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Jasper gazed attentively from the sidelines as her Diamond did his best to fake a smile and engage at the welcome back party for his brief visit before he left again. He only returned because his Greg had gotten very sick, and her Diamond's spit could cure him, but before he could take off again, a party had already been ambushed upon him by the work of Garnet's future vision, Bismith's quick building abilities to set everything up and Amethyst's snack picking skills.
Despite the effort the Crystal Gems had put into the event, Jasper could tell her Diamond didn't want to be here. The look in his eyes was dispassionate as they looked out at nothing or no one in particular. Avoiding the eyes of the lower gems, and his expression would slip to a depressed frown whenever he thought no one was looking. Occasionally, her Diamond even flashed pink as he'd get unexpectedly touched or bumped into, which made Jasper growl with frustration at the lack of respect for her Diamond's personal space that the gems showed but she knew better than to storm over there and fight for her Diamond's dignity and honor, Jasper knew her Diamond didn't need her to fight his battles for him. He was stronger than her, after all.
As Steven scanned the horizon past the short awestruck gems that gawked and sang his praises, his eyes met hers. She didn't back down from her stare, no matter how startled Steven looked seeing her and how he kept trying to look anywhere but her but kept glancing back because of how unrelenting her gaze was.
Eventually, Steven reluctantly walked through the crowd and cleared his throat. "Jasper... I'm sorry about what happened." Steven finally bagan and wondered how good it would feel to self-sabotage this unwanted and glorified party of his past heroics with his more recent actions, in particular, Jasper's shattering. The idea of saying the words, announcing the murder out loud, was tempting. He felt guilty and was sure he wasn't worth being celebrated about. But at the same time, he couldn't quite get the words out. His mind practically begged him not to ruin this event for the others due to his emotional selfishness.
Jasper frowned. "No need to be sorry, my Diamond. It was your right to choose to leave me behind."
He gave her an odd look. Why would her mind jump to that and not the shattering? "That's... not what I meant."
"Right. Of course, my Diamond. How disrespectful of me to assume what you meant. Especially in assuming it was you leaving me behind." Jasper peered around the crowd as if looking for threats to her Diamond instead of looking at him. "That was something that didn't need to be said or felt sorry for. No one ever wants to stay with me."
It was said so casually. As if the proclamation was simply a well-known fact of life. Like grass is green, injectors are pink, and I'm destined to be forever alone. Perhaps it truly seemed like a constant to her, he wondered. The words and topic reminded Steven of Jasper's hopelessly resigned words during the start of her corruption. How no one she fused with ever wanted to stay, and suddenly Steven's guilt over shattering, then outright abandoning her and refusing to let her make her own choice to come along, becomes mixed with something else or maybe multiple somethings? Feelings he couldn't quite understand. Relief? Longing? Desire? Something that wanted to latch itself to this revelation and never let go of it. The promise of stability and loyalty. When all the world and its people had to, unfortunately, change around him in ways that were hard to cope or predict with as they moved on and left him for their own lives. Jasper could and would understand that. Always set apart, watching as the Era and its gems changed, leaving her behind in more ways than one. And Jasper would always be Jasper and he was her Diamond. The sudden realization sparked a fire in his belly.
"Jasper? Would you dance with me?"
The warrior gem gave him a strange expression at the request as she wasn't a court-dancing Jade and the one time she did dance it was to fuse, the memory of fusing with Lapis came briefly to mind. It was a strange request, but Jasper would give her Diamond whatever he wished.
As they started to dance, Steven babbled on filling Jasper's silence. "I bet you're wondering why I asked to dance with you and not someone else, huh?" He nervously laughed.
The lack of respect and the inferiority of the other gems wasn't lost on Jasper, but she didn't want to make another wrong assumption about her dazzling Diamond's desires.
"Well, I... I was thinking we could... Fuse...?" Steven asked nervously and Jasper froze. Stumbling slightly as his dancing partner stopped completely, Steven wondered if he misjudged or triggered her. Trying to play it cool but failing miserably he added, "Funny right?"
Jasper felt a wave of emotions. "My Diamond..." Jasper wondered for a brief moment if she could actually let the fusion go once her Diamond inevitably left, but the thought was dashed away by knowing she was a perfect soldier. She would always do what her Diamond wanted, even if it meant getting hurt in the process and having to let her heart be ripped out once her Diamond's fun was over.
"We... We don't have to." Steven was saying, looking embarrassed and waving his hands as he spoke. "It's not an order or anything. Only if you want to."
"I want to," Jasper answered wistfully. It would be perfect. Surely, she was the only one who could take her Diamond's power.
Steven took a deep breath. A small part of him had worried that she'd refused him. But clearly, the majority of his thoughts were in the right after all. "Right. Good." He stammered.
As the two began to dance again, Steven had much more enthusiasm, now that he knew she wanted it to he didn't have to cautiously hold back with nagging worry.
Their gems glowed and nearby partygoers turned and witnessed a flash of light that faded to reveal one being. Two sets of eyes remained closed as their emotions, wants, and needs were shared in their mental space.
After a few hours, some of the famethysts started to rough house and caused a mess. Breaking a few windows and guard rails and a few chairs during their volleyball games. Pearl forced Amethyst to move the party away from the front of the house since it didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon if the seemingly unending energetic quartz' had anything to say about it. After people drifted away from the beach house, giving their farewells, Pearl went to start cleaning when she realized there was a tall, silent fusion she hadn't seen before. It was unmoving, its eyes closed. Pearl tried to pay them no mind and worked around them, but after she finished clearing away the broken glass and splintered wood, she looked over to see the fusion was still in there.
She approached the monolith. Up close, the fusion looked relaxed to the point one could almost mistake it for sleeping standing up, if sleep had been normal for gems that is. So clearly that wasn't the case. "Hey?... Is... everything okay over here?" She asked uncertainly.
Everything felt good. There was this sense of relief as their mental and just mental decompression as everything felt shared and related. Finally, someone that had understood at least somewhat what they were going through. After the initial revelations on both of their behalf, they stayed content to just exist like this. To be there in one another's unwavering company. Slotted together like perfect puzzle pieces. It was a consistency they could get behind. Jasper could be with her Diamond, more than that, a part of her Diamond, who wouldn't leave, and Steven... Steven got a much-craved sense of stability in his life with Jasper's unwavering presence to ground him. They could just exist and be.
Then a voice tried to rouse them from their contentment.
"Yes." The sound of their voice was new and startled them slightly, but they quickly moved passed it as if nothing happened. "Better then okay." The fusion finally opened their eyes. Some part of their mind, the warrior part perhaps, though both were warriors in their own right, realized their surroundings had changed. The sky was a different shade and the multitude of gems were gone. Their other set of eyes looked down at their body and by extension at Pearl, and gasped in awed delight, "I'm a giant woman!"
"Steven?" Pearl realized surprised, having not recognized it due to the gem's coloring change with the fusion. "What are-" Before she could get the question out she was scooped up with one big arm and wrapped in an embrace. "Pearl!" One set of eyes gazed at her like pink diamonds and Pearl could swear it even sounded like her. "I'm a giant woman!"
Their expression was so enthused with a bright broad smile. It was the happiest Pearl had seen Steven in a while. So Pearl swallowed down any questions of why Steven apparently fused with Jasper, letting her baby have this. Instead, she smiled. "Yes. You most certainly are."
The fusion squealed back at her affirmation of their size. "Thanks, Pearl!" The fusion then scoffs. "Why am I thanking a Pearl?.." The fusion then waves a broad free hand dismissing their own question as they set Pearl down. "Because Pearl's awesome!"
Pearl did her best to smile at them through her doubts and total urge to call a family meeting about this development as soon as possible. Outwardly instead, she just patted the fusion's broad arm and tried to give them her blessing. "Well... Have fun."
"We-?" The fusion stopped and put a hand on their chin contemplating, trying to figure out what felt right. "I-? I will!" The fusion then beamed Pearl with a confident smile and a wink and then lept away.
Pearl sighed then waited until the monolith left before stopping a foot and shouted, sure that Garnet was or had seen her call for her in the past and would get here, "Garnet! You foresaw this didn't you? Come out and tell me why you didn't try to stop this!"
Garnet stepped out of the beach house and leaned on what remained of the sturdier part of the guard railing and messed with her visor. "I didn't foresee this. But even if I had, you already know the answer. He's happy like this."
Pearl sighed. "Sure he's happy now." She aggressively pointed in the direction the fusion had gone. "But it's Jasper!"
"We both know you've made your own questionable fusion decisions," Garnet said bluntly and Pearl flushed with shame at being reminded of what had happened in the past between them. "Perhaps you're not one to judge?"
"I-" Pearl clenched her fists, "Err!" she growled frustrated, and stalked back into the house, before entering she stopped at the door, her hand lingering on the nob. "Just tell me this is just a short little experience and Steven won't get hurt."
"I can't-"
Pearl turned to Garnet swiftly, "So Jasper is going to hurt him!" She yelled and pounded the side of her fist against the door.
"I can't foresee what the future holds for Steven. His path is always so difficult to read. But- what I can say is, at least this is making him happy at this very moment."
Pearl sighed, head hung low, the tension flooding from her shoulders as she let her hands droop to her sides. "Right... For now."