Being Human

121. Little Homeschool

The room was dimly lit by the soft glow of early morning light creeping through half-closed blinds. Papers were scattered on the floor, and the walls were bare except for a few instruments hung up upon it.

Y/n was lying curled up on his side in bed, the blankets tangled around him. His face is turned toward the wall, eyes shut tight, but silent tears slip down his cheeks. His breathing is uneven, caught between shallow gasps and quiet sobs.

Suddenly, Y/n's body tenses, and he jerks awake with a quiet, pained gasp. His chest rises and falls as he stares at the ceiling, eyes glossy.

"Why...why did you have to do that?" He barely whispers as he slowly sits up, running a trembling hand through his messy hair.

A sharp knock on the door breaks the stillness.

"Y/n? You up?" His dad's voice called.

Y/n doesn't answer right away. He takes a deep, shaky breath and quickly wipes at his face, trying to erase the evidence of his tears. "Yeah...yeah, I'm up."

At the Beach house, Steven is seen filling his bathtub full of warm water. He retrieves four Diamond Aura Bottles from the mirror cabinet. He stares at one of them for a moment with a frown, then shakes his head and drips a drop from each bottle into the bathtub.

"Mwah!" Steven kisses his finger, coating it in his healing spit, and dips it into the water, turning it into rainbow-colored healing water. He then reaches for a bubbled gem next to him.

" ♪ Happy welcome-back day~ ♪

Steven places the bubble in the bathtub and it pops, dunking the gem into the water. The formerly-corrupted Gem begins to reform, revealing itself to be a Cherry Quartz. Startled by her own return, the Quartz stumbles in the bathtub.

"Hello!" Steven cries. 

"Where am I? Who are you?" Cherry asks him. 

"That used to be a loaded question, but now I can say with confidence that I'm Steven Universe! And you're in my bathroom." Steven replies. 

Cherry Quartz looks at herself in the mirror. "What happened to me?" She gasps and grabs the plunger. "What is this?!" She demands to know pointing it at Steven in rage.

"You were corrupted in a Diamond blast, but you've just been healed! And that is a plunger..." Steven reveals and he lowers the plunger down.

Steven and Cherry Quartz walk out of the bathroom into his house.

"Let me fill you in on everything you've missed." Steven tells her.

"Missed?" Cherry repeats.

"We have some reading material, available in both English and Gem Glyph." Steven hands a pair of brochures to Cherry Quartz, titled 'You & Your New Horns' and 'Era 3 & Me!'  "Spanish translation forthcoming." he jokes.

Outside on the beach, the Dondai Supremo is parked on the sands, as Steven twirls the car keys on his finger. He proceeds to take the driver seat. "Watch your head." He warns Cherry.

The big-sized Cherry Quartz curls on the passenger seat. Steven inserts a cassette tape into the music player and begins driving the car.

"Life is a little different these days. The Diamonds have ended their reign of terror. The intergalactic war is over, and Earth is officially an independent planet. We're all safe to explore our dreams. Lars opened up his own pastry shop, and it's got a real cute space gimmick goin' on." Steven narrated.