The dorm room was bathed in the hues of the warm summer morning. Cozy oranges crept over stacks of books, her made-up bed and obscure anime posters. Birds sang their sweet songs atop the blossoming trees outside her open window and the gentle breeze ruffled her hair.
Connie awoke with a start. No pillow in sight, just cool wood beneath her forehead. She'd fallen asleep at her desk...again. Surrounded by towering books and empty coffee mugs. She groaned. Three missed calls. The fourth had roused her from her sleep.
"Hey…" She said groggily, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Good morning Connie!" Steven chirped. How he could be so cheerful this early in the morning was beyond her.
"Morning Steven…"
He laughed.
"You sound dead. Pulled another all nighter?"
"Mmm…" She replied. "Assignment due."
"I won't keep you then. Juuuust checking we were still on for tonight."
Her eyes snapped wide open with panic. She sat bolt upright in her chair at whiplash speed.
Crap! She'd forgotten all about that! Friday night was their weekly meet-up!
"L-look Steven…" She stuttered, attempting to hide her panic. "...I've got a lot of stuff due soon. As well as the next DnD session to plan."
"C'mon Connie…" He teased. She knew damn well he was making those irresistible puppy-dog eyes over the phone. "... I'll bring the new Dogcopter…"
She let out a snort of laughter.
"How old are we Steven?"
"Old enough to appreciate how cute Drew and Dogcopter are together!"
It was probably against her better judgement, after all it wasn't like she wasn't busy. But she couldn't let him down...maybe she needed a break too.
"Fiiine." She sighed, dramatically throwing her head back. "You can come over tonight...just because I know you love weddings."
She immediately regretted saying that.
He fell silent.
Memories of his proposal came flooding back to her. The shock and guilt she felt, the smile on his face falling and the tears pricking his eyes.
They hadn't spoken about it since that day, neither of them had wanted to bring it up following Steven's corruption. But it was still there...hanging above them with unspoken tension.
They'd have to talk about it one day...but not today.
After what felt like ages...he replied. Forcing a chipper mood which clearly wasn't there.
"Great!" He said, in a voice that seemed too happy; even for him. "I'll see you at 6 then."
"Yeah...see you then."
6:30 saw a sweaty and breathless Steven burst through the door, tightly clinging onto a small paper bag.
"Connie?" He called out, placing the bag and the keys on the kitchen counter. "Sorry I'm late! The jam lady at the Artisan market had dropped her house keys. I spent an hour helping her look, then she found them in her pocket!"
He laughed.
No response.
"Cooonnie? He called again in a singsongy voice.
He peeked around the corner, searching her small living room.
"Oh Connie…"
His gaze fell upon Connie lounging on the sofa. Asleep. Snoring. LOUDLY. Laptop balanced precariously on her lap. He chuckled quietly to himself, guessing the several empty coffee mugs surrounding her hadn't been enough to keep her awake.
With a grin, he hoisted her into his arms. Super strength had its perks. Being able to lift his sleeping girlfriend as if she was weightless was one of them.
Rousing from her slumber in the wrong place for the second time that day, Connie dragged her head from her pillow.
"...How did I get here…" She mumbled to herself, positive she had not fallen asleep in bed.
She fumbled for her phone in the pocket of her hoodie, taking note of the time.
7:30
Crap!!
Steven!!
She launched herself out of bed, unkempt hair tumbling about her face and head heavy from her half-asleep state.
She threw open her door.
Steven could only stare in confusion as his feral, weary-eyed girlfriend stood hunched over in the doorway.
"...Um...hi Connie." He smiled sheepishly, offering her a box. "I…uh...ordered a pizza."
Deep crimson crept up on her cheeks. She stood upright, brushed her hair behind her ears and folded her arms.
"Hi Steven…" She swallowed. "Did you...uh-"
"Take you to bed?" He finished, placing the pizza on the counter. "Yeah. You looked uncomfortable, so I carried you to your room."
He snorted, teasing her.
"I've never heard anyone snore that loud."
"Ugh." She groaned, hiding her face. "...I wasn't was I?"
"I thought Lion was here."
"Steven!" She laughed, landing a playful punch on his arm.
He staggered back, giving a faux grunt of pain.
"I warn you, brave Knight...this is not a battle you can win."
She rolled her eyes, slumping herself down on the sofa.
He continued his fake bravado.
"I say Knight...but your snores are akin to the roars of a dragon!"
"Are we watching Dogcopter or not?" She moaned, pulling him into a sofa cuddle.
"Noooo! The dragon has chosen me for her horde!"
Despite his devastation about his great defeat, he happily settled himself beside her. Allowing her arms to envelope around his middle, embracing him into a hug. She nuzzled into his neck as she did so, warm breath tickling his skin. He found himself blushing.
"Hold up." He said, dragging himself out of her grip. "Pizzas gonna get cold."
Connie sighed at the loss of contact. Her gaze followed him into the kitchen. He soon returned with the pizza, along with a brown paper bag.
He placed the pizza on the coffee table, opening the lid. Plain cheese. Not one of Connie's favorite pizzas, but Steven had gone vegetarian a couple of years back. It would do...for his sake.
"Got something for dessert too."
He removed a packet of biscuits from the bag, alongside an expensive looking artisan jam.
"Nothing but the best for my girlfriend."
She flashed him a smile. Doing her best to block out the thoughts of his proposal once again. He'd bought her jam and biscuits then too…
He placed himself back beside her, snuggling into her touch and snapping her out of her thoughts.
She rested her head on his shoulder.
"Are we watching this or not Steven?"
He chuckled, reaching for the remote.
Connie hadn't realized how bad these movies were. The animation mistakes, the shoddy voice acting, how dumb the plot was. God, she was getting old.
Steven seemed to be enjoying it though. But then again, Steven would enjoy anything so long as the characters were cute.
They weren't even halfway through the movie when Connie began to drift off beside him, yawning and relaxing from behind him. Steven debated waking her up. But he knew she needed some rest.
She was working herself too hard at the moment, so many deadlines and so many assignments. And now, she was sacrificing sleep for it.
He worried about her sometimes. One day, she'd burn herself out.
The most he could do for her tonight was let her rest.
Rated: Teen | 2628 Words | Tw: Drinking/ Drunkenness
Read on Archive of Our Own | Day 1 prompt | Day 2 prompt | Day 3 prompt | Day 5 prompt | Day 6 Prompt | Day 7 prompt | My Writing Masterpost
This chapter is a sequel chapter to day 2, Singing. This is set in the Soft Jock AU, @susoftjockau.[One of the most wholesome AUs out there, I heartily recommend it]
Steven and Connie are in established relationship here, and there's a good amount of talk about being drunk, as a warning, though that's more of a backdrop to Steven dismissing his own well-being.
Soft Jock AU. After sleeping off having a bit too much to drink, Steven and Connie talk. Rated T for discussions of inebriation.
Connie was very comfortable when she woke up. She would have snuggled deeper into the covers on her bed, but she knew that Steven was awake from the small circles he drew with his hand on her forearm. She cracked her eyes open and he still looked asleep but the motion continued. She set her hand on top of his and he sighed.
“You awake?” he mumbled groggily.
“Yeah,” she replied. He turned from laying on his back to his shoulder facing her. His eyes opened slowly, still looking tired. “How do you feel?” she asked. He swallowed.
“Mouth’s pretty dry, and I feel like I need to brush my teeth.”
“No, I’m ok. Just a bit tired.” Steven blinked a few times and glanced around. He noticed a slight bruise on his left forearm. “That wasn’t there yesterday.”
“You stumbled a bit when we came in and hit it on the doorframe.”
“That explains it.” Steven licked his right palm and pressed it to the mark, watching it fade. “That’s better.” Connie looked him over.
“If you’re feeling ok, sit up for me and look out the blinds,” she instructed. He turned over on his back and sat up slowly. He reached an arm out to the window behind her and peeked through the blinds. “Any light sensitivity?”
“No,” he replied.
“You don’t get hangovers,” Connie hissed in blatant envy.
“…I guess not?” he muttered, laying back down on his back. “Sorry.” She sighed.
“That’s not something you should feel sorry about,” she replied unhappily. “From what I understand, they’re miserable. I only have had one, and it wasn’t good.”
“How do you feel?” Steven asked.
“I didn’t have enough to be drunk last night, so other than a bit cotton-mouthed, I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry, again.”
“Steven, you know you apologized and thanked me a bunch last night, right? You don’t have to keep apologizing.” Steven avoided her gaze. “How much do you remember?”
“Most of it, I think.”
“Tell me.” Steven closed his eyes, brow furrowed with distaste.
“We went to Amanda’s party, we were having a good time.” His voice was bitter as he recounted the night’s events. “ You talked to Natalie for a bit and then when Fiona offered me a cocktail, I stupidly didn’t ask ‘what’s in this’ or ‘how strong is this,’ I just thought, ‘it’d be rude to turn her down,’ then, ‘oh this tastes good’ and drank it too fast. You came over, I started singing something I was planning on playing for you when I had my guitar, and you got embarrassed. We left, came here, you gave me aspirin and water, you tried to brush my hair, I said some dumb things that made you cry, we talked, I got changed and we went to bed.”
“Ok, so you do remember,” Connie replied. “Do you-“
“I’m sorry for embarrassing you and I wish I could take back what I said that upset you so much.”
“You talked about being worried about losing control of your powers.”
“It’s happened before,” he replied voice edged with agitation. “You being around helped ground me when my head was fuzzy, but that kind of pressure shouldn’t be on you. I need to be more responsible.” Steven sighed, closing his eyes. “If I’m going to have more than one drink, I should have a gem chaperone me, so they can grab me so I won’t get out of hand.”
“Steven, you’re my best friend, and I will repeat what I said last night. ‘It’s ok to ask for help.’ I’m willing to help you, with anything you would do for me. If I do have a few drinks sometime, I know you’ll look out for me.”
“Connie, I can’t ask you to keep me out of trouble if my powers freak out. I could break something that normal people can’t. I could hurt somebody. I could hurt you. If my pink switch goes off, and I hurt you, I don’t think I could forgive myself.” She stared at him in confusion.
“Pink switch?” His eyes shot open, realizing what he had said, and his pupils shrank to pinpricks.
“I- I- uh, I shouldn’t have said anything about it, forget it.”
“You’re worried about it, whatever it is.”
“Most of the time I’m fine, it hasn’t happened since first year, so it shouldn’t happen again.”
“That doesn’t stop you from being scared.”
“I know. But it also doesn’t mean you have to make it something you’re afraid of too.”
“I feel like not knowing is making me more afraid. ‘The devil you know,’ right?”
“I’m sorry, Connie,” he sighed, looking away, “but it’s not something I like talking about. I’m not ready to talk about it.”
“Please know that when you are ready, I’ll listen.”
He turned his body back toward her and reached for her hand. She opened hers and gave his a small squeeze. “Thank you,” he replied, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. She kept her face neutral as he drew circles with his thumb onto the back of her hand.
“There was one other thing you were doing last night that was a bit… concerning.”
“Was it the embarrassing song?” he asked, voice resigned. “Because that was supposed to be a surprise for you, not blurted out in front of a bunch of people.”
“No, you sang another song, after we talked.”
“Oh, right.” He avoids her eyes again, and she frowns.
“Steven, do you really feel like, you can’t-“
“Measure up? Well, sometimes. I’ve never been normal, so occasionally it feels like no matter what I do, it’ll never be enough.”
“It’s hard feeling that way.” Connie replied. “My parents wanted me to be a doctor and now, it’s not what I want, and I’ve finally accepted that. So those expectations aren’t going to be met. You shouldn’t have to be the one who meets everyone’s whims in your life.”
“Is it a bad thing that I want to make everyone around me happy?” He asked. He looked her in the eyes again. She shook her head.
“That’s not what I’m saying. Other people’s happiness shouldn’t mean more to you than your own all the time. You can’t satisfy everybody.” She rested her hand on his arm.
“It’s not all the time-“He muttered.
“You can only make so many people a priority and you have to make yourself the top of your priorities.”
“That’s-“He stops himself. “That feels selfish.”
“It isn’t. It’s caring for yourself.”
“I still do, just not- I don’t think of myself in the same way as when I think of when I’m helping others.”
“I think you’d treat yourself better if you did. If what you said in that song-”
“It’s only feels that way now and then. I try not to let it bother me too much.” Steven paused, shrugging. “Anyway, I didn’t write that one, my mom did. The gems taught it to me.”
“I mean, they probably didn’t think I would feel the same way sometimes, but, what do I know?” Steven was deflecting, but she was almost sure she wouldn’t be able to press him much further.
“Well, I think that we should put a pin in this, and probably get something to drink. My mouth is getting dryer by the minute.”
“Hang on,” he said, and sat up, turning to face the rest of the room. He quickly spotted his empty bottle from the previous night and the one Connie hadn’t drank from. He hopped gently off the bed and picked up both of them. He strode back to hand her the full bottle and kept the empty one. “Take that, I’ll refill this one for myself.”
“Steven, wait,” she called.
“You took care of me last night, I can take it from here. I’ll bring you some ice too.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she said, sitting up.
“It’s no trouble, I’ll be right back.” Steven replied with a half-smile. With that, he stepped out of the room and Connie was alone. She pulled herself to the edge of the bed and leaned down to the brush forgotten on the floor from the previous night. Setting the water bottle between her knees, she began brushing her shoulder length hair.
Her eyes wandered around the modest dishevelment that had come about in her room. Her end table had been cleared to ensure that if Steven had gotten sick in the night her books would definitely be out of range for them to be damaged. The books were in a small stack by the edge of her closet. Steven’s shoes sat a few feet from the door in a heap next to her own sneakers. His jacket was messily thrown over her desk chair. Her desk and dresser were the only things that seemed to be in order in the room.
She stood, moving toward the doorway when Steven entered holding a plastic cup in one hand and his full bottle in the other.
“Gonna go brush my teeth,” she said hoarsely, moving her water bottle back to the nightstand and stood. Steven nodded and sat back down on the bed as she strolled past him. Placing his bottle back besides her he unscrewed the cap on her bottle and dumped the ice from the cup into it, sealing it afterwards with a twist.
“If you want to toss me my pants, I’ll get changed while you’re in there,” Steven requested, setting down the empty cup and bottle on the nightstand.
“OK,” she answered, picking up his wadded jeans from the floor and giving them a light toss toward the foot of the bed. He snatched them out of the air as they came close to the ground. “Nice catch,” Connie said, closing the door with a smirk.
“I’ll tell you when I’m dressed, won’t be long.” He called through the closed door.
“Sounds good,” she replied. With just a few minutes she completed her short morning routine of washing her face and brushing her teeth.
“You can come out now, Connie,” came Steven’s response from the bedroom, as she spat out toothpaste into the sink. With a wipe of her mouth she opened the door to find Steven with jacket and jeans on, hair up in its usual ponytail, and in the process of making her bed.
“You know, I can do that later, right?” She asked mischievously.
“Of course,” he replied, “but I figured it was the least I could do to straighten up-“
“Steven, having you stay over isn’t a problem you need to make up for.” She interrupted, stepping to him and opening her arms for a hug. He placed the comforter down and wrapped his arms gently around her middle, gazing affectionately at her. She smiled, and continued. “You are welcome here. If there was anything I wanted your help with, I’d ask. You don’t have to go out of your way to make yourself useful.”
“I’m trying to be the best houseguest I can be, and that means not leaving a mess.”
“The room doesn’t smell like vomit,” she snarked, “so that’s a win enough in my book.” He laughed, making a slightly queasy face, and released the hug. He turned around, tossing the pillows back in place and sat on the bed. She joined him with a smile. “Best drunk houseguest I’ve ever encountered.”
“I guess I don’t have very steep competition, huh?” he asked, reaching for the water bottles.
“No one else is a thoughtful as you when wasted.” He handed Connie her bottle and took a sip from his.
“Was I really that bad?” he asked quietly, not meeting her eyes again.
“The main thing was your balance, you were tripping all over yourself.”
“I’m-” Steven began.
“No more apologizing,” She interrupted again. “You’ve done that enough in the last 10 hours.” He rubbed his neck with a sheepish smile. “It’s ok. I’m glad things didn’t go badly, I still had a good time, you’re not hungover and I got to spend the night with you.”
“I’m glad you had a good time. I hope that me being stupid didn’t ruin any plans you had for last night.”
“Don’t.” she chided, reaching out with her empty hand and giving his arm a squeeze. “You aren’t stupid. You miscalculated how much drink you can handle and we dealt with the situation. Now we can move past that and focus on today.”
“OK,” he answered. “I should probably get going soon, huh? I don’t want to keep you from your essay you were talking about before we went to the party.” She released his arm to put a hand on her hip.
“Firstly, how are you going anywhere without your keys?”
“Oh, right.”
“And secondly, we should probably get a bite to eat before you go home. I don’t want to hear that you got lightheaded driving and wrecked your car.”
“If you’re hungry, we can get something, but if not I can get something on my way.” Steven grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket with his empty and unlocked it.
“I’m making sure you get something to eat before I let you leave campus.” He nodded, conceding. She drank from her water bottle while she waited for him to check his messages.
Steven opened the group chat between Connie, Natalie and himself, reading Natalie’s message from the night before: I have your keys, come get them after you’ve slept it off.
One new message had come in at 10:06 this morning: You awake yet?
Yeah, I’ll be at the café in a few, do you want to meet me there or should I stop by first? Steven replied, the timestamp reading 10:47. He looked back to Connie and set the phone onto his lap.
“There was one thing I remembered about last night that struck me as a bit strange,” Steven said.
“Oh? And what was that?”
“Well, other than the song thing, I don’t remember saying much that would be embarrassing, but you were blushing a lot when I was talking.” Connie ducked her head and looked away self-consciously.
“You sound different when you’re drunk.” She mumbled.
“Really?” he asked. “I didn’t notice.”
“Your voice goes a lot deeper. Bassy.” She replied, staring at the floor. Steven smirked and cleared his throat.
“Why Connie,” he said, purposely deepening his pitch. “I had no idea that you find my deeper voice alluring.”
“It does things to my head, Steven!” She replied testily, face flushed. “I don’t want to be thinking about how it makes me feel, I want to be paying attention to what you’re saying and not about the way you sound.”
“What do you mean?” He asked huskily. “You can’t focus when I get all sultry?”
“No!” She barked, redness reaching her ears. “I don’t like feeling like I’m beholden to the whims of the baser parts of my brain.”
“Aww,” He replied, adjusting his voice to its typical tone. “Ok, I’ll save that voice for special occasions then.” He waggled his eyebrows, and she pouted at his expression. A ping from Steven’s phone caught both of their focus to his message instead of each other.
Meet me at the café in 10 mins, Natalie’s reply read. Connie glanced at his phone and stood.
“I need to get dressed,” Connie said, moving to her dresser.
“Ok, I’ll brush my teeth and I’m good to go,” he replied.
Within moments, the pair was ready and they walked out, hand in hand. Not every problem could be solved with a conversation, but together their struggles were easier to bear.
Peridot and specially Lapis do not trust the racoons.
Specifically chose this angle so I don't draw feet. _(:,3」∠)_
Mi own connverse kids Ebony and Rohini are there! And technically Sakura and Zachary. (Please until now I don't know what else to name them. 😭)
And sorry the older Maheswarans aren't there. I don't know where to put them and I already had character overload. 😞
Hibiscus print on Bismuth's shirt is from ManMadeOfGold!
Speaking of shirt, another thing I avoided was thinking of their outfit designs. 😅 It's somewhere a little over a decade of timeskip since SU:Future and I'm sure at least one or two would've reformed during the time. So I'm gonna say they wanted to keep the vibe of a casual outdoors picnic-type event so they wore the casual themes.
He knows that she knows all his tickle spots but that doesn't stop him.
@glowweek day 4
Nature | Nurture
Okay this was supposedly be about how Connie was raised to be prim and proper but she's just naturally a feral child, while Steven was frequently surrounded by acts of violence but still keep being more inclined to chose the peaceful method.
Then I realized I made Connie look like Steve Irwin. 😭
And, like, what the hell. I'm just going to run with that. Lol The first idea was probably better but, like, this is much easier to make dialogue for.
More yapping under the cut
Headcanon: Connie would just throw in together whatever clothes that felt comfortable or practical at the moment. The reason why she had the pretty dresses when she was younger was because her mom picked them out for her. She still does like to look nice, pretty, or handsome. She's just not one to be that much bothered in making a lot of effort to be. Lol That day, she unintentionally don the Steve Irwin look.
Meanwhile Steven is the better dressed one (probably influenced by Pearl?) He almost always consider the colors, the type of fabric, the shape, how the garment looks together with the ones he already has before buying it. He'll know which jacket will look good with the pants, the accessories that matches your attire, the make up that looks good with the weather, etc. (Just imagine I drew Steven in better looking clothing tho. 😅)
