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Of course, days shouldn’t always be filled with complete happiness—otherwise being happy wouldn’t feel like much of a feeling at all!
A piece of advice Steven got from his therapist, or at least the way he interpreted it. It made sense, why wouldn’t something your therapist say not make sense? It’s why pretending to be happy all the time usually ends in some world ending destruction, or something. It’s just so easy. It’s second nature, how would he just unlearn it so quickly?
Well, the fact he was so exposed a few months ago towards everyone he knew did make it harder. A few days after it all happened, he got a bit freaked out. No danger to throw himself into, no problems the people he knew had to deal with—except there was! There was a sack of emotional baggage right in front of them! Is where his thought process stagnated for awhile, yet he couldn’t lie, to have love shown right in front of him so freely was nicer than what he was so ready to cling himself back to.
Any lies he would tell could be seen through so easily now. People asked him how he was, and a week later when he started to default to a, “I’m good!”, it was immediately met with a gentle pry for more. While that was usually met with a Please stop asking and go away back then, there were days he accepted company. He didn’t have to say anything. They would just be there. They would just be there, for him, of all people.
A few months of all of this—a protectiveness, a sense of care, sometimes it was overbearing. He managed a little, managed to say, he didn’t like the way they did certain things, and for some odd reason they kept loving him all the same. He felt grateful, but there was always a sense of guiltiness he just couldn’t shake.
He really loved Connie. It was worse having to deal with how lovingly and caringly she looked at him. There was a day close to the incident, she asked if he just needed to talk, please feel free to call me, okay? He managed nothing but a small smile and a nod in response.
He’d take her up on the offer more later, but still, when he called her it was mostly just to talk about normal things. To ask her what she's up to, how she was, and he knew that telling her ‘Nothing much!’ when she asked those same questions was nothing more than an empty excuse. Not that Connie of all people minded, obviously, but he did. He didn’t want to be fragile glass around her. Some days he wanted to skip to the part where he was ‘good’ again. The part where he had it figured it out and he didn’t need to be cared for like a porcelain doll.
At some point he realized the only way that would happen is that if he was, and he mostly just sat there and sighed.
The guiltiness he felt eased up during the current day. No longer worried about if the hugs he received were really deserved, no longer worried about the days he allowed himself to have fun with the people he knew. It’d never disappear so easily, though. It permeated every action he took. Getting out of bed, living again, it was just so hard to do.
Today, though, he had plans.
It was simple: enjoy the day with his family, and then go on a date with Connie. This date, of course, would be all about the love of his life and not about him, there have been stars knows many days about him.
So he got up. He got ready. He came downstairs to what was now a familiar sight of his family ready to have breakfast. With him, for some reason.
“Yo, steve-o!” Amethyst greeted, “Heard you got big plans today?”
“Aha, haaaa” Steven sighed and carried himself over to his seat, “Maybe..?” Even after all that's happened, family being slightly annoying would be the most common factor throughout his entire life.
“I’m sure it’ll go great Steven!” Pearl replied, “You out of everyone know how to treat someone, afterall!”
Approximately 10 seconds away from shoving his face in his food and never looking up again, Amethyst patted his back, “It’s true though dude! You totally got this!”
Steven carefully took her hand off and tried to look away from everyone, “Why’s everyone assuming I’ll be nervous? It’s not like I haven’t been around Connie before…” He trailed off and remembered Garnet right in front of him, the past several months, and how a true proper date hasn’t been done since forever. Since, well… a flush of pink glow spread over his cheeks.
Inhale, exhale, inha… He kept his gaze lowered, but it didn’t hide anything. He looked up after calming himself down, and saw Garnet smiling and giving him a thumbs up, “You got this.”
With such simple words, he couldn’t manage anything but a genuine smile on his face.
══《✧》══
It was a place not too far from Beach City, however the beach in this area would be hard to find. A botanical garden, with shops and a small restaurant found in between its vast expanse. Steven wasn’t sure how great this place would be, and he wasn’t sure how great the other 10 places he wasn’t sure on would be either. He texted this address with an eyes emoji attached, and it didn’t seem like Connie had any objections. Waiting here for her felt like eons, his brain was constantly pushing for very valid reasons Connie would have for not coming and leaving forever, and in the past he would’ve let those thoughts pass by. He couldn’t though, and telling him all the reasons these words have no basis actually helped a little.
“Hey!” A familiar voice he heard to his side, “Steven, over here!”
He turned to look at her—she was so so so pretty, as always—she wore a yellow sun dress, and hat, with jean shorts and white heel sandals. Before Steven could admire her any longer he was surprised by a hug. A bit frozen from shock, it took a bit before he returned the gesture.
“Hey!” Steven smiled, “I… I’m glad you’re here!”
“Of course dummy, where else would I be?” Letting go of the embrace, she continued, “I’m so excited! I’ve always wanted to go to this place, but it always seemed like I had other stuff to do…”
He grabbed her hand and got ready to run in, but decided against the dash-in at the last minute, “Well, we have all the time now!”
“True!” She squeezed his hand in response, “Plus, it’d be nice to have the flower expert explain all of these flora to me in extreme detail.”
He shook his head out of embarrassment, “I mean, all I can tell you is that all of the flowers are so pretty! It almost makes you wonder why they didn’t donate any back when Spinel hit this place,”
“Oh, don’t you know? Their company was way more important than the earth.” They both fell into their familiar laughter, it was so easy, it was almost second nature.
══《✧》══
It was all going relatively well! As far as he could tell, they were both genuinely enjoying themselves. They stroked their silly poses, took those silly pictures. The garden was beautiful, too. A large glass dome covered all of the area—in the middle of it all was a water fountain that took the shape of a water fall. The flowers were grouped by species, yet they made sure the pinks accented the whites and the yellows accented the blues.
They wandered around the shops here too. It wasn’t like they were selling anything but flowers, but each owner was so passionate about the types they were selling it was hard not to be convinced by all of them. Steven wondered which ones he should buy, and tried to remember to get a time to surprise Connie later.
The restaurant was quite endearing too, with small bouquets sprinkled throughout and small waterfalls with them adding to the peaceful ambience. In the middle of the restaurant for a table of two, they were surrounded by lovely flower bushes—interrupted by the even seating layout the tables for two had. Yet, there was still much space between you and the next person over, it felt kind of private.
“You sure know how to choose a place, Universe,” Connie commented as smugly as she could, resting her head on her hand, gazing in awe at the view. Steven wanted to enjoy it too, but he just kept looking back at her.
Taking a sip of his drink, he spoke, “You know, I think I forgot to ask in the midst of everything. How are you? What have you been up too?”
Their eyes met, and Connie smiled, “I would say something like, ‘Y’know, studying, hanging out with friends, all that stuff.’ But you’d already know! I mean, we keep each other up to date all the time.”
Yeah, that’d be about it… somewhere between the here and now the wanting to know how the other was doing wasn’t said as the passing by ask, but instead a daily update on the others life. After partially getting over the want for no one at all to see him, talk to him, and rot in bed until he was left behind. The feeling that followed was the overwhelming and crashing guilt and worry of losing his best friend because he couldn’t get himself together.
Connie teased, “Then, how are you, Steven?”
“Phew, loaded question!” Some other days he wouldn’t entertain this at all, he wouldn’t joke around so freely. However, those days were yesterday, today was today, and tomorrow would be tomorrow, “Seriously though, don’t you think you’ve been studying too much?
She leaned over the table and pointed a fork in Steven’s face, “Oh don’t you dare. I’m literally taking a whole day off right now!”
“Woah woah woah,” He put his hands up to surrender, “Okay! Okay! Put it down!”
She dropped it straight ahead of him, just in case it needed to be used later. She shook her head, “It’s fair, though. I just don’t see how it’s your problem…”
“It’s not! I just care about you. Can’t you let me be a little worried?”
“Hmm.” She ran her fingers up and down on the table like she was scheming in some movie. “Maybe. Do I get to be a little worried about you in return?”
Steven dramatically slammed his back against his chair and feigned a pose of defeat, “Augh! We’ve been caught at a standstill!”
Both giggling, Steven returned himself to normal posture. “It’s not like anything is bothering me right now. I mean, besides having some brain issues for the rest of my life. I’m really just enjoying the day with you.”
“Steven…” She softened her expression, her smile exuded such a gentle warmth. “I’m enjoying the day with you too.”
She turned to look at the scenery again, “Maybe we could have more days like this… I’d like to choose the place for you next time.”
Such silly feelings raced around in his head. Did he really deserve this person in his life, after everything? Of course he did, his internal monologue quickly replied. Today, she was right here because she wanted to be, because she liked him. Because he loved her. Because if there’d be one person who’s seen everything, one person who could stand being with the other for the rest of time, it’d be each other.
And for the first time in a long time, it wasn’t something he felt he didn’t deserve.
“Well, if you can’t find something I did already find like 10 other locations.”
“Okay, way to steal my thunder. I bet I could find 15 more.”
“A whole 15? That's like, 5 whole more places!”
It was so familiar, but it was so different. This difference wasn’t so bad after all.
══《✧》══
Maybe, just maybe, they might’ve gone over how much time they were set to spend together.
It wasn’t their intention! First, Steven remembered the flowers, and he needed to get those! Now he told Connie that he had to go get something, because he forgot it in the car, and that she could wait outside of the restaurant.
What he didn’t attend for is just how long trying to find the right ones would take. They were so many, and honestly she really just deserved the whole store, but that would be kinda mean to the owner. Then, when catching on to the romantic undertones of it all the owner recommended pink and red roses. Out of all the people in the world, he might just be the worst guy to tell this too. He just closed his eyes and sunk into himself. The owner noticed the general displeasure, and went around the whole store together with Steven himself.
“Maybe these Pink Orchids?” The owner
suggested, “Should have about the same effect you want.”
He would’ve looked around a bit more to really choose, but his time here was about to go over 5 minutes, and that would’ve been worse than not getting the self-proclaimed ‘perfect’ flowers.
He held the flowers behind his back as he walked towards his destination. No matter the angle though, some flowers managed to peek over. Such a big bouquet, he was unsure if either of them would want to carry this over to Connie’s house.
Connie noticed him when he got to a closer distance, “There you are! I was starting to worry you got attacked by a bunch of Rogues on your way to the car, and- What’s that?” She tried to lean over to get a look, but Steven immediately tilted the other way.
“Wait! Wait! At least let me say something nice first!” Steven exasperated, “Maybe all that energy got used up already.”
“Steven? What are you hiding?” Connie couldn’t help herself, she ended up in a game of peek-a-boo with herself and this mysterious object.
“Okay, okay! I know this doesn’t mean much in the story that is our relationship, but… gifts don’t hurt, right?”
Steven brought around the flowers to face her, the bouquet expanded the length of his hips and chest combined. The flowers flowed in the wind and left some residue in the air. Connie’s face lit up, “Steven…!”
She took hold of the bouquet and tried to keep it held high despite the apparent heavy weight, “Am I gonna have to carry this all the way back…?”
“No! No-“ Steven brushed his side next to hers and tried to evenly distribute the weight shared between them, “Sorryyy.. I would’ve gotten them in a smaller size-“
“No you wouldn’t,” Connie slyly noted as they both walked back towards the entrance.
“You’re right. I definitely wouldn't have." Steven deflated, “I’m getting you even bigger bouquets in the future.”
“What!? And you’re going to let me carry them all by myself too?!?” Connie shoved him on the shoulder by hers, careful to make sure they drop the aforementioned object.
Again, they didn’t mean to lose track of time!
When they got into Steven’s car, there was a slight dispute of who should drop off who. Here was Steven’s stance: It’d be unfair for him to leave first considering Connie was the one with something to bring back home; and him leaving first would undoubtedly bring more effort into what was needed for the act of going to the place that should always greet you at the end of the day.
Here was Connie’s stance: She agreed.
Not that she’d say such, in fact it was a purely selfish reason for which she degreed with him. If they go back to Steven’s place first, she’d get to spend more time talking with him.
It took some unwavering back and forth, but at some point Connie mentioned she could get home just as quickly with Lion, which paused many points Steven could make.
“It’s true! I can’t believe you’ve stolen Lion for me!” He covered his face with his hand for dramatic effect.
“Say what they say about you, Steven, no Lion can resist the Maheswaran-charm.” She nudged him with her elbow.
He laughed, “Well, maybe it’s not restricted to just lions.”
“Really?” Connie asked, seeming to drop the teasing tone of the matter.
Realising what he just said, his face flushed and he took a strong hold of the wheel, unable to look at the passenger anymore. “…Yes?”
Really, in totally actuality, their bad punctuality was definitely just a misplaced mistake.
Steven parked a bit farther away from the Beach House than he usually would, and the both of them seemed to walk on the edge between the sand and the ocean, because obviously there was some proven scientific evidence that walking this way on beaches was safer.
And obviously, there were tiny pebbles in their way that they just had to return to their place in the deep ocean bed, and if this may have slowed them down, it was all worth it in the name of keeping these pebbles feeling safe. Themselves, too, of course! That is why they were walking in such a way! There was also the fact Connie hadn’t been to the beach in awhile (awhile, as in, last week.), so they really needed to explore all of it again! Just to catch Connie up on all of the sand she missed! In the end, all of this meandering caused a zig-zag imprint of two pairs of feet next to each other in said sand.
“Ah,” Connie was stopped by something, “Looks like stairs… leading towards… a place…” She squinted her eyes to really get a good look. Which she did need. She for sure did not recognize this residence.
“Our times come to an end…” Steven sighed, resigning his hands to his pockets.
Together, they stood there for a whole excruciating long minute.
“Guess this is goodbye…” Connie muttered, placing her hands on her hips.
“But not forever!” Steven chimed in, forcing himself to look up at the stairs
Connie looked over at him, “Yeah, that’s true…”
It was a very brief exchange, and it’s not like what transpired had any significance. At a moment’s notice, their heads were turned to each other, instead of straight ahead. There was something in the air, and they couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
In the span of a millisecond, Steven felt the presence of lips on his. On his lips. A kiss?!?
It happened so fast, and as he went to touch his mouth to make sure he was feeling things correctly, he noticed a pink blur out of the corner of his eye.
“I really gotta go, my mom is going to be so mad and-“ Connie was facing steven and sitting backwards on Lion to do so (unsafe!), “Bye Steven!”
She lifted her arm to wave goodbye, yet Steven could only meet this arm length halfway. His other hand still lingered on his face.
“Love you!” Like that, Connie went through a magic portal. Not like she’d be gone forever! It’d feel like it though.
“Love… you… too…?” She was already away, so this reply had no significance. He was still a bit shocked about… whatever just happened! He couldn’t take his hand off his face. He’d decided to say the same thing in a good night message later. Act totally normal about it too, to maybe get back at her for this.
He had to stand there for a good 10 minutes to compose himself. He headed up, greeted by Pearl and a proper acknowledgment that If you’re going to stay out so late, just text us first!?! He agreed, but he probably wouldn’t keep this in mind for later. They asked how it went, his dad even sent a message wanting to know. He told them the gist of it all!
Ignoring that one thing!
Late as it was, and actually being tired from the day, he gathered himself to get ready for bed. He grabbed his phone before closing his eyes.
Love you! Steven texted to a number on his phone, Good night!!!!!
It was true after all.
A day like this wouldn’t feel special if he could have it all the time.