i'm my mom

Kate was honestly glad to see Steven was alright, or at the very least, in one piece. It wasn’t hard to pick up on the other’s mood, of trying to find the right words, and that something heavy and potentially life shifting was about to come up.

The redhead found herself sitting on the floor in front of Steven as he explained, sitting cross legged and having an expression of concentrated as she processed the details. It was definitely different from what they were previous told- not to mention, quite the adventure he’s gone through. She didn’t expect for all this to have gone down in the time they were gone.

“..I see.” She put a curled finger to her chin, closing her eyes as she thought. “I’m sorry we weren’t there- for.. all of it. But it seems like it’s finally calming down.”

It felt... good, to get this off of his chest, to someone who wasn’t in on the situation beforehand. Steven seemed to be in a better mood after he’d finished talking, the younger watching Kate’s expression carefully to try to figure out how she took it all.

A light laugh left the smaller as he felt the other’s hand ruffle his hair, soon after trying to find a way to explain this to Kate. It had been a lot since the last time he’d seen any of the siblings- and part of him was thankful Kate would be the one hearing all of it before all of the others.

“It’s... it’s kind of a long story, but...” And he told her all of it. Of being taken by Homeworld and being put on trial, about Lars, about finding out his mom’s true identity, about Garnet breaking up and Bismuth coming back, about Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding, and about the Diamonds coming back to Earth- all in one long, drawn out talk, Steven drawn to an abnormal amount of seriousness throughout. It had really been a long time since he’d seen them.

“Ack! Not water! My one weakness!!” Nancy flailed dramatically at the spritz before falling over, playing dead- the best she could while giggling, anyhow.

Steven struggled to keep a straight face- although he just managed it. The corners of his lips twitched every now and then, and each time he watched Nancy’s form shake with laughter it was harder to keep back his own laughter. He stopped spraying the other with water after a while.

“This is your punishment. You- you can’t eat non-edible things!” Oh no, he’s laughing now. It’s hard for him to keep this serious for this long. “But s-seriously! You have to take care of yourself.”

Steven couldn’t help it- a small laugh left him as he watched the other poke at the glued sponges. He’d prepared a tray of actual sweets after, the chocolate chip cookies sitting underneath the table on one of the chairs next to him. Just as Steven was about to declare April Fool’s and present her with a treat, Nancy popped the cake in her mouth.

Steven didn’t expect it, dark eyes widening as he watched the other in a moment of complete and utter shock before panicking.

Steven waited for Parker to take that first sip, watching the barbecue sauce as it traveled up the straw. It took almost everything for him not to laugh then and there, but when Parker did react, he almost felt guilty from the look he gave him. What giddiness he had about the prank was gone, instead feeling awful.

@closeknithearts

Steven was more than elated as he opened the box, almost instantly setting it down to throw his arms around Parker instead. His smile stretched from ear to ear, breaking apart after a moment to pull the gloves up over his fingers, looking between them and the ones Parker wore with absolute admiration.

Being anything like Parker made Steven so inevitably joyful- he looked up to Parker as far more than a friend. To him, Parker was the best big brother figure in the world- in the universe! And things like this always seemed to continue to prove him right.

“Thank you Parker!” Steven started, the younger looking up at Parker with stars in his eyes. “You should come with me to see it! And Connie can come, too- I’m sure she wouldn’t mind!”

His eyes flickered down to his own new fingerless gloves for a moment, before he jolted. He’d gotten Parker a gift too, and had almost forgotten about it. 

“Hang on a second- I got you something too!” It didn’t take long for him to bolt up towards his closet, pulling up a messily-wrapped box. Cookie Cat wrapping paper covered the box hastily, the box itself none too heavy. Steven was more than excited to hand it to Parker. Inside were a pair of white running shoes that had been colored and decorated with different markers, covered in things that reminded Steven of Parker- and of lots of small, sweet compliments. Glow in the dark stars were glued onto the sneakers, and different stickers placed on them.