A Shooting Star

Pieces

Steven was shaken.

He had thought things would've gone much worse at the Maheswaren's than it really did. He had guessed the Crystal Gems would be far more of a problem than he could handle.

Now he felt like he didn't know anything, save for one thing.

His eyes traveled down to watch Connies hand intertwine with his and squeeze.

"I'm here, Steven."

Something had changed inside him. Granted it had already been gradually happening for some time, but it seemed to really take hold of him when he found out he was going to be a dad.

He squeezed her hand back in response.

Maturity, or a similar thing was changing him from the inside out. He felt it in the way he spoke, he felt it in his lack of interest of playing video games all day, he felt it in his body.

"You smell different."

Steven turned his eyes to meet Connie's quizzically. "I do? I'm using the same stuff."

She shook her head. "You smell like... flowers."

"I smell like flowers? Or are you asking me to get you some?" He goaded.

"Steven," She tried to look serious but cracked a smile. "I'm serious though."

He shrugged. "Is it bad?"

She shook her face, a bit of red rushing up to them. "No, no! It's good. Just... different."

He looked down at her wide eyes and could tell she was thinking at a million miles per hour. She clumsily crawled onto his lap and wrapped her arm around his torso. Pressing her nose into his chest she took a deep inhale and huffed out a shocked, "Oh my."

Now he was starting to get a little worried. "Okay okay, that's enough Berry. Tell me what's going on." He tapped her nose and she tore her attention from her thoughts.

"You're still very tall."

"Is that bothersome for you?" He asked warily.

Truth be told, he had spent hours trying to fix it. He tried to change back to his normal size and height but it was exacerbating and sapping his power.

"Do you remember the dream Stevonnie had the other night?"

His heart stopped. He had sincerely hoped she had forgotten, and he tried to not feel completely embarrassed and humiliated. It was easier not to talk about it at all, but that wasn't Connie's style. "I do."

A small smile played on her face. "Why do you look so embarrassed?"

"Because I am embarrassed." He looked back out the window for a bit before speaking again. "That was easily top 10, no, top 3 times I wish I could erase people's minds."

Connie looked peeved. "Steven, it's a natural thing to–!"

He coughed suddenly and startled her into stopping her sentence. "S-sorry. I panicked." He gave her a sheepish smile.

"Steven."

He awkwardly shifted.

"Steven~." She cooed, trying to turn his face back to her.

He wore a pitiful look, he could just feel it. Ignoring her was hard, but talking about the dream was harder for some reason.

"Steven!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry!" He whined. "I hate... those feelings."

"You weren't in your right mind."