Under our Universe

Daily Donut Dash

The morning routine had started like any other, for now there was no need to break his schedule. Steven had awoken relatively early -roughly around seven o'clock- in order to attend to his daily donut dash. However, what, or rather who, was strangely out of place was... Pearl. Steven (after dressing himself) had silently carried himself down the stairs to find Pearl pacing in the kitchen. She appeared simultaneously perplexed and fearful... perhaps Steven also sensed a hint of shame. Her eyes were bloodshot, her steps were uncoordinated (causing her to trip herself up occasionally) and she seemed to be babbling incoherently to herself. It was safe to say that she looked like a mess.
Steven fiddled with his shirt awkwardly, wondering if now was a good time to...console her. He didn't know what had her so worried but nevertheless, she seemed as though she needed someone to talk to, and he was trying to decide whether or not he was going to be that person.
'Greeaawhhh' A low rumble emerged from Steven's stomach. It looks like his stomach also needed someone to talk to, or rather to eat. Not someone to eat- Steven didn't eat people... but people did feed him, he couldn't cook anything too complex and-
...That sounded better in his head.
(This was in his head...)
"Oh! Steven, I didn't see you there!" Pearl exclaimed in surprise, shaking Steven from his thoughts.
"Morning, Pearl! I was just about to get something from The Big Donut™️... do you wanna tag along?" Steven knew that a good walk always helped him sort through his problems. He also knew that Pearl didn't like anything to do with food, as it disgusted her quite a bit. In hindsight maybe it wasn't the greatest  idea to suggest that. Steven glanced downward, staring at the floor. Sometimes he was an idiot. A super duper idiot.
"Eerhm- Oh!" Steven didn't have a chance to register what incoherent sounds Pearl was making before she rushed over to the stove top, tending to something she was preparing. Steven didn't really understand what she was mumbling about until a plate of expertly made crepes was gently placed before him. (He took note that Pearl did the delicate pinky thing he'd seen from an anime Connie had shown him, when she set the plate down.)
"There won't be any need for that today, Steven! I've already prepared you a healthy breakfast." Steven giggled to himself a little, he didn't know if crepes could be considered healthy. His mood dropped suddenly, remembering what he had woken up for in the first place.
"But my donut dash..." Steven was disheartened by the idea of missing his donut. Which he had not had for a very long while, thanks to his intergalactic grandmothers. He sometimes wished they'd never cared about the earth in the first place- so he wouldn't have to deal with their problems. But he felt bad when he thought about them like that- like nuisances. He didn't feel like a good person should think those things... and he liked to think of himself as a good person.
"Really Steven, it's unhealthy to eat such high calorie foods so often. You'll be fine going without....trust me."
"Doesn't this have a lot of calories though?" Steven questioned why he bothered arguing about something like this- sometimes he just got upset over things for no reason. He sighed, taking a seat at the coffee table by his couch and set his plate down a lot more forcefully than he'd intended. He looked up at Pearl to find her still standing in the kitchen rambling about the convenience of low calorie meals. He sighed yet again, his mood had lowered for no plausible reason.
'GRRREEEAAAWGHHHH'  Hunger was plausible enough, for him anyway.
He began digging into the masterpiece that was Pearl's cooking, taking note of the thin... slices...? of strawberry incorporated into the dish. The cream was good too. Sometimes, he couldn't help but wonder how Pearl was so good at cooking if she didn't eat. Maybe she had Amethyst help her?.... no, Amethyst would eat anything and say it's good, (just the other day she ate one of his old teddy bears, and yes, he was heartbroken) so she wouldn't be a reliable source of feedback. Perhaps, Garnet? no... yes... maybe?

By the time Steven had given up on discovering how Pearl managed to become an expert chef, he had already cleared his plate.
"B-but that doesn't explain it... why now would they...." Steven couldn't hear much of what Pearl was mumbling about... but she'd certainly stopped talking about calories, maybe she was worried about what all the un-corrupted gems were going to do now that home-world wasn't after them. Well, after the earth. She did seem really close with them, Snowflake especially. She seemed just about as motherly as Pearl. Tough and tender.
Now it sounded like he was talking about meat.
Steven noticed he was becoming sidetracked again, and tried his best to listen to Pearl's mumbling. Wiping his hands on the sides of his jeans he stood up, and inched closer to the kitchen. Pearl stood there, visibly shaken as she stared at the kitchen sink with her tired, bloodshot eyes.
"They were sealed...sealed!!... they shouldn't have been able to- it doesn't make sense! Why now... why now!?" Steven was becoming rather anxious, something in his gut said that whatever Pearl was worried about was going to be grim. Pearl's voice was growing louder, like she was trying to speak over a large crowd. Steven didn't like it, not much.
"After everything finally went right....and now they've just gone and-"
"Pearl? What are you talking about?" When no response came, Steven tugged on pearls blue jacket, quickly gaining her attention.

"Aah!- Oh!! S-Steven, have you finished breakfast already?" She fumbled with her hair and the collar of her blue leather jacket, visibly uncomfortable with their close proximity. Which she'd never took note of before this very day.
Steven was very curious, as to what would make Pearl act so out of character.
"What are you talking about Pearl?" He looked her in the eye, the glint of shame was still there, and far too noticeable to ignore.
"ahhmm.. I was just..." she trailed off, her eyes darted from side to side.

She's thinking of an excuse, isn't she?

A voice rang out in Steven's head, like his own but a lot more... pessimistic sounding.

She's treating me like a child again, even after all we've been through.
She doesn't think I can handle it...

He wasn't sure where the voice came from or if he was just hearing things because he was tired... was he tired? He didn't know...he'd felt sort of numb for a while... maybe that was tiredness? He was becoming confused now. Steven had kept becoming sidetracked, lost in the thoughts that would jab at the back of his mind and surface in his brain like a rubber ducky in a bath tub.
Rubber ducky?
He was doing it again. He shook his head and cleared his thoughts- he couldn't tell how long he'd zoned out for, but Pearl was yet to respond.
"Erhhh... well...it's that..." she appeared to be shrinking into herself, not literally of course. But her body language had said it all, her arms were awkwardly held together in front of her chest and her feet pointed inward slightly. She was also shaking slightly, and while she couldn't sweat as a manifestation of light, he was sure she'd be sweating up a storm by now.
(He'd learnt to read body language thanks to the The Spirit Morph Saga, a book series Connie had shown him.)
Pearl seemed to choke on something, the words in her mouth refused to push forward as though a rock was stuck in her throat. Pretty weird considering she that she was basically just an advanced rock...from space.
How many times did Steven have to get sidetracked? He pushed lingering thoughts to the back of his mind once more, trying his best to concentrate solely on Pearl.
"Well... er, I... I don't think it should concern you right now." She only managed to seem a quarter way to confident when she'd finished her sentence. Being firm wasn't really easy when she got nervous- well, this nervous. She hardly ever got this nervous too... unless it was something to with with either Mom, the gem war, or homeworld.
He'd apparently said that last sentence out loud.
"Uhmmm... it's...All three...?"

That's it for Chapter One! If you have any questions or suggestions- heck even a pun or two, DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT them!
Creative criticism is very appreciated, but don't be a dick.
Feel free to vote for this as well!

Farewell from @Lag4123 and @ZIRCONARTIST