Steven loved listening to the ocean. Sometimes, he couldclose his eyes and imagine he was back home, his toes in the familiar sand andthe weathered pieces of the temple protruding from the ground all around. Hehated he felt so sad when he opened his eyes.
There was nothing constant here but himself. He’d made thebest of friends, only to have them disappear. He’d run into friends from homeonly to have them do the same. The whatever it was—the algorithm, it seemed determinedto keep away those he missed most.
In his mind, in his own timeline, it’d been almost two yearssince he’d seen Connie. Even longer since he’d seen his father. Random snippetsof Pearl or Lapis would show up an then fade. He tried to make the most of whenthey were here.
But it was tougher now. He owed something to gems who came here. Just like hegave his whole childhood to them back home. But these gems weren’t friends—the oneshere now.
Jasper had nearly gotten him killed, and Pink Diamond was nobetter. But she was lost and confused, so he had to help her, right? He kind ofwished everyone would just disappear again.
“I wish I could tell you that I—“
Steven froze, his hands resting on the strings. His eyessnap open and he focused, listening past the sound of the roaring waves forthat other familiar squeak of shoes.
“—Ahh!” Steven jumped, his hair standing on end.
You’ve gotta be fucking with me, is all he can think as helooked into that heart-shaped face. He groaned, rolling his eyes.
“Spinel? They got you, huh?” He sighed. After a secondglance, he realized something else, his tone now serious and maybe evenslightly worried. “Wait, did they… rejuvenate you!?”
Spinel doesn’t... at all understand the reaction. OK, so she’d scared her, that wasn’t a big deal - startling people was fun! But the stranger had also groaned and rolled her eyes and then said the weirdest things, like she’d... recognized her? Which almost wouldn’t make any sense, if it wasn’t for the weird flashbacks she’d been having...
“Gee, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say we already met!”
“Did we?! Ya know a little ol’ Spinel like me?! Golly, I’m so flattered!”
“Does that mean we’re friends?! Best friends?! Wowee! I dunno your name and we’re already in the friend zone!”