Connie tried to get into the commons bathroom but as soon as she got it an inch open, a massive and powerful force slammed it back shut.

"Ah! D-don't come in here!" It cried. "Uhm... Occupada!"

She giggled, testing it again. "Steven, are you okay?"

He groaned, and she could almost see him shaking his head. "My shapeshifting powers are messed up! I can't fix it!"

Concern bloomed from her chest and she ran her hand over the door. "Steven, it's gonna be okay. I'm here. Let me see, I'll even come in there with you if I need to."

Steven seemed to grapple with that for a long while before he moved back from the door and it drifted open. He was a humiliated shade of red and his brown eyes were wide with borderline terror.

She couldn't help it, the first thing she did was slam a hand over her mouth as she giggled. "Oh my gosh, I-I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, I'm not laughing at you–,"

"Well you're certainly not laughing with me!" He complained, burying his face in his hands. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me!"

"...I think we both know that's not–,"

"Yeah, yeah."

* Earlier *

Steven was in a cheerful, excitable and playful mood. It was one of those days where he was so thrilled to have so many different kinds of love to indulge in, and he was thrilled to be alive.

The first thing he did when he saw Adam was scoop him up into his arms and kiss all over his face floating in midair. Adam gasped in surprise but started to chuckle, catching his face with strong hands to hold him in place for a more paced kiss on the lips. "Good morning, Puppy."

Steven's nose wrinkled over a blush. "I am not a puppy."

"That was very puppy-like, but okay." Adam landed firmly on his feet and continued whatever he was doing.

Jacob walked in hand in hand with his wife and Alex closely in tow, which tickled Steven to no end.

"Good morning!" He hugged all of them and gave them kisses too. It couldn't be contained, and he wanted them to know he loved them.

Jacob lit up, sensing Steven's joy and letting it fill him too. "Someone's in a good mood greeting us at the door like a puppy."

Jasmin laughed at Steven's half pout and strained up to pinch his cheek that he provided when her effort was fruitless. "You're so cute, Steven."

"I am not a puppy!" He laughed, picking up Alex to use him as a teddy bear. "And how is my Doll today?"

Alex tried for a good minute to look annoyed, and everyone was staring at him so it was imperative he try. However, Steven's bright eyes and smile just couldn't be ignored. "One could say I'm having an even better day now."

They cheered but Steven set him down because he heard the door to his back left open and that could only mean–

Hazel walked in to be bowled over by Steven and fall flat on his ass by the force of the affectionate hug tackle and nuzzle Steven gave him. "Whoa, there! Good morning, Baby."

Steven pulled away straddling him and beamed, not even needing to ask for the headpats and strokes of his cheek that Hazel provided. "Good morning."

Hazel opened his mouth to say something else, then dropped his eyes and chuckled. "Your gems glowing, you must be extra happy this morning, huh?"

Steven nodded and Jacob tipped his head for a kiss on the cheek from Adam. "We get Puppy Steven today. S'always a good day when that happens."

Hazel squealed and squished Steven's rapidly warming cheeks. "Aw! Puppy Steven! I love that!"

His gem got brighter and he tipped his head curiously, lifting his shirt. Oddly enough, he started to feel warmer than a normal blushing would supply. He was almost hot to the touch, like before he used a significant amount of energy. "Weird, I thought maybe it'd go away. I'm gonna go pee."

Alex snorted. "Lawns that way." He pointed to the front door and held back a laugh. "Make sure you pick up after yourself since you're sentient and all that."

"Haha, you're just full of jokes today." Steven giggled anyways and jumped up, now on a mission to figure out exactly what his gem was giving him a precursor towards. It wasn't like he hadn't been expelling power lately, they were making music and he and Connie still did their sparring twice a month.

As soon as he got to the bathroom it happened. "Oh my stars, no! Th-this isn't funny," He whispered in horror, grabbing at his head. "They'll never let me live this down."

*

"Baby, come on," Connie coaxed, trying to keep the laughter out of her voice as she lugged him behind her.

Steven dragged his feet and whined. "I'll never get the hang of shapeshifting. I'm gonna be stuck like this forever."

His wife turned and patted his cheek. "Oh no, how awful."

"Can't I just wear a beanie and tuck?" He pleaded pitifully.

"Oh, no," Connie chuckled, kissing his hands before tugging him again. "Absolutely not."

Entering the commons again was only slightly hellish. He was still in a good mood and full of love, which caused him to be noticed immediately despite his shame.

Hazel was the first to acknowledge his arrival, and the first to call out for him for a kiss. That excited Steven, and to his horror and humiliation, his puppy tail started to wag, leaving all pretense for explanation as a moot point.

Hazels jaw dropped and his eyes got so wide they almost rolled out of his head. "No way!" He smiled brightly, which only excited Steven more past his humiliated sulking. He loved when Hazel got excited, he was getting to be as excitable as Steven and it made his heart ache with feelings too big to hold. "NO FUCKING WAY!"

Connie forced back a laugh and nodded. "Steven never quite got shapeshifting down, so sometimes stuff like this happens but it's pretty rare." She leveled them with a trying to be serious raise of her eyebrow but her eyes were shining with delight. "You guys wanna tell me why my husband is a puppy boy now?"

All eyes were on Steven and he groaned, dropping his head more and holding onto Connie's hand like a shy toddler. "Just get it out now."

Jasmin slowly approached him, trying to be careful whereas Anna laid eyes upon him and cried, "OMIGOSH A PUPPY!" and ran up to him to pinch his cheeks and rub his tummy.

Steven sucked in a breath and wrapped his hand around her wrist, not stopping the motion but keeping it going. "That actually is really nice."

He sat where he was sitting and Jasmin scratched behind the floppy puppy ears he'd somehow shapeshifted. "I have a million questions I won't ask, but does this feel good?" Her question was answered for her when his tail started smacking again against the floor at the gentle vigorous scratching.

He sighed and nodded anyways. "Uh huh. That feels so good."

Adam dropped his coffee strainer and walked over to kneel in front of Steven. "If I pat your head you're not going to pee on the floor in excitement, right?"

Steven snorted, finally a little embarrass-ment lifting. "That's not funny. I'm still a grown up. I'm not going to pee on the floor."

Sure enough, Adam lifted his hand and Stevens head snapped up to attention, tilting to him a bit. Adam paused, thrilled to no end by all of this. "You're so cute. I genuinely can't stand it."

Steven grabbed his hand and placed it on his head, a soft chuff of content pushing past his lips as his eyes drifted shut. "More attention. All of the attention."

Jacob and Alex were already halfway there after getting tea, then glanced at each other. Jacob smirked and crouched low to the floor, tapping it with his fingernails to catch Steven's hearing. "Steven, come on boy! Come on to the couch!"

"You sure he's allowed on there?" Alex asked sarcastically.

"Oh," Connie gasped. "Call him 'Biscuit'! You have my permission, it's such a cute puppy name!"

Jacob smiled even bigger, lowering his voice a little now that Stevens eyes were locked on his hands. He might bite them off, he might crawl over in bashful exhaustion, or he might lick them. He might just turn into a real puppy! Who knew? That was the fun part. "Come here, Biscuit. Come on, boy!"

Steven grumbled, but the kissy sounds unfortunately caught his full attention and he got up to grab Jacob (causing a yelp of laughter) and crash on the couch. "You guys are having way too much fun with this."

His Connie, who supposedly loved him more than anyone else, scratched under his chin and crooned, "Who's my good boy? Hm? Who's my good Biscuit?"

Steven smoldered at her and huffed. "Me."

Alex sat smack on his chest and leaned against the back of the couch to run his hands over Steven's arms. The softness only yielded for a little until hard muscle and pure alien strength stopped them in place. He quite enjoyed feeling the muscles of the strong men around him. "You say we're being mean but your tail is wagging."

"It's so cute," Anna gushed, watching it with giddy and bright eyes. "It's the same color as his hair and it's wagging so fast!"

"So are his ears," Hazel muttered, dropping a kiss to them both. "They're the same brown color and so soft. Like real puppy ears. How is this my life?"

Adam pointed a finger at him and laughed. "You're so smitten you don't even know what to do with yourself!"

Hazel grinned and smacked his hand away. "Ass. Hole. You're an asshole."

Anna kissed Adam's hand better and ran her fingers through Steven's hair. "He's not an asshole to me! We love him."

Adam pulled her in for a sweet kiss, chuckling when Hazel scoffed until he provided one as well.

Steven was perfectly content with the chaos that was his polycule. He grew sleepy quickly with all the hands on him and sighed contentedly, nuzzling into whoever was giving such incredible scratches suddenly. One eye shot open to see who. He started smiling up at Adam. "More."

"What can I say? I've got that magic touch all my boys love," He bragged. Jacob casually nudged him off the couch and he gasped in mock horrified offense. "You're going to teach our Anna bad behaviors. Don't make me sic Steven on you."

"I don't bite people," Steven mumbled, grabbing Jacob's hand to keep it rubbing against his cheek. "I like that."

"I think the best part of Puppy Steven is that he's always this touch starved so we don't know if it's psychosomatic puppy sensations or just Steven being Steven," Jasmin quipped to Alex. He chuckled, then after a moment of thinking burst out laughing and hunched over. She grinned, pleased she'd brightened his day.

"I wonder if he'd let me take a video to post to TokTok. People would go nuts," Alex mused through his giggles.

"Don't leave," Steven whined.

Alex smirked and tapped his chest. "Stop that. I'll be gone for 45 seconds maximum. The great thing about your life in particular is that I live 20 feet that way."

Steven opened an eye again and sighed in a very puppy like way. "Fine. Leave me then. I guess I'll live."

Alex's jaw dropped as everyone started to cackle at Steven's abandoned yet cool tone. He was trying to make it sound like he didn't care, but it was fairly obvious with the betrayed and violated way he said it that he very much did. The laughing got to him, but he buried his face in Hazels thigh to hide it.

"He's laughing!" Alex protested when they stared boo'ing him for making the puppy sad. "This is so fucking dumb, he's literally smirking cause he always gets what he wants!"

"Just use your phone, cat boyfriend," Connie sighed as the rest of her laughter tapered out. "He doesn't always get what he wants, I promise." Steven peeked up at her and grinned a shit eating grin, obviously pleased with himself when he winked at her just to make her flustered. Her train of thought halted on its tracks for a moment and she averted her eyes. "He's just... good at making it seem like that."

Jacob lit up suddenly. "Does he play fetch?"

"No!" Steven cried. "You will not have me playing fetch!"

Jacob cooed at him and pinched his cheeks, pulling him up to give a few kisses and soothe his incessant complaining. "Now, now. Aggressive pups get put in a..." He frowned, trying to find the American word. It wasn't all that different, but occasionally he blanked out. 'Home' was what his friends back home always used to use but that wasn't right in this context. "Fuck... no, no," He told Jasmin where she opened her mouth to give him the first letter, a 'K'. "I've got it... a kennel?" Adam and Jasmin choked on a laugh but nodded. "You don't wanna be put in a kennel, do you?"

Steven nipped at his hands in amusement and sighed wantonly. "Give me a bunch of food, please and thank you, and maybe I'll show you new powers I've been working on."

Jasmin and Adam hopped up to make food, then glowered at each other playfully before clasping hands and heading towards the kitchen together.

Jasmin grinned and pointed to the shelf Adam could reach so he could grab ingredients. "What does Puppy Steven want?"

Hazel snorted. "And don't say kibble. You're above that, cutie."

Steven giggled and sat up, shaking the hands from his head and stretching a bit. His polycule gasped and squealed for no reason he could find. "What?"

Alex held up his phone. "Do that again, babe. Trust me."

He sighed and shook the hands off again exactly the way he did before. "And?" Alex showed him the video featuring the ears on his head flopping with the motion and he turned bright red. "Dammit. That really is cute."