Steven found himself staring at the ground as they walked away from the house, his brows furrowed in concentration. Most of this had been confusing at first, but Peridot had taken the time to explain whatever hadn’t made sense to him at first, and had been nice enough to answer all of his questions when he had asked them. Walking towards the stairs, he watched Amethyst jump over the railing and found himself wondering if she would answer his questions honestly, or deflect them like usual.
“Hey, Amethyst?” he started cautiously as he took his time going down the steps, one foot at a time. Though she could just jump down like she had, Steven couldn’t and had to rely on the stairs. She glanced up at him, a brow raised as she watched him go down the stairs. Suddenly, he was too nervous to get a word out while facing her, and he glanced down as he reached the last step. “Will you tell me why Ruby and Sapphire were crying now?”
“Steven,” she started, sighing, before a cool hand played across his shoulder. He glanced up at her and she gave him a tired smile, and he wondered if the situation was playing on her mind as much as it was his. “They need some time to themselves so they can sort their emotions out, alright? It’s harder for them, since they aren’t fused all the time right now. I don’t know why they’re crying, but this thing with Peridot has been one big mess, and I want to give them space so they can work it out together. Let’s go visit your dad, or something on the boardwalk, bud. Have you told him about Peridot’s geodes?”
Steven took it all in, considering what she had said. The two of them did spend time alone together in the temple often, and it would make sense that they needed time to cool off. He was actually surprised that they hadn’t burned or froze anything lately, but maybe inside the temple was a different story. He eventually nodded once to show that he understood, stepping onto the beach. However, at the mention of his father, his eyes sparkled and he nodded, much more frantically than he had before.
“Yeah! At first, I think he thought that I said Pearl had geodes and he was really confused and concerned, but he wouldn’t tell me why! When I told him that it was actually Peridot, he seemed to calm down a lot. Then I told him that Ruby and Sapphire were going to have geodes too, and that there would be more gems running around because of it, and he nearly fainted!” he told her excitedly as they started off towards town, Amethyst smirking beside him at his tale of having told his father about the upcoming gemlings.
“Sounds like Greg. So, what do you want to do?” she asked, and he tapped his chin thoughtfully. They could get pizza, or fry bits, go to the arcade, visit Funland, or… He looked to Amethyst out of the corner of his eye, seeing the tired way she seemed to sag when she thought he wasn’t looking. Maybe all of this was wearing on her, and he wondered what she wanted to do. She hadn’t been eating much again, unless they had been out together, which had become more and more common lately. Knowing what would be best, he rubbed the back of his head.
“Let’s go visit Onion and his mom.” She seemed to spark up slightly, before relaxing as if it was nothing, and smiled the first real smile to seem genuine all month. He would put up with Onion as long as it made her happy, and her pace even seemed to pick up slightly as they walked.
“Really?”
“Yeah. If they’re home, anyways. I dunno where else they would be if we wanted to see them otherwise.”
“Psssh, Vi is probably at home, painting again. Probably none other than yours truly. You ain’t gonna mind hanging around with Onion, are you?”
“Not at all.” he said as he shook his head and gave her a smile, though it was only because he knew how much she needed it that he didn’t mind. Though he was young, he still understood something was bugging his guardian, and wanted her to feel better. Then she’d at least have someone to talk to about what was going on. Maybe hanging with Onion wouldn’t be so bad after all.