Connie raised an eyebrow but took his arm as he escorted her out anyways. He was awfully flirty, but she was sure she could stay professional, even if this personality seemed possibly closest to her Steven just with no filter.

"You've got a darling thinking face. What's on your mind, gorgeous?"

Professionally blushing, that's what she was doing. It was just to make him let his guard down and give her information. "What part of Steven are you? You don't... seem all that different just more–,"

"Confident?" He flashed her a dazzling smile that sucked the air right out of her lungs. "Steven and I share the same memories."

Information! She wrestled her phone out of her pocket and typed it in before it dawned on her. "Wait... but that doesn't make any sense. How can you share the same memories if you're separate?"

"How does a coin continuously stay a coin if you can only see one side at a time?"

Holy shit that was the greatest analogy she'd ever heard! Her arm slipped from his just so she could tug on her hair and laugh. "Oh my stars! You just... explained everything! Can the others be this helpful?"

"I'm only helpful when I want something, Connie." Uh oh, that drop in his voice, the bass there was compelling. And that was bad.

She laughed nervously. "What is it you want?"

He didn't answer her for a few minutes as they walked, seemingly not caring that the gravitas was growing with every step. "I want you." He watched her face flush with wicked enjoyment. "To have dinner with me."

"That's it," She asked suspiciously.

He nodded. "That will be all."

She'd heard that phrase somewhere but she couldn't place it. Chances are it didn't mean anything, but he was addressing her like he would a girlfriend (or something) which was weird because he was an alter and not Steven, right?! She bit back a groan and decided to push for more. "Do you remember the first time we had doughnuts?"

"Right off the beach at the Big Donut. We fought Jasper and a beast and walked away with zero casualties that mattered," He recited briskly.

Zero casualties that mattered? She very vividly remembered Amethyst poofing, regardless of how brief it was. She'd need to ask him about the gems at a time where if he decided to make a scene it wouldn't matter.

He paused and tipped his head slightly as if hearing something. "That black dress looks stunning by the way."

Left and right, back and forth with this guy! "Stay on track, I've got to milk you for all you're worth." She wrote down that he apparently had at least some access to Stevens memories and his behavior.

'He's a problematically terminal flirt. Every other word out of his mouth is a compliment or tease. He does seem to be smart to some extent too. He looks incredibly close to Steven, a few inches taller and definitely on the classier side of the spectrum. Possible sexually aggressive alter? Maybe a fragment?' It took her a moment too long to notice him staring at her.

"Milk me for all I'm worth?" A humorous eyebrow was arched above the other, his hands tucked safely in his pockets and an accompanying smirk to his relaxed body language as he strolled beside her. "Is that right?"

"Don't you start," She warned weakly. "I've got so much going on right now. I need stress relief, not feeling guilty." Her hand slapped over her mouth but it was far too late. Admitting that he affected her was like lying down when you spot a lion headed your way.

It was complete suicide.

"I didn't start anything." He slipped his hand in hers and squeezed. "I know things about you that the other alters don't, I'm the closest thing to Steven you'll get."

"For how long?"

He gave her a bit of a shrug. "We're never sure."

"Then how do I get rid of you if I so choose when I need someone else?" She hated the way his hands felt like Stevens, the way he was warm and incredibly charming and so much like her Steven if he could just grow a pair. She hated the way he'd probably been smothering down all of his human urges and ended up so repressed it became an entire personality. But more than all of that, she hated the gems for doing this to him.

"We can all be gotten rid of," Ruan replied matter-a-factly, completely ignoring her question. "But the shatter has to be fixed, and that is more likely to take forever than it is to be done by tomorrow."

She inhaled to ask him another question but he held up his free hand. "But why? You're giving me data."

"And you're giving me a head rush. I don't know everything. I have memories that are mine, but I don't..." For the first time that night he looked severely troubled. "But there's not much else. I know those things and only that."

"How do you know you can all be gotten rid of, and what does that imply?"

He gave her a mock annoyed look. "Let's make a deal."

She almost smacked him across the face for playing games, but kept her fists and tongue controlled. "Depends on the deal."

"I'll let you ask me a million questions so I can say I don't know a little less than a million times, but after dinner, I would like a... oh stars, what it is called?" He waved his hand through the air dramatically, squinting as if it were on the tip of his tongue.

Now she really wanted to sock him. "Spit it out, Romeo."

"Ruan," He corrected. "And you say I'm bad with names."

"Ruan, get on with it."

They rounded a corner that Connie knew wasn't the way to the exit. This was criminally stupid, but then again, wasn't stupid the same thing as brave sometimes? It got darker and darker until only lights were flickering, no open stores in sight.

But there was an open door.

She wished she could've been surprised when he hooked an arm around her waist, pushed her against the wall of the closed shop and caged her in. His actions were even a bit careless with how hard she bumped against the surface.

Eye contact! She'd resolved to try not to make it for too long, but what if it was like a bear attack and she had to double down and stare back just to show she wasn't afraid? She wasn't afraid, maybe nervous, but not afraid. It would be humiliating if he thought that.

"You're like a bunny," He cooed softly and brushed a finger under her chin. "We think very highly of you."

She swallowed, trying not to shiver at his touch. "Is that why we're in a dark room together? Because you think highly of me?" She asked as dryly as she could.

"No. We're in a dark room because we were being tailed." He leaned in so close she could almost taste him. Her heartbeat started pounding in her chest as she fought the urge to close the distance.

Instead she focused on important stuff. "By whom?"

"Who do you think?" He picked up a lock of her hair and ran his thumb over it. "Your hair is so soft. We could play with it all day."

"Y-you use 'we'," She observed. It was like he was emanating something that was making her brain go to sleep and her body wake all the way up, his presence was like a fresh batch of cookies to her senses. She had to keep focused.

"Consider me a wailing stone. The voice that comes through me is his, I just have no filter." It surprised her how smart he was. They were creative metaphors, but ones she could piece together easily.

"Riddle me this," She started slowly. "Could you tell me something, a single moment in time, that only Steven would know?"

His hands fell to her waist and she nearly squeaked. His eyes fell shut as he focused and licked his lips. "Four months ago, Steven caught you wearing his jacket over your bra because it was cold and your shirt had gone missing from the bathroom. You'd... forgotten it in the bedroom. And when he saw you like that he went ballistic."

She pursed her lips at the sour memory. "Right. Glad you chose that one."

His grip tightened as he rested his forehead against hers. "Don't you know why? You're a smart girl. Guess."

It was difficult not to notice how close his fingers were to her butt. "Because it's his?"

"Because you're sexy as sin, and he freaked out because now every time he wears that jacket after that–,"

"𝑰 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒅, 𝑹𝒖𝒂𝒏! 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒑."

He paused and pushed away in frustration. "Fine."

She didn't think, she couldn't move from having her back pressed against the wall either, but her arm could grab his and pull him back. It was recklessly stupid, but more data needed to be collected. And maybe, just maybe, she was deciding to indulge in a form of attention she couldn't seem to weasel out of Steven past a boner. "Stay." It was totally wrong, but wasn't everything nowadays?

His eyes burned into her. "You want us to stay?"

"Yes." It was a half whisper, half sigh of resignation. "Doesn't Steven know I have wants too?"

He stills. "No."

"Himbos, the lot of you." In a last attempt to just quiet her mind, now giving her constant commentary and screaming out one thing over and over and over, she grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss.

Whoa.