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"Happy Mother's Day!"
A unanimous trio of blank, confused stares greeted the boy, who failed to falter in his excitement.
"Steven.." Pearl started, her voice soft and gentle. This was the first time he'd done this, managed to surprise them- At least, Pearl and Amethyst. The gems cast a glance among themselves, before there was an unspoken agreement to take the title Rose Quartz had earned years ago. "Yes, ah. Happy Mother's Day."
Steven beamed like the little ball of sunshine he was. His hands waved at them, sparkling like the nightsky and covered in an unholy amount of glitter. Oh no.
"WaitrighthereokayIhaveallthegiftshidden."
"Gifts-?"
Steven nearly tripped over himself in his haste to scramble up to his bedroom-loft, briefly stumbling on all fours up the steps. Once again, the three of them exchanged glances. Garnet seemed amused, to say the least.
Soon enough, Steven had a pile of neatly wrapped boxes, with big frilly bows on the top.
"Connie helped me wrap them the last time you guys were on a mission."
"These are beautiful, we love them Steven-"
"You have to open them." He almost whined the words out while the three boxes were offered over. Starry eyed, he looked up at the gems. Rapidly flickering between them, as though he couldn't decide who's reaction he wanted to see the most. Before he could try and pick, Garnet took the initative.
"I'll go first." And thus, the neatly wrapped paper was torn away, crumbled up in her strong fingers and disgarded to the floor.
(Much to Pearl's distress. She'd clean it up later, though. Even if it made her eye twitch to leave it there.)
The top of the box was popped open, revealing..
"I got these while thinking about Ruby and Sapphire," He started, as Garnet removed the items. One was a pair of ovenmitts. A neat, icy blue color with little snowflake patterns across it. The other was.. A stressball. Bright red and immediately squeezed gently in the gem's hand.
Silence.
Steven practically held his breath.
"I love it."
He barely resisted the urge to cheer and bounded forward, squeezing Garnet into a tight hug and getting lifted entirely off the floor in turn. Giggling uncontrollably, he was deposited back to the ground to find Amethyst had already begun tearing hers open. His grin doubled as the lid was dropped in the pile that Garnet had made.
"Ooohh." She practically purred in delight as she plucked the first of many from the box. Neat, chocolate covered strawberries. Dropped in her mouth, leaves and all. "Thanks, Steven!" Instead of getting an off-the-floor hug, Amethyst wrapped her around his shoulders and gave his head a ruffle, fluffing his hair to a worse degree.
"Pearl's turn!"
She hesitated a moment, like she didn't want to rip away the soft pink paper covering her gift. But she did. Slowly and carefully, with the paper still in her hand. She revealed that her gift wasn't in a box. Just a big, sturdy, history book.
"I know how you like to laugh at how wrong they are.."
"I do." She agreed with a small, warm smile. She knelt down to his height and hugged him close, giving him an affectionate squeeze. "Thank you, Steven, this is all very sweet of you."
"Hey, we still have to have dinner." The look of panic and subtle horror across Pearl's face was worth it all. "I'm kidding!"
"Oh, Steven.. That's not funny."
And they all laughed fondly, with Steven beaming.
"Well, actually. I am hungry."