i dont have a name for this

The house was quiet, aside from the occasional turn of the page in Steven's new book. Connie had assured him that he would like it since he had actually liked the ending to the Spirit Morph Saga, and so far, she had been right. It had everything. Action, drama, and romance! What more could he have asked for? In his haste, he had even almost tore a page- okay, a he had actually tore it, just a little. Hopefully Connie would understand, and it had been less than half an inch at the very bottom. No words had even been near it, or anything else, and maybe she wouldn't notice? He'd tell her, but that didn't mean she would notice exactly what he meant.

With the turning of the next page came sound that alerted him of the warp pad going off, causing the book to be hastily bookmarked so he wouldn't lose his place and set carefully on the bed. He would have thrown the book on it normally, but was scared of causing further damage, and couldn't imagine Connie would have reacted if he had returned a book he had not only tore a part of a page in, but had threw against the wall or floor. After having made sure that the book was stable, he glanced up at the warp pad, seeing Pearl standing atop it. Her head was in her hands, and she looked to be in pain, as if simply standing there was hurting her.

“Hey Pearl!” She jerked up quick, her eyes slightly unfocused, before a smile he could easily tell was forced made its way across her features. What was wrong with her? He had never seen Pearl act like this before, and it was almost terrifying to see his normally graceful guardian look so distressed. He was quick to bound over, hoping that he could help her with whatever was causing the distress.

“Steven, you scared me. I thought you were going out with Connie today.”

“She had tennis practice, so we only got to hang out for a little bit.”

“That's unfortunate,” she murmured as she stepped off the circular blue slab towards him, and stumbled on the slight step down. He was quick to put out his arms in case she were to fall, and she waved a hand in front of her, straightening up as her other hand went to her gem.

“Oh gosh, Pearl, are you okay? Did you overexert yourself on your mission? Did you get hurt? You gem doesn't look cracked… Do you need to sit down? What happened?” Steven rapid-fired his questions, and Pearl winced in pain. Worried, he took a step closer and held out his hand for her to take. With great reluctance, she took his hand and let him lead her to the couch, sitting on it almost heavily, like it was paining her to move. “Pearl?”

“I… I'll be okay, Steven. My gem just hurts, that's all. Nothing major, no cracks, or anything like that. I just feel light headed and nauseous,” she informed him, and gave him a weak smile. Not believing it, he turned and went towards the kitchen with the intent of boiling some water to make tea. Not that Pearl ever drank it whenever someone was to make tea for her, but it calmed her down, and Steven was aware that she needed it. She was obviously downplaying what was wrong because it was him that she was talking to instead of the other gems, and wanted her to feel better. “St-Steven? What are you doing?”

“I thought maybe some tea would help!” he chimed, and watched her slump into the couch. Carefully, he got out the teapot and filled it with water, putting it on the stove to boil. He carefully got out a teacup, along with one of her favourite tea bags, and set it beside the cup before glancing at Pearl. A thought crossed his mind, and he couldn't believe he hadn't thought about it a moment ago. Once again the house was silent as the water was heated on the stove, and he carefully filled the cup with it when it got hot enough. He put the tea bag into the cup before pouring the water into it, taking the steeping tea to the couch for Pearl.

“Thanks.” She took the cup, holding it delicately, and he couldn't help but beam at her praise.

“You're welcome.” He paused, and considered his plan, tongue rolling in his mouth. It would be rude to just lick his hand and touch her gem without consent. Deciding it better to ask than to be rude, he found himself fidgeting. “Hey, uh, Pearl, maybe I can try to make your gem feel better? You said it was hurting, maybe I can fix it!”

“Oh, Steven, I don't know… It's not that bad.” Upon seeing the look on his face, she sighed and looked away, fingers woven into an intricate pattern around her cup to keep it steady. She winced, and Steven wondered how bad it was really hurting her if she was outwardly showing pain like this, and in front of him as well. Pearl nodded after a moment more, swallowing as she looked back at Steven. “Go ahead.”

Giddy with having been granted permission, he gave his hand a long lick and moved to press it to her gem, before the warp pad went off again. He glanced over, his hand inches from her gem, and Garnet stood where Pearl had not too long ago. Pearl looked away, gripping the cup tight, almost as if it was going to disappear, and Steven wondered if she still felt bad about the Sardonyx incident, even though the two of them had seemed to work it out.

“What's going on here? Did Pearl crack her gem? I didn't think her mission was that strenuous.” Garnet asked as she stepped off the warp pad, slowly making her way over to where Pearl was perched on the couch.

“No, but she said it was hurting and she almost fell when she was trying to step off the warp pad, so I made her tea to help her relax. I wanted to see if my spit would fix the pain in her gem.” There was a pause, with Pearl barely murmuring an agreement, and Garnet seemed to hesitate to think it over. As Pearl glanced back at him, he smiled and reached over again to put his hand on her gem, before Garnet was there and jerking his arm away, though not enough to hurt or do more than stop him from touching her gem. The fingers on his skin almost seemed to be vibrating, and Steven wondered what was wrong.

“Don't do that. You'll burn yourself, because her gem is way too hot. That wouldn't be good for trying to finish reading your book later.” Garnet let go of her light grip on his arm and pressed the back of one hand to Pearl's gem. Pearl seemed to shudder at the touch, but Steven couldn't tell if it was good thing or a bad one. After a moment, she pulled back and carefully straightened up, her expression unreadable, but neutral. Had she seen something? Or felt it? Before he could ask, she started speaking. “Pearl, how have you been feeling lately?”

“I-I've been uh… nauseous and light headed,” Pearl groaned, holding the cup close with one hand as the other went to her gem. Steven furrowed his brows, and Garnet straightened up. Her expression was impossible to read, but he had a feeling that it wasn't good. Gems didn’t get sick from what he knew, besides food poisoning, and he was well aware that Pearl wouldn't have eaten anything to have gotten sick from.

“How long have you been feeling like this?” Steven watched her hesitate, and wondered if she holding information back. She looked down after a moment, mouth moving as if unsure as t what exactly she was going to say. What exactly was going on with his guardian? Had Pearl caught some kind of gem bug? Was she going to end up corrupted like the rest of the gems in those bubbles in the temple? Fear flooded him, and he gripped the hem of his shirt, wishing that there was something that he could do for Pearl to help her since he couldn't use his healing powers.

“S-since a few hours before our last encounter with Peridot. I started feeling sick, and my gem started aching. It got worse after we fused, but I didn't want to say anything. I wanted to just catch her, and figured that maybe I could say something afterwards but...” Garnet seemed to pause, before she clenched her fists tightly. What was going on? Did Garnet know something? The fusion took a deep breath, nice and slow, before turning to Steven.

“Steven, I need to go talk to Pearl, alone. You should go finish your book.” He nodded, watching Garnet carefully. Something was up, and they didn't want to tell him. Garnet must have had a vision about what was wrong with Pearl, but what was it? The fusion took the tea from Pearl and set it on the table, then carefully helped the slender gem up. While she was doing that, he took the cup to the kitchen and dumped the contents out, not wanting Pearl to worry about it with something being wrong with her physical form. Something had made her sick, and he wished he could help take care of her and make her feel better like she had when he had been growing up.

The next thing he knew, the temple door was sliding shut after Garnet and Pearl's retreat, and he couldn't help but wonder what had just happened and if Pearl would be okay. That had been… Strange. Stranger than usual around here, but he would worry about it more later, once they came out. There was nothing he could do now that the temple door was shut, and he found himself wishing that they would bother to share more of what was going on with him whenever it happened instead of trying to hide it from him.

There was something that was obviously wrong with Pearl, and Garnet seemed to be aware of what it was but wasn't intent on sharing it with him right now. They had to, though. If they didn't, he would pester them about it until they did. He was a part of this team too, and they couldn't keep treating him like a child. Steven had seen so much more than any other child on Earth, and had fought dangerous monsters that would have given other kids nightmares. He couldn't imagine them not telling him what was wrong with Pearl because they thought he was too young to know. It was incredibly frustrating.

She couldn't be sick, because gems didn't get sick. Her gem hadn't been cracked, so it wasn't that. Even if it had been cracked, then it would have had to be before they had fought Peridot, and it would have been obvious. It wasn't like her gem was hidden like Garnet's, and it would have easily been noticed if she had cracked her gem. What else could it have possibly been though? Was she becoming corrupted? He couldn't imagine having to lose Pearl, especially not because she had been corrupted and there was no way to fix it. Just like the page in Connie's book.

Remembering what Garnet had said about him reading, he was once more concerned with picking up on his damaged and borrowed book before he had to return it to his dear friend and training partner. If Connie did end up getting upset about the small tear on page ninety-three, he could always buy her a new one. Steven doubted that she would actually mind, but there was really no telling when it came to her books. She hadn't seemed to like this one too much though, and he couldn't figure out why. He climbed up the steps and grabbed the book, crawling back onto the bed afterwards. Now, where had he been before Pearl had warped in? Ah, right, Terrance had finally admitted his feeling to Joshua after almost two hundred pages...