"You're that dumb little kid. One half of Stevonnie."

Steven stepped in front of you protectively. He was glowing... glowing pink.

On top of Lion sat a girl about Steven's age- dark skinned, and with wavy shoulder-length brown hair. She looked down at Steven bitterly, and that was all it took for him to sink to the bottom of the ocean.

He didn't resist. He allowed himself to fall slowly through the water until he felt sand underneath him.

"I know I won't be able to do this," Steven cut you off. "This whole... relationship thing.

"I'm sorry that I'm too scared to go through with this.

"I can't get my heart broken again!

I can't. It just hurts too much."

Everything Connie told you filled in the gaps- all the mysteries, all the questions you had, and then some.

Except...

"Until what?" You asked.

"Hm?"

"You said- 'he took it well until,'" you clarified. "Until what?"

Connie smiled politely, shaking her head; "I think you should ask Steven. It's not my place."

You glanced away, wondering what she meant, but you didn't pry.

"I understand."

💫

Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz.

Steven's phone vibrated beside him, displaying your name. He looked at it and considered answering for a moment, but ultimately decided to let it ring.

He kept on playing video games while text after text popped up on his phone. He'd glance at it when he felt a buzz, but had no intention of actually texting back.

Steven, please answer the phone

Steven?

Look, Connie told me everything

Steven did a double-take when he saw that one.

He tossed his controller to the side and clamored over to his phone. He noticed his hands begin to glow pink while he searched in his contacts for your number, but ignored it and called you as fast as he could.

"So you were ignoring me," you answered the phone smugly, now back at your own house.

"I- uh..." Steven stuttered, panicked. "W-what do you mean, everything?"

"Your friendship- turned relationship, the proposal, the thing with Kevin, all of it."

"All of it? What about... after the proposal?" Steven closed his eyes.

"No, she didn't say anything," you responded. "I won't ask around, either. It's up to you when or if you want to tell me what happened."

Steven sighed in relief and felt the pink hue disappear.

"I'm sorry," you both spoke at the same time.

"Wha- huh? Why are you sorry?" You asked.

"I've got my own beef with Kevin, and it's got nothing to do with you," Steven said. "You know how I feel about him, but I'll butt out if that's what you want."

"Oh," you smiled lightly, "thank you."

"Why are you sorry?" Steven asked.

"I..." you grimaced, "I shouldn't have kissed you."

"Wait, what?"

"I didn't mean to fuck everything up like this,"
you spoke quietly, feeling guilty. "Bringing up all that old stuff, and getting Connie involved."

"(Y/N)," Steven tried to cut in.

"I should've just... not done anything. And- and consent is very important! And I totally didn't ask first or signal what I was going to do or anything like that-"

"Hold on-"

"And you obviously DIDN'T want to kiss me, otherwise we wouldn't be here right now," you continued. "So I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry. I didn't mean to ruin everything and I-"

You took a deep breath, but it didn't keep your voice from cracking while you held back tears. "I'd understand if you never wanted to see me again, I mean, I probably wouldn't want to see me either after I..." you sniffled.

"(Y/N)," Steven said, finally getting through to you.

"Yeah?" You sniffed and wiped a tear from your cheek.

"I wanted to kiss you."

You couldn't see from your end of the call, but Steven smiled into the phone.

"I wanted to kiss you since the day I met you."

"W-what?" You croaked.

"Every single day I've fought myself on whether or not to say something, do something, but I've always liked you, (Y/N)."

You felt so relieved you almost laughed and cried at the same time.

Always liked me.

"I've just got baggage, you know? It's not fair to you to bring that into a relationship. I've gotta work through my own stuff."

"Yeah," you sniffled again. "Yeah, I get it."

"Is... that okay?"

Now you laughed; "yes of course it's okay. I'm just glad we're okay."

Steven smiled; "yeah, me too."

💫