I had never felt this feeling before. I could feel my heart beating in my ears, my stomach felt like it was going to fall out my butt. I had a huge lump and bile in my throat like I just tried to dry swallow a pill.

I hated them. I hated them so much.

I burst into Peridots house, sobbing into my hand. "He took him back. Steven took Hazel back."

Alex looked up from the couch, his eyes wide.

"Oh... Connie." Peridot awkwardly patted my shoulder.

"Why would he do that?" I cried. "I thought the plan was working! I-I thought—,"

'I thought he was falling in love with me.'

I sniffled and broke down again. I couldn't describe this feeling, but I felt broken.

"Because he's a liar, a cheat, and a terrible person; that's why," Peridot said grimly.

Alex jumped in, "When we were in high school together, Steven made Peridot–,"

"Alexander! Please!" Peridot shrieked viciously. "Look, he's not going to get away with this again, okay? We're going to move to the final steps."

"We are?" I sniffled and tried to compose myself.

Peridot sat me down and pulled out a chalkboard from behind the couch, showing off an impressive ass I had not noticed before. "Steven Universe is an evil dictator. How do you overthrow an evil dictator? You cut off his resources."

"I- I instilled a bit of doubt in Pearl but–,"

"Shhh," Alex told me. "She's fired up now."

"Steven would be nothing without his high status man candy," She wrote down Hazels name. "His walls built high, and his loyal subjects." She pointed to Selective Engagement and Royal Skanks. "Now, Connie. If this is going to work, you're going to have to keep hanging out with them like nothing is wrong. Can you do that?"

I nodded with determination. "Yes."

Peridot grinned and rubbed her hands together manically. "Let's rock this bitch."

Pretending that nothing was wrong turned out to be surprisingly easy.

"And well," Pearl explained to me on the stairwell the next day at school, "Steven wanted me to tell you that he was trying to hook you up with Hazel but he was only interested in getting back together with him. And that's not Stevens fault."

I smiled. "No, I know."

"Okay, so you're not mad at Steven?" She asked.

"No, of course not! I'm so happy for them!" I lied.

Pearl gave me an apologetic smile. "Good because Steven wanted me to give you this." She wrapped her arms around me in a gentle hug.

Over her shoulder I rolled my eyes in disgust. He couldn't even say it to my face. What a dog. I patted her back awkwardly.

At lunch, I was unsurprised to see Hazel sitting next to Steven.

"The goal is to hit 300 before the end of the year," He told Hazel.

"Do you know how many people regularly bench 300lbs? You're gonna kill yourself," He laughed.

Steven shrugged. "No pain, no gain."

"You're crazy."

Steven looked up as I found my seat.

I sat down as daintily as possible, making sure to present the strawberry outfit Steven loved so damn much and my tits near to bursting out of my top.

"You know you can hold my hand at lunch right? It's not some big scandalous secret that we're dating," Steven whined, extending a hand with a charming smile that had me nearly chewing glass.

Hazel hummed and interlocked their hands on the table, earning a kiss on the cheek. "All better?"

"All better. You're so handsome, Hazel." Steven turned to me, his eyes flickering for a moment as he gave me a once over before smiling. "Connie, can you please tell Hazel how handsome he is?"

Steven was dangling him in front of me on purpose. I flashed back to the night where I'd met all those gems he'd used and discarded. In gem world, I imagined I would draw my sword and we'd battle to the death.

It would be an all out war, us earthlings fighting against the gems with all we had. Countless lives would be lost, gems would lose their forms and crack, never to be the same again. I would emerge as a knight, and I would lead us to a supple, but painful victory.

But this was the real world. This was Stevens colony.

"You're very handsome, Hazel," I mumbled. He gave me a contrite look but I ignored it.

And in Stevens colony, everything had to be done sneaky.

Later after school, we met up at his house and he picked up his guitar, strumming it idly. "Stars and Diamonds, I'm so sore."

I perked up. "Oh! There's this trick my mom taught me: take really hot baths instead of cold ones and take less rest days." He looked at me skeptically until I added, "She's a doctor."

He considered that. "Yeah, alright."

At every opportunity, we kept our eyes open for further sabotage.

During lunch the next day his eyes kept flickering back and forth between colors and he sat down heavily in his seat. Hazel leaned over and pulled him into his chest. "I fucking love when your eyes do that."

Steven gave me a cocky glance and I seethed quietly in my seat. "Thanks babe. I want a kiss."

They locked lips and Steven threw another look my way before pulling Hazel closer. He wanted me to watch, that rat bastard.

At gym, Peridot snuck into the locker room and switched out his clothes for a dress and 8 inch heels.

He came out wearing it proudly, his feet smaller and hair up, and strutted off to class like it was no big deal. He looked so fucking gorgeous I wanted to strangle and kiss him at the same time. Hazel walked by him and grabbed the end of his dress to bring him in for an obscene kiss against the lockers, humming into it and making my fucking blood boil.

"You look good in a dress." Hazel ran his finger over Stevens chest.

"I know."

The next day, everyone had dressed genderbent and I wanted to scream with rage. It went on like that for so long: us trying to ruin his public image and him rocking it always while everyone followed him like braindead idiots.

"This is fucked, you guys," Peridot groaned a few weeks later. "It's been an entire month and all we've done is make Hazel and Steven closer."

Alex sighed. "Sorry, I've been really busy with Honors Choir and Speech just started up."

"We've got to crack Pearl. We crack the lock on Pearl, and then we crack the lock to all of Stevens dirty history."

"Say crack again," Alex whispered.

"Crack."

"Alright, let's meet at my house tonight," Peridot told me.

I cringed and shook my head. "I can't, I have to learn the choreography for the talent show. It's like, to some song about st–,"

"Haven't You Noticed (I'm A Star)," They chorused in monotone.

"You guys know that song?"

Peridot laughed. "Everyone who's ever listened to the radio has heard that song at least six billion times."

"They do it every year." Alex groaned and tossed a hand. "I swear if you gave me a minute I could sing it backwards."

We looked over at Steven talking to a teacher, who smiled largely at him. He glanced our way and did a double take, excusing himself to walk over.

"Uh oh. Go, go!" I muttered and they took off just as Steven got to me.

"What are you doing still talking to them?" He asked critically. I could hear the suspicion in it as he watched them whispering to each other.

I scrambled for a lie a little too intensely. "I-I don't know! They just started talking to me again like we were still friends or something."

"What a weird fucking gem." Steven rolled his eyes and watched them walk off judgementally. "Alex could be popular if he wasn't such a cuck."

"I was so uncomfortable like, come on, right?" I had to drive it home even though I felt bad but when he leaned in closer to me, I caught a whiff of his cologne.

"Let me tell you something about Peridot," He murmured like someone might overhear. "We used to be really close when I was a kid."

My jaw dropped.

"I know." He gave me a rueful smile. "Anyways so then in 10th grade I started hanging out more with Pearl and Spinel and sometimes we would go out without her because not everything has to include her and one day at the movies we saw her hanging out with Lapis and she kissed her! It was totally cute and everything, but then when I asked her about it she told me to mind my business. I reported her to Amber and she got in trouble, so she dropped out. Then Lapis started hanging out with us, and we got close. When Peridot came back she was alt or something and now I guess she's still as hostile as she was before." He gossiped like a high schooler and I fought the urge to slap him across the face.

A girl walked past wearing the same shirt I had worn when I first sat with the Crystal Gems. "Hey, Steven."

He smiled and pointed to her shirt, "Hey. Bad Girls Study Hard? Somehow I don't believe you're a bad girl, Anna."

She blushed at the same time my jaw dropped again, this time in pure furious disbelief. He used the exact same line on me!

"O-oh... thank you. Bye!" She hurried off and Steven turned to me.

"Swear to stars, that is the nerdiest shirt I've ever seen. It looked good on you though." He brushed a finger over my cheek like he adored me and it nearly made me sick at first.

But quickly I grappled with trying not to smile, but it couldn't be helped. "Well, thanks."

"No need to thank me, Berry. You're gorgeous." His voice turned husky as he pulled his hand away.

"So, are you going to send any candy canes?" I needed to change the subject before my mind took that and ran for the 80th time.

He shrugged and winced at the soreness. The hot baths hadn't been helping, in fact they were making him dizzy and feel faint, but I told him it took awhile to catch on and he stuck with it. "I-I don't send them. I get them." He chuckled and tapped my nose. "So you'd better send me one, hottie."

He left and I turned around to head to the table where they kept them. Oh, I was sending one alright. I was going to use two candy canes to crack Pearl wide the hell open.

A week later in my class with Pearl, Alex walked in wearing a Santa suit during fifth hour. "Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!"

Mrs. Townsend rolled her eyes. "You've got 5 minutes maximum, Alex."

"We have one for Jacob Olfax! We have one for Connie Maheswaren! We have two for Bigs Jasper! You go, Bigs Jasper!" He tossed them out to each of us and I held my candy cane like it was the most precious thing in the world. "One for Adam Johansson..."

Pearl tried to speak up, but Alex cut her off. "And none for Pearl. Bye!"

"Who is that candy cane from?" Pearl asked.

I opened the card and pretended to be surprised. "'You're like a Pearl to me. Thanks for being so useful. Love, Steven.'" I held it to my chest. "Ugh, he's so sweet!" I set it down within her reach and grabbed my pencil as the teacher started back up again.

She snatched it and read over the note several times. "This is his handwriting, too..." She trailed her fingers over it, looking stricken with grief.

I'd learned that Steven had very similar handwriting to mine, flouncy and near perfect and I internally shouted for joy. She fell for it just like I planned for her to.

Once Pearl thought Steven was replacing her, the secrets started pouring out. All we needed to do was wait for one we could use. And no matter what I had to do, I would do it.

This was personal now.

A few nights before the show, Steven did something different. "Connie, would you be a dear and learn the fusion choreography too? Just because? I'm curious."

I had been expecting this might happen eventually, but even still I nodded apprehensively. "Sure."

"But she's a human!"

Steven raised an eyebrow and turned.

Pearl raised her hand meekly. "I-I mean, can you even fuse with a human? Rainbow always does the choreography. She knows the part." She looked to Spinel who was touching up her makeup over Facetime while she flirted with the basketball team. Apparently, she didn't usually participate due to new school regulations about Stevinel.

"And right now, Rainbow is this close to getting benched," He warned lowly, then turned to Spinel. "Spinel, get up, we need you for backup."

She whined but waved goodbye and pranced over. "Ready when you are."

Steven smiled at me and not for the first time I noticed his arms were starting to get more defined. In that muscle tank, it was minorly distracting as he held out his hand to me. "Fusion is like painting." He held my hand in his and rested the other on my waist. He took me into a comfortable waltz and smiled when I caught on quickly. "There we go. It's comfortable, but powerful." He spun me and I started to feel giddy. "Follow the strokes, and let the picture in your mind disappear. Let it paint itself." He dipped me and his warm glow spread over to me as I laughed and he pressed his forehead to mine.

My first thought was that it didn't work. I could feel a single heart beating in my chest, I wasn't nauseous or terrified. I felt peaceful and connected.

And then I– we – got a look of ourselves in the mirror.

Spinel squealed and clapped her hands. "Wow! You guys are knockout gorgeous."

Pearl nodded disappointedly. "Yeah..."

"Stevonnie," It was like our minds were interconnected, we spoke together but a different voice came out. It was exhilarating and incredible. We laughed, turning to get a full view of ourselves. "This is– wow!" We burst out excitedly. "I'm a fusion!" I exclaimed. We stood proudly, our shoulders back as we locked eyes with ourselves in the mirror. "We're a fusion."

We practiced for a few nights to the track and by the end, I was completely ready for either part and proud of myself. We were a completely different person together. Between his charm and good looks, and my new boldness and personality, we felt like an unstoppable force. I found my days filled with thinking about fusing again that night. I was close to Steven again, and it felt incredible. He and Hazel may have been dating, but we were fusing together at night. It gave me a smug sort of confidence that took hold of me strongly.

When Steven dropped me off the last night before the show, he stopped the car and locked the doors. "You're so beautiful, Connie."

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and leaned closer. "Is that so?"

"You already know." He closed the distance between us and kissed me feverishly. I gave him exactly what he was giving and before I knew it I had crawled into his lap, grinding onto him while he played with my body. "I'm willing to bet if I checked, you would be soaked for me."

"Then why don't you?" I kissed him again and he groaned, reaching down to shove my panties aside under my skirt.

He pulled away immediately and growled, "You're so fucking wet."

His touch was gentle but I could feel his hands shaking against me and I wiggled my hips experimentally. "I've been messing around with toys lately after what you taught me," I confessed coyly, watching his eyes take on that lusty pink glow. I pushed my fingers into his hair and bit my lip. "You've ruined me."

"Connie," He singsonged quietly as he began to circle my clit. "You're gonna get yourself in trouble~."

I didn't care, I moaned and his lips latched onto mine again to muffle the sound. This was so much better than doing it myself! All I had to do was focus on the pleasure and let him play me like one of his guitars.

He pulled away and let me make all the noise I needed to, pressing his lips into the crook of my neck sweetly and slowing down. "Beg for it."

I blushed but I was so close I didn't care. "Please!"

"Fuck," He pushed a finger into me and I gasped, digging my nails into his shoulder. "That's it, relax." He kissed my neck again and pushed a second finger in.

I was breathless and needy as he stretched me open. He curled them and I yelped. That felt incredible! "Again."

"Don't tell me what to do." He did it anyways, repeatedly stroking at that spot inside of me and pushing me back so he could watch my face. "You're so fucking gorgeous. And smart." I squeezed around him when I felt myself getting closer. "And sweet." He lifted his freehand to trace over my lips and cheek.

It was too much, his touch, his fingers expertly working, I couldn't stop it and I didn't want to. I slumped and let the orgasm wash over me. It was different but just as amazing as it was when I used my toys.

He pulled me into his arms and hugged me close. I could feel how hard he was and expected to have to get him off, but he rubbed my back and I fell asleep in his arms.

I woke up the next morning in my own bed, more invigorated than I'd ever been in my life.