Cookie Cats (Steven x Male!Reader)

Part 4: First full day in Beach City

Y/N rolled on the floor listlessly, making a groaning noise when he hit the cold, hard wood. He couldn't wait to see Steven again, (though he would never admit that) but was exhausted from the night before, especially from finding out all this new knowledge. He quickly had a shower and got dressed, before grabbing his phone and running out of his house. The sun was out, and the clouds were in a smoky haze, covering the blue sky behind them.

Whilst sprinting down the pavement, Y/N whipped out his phone and checked his messages. There were none from his parents- but there was one from Connie. She had just texted him. It read:

Connie: "Just finished rewatching 'Under the Knife!' It's so amazing!

Y/N smiled to himself, thinking of his best friend. He tried to text Connie back, but failed due to tripping and falling into someone's chest. And that someone was Steven. Y/N had him practically pinned down, and was staring into his brown eyes. A small red hue appeared on both of their faces. "Ah! I'm sorry Steven-it was an accident! I swear!" He squirmed around and jumped off of Steven, a current of emotions flooding through his head. Steven slowly got up and brushed himself down. "Heh-nah Y/N, it was my fault too! I wasn't looking where I was going since I was looking through my messages and-" he paused, wondering if he was rambling too much, "I was just responding to a text from my friend Connie." Steven looked up, slightly worried as to why Y/N was staring at him like he had just announced that the earth was flat. "Connie? Like the Connie who rewatched "Under the Knife" and decided to text me randomly about it?" Y/N asked, slight anticipation growing in his chest. "Yeah! Do you know her?" Steven asked, picking up his phone off of the floor to show Y/N what he had been sent. "You could say that..." Y/N replied, scratching the back of his head earnestly.

Whilst walking in the sunny atmosphere, Y/N's stomach rumbled, making him moan in agony. Steven giggled, and decided to show him the best place to eat breakfast: The Big Donut. Once they arrived, Y/N almost drooled at the sight of the shop. It had creamy white  walls with clean transparent glass doors, that reminded Y/N of shards of delicate sugar pressed against thick icing. The donut sign was a perfect circle, it's brown paint glistening an amber hue in the solar rays, the pink frosting with specs of red yellow and blue rounding off in a satisfying "O." Steven gripped his hand, sending Y/N out of his delicious daydream and causing electricity to run up his back. He looked at Steven and followed him inside, smiling goofily all the way.

"Hello there Steven!" a short, green person said, with triangular-shaped hair. "Judging by the gem on her forehead, I guess she's from outerspace too," Y/N thought, looking at the intergalactic dorito infront of him. "Two donuts please!" Steven grinned, and then, looking around and fixing his eyes on a cooler, he added: "And two Cookie Cats as well!" The small gem (who made Y/N feel better about his below-average height) replied with a "Coming right up!" and yelled at a taller blue woman -apparently named "Lazuli"- to get a bag for them. The blue woman replied with a simple "no," and walked away into to back area, showing a deep blue, teardrop shaped gem on her upper half as she turned around. "Just how many gems are there in this place?" Y/N wondered, as he unknowingly took the bag off out of the green triangle-haired woman and walked off, Steven saying a quick "Thanks," to the two workers and jogging after him.

They sat down on a nearby bench unwraveling the bag containing the sweet donuts. Y/N could almost feel his stomach reaching out to them. He took the chocolate one and bit into it, savouring the taste. Steven laughed; "I guess you were hungry huh?" he joked, ripping off the wrapper on one of the Cookie Cats. He too took a bite out of his unhealthy snack. "Mmmmm! Even as a teen I still love these! It's one of the only good, non-stressful childhood memories I have!" He said, accidentaly smearing the pink ice cream on his left cheek. Y/N blushed and looked down, trying to recall his childhood treasures, but all he remembered was being forcefully tought how to be "perfect" by his parents. "Can't relate," he responded, trying not to focus on Steven's messy eating. It didn't work. "Uh..Steven, you have ice cream on your cheek," Y/N stuttered. Steven looked at his sticky face and grabbed the donut bag from Y/N, using it as a napkin. They both laughed, feeling warm inside from the beautiful weather. Steven shook off his pink jacket and sighed happily, reaching his hand out, still holding the Cookie Cat. "Wanna try some?" he asked, giving his best smile. Y/N looked at Steven, his heart beating faster than light, and leaned in, taking a small bite from it. He was instantly hooked. Not only that, but the thoughts of having an indirect kiss with his crush only a few days after they had met stirred an obscure feeling in his gut and made the food taste a whole lot better.

They talked on the bench, filled with joy, and made their way to the temple. Pearl was already inside, wiping herself clean from oil with a towel. Lion was sprawled out on the floor lazily, clearly in a deep slumber, and Amethyst was sitting on Steven's bed, watching some horror movie. The only one missing was Garnet who, Y/N assumed, had gone out somewhere. Y/N looked at his phone breifly, but there were no messages. The bright screen caught Steven's attention and he suddenly remembered something. "Hey, Y/N! What's you're phone number? Just so we can talk to each other, even when we can't see each other!" Y/N blushed, It was like he had just won the lottery. Is this what it felt like to be lucky? He took Steven's phone and typed in his number, hands shaking vigorously.

Walking up the stairs, Steven and Y/N sat on the bed, joining Amethyst. "Ooooooh Steven! You brought your boyfrieeeeend!" She said jokingly. Y/N swerved his head to the side, embarrassed and trying not to look at anyone. "A-Amethyst i-it's not like that! W-We're just two friends that happen to be guys! That's all!" Steven stuttered, looking at the smug, purple gem, blinking rapidly. "Same thing dude," Amethyst said, waving her hand submissively, "But whatever you wanna believe," she chuckled.
"No, It's not. Steven and Y/N only met yesterday. It would be unnatural for them to be in love like that after less than twenty four hours. It's not real and it doesn't last, especially not in humans." Garnet responded, coming out of nowhere.
"It feels pretty real to me," Y/N  thought sulkily, but did not say anything. Pearl added:"Oh yes! As someone who has experienced this, it never ends well!"

The room was in an awkward silence. Any room would be, if you were just given love advice by some intergalactic holographic gemstones. "Uhmmm..." Y/N said, trying to break the ice, "I should be getting back now. It might be getting late." Steven looked at him, confused. "It's four o'clock." Y/N sweat dropped, trying to look for a way out of the situation. "I-My butler wants me back by four!" He yelled nervously, running swiftly down the stairs and dashing out of the door. The four gems followed him with their gaze as he left. Amethyst shrugged. Steven bit his lip nervously. "Did I say something?" Steven pondered anxiously. Garnet walked up to the warp pad, but not before Steven ran after her. "Garnet! Can you use your future vision to see if Y/N will be okay?" Garnet was silent. "If I tell you, it wont work out." She said simply. She ruffled his hair. "Just, don't listen to Kevin."

"Kevin!?" Steven said aloud. Garnet looked at him. "Follow where your feelings take you, Steven." And then she warped away, escaping from more of his questions, leaving him to wonder- "Why is Kevin involved in this?"

A few hours later

Y/N lay on his bed miserably, wondering what to do. Despite what The Crystal Gems said, he knew how he was feeling, he just didn't know why. He could feel his heart tying into a firm knot. He couldn't shake his sadness away; it felt like his dreams had just been anhilalated. He also knew that he had only just met Steven, so he didn't understand why he was so upset about this. Why didn't he just shake this off like it was nothing? It wasn't like Steven was some sort of beautiful, magical saviour, he was just a slightly strange human (though Y/N knew that no matter what weird thought he was trying to comfort himself with, it wouldn't make him feel better) and the fact that Y/N fell in love with him was, like Garnet said, not real.

Suddenly, Y/N's phone made a loud noise and he looked at it, noticing he had been added to a group chat. He had nothing else to do, so he typed a message into the chat, expecting nothing to come out of it.