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She’s so… soft.
Steven doesn’t know what he expected. Her hands are solid, calloused from spending so much time with a sword. But as his hands travel upward, toward the inside of her elbow, and up beneath the sleeves of her t-shirt, he can’t help but marvel at how soft and how hard she is. Soft, smooth skin defending hard, layered muscles beneath.
“Steven.” Connie giggles.
“You’re just…” The word gets caught in his throat as he wonders at the way her neck tilts backward. After a moment her head turns towards him, and he realizes he’s waited too long. “You’re gorgeous.”
She giggles again. “You should see yourself.”
And then her hands are on his, plucking them off of her like fruit from the vine. He freezes as she turns his wrist over, tracing the wrinkles of his palm, all soft, uncalloused. She hums, both hands circling his wrist, and then she pulls his hand up, up, in order to press a kiss to his heel.
He burns red.
“You started this,” she reminds at the look on his face. Upon closer inspection, her cheeks have darkened, too. He doesn’t know if that makes him feel better or worse.
“Y-you don’t… have to.”
“Have to what?”
“Pretend.” Steven starts to tug his hand from her, but her grip is a sudden vice. He can’t quite meet her eyes. “I mean… y’know. I know I’m fat.”
He knows it like he knows his own name, and he has never felt particularly self-conscious of it until this moment.
That’s a lie. Puberty was… something else. With how quickly his body grew, with how long it took his voice to catch up with his body, with how long it took him to realize his muscles were going to remain beneath a layer of fat for the rest of his life… Well.
He never thought of it with the gems or with anyone in town. He knew they didn’t really see him for that. He knew it would never be a problem, either in combat with corrupted gems or in the combat arena of intergalactic diplomacy.
But there is something to be said for exposing that part of yourself to someone for the first time.
“You are,” Connie says. A statement of fact and not an indictment. “And you’re beautiful. Come here.”
She tugs him closer, and he obeys. One hand continues to hold his up, and the other goes to the edge of his shirt, sliding beneath. He feels her hand on his skin and if he was burning before, this is something else entirely. This is being thrust into the volcano.
It almost tickles. He bites his tongue, feeling laughter tugging itself up and out, not knowing if it comes from the physical sensation or the feeling that is somehow both humiliation and adoration.
“Connie…”
She tugs his arm back further, past her shoulder, and he blinks, and she leans in and kisses his neck.
He inhales and smells lilac and lavender.
A flip is switched.
“Steven—”
He wraps his arms around her neck and turns her head and kisses her, and kisses her, and kisses her.
And he feels pretty damn beautiful.