·°Movie Night°·

The end of summer was nearing, so on this warm evening in early September, Steven had to make the most of it. For the last time he checked the TV guide, which he’d done several times in the hour for peace of mind. Now there was only a half hour left to wait, Connie would be arriving any minute now.

Juice?

Check.

Cookies?

Check.

Steven pondered for a moment just what it was that he’d forgotten.

“Well, duh.” He laughed, bounding downstairs. He jumped up on the countertop and rummaged through the cupboard containing the year’s supply of snacks, a few chip bags falling out as he did so. At last he laid eyes upon the long untouched bags of microwaveable popcorn.

Just as his finger rested above the minute button on the microwave, Steven decided to wait on it.

I really need to go through all of this someday soon.

This thought came to Steven as he looked over the assorted games, books, sweatshirts, blankets and pillows, and old pairs of shoes that filled the stair closet. He had to toss some of these aside in order to pull out one certain pillow, sure to provide optimal movie-viewing experience. It being longer than he was tall, Steven was relieved to see the blue hand that grabbed the pillow once it was freed.

“Heh, thanks.” He said, reaching his head as far he could to see Zircon behind the cotton giant. She smiled in return.

A stronger smile.

Now dragging the pillow up stair by stair, Steven acknowledged that happiness probably did come easier to someone once they knew that they weren’t a wanted criminal.

Once the large pillow had been flopped down onto the bed, it was time to work around it. He started with the pillows at the top of his bed, using them to back it. He then poked his head out to look down at Zircon. “Would you mind handing me a few?”

She gathered a few smaller pillows from the closet, holding each one up for Steven to grab.

It was a masterpiece of comfort now. Four smaller pillows in front were the paint, though the two on the sides were a bit smaller– for proportion; the largest one behind those, making for the canvas; and the head pillows behind the scenes acted as the easel.

With just twenty minutes, Steven tossed the popcorn in the microwave, ing this time to take the plastic off. He shuddered at thought of last time.

“Why wrap what’s already wrapped?” Zircon asked from the living room.

“People get pretty fussy about sanitation,” Steven replied. “But I agree, it is kinda ridiculous to wrap a paper bag in plastic… and then put it in a box. Yikes.”

That was another to add to the list of many things that Zircon had made him think about. She asked the questions that most other people wouldn’t. Probably because they couldn’t be answered easily.

The microwave signaled that its job had been done, and Steven just about dropped the warm paper bag when he heard the knock at the door. Instead, he left it laying on the countertop.

“Hi, Connie!” He exclaimed while attempting to pull the door open.

Zircon marked his error. “It’s locked.”

“Oh.”

The lock clicked and Connie came in, slipping her backpack off. “This so exciting!” She practically shouted it, but Steven had to agree. “Is that popcorn? Good thing you made it, I brought some snacks, but completely forgot the most common movie food. And I know that I shouldn’t have brought it, but I did.” She pulled out The Unfamiliar Familiar. “I’m hoping that I won't need to call out too many unreasonable differences.”

She followed Steven back into the kitchen, where he found a large red bowl. “It's disappointing that the movie didn't get enough reception to have a theater release.”

“But hey, at least we won't need to pay for tickets.” Steven reassured her, dumping the popcorn in. He opened the fridge and moved sauces aside to look for the butter. He eventually closed it and sighed. “Zircon, did Amethyst seriously take the butter!?”

The Gem stopped mid page turn. “...Yes, if butter is the white stick?”

Steven groaned. He stretched his arm up to the freezer and found another box of butter sticks, unwrapped one while the others went to the fridge, and put it in a mug in the microwave. Connie was ready with the salt shaker by the time it was done.

With just seven more minutes to wait, and with Steven holding the still-warm popcorn and Connie flipping through the pages of The Unfamiliar Familiar, they fell back onto the pillow wall.

“Zircon, I should've told you about the Spirit Morph Saga, then you could have watched the movie with us!” Steven said. “I mean, you still could, but it's probably better to read the books first.”

“No, thank you,” Zircon closed the dictionary, which she had been ionately reading for a few weeks. “I don't understand your entertainment imagery, anyway. However, I wouldn't want to spoil a book for myself, so I'll just… uh, go out there.” She took a few steps toward the door.

“Okay.” Steven took in a handful of popcorn.

Steven's crunching of the popcorn stopped when he noticed the glow of the Temple door. Pearl stepped down into the house and glanced around. “Garnet's still gone.”

At the sound of her voice, Zircon froze.

Steven inched nearer to the edge of his loft, while Pearl walked closer.

“Is that Connie?” Pearl called.

“Hello, Pearl!” Connie paused from shoving popcorn in her own mouth.

"What are you doing here?

“Steven and I are about to watch the television premier of The Unfamiliar Familiar: The Movie!”

“Um… fun? Well, I'm going to see if Garnet needs any assistance. Enjoy your movie!”

Zircon's fingers brushed the door handle and Pearl turned to face her.

“Hello.” Pearl smiled.

Zircon’s hand pushed down a bit too quickly, and the next thing she knew, she was laying on the deck. She had no idea whether she should have laughed or cried.

The warp stream activated. Zircon picked up the book and brushed herself off, only to slide down the side of the house, angrily muttering something about coordination.

Back inside, Connie turned to Steven. “I'm going to guess that someone here is in love.” She suppressed a giggle.

Steven looked out to Zircon, now reading oddly close to the book. “Yeah.” He replied, just as Lisa’s voice began to narrate.

#Steven

#Connie

#Stevonnie

#Zircon

#Pearl

#Pearlcon

Both of these ships just seemed extremely cute to me today, so you've now got installment #2 of "I got an idea and now I'm gonna make content for it instead of doing things I actually need to do".