Chapter Text

“It’s the centipeetle mother!” Steven exclaims, gently reaching forward to grab the creature in front of him.

It responds by promptly biting down on his arm, latching it’s claws in for extra pain.

“Ehh! Ahhh,” Steven wails, flopping onto his back and waving his arm to dislodge the teeth and claws, “hellllp!”

“Steven!” Pearl arrives seemingly out of nowhere, scaring the disgruntled cat away from him and taking a firm grip on his bleeding arm to examine the wounds inflicted by the grubby stray, “what were you thinking?”

“I was just playing!” Steven says, holding onto his hurt arm and relying on Pearl to lift him to his feet, “I didn’t hurt her or anything!”

“I know that,” Pearl says, “but that old cat’s afraid of everything, you need to leave it alone! Ugh, let’s wash your arm so it doesn’t get infected.”

“The centipeetle’s acid is a great risk to the young gem,” Steven narrates, distracting himself from the pain of the scratches as his adoptive mother pulls him through the door and towards the sink, “but the experienced Pearl will not let her young liege die so easi- ouch, Pearl, that hurts!”

“You’re not going to die, Steven,” Pearl huffs, holding Steven’s arm under the water until all the soap runs off, “it was just a cat.”

“It was a fearsome beast!” Steven corrects, not prepared to stop playing his game until his boo-boos are sorted.

“Hm,” Pearl hums, pushing onto her tippie-toes to grab the band-aid box from the cupboard, although she doesn’t really need the extra height, “and does our fearsome little warrior prefer Hello Kitty or Spiderman?”

“Pink please,” Steven says, “to match my shield.”

Pearl pats the water off his arm with a few paper towels, then carefully peels the wrapping off several mini Hello Kitty band-aids, pressing them over each of Steven’s marks. Two of the scratches take multiple of the small rectangles to cover.

“All sorted?”

“One more step,” Steven says, holding his arm as high as it will go.

Pearl leans down to press several quick kisses along Steven’s arm- he giggles at the contact.

“Looks like someone wasn’t using their shield.”

“Garnet!”

Pearl stands straight, smiling at the tall woman in the doorway. She has a small pink shield in her hand, retrieved from where it had been abandoned on the sand outside their house, in the dash for clean water and band-aids. Steven runs happily to greet her, wrapping his arms around her hips in a hug. She ruffles his hair with one hand and tosses the shield onto the couch with the other.

“Hello, Garnet,” Pearl greets, stepping over to immediately pick up the tossed piece of plastic and head up the stairs with it, “how was your day?”

“Eh, t’was fine,” she shrugs, “did you show Steven...?”

“I was waiting for you, since you were so insistent on it being your idea,” Pearl teases, voice carrying from Steven’s loft.

“It was my idea.”

Garnet climbs two steps, meeting Pearl on her way down and wrapping her arms around the smaller woman’s waist. The difference in steps puts them at about the same height, and Pearl leans in easily for a kiss.

“What was your idea?” Steven asks, excited.

He turns away at the displays of affection on the stairs, heading towards Pearl and Garnet’s room, where they must be hiding his surprise.

“This way Steven,” Pearl says, sweeping a hand towards the kitchen as she follows Garnet down the last couple of steps.

They stand back and wait for him to open and close every door and cabinet, smiling when he finally throws open the freezer door with a delighted gasp.

“What?” Steven says, hopping on the spot, “I thought they stopped making these!”

“Well, we heard that too, so we went out and bought the rest.”

“It was my idea,” Garnet repeats.

Steven jumps again, reaching in to grab an ice cream bar. He busts out into a familiar jingle before taking a bite.

“My idea worked,” Garnet whispers.