Steven Universe Fic (Season 2)

part 2 Chapter One: Good Gracious

Steven rolled out of bed lackadaisically, slipping on house shoes as he yawned and stretched to rid himself of his lingering sleep.
His mind was rolling through various morning thoughts, Connie's extended field trip to various colleges, she wanted to get a particularly early start, his Dad's investment in a carwash in Ocean Town, the last thing he ate, and some new novelty bags he was looking forward to ordering, particularly the limited time offer strawberry donut backpack with a complimentary milk carton purse.
He meandered down from his room toward the kitchen, finding Spinel and Amethyst chatting while chewing on spoonfuls of cereal.

Eight months, and he still had trouble believing the she was real, every time he saw her it nearly forced all the air in his lungs out and left him a mumbling teary mess. Her substantial loss forced the boy to reevaluate his past actions.

It was a lie if he said he didn't still feel guilty for leaving her with Aquamarine, for leaving her in the garden, and even more so for leaving her on earth.
Seeing her simultaneously made his heart ache as well as burn with care. What was that saying? You don't realise how much you value something until you've lost it?

Steven had it back now. And he would never, ever lose her again.

"Hey, have you guys heard from Connie yet?" He asked, grabbing himself a bowl to join their meal. Amethyst nodded, gulping down her bite to answer.

"She's coming back for a few days, she called earlier yesterday." She replied, Steven smile contently at the information, he had wanted to talk to her.
Hopefully she was back in town now.

"Steven!" Connie called, waving from across the beach, she rode lion toward him, the beast sliding on the sand to a halt for her to jump off and greet her friend. Steven grinned excitedly, wrapping his arms around the girl and pulling her tight, swinging her around a little before letting her feet hit the ground once more.

"How did you like Keystone University?" He asked, Connie put her hand to her chin in contemplation.

"It was nice, but I'm kind of still leaning toward Ocean Town's community college." She nodded slightly, "it's more affordable and I can get the basics out of the way and transfer later."

Steven's smile faded, "transfer?"

"Yeah, maybe."

He didn't like the idea of Connie transfering to a college too far away, but he wasn't one to object to her dreams in political science, or science in general. When she told him she was getting an early start on furthering her education it didn't upset him, in fact, he was very excited about it. But now that she actually had the capability to do that, and just go, the slow creeping feeling that she might find other friends, cooler friends than him at those schools.

"So, you wanted to hang out?" She asked, drawing him from his previous thoughts towards his new ones.
He sighed, taking her hand and walking along the beach away from earshot.

"It's about Spinel, huh?" She was incredibly perceptive, enough to know that Steven only ever sighed exactly like that when he wanted to talk about his pink friend.

"Well..yeah." he didn't want to admit it, but he had been dying to rekindle the feelings he had for the gem, despite her seeming none the wiser about them. Connie had become his confidant of sorts when it came to the subject of Spinel.
Of course, she was the only one Steven was comfortable airing his feelings about the gem to. The others would have likely made great effort to force Spinel and he together if he told them.

Connie at least was understanding of his reservation.

"We fused, and she saw..that thing." He could barely explain, but Connie got the message.

"The one that-"

"Shattered her."

Connie looked at the ground, nodding as she took in the information. Steven had told her, after several weeks of asking. To her it looked like the hardest thing Steven had ever had to say.
At first she just assumed White had shattered her, it wasn't beyond the Diamond's capabilities. Steven informed her that thay wasn't the case, and she had a feeling that he knew it would affect Spinel negatively at some point.

"When she came back she didn't remember it, at all." He mused over those gentle moments in her return, making the decision to not inform her of the creature that shattered her. At the time she was happy, just to be back.

He thought, for a moment, maybe she was missing a peice. He had probed her on occasion, seeing if she had small memories lost in her shattering. There were events, he was certain happened, thay she simply had no idea about.

"Among other things." He mumbled to himself, hoping that such a thing wasn't a case.

"You think she might remember it- all of it?" Connie replied, stopping once they reached the lowest point of the cliffside. Steven nodded, dropping his hold her her hand for a moment, which caused her to turn around to face him.

"She was worried about me, and mad." He almost laughed, Spinel, who was a pile of broken shards for six months, was worried about him. "I told her about the way fusion's work, and I think it upset her."

"So just set things straight? It's not like she's gonna hate you forever. She knows how much you care about her."

"Connie, I don't think she does." Steven finally admitted with an exasperated sigh, he rubbed his head, trying to think through the situation.

"Everytime I try to be around her, she pushes me away, it's like.." he thought for a moment, growing more somber at his conclusion. "It's like she doesn't want to be around me, or more, doesn't want me around her."

Connie laughed at him, shocking the boy from his idle mumbles, did she seriously think it was funny? All he wanted was to make the gem happy, keep her safe. How was that funny?

"Probably cause you never leave her alone anymore!" Connie giggled, wiping a small tear from her eyes, she held a serious tone for a moment, "you're constantly checking on her, I mean, remember when she first came back? You wouldn't even let her walk on the beach alone! You were scared she would break again."

Connie lost her smile now, growing more quiet as she spoke.

"I'd be tired of it too."

Steven shook his head in reject at the idea, "she got shattered! You can't expect me to just let her walk around alone, what if she got hurt again?!"

Connie looked him in the eye now, a frown on her face, did she really have to explain to him that just because she had desired constant companionship in the past doesn't mean he needed to coddle her?

"Steven, if she got hurt you know she would come ask for your help, let her have some personal space, let her out of the house once in a while."

Steven raised his hand to object.

"Alone."