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It’s the end of another day at Beach City, and Steven finds himself at the boardwalk to check on the gems working there. Everything is normal and fine, and he couldn’t be happier as he watches children interacting with the gems; they love the quartzes, and they especially appear to be fond of Snowflake and Little Larimar.
Speaking of those two, Steven is a little worried when he doesn’t spot the latter at first. Snowflake is using her ice powers to entertain a couple of children, and yet there is no sign of Larimar. The half-gem is about to ask her where the short, blue gem went when he hears her familiar voice near the beach. She seems to be carrying a giant stuffed snake behind her as she talks to…
… Lars?
Steven can’t help his surprise when recognizing his tall, pink friend sitting by the sand. Lars is usually busy working at his pastry shop, so he doesn’t see him often in other places. Not to mention the Off Colors aren’t around, and they tend to follow him where he goes, as the team that they are.
Curious, the sixteen-year-old approaches Larimar and Lars a bit, catching on to their conversation.
“Hello! What is your name?” The short gem asks.
“Uh, Lars. And you are…?”
“I’m Little Larimar! It’s nice to meet you!”
“Yeah, same.” Lars doesn’t sound as enthusiastic as her, and she notices.
“You look very sad,” Larimar observes, sounding concerned.
“Oh. Well, I’m… not feeling too great, yeah.”
“Hmm, I have something that might make you smile! Can you guess what it is?”
“Huh,” The pink teenager can already see part of the snake, since Larimar can’t hide it well (which is still endearing, Steven thinks as he smiles at the scene). “What is it?”
“A snake!” She hands him the long, green stuffed animal. “Do you like it?”
Lars lets out a small, yet genuine laugh. “Yeah. That’s really nice of you.”
“I could also give you a snow cone, if you’d like!”
“… Okay.”
“Wait here!” Larimar runs back to Snowflake – giving a fast “hi!” to Steven -, only to return with a pink-colored snow cone, which is unlike the rainbow ones they usually make.
“Thanks,” Lars says and is about to reach his pocket, perhaps to pay her when she makes a gesture to deny it.
“No need to repay! I simply hope it makes your day a little better,” Larimar replies in an understanding tone.
He smiles sadly. “It did.”
Once more children go to Snowflake, Larimar gives him a little goodbye and she returns to her work with her big friend. Steven observes the two gems for a moment when he realizes that Lars calls him.
“Sup, Steven?” He asks, his smile having faded a little.
“Hey, Lars. Looks like you got some gifts.”
Lars snorts whilst he places the snake on his lap. “Yeah, they’re nice.”
Steven then sits next to him, only then seeing how… blue his friend looks. Not in the color sense, that is.
“I’m happy to see you but… what are you doing here?" The former asks. "I thought you were still working.”
“I was, but Fluorite told me I could take a break, and the rest agreed. They’re covering for me.” He then quickly remarks, “Which, y’know, doesn’t mean I’m slacking off. I… I wanted to get some air, is all.”
The sixteen-year-old knows there’s more than simply “getting some air”, but he won’t pry if Lars doesn’t want to talk about it. He knows better than to be overbearing and force his help onto someone else.
They sit there under the multicolored sky while they hear the joyful sounds of kids in the background, as well as Snowflake and Larimar doing their thing. Steven can also acknowledge the Ruby guards fighting in a humorous way, too.
Meanwhile, Lars eats his snow cone in silence, not hiding his sadness. The other can’t help but observe him, since he doesn’t want to make him spit it out. Still… he thinks he can say something.
“You know how you’re always telling me I can come to you to talk about stuff? I… I would say the same,” Steven says. “I don’t mind it.”
Lars sighs, not appearing to be annoyed. “… I know you don’t.”
“Yeah, just… let me know if you want to talk, okay?”
The other doesn’t reply, so Steven goes quiet again. It doesn’t… actually take long for Lars to speak up.
“It’s, uh… y’know. Sadie and I.”
Steven turns his head back to him, with a curious look. Lars doesn’t take his eyes off the pink snowball in his hands.
“Ever since I came back, things between us… were still a little confusing,” The taller boy continues. “We- We’ve tried to make it work for a long time now, but…” He pauses for a couple of minutes before resuming, “She called me one of these days and… she told me it would be best if we, well, went on our own ways. And I guess I agreed with that.”
Before everything, Steven is pretty sure he would have been desolate. He would have gone lengths to get Lars and Sadie get back together, as he crafted this whole fantasy of his friends being happy and having a child named after the sixteen-year-old.
Nowadays, he’s not… necessarily surprised, to be fair. Although Lars has gone to Sadie’s concerts, Steven has already noticed they weren’t spending that much time with one another. Whenever he or anyone else asked him about her, Lars would show some… uncertainty.
The same would be noticed in Sadie, whenever Steven got the chance to talk to her. With Lars already busy at his bakery, she was even less present, especially now with her tour with the Cool Kids. There hasn’t been the same spark between them, he realizes.
He guesses he’s already known, yet he hasn’t fully commented on the topic with either of them. That wasn’t his business, anyway.
“She still wants to be friends, though, it’s- it’s not that bad,” Lars adds. “But…” He sighs yet again as his eyes start growing deep. “I mean, I guess I’ve already expected this would happen, so that’s why I didn’t get mad or anything. I agree with her, it might be the best for the both of us. I-It’s just… I either still had hopes it wouldn’t be over or… ugh, I dunno.”
“Or it’s because it hurts, Lars,” Steven argues. “Even if you both decided that, that doesn’t make it easy. And that’s okay, y’know.”
Lars lets out a defeated breath. “I guess you’re right… Still, I really wanted things to work out between us. I… I love her,” He doesn’t say it with any hesitance, unlike his past self. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving her. And yet…”
There’s another long pause. Steven briefly pats his back. Lars gives up talking and resumes eating his snow cone. In his face, Steven identifies grief, the face of someone with a broken heart. It’s a look he’s become way too familiarized with, as he’s reminded of Pearl’s devotion to his own mother; not to mention his dad, since he also lost her.
They say nothing again, and soon enough Lars finishes the icy treat. Yet he remains there, staring at the horizon and the endless sea facing them. Since they don’t talk, Steven begins reflecting on the whole situation.
Just like that, he can’t help feeling… a little responsible. As Steven recognized, his younger self would do whatever it took to force Lars and Sadie back together. With that, he can’t help but cringe thinking about it today, remembering how overbearing he was with the two, believing they were made for each other for all eternity; and he was especially like that to Lars, not respecting his true feelings. Sure, Lars and Sadie had already been close, before Steven arrived. However, part of him may wonder if they got together because he told them that; he'd concluded that they loved each other even before Sadie said she liked Lars herself, for that matter.
(And an even smaller portion of himself is reminded of how his mom told Garnet to be together and to never question it. He hates it.)
“If you’re blaming yourself, then you better cut that out.”
Steven feels like he’s been caught when he hears Lars’ words; not to mention his friend is also looking at him.
“Uh, h-how did you-?” He tries to ask before he’s interrupted.
“Steven, I know you and your guilt complex very well by now. And I’m here to say that you don’t have anything to do with us, okay? It’s always been complicated; even before you came into the picture.”
Either way, the younger blushes in shame. “B-But I didn’t… make it worse, right? I did get in your way a lot and make you pink, and- and your aging is all messed up—”
“Oh my god, shut up,” Lars groans, while not sounding angry at him. If anything, he snorts miserably at the other. “Believe me when I say that it’s not your fault, okay? Stop beating yourself up for it.”
He may be right… Steven tries to believe him. However, as he gives a little more thought to his words, he may realize something whilst looking at Lars’ expression. There is guilt creeping way inside it. It may be kind of hard to see, but he finds it anyway.
“W-Well, then… it’s not your fault either, Lars. Nor hers,” The sixteen-year-old tells him. “Sometimes it doesn’t work out, no matter how much you love one another. That’s part of life."
Lars grows silent once more, and he looks away. Steven does the same, holding his own hands. He isn’t feeling guilty about their break up anymore, but he also wishes he could… help him feel better. At least Larimar did her part, yet he wonders if there’s anything else he could do for his friend. As the heartbroken teen doesn’t say anything else, Steven starts wondering if he should leave him alone.
… that’s when he feels an arm sliding around his shoulders and pulling him into a side hug.
(Steven then theorizes that Lars may have mind-reading powers. Does that mean Lion has, too? Well, he doesn’t doubt it, it’s not like he can understand his big pink cat whenever he speaks, anyway!)
Thus, the teenagers share no more words as the sun sets in the horizon. Lars doesn't let go of either Steven or the snake plush on his lap. In the meantime, while the latter knows his friend is hurting, it's still... nice, breathing the warm, welcoming air of the beach. He hopes Lars feels the same way.