#lapisteven

Steven is questioning his humanity (and likely his compatibility with Connie) as of “We Need to Talk”. This could lead him to align himself with gems in the future for romantic interests.

Lapis’ entrapment haunts his dreams and affects his ability to go on a date with Connie of all things in that dream (Chile Tid)

They have a psychological connection already (Chile Tid)

They have an emotional connection already (Mirror Gem)

Just looking at the compatibility of Steven and the gems, Lapis may well be the first gem he is able to synchronize with enough to fuse with. She seems like the most likely candidate for it when the time comes.

Connie is very insecure that Steven will be bored of her and Lapis creating an alternate potential love interest will make for an intriguing character arc for her.

They are already an obvious parallel to Rose/Pearl (a canon plot point with romantic subtext), which has it’s own list:

Steven exclaims affectionately that the mirror gem doesn’t seem broken to him. Pearl was “defective” but not to Rose.

Lapis and Pearl were treated as an object for most of their lives until Steven and Rose freed them.

Rose preferred to be loved above worshiped as does Steven. This is why Rose preferred Greg and Steven prefers Connie. Pearl and Lapis meanwhile did/do not realize that and thus hurt their ability to get closer. (I’m sure Steven misses his summer fun buddy very much as Rose would rather have a buddy in Pearl than a self destructive admirer)

She wanted to go home and leave Earth with Steven but Steven stayed. Pearl wanted to explore the galaxy with Rose but they chose Earth instead and never left.

Home for Lapis is now with Steven at this point (she hates Earth and has removed alyship with Homeworld but is certainly team Steven). Home for Pearl was Rose (and now her son). (Jailbreak; Rose’s Scabbard)

She self destructively sacrifices herself for Steven and takes pride in it as Pearl would do for Rose. Both Rose and Steven are displeased by it as they don’t want to see their loved ones suffering in their name. They also couldn’t be talked down from it by Rose/Steven.

She refuses Steven’s help out of shame. (As Pearl is known to do).

Pearls are meant to look nice and do as they’re told. We don’t know what Lapis was meant for but as a mirror she provided the exact same service.

She attempted to leave for space via the ocean not realizing the plight it caused Steven. Pearl did the same to Steven in “Space Race” due to baggage from her love of Rose and dream of traveling the galaxy with her.

Connie’s insecurity of losing Steven to gem stuff mirrors Greg’s insecutiry of falling inferior to Rose’s gem stuff, ie: Pearl and fusion. Lapis would be Steven’s Pearl whether he saw her that way or not.

Also if she’s a parallel to Jamie in terms of the Beach City vs Gems mirror theory then she will have a lesson to learn on infatuation vs. true love too so there’s a plot to behold eventually too.

Steven and Lapis seem to be building up a really interesting arc to be explored soon.

Lapis and Steven seem to form a very interesting parallel to Pearl and Rose. Rose (if the theory is true) essentially freed Pearl of her servitude and her compassion made her fall in love Rose and pledge full fledged loyalty to her... rather self destructive loyalty.

Lapis was imprisoned by everyone. The ONLY person who showed her any compassion was Steven. And that was enough to make her fight for him and protect him and willing to do anything for him (echoing Pearl’s loyalty). “Just let me do this for you.”

Similarly also, Rose found you cannot sustain a relationship like this (again, assuming such theories are true). Pearl’s self destructive nature for the worshiping of Rose in her love is something that hurt Rose to watch and seemingly haulted their relationship from moving forward (no matter how much Rose may have loved Pearl back). With Greg, however, she was removed from the pedestal and brought down to his level. Intermingling and emotional intimacy with him followed and they formed a stable and healthy close relationship. Just as Steven is able to do with Connie, who also brought him down to Earth by telling him when he was wrong and to acknowledge his actions. They work as equals and fight together and for each other. At this point, I don’t think Steven’s gonna be able to just have his Beach Summer Fun buddy back emotionally for quite a while and her destructively selfless nature in regards to him would likewise to Rose/Pearl prevent it from becoming anything further (unfortunately for a shipper of lapisteven like myself)... Steven’s preferred partner for “the big dance” is Connie.

Note how guilty Steven feels for Lapis’ suffering as it is because she did it for him. And how much guiltier he feels because she refuses to let him help her, in the name of being “a knight” for Steven. She’s his buddy, he freed her so she could live beyond her entrapment. He doesn’t wanna see her suffer in his name...

But the love for Steven and Rose from Lapis and Pearl, respectively, is still very passionate and dear. Whether Lapis’ feelings are romantic or not, they are still loyal and powerful. (Food for thought, though: Lapis’ feelings may well develop into romantic ones, based on the fact her presence interrupted Steven’s dream of taking his real love interest, Connie, to the dance). She and Pearl would do anything for Rose/Steven no matter what and they both take such admirable inspiration from Rose and Steven’s good nature. The cherishing of that compassion is very romantic and beautiful in itself. Though they may be unhealthy in acting out their devotion, their adoration has a charm to it because it is based on genuine love and that powerful love commands respect.

Seriously, at first I thought it was just Stapis Lazuli because that’s what the fanon wiki says (said), but then it’s sometimes shortened to just Stapis, Lapiven seems to be the most common tag (in my experience), Lapeven is also evidently a thing that some people call it, Lazuverse is used by one or two people, there’s the classic [both names with a slash or x in between them], Water n Melon (to my knowledge) is only used by one person, and I just found out today that Lapisteven has also been in use for a while.