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The solstice fell that year on December twenty-first, and Amethyst strolled into his bedroom on the seventh with absolutely no plan. This was doubly uncomfortable, because Steven was still in bed. He looked longingly at the spot where no door was, and dreamed of a day when he would learn what privacy was.
“What do you want for the solstice?” Amethyst asked cheerfully. “Every time I think ‘longest night of the year’, I just think candles, but you know those bad boys never make it home. They smell too delicious.”
“I just want a nice time with my family and friends,” Steven said, “and for all the Little Homeschool celebrations to run smoothly.”
“Friends, huh?” Amethyst hummed and rubbed her chin. “When’s the last time you and Connie hung out?”
“Oh. You know.” He shrugged, trying not to look disappointed. “We’ve been around. Busy. But we text, so…”
There was a phone in Amethyst’s hand and Steven’s eyes went wide. He scrambled across the bed to grab it, but she danced out of the way. “Hey, Connster. Are you busy? Because, I gotta say, ever since Steven went vegetarian, he’s been eating way too much protein powder. You don’t know anything about nutrition, do you?”
Steven waved his arms frantically, face darkening with every moment as Amethyst feigned surprise and refused to end the call. “Oh my gosh, you do? Yeah! Bring over all the supplies you want! Meal prep? Weeks of meals? Uh huh, I think he can make time for that. Thanks, Connie. You’re the best.”
He stared, watching her hang up her phone and jam it into her shirt. “Why would you do that?”
She clicked her tongue and pointed. “Because I got your back, Steven. Happy Midwinter!”
The next day, Connie came to his house with a moving box full of food and a bright smile that made him miss her terribly, even though she was standing right in front of him. He barely had time to catch the heavy box as she unloaded it into his arms and walked right by him. “Morning, Steven! Ready to make enough lunches to last through January?”
“This is a lot of food,” he said, peering into the overloaded box. “Did you buy this yourself?”
“I told Mom you were going vegetarian with protein shakes and she took me shopping.” She grinned as she swept into the kitchen, starting to get out cutting boards. “I don’t know if it says nice things or mean things about you that my mom didn’t even want to check if Amethyst was lying. She just ran out to the store to feed you.”
He blushed. “She was lying. I don’t only get protein through shakes.”
“Uh huh?” Connie said, digging into his cabinets and setting up his electric pressure cooker. “Where are you getting your protein?”
“Eggs,” he said immediately. She gave him a look , and he confessed, “And a lot of those frozen fake meat things.”
“I knew you were a junk food vegetarian!” she crowed.
He dropped the box onto the kitchen counter, starting to unload the things inside. Potatoes, onions, lentils… Steven shrugged at her. “I’m kind of a junk food person. With my magic, maybe it doesn’t matter.”
“Or maybe it does and you’ll feel way, way better when you’re eating actual food,” she retorted. She dug into the box herself and pulled out a huge bag of dried beans. She held them out dramatically. “Steven Universe, these are chickpeas, one of the greatest foods known to mankind. They are delicious bombs of protein.”
“I know what chickpeas are.”
“Oh yeah?” She looked sly. “Then what’s the difference between a garbanzo bean and a chickpea?”
He flushed and tugged open the bag in her arms, taking it from her with a playful elbow. “I know that one too. Don’t let Pearl hear. She’ll ban you.”
“I heard it from Lars and I bet you heard it from Lars and he’s not banned.” As he dumped the beans into the pot, she dropped in a couple bay leaves and started filling up the pot with carefully measured water. “We’re gonna make tikka masala, a chickpea and tahini salad, lentil and sweet potato stew and this chickpea salad that’s kind of like a chicken salad. And then I’ll tell you about the wonders of overnight oats. Icelandic yogurt is going to be your new best friend.”
“I think you’re still going to be my best friend at the end of today,” he said with a giggle. The lid was on the pot, the switch flipped to build the pressure, and he looked back at her. “You’re not a vegetarian.”
Connie shrugged, flipping through a stapled set of printed recipes she had brought with her. “Food in my culture is very low meat and I’m always looking for ways to cut back. It’s hard to ethically justify consuming animals without the factory farms and global warming, add those in and it’s hard to justify it at all. I should really just be like you.”
“Did you research this for me?” he asked.
She hesitated as she reached into the box. A couple years ago, there wouldn’t have been a pause, just an eager smile, her insisting she was his knight and they had to be in tiptop shape to save the world. But the world was saved, and her dedication could have implications. So, now, she looked away and dug down for ingredients. “You know I love studying survival stuff. Nutrition is an important part of that.”
“But did you research it for me ?” he insisted.
She pushed a jar of tahini into his hands, cheeks lightly flushed. “Half for you, half for me. Let’s get cooking.”
“Well, Steven, I’ve embroidered your name into the hem of all your hats, but that feels so impersonal. What else can I do for you this solstice?” Pearl said on the sixteenth of December.
“Aw, that’s sweet, Pearl, but that’s plenty.” he looked up from his planner and papers spread across the kitchen table. “As long as everything goes smoothly at Little Homeschool and I get to see my friends and family, I’m happy.”
She clapped and beamed. “Oh! You and Connie have been distant, haven’t you?”
“Pearl, please. Amethyst just dragged her over here last weekend!” He blanched.
Pearl strolled to the knife block, taking out a couple, and dragged the blades horizontally across the metal sink with an awful scrape. Steven pleaded for her to stop, but nothing slowed her down. Out came the phone, no matter how Steven begged, and Pearl’s chipper voice began, “Connie, dear, you would not believe the damage Amethyst has done to our knives. Would it be too much trouble for you to come fix a few? No one has your delicate touch when it comes to sharpening - except for Bismuth, of course, but she’s so busy. Oh, you would? You’re an angel, Connie! Goodbye.”
“She’s studying!” Steven yelped. “She doesn’t have time for this!”
“Well, that’s odd,” Pearl said slyly, rolling her phone in her hand. “Because she seemed very eager for the chance to come over. Merry Solstice, Steven.” She kissed his forehead, and he was sure it was hot with embarrassment.
Connie really was good at sharpening knives. It was a great reason to call her over. She had taken an interest in it years ago, after Pearl taught her how to maintain a sword blade. She found it meditative, in the same way he enjoyed learning new instruments, and during the years before Era 3 there was never a dull knife in Steven’s home. Everything was kept razor sharp by Connie’s busy hands and busier mind.
Now, she looked completely unfocused on her task, muscle memory sliding the blade across the whetstone with quiet, sharp sounds. She drizzled water to clean it, to keep things running smooth, then went back to it, moving through grades of grit until his mediocre knives were back to the way they used to be.
He should have done something other than watch. Steven had plenty of work he should have been doing, work that was not Connie’s long steady fingers applying even pressure along the blade. Things that were not the thoughtful way she took her lip in her teeth as she eased a burr from the edge. Things that were not her quiet breath, or the occasional mutter of a math problem or a rhyme to remember dates that told him her mind was full of school like his was full of work.
Or, at least, usually full of work. Because now it was full of her, and the kinds of fantasies he wasn’t proud of. The ones where she smiled and laughed and said, “I don’t know why I’ve been studying so hard. You’re rich! I don’t need a job. When I turn eighteen I’ll just move in with you. I’ll just start coming over all the time!” And that wasn’t Connie. He would never want her to be that, not really. She wasn’t an emotional support toy with no will of her own. She wasn’t his dedicated servant.
He tried to force his mind to something else, like kissing. That was always great for a distraction. He tried to imagine kissing her, but even then his fantasy self would whisper, “Don’t you have to study history?” and she would smirk and whisper, “It’s in the past” before kissing him harder. He groaned aloud from his stupid brain that was missing the person right in front of him, instead of just enjoying having her near.
Connie yelped, finger going to her mouth as his groan startled her and made the knife slip. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. Let me fix it.” He held out his hand for hers, wincing at the blood trickling out from the small but deep cut. Gems didn’t bleed, and there was something a bit more viscerally upsetting to his squishy human brain about the sight. He kissed it, and blood and wound vanished in an instant. When he looked up, her eyes were wet. From a tiny cut? That didn’t seem like her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. I’m sorry.” She groaned and shook her head. “I finally manage to see you and I’m so in my head that I end up making you go back to work as Dr. Steven.”
“I don’t mind healing you.”
She poked his forehead with a bitter smile. “You’d say that even if you did.”
He couldn’t argue with that, so he said, “Think of it as a Midwinter gift. Unless you have a better idea of what I could get you?”
She sighed, putting her chin in her hands. “I know what I want, but you can’t give it to me.”
“Are you sure?” he grinned. “I’m kind of a super rich and powerful magic prince. There’s a lot on the table.”
Connie rolled her eyes, but smiled. “Okay, picture this: I sleep until ten in the morning. When I get up, Dad’s already made tea and Mom got chocolate croissants for us. Neither of them go to work because the snow is too bad. We stay at home and play board games until they go to sleep, and then I sit with hot cocoa and watch the snowfall while listening to music. I never touch a book.”
He smiled, cozy just thinking about it. “Why don’t you do it?”
“We’re visiting relatives,” she said, and moved on quickly. “What about you? What do you want for Midwinter?”
Steven looked wistfully out the window and sighed, “A brand new red Norvette with nitro enhancements and the best sound system money can buy.”
She snorted. “I’m going to get you a drawing of Dogcopter with anime cat ears on a fast food napkin. Copter-chan says konichiwa.”
“I’m going to get you a brand new red Norvette with-” He grinned as she reached out to playfully pinch his unbreakable skin.
They joked until she left, and on her way out she said, “Happy Solstice, in case I don’t see you!” Somehow, it was one of the worst things he ever heard.
“Steven, I’ve been wondering what to get you for solstice,” Garnet began on the nineteenth.
“Not Connie! She’s not even in the state!” he yelped.
“Uh…”
Steven laughed nervously. “I mean, maybe a music gift card? Or some new headphones?”
“I can get you Connie.”
“I definitely said not Connie.”
“I can give you romantic advice.”
“Oh, that’s fine. I can figure-”
“She’ll be very happy if you kiss her.”
“Please just buy me headphones.”
“I’m pretty sure we’re the only family in the world that does breakfast sandwiches for Midwinter Eve,” Steven said, sucking the vegan sausage grease from his thumb. Fat was fat, and spices were spices, and it turned out there wasn’t much of a difference when biscuits and cheese were involved. He glanced at his dad. “Sorry about messing with tradition.”
Greg grinned. “I’m proud you’re standing up for what you believe in. And these are still pretty good. Processed meat garbage and processed fake meat garbage still just tastes like garbage. Tasty garbage.”
Steven laughed as his dad crammed half of his sandwich in at once, trailing off as a bright blue portal appeared. Connie. He dropped his voice to a whispering, whining, “Come on, Dad! Not you too!”
“What are you talking about?” he whispered back.
“You didn’t call her here?”
Greg grinned, giving his son’s shoulder a playful push. “Nah. I know better than to mess with Universe charm.”
She was all bundled up in winter clothes, giving Lion a kiss as she helped brush the snow off of his mane. He purred giving her forehead a tender lick, before undoing all her work by flopping into a snowbank. Connie gave a frustrated but smiling sigh, then looked to them. She hefted her duffle bag as she walked over. “Sorry for crashing your celebration, but do you maybe have room for one more?”
“Always,” Greg promised, handing her a pre-made sandwich.
She tugged off her gloves with her teeth, shoving them in her pockets and clambered into the can with them. “Thank you!” She beamed, grabbing the meal and digging in with relish. She covered her mouth as she spoke. “Happy Midwinter Eve. How’s the long night been?”
“Not so long.” Steven grinned. “Are you supposed to be visiting some family in Empire?”
“Yeah,but I promised mom I wouldn’t fight with anyone this year, so I had to disengage when my aunt started saying my masculine hips would make childbirth a struggle.” She chuckled to herself. “So I disengaged all the way to Beach City.”
Greg blinked. “And Priyanka was okay with that?”
“This is the abridged version, with cleaner language. Mom told me to take a walk, and started screaming as I left, so…” Her fingers drummed on the sandwich, careful not to let it fall. “I’ll go back later. Much later.”
“You should think about getting a van and changing your name,” Greg teased. “Worked for me.”
“That’s true,” Steven said. “You get to give your kids super cool names, too. And then, when you finally reconnect with your estranged family, all your relatives give you space themed stuff for every holiday.” He sighed as he remembered the half-hearted presents that had started flowing in years ago. “I have so many space pens.”
“Oh, gifts! I almost forgot!” Connie crammed the rest of her sandwich into her mouth and dug into her duffle bag, speaking around the mouthful. “Don’t know how I almost forgot. I bought it all yesterday. Here!”
She swallowed and held up a gift bag, shoving it into Steven’s arms as ungracefully as the box from weeks ago. “Happy Solstice! I probably won’t see you tomorrow, so I wanted to give it to you now.”
He blushed and grinned as he looked in the bag. “Aw, you didn’t have to get me anything. I mean, I’ve got a present for you at home, but you didn’t have to get me anything.”
“It’s Midwinter! There’s no way I’m not getting my best friend a gift. Need some light to get us through the longest night, right?” She giggled as he dug into the bag, starting to look confused as he pulled out some strange s’mores ingredients. Connie leaned forward, tapping each item as she explained, “Sorry. It’s not much. Those are vegan marshmallows, since I know you can never find them in town. The chocolate is all fair trade, and as ecologically sustainable as you can get. And the graham crackers are from a local farmer’s market by my aunt’s house, so you don’t even have to support the tyrannical Westly foods.”
She whispered dramatically to Greg, “If s’mores can be ethical, these are gonna be saints.”
Steven was smiling like an idiot. He was trying not to, but he couldn’t stop the cheek aching happiness. He put the bag aside and tackled her, making her squeal his name as they hugged tight on the floor of his dad’s van. Her whisper in her ear sent shivers down his spine, “I nailed the gift, huh?”
He rolled back, tugging her back sitting. “Only if we can share it.”
They sat in Greg’s van, roasting marshmallows over a butane stove, and the three of them ate s’mores and breakfast sandwiches. Steven spent Midwinter Eve like he wanted, with a friend and a father, and at the end of the night, Connie kissed his cheek and held it so much longer than he could have hoped for. He was daring himself, and gave her a quick peck on her cheek. They wore matching smiles for a moment. Then she stepped off with Lion, and the snow made Beach City silent in her absence.
He slept in the van with his father and dreamt about future Midwinters with his whole family together, Dad, gems, Connie and all.