"Where are we going?"

Steven shrugged and wrapped an arm around Connie's waist, jumping to the bottom of the stairs. "I dunno."

"𝓒𝓵𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓰. 𝓦𝓮 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓭𝓪𝔃𝔃𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝔀𝓸𝓶𝓪𝓷."

"We're still kids," Steven grumbled back.

"Bᴀʀᴇʟʏ. Yᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ 17 ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴏɴ 18, ɴᴏᴛ 12."

'There's no way we'd even fit in with regular teens.' Dan and Patrica were nice enough, but he'd felt uncomfortable the entire time. Connie had started to drift away from them recently, she told him she felt too large to talk to them anymore. Not more important, but just too bulky.

Connie searched his face for a moment. Was he hearing commentary? "Are we though?"

He hummed, a humorless smile that showed teeth as he kissed them. "No, not really."

It was hot but not unbearable with the fluffy clouds drifting across the sky and mercifully obscuring the sun at random intervals. The breeze was alight with smells of food and ocean and sand, warm as it tussled their hair like a parent might.

They walked past people they knew and smiled politely, occasionally stopping for a very quick chat in case he switched. No one else knew yet, and even stopping was dangerous to them both. Their grips didn't relax until they had walked away. Eventually they found the new mall that was built, nearly barren since there weren't enough young people to occupy it yet but full of incredible shops.

"Did you hear about the Beach City Baby Boom?" Connie giggled. "Apparently winter was extra cold this year."

He blushed but nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Soon we'll have to expand toward Ocean Town, which is hopefully not on fire anymore like they claim to be."

"You ever wonder if the Crystal Gems are why?"

"Every time I think about it." He laughed and pulled her closer.

"𝓓𝓻𝓸𝓹 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓳𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓽, 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓫 𝓪𝓷𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓮𝓵𝓼𝓮."

"Bᴜᴛ ᴘɪɴᴋ ɪs ᴏᴜʀ ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀ! ⵊᴍ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ!"

Steven rolled his eyes and thankfully it fit into the conversation without being too obvious. "Let's go clothes shopping. I'm tired of this jacket and wearing my dad's merch."

"Clothes shopping it is, then. You'll get to be a model and I'll be the hard faced, unimpressed modeling agency." Connie straightened her posture and pretended to look him over with distaste. "I suppose that will do. Though, I wouldn't have chosen it for you in particular."

They giggled and turned into a tucked away thrift store, poking and jabbing at each other like old days.

"Okay, how about this one?" Connie held up the ugliest dress she could find and held it against herself, waggling her eyebrows.

Steven thought she was beautiful. "You're beautiful."

"Gross! Don't lie to me! This dress is hideous!" She wrinkled her nose and groaned. "I couldn't ever."

"I said you're beautiful. I chose to politely not comment on the dress." He laughed and tucked his hands into his pockets. "You are beautiful. This one." He grabbed a random back t-shirt. "I think it'll make me look handsome."

"It'll make you look something."

He scoffed. "Come on, I said you're beautiful!"

She took the steps to close the distance and murmured right next to his ear, "Steven, that shirt lists and defines 10 swear words."

He tried to listen to what she said but her close proximity in such a public space was making him blush and tingle everywhere.

"But hey, maybe we'll just drop the good guy act and flip the script, hm?"

Uh oh. "Your turn." He grabbed her shoulders and put her at arms length, face blazoned red.

Connie blinked in confusion until she saw his expression and burst out laughing. "Someone's antsy today. It's normal."

He tried to scrub the blush from his cheeks and pouted. "I'm not a pervert."

Connie looked over at her boyfriend brooding beside her as they looked through clothes and smiled. "So..."

"So?" His eyes moved from them to hers and he smiled back immediately. He made her feel infectious sometimes like that, especially with the faint trace of pink still there.

She blushed and turned away, picking up a shirt she liked for him. "Never mind." She couldn't stop grinning though.

He stopped and she was forced to too. "What's wrong? Did... Did I cross a line?"

The panic in her voice brought her to action and she snaked her arms over his shoulders to kiss him. He was rigid for a moment, his hands then finally making contact with her hips.

He pulled apart again. "Oh."

"No! I uhm... it was nice. And I was just... thinking about how many things aren't right now." She scratched at her arm and watched his face flicker through emotions until it settled on one she hadn't seen before. Then pain.

"No, not here. Not now." He couldn't be sure if he'd said it out loud, he was pretty sure his lips didn't move.

Connie raced to yank out her phone and take a picture, then opening her notes.

"Well aren't you just cute?"

Oh shit.