Let Me Show You || Steven Universe x Reader

Can We Talk Tonight?

This day was structured as any expected sleepover. Many, many, sugar was involved, and so were pillow fights. Nose-scrunching movies that made you want to puke were there, and a badly built pillow fort was built— and was somehow standing. It lasted longer and shorter than any other night, unlike the days when all three slept in a lonesome, quiet room. Steven, Y/n, and Connie wished it could last longer.
.
.
.

"Do you think we'll be able to do this again?" Y/n whispered inside her sleeping bag as she lay on her belly. Steven remained on his back, but with his eyes fully open — no intention of sleeping anytime soon. As for Connie, she turned her head to the left to face their newfound friend. Her eyes had to adjust as much as they could to look for the girl in the dark, but her expression remained tired and soft.

She mulled over the question deeply but was sad to know that won't happen soon. "Do you want to?" were all the words she could conjure up and reply with.

After some silent shuffling, Y/n was back laying on her back. "It would be nice..." Her whisper was softer than the last, as silence followed.

"Then we can figure something out," Connie smiled in comfort and drooped her eyes down to slowly steady her way into slumber.

Before silence could truly fall, Steven spoke quietly, but with a slight rasp in tone, a little vibration followed. "How come we can't stay here forever?" he lifts a hand and turns it to a different angle, inspecting the smooth skin people seemed to fawn over, "Stay in the same town, stay with the same people, stay with just the way it was."

"It's because we can't last forever, Steven. Someone's bound to get bored and have the wish to venture and know everything; some won't even leave, but they're still growing and making changes to settle their roots. No one wants to live in the same simulation as everyone else," Y/n explains.

It was a brooding conversation but it led to comfort. No one was uncomfy to speak or to listen, they can relate all to their experiences, and they all know when they'll reach the limit of the conversation. Though, unlike Steven, he pondered on the words: "We can't last forever,"; 'we' and 'forever' at most.

Several years ago, Steven found a way to makeshift his body in several ways. Not to fully manifest into a whole new being, but enough to design and control his humane shape; this includes age. In a way, he's ageless, immortal. So he is forever. There was no 'we', and it was just him, alone.

"Do you think gems count? My family's pretty elderly." he smiled regrettably at the previous thought. "I mean I say they're pretty wise, especially Pearl. So yeah — you can call them old people." Connie chuckled, and the two knew an earnest smile formed on her face.

Soon enough, the limit was reached and they laughed and talked for the next few minutes. They rarely talked of themselves, yet Y/n learned enough. She learned their origins just by the small hints of how they spent their childhood, she's listened to the smallest falters on the other's voice whenever someone talks about what they thought as something embarrassing, and she learned how they've matured by just the way they outlook on life. As she talked and conversed as well, she could tell that they were analyzing her too.

To Y/n, Steven took most interest in her. It was never the fact that he is an alien, it was more about how humane he is. He showed his gemmed belly button but it didn't falter the way she thought of him. When he showed his odd cat fingers, she was more amazed at the cats than the fact that he had such an ability. He's mentioned all of the physical things that made him alien with so much fear, but that fear appealed more to her and showed that he is human; she felt proud to know that he isn't as violent as the other gems that lived their previous ways and are happy about how most understanding he is because of the, assumed, the discrimination he's probably experienced.