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Steven knows he’s behind... a lot of things now. Quitting Little Homeschool might help him not be dominated with the whole weight of changes, of his friends going away and living their own lives.
He’s tried gardening, but well. The absent wall of his house says a lot. He’s sort of sleeping with his dad until they fix it, which is no problem for Bismuth and the others, to be fair. Greg’s van is a little more cramped now, with Steven at 17, but they make it through.
Greg talks it out to him. Or tries to. Steven at least lets him know he’s been feeling alone lately, and his dad’s company helps. They stargaze after that, until the younger boy falls asleep in his lap.
It only takes a couple of days for the half-gem to return home, and everything is the same. He can’t see the cracks in the walls from the giant Cactus Steven anymore.
(It’s almost the same, except Steven can still feel it stinging in his skin.)
He still takes care of the plants. He calls Peridot to help him, for that matter, and she loves it. Sometimes Lapis joins them, too. It’s nice.
Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst have come to check up on him more often. Steven simply gives them a carefree smile and says he’s feeling better now. They might not believe him, but they don’t pry, either.
The seventeen-year-old calls Connie at some point. She’s still studying hard, but assures she will be back in two weeks.
(He tries not to sigh in frustration.)
Things are pretty much normal, even if he’s not going to Little Homeschool so often. He’s trying to spend more time at Beach City, to check up on his friends. They’re all fine, as usual. He finds Sadie and Shep holding hands sometimes, as they get snow cones from Little Larimar and Snowflake. The Cool Kids hang out when they can, even with the break up between the Suspects. The gems are all happy doing what they’ve chosen.
Either he does that or he stays in. Gems come and go to his house – Peridot, Lapis, the Rose Quartzes, Bismuth...
He’s happy.
(He’s lonely. Even if he’s around people.)
It’s nothing too different tonight. Steven has ordered a pizza box for himself. He’s sort of relieved to have this moment. He eats it quietly, though finding out he’s not quite hungry.
Pearl comes in at some point. She cleans and organizes the house sometimes, when Steven isn’t doing it, so she compliments his plants, and the new ones Peridot put there. Steven nods at her, with a little smile.
The pale gem sighs and hands him something.
“You’ve forgotten your communicator with the plants. It’s been glowing nonstop,” Pearl tells him.
Steven’s eyes widen a little in realization, as he takes the Diamond Communicator. It’s much more advanced in Homeworld levels – while as easy to activate –, and was given to him once he and the Diamonds worked together to resolve everything in outer space. He admits to have left it aside, not wanting to deal with the giant leaders for some good time. Steven has put it in offline mode, but, apparently, people can still send him messages; most of which are video reports and whatnot.
Pearl excuses herself (not before giving him a fast, caring hug), so the boy is alone with the pink glowing object in his hand. He sighs, giving in to checking all notifications.
There are a couple of videos from Homeworld. Most of which are from the Diamonds, as usual; except Spinel is the one that initiates the video calls in some. The black marks in her face, which resembles tears, are gone. Her smile is no longer twisted and hungry for revenge. She looks so happy, even more so with her new friends.
All four of them tell him about their day, and claim they’ve been missing his company. Sometimes Spinel calls him on her own (the Diamonds must be pretty chill giving the gem her own communicator, he supposes) and hopes she can see him soon.
It’s pretty sweet, honestly. The Diamonds can be overbearing most of the time, and he’s not known Spinel for too long, but their messages do bring a smile to his face.
The videos are all short, so he’s almost finishing all of them when he realizes the most recent ones don’t come from Homeworld. It says they come from the Sun Incinerator.
Wait. That’s Lars’ ship.
Rather than log numbers (maybe since the Diamonds and Spinel don’t think too much about giving titles), they’re all titled as “For Steven”. They were sent only a week ago.
He wastes no time to tap on the screen, and so the first video initiates. It already starts with Lars’ nasal voice, louder than he expects – maybe because the space captain is too close.
“Geez, how does this thing work?”
“Captain, I think you turned it on,” Rhodonite points out, partially showing up in the corner.
“Hm, I guess, but Steven isn’t answering... the other line is dead.”
“Leave him a message, then!” Rutile suggests somewhere.
“I predict Lars will successfully turn on the video feature!” Padparadscha reveals in pride.
“Okay, okay, I think I got it— OH, SH—!!” The call seems to drop, and the “Standby” screen shows up.
Another video starts - much like a tape, somehow. Steven didn’t even know the video reports on Homeworld could work like that.
Rutile is the one too close now.
“We turned it back online, Captain!”
“Oh, thank god, I didn’t break it.” Lars shows up and breathes in relief. “Alright, I’ll try not to drop it again. Ugh, this thing is so small.”
The gems giggle, causing him to blush in embarrassment.
“I predict Rutile will reactivate the Communicator!” The orange sapphire says.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ve got this now.”
“Oh, do I look good?” Rhodonite asks. “I can’t quite see it.”
“You look amazing as usual, Rhod.”
“Come on, we’re so excited!”
“Alright, guys, in three, two, one—”
An even louder, angry voice tears the room.
“OFF COLORS!!!” It’s Emerald, showing up behind them. She looks exactly the same as last time. “You dare to show your no good gems out here again with MY ship?!”
Rather than becoming desperate, Lars groans in disappointment. “Ah, goddammit.”
The take ends in that again, only for the communicator to turn on once more.
“Is it on? Yeah? Okay. I’m still not used to this...” Lars complains in his breath. “Alright, no more interruptions now. In three, two—”
“W-Wait- sorry, but how does this work? Do we have the right things to say??” Rhodonite starts asking anxiously. “T-They didn’t teach this at school!”
“Hey, hey, it’s alright. It doesn’t have to be perfect, okay? We’ll just talk a little about ourselves as if he were here. It’s kinda like a phone call, but he can see you guys. Just- Just talk normally.”
“Oh, v-very well. I think I can manage that.”
“Alrighty then. In three, two, one—”
“Captain, there’s an incoming call from Emerald again,” Rutile warns.
“Gee, she misses me already?” Lars sighs, yet laughing all at same.
In the next take, the whole crew shows up in the screen.
“Hi, Steven!” They say in unison; except Fluorite and Padparadscha, though.
“Hello... Ste... ven.”
“We hope you can see this, man,” Lars says. “Because we miss you!”
“A whole lot!” Rutile complements.
“Hello, Steven!!” Padparadscha waves frenetically from behind.
“Heh, hope everyone’s doing great back home, dude. We’ve been having an awesome time out here, too. Running off from Emerald, visiting other planets, taking down gems that still defend the empire... wish you could be here to see some of it.”
“You still haven’t come to visit us... There’s—” Rhodonite clears her throat as she nears a little and lowers her voice. “I really want you to meet someone – two people, actually. They’ve been thinking about a ‘marriage’ when we go back to Earth.”
“Yeah! You’re the master in the marriage planning, right, Steven?” Lars reminds. “Fluorite wants to marry, too!”
“Indeed... marriage sounds... just... wonderful.”
“We’ll try to be back by summer, yeah? Until then, though, you can always come here whenever you feel like it.”
“I would... love... to see you... again.” Fluorite smiles. “As well as... your human... friend.”
“Yes!” “Connie could come, too!”
“And Stevonnie!” Rhodonite adds.
“Right; say hi to Connie for us. And the guys – Mom, Dad, the Cool Kids... Sadie and Shep.”
“Oh! Captain, we should head back to our posts- a meteor shower appears to approach the ship in this solar system!” Rhodonite claims and, before she leaves, she waves at the screen and smiles; despite sweating a little. “Bye, Steven!”
“Please, come visit us soon!” Rutile requests.
“Farewell...” Fluorite says.
Lars waits for Padparadscha to say, “Oh, meteors will approach! Bye, bye, Steven!”
When Steven thinks there are no more things to be seen, Lars shows up on his own this time, sitting on his chair. There are no other voices, so he assumes the space pirate is alone.
“Hey, again, man. I really hope you’re getting these...” The pink-haired teenager takes a deep breath. “It’s been... I dunno, a month? I’m way behind my logs.” He laughs. “Time in space just goes by so fast, but I’m kinda getting used to it now.”
The little smile on the older’s face disappears slowly, as he doesn’t look at the “camera”. He shuts his eyes for a moment.
“Listen.” He suspires. “You must be busy, so I don’t blame ya for not coming here yet. You’re not forced to or anything. I just... like I said, I miss you, and...”
He pauses as his look becomes... deeper. Understanding. Empathetic.
“Look, I get it. The changing thing... when I first went back to Earth, it wasn’t easy. Not only I was different – I mean, look at me –, but everything else changed, too. New gems coming to town, Sadie and the Cool Kids forming a band and going on tours, Nanefua becoming mayor, Mr. Dewey working at the Big Donut... sure, they look trivial when I say it, but at first, it was... too much. For me to handle. And then Sadie found someone, their band was gone... there were even more changes, when I was just getting used to the previous ones.
“So, yeah, I can understand how you feel. We want things to stay the same, but well, they won’t. That’s... That’s part of life, as hard as it can be. But, y’know, that’s why I decided to change, too. I opened my bakery and now I’m having more adventures in space with my friends, taking down oppression like the first time. That’s not to say I won’t come and pay a visit, right? Earth is still my home. You’re my friend, and so is Sadie, Jenny, Buck, Sour Cream... still, I chose to do something for myself, and that’s what I want you to think about.”
Lars adjusts himself in the chair, to sit in a more comfortable position. Steven observes him quietly.
“I... I know you’ve been working hard to help others all this time, Steven. You’ve been under a lot of stress, and you felt like you were left behind when you saw your friends moving on,” He continues. “And with all the changes around... yeah, man. Like I said, it’s not easy, and- and it can really suck. But you can make a change, too. That’s what you do – you always make a difference in everyone’s lives. Look how much you’ve changed mine. You gave people, gems and humans, an opportunity to change and do stuff for themselves. That’s because you believe everyone deserves to be happy, right? Don’t... Don’t you think you deserve that, too?”
Like that, Steven becomes utterly speechless. Well, he can’t talk to Lars right now, since the whole message was recorded, but still... his words feel like a punch in the gut – in the good way? If that makes sense.
“Wow, I never thought I’d be giving a pep talk one day,” Lars snorts. “Well, I learned it from the best.” He pauses and smiles sadly at the ‘camera’. “If you’re seeing this, you... you don’t have to process everything all at once, alright? Take it easy, rest, do the stuff you like... and think about what I’ve told you. Okay, Steven?”
Although they’re not physically together, the seventeen-year-old nods. It even looks like Lars has seen it, because his smile widens.
“You’re- You’re awesome, man. You deserve all the happiness in the whole universe. I dunno if people tell you this enough, but it’s true.” The captain points a finger at the screen, at Steven. “You’re extraordinary.”
A wet laugh comes out of the half-gem, who desperately wants to hug the other.
“Take care of yourself, okay? And don’t be a stranger; feel free to pop up in my head whenever you want.” Lars winks and finger guns. “I’ll see you soon.”
The video finally finishes and the communicator is turned off, yet Steven is... he stares at where it once was. Lars’ words are replaying in his head, as if the pink teenager is still talking to him.
It’s then that he hears a voice calling for him, almost desperately.
“Steven? Hey, Steven!” Amethyst yells.
He snaps his head at her, still speechless. The Diamond Communicator is held tight in his hands.
“Dude, are you okay? You’re crying and you were looking at nowhere just now,” Amethyst notes.
Oh. Steven hasn’t realized his cheeks are wet.
“I-I’m okay,” He says, which is, well, true.
With the video still in his head, he ends up laughing and crying at the same time. The short gem is looking even more confused.
“I’m okay,” He replies, more certain.
This time, Amethyst seems to believe him. He puts the communicator in the other space beside him whilst the gem joins him. She already takes a pizza slice and eats it, and so she lies against his shoulder. He melts in the contact.
Steven won’t stop smiling.
(He doesn’t feel alone anymore.)