!TAKES PLACE AFTER "CHANGE YOUR MIND"! Go watch that beautiful episode now and then come back here.
One day Steven and Connie created a shipping contest, and paired all the Gems together. After discovering what the prizes were, ...most of the Gems w...
Steven sat on his bed on a Friday afternoon with Connie, scribbling on a piece of paper.
"No, put Peridot with Lapis!" Connie whisper-shouted.
"Okay, okay, shhh." Steven replied and started erasing something on his paper.
Amethyst, Bismuth, Garnet and Pearl stood around in the kitchen. They were discussing what they were going to do with all the uncorrupted Gems that Steven and the Diamonds healed.
There were so many of them, and they didn't have room for so many new Gems. For now they had been hanging out at Rose's Fountain, but that was going to get boring for them soon enough.
Meanwhile, Peridot, Lapis and Greg were having fun outside. Last time anyone saw them, Greg was teaching Peridot and Lapis how to use musical instruments properly.
"Okay, okay, so now let's do Pearl and-"
"Yeah! This is gonna be great!" Connie exclaimed. Pearl smiled.
"Hey guys, what are you up to?" Pearl asked, tired of being curious.
Steven and Connie looked at each other and giggled. Then they looked at Pearl with this big grin.
"C'mon! I wanna know!" Amethyst shouted, speeding up the steps towards them. But she tripped and fell before reaching the top.
Steven chuckled. "Guys, it's almost done." He made a few more marks with his pencil on the paper and Connie gave him a thumbs up. "OKAY IT'S DONE!!!"
Steven turned the paper around to the curious Gems to share what he had messily done:
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"A...shipping list?" Bismuth asked. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Connie laughed. "It's for a shipping contest, of course!"
"Okay...what's a 'shipping contest'?" Amethyst asked.
"Okay so, a ship is...a pair you like, or a couple you really...respect? It's kind of hard to explain." Steven attempted to explain.
"Oh! So maybe peanut butter and jelly. Is that a ship?" Pearl asked, pointing to the peanut butter and jelly on the counter.
Steven and Connie both mentally facepalmed.
"Anyway, each pair has to stick together every day without fighting until Valentine's Day! Connie and I will be monitoring you on each activity you do, and we'll give you points depending on how well you get along." Steven explained.
"Okay, but why am I 'shipped' with Jasper?!" Bismuth exclaimed.
"Why not? I think you two would look great together!" Connie replied and smiled. Bismuth frowned.
"Wait...I'm with myself?" Garnet questioned.
"Yeah! You've just got to unfuse!" Steven said excitedly, anticipating for Garnet to unfuse. Instead, she crossed her arms.
"So what's the point of the contest anyway? What's in it for us?" Amethyst asked, sighing at the fact that Pearl was being shipped with her.
"Don't worry, we've got prizes for the winners." Connie said and followed Steven over to a bin, where he begun to dig around in it.
"The prize is..." Steven dumped the bin on his bed, which contained many items. "A special item for each winner!" He seemed a bit too excited about this.
"Pearl, you'll win some books. And Amethyst will win some confetti." Connie said, showing the prizes to Pearl and Amethyst.
"Ummm, I've never tried reading as a hobby. But I could give it a try." Pearl smiled awkwardly.
"Aw yeah! I could use this to get on Pearl's nerves!" Amethyst shouted excitedly and Pearl groaned.
"Whoa, whoa. You guys have to work together to win your prizes." Steven announced. Pearl and Amethyst glared at each other in shock.
"Ruby will win some boxing gloves, and Sapphire wins specially made one eye sunglasses!" Steven grinned, letting Garnet examine the prizes for her.
"Oh, we'll love those~" Garnet chuckled. The front door opened and Peridot and Lapis entered the room.
"Steven, look what I can do!" Peridot exclaimed, holding a ukulele. She begun to play a jumble of notes, creating a really horrible song.
"I call that one 'Crystal Gems Forever'! And now-" Peridot explained and Lapis burst out laughing. Steven took her instrument.
"HEY!" Peridot screeched.
"Peridot will win this fine ukulele back, and Lapis wins this luxury water bottle." Steven informed with a small smirk on his face.
"Uh, what are we doing?" Lapis looked at everyone with a confused expression. Steven held his index finger up to let Lapis know he would explain in a moment.
"Bismuth will get this hat!" Connie held a big sun hat up for Bismuth to see. Bismuth had no words, for she was genuinely confused.
"Uh, and I guess Jasper'll have all the...Pink Diamond stuff explained to her if she and Bismuth win. I really don't know what she'd want otherwise." Steven shrugged.
●♡●
Jasper, Bismuth, Lapis, Peridot, Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, Connie and Steven stood around the room.
"Okay, so now that I explained everything, does anyone have any questions?" Steven asked.
"Why are you making me do this, Rose?" Jasper growled. Steven shook his head, ignoring her question.
"Hey now, cheeto puff. I want that hat. And you're not getting in the way of my prize." Bismuth said with a somewhat annoyed tone.
"We'll start the contest tomorrow, but for the rest of this evening you guys should practice...not fighting." Connie said, looking at Bismuth and Jasper who were about to argue.
"This is going to be easy." Garnet smiled.
"Remember, you've got to stay unfused for 13 days straight." Steven reminded her. Garnet's smile instantly faded, and her mouth dropped open.
"This is going to be the best Valentine's Day ever!" Steven cheered.
