The closer the cab drove to Stevens apartment, the dread inside his brain increased, he didn't want to go back home, but he knew it was better to get this whole confrontation thing over with. "Maybe I should've stayed the night.....no no this has to be done, this CAN'T go on much longer. I have to stand my ground, say that I'm a grown up and not a nine year old kid, I can do this. I can do this. I can do this...." Steven thought to himself, only to groan audibly when he noticed the many cars that were parked in front of his apartment complex. The cab had to park on the other side of the street due to the many cars that were in front of Steven's building, and after Steven paid the driver when he exited the car, he shoved his hands into his pants pockets before he slowly moseyed on over to his home. The male could hear the faint sound of sandpaper on wood, his brown eyes locking onto the familiar green eyes that belonged to Bismuth, and she was smoothing down the new doorframe she had installed. Bismuth slowly rose from her kneeling position before standing aside to let Steven through, which made him nod his head in acknowledgement while he developed an exhausted smile, and he then sighed before entering his apartment. The mentally, and physically exhausted male scanned his now cleaned up apartment, which was probably due to the panicking Pearl that wrapped her arms around him. Steven didn't want to return the hug, instead his brown eyes searched for whoever was there in his apartment, which was Amethyst, Garnet, Pearl, Jasper, and now Bismuth since she had also entered the apartment. Before he could even utter a word, Pearl was already hugging him tightly, and despite her skinny form, he felt like he was being strangled from a boa. "STEVEN! OH THANK THE STARS! CONNIE CALLED AMETHYST EARLIER AND THEN AMETHYST CALLED THE REST OF US, ARE YOU OK?!" Pearl screeched, her killer hug only tightened on the male, which made him groan out in discomfort, which Pearl didn't even notice. Steven was to busy shimming his hands up to answer her question, and as soon as he is able to grip onto Pearls forearms, he was able to unwrap her arms from his body to gently shove her away. Pearl stumbled backwards a bit, taken aback from Steven pushing her away, she opened her mouth to speak, but was shushed when Steven raised his hands again, holding up his index fingers as if to say that he needs a minute. "Before I hear you utter another word, I need. A few minutes. To change my shirt...." Steven explained softly, however his tone was cold, and tired. His exhausted brown eyes scanned his supposed mother figure once again before looking over his "friends" that sat in the living room, he then turned his back to the whole group, and made his way back to his bedroom.

     Stevens right hand gently tapped the wall in his darkened bedroom, the tips of his fingers grazed the cold, plastic surface of his light switch, he placed his index finger under the switch, and pushed upwards which turned his bedroom lights on. Steven felt oddly satisfied, and relieved that the others hadn't entered his bedroom, since it also didn't survive Spinel's rampage from earlier that day. His mattress and bedding were flipped upside down onto the carpet, his drawers pulled and scattered all around his bedroom with his belongings also scattered under the drawers, and the male could see that one of his pillows was cut open, the cottony guts spilling out past the fabric. However, Steven knew he didn't have time to worry about that now, slowly he undid the buttons on his pink jacket one by one, until he let the piece of clothing slide off his torso after pulling one sleeve off of his arm. After the jacket slumped onto the ground, he began to pull off his ripped blue shirt, the front of his shirt was sliced in half due to Spinels knife, his left thumb rubbed the yellow star logo and he remembered how he could've almost died if he didn't say what he did. As he gently tossed his ruined shirt into his little trashcan, the male sighed as his memory shot back to earlier, when he had Spinel pinned under him, and he couldn't help but blush when he remembered how she shivered when he moved. "Oh god I have to stop thinking about this, but I can't stop thinking about her....darn my mind, I'm going to go crazy if I don't do something....but now is not the time, no no, this needs to happen right here, right now...." Steven thought to himself, grabbing an old shirt that was black, but had the matching star symbol in the front. He slipped the piece of clothing over his head, and was just about to slip his left arm into its appropriate sleeve, he found it to be to tight for his bicep. Stevens patience was wearing out, and instead of doing something sensible like choosing a different shirt, he decided to grab the sleeve and just tear it right off before proceeding to do the same thing with the other sleeve. He was just done. Done. Done. Done.

   "Steven? What were you thinking?!" Pearl asked the second Steven had stepped into the living room, which made him freeze on the spot. "Do you know how dangerous Spinel is?! She can kill you without a second thought!" Pearl began to scold, "she can harm you! She can harm Connie! She can harm Greg!". Amethyst and the rest were watching as Pearl scolded Steven, however she was the first to notice Stevens face, stress lines were starting to form on his face, and she could tell that from his right eye twitching, he was about to snap at any second. "Hey Pearl, ease back on your-" Bismuth began to speak, but was interrupted by Pearl herself as she turned towards her fellow member, "Bismuth please I'm trying to explain why he can't do what he was doing with Spinel again! I'm just trying to protect him! And-" she was about to continue her explanation, but a loud BANG made her jump. Everyone's eyes were immediately focused on Steven, his face was completely red with rage, and his fist was through the wall due to him punching through the wall. "ENOUGH!! I'VE HAD IT! IM DONE!" Steven immediately screamed, his face felt like it was dipped in lava due to all the anger that was finally spilling out of him. "Steven wha-" Pearl was about to ask, however what Steven shouted next made her shut up immediately, "shut the FUCK UP PEARL!". Amethyst and Jasper could only blink as they watched Steven explode at their leader, Jasper had never seen Pearl so surprised, but then again, she had never seen Steven so angry before, and Amethyst was watching in awe due to the fact that Steven cursed at Pearl. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF BEING TREATED LIKE A DAMN CHILD! IM NOT NINE YEARS OLD ANYMORE PEARL, IM TWENTY TWO YEARS OLD!!!! I CAN'T DO ANYTHING EXCITING WITHOUT YOU HAVING SOMEONE HOVER AROUND ME LIKE IM ABOUT TO DIE!!!! I SHOULDN'T BE TREATED LIKE THIS! I'M ALLOWED TO DRINK, I WON'T SMOKE BUT DAMN IT I COULD IF I WANTED TO! IM AN ADULT, BUT YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND THAT FACT! YOU AND CONNIE DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT MAYBE. JUST MAYBE, I WANT TO BE WITH SPINEL?! I WANNA HOLD HER IN MY ARMS AT NIGHT, I WANNA TELL HER THAT EVERYTHING WILL BE OK! I WANNA BE WITH HER UNTIL ONE OF US DIES, WHICH I HOPE TO GOD DOESN'T HAPPEN FOR A LONG TIME! SHE'S NOT SOME TYPE OF EMOTIONLESS, KILLING SOCIOPATH! SHE HAS EMOTIONS, SHE CAN CRY, SHE CAN SMILE, AND LAUGH TO! SPINEL IS THE WAY SHE IS BECAUSE ONE OF THE MEMBERS FROM "THE DIAMONDS" GANG SINCE "SOMEONE" FROM THE CRYSTAL GEMS KILLED HER PARENTS, AND THAT IS AFTER HER PARENTS HID HER AWAY IN A CLOSET FOR GOD KNOWS HOW LONG! AND ALL BECAUSE OF THIS DAMNED FEUD THAT STARTED BETWEEN MOM AND THE DIAMONDS! IM NOT MY MOM, I AM STEVEN UNIVERSE AND I CAN CHOOSE WHAT I WANT TO DO WHILE KNOWING THE FUCKING CONSEQUENCES!!!!" Steven spat, screamed, and cursed at Pearl, stomping his right foot down at the last part. His face was still an angry shade of red to match his rage, never before has the cutesy, happy male ever felt so much raw emotion in so long, and damn did it feel good to release this pent up energy of his. "Steven?..... what're you talking about? Her parents?" Garnet asked gently, having kept her calm during Steven's tirade. Steven inhaled a deep breath, and then he sighed, which was followed by a small explanation of what happened to Spinels parents. "Steven....either Spinel has lied to you, or she doesn't know, but her parents were a part of our group...." Garnet answered, which earned a reaction from Steven that is a mix of confusion, shock, and sadness. "She wouldn't lie about something like that..." He spoke softly, "seems like she's able to lie to you before, who's to say she hasn't done it again?" Jasper asked, which earned another angry glare from the male. "DO. NOT. SPEAK ABOUT HER. LIKE THAT! JUST.....JUST GET OUT ALL OF YOU!" Steven demanded, "BUT BISMUTH. THANK YOU FOR FIXING MY DOOR!" he thanked the shocked Bismuth. Everyone but Steven looked at each other, however Amethyst was the first to get up from her spot on the couch and she headed to the door, "I'm proud of you Ste-man" she spoke before leaving the apartment entirely. One by one, the rest of the group left, even Pearl left almost willingly, she did hesitate in the doorway, but one look at Stevens blank, cold, emotionless face was all that it took to make her leave. After everyone had left, Steven slowly closed the front door, he then turned around to lean backwards against the door, and his body slowly slide down to the ground, in where he was sitting on the ground with his back pressed against the door. Tired, exhausted, and relief flowed through his body, but so did sadness, since he knew that he couldn't see Spinel again for a while, but also because he lost his temper so quickly at his friends.