Templeschool

22. The Right Choice

It had been several days since Twoie and Steven's conversation. The air was still awkward between them, and the gems had taken notice. Pearl had tried talking to both of them on separate occasions. Her talk with Twoie had been brief, with the young man stating that he was fine and that nothing was wrong. She was worried, though, after she talked to Steven.

"I'm telling you, Garnet. I think everything wrong between them is because of us. And I don't know how to fix this." She flipped the face shield on her protective headgear up. Peridot surreptitiously eavesdropped on their conversation as she went over her checklist. "I asked Steven what was wrong, and he told me that Twoie doesn't think he's as important as Steven. Said that he believed he keeps making things worse and that he is desperate to find any way to help us in this time."

Garnet sighed as she fixed her glasses. "It sounds like this was a problem that Twoie has been dealing with before he arrived here. We just became the easiest solution to his insecurities."

Amethyst stepped forward. "But that's just it! If Twoie feels like he's not enough back home, where life is peaceful, then did we make him that way? Was it a bad idea letting him become a Crystal Gem?" Silence permeated the night as the group contemplated her words. The purple gem rubbed her arm in discomfort. "We've never really known what we're doing with Steven. Twoie has pretty much shown us that we suck."

Pearl ripped her headgear off as she glared at the purple gem. "Excuse me? We've done our best for Steven! I don't appreciate what you're insinuating!" Garnet placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

"You're talking about the change in Steven's confidence and abilities, aren't you..."

Amethyst nodded. "Ever since Twoie arrived in the past, Steven has been a lot happier. He's more confident. He's learned more about his powers than we've ever managed to teach him. And if you haven't noticed, he's healthier." She kicked a small rock away from herself. "I've tagged along with Twoie on one of his grocery runs... We've never shopped like he does. There's some junk food or pre-made food, but a lot of it Twoie cooks for them. The only one who ever really made decent food was Pearl."

The others shifted uncomfortably. Pearl put her hand on her chin as she thought about Twoie's and Steven's relationship. "I've tried doing 'school' with Steven once, but gave up and never actually learned more about it. Twoie said it's an important aspect of human life in determining options for their future. Apparently, they start at the age of five and continue until they're eighteen." She blinked away tears. "Twoie has been working hard to make sure Steven is caught up academically with children his age. We really have been failing him..." She sniffed, moving her hands to anxiously wring her ribbon.

Garnet stared at the barn. Steven was working on an assignment that his older brother had given him. Twoie sat next to him, writing up lesson plans. Normally, the two would be chatting as they worked, but that didn't seem to be the case this time. "We knew Steven was different. We knew he had human needs, but we never thought to look into the proper lifestyle of humans." She turned back to her family. "Greg helped us as much as he could, but we should've done more. It wasn't fair of us to put so much responsibility on him when he was learning as well."

"So, what are you going to do about it now?" All heads turned to Peridot. The green gem regarded them with a look of disdain. "I told Steven I wasn't going to comment on your tense relationship with Twoie, but I don't believe you're going to figure it out on your own." That got her a couple of glares. "Amethyst has been the only one of you, Crystal Gems, to apologize to the Twoie about that fight several weeks ago." She finished up the last item on her checklist before continuing. "That fight has continued to not only strain his relationship with you clods, but also his relationship with Steven." Peridot adjusted her visor. "He even blames himself for the fight occurring."