you've heard of my timeloop au now get ready for "steven silenced himself" au
yknow that moment when your just staring up at the ceiling at 3 am thinking about things that happened years ago and kind of doing a play-by-play of it. Steven was doing that one night of the time he went into Pearl's gem, and when he was thinking about how Pink silenced Pearl he thought 'someone should not have that much control over someone else. i'm a diamond, i can probably do that too, can't i? that's horrible. i command myself to never speak or communicate with anyone again, then i could never hurt someone that way on accident. haha. anyway' and continued on with his life
cue the next morning when Pearl asks him how his sleep was and he goes to respond only to find that his mouth. isnt. moving. he was just laying in bed, the only 'tell' that could be associated with it is his arms being limp by his side. it was a sarcastic, JOKE thought that he didn't even say out loud. the only way it was lifted for pearl is when he, quite possibly only because he was said diamond, said it aloud for her. HE CAN'T EVEN TELL ANYONE WHAT HE DID
from everyone else's perspective it just seems like Steven went mute one day, struggling to write or speak at all. no one knows WHY, he won't tell anyone. someone briefly floated the thought of him being cursed or something, but he never did the panicky thing of reaching for your mouth like 'what why cant i talk' so they have to assume that Steven just,,, doesnt want to speak and work with it
