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Steven Universe was twelve years old when he met Connie Maheswaren. Actually met, that was, not just noticed. The circumstances under which it actually happened weren't entirely what he'd been hoping for, but at the very least, he didn't get a chance to introduce himself as "Steh-vin."
Steven Universe was twelve years old when he began to fully comprehend that he was, in many ways, different. Different not just from the Crystal Gems, but other human beings as well.
Up to that point, people hadn't really questioned Steven on his manner of being. After all, everyone in Beach City knew about the magic, alien ladies that lived on the outskirts of town, and everyone knew about the starving artist Greg Universe and his giant, magic, alien girlfriend, who had, as Greg would put it, "...given up her physical form to bring Steven into the world." Of course he would be weird. He was weird before he was even born. There was no point in questioning it.
Connie, however, knew nothing about Steven before he saved her from a falling piece of debris by crashing into her, headfirst, and encasing the both of them in a magic, impenetrable bubble. He broke her perception of what was possible simply by existing. It was novel. It was like something out of a fantasy book. Said novelty wore off a bit when she noticed the insecurity and inexperience that seeped into every attempt he made to fix their predicament of being trapped in a magic, impenetrable bubble, but even so, he was endlessly endearing for reasons she could not put into words.
Maybe it was his determination. Maybe it was his compassion, shown through the simple act of saving her lost glow bracelet in his fridge for months to hopefully, someday return it. Whatever it was, and despite the fact he clearly had some magical destiny, she accepted quickly that he was her human friend, partially because she didn't know the circumstances of his birth and partially because he seemed too much so to be anything else.
This proved itself to not be entirely true.
It was the third time they'd hung out. The second hadn't been very exciting—they'd walked along the beach a bit, talked about her books—but they planned to make this a big day. They were gonna enjoy every overstimulating activity and unhealthy fast food option Beach City had to offer! Connie was a bit hesitant on the latter front, but she figured her parents wouldn't mind if she was a little bit unhealthy. They didn't have to know, anyways.
She walked along the boardwalk, Steven in tow. He was practically bouncing with energy.
"Okay, so I know it didn't go too well last time we went to Funland, but this time it's just gonna be wholesome fun! No magic or nothin'!" He said, splaying his arms out dramatically.
"I don't mind magic," she said, "it's cool, at least when you're not getting...chased...by a giant worm...at the bottom of the ocean..." She blushed slightly, eyes fixed on the ground, and mumbled, "Okay, I see your point." There were a few seconds of silence. "So, um, what do you want to do first?" She finally asked, looking back up. Smiling again, he stopped, threw his hands up and yelled, "Ring Toss!" She giggled. Running to catch back up with her, he said in a lower voice, "I'm pretty good, so hopefully I can win you a prize or something! And then you can win a prize, so you'll have two prizes!" He pulled her into a side hug. "We'll be ring toss pals!"
That was one thing about him. Steven was particularly physically affectionate. Connie didn't point it out. She had a feeling that if she did, he would stop altogether, and for some reason the idea of that was abhorent.
In the span of five hours, they played nearly every game Funland had to offer. Together, they managed to earn the prizes they'd been hoping for, as well as a multitude of others. Connie figured said prizes would end up lost or buried in a landfill in a few weeks, but she couldn't bring herself to care, for once, about things like that. Eventually, when they tired, they decided to order some food. Connie started to ask, "Where do you–"
"Fish Stew Pizza!" Steven interrupted, "Oh, hehe, sorry." She giggled at the blush dusting his cheeks and said, "That sounds good." It didn't, really, (what even was fish stew pizza?) but she wasn't gonna voice her qualms. She was having too much fun! And anyways, plenty of the things he liked that sounded like they'd be weird were actually really cool, so she was willing to give this a shot.
The two of them shuffled through the thin door of the establishment. When Connie entered, the woman at the counter was already beaming at Steven.
"Hey there, Steven!" She said. When she noticed Connie, a glimmer of amusement appeared in her eyes. "Who's this?"
"Hi Kiki! This is my friend, Connie!" He said, gesturing toward her as if revealing a piece of art. She stared at him blankly, eyebrows raised. Steven leaned on the counter, not seeming to notice her dumbfounded expression. He said, "I'll keep it simple today with a medium pepperoni. What're you getting, Connie?"
"Uh...mozzarella sticks sound fine," she said, shaking her head. Kiki's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but she nodded and turned to start on their order. Steven said, "C'mon! Let's sit by the window!" He plopped down, humming and tapping the table. Connie sat across from him. She mulled something over for a second.
"I didn't think you spoke other languages," She finally said. It was his turn to be confused, now.
"Other...languages?"
"I'm not..." she started, "I think it's really cool."
He continued to look at her like she'd grown another head.
She tried again. "Y'know...that language you were speaking when you talked to that lady, Kiki..." she shook her head. "Y'know what? Nevermind."
Steven moved on after only a few seconds, cheerfully ranting about some golfing video game, but Connie didn't stop thinking about it the rest of the day. She thought about it even as the sun began to set, painting the boardwalk gold and quieting everything but the sea. She thought about it as she approached Steven's house, cupped in the hands of a giant stone woman. They had been walking in relative silence for a while. Finally, she worked up the courage to test her hypothesis.
"स्टीवन, आप कैसे हैं?" Connie asked hesitantly.
Steven responded, "मैं ठीक हूं, आप क्यों पूछ रहे हैं?"
"Oh, no reason," she said, kicking a small rock. Test complete. She had to ask one of his caretakers about this, intimidating as they were. Maybe he just had a super in-depth education.
Connie escorted Steven up the steps and to the door, trying to maintain a conversation despite her racing thoughts. He said, "Thanks for walking home with me, Connie!" She smiled and responded, "It was fun! Um, wait—before I go, can I talk to one of your caretakers?"
"Sure, what about?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.
"I'm just curious about something," she said. It was a hand-wavey response, but while he seemed a bit curious, he didn't pry.
"Well, okay. I'll go get Pearl."
After a few minutes, one of his caretakers, presumably named Pearl, appeared in the doorway, looking just as perturbed as Connie felt. She finally said, "...Hello. Connie, is it?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Steven said you had a question for me. What...might that be?" Pearl thrummed her fingers against the doorframe, giving a polite smile.
"Yes, well...it's not a serious question, just something that I noticed. I'm sorry if this is rude, ma'am, but I'm curious...I mean...you see, while we were out, he spoke a service worker's native language fluently, but when I asked him about it, he didn't seem to know what I was talking about, so out of curiosity I spoke my native language and he was also fluent in that. Excuse my rambling, ma'am." Connie looked up, hands interlocked in front of her abdomen. Pearl had softened slightly.
She said, "It's not a problem. Go on."
Connie gave a small smile. She continued, "I'm just...well, I'm wondering how that...works. Either he's recieved an excellent education or it's another magic power, and I'm more...well."
Pearl's nervous energy had mostly dissipated. She seemed contemplative. Finally, she smiled softly and said, "I don't know if I'd call it magic. I suppose I wouldn't call any gem abilities magic, though." She chuckled, and then continued, "but, yes, what you observed is a gem ability, or rather a manner of communicating that originates from his gem half. It's called Gemsong."
"Gemsong," Connie repeated quietly, "Cool."
"You see, gems are made purely of light. We do not have the internal structures organic life forms do. It's why we do not need to sleep or eat, though some of us—" she glanced behind her at someone (Amethyst?) who was shoving a handful of spoons into her mouth, "—still choose to. This applies to the human larynx as well. When we communicate, we are not speaking, per say, but rather emitting and recieving frequencies through our gems. Steven, we assume, has the structures necessary for human speech, but his gem seems to greatly influence his communication. So...in simpler terms, when he speaks, he's at the same time communicating with Gemsong, and when he hears, his gem is automatically translating any frequencies it recieves into English."
"Wow. That's...a lot," Connie said.
Pearl chuckled and replied, "Forgive me. I have a tendency to give highly technical explanations where simpler ones would suffice."
Connie smiled and said, "It's okay, ma'am. I didn't fully understand it, but I think I get the gist. I didn't ever think...you know, every magic, or rather gem thing that he does is sort of jarring. It's weird to be reminded he's not fully...like me, I guess."
Pearl huffed. "I know the feeling."
Unbeknownst to either of them, Steven had overheard their conversation. Nothing they said was mean, or even particularly negative, he knew that. Still, he felt something entirely unwelcome begin to sprout in his chest.
It was cold and creeping, and he could not put a name to it. He quickly snuffed it out.