gems didn't have a very high opinion of me when we first met, especially Pearl, but we were still able to get along with each other. Amethyst in particular took a liking to me."

"Speaking of which, are the Gems in town today, or are they off on some magical mission or something?" Black Rutile asked Greg.

"Oh, they kinda retired from going on missions now that everything's at peace." Greg answered. "But, Steven's still at home over there." He then pointed over to the Crystal Temple not too far away from Beach City itself.

"Yes, pay-dirt!" Black Rutile grinned eagerly. "Come along Topaz, we shall hit ratings dynamite!"

"Coming!" White Topaz cried as she raced after her master. "Hey, maybe we can chat with some of the people here along the way! They might give us some good info!"

--

"It was kinda thanks to Steven that I died and came back to life." Lars admitted to Black Rutile. "But also thanks to him, I came back as a completely new man with my own awesome spaceship, a serious attitude adjustment, and ever since I came back to Earth, I've taken up some combat training in case I ever go back to space and fight new threats, like I learned musti-yuddha from Connie's dad for example!"

--

"Lars's disappearance got me kind of depressed for a while." Sadie said while her band prepared for practice. "But I found a new way of expressing it with horror-themed rock music!"

"We had trouble finding our sound before Sadie became our frontman." Buck Dewey stated.

"And since then, we became an overnight hit!" Jenny Pizza exclaimed.

"But I have a feeling our differing paths might cause a break-up." Sour Cream admitted.

--

"Steven had good intentions when he helped me run for re-election," ex-Mayor Dewey said. "but ultimately I lost. But hey, I did find a new calling at the Big Donut!"

--

"I was having stress dreams about my sister making me do her work, which took the form of a giant pizza monster, until Steven used his crazy dream powers to help me out." Kiki Pizza said.

--

"I'll admit, I had a crush on Garnet once upon a time." Jamie declared. "But really, can you blame me?! She was just so stoic and radiant and-"

"Get to the point!" Black Rutile sternly ordered.

"I'm sorry, got a little distracted." Jamie apologized. "But I had since moved onto better things, like my future career in the theater!"

--

"Okay, that should be all." Black Rutile sighed in exhaustion. "Now then, let's not waste any more ti-"

"Wait, I want to talk to you!" Ronaldo cried out as he raced to the Gems with a notebook in hand.

"What do you want?" the reporter grumbled. "We're wasting daylight here!"

"You've been going around asking people questions about Gems, but this time I want to ask you for a change." Ronaldo declared.

"Okay then, fire away little guy." White Topaz said with a smile.

"There are still tons of unanswered questions about your kind that I must inquire about!" Ronaldo said while flipping through his notebook. "Like, for example, do you know who created the Gems in the first place? How was Homeworld first colonized? When did they start colonizing other planets?"

"I don't believe we have time for your questions." Black Rutile snidely shut Ronaldo's questions down before making her way to the Crystal Temple. "Come Topaz, we have work to do."

"Yes, my Rutile!" White Topaz obeyed and followed behind, leaving Ronaldo in the dust.

"You can run, but I will get my answers!" Ronaldo declared loudly, but he was too late. "And they're gone."

--

"Okay, Topaz, we have to make a good first impression here, so no silly games or shadow puppet shows." Black Rutile commanded as they ascended the beach house's front steps and reached the front door.

"Aw man." White Topaz moaned in disappointment.

"Quit being such a child you moron." Black Rutile exhaled in disgust as she knocked on the door. "Hello, is anyone home?"

"Just a minute!" a voice the two Gems were eager to hear answered as its owner raced downstairs.

"Oh my stars, the moment has come; he's finally here!" White Topaz squealed happily before she received a slap to the face.

"Hello, what brings you here?" Steven greeted Black Rutile.

"Steven Universe, at long last!" BR exclaimed. "I'm Black Rutile, host of Eye on Era 3, and this is my camera-Gem/bodyguard White Topaz! We're here for an investigative report on the state of Earth in this new era, and have been interviewing many of your family and friends."

"You're a bit shorter than I expected." White Topaz commented.

"I see my reputation precedes me." Steven declared. "Come on in."

"Nice place you got here." White Topaz complimented the house as she and her boss were shown inside.

"Thanks, the Gems helped build this place." Steven accepted the compliment. "Hey, I got a question. I've met a Topaz and a Rutile before, but they sound nothing like you. Why is that?"

"We're just special Gems. Comes with being former members of White Diamond's court." Black Rutile answered while sitting down on the couch. "But enough about us, let's talk you! Could you give us a little life story first?"

"If you want." Steven answered while sitting across from the Rutile. "I remember first discovering my powers like it was yesterday. I was super bummed that my favorite brand of ice cream was discontinued, but then the Gems told me they got tons of it from other stores, and taking a bite out of one coincided with me summoning my shield for the first time, which led me to believe I could do so by eating Cookie Cat."

"Hahaha, oh the innocence of youth!" Black Rutile chuckled nostalgically. "I remember when I first emerged for White Diamond. A real young hotshot, a little arrogant even. Could you tell us more about these powers, kid?"

"Over time, I learned tons of Gem powers." Steven regaled. "Like shapeshifting, control over plant life, making bubbles, telepathy, sticking my mind in others' bodies, but fusion gave me tons of new abilities. This reminds me of a story."

"Ooh, shadow time!" White Topaz exclaimed, but her happiness was immediately put to rest.

"What did I tell you?! No shadows!" Black Rutile yelled strictly at her sidekick, and then immediately changed her mood. "Please continue."

"All right." Steven was a little taken aback by Black Rutile's cold behavior towards White Topaz before he began his story. "Anyways, it all started when I had to take care of Onion for the day, and Pearl helped out."

--

"Thank you Explorer Gal for saving us from that dastardly Bandit Guy!" Rainbow Quartz 2.0 said, taking the role of one of Onion's toys. Onion was playing with Explorer Gal, who thanked the other toy in Onion's unintelligible matter.

"For your heroic efforts, please accept money." Rainbow continued while handing Onion a dollar bill. "Our city was a mess before you came along, but now…." Rainbow then began to break character as they took notice of Onion's messy room. "Well, I suppose it's still a mess." They commented. "It's been so much fun playing, but now we have to clean, which is also fun!" they declared while making a rainbow with their hands. "Are you ready to tidy up?"

Onion stared blankly while slowly sticking a piece of broccoli out of his mouth.

"Oh Onion, don't you be that way." Rainbow 2.0 chuckled. "Your best friend Rainbow will help you tidy up!" Just then, they pulled a parasol out of Pearl's gem. "Let's make things a little more animated in here!"

With that, Rainbow made Onion's toys come to life, and they began marching to their proper places in his room while Rainbow started a song. "Stick by stick, the little blackbird makes a nest." They began singing while making Onion's clothes fly into his dresser. "A mess to some, but the little blackbird isn't stressed."

Rainbow then allowed Onion to give the umbrella a try, making one of the boy's toy cars come to life and race away. "Stick by stick, the little blackbird makes a nest." The fusion continued while Onion marveled at the parasol's powers. "And then he naps, cause even blackbirds need to rest. The fun won't stop if you have a friend around. The fun won't stop if you have a friend around."

As Rainbow began to finish the song, Onion kept playing with the umbrella, making more of his toys come alive, along with a Venus flytrap. "And when you laugh, it is my favorite sound." Onion then discovered some darts in his drawer, and used the parasol to make them fly. "And that's what life is all about."

"What the?!" Rainbow stuttered before dodging the darts, making them land on a dartboard. With that, they finally decided to take their weapon back from Onion while noticing a stack of dirty dishes. "Next time, please wash your dishes." They instructed before sending the dishes off to be cleaned, and then taking notice of a stuffed toy in Steven's image hidden near Onion's bed, eerily waving to them. "And could you please explain what this is?"

Onion didn't answer, aside from blowing Rainbow a few kisses.

"Alright, thank you for the kisses." Rainbow thanked Onion before Steven's phone began to ring. "Just give me five or so minutes."

Rainbow un-fused into Steven and Pearl, and Steven answered his phone. Garnet was on the other end, holding her cellphone extremely close to her face. "Steven, you're late." Garnet said. "I need you for the Sunstone Safety Geminar."

"Oh no, that was today?!" Steven began panicking. "But Rainbow Quartz promised to hang out with Onion today!"

"Don't worry; I'll handle the Geminar." Garnet stated confidently. "I'll explain every possible future where they could get hurt around the house."

"I don't know if that'll be a good idea, I'll be right there." Steven responded before hanging up and turning to Pearl. "Pearl, I'll be back as soon as I can." He promised. "Could you watch over Onion for me while I'm away?"

"Of course." Pearl agreed. "Onion loves Rainbow, I'm sure he'll love me as much."

--

"In hindsight, that wasn't my best idea." Steven took a break from his tale to confess. "Onion can be a real handful."

"Like, how much of a handful?" White Topaz asked.

"Let's just say, he's a real oddball who loves causing trouble." Steven stated. "I can never really get a read on that guy, no matter how much of a good friend he is. Heck, he doesn't even seem to age normally!"

"So, about this Geminar." Black Rutile began. "You said Rainbow Quartz is a fusion between you and Pearl, but who is this Sunstone running that event?"

"Oh, Sunstone is the fusion of Garnet and I." Steven answered. "They're all hip and radical and like giving important life lessons, kind of like those old PSA characters from the 90s. Speaking of which…"

--

"I slip on the stairs?" Ocean Jasper wondered while watching a television screen with Garnet, the Heaven & Earth Beetles, and a Nephrite.

"Indeed, and you shatter on impact too." Garnet bluntly replied, causing Ocean and the Nephrite to scream and hug each other in fright.

"Garnet, I'm here!" Steven called as he entered the house.

"Thanks for coming, Steven, but I need help." Garnet stated. "I think I'm scaring our guests."

"It's okay; we got this." Steven assured. "Let's get this safety Geminar started with a very special guest!"

Garnet got up from the couch, and the two began to dance, eventually forming the totally cool fusion Sunstone.

"Your rockin' pal Sunstone's here to shine!" Sunstone announced merrily.

"Watch out Sunstone, it's dangerous here!" Ocean Jasper cautioned Sunstone.

"Not unless you guys practice home safety." Sunstone assured the scared Gems. "Don't slip up. Clear objects off the stairs." They instructed by taking a water bottle off the steps to Steven's bedroom and throwing it like a ball. "Foul shot!"

The bottle landed in a trash can near Lion, which prompted another tip. "Be sure to cover up your trash, or else you'll attract bugs or hungry animals." Sunstone demonstrated as they shooed Lion away from the garbage. "Come on, let's go!" they declared. "Don't waste water. Turn off any faucet still running." Sunstone then shut off the sink. "Put protective covers over your electrical outlets, especially when kids are around." They added while doing just that. "And don't even think about sticking a fork in there! But most importantly, turn off motion smoothing on the TV."

Sunstone then used the remote to operate the television, allowing clearer picture and sound for everyone. "Okay, hold tight gang, gotta take a phone call." They said. "In the meantime, check out this commercial."

--

"Well, seems like you had things handled." White Topaz remarked.

"Famous last words White Topaz." Steven gravely informed. "Pearl later called me on my phone because Onion was giving her a serious headache, so I came back to her to calm Onion down. Then Garnet was trying to do a home safety obstacle course, but that went horribly wrong."

"Okay, color me wrong." The Topaz guard said. "I suppose hilarity must've ensued?"

"Oh so much." Steven declared. "I tried merging both the Geminar with playing with Onion, but one thing led to another."

--

"It's important to keep in mind that all of these horrible things did happen to you in alternate timelines." Garnet instructed her seminar attendees near the lighthouse. "Safety rules."

"Hey, Garnet." An exhausted Rainbow 2.0 called for their fellow fusion as they flew in via umbrella, with Onion in front. "Would you mind taking on another student?" they asked as Onion was let off the umbrella. "I'm feeling a mite PLPBBT."

With one last raspberry noise, Rainbow un-fused into Steven and Pearl. Steven just groaned tiredly.

"You shouldn't have brought him here Steven." Garnet forebodingly scolded the boy as Onion took a seat in front of her with the Gems.

"No, no, it's fine. It's good." Steven stuttered, having had enough of the stressful day he had. "No one needs safety training more than Onion! I'm combining all of my responsibilities into one responsibility! It's brilliant, it's brilliant! It's fine. I'm fine. Really, it's fine. I'm fine. I'm fine."

Onion wasn't paying attention the whole time, and instead picked up a blade of grass to play like a musical instrument, hypnotically commanding the other Gems to follow him. And Steven was too busy assuring Garnet and Pearl that he was fine to notice too late what had just happened.

A madcap chase soon ensued, with the three Crystal Gems following Onion and the Little Homeschoolers throughout Beach City, into the woods, and finally to a hill, where Onion let go of the leaf. Despite that, Ocean Jasper, the Beetles, and the Nephrite continued marching to the point of falling over the edge.

"Oh no!" Pearl cried as the Gems fell off the hill.

"Steven, we need Sunstone to save them!" Garnet urged Steven.

"Okay!" Steven yelped, and they fused into Sunstone.

"No, we need Rainbow to save them!" Pearl began arguing with her de-facto superior as she swiped Steven away to form Rainbow Quartz.

"I'll catch them with this!" Rainbow declared as they presented their umbrella.

"Can't all three of us fuse to save them?" Garnet wondered just as Amethyst raced up to them.

"Hey wait!" Amethyst cried. "I need Steven!"

Rainbow un-fused so Steven could speak. "What is it Amethyst?!"

"I miss you, man!" Amethyst yelled. "I haven't seen you in like, eleven minutes! But it felt like even longer!"

Steven couldn't take it anymore, and without a single word, he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

"STEVEN!" Pearl screamed as she raced to Steven's side.

"I shouldn't have overbooked my schedule." Steven groaned one last time before passing out from exhaustion.

"Nooooooooo." Garnet unemotionally cried out in despair.

--

"Oh-hohohohoho, I know what it's like!" Black Rutile cackled as Steven finished his story. "Must be so hard to be so overworked at such a young age."

"Guess that's what happens when you're running a whole school." Steven chuckled in reply. "So, guess that should be it, right?"

"No, I'd like to speak with Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl first before we wrap up for today." Black Rutile answered, just as the Warp pad began glowing. "Oh, and look who should show up now!"

The core Crystal Gems stood at the Warp Pad, ready to kick back after the long day they had today. "Good thing it was so easy to get that crowd under control." Pearl exhaled. "Still, who was that interviewer they were talking about?"

"I believe that would be me." Black Rutile answered as she stood up from the couch to meet the Gems. "Hi, Black Rutile, intelligence officer of White Diamond turned news reporter. Pleased to meet you."

"I wasn't aware White had a court." Garnet said as the Rutile shook each of their hands. "Pleased to meet you too."

"I just got done interviewing Steven, and he told me the most hilarious story about his troubles with balancing two things at once." Black Rutile said.

"Yeah, things went kinda crazy that day." Amethyst reminisced. "But thankfully, everything went back to normal after that."

"Oh good, the way Steven ended things left me on the edge of my seat!" White Topaz exclaimed while positioning the camera to face the Gems. "One more question before we go, what would you say are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?"

"A little oddly specific, but okay." Pearl remarked. "I pride myself on orderliness, swordsmanship, and intelligence. But I can be a bit doting and perfectionist at times."

"I can be kinda foolish and impulsive, but I'm pretty much past that." Amethyst added. "I'm also more street smart than book smart, and super tough too!"

"I'm a very stable fusion, which especially helps in battle." Garnet said. "My future vision is also seldom wrong, unless the current timeline becomes too unpredictable."

"Well, that should be enough for now." Black Rutile said as she entered all of her data into her visor. "Apologies if we couldn't talk anymore, but I've got places to be and missions to go on, so toodles!"

"Hope we can see each other again, Black Rutile!" Steven said goodbye as the two visiting Gems took the Warp Pad back to Little Homeworld.

"Maybe sooner than you think." Black Rutile smirked before they disappeared.

"She's right, we'll be seeing her again many times." Garnet predicted with an adjustment of her glasses. "But none of them will be friendly."

Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl just laughed at Garnet's prediction, ignorant at what could be to come.

--

Upon returning to Little Homeworld and boarding their ship, Black Rutile and White Topaz finally left Earth and launched into hyperspace.

"Wow, those Crystal Gems really are swell!" White Topaz commented while her superior sat down in her chair. "I don't see why we're plotting against them."

"It's because they've become far too powerful." Black Rutile answered gravely, a far cry from the persona she put up on Earth. "Does Steven really think he can change our entire society with just hugging, crying, singing, and a cheeky one-liner? Bah, I've done so much better without any of those!"

"My Rutile, we should be exiting hyperspace above Revanche 666 in approximately 15 seconds." One of the Rutile's Citrines confirmed. "Would you like to inform your allies of your coming?"

"Bring Emerald up." Black Rutile commanded, cuing a video screen to appear, showing the tall, green Gem pilot on the other side. "Hello there, Emerald."

"Your clarity, has your reconnaissance ended well?" Emerald asked with a bow.

"Indeed it has." Black Rutile answered with a grin. "Those clods never suspected a thing!"

"And we got it all on video too!" White Topaz added.

"Excellent, we'll soon have everything we need." Emerald declared. "We're all waiting for you at the base, hoping you won't disappoint."

"Oh, don't worry, Emerald, I won't." Black Rutile replied. "That will be all." With a clap, the screen disappeared, and the ship exited hyperspace to reveal the skull-like planet of Revanche 666 before them. "Prepare for landing."

--

When the dropship finally landed at Black Rutile's headquarters, two rows of Pearls patiently awaited their master's return.

"Ah, my Pearls." Black Rutile announced as she disembarked. "When I ordered Shell to create all of you, I knew it wouldn't disappoint."

"Thank you, my Rutile." The Pearls thanked in unison while one of them took the camera from White Topaz. "Your minions await."

"Perfect." Black Rutile purred before beginning her stroll to her meeting room. "Come Topaz, we have much to do."

--

"Geez, what's taking her so long?" Lapis Lazuli 1J9G-5KL complained as she, Holly Blue Agate, Morganite, Emerald, Aquamarine, and Eyeball kept on waiting for their boss while seated around a round, white table.

"Patience Lapis." Aquamarine soothed her fellow Gem's annoyance. "She did say that she'd be arriving soon."

"The sooner, the better!" Eyeball yelled, pounding her fist on the table. "I want revenge on Steven for making me a pariah, and I want it now!"

"You're awfully eager." Emerald muttered to her fellow eye Gem before turning to Holly Blue and Morganite. "So, how goes that Zircon's democratic campaign?"

"That navel gem Ruby we planted as her campaign manager has been feeding her lies, and the Zircon doesn't suspect a thing!" Holly Blue answered excitedly.

"More and more Gems have been unknowingly swayed to our cause." Morganite stated. "Soon, we shall have an army strong enough to topple even the Diamonds."

Just then, Black Rutile and White Topaz finally arrived in the meeting room, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and salute her. "Welcome, your clarity."

"You're all too kind." Black Rutile thanked them sarcastically as she took a seat between Aquamarine and White Topaz. "I suspect your missions have been going well too, no?"

"Indeed it has my Rutile." Holly Blue revealed.

"That brat has been controlling us all for too long." Aquamarine declared. "Now it's time we take back our planet from those tyrannical pacifists."

"Are you all sure this is a good idea?" White Topaz asked the other Era 3 insurgents. "I mean, the Crystal Gems have become far too powerful to be challenged, and the Diamonds will no doubt come for our gems if they find out!"

"The Diamonds are yesterday's news!" Black Rutile roared, forcing her Topaz into silence. "And speaking of which, Steven may not realize this, but he's no better than his brat of a mother! Thinking he can force all of Homeworld to obey him by being a controlling twerp! Thankfully, he doesn't do so by throwing tantrums left and right until the Diamonds do what he says to shut him up. For now at least."

A Black Pearl entered the meeting room with White Topaz's camera in her hands, and she set it down on the table.

"Thank you my Pearl." Black Rutile thanked the Pearl before turning it on to reveal all the information that she collected on Earth.

"Is this all we need to know about the Gems in time for Phase 2?" Morganite asked her black-colored superior.

"You bet it is." Black Rutile declared with a sociopathic grin as she gazed at one of the holograms of Steven and plucked it out to hold in her hands. "You can have your happily ever after as much as you like, Steven." She declared evilly. "Cause your little Universe will soon be mine."

END OF PART 1: LITTLE HOMESCHOOL

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2: GRADUATION

--

At last, Part 1 is finally complete! And here, unfortunately, is where I must go on hiatus. Second semester of college and all that, and I think my classes might be harder than last semester. But hopefully, this cliffhanger should tide you over until we come back. Anyways, Black Rutile is finally upon us! A character that I think I'll have fun writing since I consider her to be like the Lex Luthor to Steven's Superman, the Frieza to his Goku, the Megatron to his Optimus Prime, the Aku to his Samurai Jack, etc etc. In other words, Steven's got a new archenemy coming and he doesn't even know it yet. Stay tuned! (evil laughter)

[solavillain]

Pas de Deux Ch. 2: Your New Best Friend

+pairing: Spinel x fem!Reader +genre: Drama, romance, angst, slow burn, enemies to friends to lovers +warnings: None (for now) +word count: 3K +Chapter 2 / ?  previous || next

Read on AO3!

Eventually, all the Gems emerge, just as off and different as Pearl had been. Garnet hasn’t even reformed, and Ruby is patrolling back and forth near Sapphire, glaring at anyone who got near. Amethyst can only mimic people, and her hair was shorter; her limbs seeming almost like doll joints.

“Steven, what is going on with them?” You ask, worry plain on your face. You had never seen any of the Gems poof, but you knew they didn’t usually come back like...this.

He doesn’t seem to hear you, his gaze focused on the newest Gem, who Pearl had called “Spinel” a few moments ago. She was entirely different from when she had first arrived. Her pigtails were now heart-shaped buns on the top of her head, her clothes were a white and light pink combination rather than the black and deep pink they were when she had landed. And perhaps the biggest change was that her heart shaped gem was no longer upside down. This was certainly strange, as you had never heard about gem positioning changing in between reforming. You’d have to ask Pearl...

“Oh, right,” you think sadly, “she doesn’t have any clue who I am right now.” You turn your attention to Steven and Spinel, tuning back in to their conversation.

“You!” Steven exclaims, rushing over to her and shaking her gently. “What have you done to us?”

Spinel giggles lightly and pokes him on the nose. “Boop! Hee hee, now it’s your turn!”  

She wraps her arms around Steven at least five times, lifts him into the air, and starts to shake him up and down vigorously with a rather vacant look in her eyes.

“Ah! Hey, uh...Spinel?” You say, gingerly placing a hand on her shoulder. “He doesn’t look like he’s enjoying that too much, hmm? Maybe you could put him down?”  

Spinel directs her gaze to the boy in her stretched arms, a worried look briefly flashing over her features before the vacancy returns.   “Okay!” She exclaims cheerfully, and lets Steven fall out of her grip. He falls to the floor unceremoniously, landing on his face.

You move to check on Steven, who seems much weaker than usual. Before you can say anything, Spinel walks up between the two of you and points at the others.

“Hey look! There’s more Gems!” You blink in surprise, wondering how she’s only just noticing them for the first time.   “Well, if she’s really somehow supposed to be Steven’s best friend, maybe it’s a bit like Pearl’s sudden devotion to Greg...”

You turn your attention to your group of friends, your heart sinking with every second you gaze at them. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Amethyst was going to take you to Little Homeworld tonight, you were finally going to spend some time with the “New Crystal Gems” as Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot had taken to calling themselves. You had been so excited...how did this get so twisted? “Oh,” you think snidely, “right. Her.”

The pink Gem standing on your left was now bouncing in place, a small grin plastered across her features. You have to work to stop returning her smile; her happiness seems almost infectious. You can almost forget that she caused all this mess in the first place with her bubbly persona brightening up the room every time she speaks “Let’s ask ‘em to play!” Spinel exclaims, referring to the Crystal Gems.

Steven turns to her, confusion plain on his face, “Wait, you mean you don’t remember?”

“Remember what?”

“Oh boy,” you sigh.   Steven looks between Spinel and the Gems, and groans in frustration, “Just...everyone follow me!” He leads everyone to the base of Lighthouse Park, the Injector still perched smack dab in the center, the sickly pink liquid still bubbling occasionally.  

“Wowee!” Spinel exclaims, “That thing sure is big! You wanna climb it, or something?” She looks to you and Steven, and dances happily in place.   You shake your head with a small smile. “No, Spinel. This Injector is...you brought it here. You said something about it hurting Steven’s human half...” You trail off and look at Steven, who’s standing to your left in between you and Spinel. “You really don’t remember bringing this, attacking us?”

Spinel squints at you and Steven, and one of her spindly arms twists on its way up to scratch her head. “Uh, I did what now?”

You and Steven sigh in unison, exchanging a glance of concern. If she really doesn’t remember, and the Gems are out of commission, this was looking pretty bad. Who knew what that stuff was going to do to Beach City? To the Earth? And as far as you knew, the Cluster was still in the planet’s core, albeit bubbled by Steven. But still, that hadn’t stopped it from activating when the Diamonds had come during Garnet’s wedding. You hadn’t been around for that, as it had been May and you had still been finishing up your college finals, but from the story the Gems had told you , it had certainly been an epic fight. If the Cluster had partially formed from the Diamonds arriving on the surface, who’s to know what would happen if something was injected down to the core?

You turn to Greg, trying to keep thinking positively for Steven’s sake. Greg seems too preoccupied with Pearl right now, or at the very least, trying to get Pearl to stop staring at him.   Suddenly, Lion walks down from the hill, and you smile; Lion always cheers Steven up when he’s feeling down.

“How about you Lion, what do you think of all this?” Steven asks his companion, giving the animal a hug. After a moment, he pulls away, a confused look on his face. “Ugh, what now...” he mumbles, and pulls out Spinel’s weapon from earlier. “Please please please...”

He pushes the retracted scythe against Lion’s mane and lets go, the weapon falling to the sand with a soft thud. You look between him and Lion in concern- you've seen Steven actually jump into Lion before, and store assortments of random objects for later. If he can’t access that power, then...

“What? I can’t store things in Lion’s mane now?! That’s like the easiest thing I do!” Steven exclaims, interrupting your worried thoughts. His shoulders sag for a moment, and he picks up the weapon.  

“Y/n, Dad, what do I do? I’ve got no Gems to help me...except...” He turns towards Little Homeworld, and realization flashes across his face.  

“Oh, duh!” He exclaims, slapping his forehead lightly. “Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot! C’mon guys, let’s go figure out how to fix this!”

You start to follow Steven and Spinel, the latter of whom was bounding after Steven with carefree laughter. You turn after a few steps, as does Steven, realizing you don’t hear anyone else following.

“Uh, guys? Greg?” You ask, taking a couple steps back towards the other group.

“Oh, Um-Greg! Allow me!” Pearl insists, stopping Greg before he could follow you and Steven. She materializes an umbrella from her gem and holds it out over Greg.   “Uh...” He starts, holding out his hands in protest. Amethyst suddenly shape-shifts into Greg, which momentarily confuses Pearl; she switches the umbrella back and forth between the two versions of Steven’s dad.  

“R-Ruby? Sapphire?” Steven calls out, sounding more worried by the second.

“She’s not going anywhere with you!” Ruby yells, taking up a defensive stance in front of Sapphire. “I...do see us following him to the country-side,” Sapphire remarks, and begins to walk towards Steven, nodding to you as she passes.

“Never mind! We’re going...” Ruby says reluctantly, and rushes ahead to Sapphire, who has already surpassed the group.

“Wait! Don’t leave me alone with these two!” Greg calls out, glancing worriedly at Pearl and Amethyst, who still hasn’t shifted back to her regular form.

“Steven, do you want me to stay with them?” You ask, trying to be as much help as you possibly can be. Spinel's face darkens and she moves closer to you, but avoids looking directly at you. “What’s that about...” You think, glancing to the pink Gem.

“Dad can handle Pearl and Amethyst. They’re harmless, and he knows them, so he’ll be fine. I just...Kinda want another human around while we figure everything out, especially since Connie can’t be here.”

Your gaze softens, and you remember that Steven really is just a teenager. An extraordinary teenager who has done countless good deeds for the Earth and for the universe as a whole, but a teenager nonetheless. You can’t imagine how off-putting it must be to not be able to control his powers anymore, and to have no idea how to solve the mess Spinel has caused.

“Yeah, dude, I have your back,” you say with a reassuring pat to Steven’s shoulder. “Lead the way! I was supposed to see Bismuth and the others tonight anyway, so I’m all set for however long this ends up taking.”

The group opts to make the trek to Little Homeworld, foregoing the warp for now. Steven said that part was still under construction, and though he’d used it earlier today, he didn’t know if it had been installed yet. He didn’t want your whole group to walk off the warp pad and fall 50 feet. That was fine with you- you'd only warped a couple times, when Pearl wanted to explain some Gem battles or train you in the Sky Arena. You still hadn’t quite gotten the hang of it, and it always took you a couple minutes after warping to feel regular again. You wanted to have all your wits about you for today, and with the Injector looming above the town doing who knows what to the Earth, you definitely need a clear head.

After the slightly long walk to the town, Steven found the three “New Crystal Gems” on top of one of the buildings still under construction. Bismuth was always hard at work, and you really admired her work ethic with everything she does, even if she can get a bit intense about it sometimes.

Steven leads your group over to a small lift on the side of the building, and you all make the slow ascent. You glance over at Steven, who’s doing his best to not look utterly defeated.

“Hey dude, you all right?” You ask softly.

“Yeah, I... well, no, honestly I’m not, Y/n,” Steven answers honestly. “I’m so worried about the Gems, and I’m even more worried about that thing,” he gestures to the Injector, “and I just want this to be over so I can get back to my happily ever after. Everything was going so well...”  

“Hey, it’s okay not to be all right,” you say sympathetically, “I’m worried as hell too. And I can't even really do anything to help...”

“You’re helping right now,” Steven says with a kind smile.  

You return his smile as the lift reaches the top. The three Gems don’t seem to notice your group immediately; they’re gazing out over Little Homeworld, lost in conversation.  

Steven calls out to get their attention, "Bismuth, Lapis, Peridot! Guys, I’m really glad to see you.”  

The group turns, and Peridot’s face lights up. “Steven! And Y/n, too, hi! Look, now Little Homeworld is 91.4% complete!” Steven gives her a weak smile, “That’s...great Peridot, really. But I think you guys should take a look at something...”

He gestures back towards Beach City and the Injector with a grim look on his face. You walk to the side of the building with them as Peridot pulls out binoculars from a box and stares at the Injector.

“She rode in on that?!” Peridot exclaims, lowering the binoculars and looking at you and Steven in disbelief.

“Yeah...she said my human half wouldn’t stand a chance against her Injector,” Steven replies.

“What does that mean?” Lapis asks, exchanging a look with Peridot as Bismuth walks back towards Ruby and Sappire. “No idea,” Steven replies, “but if it’s something that will hurt my human half, then it can’t be good for Y/n, or the rest of Beach City either...”

“Why don’t we just ask her?” Peridot asks, looking around for Spinel.

You look around as well- you haven’t seen her since you got to the top of the building; where could she be? Did she remember something and run off to attack Pearl and Amethyst? You start to panic, until she pops up from behind Steven yelling, “Surprise!”

You roll your eyes, fighting back a small smile. She definitely hasn’t remembered anything yet, and in this form she’s still rather endearing. If a bit annoying...

“Here she is...my new best friend, Spinel,” Steven says with a sigh, presenting the Gem to the others.

“A pleasure to meet you all,��� Spinel says with a flourish and a bow. She glances up at you staring at her and giggles and winks.  

“What...?”

Before you can think too much about it, Bismuth interrupts your thoughts. “I thought you said she was just trying to kill you?”

“Wow, quick turn around,” Lapis says with a mischievous look in her eye.

“No kidding! It took me months to stop trying to kill Steven,” Peridot remarks.

“Eh, for me it was a day, day and a half,” Bismuth jokes, grinning at her friends.

“I’m still on the fence,” Lapis says, which causes the group to burst into laughter. You giggle along, momentarily forgetting the dire situation. You had a feeling that once this was all over, you were really going to love getting to know this group. They seemed like such great friends, and it felt like you and Amethyst would blend in easily whenever you all got together.

“All right, let's see this thing she hit you with,” Peridot says, turning to you and Steven with a determined look on her features. You step aside, moving next to Spinel so Steven and Peridot can have some space to examine the weapon.

“Psst! Hey, you! What’s goin’ on?” Spinel asks in a loud whisper, tugging on your arm.

You look down to your left. She’s shorter in this form, and though you’re about average height, she’s still a couple inches shorter than you, her heart-shaped buns just reaching the middle of your face.  

You give her a small smile and reply, “Well, you don’t remember, I guess, but you brought that weapon they’re examining, so we’re trying to figure out what it is and what it did to everyone.” You gesture towards Ruby and Sapphire. “Those two don’t normally...look or act like this, and we want to get everyone back to normal so we can help save Beach City. We don’t know what the Injector you brought does...but we want to stop it before anything bad happens.”

Spinel stares up at you, intently listening to every word. “Ooh, I get it! Ok, I’ll help too!” She exclaims, standing up straighter and puffing her chest out slightly. You giggle, finding her posturing rather cute. She may still not have any clue what was going on, but at least she’s trying.

Spinel grins, glancing at you from the side, not moving from her important helpful position.   “She seems happy that she made me laugh,” you think fondly, returning her smile.  

Just then, Bismuth snatches the scythe from Peridot, who had been holding it up to her eye. You jump in surprise, turning your attention back to the conversation.

“Be careful with that!” She warns, “It’s a rejuvenator.”

Pressing on the button, Bismuth displays the weapon for everyone, carefully holding it out at arm's length. You flash back to a few hours ago, when the innocent Gem to your left had been attacking your friends and causing them to forget you. You furrow your brow at the thought, your heart feeling sad again. You can’t allow yourself to get so caught up in Spinel’s games that you forget what she’s done, even if she’s forgotten herself.

Bismuth continues her explanation. “Homeworld used to use these things on Gems that started steppin’ outta line. One hit with this...you’re back to how they made you,” she finishes, gazing down at Ruby and Sapphire sadly.

“What are you looking at,” Ruby says, holding out a protective hand in front of her Sapphire.

Your eyes widen as Bismuth’s explanation sinks in- the Gems, your friends...they really were reset. They had no idea who you were, where they were, and-  

“Oh, Steven,” you say kindly, placing a tentative hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh my stars, I touched it!”

You turn to Peridot at her outburst, a disbelieving look on her face.

“I could have lost all my character development!”  

You snort, trying to hold in laughter. Peridot was definitely funny as hell, whether she tried to be or not. Suddenly, a thought strikes you.

“Wait...how did you survive being hit by the rejuvenator, Steven? I know you’re only half Gem, but still...”

He furrows his brow, but then a look of realization comes over him. “I...I think I didn’t,” he answers, “My human half kept me from poofing, but- but my Gem half, it took the hit! She sent me back; it’s like I’m a kid again! I can barely control my powers...how do we reverse this?” Steven looks frantically between you and the New Crystal Gems, searching for answers. Bismuth holds out the retracted weapon and places it back in Steven’s hand. You meet his eyes, trying to reassure him with a look. But you don’t have any answers for him. You wrap your arms around your middle, trying to hold it together for him. For everyone. You know you can’t do much, not to the extent that a Gem or even Connie can do, but you can at least be emotionally strong for your friends.  

“You’re the one with healing powers...” Lapis says softly, “If anyone can fix this, it’s you.”

“I can’t believe this...for the first time in years, everyone’s in danger, everybody needs me! And I’m useless!” Steven glances worriedly at the Injector, and then at Spinel, who hasn’t left your side since she made you laugh.  

He turns towards Bismuth and asks, “What do we do?” “I’m sorry, Steven...I don’t know.”

You turn to Bismuth in shock. Even she doesn’t know? And she knew what the weapon was...but has no way to fix it.  

Things were looking grim.

[serendipitous-posts]

Lapidot Week- Day One; Dancing in the Rain

Peridot is upset that she missed out on Lapis' first Rainday. Flowers are planted and dances are had.

@lapidot-week come get y’all juice

The sound of clanging alerts Lapis to her barnmate's incoming.

Peridot wouldn't know subtlety if it crawled out of her Gem, and the sound of her as she scaled the ten foot tall vertical water tower would be impressive to a newcomer, but at this point it was practically mundane, so Lapis didn't do much more than shift slightly to give her green . . . friend space as she awkwardly flopped over the edge, letting out a cheer as she reached the top.

"Neyhehe!" She giggled, pulling herself up beside Lapis to bare little pointed fangs at the ground below "I have conquered you!"

"And it only took you two hours" Lapis deadpanned as she did not react to Peri leaning into her.

"I know!" Peridot grinned, looking smug "a new record!" She pulled away slightly, and Lapis let out a little disappointed 'oh' that the little Gem thankfully seemed to miss. "A record I wouldn't need to be breaking if you would just fly me up."

"Eh, the climbings good for you" she grinned a little at Peridot's affronted expression, before turning away to stare at the land surrounding them. She could see the place where the Orchids they had tried to grow were, now withered and dead, the one plant they had yet to master.

Peridot, following her gaze, gave a little hum of realisation "it's very . . .  green, isn't it?" She said, like it was the highest compliment one could give to another.

Lapis snorted "yeah, it is. You fit right in."

"Actually, save for the plants we are growing, I have yet to find another creature on this planet that is green like me" she paused "well, Steven mentioned 'hoppers of grass' but apparently they can spit acid, so I'm not sure I want to meet them."

The tall blue Gem stared at the smaller one for a second in disbelief before whistling, a new trick that Steven had taught her "never saw anything like that, although" she trailed off here, glancing up at the sky for a moment "I did see some weird things, when I was- um, under the sea."

Peridot nodded, enthusiastic and carefully ignoring Lapis' slip up. This was why they were friends. "Oh yeah, Amethyst told me about them! They're called fish! Did you know that Earth doesn't even know half of the Ocean's wildlife? Talk about ignorant."

Lapis found herself agreeing; while she liked Earth, her opinions on it's inhabitants were pretty indecisive, mostly because, outside of Steven, Connie and whoever that 'Greg' guy was, she had never met any humans. Unless you counted Camp Pining Hearts, but she was pretty sure if she ever met Paulette, she would uppercut her into the ocean.

"I saw this one . . fish that would expand if you got too close" Lapis reminisced fondly "scared the hell out of us- me. Scared the hell out of me."

Peridot looked amazed at this new information, pulling a notebook out of who-knows-where and scribbling in it fiercely. "But how? Doesn't that break the law of conversation of mass?" She gasped, almost dropping her fancy fountain pen that had almost certainly been stolen from Amethyst who stole it from Pearl. "Are other creatures on Earth capable of that? Is Steven? Is Greg?"

And now her friend was looking at her, like she had all the answers to life, the universe and everything, eyes shining beneath her visor as her hair stood up in all directions, and Lapis was very, very gay (a new term, thank you Pearl) and so blurts out the first thing that comes to mind.

"There weren't any Pumpkins down there."

. . .

Okay, look. Nobody here said that Lapis was smart, and she could see her pet (pet? Like a Pearl? Or a Spinel?) playing down below, and she panicked and now-

-oh Stars, Peridot was doing the thing, with her eyes like she had just realised something beyond the ken of measly gay idiots everywhere.

"Of course! Underwater flora would be completely different than overground flora! Less light and less rain-"

"No rain."

Peridot stopped scribbling in her notebook, which is great because Lapis is pretty sure she can hear the pen weeping, but the manic look doesn't leave her eyes at all. "What?"

Lapis carefully folded her legs underneath her in a kneeling position, which caused Peridot to scooch back slightly, looking slightly . . . disappointed? In the sudden lack of contact "it doesn't rain down there. I didn't even know what rain was until - until I got out."

Not that she was particularly impressed once she discovered it either. It was handy for farming, but other than that? Useless.

But already Peri was making sharp gestures with her hands, "HOLD ON, hold on, are you telling me, that I missed out on your first rain day?" The hands fell into Peri's lap, as she stared, crushed, up at her barnmate.

Slag, slag, slag, you messed up, you messed up big-

Lapis tried to laugh it off "well yeah, but it doesn't matter, it's just water-"

"Just water!" Peridot repeated, somewhat hysterical. "Have you ever seen another planet that drips water from the sky?"

She hesitated "does- does acid count as water?"

The technician stared, bug eyed for a moment, before; "NO!"

"Okay, okay!" Lapis put up both of her hands, feeling oddly defensive about the whole thing "just thought I'd ask."

That did absolutely nothing to soothe Peridot's feelings, as she just curled up into a ball, with a frown on her face.

Great job, Lazuli

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Luckily for Lapis' self worth, the conversation is abandoned and forgotten, until almost a week later, when Peridot all but kicks the barn door in, almost faceplanting as she bounds inside to where Lapis was reading one of those 'trashy romance novels' Amethyst keeps giving her.

She's finally reaching the part that Amethyst assured her is 'hot' and 'steamy' and so is a little annoyed when Peridot grabs one of her arms and pulls her out of her hammock, dragging her slowly towards the door.

"Come on, Lazuli, work with me here!" Peridot grits out as she hauls Lapis towards the open door. Lapis herself, laying on her back and staring blankly up at the ceiling, does not react besides a very slow blink. It's only when they're outside, almost ten minutes later, that she pulls herself to her feet and smiles at the exhausted Peridot.

"You wanted something?"

Peridot doesn't respond; instead choosing to stick her tongue out and march away. "Oh, that's mature" Lapis calls after her as she easily catches up.

It is only then that she really registers the weather around them; it is 'drizzling' a term used for when it is lightly raining, and the feeling of droplets hitting her skin reminds her of the conversation they had all those days ago, and how upset Peri had been.

She's always been pretty ambivalent towards the rain, but that memory may have just ruined it for her.

Peridot turns a corner, then spins dramatically around to face her, hands on hips, triumphant even as the rain starts to wrestle with the mess that is her hair. "Lazuli, I have something to show you."

"Yeah, I got that when you literally dragged me from the barn" Lapis tries to crane her neck around to see what Peridot is blocking but she lets out a screech of anger when she does, so Lapis snaps her head back.

"Thank you" Peridot said pleasantly, like she didn't just fracking screech at Lapis not two seconds ago. "I would like you to meet the newest addition to our farm" and then she moves aside.

Lapis and Peridot had been branching out in their gardening, particularly in the flower department. With Lapis' powers and Peridot's . . . Peridoting, they had singlehandedly mastered the care for every single flower.

Except one.

The Orchid.

Forget the Diamond Authority, these weeds were the real banes of their existence. Connie had heard their troubles, and tried to reassure them, telling them that Orchids were considered one of the hardest plants to care for, that even the most experienced gardeners had troubles with it. Not that that helped much; many a tantrum had been thrown over this stupid, pretty plant. The temptation to just . . ask Steven for help was strong, but they wanted to do this on their own.

It got to the point where they were both strongly considering Amethyst's idea of Goat Sacrificing, Peridot had looked into it and it seemed 'legit' as the humans said.

But now.

Oh, but now-

In a small, small circle, were a couple of orchids, tall and healthy and alive, and not dead.

And blue.

Lapis gapes, unable to even begin to say anything as she stared at the flowers that had only just come into bloom. Peridot rocks back on her heels, grin even larger now as she saw her partners blatant shock.

The rain is starting to come down heavy now, starting to soak through their clothes, but the way Peridot is acting, it was if the sun itself was shining down on her.

Lapis opens her mouth to say something, closes it again, then takes a step forwards to get a better look, bending down to inspect the petals. Her jaw tightens as she spins around to face Peridot, ignoring how her hair is beginning to stick to her face thanks to the determined rainfall "you cheated!" She accuses.

Peridot blinks, hurt "I did not!"

The blue Gem looks between her and the Orchids "yeah, you did. There are no such thing as blue Orchids, you had to have done something to them" honestly, she had read the same gardening books Peridot did, did she really think she wouldn't notice?

Surprisingly, Peridot blushes, sending up small splashes from newly forming puddles as she fidgets on the spot, fixing her eyes on a point beyond Lapis. "I didn't cheat" she says in a quavering sort of voice "not really. I- uh, I got Steven to take me to a Gardening Center, and I bought white Orchids, and I planted them here approximately one week ago."

Lapis stares at her, trying to drill the simple point through her visor and into her head "they're blue."

She clears her throat awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot "yes, well, I thought I could" she gestures helplessly towards the flowers "inject them. With some dye."

Lapis shoves her now sodden hair out of her eyes, frowning as it just flopped down again. What had happened to that nice drizzle? She was soaked. And, more importantly-

"Why blue? Of all colours, why blue?"

Peridot grimaces, looking like she had just been caught out. "W-well" she rubs her fingers together "I- I like blue?" She offers, throwing up her hands in a what do you do? kind of gesture.

There is something in that, something that Lapis felt like she should be seeing, but, to be honest, it is hard to see even a meter in front of her. The rain is coming down hard now, hitting her skin and filling her ears with the rhythmic pit-pat sound. Through the sheet of rain, everything is blurry and mushed up, and Lapis glances back behind her to make sure that the Orchids, which, apparently, weren't the byproduct of Steven or some other outsider playing Diamond, only to see-

She has to take a step back.

Through the rain, the awful, dreadful, downpouring rain, all you could see of the Orchids were the colours-

Blue and Green.

The Orchids petals and stems and leaves.

Blue and Green and Blue and Green.

Mixing, mashing together, blurring so much that it was impossible to see where one colour ended and another began.

Blue and Green.

"Earth's colours" Peridot says, splashing up beside her, voice trembling.

"Our colours" Lapis agrees, sliding her hand through her brilliant, amazing, special partner.

Peridot shrieks when Lapis picks her up, spinning her around as she bounces through the puddles. It doesn't take long for the shrieks to become laughter, or for Lapis to join in, both of them soaked to the skin as they do.

Lapis slips, falling backwards, accidentally crushing two of the Orchids they had worked so hard to even exist, but neither cared, Lapis already rolling to her feet and Peridot already jumping into her arms. It didn't even occur to Lapis to use her wings- this was an Earth dance, not a sky dance.

Peridot's hair is flattened against the rain, making her look smaller than ever, frailer than ever, but she laughs the same as she kicks her way through the puddle, and Lapis laughs with her as she, a Lapis Lazuli, a high ranking Gem, is splashed with mud, some of which gets in her mouth. It just makes her laugh harder. There is no worries about the mirror or Malachite or Fusion at all- they are just two friends dancing through the rain and mud and flowers, howling at the sky.

All those days ago, on the water tower, she hadn't understood why Peridot seemed so upset she missed out on her first rain day.

Now, laughing as she twirled and twisted, feeling her dress float out around her and Peridot put their foreheads together, she finally got it.

And through the rain, the amazing, wonderful, downpouring rain, all you could see of the two were the colours-

Mixing, mashing together, blurring so much that it was impossible to see where one colour ended and another began.

Just Blue and Green and Blue and Green.

The Earth's Colours.

Blue and Green.

I wrote this in an hour because I completely forgot about Lapidot week, and my arm really hurts, and I will surely hate this in Two Hours but it’s Fine.

Also, my weird obsession with flowers leaks into everything I have ever made ever, but at least it’s understandable in this case

[starscheme]

With All My Heart

Chapter Thirteen: The Breaking Point

 Steven led Spinel by the hand once again through his room in the Temple, towards the Garden. Amethyst Lars stayed behind, thinking it was best and that only Pearl and Steven were a part of this. Lars was actually quite relieved not to be involved in such a heavy situation, but Amethyst seemed a bit anxious. Three of her friends were about to attempt something that was bound to be emotionally jarring for all them. Had she made the wrong choice not to follow after them?

Once they had reached the Garden, Spinel already felt uncomfortable. She didn’t like it here. What had happened in this place that made her so scared to remember? Still, she had made the choice to go through with this. Whatever she was afraid to recall, she would try her best to work through it. After all, Steven and Pearl seemed so sad that she couldn’t remember. They must have been very important to her, right? Steven let go of Spinel’s hand and went over to help Pearl with the chest, opening it up and starting to search through it, hoping to find the things that would work best. Spinel’s eyes couldn’t help but follow after Steven, watching silently as he and Pearl spoke about what to do first. Steven could feel her eyes on him and looked over his shoulder to make sure she was okay. However, the moment their eyes met, Spinel flinched, quickly looking away with a blush. She just couldn’t seem to look at him without feeling a sort fluttering in her chest. It didn’t hurt, but it was a little alarming.

“A lot of the stuff in here are gifts from me…or stuff I made as a kid,” Steven commented when he turned back to the chest, grinning slightly over Spinel’s reaction to him.

“Yes. She’s kept a lot of random things. …Oh, look, she kept that little outfit you wore on home world when you dressed as Pink.” Pearl announced with a delighted nostalgia. “It’s so little…”

Steven blushed and grabbed the outfit. Why would she keep that? It wasn’t a pleasant trip to Home world after all. “Why don’t we just have her go through the chest herself? Anything in here would probably help.”

Pearl nodded, just hoping it wasn’t too much at once. Though Steven wanted to force this as Connie suggested, she just wasn’t sure Spinel could handle it. She wanted to protect her, but she had agreed to try this in order to get her friend back.

“Spinel…come look at this.” Steven said as he knelt next to the large chest, waiting patiently for Spinel to slowly make her way over to examine its contents as well.

Spinel did as she was told and began looking through everything. There was some random rubble that she started to recall was from the rebellion. Apparently, Spinel had collected pieces of structures that had been destroyed. There was even a piece from one of the legs of Pinks abandoned Palanquin. She could remember Pink. The Diamond she had been assigned to, her very first best friend. She could even recall meeting Pearl for the first time and the gems reaction to her constant jokes. Though Pearl seemed less than amused, she always did her best to help Spinel with anything she needed while Pink was on earth.

The memories began to flood back almost effortlessly after that, but once they reached a certain point, all she could see was this image of herself, distorted and broken. She saw an image of Pink standing over her, upset and disappointed with Pearl at her side, looking rather displeased herself. Steven was there too, Pearls hand at his shoulder as they all looked down at her.

“You’re not good enough,” Pink said simply, her voice sounding like a muffled recording.

“Look what you’ve become,” Pearl added, her voice a bit clearer, though it sounded like she was speaking through a thick glass.  

Steven didn’t seem to say anything, he simply looked down at her as if he didn’t recognize her and all at once, Spinel hunched over to grip at her Gem once again. Steven and Pearl reacted at once and gathered around her, both kneeling down to keep close.

“Steven, it looks like she’s in pain…” Pearl observed with an anxious look on her face.

“It will be fine, we have to let her remember…” he stated firmly, but finding it difficult to watch.

“I-I don’t want to remember!” Spinel cried out now, her tears gushing from her eyes without abandon. It hurt so much. Why? How could a memory be so painful?

“Spinel, please, it’s going to be okay,” Pearl pleaded, gripping Spinel’s shoulders. “look at me, just try and focus on me.”

Spinel lifted her heard to make out Pearls face through her tears, but instead of helping to ease the pain, she gasped out as if someone had just smashed something against her gem. Her body began to glow and it made Pearl and Steven a bit hopeful. Perhaps she was reforming back to her usual self, but Spinel appeared to be fighting it and they each heard an audible crack. Panicking, the two focused on her Gem, noting the small splinter in Spinels Gem.

“Steven!!” Pearl shouted in alarm.

Steven quickly licked his hand, but before he could place it over the Gem, it turned upside down and Spinel was nearly back to normal, though tears were still streaming down her face and her body was glitching out, just like Amethyst had done when her Gem was broken.

“Wh-Why?!” Spinel demanded through her sobs, clutching at her gem with one hand. “I wa-wanted to—forget!”

“Spinel! Spinel move your hand, I can help you!” Steven shouted desperately.

“You can’t!” Spinel shouted back. “It started breaking on—on its own!”

“Just MOVE!” Steven demanded, forcing her hand away and placing his over her gem. Though he watched anxiously, nothing happened. Instead, another fracture appeared adding to the crack and looking as if it was going to split her gem.

“S-Spinel,” exclaimed Pearl as she brought her hands to cover her mouth, “What is happening?!”

Spinel smiled sadly, “I-it’s like you said—I’m already….—b-broken…”

Pearl gasped and clenched her fists at her side now as she shouted, tears slipping down her cheeks. “I was wrong! Spinel, you’re not broken! I was just worried! I wanted to protect you from anything else that might make you sad, but I was wrong!”

“Come on, come on,” Steven choked out, trying over and over again to fix her gem before the splinter got any bigger. This wasn’t fair; they were so close to getting her back. Why was this happening?! Padparadscha had said that Spinel was breaking before. Was this what she meant? Did Spinel poof herself to prevent from shattering? Had they sealed her fate in their selfish attempt to get the Spinel they loved back?! “Come ON, “ Steven shouted, frustrated and devastated, warm tears pilled from his eyes, blurring his vision as he tried to keep his focus on Spinel’s face. He held her now, letting her glitching form rest on his knees as he attempted to fix her.

“St-Steven…-y-you can stop.” Spinel said as her voice broke along with each disruption of her form.

“NO! Don’t tell me to stop!” Steven shouted through his tears. “I LOVE you! You can’t leave me like this! There HAS to be something I can do! There has to be a way to fix this!! I just got you back! You can’t leave me again! PLEASE!” Steven could barely focus through his tears now; he grabbed Spinel and pulled her up to hug her tight against his chest.

Spinel blushed as Steven cried, her own tears wetting his shirt as he held her. There it was again, the warmth of his body and the sweet sound of heartbeat. Even as her body struggled to keep its form, Spinel couldn’t help feel a sense of calm from his embrace. Still, why did nothing ever seem to go her way? When she decided to run away from Steven and the others, her Gem had begun to crack without provocation, before it could completely split, Spinel poofed herself to preserve herself. After all, leaving was one thing, but she couldn’t let herself shatter and hurt her friends like that. She didn’t want them to find her pieces and despair. However, it seemed even as her old self, she couldn’t keep herself away from Steven and she didn’t expect that Steven and especially Pearl would try so hard to bring her back. Her Gem was still cracking, for what reason, she did not know, but it wasn’t so bad to leave in the arms of someone you loved. Even if she didn’t like hearing Steven and Pearl cry like this, it was nice not to be alone in the end. “I love you both…too…” Spinel whispered against Steven’s chest, returning his embrace as best she could and closing her eyes to listen once more to pounding of his heart.

[e350tb]

Steven Universe: Green Thumb - Chapter Six

Six

The caves were dark and quiet. Peridot, Amethyst and Stevonnie stood at the mouth of the largest of them, peering into the eerie darkness within.

"Well," said Amethyst, "This is ominous."

"The Gem's in there," declared Peridot, pointing inside, "Now we just need to get in there and bubble it."

"Sounds easy," nodded Stevonnie.

"It's likely that it's greatest defences will be in there," added Peridot, "The Gem will almost certainly be heavily guarded and well hidden."

"Okay, not so easy," said Stevonnie.

"We've been through worse," shrugged Amethyst, "Come on, let's bubble this fungus and save Greg."

They walked apprehensively into the darkness.

"I don't get it," said Ruby, "All they did was scream for four minutes."

"Eh, Death Metal's not for everyone," shrugged Sadie.

Ruby and Sapphire were sitting on the edge of the boardwalk with the ex-Big Donut worker. The two gems were holding hands and watching the concert from a distance - Sadie, who was feeling a bit lonely, had joined them.

"So, you guys are part of Steven's family, right?" asked Sadie.

"Yes," nodded Sapphire, "Usually we're fused together as Garnet."

"Right, gotcha," said Sadie.

Ruby looked back over to the crowd on the beach, just in time to see Sheena emerge from the mass of people. She looked concerned - there was no sign of Pearl.

"Uh, Sapphire? Isn't that Pearl's date?"

Sapphire looked up.

"Yes," she said, "Yes it is. I was hoping this wouldn't happen."

"Hoping what wouldn't happen?" asked Sadie.

Sapphire stood up.

"We need to find Pearl," she declared, "And I think I know where she is."

She began to head towards Sheena, dragging Ruby along by the hand.

The cave was somehow even darker and gloomier than it had initially appeared. The air was damp and freezing, and the sound of dripping water could be heard echoing in the distance. Part of Stevonnie was reminded of the ancient caverns beneath the surface of Homeworld that Steven and Lars had hidden in - it was an uncomfortable feeling.

Presently, an eerie green light began to appear at the end of the tunnel. A strange and foul smell filled the cave.

"I think we're almost there," whispered Peridot.

Amethyst nodded, drawing her whip. Stevonnie readied their sword and shield.

They emerged from the darkness into a scene that was entirely alien.

The cavern was enormous, with giant stalagmites hanging from the rocky ceiling. In the middle of the chamber was a crawling mass of fungus and mold. It could, vaguely, be identified as a creature; it had three misshaped eyes of various sizes, and an open maw that could feasibly be a mouth. Every now and again, the creature screeched, sounding almost like a wounded eagle. It was firmly rooted to its spot in the ground, but a mass of grassy tentacles growing from the stone around it appeared to act as its defence. A small, rectangular gem, olive green in colour, stuck out from just under the mouth.

Next to the creature stood several humans - or what had been humans. They were green-eyed, and their skin seemed to be stained in olive, although that could very well have been the light. They stood without emotion over a captive bound in vines.

"The Colonel?" exclaimed Stevonnie.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about him," shrugged Amethyst.

Beauregard wriggled onto his side to look at the intruders.

"Ah, the green farmer!" he exclaimed, "I do declare you're a sight for sore eyes! Could you possibly get these fellows to unhand me?"

All eyes fell on the gems as Beauregard unintentionally pointed them out.

"Geez, thanks Colonel," grunted Amethyst.

The villagers shrieked and the tentacles immediately sprung to action, swinging towards the gems. Amethyst tackled Peridot out of the way as one swung right over their heads. Another tentacle quickly ensnared the Colonel, yanking him towards the corrupted gem and hanging him over the mouth.

"Oh no you don't!" bellowed Beauregard, "If you so much as attempt to eat me, I swear I-"

The tentacle dropped him, and he fell right into the gaping maw.

"Get the gem, 'Dot," said Amethyst, "We'll handle Audrey."

"Audrey?" quizzed Stevonnie.

"Eh, it needed a name," shrugged Amethyst.

"Get the gem?" exclaimed Peridot, "You want me to walk up to it and pull it out? Is that the best plan we have?!"

Amethyst and Stevonnie charged the monster, leaving Peridot alone. She looked at the corrupted gem with dread.

"Why I can't I just farm in peace?" she asked herself.

Pearl sat next to the cliff by the temple, head in her hands.

What had happened? She had been ready! What had been the point of talking everything through with Garnet if she was just going to ruin everything anyway?

It didn't make sense. She'd been through so much - she'd fought in massive battles, why would she be afraid of a small crowd? And even so, why had her mind wandered so much - what did concert anxieties have to do with the rebellion, or what she had once been, or what had happened to Pink Diamond? And for that matter, given that she'd never been that concerned about Pink Diamond's fate before, why had that come up now?

"Pearl?"

She looked up. Sheena stood over her, and she sighed.

"I understand," she said flatly, "I ruined everything. I just...I don't know what came over me..."

She looked down, avoiding Sheena's eyes.

"So if you just want to forget about all this and go home, that's fine," she said.

Sheena sat down next to her, putting a hand on Pearl's. The gem tensed up.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked.

"T-talk about what?" replied Pearl.

"You had a panic attack, man," replied Sheena, "It's okay! Just...you wanna vent?"

Pearl breathed in.

"Okay," she said.

She began to talk.

Peridot ducked under another tentacle and dove to the ground, clutching her head.

"Okay, Peridot, keep it together, you're only..."

She looked up.

"Thirty metres away?!" she cried, "Curse this planet's deceptively long distances!"

Stevonnie landed next to her, swinging their sword through the tentacle that Peridot had just avoided. They turned to Peridot and smiled.

"Keep going, Peridot!" they said encouragingly, "It's only a little fu-"

A second tentacle slammed into their stomach, dragging them up into the air.

"Steven! Connie!" exclaimed Peridot.

"I've got 'em!"

Amethyst spun towards the vine. She emerged from the spin and prepared to whip the tentacle in half when another ensnared her foot, dragging her violently to the ground.

"Ow! Hey, lay off me, you stupid weed!" she exclaimed.

The gem monster screeched and began to pull Amethyst and Stevonnie towards its mouth. Peridot watched, horrified, as they neared certain doom.

Then she narrowed her eyes.

"I'm sick of this," she declared.

She got up and ran.

The monster immediately defended itself, swinging two of its tentacles towards her. She gulped and attempted to duck - she instead slipped, which caused her to slide on her back under the vines and towards the monster. She tried to scurry to her feet - failing that, she crawled nimbly on all fours towards the mouth of the beast.

A third tentacle swung just over her head and ruffled her hair, but she managed to make it to the gem. The creature roared, its foul smelling breath washing over Peridot.

"No, you shut up!" snapped Peridot.

She grabbed the gem with both hands.

"Listen up, you stupid pile of fungi!" she yelled, "I've had it up to here with you!"

"Yeah, lay into it, Peri!" cheered Amethyst as she struggled against the monster's tentacles.

"You took everything!" continued Peridot, "I tried so hard and you just threw it all away! Like it didn't even matter!"

She dug her fingers into the fungus, squeezing the gem in frustration.

"Well you know what? I've got something you can't take away from me!" she thundered, "I've got Steven! I've got the Crystal Gems! I've got Connie! I've got Pumpkin! I've got Amethyst!"

"Wait, why did she single your name out?" asked Stevonnie.

Amethyst shrugged.

"Because I'm awesome," she said.

"I have friends!" bellowed Peridot, "And you're not taking them away from me, you CLOD!"

She pulled hard on the gem. With a wet, sickening crunch, it was torn from the body of the corrupted gem - an instant later, there was an enormous plume of smoke as the terrible fungus monster poofed.

Amethyst and Stevonnie fell to the ground as the tentacles disappeared. Stevonnie coughed as the smoke wafted away - when it cleared, all that remained was Beauregard, covered from head to toe in grass and mud.

"Well, this suit's ruined," he grunted.

Next to the wreck of the train, Greg opened his eyes. Weakly, he climbed to his feet, rubbing his head.

"Ugh," he said to himself, "I never wanna be a grass ogre again."

He paused.

"I really do live a weird life," he added.

The accountant climbed out of the ruins of the farm building, coughing and spluttering as he did.

"That's it!" he declared, "I quit!"

Back in the cave, Amethyst and Stevonnie ran over to Peridot and pulled her into a hug.

"Peridot, that was amazing!" exclaimed Stevonnie.

"You still got it, Peridactyl," said Amethyst, patting her back, "You still got it."

"That...that felt really good," admitted Peridot.

She looked down at the gem. She smiled, bubbled it and sent it away.

Her face then fell.

"Uh-oh," she said, "I...I think I just sent that to Lapis."

"It'll be fine," shrugged Amethyst, "It's in a bubble."

One of the villages walked up to them, scratching the back of her head.

"Uh, hi," she said, "Do any of you guys know where we are? None of us can remember much of the last...actually, what's the date?"

"I think that's gonna be a long story," replied Stevonnie.

"Well, we gotta go find Greg," said Amethyst, "We'll fill 'em in while we walk back..."

Pearl and Sheena sat on the beach, looking towards the sea. The sky was beginning to lighten, and the first rays of the sun could just be seen peeking over the water. The concert was over now, but that had stopped being a concern a while ago.

"I'm sorry, Sheena," said Pearl, "I really am."

"It's cool," replied Sheena, "It happens. Besides, I like this - it's chill."

"How did you find me, anyway?" asked Pearl.

Sheena pointed her thumb over to a rock in the near distance. Ruby and Sapphire were peeking out from behind - they quickly darted back into cover.

Pearl smiled.

"So...is there, uh, is there some kind of recording of this concert?" she asked.

"They showed it on TV," replied Sheena, "I taped it."

"Okay," nodded Pearl, "Well, maybe...maybe you could come round tomorrow night...well, I guess it's tonight now...and..."

Sheena put an arm around Pearl's shoulder.

"I'd like that, Pearl," she nodded, "I'd like that a lot."

Nobody was in the Burning Room that evening. As a result, nobody saw the small green bubble appear among the other gems.

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 35, Part 1

Oh boy this one’s finally fucking done. Ugh, whatever like I said its kind of honestly a stepping stone for me to get to the other two Fusion Fiascos chapters, but by all means its not a BAD stepping stone. I think its actually quite good in places! But hopefully you can look past its... weaker parts and see a decently good chapter! So with my bitching out of the way, here you go! 

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/160196015162/universe-falls-chapter-34

Chapter 35: Fusion Fiascos

Part 1: Alone Together

EXIC LC YLQE, XII LC KLKB, QEFP BUMBOFBKZB EXP LKIV YBDRK

“A five-six-seven eight!” Pearl snapped her fingers in time to the beat of the music, prompting Steven and Amethyst to begin practicing. The Gems had recently reached a stark realization in the midst of their first harrowing encounter with Peridot and their ominous ordeal in the bunker that they all might need to ready to take on a large potential threat, no matter what form that threat might take. Which was why they had decided that it was time to progress their young ward’s training further and faster and start training Steven in the ins-and-outs of one of the most unique abilities known to Gem-kind: fusion.

And seeing as how most fusions began with dancing, that’s where the Gems decided to start with Steven. Amethyst was first up for showing the young Gem the ropes as she guided him through a very basic moveset while Pearl and Garnet supervised. “Synchronize!” the white Gem reminded, still snapping along with the music. The purple Gem tried doing just that as she attempted to pick Steven up, only to end up haphazardly dropping him to the ground, much to their shared amusement. “Be serious,” Pearl huffed, rolling her eyes as the pair laughed over her. Still, they did sober up a bit and try again, with Amethyst taking up the lead again as she successfully lifted Steven high above her head, only to elicit another burst of laughter from them both.

Frustrated by their insincerity, Pearl intervened and decided to take charge using a demonstration and Garnet’s assistance. “Pay attention now, Steven,” the white Gem instructed firmly as the young Gem earnestly watched on. Gasping each others’ hands, Garnet and Pearl launched into an elegant waltz, complete with a spin and pierrotite from the white Gem. The dance gradually became more complex, with Garnet lifting Pearl and swaying her from side to side before gently pushing her against the wall. The Gem leader’s shadow hovered over the white Gem’s smaller frame, a light blue blush filing her cheeks as Garnet kept her hands pressed against the wall near her head. “See?” Pearl glanced over at Steven. The young Gem, while quite impressed and intimidated by such advanced moves, nodded with determined resolve to try it for himself.

Of course, that attempt was a less than stellar one, despite Steven’s best efforts. Unfortunately, he was a bit too short to match up with the much taller white Gem whilst trying to copy Garnet’s moves. The Gem leader did her best to help by giving him a bit of a boost, but the young Gem still couldn’t quite get a handle on the complicated dance, despite his best efforts.

Amethyst soon took over again, her smaller stature making it a bit easier for Steven to keep up with her. And for the most part, the young Gem was able to follow along with her simple hand gestures, though she completely lost him upon fluidly swiveling her hips, something that he wasn’t quite flexible enough to do. Even so, Steven took after Garnet’s moveset next, trying to keep a good pace with her as she rapidly tossed her arms about in perfect syncopation. And while he quickly fell behind her, he still replicated her solid finishing pose nonetheless, even if he was quite bewildered at her apparent skill. Pearl took another crack at things after this, preparing to guide Steven through a basic ballet set, only to end up tripping over him, resulting in the young Gem falling flatly to the ground, much to the white Gem’s concern.

And so the rest of the practice session continued in much of a similar way, with plenty of missteps and faltering on Steven’s part, but even so the Gems remained very patient in teaching him all that they could. Yet for every move they tried to show him, the young Gem always ended up being just a beat or so off, though he never threw in the towel, despite how tired he was starting to get. Still, after seeing no viable signs of fusion and after Steven hit the ground hard for the tenth time in a row, the Gems unanimously decided that it was time to call it quits for the night.

“I don’t get it,” Steven frowned in disappointment as everyone congregated in the kitchen to catch a much-needed breather. “I thought I almost had it… What could I be doing wrong?”

“Don’t worry, Steven,” Pearl reassured. “Nobody expects you to be able to perform fusion right away.”

“Yeah!” Amethyst agreed, hopping up onto the counter. “It’s really hard, even for us!”

“Not for me,” Garnet remarked coolly, leaning against the fridge.

“We’ll keep working on the dance for now, and who knows? Maybe in a few years…” Pearl trailed off, briefly pausing with a thoughtful frown. “Hm… Though I wonder if Steven’s body is even capable of fusion. Fusion merges the physical forms of Gems, but Steven’s half human. He’s organic.”

“Organic?” Steven cut in, confused and somewhat worried at what the white Gem was implying. Namely the possibility that he might never be able to accomplish fusion like the other Gems could.

“Aw, come on,” Amethyst scoffed Pearl’s concerns off. “This is Steven we’re talking about here! Who knows what’s gonna happen?!” The purple Gem attempted to lighten the mood with a bold an hearty laugh, though no one joined in as Garnet stepped up alongside Steven, her arms crossed and her manner as stoic as ever.

“Well, I think Steven can do it,” she said with complete confidence, looking over to the young Gem. Steven met her gaze with slight apprehension, rather uncertain about his potential for fusing himself. After all, the Gems had years upon years of practice fusing with each other to form completely new Gems entirely, from the swift and deft Opal, to the strong and sturdy Sugilite, to the massive and imposing Alexandrite. Considering how amazing and awe-inspiring each of those fusions were, the young Gem wasn’t sure if any fusion he was a part of could even compare if he could actually fuse at all. And if he really couldn’t…

Steven was quick to push such a thought out of his mind. Of course he could fuse. Even if he was half human, he was still a Gem nonetheless and that meant that fusion was a possibility for him just as much as any other Gem ability was. Certainly, with enough time and practice, he would be fusing with his fellow Gems in no time.

Right?

Since Steven was still rather worried about the prospects of fusion, the Gems encouraged him to take his mind off of it for now, knowing that there would be time to work on formulating a fusion dance for him later. So instead, they suggested that he go out and enjoy the rest of his evening, especially since it was particularly pleasant and picturesque outside. Steven took them up on this suggestion, calling up Connie, Dipper, and Mabel so they could all hang out and relax together in the crisp warmth of the evening. The kids had settled in a serene open clearing not too far away from the temple, one that was peacefully illuminated by both the fading glow of twilight and the fireflies lazily meandering about. And while Steven was supposed to be using this time to forget about his fusing woes, he couldn’t help but bring them up to the others, seeking solace and solidarity more than anything else.

“And we’ve been at it all day, but so far I really don’t have anything to show for it,” the young Gem confessed with a fretful sigh. “Pearl thinks I might not be able to do it at all because I’m ‘organic’, whatever that means, but Garnet said she thinks I can do it. But to be honest, I’m not so sure…”

“Aw, don’t sell yourself short, Steven!” Mabel reassured brightly. “You said the same thing about your healing powers and look at you now! You’re the spitting image of a magical healer!”

“Heh, good one,” Steven chuckled half-heartedly while Dipper and Connie merely rolled their eyes at the pun. “Thanks, Mabel.”

“I don’t get what dancing has to do with fusion in the first place,” Dipper remarked somewhat skeptically. “I mean, how does it even work? Do each of the Gems use the same dance no matter who they’re fusing with, or is it different every time? How do they even know if they’re doing it right? Is it like a feeling or is it something else?”

“I wish I knew…” Steven pouted. “Because whatever it is, I don’t have it…”

“Can’t you just get the Gems to write out the steps?” Connie suggested with a small smile. “That’s bound to make it a little easier to understand, right?”

“No… I don’t think it’s just about the dancing,” the young Gem theorized, his expression serious as he glanced down. “When they fuse, they glow and kind of… phase into each other. I don’t know if I can even do that…”

“Well maybe all that stuff happens after you get the dancing part down,” Mabel purposed with a growing grin. “And until then, you can always practice your dancing skills with us! Right, guys?”

Dipper and Connie exchanged a rather uncertain glance at this, neither of them too keen on the idea. “Uh… I don’t know about all that…” Dipper said diffidently.

“M-me either…” Connie agreed, glancing away anxiously.

“…Ok…” Mabel briefly frowned before turning back to Steven. “Well, you can always practice your dancing skills with me. In fact… I think it’s time for a… random dance party for no reason!”

Steven let out a much-needed laugh at this, his spirits lightened just a bit even if his worries over fusion still had yet to be resolved. “Ok, let me just—whoa!” The young Gem had no time to even stand for himself before Mabel grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up herself. The pair had already dissolved into a hopeless round of giggles even as they began to dance, even if said “dance” only really consisted of them spinning around in wild, uncalculated circles together. Dipper and Connie couldn’t help but laugh along with them as they watched their usual antics, especially as Steven and Mabel accidentally tripped over each other and ended up falling down in tandem, still breathlessly chuckling all the while.

“You know, I’m not sure how this will actually help me learn how to fuse,” Steven spoke up, still smirking brightly as him and Mabel picked themselves up off the ground. “But it sure is fun!”

“Yeah it is!” Mabel heartily agreed. “Hey, you guys!” she called to Dipper and Connie. “Join the dance party! It’s always more fun with more people, trust me!”

“Um, I think I’m fine letting you guys have all the-” Dipper was abruptly cut off as Mabel suddenly pulled him to his feet. “M-Mabel!” he attempted to protest, though he was laughing nonetheless as Mabel spun him around just like she had done with Steven.

“Come on, bro-bro,” she grinned wryly as they haphazardly “danced” around the clearing. “You gotta learn another dance besides the Lamby Lamby Dance eventually.”

“Hey!” Dipper’s smile quickly turned into an annoyed scowl upon hearing this teasing remark. “I know other dances besides the-” Mabel cut him off once more by suddenly spinning him out, resulting in him lightly crashing into a nearby tree, something that brought a laugh out of both twins.

Steven also chuckled upon seeing this, and his warm smile remained as he turned towards Connie, who was still sitting on the ground nearby, smirking lightly herself. “Don’t you wanna dance too, Connie?” the young Gem asked her patiently.

“O-oh,” Connie blinked, taken aback upon glancing up at Steven with surprise. “Well… well, it’s just… I… I’ve never really danced in front of anyone before…”

“Really?” Steven asked, taking a seat in front of her, even as the twins continued to playfully dance several feet away.

“Yeah…” Connie admitted, glancing away bashfully. “There was a dance at my school, and I was really excited about it but… I just couldn’t bring myself to go.” She let out a sigh as she hung her head and closed her eyes, softly muttering her next statement. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about everyone staring at me…”

Steven bit his lip upon hearing this, his own concerns over fusion fading away as his worry instead shifted completely towards Connie. And as usual, he couldn’t resist the urge to help her feel better. “Well… no one’s staring right now…”

Connie looked up upon hearing this, finding the young Gem’s claim to only be partially true, for while Dipper and Mabel were still preoccupied, Steven was intently looking to her with almost a pleading expression. “Um… you are.”

“Oh yeah…” the young Gem blushed a bit as he looked away. “One sec.” Steven reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out and looked through it briefly before finding what he was looking for. As he set the phone down in the nearby grass, a light, upbeat, yet relaxed pop melody began to play from it.

“Woo! Finally, some jams to dance to!” Mabel cheered from across the clearing, already twirling to the beat and dragging Dipper along with her.

Steven and Connie shared a laugh over her enthusiasm before the young Gem got up from the ground and backed up a few paces, covering his eyes as he did so. “So what I was trying to say was…” he smiled, still blushing softly as he extended his hand out to Connie. “Come dance with me.”

For a moment, Connie could only look to Steven with apt surprise, still quite hesitant and shy over her own dancing abilities, or lack thereof. Still, she couldn’t very well say no, especially upon looking to the hand he was still eagerly holding out to her. Which was why she took in a deep breath and, pushing her anxiety away for just a moment, she took it.

Of course, Steven quickly broke his promise not to look upon peeking out from behind his arm, smiling happily as he uncovered his eyes completely and looked to Connie. She met his grin with a soft, sweet one of her own, a light blush filling her cheeks as she allowed him to take the lead, pulling her in closer. And without any further hesitation about it, the two began to dance.

Their dance was much slower and more than the rowdy and silly moveset the twins were still having fun with, but even so that was perfectly fine for Steven and Connie. They kept their eyes on their feet as they bounced back and forth to the beat of the song, though things started to get a little looser as Steven suddenly spun Connie. They broke apart at this, the young Gem laughing mirthfully as he backed up and swayed to the music by himself. Connie did the same thing, chuckling brightly as she twirled about, her long hair spinning about with her. Steven blushed once more upon seeing this, his smile widening at just how much fun Connie was having by cutting loose and letting herself be free.

From there, the escalating elation between the pair could no longer be contained. They both simultaneously burst out laughing as they began to run about the clearing, hardly even dancing at all anymore as they skipped and jumped, completely carefree. Inspired by this freedom, Mabel and Dipper cut off their own dance and readily joined them. Soon enough, all four of the kids were cheerfully running circles around each other as the music rang out just underneath their unanimous chuckles as brightly as ever. And while the clearing itself was rather dark due to the waning light of dusk and the fleeing fireflies, it felt as though there was enough light from the sheer joy and exhilaration everyone was sharing to go around for quite a while.

Still, it wasn’t really enough for them to see by, which was why it didn’t take long for the twins to haphazardly crash into each other, sending them both clumsily plummeting to the ground in a unified burst of breathless laughter. Likewise, Steven and Connie also ended up accidently tripping over each other, but instead of falling, something else happened entirely. As the young Gem started to fall, Connie reacted quickly, catching him just in time. The pair paused for a beat, their cheeks warm and flush as they realized just how close their faces were to each other, separated by mere inches of air. Still, they couldn’t help but share a gentle laugh as they drew in closer, resting their foreheads together and reveling in each other’s warmth.

And yet, what neither of them saw as they chuckled together was the sudden bloom of pink light that had begun to radiate from Steven’s gem. In fact, they still didn’t see it even as it began to overtake them both entirely. By the time it’s glow illuminated the entire clearing, however, Dipper and Mabel had taken notice of it, and needless to say their jaws simultaneously dropped in surprise upon seeing what had happened once it faded.

Still, Steven and Connie were in the dark, quite literally, they found as they slowly opened their eyes. Instantly, they could both tell that something was off, though neither of them could really place what that something was. It was as though they were still holding onto each other, and yet that couldn’t have been the case since they had somehow ended up in a sitting position on the ground, their arms loose at their sides. What was even stranger was that the first thing they saw upon opening their eyes was a pair of long, shapely, rosy-brown legs right in front of them, legs that couldn’t belong to either of them, but still shifted in time to their movements nonetheless.

“Whoa…” they gasped, their eyes widening at the singular deep, yet still rather feminine voice they heard instead of either of their own. “Why am I-” They paused, frowning upon noticing Steven’s discarded flip flops and Connie’s flats lying near them. An arm, much longer and more mature than it should have been, reached towards one of the shoes, picking it up as they examined it curiously. “Why is… your sandal too small for my—your feet…?” They trailed off, glancing up in bewilderment towards the twins, who could only stare back at them with wide eyes and completely stunned expressions. “Guys, what’s…” they paused again, looking to the adult sized hands that apparently belonged to them, dumbfounded. “What’s going on?”

“That’s… a really good question…” Dipper remarked with apt confusion.

“Ok, you’re a really cool-looking mysterious stranger, whoever you are,” Mabel began with something of a small smile, despite her own puzzlement. “But uh… where’d you come from? And where did Steven and Connie go?”

“Huh?” they raised an eyebrow, frowning as they shook their head. “Mabel, what are you talking about? I’m… I… we’re… right here…?” The twins exchanged a doubtful glance upon hearing this, neither of them sure of what to make of the odd but beguiling person who had so suddenly appeared in place of Steven and Connie. And yet, the pair themselves was still mostly convinced that they were right. “Guys, look, I-” They cut themselves off with a sharp gasp, looking to their longer legs and arms once again. Their eyes were huge as they slowly ran their hands over their legs and surprisingly slender yet curvy figure, confirming that they could both feel the sensation of the gentle touch simultaneously. Their growing amazement only increased as they glanced down at their light jean shorts, as well as the cropped pink tee-shirt bearing a remarkably familiar star emblem on it, one that was covered by a shorter, light blue tank top. But by far, what was the most telling was the unmistakable pink gemstone fixed to their shared navel, the one thing that told them they were no longer Steven or Connie.

They were both.

“Steven?!” they gasped in shock, their hands pressing against the sides of their very long, very thick dark wavy hair. “Connie! I-I did it! Y-you did it?” The twins could only watch in continued confusion as the stranger slowly and shakily began to pick themselves up off the ground and having trouble doing so thanks to the unfamiliar distribution of their weight. “Wait,” they began again, their shared mind having a complicated time trying to grasp what was happening. “This is—no. This is… great!” They grinned widely as they finally pushed themselves up into an uneven standing position. “Oh my gosh, look at you now!” They exclaimed, glancing down at their impressive new form. “I can’t believe it!”

“Um, hey, remember us?” Dipper spoke up somewhat caustically. “Care to explain what the heck is going on here?”

“Dipper, Mabel!” they laughed, looking down at the twins seeing as how they now easily towered over them both by quite a bit. “It’s me! It’s us!”

“Uh… we’re not following…” Mabel frowned, still confused.

“You guys!” they exclaimed, unable to contain their excitement as they rose to their full height. “I’m a fusion!”

“What?!” both twins gasped in shared shock, something that the fusion got quite a good chuckle out of.

“Yeah, I guess it is pretty surprising…” they smirked, putting a hand against their neck and blushing slightly.

“Wait, so what you’re telling us is that you’re… Steven and Connie… fused together?” Dipper asked, still trying to understand, even if the entire concept was beyond baffling.

“Uh huh,” the fusion nodded, still smiling brightly.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” Mabel squealed in sudden excitement as she ran up to the fusion, taking both of their hands. “This is so awesome! I mean, when the Gems fuse it’s awesome enough on its own, but you guys fusing is literally the most awesome thing to ever happen! You guys look just like a super model!”

“Mabel!” Dipper quickly scolded, especially as the fusion froze, their face red in newfound embarrassment.

“No, uh… its ok,” they chuckled somewhat awkwardly. “I mean, we are pretty tall now, so it kinda makes sense…”

“So, how did this even happen in the first place?” Dipper asked, looking the fusion up and down curiously. “I thought only Gems could fuse with each other.”

“I honestly have no idea,” the fusion shrugged. “One minute, we were just dancing and the next, we’re… like this,” they motioned to themselves. “And it feels great! Well… great and a little weird but… I think we’ll get used to it.”

“So who’s in charge of what?” Mabel asked inquisitively, looking up to the fusion with a wide smile. “Does Steven control your legs while Connie works the arms, or is it the other way around? Do guys take turns talking or are you both talking at the same time and it comes out as one voice? Do you have any special fusion powers? Like flying? Or singing really good? Not that you guys can’t already do a great job of that when you’re apart, but still.”

“Hm… I don’t think we—I mean, I have any special powers, aside from the ones Steven already has…” the fusion mused thoughtfully. “And as for who controls what, we just… sort of do it together. It’s… kind of hard to explain…”

“So now that you guys are… uh, together… what now?” Dipper asked tentatively.

The fusion didn’t answer this right away but instead seemed to take a moment to think. And as they did so, both of the halves that composed them were at an initial loss. After all, by all accounts, they shouldn’t have even been able to exist together in this way. But now that they did, they couldn’t very well let it go so soon. They weren’t sure how long they intended on staying fused, but if one thing was certain between them both, it was that they wanted to enjoy every second that they were together for. And what better way to do that than by taking pride in what they now were. “I have to show everybody!” they exclaimed brightly, already leading the way up to the temple, with the twins following not too far behind.

Needless to say, all three of the Gems were completely shocked into dumbfounded silence upon seeing the fusion for the first time. At first, they didn’t really recognize the mysterious stranger at first, they were still scarcely able to believe who they really were even after hearing it from the twins and the fusion themselves. Still, the fusion stood confidently before them nonetheless, taking in their wide-eyed stares evenly enough.

“So?” the spoke up, grinning broadly and exchanging a glance with the twins as they stood alongside them. Mabel easily returned their excited smile, though Dipper was a bit more apprehensive about how the Gems might react, given how they didn’t always have the easiest time dealing with new things. “Pretty cool, right?”

The Gems managed to shake themselves out of their stunned amazement, though it was clear that they were still quite taken aback as Pearl spoke up. “H-he fused? With Connie?!”

“Pearl,” Amethyst cut in with an amused snicker. “Look at Garnet.”

Both Gems did so, glancing at their leader, who wore a huge, delighted smile on her face and her hands clasped together joyously as she took the sight of the fusion in. Yet, oddly enough, she said nothing, holding her elation in as Amethyst and Pearl looked back to the fusion once more.

“So,” Amethyst turned to the twins with an eager grin. “Were you guys there when these two… you know…?” her smile turned sly as she linked her fingers together playfully.

“Amethyst!” Pearl quickly scolded her for the innuendo, but the purple Gem let out a coy chuckle nonetheless.

“Yeah we were there,” Mabel chimed in with a wide grin. “We saw the whole thing and it was so cool! One minute they were just Steven and Connie, and the next-”

“There I was,” the fusion finished with a small shrug.

“And after that we were all pretty much left completely confused,” Dipper finished somewhat dryly.

“Well I can certainly understand why…” Pearl mused as she walked up to the fusion and began to curiously examine them. “This is unprecedented! A Gem fusing with a human being? It’s impossible! Or at the very least inappropriate…”

Amethyst pushed the white Gem out of the way as she ran up to the fusion, laughing brightly all the while. “But wow! You two look great together!” she exclaimed, glancing up at them. “How does it feel Steven? Connie? …Stevonnie!?”

“That’s it!” Mabel snapped her fingers excitedly. “I’ve been trying to come up with a name to call you guys and Stevonnie is perfect for you two!”

“Uh, its literally just Steven and Connie’s names mashed together,” Dipper pointed out, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, that’s what makes it so great,” Amethyst said with a smirk. “Because they literally are Steven and Connie mashed together.”

“Well, I guess we’ll go by Stevonnie then,” the newly name fusion chuckled brightly. “Oh, and by the way, Amethyst, it feels amazing!”

“Yes… well…” Pearl interjected, wringing her hands uncomfortably. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourselves, but you two should unfuse this instant.”

“What?” all four (or rather, three) of the kids asked in unified confusion at the white Gem’s request. Still, none of them were more appalled by this suggestion that Stevonnie themselves.

“I don’t understand,” the fusion said with a serious frown. “Pearl, you were so worried that Steven wouldn’t be able to do this. Aren’t you proud of him?”

“O-of course I am!” Pearl quickly exclaimed, though it was clear that she really had no idea how to hand this situation, which was why she turned to the Gem leader for a rescue. “Garnet, help me out here,” she muttered, nodding to Stevonnie.

Garnet did so, though not in the way that Pearl was hoping for as she walked up to Stevonnie, still standing a bit taller than even the rather tall fusion. “Stevonnie, listen to me,” the Gem leader began, her tone firm as she placed a hand against the fusion’s face. “You are not two people. And you are not one person. You… are an experience! Make sure you’re a good experience. Now…” Garnet’s solid expression turned into her wide smile from earlier as she imparted her next set of directions to the compelled fusion, directions that they would hopefully have no problems carrying out. “Go have fun!”

And that was exactly what Stevonnie set out to do.

On Garnet’s mere prompting alone, the fusion gleefully rushed out of the house, dragging Dipper and Mabel along with them. After all, they saw, they figured that all four of them might as well go have fun together, especially given the new exciting circumstance of them being fused. Energized by elation and excitement, Stevonnie eagerly led the way to the lake, where, on a mere shared whim, the fusion let loose and threw caution to the wind as they began jogging across the shoreline, their long hair bouncing after them as they bounded across the strip. Dipper and Mabel were only able to exchange a puzzled glance as Stevonnie sprinted off, grinning brightly as they preformed an impressive string of deft cartwheels down the shore. Still, the twins, curious about what the fusion was doing, attempted to follow them, though they weren’t that successful since Stevonnie, with their longer legs and impressive speed, easily outran them. Yet Stevonnie didn’t slow their pace for a second, fueled by a feeling that neither of their halves could really even describe. Whatever it was though, it was incredible, sparking a kind of warmth and levity within them that kept them going strong.

Regardless though, the fusion did briefly come to a halt as they reached the edge of an outcropping hovering over the depths of the lake. For a moment, they peered over the outcropping towards the dark waters below, somewhat uncertain, before they completely pushed that uncertainty aside and went for it. Stevonnie took a running start before freely leaping off of the edge, plunging into the still-warm lake with a shout of exhilaration. The fusion loftily backstroked towards the nearby shore, letting the light current carry them back onto dry land as they laughed mirthfully all the while. Their amusement petered out a little though, as they noticed the twins standing over them, both of them seemingly breathless and exhausted.

“Oh, hey, guys,” Stevonnie greeted brightly as they sat up, still dripping wet. “Why do you two look so tired?”

“Oh… no reason,” Dipper deadpanned amidst trying to catch his breath.

“Whoo! Well this little night run sure was fun!” Mabel chimed, a bit more energized, as she usually was. “So what do you guys wanna do next?”

Stevonnie prepared to answer this, though apparently, their growling stomach got to it first. “I’m thinking donuts…” they mused, smiling as they nodded to the Big Donut, which fortunately was but a brief walk away.

“So which one of you guys is hungry?” Mabel asked the fusion curiously as they made their way towards the store. “Steven or Connie? Or both? Do both of you guys want the same thing or is one of you taking charge and steering your stomach towards donuts?”

“Mabel, could you maybe stop asking them so many questions?” Dipper interjected, somewhat aggravated by his sister’s usual enthusiasm.

“I can’t help it!” she gushed, grinning to Stevonnie. “Steven and Connie being fused is just way too cool not for me to be completely hyped about!”

“Yeah, but you’re probably starting to get on, er, Stevonnie’s nerves,” Dipper pointed out, looking to the fusion for confirmation of this.

“No, not really,” Stevonnie smiled warmly. “We’re pretty hyped about it too, to be honest. It’s like… it’s like everything I do, we do together, at the same time and for the same reasons. I know that probably doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but… it all just feels so… right, you know?”

“But isn’t it kind of weird that you guys are basically just sharing the same mind and body?” Dipper asked with something of an uncomfortable frown. “Because that seems like it would be sort of weird. N-no offense.”

“Huh, I haven’t actually thought about it that way…” Stevonnie mused, glancing down. “I… I guess it is a little weird…” For a moment, the fusion seemed oddly flustered, their usual apparent confidence interrupted as they seemingly tried to reconcile this stark realization between themselves. But in the end, they were quick to recover from it. “B-but I’m fine. We’re fine. Everything… everything’s fine.” As the twins looked to Stevonnie with slight concern, they offered them a reassuring smile, though they couldn’t really deny that it was also an attempt to reassure themselves as well.

Fortunately, the fusion didn’t have to suede them any further as the group arrived at the Big Donut. Sadie and Lars were both on shift for the evening, though considering their lack of customers, they were content to pass the time in quiet, casual conversation as they leaned close to each other. They were so caught up in their discussion that they barely even paid the twins any mind as they entered the store first, though both of them instant froze the moment they saw Stevonnie walk in.

“Hi, Sadie! Hi, Lars!” Mabel greeted blithely as she skipped up to the counter, Dipper and Stevonnie not too far behind her.

“Um, are you guys… ok?” Dipper asked somewhat worried upon noticing how stunned they both seemed to be.

“W-wha…” Sadie mumbled dully, her and Lars both flush and completely unable to take their eyes off of the beguiling fusion as they approached.

“H-h-how can I… h-help… me…?” Lars addressed Stevonnie, stammering nervously and sweating a bit.

While the twins exchanged a confused glance at the cashiers’ odd behavior, Stevonnie simply flipped their still-wet hair back, wringing it out as they coolly gave their order. “Four donuts, please.”

Sadie and Lars continued to stare at the fusion, their mouths both agape in awe, as the latter quickly reached into the nearby case and produced a small bag containing the donuts they had asked for. Stevonnie still didn’t notice their apparent amazement as they stepped a bit closer to the counter, pulling out some of the money the Gems had given them before they left the temple earlier. “What do I owe you?” the fusion asked casually, even as Lars looked to them with wide eyes.

“Uh… ah… umm…” he struggled to find any words to say, though thankfully, Sadie abruptly rushed to his rescue.

“Oh, nothing!” she exclaimed insistently, gentle pushing Stevonnie’s hand away as she blushingly glanced away. “I-it’s on the house…”

“Really?” Stevonnie asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow.

“Mm hm,” both cashiers nodded their heads in unison pushing the bag towards the fusion.

“Well, if you say so,” Stevonnie shrugged with a grin as they took the bag.

“Woohoo! Free food!” Mabel cheered as they all headed for the exit.

“Yeah, but why?” Dipper frowned, glancing back at the still-awestruck cashiers as they left.

Stevonnie also looked back at them, stopping at the door to impart something of a word of advice. “But just so you know,” the fusion began, their hair concealing everything but their eyes as they glanced to the flustered pair. “That isn’t a very sound business practice.”

And without another word, they were gone, the twins departing with them as Sadie and Lars were both left in complete and utter astonishment at what they had just seen. But all the same, the kids set out, heading down the main street of town as they looked for a good spot to eat their easily acquired treats.

“So uh… I can’t be the only one who that that was weird…” Dipper said, nodding back to the Big Donut.

“What’s so weird about it?” Mabel smirked. “I mean, we got a bunch of free donuts. What could be better than that?”

“Nothing I can think of,” Stevonnie grinned, reaching into the bag. “And there’s enough for all of us! One for each of you guys,” the fusion handed off a donut to each of the twins. “One for me, and one for… uh… me.” Stevonnie suddenly came to a stop as they reached a nearby bench, not noticing as the twins went on without them. Still, Dipper and Mabel were quick to notice as they turned towards the fusion, whose expression was awash in uncertainty as they looked to the pair of donuts in their hands.

“Hey, Stevonnie?” Mabel spoke up with a worried frown. “Are you ok?”

The fusion didn’t respond, still seemingly preoccupied by the donuts, though their thoughts were consumed by something else entirely. “Uh… Stevonnie?” Dipper tried to get their attention again, and this time it worked.

“Huh?” Stevonnie blinked, glancing up with relatively wide eyes.

“Is something wrong?” Mabel asked, concerned.

Stevonnie didn’t answer right away, looking between the twins and the donuts and then finally themselves, their expression unreadable. “Um… no…” they slowly shook their head. “No, nothing’s…” they trailed off, their brow furrowing as they focused their gaze on the donuts once again.

“Uh, Mabel?” Dipper interjected with an uncomfortable frown, noticing the fusion’s rather transparent apprehension. “Why don’t we go and get some more donuts?”

“What?” Mabel asked, her mouth full as she munched on her donut. “But I’m not even done my first one yet-” She didn’t even have time to take another bite, however, before Dipper suddenly knocked the pastry right out of her hand. “Hey!”

“Oops,” Dipper remarked dryly. “Oh no, it fell. Now we have to go get more. Come on, Mabel.”

“Boo,” Mabel groaned, playfully sticking her tongue out at her brother as they started to head back to the Big Donut. “We’ll be right back, Stevonnie!”

“Yeah, okay,” the fusion nodded absently. “I… we’ll be here…” Stevonnie barely even watched the twins leave as they took in a long, somewhat wavering breath, their gaze still fixated on the donuts they were holding. “Seriously though, are you ok?” they asked themselves quietly, one half speaking to the other, though it was impossible for them to really make any distinction between them. “We can stop if you…” the paused, pulling the two donuts apart a bit before shaking their head to clear it. “No, no, it’s fine,” they reassured themselves, drawing the donuts back together. “Don’t worry.”

Stevonnie nodded in silent acceptance, taking a seat on the bench as they finally began snacking on one of their donuts. It felt quite odd to them, to at last be realizing the nature of what they really were now. Garnet had indeed said it correctly when they were neither two people nor one person, for they certainly didn’t feel like either of those. They were separate to be sure, but at the same time united in every sense of the word, sharing the same mind, the same body, the same existence. They were Steven, and they were Connie, and they were something beyond even the two of them. They were a fusion. They were an experience. They were Stevonnie.

Still, even they weren’t even sure what all of that truly meant yet.

Stevonnie was so lost in their own thoughts that they didn’t even notice the figure that had quietly stepped up to the bench they were on until they suddenly cleared their throat. The fusion glanced up in surprise, expecting to see that the twins had returned, only to see Sour Cream standing nearby instead.

“Oh, hey, Sour—faced stranger,” Stevonnie awkwardly greeted, remembering that pretty much no one would recognize them as they were now. “Wow, cool pants.”

“C-cool,” Sour Cream gulped, apparently flustered as he handed the fusion a flier. “Rave tonight.”

“Like… a dance?” Stevonnie asked, curiously looking over the poster.

“Yeah…” Sour Cream blushed, his hands in his pockets. “At the warehouse. I’m DJing, and a bunch of my friends from the internet are gonna be there. There’s gonna be free… glow sticks…”

“Yes!” the fusion exclaimed without really thinking about it, compelled by newfound excitement alone. “I’ll definitely be there! Thanks!”

“C-cool,” Sour Cream nodded, still quite flustered as he headed off. Stevonnie grinned as they looked back to the flier, hoping that this would finally provide them with the sort of “fun” that Garnet had suggested they go find. After all, what could be a better time than doing what had brought them both together like this in the first place?

“Stevonnieeeee!” Mabel called brightly as she ran up to the bench and plopped down beside the fusion, Dipper doing the same not to long after. “We’re back! And we have more donuts! Hopefully, somebody won’t waste them by throwing them onto the ground this time…”

Dipper merely rolled his eyes at this before addressing the fusion. “By the way, Sadie and Lars asked about you. From the way they talked, they really, really wanted to see you again for… some reason.”

“Well, I’m afraid we won’t have time to drop in and say hello,” Stevonnie smirked broadly. “Because I just got invited to a party.”

“Whoa, really?!” Mabel asked excitedly, looking over the poster as the fusion held it out for the twins to see. “No way! Just when I thought tonight couldn’t get any cooler, now we get to a super cool dance party! This is gonna be legendary!”

“Uh, hold on a second, you guys,” Dipper interjected. “Before we go running off to this party, you might wanna take another look at that flier. It says, ‘teens only’. So in other words, not us.”

“Aw, man…” Stevonnie sighed, leaning back against the bench. “And I really wanted to go too…”

“Wait!” Mabel gasped, excited by the idea she just had. “We may not be able to go to the party, but that doesn’t mean you can’t, Stevonnie! After all, you guys pretty much look like a teen, so no one would even know the difference!”

“O-oh,” the fusion frowned, glancing down anxiously. “Well… I guess so… but can you guys come along anyway?”

“Uh, sure?” Dipper shrugged, confused. “But why? You know we probably won’t be able to go in there with you guys, right?”

“Y-yeah, I know…” Stevonnie said, even though they internally wished that Dipper and Mabel really could accompany them.  They couldn’t very well admit that though, even if a certain half of them saw no real problem with confessing their honest feelings to the twins of all people. The truth, as embarrassing as it was, was that they were using the twins as something of a crutch, a way to anchor themselves to normality, to who they were apart from their fusion. They weren’t even entirely sure why they might need such an anchor in the first place, but something inside of them both told them that they did, that they’d be at a complete loss without one. Which was why Stevonnie was rather insistent on having that anchor with them, especially at a highly social event such as the party they still very much wanted to attend. “But uh… it’d still be cool if you guys could come hang out nearby anyway… j-just for a while… I mean… you don’t have to if you don’t-”

“Are you kidding?” Mabel abruptly interrupted, hopping off the bench. “We’ll totally come, Stevonnie! Even if we can’t party with you guys, we can still cheer you on while you tear up the dance floor!”

“Heh, yeah…” Stevonnie laughed with only partial enthusiasm, their confidence starting to falter. “Tear up the dance floor… That… that’s totally what we’re gonna do…”

The rave was being held at the old abandoned warehouse at the far end of town, but as the kids arrived and scoped the party from the outside in, they could see that the decrepit factory was anything but empty tonight. A small multitude of teens and young adults, some familiar and some not, were freely dancing under the colored spotlights hung from the high ceiling. Sour Cream DJed the party from the platform high above the dance floor, composing a smooth chiptune beat using a unique setup of soundboards, keyboards, and Game Guys. As he turned the music up to an upbeat electronic melody, the partygoers cheered in excitement and vamped their dancing up to further show it.

“Whoa…” Stevonnie murmured as them and the twins surveyed the party from right outside the warehouse’s crumbled wall. “This looks… kind of intense…”

“Yeah, it does…” Dipper agreed, slightly concerned. “Are you guys sure you’re up for this?”

“Of course, they are!” Mabel cut in before Stevonnie could really answer. “You guys totally got this! Now get in there and show everyone how awesome you two are together!”

“Right,” Stevonnie nodded evenly enough, taking in a deep breath as they straightened to their full height. “We got this.” The fusion closed their eyes, putting on a brave face as they stepped into the throes of the party itself. “Well, here goes nothing.”

“Have fun!” Mabel called out after Stevonnie rather loudly, much to Dipper’s alarm.

“Mabel, keep it down!” he warned in a harsh whisper, ducking down behind the outer wall a bit. “We’re technically not even supposed to be here, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” Mabel nodded before calling to the fusion again. “Have fun!” she exclaimed in only a barely quieter whisper, not even noticing as her brother face-palmed in aggravation.

Meanwhile, Stevonnie walked onto the dance floor confidently enough, though all the while, they were still trying to reassure themselves that they could handle this, even despite the curious stares they received as they sauntered through the crowd. “You got this,” they repeated in a muted whisper, noticing the stares even though they tried their best to ignore them. “I got this,” they said again, their voice much more wavering this time as they anxiously glanced back towards the twins outside. They both offered the fusion encouraging smiles and thumbs-up, but that still wasn’t enough to make them feel better, especially considering how many inquiring eyes were upon them. “We got-”

Before they could even finish their mantra, Stevonnie, not watching where they were going, happened to bump into one of the partygoers accidently. Both fortunately and unfortunately though, this particular partygoer happened to be immediately familiar to the fusion.

“Oh! Sorry, Wendy!” Stevonnie apologized before they could stop themselves, though upon realizing their mistake, they were quick to slap a hand over their own mouth. Wendy turned around hearing this, just as bewildered as all of her accompanying friends were upon taking a cursory glance at the flustered fusion.

“Uh, hey,” the cashier greeted in casual confusion. “Do I… know you?”

“Um, me?” Stevonnie asked with a forced, awkward grin. “N-no! I don’t! I mean, I-I don’t think I—I mean, I… I…” As the fusion continued to stammer on, they were hardly even paying any mind to odd stares the group of teens were giving them, and they certainly didn’t happen to notice Wendy steal a glance down at the conspicuous pink gemstone on their navel.

“No way…” she interrupted Stevonnie’s ramblings, both puzzled and incredulous as she glanced between the fusion and their gem. “Steven?”

Stevonnie completely froze up, their eyes wide and their posture hitched upon being partially found out. None of the other teens seemed to notice their alarm however as they instead all looked to Wendy in apt confusion. “Uh, Wendy?” Lee spoke up, dumbfounded. “That’s not Steven.”

“Look, I know it sounds crazy, guys,” the cashier turned to her crowd of friends. “But they have his-” Wendy cut herself off as she glanced back to where the fusion had been, only to find that they had conveniently slipped away from the party entirely.

Of course, Stevonnie had only retreated right outside of the warehouse, not hesitating to hurriedly tell the twins about what had just happened, even in the midst of their apparent panic.  

“Wait, so Wendy actually recognized you guys?” Dipper asked, surprised.

“Well, she recognized Steven, but yeah, pretty much,” Stevonnie nodded, running a hand through their hair. “I don’t know how though! I thought we were being pretty discreet! Even if a ton of people were staring at us…”

“Aw, but what’s so bad about letting people know who you really are, Stevonnie?” Mabel asked rather innocently. “I’m sure if people knew you were Steven and Connie mashed together, they’d think it’s really cool, just like we do!”

“Uh… well…” Stevonnie trailed off, though they didn’t get much of a chance to explain themselves before the conversation was suddenly interrupted.

“So, Stevonnie, huh?” Wendy asked with a wry smirk as she stepped out from the other side of the wall, revealing that she had been eavesdropping.

“Wendy!” Stevonnie and Dipper both exclaimed, startled, though Mabel was much more pleasantly surprised.

“Hi, Wendy!” she greeted as brightly as ever.

“Hey, Mabel,” the cashier chuckled, crossing her arms as she looked to the fusion again. “You know, I knew that gem looked familiar. But how could I have guessed that you were both Steven and Connie! That’s pretty wild, dudes.”

“I-I can explain!” Stevonnie quickly interjected. “We—we were just dancing and then we accidently fused and then we got invited to this party and we really wanted to go, so we-”

“Whoa, whoa, guys,” Wendy cut in, confused. “Slow down. What did you say? You fused?”

“Yeah they did!” Mabel exclaimed with a grin. “It’s this super cool thing that only Gems can do, but Steven did it with Connie somehow and bam! We got ourselves a Stevonnie!”

Wendy raised a bewildered eyebrow, not fully convinced as she glanced to Dipper for verification. “She’s right, actually,” he said with a shrug. “Honestly, we couldn’t even make this stuff up if we tried.”

“Well, I guess I have no choice but to buy it then,” the cashier smirked, shaking her head. “But still, why’d you guys run away from the party? I mean, even if you two aren’t technically teens, nobody in there needs to know that. I mean, you had all my friends fooled.”

“Yeah, I know…” the fusion sighed apprehensively. “It’s just… I’m—we’re sort of worried about… I don’t really know… not fitting in, or something like that…”

“Don’t be,” Wendy encouraged with a smile. “Listen, dudes, your secret is safe with me. Go back in there and have some fun! I mean, when else are you guys gonna be able to sneak into a rad, ‘teens-only’ party like this one?”

“She’s got a point,” Dipper pointed out in agreement. “This is sort of like a crazy, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity kind of thing.”

“Yeah!” Mabel nodded zealously. “And if I were one of you guys, I’d totally take that opportunity to party as hard as I could!”

“Oh believe me, I want to,” Stevonnie said with a wistful grin. “But…”

“But your holding yourself back,” Wendy mused patiently. “It’s ok, you guys. Look, if you need any help in there, I got your back. All you need to do is cut loose and let yourselves have a good time together. You’ll feel a lot better after you do, trust me.”

“Mmm… are you sure?” the fusion asked, still somewhat uncertain.

“Positive,” the cashier nodded before grabbing their wrist and pulling them back towards the party. “Now come on! The party’s just getting started!”

“You really think they’ll be ok in there?” Dipper asked Mabel as they continued to watch the party from the other side of the wall.

“Eh, I’m sure they’ll be just fine,” Mabel shrugged with a rather unconcerned smile as Wendy managed to coax Stevonnie over to her group of friends.

“Hey, guys, I’m back,” the cashier greeted her fellow teens casually. “And there’s someone I’d like you to meet. This is Stevonnie.”

“Uh… hi,” the fusion waved to the teens as they all looked to them with welcoming nods and smiles.

“Oh, it’s Stevonnie!” Jenny exclaimed in newfound understanding. “For some reason, Wendy thought you were our friend Steven.”

“O-oh, really?” Stevonnie gulped nervously, though fortunately, Wendy cut in.

“Hey, cut me some slack, Jenny,” the cashier crossed her arms. “It’s hard to see under all these neons Sour Cream has set up in here.”

“So are you new around here, Stevonnie?” Nate asked curiously.

“Um… I guess you could say that?” the fusion shrugged, uncertain about how to explain themselves. Fortunately, they didn’t really have to as the beat thumping throughout the party suddenly picked up even more.

“Looks like Sour Cream’s pumping things up,” Buck noted as coolly as ever.

“Rave time!” Lee and Nate cheered in unison.

“You know what that means, Thompson!” Lee exclaimed with a goading grin.

“No! I’m not taking my shirt of this time!” Thompson protested hotly, though Lee and Nate were quick to provide him with the proper encouragement.

“Thompson! Thompson! Thompson!” they chanted zealously, finally wearing Thompson down just enough.

“The peer pressure’s too strong!” he cried, ripping his shirt off and waving it over his head. “Tambry, you better not post any pictures of this online like last time!”

“Too late,” Tambry deadpanned, having already uploaded an embarrassing snapshot to the internet.

“Aw, man, this is great,” Wendy laughed over her friends’ antics along with Stevonnie. “See? I told you guys you’d have a great time.”

“Heh, yeah,” the fusion chuckled warmly, a bright smile on their face as they glanced around the party with fresh eyes. Instead of something daunting or intimidating, they saw fun, lively scene, one that they could easily see themselves falling into.

And so they did.

With a spring in their step and a newfound confidence about them, Stevonnie stepped out onto the dance floor, guided by a shared sense of elation, the very thing that had brought them together in the first place. They were hardly aware of anyone watching them as they made their first moves, bold and smooth and eye-catching. Wendy and her friends were the first to catch sight of the fusion’s dancing, and needless to say they were all instantly impressed by the natural skill they were already putting on display.

Even Sour Cream spotted them from his DJing platform, pausing from his mixing to watch them for a brief moment. “Amazing…” he mused in apt awe, before returning to his composition and adding a descant to the beat just for the fusion.

And Stevonnie took to the beat quite well, their bare feet gliding across the dance floor as though it was nothing but air. A wide grin was fixed on their face as they twirled about, their long hair flying with the movement. Still heedless to the crowd gathering to watch them, Stevonnie took a running start for their next move, smoothly sliding to their knees and bringing their arms up gracefully. With each move they made, clusters of bright sparkles seemed to emerge from the fusion, only adding to the charm and allure that everyone who was watching them saw. Even though they were observing from the outside, the twins were dumbfounded into absolute silence at how Stevonnie was indeed ‘tearing up the dance floor’, to the point that they had it entirely to themselves by now. Yet still the fusion didn’t notice as they launched themselves high into the air, preforming a deft full-body twist before landing squarely on one knee with a satisfied sigh. Indeed, they had done it. They had finally achieved the night of liberating fun they had been seeking. Everything finally felt just right.

Yet it was only as the veil of contentment lifted that things started to go wrong.

As Stevonnie rose to stand once more, the very first thing they noticed were the many sets of eyes fixated solely on them. Everyone seemed to be completely amazed by the fusion, not just their dancing skills but them as well. Several members of the crowd even let out muted gasps of wonder, and several more had their mouths hanging completely agape in shock. But all the same, one thing was clear: they were all focused on Stevonnie and Stevonnie alone.

“I-I thought this was a dance party,” the fusion spoke up with a nervous laugh as they glanced around. Specifically, they looked to Wendy for help, but even she seemed to be helplessly awestruck by the stunning display Stevonnie had just put on. “W-why isn’t anyone else dancing?” No one in the surrounding crowd dared speak, for even if they could, no one would have had anything to really say, seeing as how they were all at a total loss for words. Stevonnie’s apprehensive smile quickly faded into an anxious frown, both halves of their heart racing with newfound fear, the world seeming to sink all around them. “This… this is what being cool at a cool dance is, right?” they asked no one in particular, their eyes darting around the room. “This is how it’s supposed to be… Why isn’t it like it’s supposed to be?!”

By now, the fusion had begun to hyperventilate, stress overwhelming them as they closed their eyes tightly. Yet strangely enough, when they opened them, the crowd was gone, only replaced by huge, dark, ominous shadows looming high over them on all sides. As the silhouettes began to spread higher, Stevonnie couldn’t help but feel crushingly small, especially as shards of what seemed to be glass also rose up from the floor. They never touched the fusion however, as instead a disco ball seemed to form around them, trapping them in its small, cramped spherical interior. Stevonnie’s breathing had grown frantic, their hands shaking as they looked to the spinning lights darting far too quickly around their claustrophobic, self-imposed prison. Alarmed and disoriented, the fusion spun around, desperate to find a way out of this trap, of this party, out of all of it. Every emotion they felt, especially dread and anxiety, all seemed as though they were multiplied tenfold, all threatening to tear them cleanly apart. Their shared mind was going far too fast with thoughts of fear and dismay and panic and far too many other things to even place a name to them all. They were far from the good experience they should have been; instead, their very existence was an experience rife with doubt and desperation to find out what they really were, who they really were.

And now, they were further than ever from finding that out.

Yet, before the fusion could crumble under the weight of their own insecurities, their attention was suddenly directed elsewhere as another figure suddenly stepped into their disco ball without warning. He was a young man, a teen, but one that neither of them had ever met before, clad in stylish clothes and carrying a foreboding kind of confidence about him, one that instantly set Stevonnie on guard as he calmly sized them up.

“Hey, baby,” he greeted with a smooth, flirtatious smirk, his hands on his hips as he stood apace from the fusion. Stevonnie hardly even noticed the visage of the disco ball abruptly disappear, replaced by the surroundings of the party once again. Everyone had apparently gone back to conversing about themselves, no one paying the fusion any mind except for this one lone young man.

“Huh?” Stevonnie finally spoke up, raising a confused eyebrow at the young man’s seemingly smug manner.

“Get ready,” he leaned in, offering his hand to them before smoothly sliding around them in a failed attempt at impressing them. “It’s Kevin Time.” The young man, Kevin, apparently, reached for Stevonnie’s hand once more, but this time, it was abruptly slapped away, though not by the fusion themselves.

“You better take good, long step back if you know what’s good for you, Kevin,” Wendy scowled harshly, stepping in between the fusion and the young man rather protectively.

“Wendy!” Stevonnie sighed in apt relief at the cashier coming to their rescue.

“Hey, like I said, I got your back,” Wendy glanced back at the fusion with a reassuring wink.

“Well, look who it is,” Kevin cut in with an icy smirk as he looked to the cashier. “I guess you’re really not over me after all, Wendy. Not that I blame you though; I’d get jealous too if I saw me flirting with another girl.”

“Doing what with another who now?” Stevonnie spoke up, eyes wide in alarm and confusion.

“Ugh, get real, Kevin,” Wendy rolled her eyes crossly. “I broke up with you, remember? Then again, it was probably hard for you to pay attention to me dumping you since you were too busy swooning over your own reflection.”

“Whatever,” Kevin scoffed dryly. “Why don’t you just step aside and let me and this cutie dance?”

“They’re not interested,” the cashier said tersely as she began to lead the distressed fusion away.

“Why don’t you let her decide that for herself?” Kevin asked pointedly, his hands on his hips as he sent the pair a determined scowl.

“Oh, well, uh…” Stevonnie began anxiously, beyond uncomfortable with this bizarre turn of events. “She’s right… I-I’m really not interested…”

“See? Told you,” Wendy gave Kevin a cold, triumphant smirk as they urged the fusion to take a breather outside the party. “Oh, and if I catch you messing with them again tonight, then there won’t be any teeth left in that stupid, smug smile of yours. Just keep that in mind, ‘baby’.”

The cashier didn’t even give him a chance to respond before turning on her heel and marching off after Stevonnie, joining them and the twins outside the wall. Needless to say that after seeing the fusion’s near-meltdown earlier, Dipper and Mabel were quite concerned for their wellbeing, and they didn’t hesitate to show that concern through a barrage of curious questions the moment Stevonnie stepped outside.

“Are you guys ok?” Dipper asked with a worried frown. “What happened in there?”

“I… I don’t know!” Stevonnie admitted, running a hand through their hair as they let out a deep breath. “E-everyone was just… staring at me and… and I didn’t know w-what to do or what to say! I… we just sort of froze up and panicked and… everything else was basically one huge blur after that…”

The twins and Wendy all exchanged a brief, troubled glance upon hearing this, none of them really sure of how to reassure or encourage the disconcerted fusion. So instead of trying to offer them advice that likely wouldn’t help them, Mabel instead returned to asking Stevonnie about their experience in something of an attempt to distract them from their ongoing dread. “So… who was that scummy guy you were talking to? And what did he want?”

“Ugh, that was Kevin,” Wendy interjected with clear disdain as she crossed her arms. “We dated for like, a week, a while back. But I dumped him as soon as I realized how much of a self-absorbed, sleazebag he is. Trust me, Stevonnie, he’s definitely not someone you want to hang around.”

“I’ll take your word for it…” the fusion muttered, admittedly hardly even thinking about their encounter with Kevin at the moment. Instead, their thoughts were preoccupied with their own lingering doubt. After all, they had nearly fallen apart entirely back in the party for reasons that they couldn’t honestly even explain; with the restless and fretful state they were still in, how could they really expect to stay together much longer? Their shared mind was still in a frenzy, even if that frenzy was much quieter than it had been before, but still, a frenzy nonetheless. And if being together, if being fused, brought them both such feelings of anxiety and apprehension, then was it even worth it for them to stay fused at all?

In fact, Stevonnie was so distracted by their own unspoken fears that they hadn’t even heard what Wendy had just asked them until she placed a hand on their shoulder. “What?” the fusion blinked, slightly startled out of their thoughts as they looked to the cashier with wide eyes.

“I asked you if you’re sure you guys wanna go back in there,” Wendy repeated, clearly concerned. “Because to be honest… you’re not looking like you’re doing so hot…”

Stevonnie blushed in embarrassment upon hearing this, only now realizing that they were rather pale and lightly sweating as a result of their own internal stress. Still, guided by instinct alone, the fusion quickly put themselves together again, standing up at their full height and taking in a deep, determined breath. “No, we’re… I’m fine,” they clarified convincingly enough. “After all, I-I got this.”

“Yeah, you do!” Mabel cheered encouragingly. “Go Team Stevonnie! Go Team Stevonnie!”

The fusion let out a small laugh at this zealous cheer, but even so, Wendy wasn’t fully sure that they were ready to go back inside, despite their apparent show of confidence. “Just remember, guys,” she addressed the fusion cautiously. “If you need to bail out of there for any reason, then that’s totally fine. After all, you are still new at this.”

“Yeah… you’re… right, actually,” Stevonnie mused, amazed at how being new pretty much summed everything about their experience up. And maybe, despite all of the pitfalls they had encountered thus far, they had finally realized they were indeed a new experience. Which meant that there was always a chance for them to become a truly good one eventually.

With a newfound spring in their step, Stevonnie followed Wendy back into the party, relieved and reassured by her promise to stay by their side for as long as they needed her to. The fusion figured that she was yet another anchor to them, much like the twins, but at least she was an anchor who could actually go into the party with them at least. And for them, that was certainly better than nothing.

Which was why it didn’t take long for Wendy to notice Stevonnie’s apparent sense of dependency, seeing as how closely the fusion was following behind her as they returned to the party. “Guys, don’t worry,” she sent them a reassuring smile as she glanced back at them. “You said it yourself: you’ve got this. And like I said, I’ll be here for you guys as long as you need-”

“Yo, Wendy!” Nate suddenly hurried up to the cashier with Tambry and Buck in tow. “You gotta get over here! Thompsons about to do the worm with his shirt off!”

“Ten bucks says he cuts his stomach on the floor and he cries,” Tambry glanced up from her phone to smirk at Buck, who lightly grinned in response.

“You’re on.”

“Ok, guys, just hold on a—whoa!” Wendy didn’t get a chance to convince Stevonnie to come along before Nate suddenly grabbed her by the hand to pull her over to the others.

“Come on, Wendy! You’re gonna miss it!” he urged eagerly, dragging the cashier off. The fusion instantly panicked at this, a sharp gasp escaping them as they tried to follow Wendy as her friends unknowingly whisked her off into the thick crowd.

“Wendy! Wait!” Stevonnie called after her, only to end up getting accidentally knocked back by somebody caught up in their dancing. The fusion clumsily stumbled backward, nearly falling to the ground entirely, though a stray hand managed to catch theirs and pull them upright. Yet upon seeing who their “rescuer” was, Stevonnie was anything but relieved.

“Well, hey there, baby,” Kevin greeted with a sultry smirk as he held the fusion close, not relinquishing his grip on their wrist. “Glad to see you away from that buzzkill Wendy. Are you finally ready for our dance?”

“L-like I said,” Stevonnie began, clearly uneasy as they pulled themselves away from him. “I really don’t want-”

“Playing hard to get, huh?” Kevin interrupted coyly. “I like that. Guess you just need some convincing first.” He sent the fusion a flirty wink as he stepped a pace away from them, the music seeming to become more intense as he began to dance solo. Surrounding partygoers paused upon noticing Kevin’s bold, swift, almost aggressive moves, which were certainly skillful to say the least. In fact, it seemed that the only ones not impressed by his suave and narcissistic ways, aside from Stevonnie themselves, were the twins as they continued to watch the party from afar.

“Ugh, that guy is such a creep!” Dipper exclaimed, aptly disgusted by Kevin’s egotistical behavior that could be seen even from their distant vantage point. “Why won’t he just take Stevonnie’s no for an answer?”

“Seriously!” Mabel agreed with a petulant scowl. “Somebody really outta teach him a lesson in-” She cut herself off with a sudden gasp, startling her brother quite a bit as she suddenly shook him in excitement. “Dipper! I just got the best idea ever! We should fuse, go in there, and beat the snot out of that Kevin guy for messing with Stevonnie! It’s the perfect plan!”

For a moment, all Dipper could do was send his sister an incredulous look before finally finding the words to respond to her outlandish idea. “You know, Mabel, that’s a great plan, it really is,” he said with obvious sarcasm. “Except… there’s just one tiny problem with it.”

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

“We can’t fuse! We’re not Gems, remember?”

“Oh yeah…” Mabel frowned in disappointment over her admittedly impossible plan being shut down. Though her disappointment quickly turned to alarm upon glancing back to the party only to realize that a certain fusion was nowhere to be seen. “Hey, where’s Stevonnie?”

As it turned out, Stevonnie had taken the first opportunity they saw to flee from both Kevin and the crowd as quickly as they could. However, instead of retreating inside, they instead rushed to a nearby wall, leaning against it as they hunched over in a desperate attempt to calm their panicked breathing. Even though there was ample space around them and in the warehouse in general, they still felt tightly cramped, as though they had been locked in a very small box from which there was no escape. Their long pent-up nervousness had finally built itself up into a might wave, one that threatened to crash upon them and tear them apart literally any second now.

“I don’t understand what���s wrong,” Stevonnie panted tightly, eyes wide as they stared at the floor. “You have fun dancing, but this dance isn’t fun. You’re supposed to like this. W-why don’t we like this?!” The fusion let out a sharp breath as they fully stood, their trembling fists clenched tightly as they looked at their shared form with emerging loneliness. “I wish you were here…” they sighed, leaning against the wall and loosely hugging themselves in a weak attempt to feel closer. But the truth was, despite all they were currently sharing, they couldn’t have felt any further apart. “If we were together, it would be ok. But… we are together, and it’s not… I… I’m alone…”

“Not tonight,” Stevonnie’s closed eyes flew open to see Kevin press his hand against the wall near their head. His constant flirty grin was still present as he looked up at the fusion almost greedily, as if they were more of a prize to be won than an actual person. “Hey baby, why’d you leave me on the dance floor?”

“I-I don’t-” Stevonnie cut themselves off upon hearing how tremulous their voice sounded. So instead, they forced themselves to be firm as they pushed Kevin’s hand away with a stern scowl. “I don’t want to dance anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” Kevin asked, clearly not taking them seriously as he brushed a hand through his hair. “We’re the best thing that’s ever happened to this place! Come back out with me.”

“Why should I?” the fusion asked defiantly, growing angrier by his callous manner by the second.

“Because we’re angels walking among garbage people,” Kevin patronized. “We’re perfect for each other.”

“How can you say that?!” Stevonnie exclaimed, aghast and infuriated. “You don’t even know us!”

“Whoa, whoa,” Kevin held his hands up, even though he was still smirking. “I’m just looking for a dance! Don’t get crazy.”

“No one is crazy! I just don’t like being alone here!”                    

“Well if you’re so lonely, then dance with me!”

By now, Stevonnie was beyond frustrated, scarcely able to believe just how impetuous and stubborn Kevin really was. Which was why the decided that enough was enough. If he wasn’t going to give up, then they might as well give him exactly what he wanted. “Ugh, fine!” the fusion growled hotly, sending a piercing glare Kevin’s way. “You wanna dance? Let’s go.”

Needless to say that not only was Kevin surprised at Stevonnie accepting his invitation, but he was also quite startled when they grabbed him by the arm and roughly dragged him onto the dance floor. “Oh, and it’s Stevonnie,” the fusion clarified as they scowled down at their unwanted dance partner. “I am not your baby.”

Before Kevin could even say anything to this, Stevonnie launched into a dance that was a far cry from their smooth, graceful movements from earlier. Instead, this dance was aggressive and wild, with hardly any rhyme or reason to it at all as the fusion merely flailed about in a frantic frenzy. Their hair swung about wildly as they kicked and punched the air forcefully, letting out all of their frustration and apprehension in the only way they could think of. This time, they paid no mind to the countless sets of eyes staring at them in befuddlement, nor did they even pay Kevin any thought as he looked to them, quite intimidated by just how intense they really were.

“O-okay, bring it back, girl,” he spoke up, his usual smug confidence completely gone as he nervously backed up a few steps.

By now, nearly everyone at the party had turned their attention to Stevonnie and their almost unhinged dancing style. With her friends distracted, Wendy finally managed to rush back over to the fusion, though she paused at the fringes of the gathering crowd, just as surprised as everyone else was, especially upon seeing the gemstone on Stevonnie’s navel begin to brightly glow. Still, the fusion didn’t stop dancing for a second, their stress, anger, and emotional exhaustion all finally coming to a violent collision. A collision that, ironically enough, ultimately ended up ripping them apart.

In a sharp flash of light, Stevonnie disappeared, and in their place emerged the two halves they were made of in the first place: Steven and Connie.

The pair fell out of their fusion and onto the ground rather roughly, initially too dazed by what had just happened to even make sense of what was going on. The nearby crowd let out a unified gasp of shock and disbelief, all of them taken aback and aptly surprised at the true identity of the mysterious fusion. But of course, no one was more alarmed at this revelation than Kevin.

“That’s two kids! I’m out!” he exclaimed, clearly shocked as he immediately took his leave from the party entirely.

At the same time, Steven and Connie had finally managed to regather their bearings, even if they were still getting used to the old feeling of being apart as they both tentatively sat up. “W-we’re back…” the young Gem said stiffly, his eyes wide as he looked to Connie in bewilderment. But instead of saying anything in response, she simply burst out laughing, unable to hold any of her countless emotions in any longer. As her laughter turned hysterical, Steven couldn’t help but join in, and by the time he pushed himself up off the ground, he was laughing so hard that he was essentially crying but he honestly didn’t care. Neither of them did. And after the night they just had, honestly, how could they care about anything anymore?

While the partygoers were all still frozen in shock, Sour Cream was really the only one to usher in the newfound levity as he threw out a cascade of glow sticks from his DJ platform and onto the crowd below. With no more reservations holding them back, Steven and Connie happily indulged, their laughter loud and bright as they began to run around the dance floor freely amidst the rain of glow sticks.

Of course, the twins had witnessed everything that had just happened from outside, and while Dipper was just as stunned as the rest of the crowd was, Mabel easily shared in on Steven and Connie’s elation. “They’re back!” she cheered excitedly. “And look at them go! Come on, Dipper! Let’s get in there and join the party!”

“Mabel, I don’t think we should-” Dipper didn’t even get a chance to finish his protest before Mabel abruptly grabbed his wrist and dragged him past the wall and into the party anyway. The attending teens hardly even paid the twins any mind as they rushed onto the dance floor, Mabel gladly joining Steven and Connie as they cheerfully danced about while Dipper took a place in the crowd alongside Wendy.

“Ok, this has seriously been one of the weirdest nights ever,” he remarked incredulously, watching as the others have their wild dancing.

“Tell me about it,” the cashier smirked, crossing her arms. “But hey, you know what they say: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” With a boisterous cheer, Wendy stepped out into the dance floor herself, joining in on the fun with Dipper hesitantly following soon after. Slowly but surely, the other partygoers eventually followed suit, still besides themselves with confusion over what they had seen, but even so, most of them were willing to shrug it off for the sake of continuing the party.

Still, even as the party picked up once more, Steven and Connie remained rather close to each other for the rest of the night, even if they were no longer fused. Certainly, Stevonnie had something to do with that, for as good as it felt to be apart, neither of them could deny that being together had felt even better. True, the experience had been rife with anxiety, fear, and uncertainty, but it had also been filled with excitement, euphoria, and elation, and in the end, all of those good things far outweighed the bad. Neither Steven nor Connie could deny that, for everything they had been through tonight, they would gladly do it all again if they could, if only for the warm, bright, cherished feeling of simply being together.

And that alone was a feeling that neither of them could wait to experience again someday.

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