Protection
Steven’s most natural instinct is to protect. After all, he’s built for it. Every one of his powers is defensive; practically designed to play support on the battlefield. He is the healer, the white mage, the difference between victory and death.
It pained him so much to be helpless. To be set back to a time when he couldn’t protect anyone, not even himself. A time when all he knew how to do was talk his way out; and he can still do that, and sometimes it even works, but he wishes he could do more.
Steven doesn’t realise, at first, that this is what it’s like to be human.
Connie may be a fighter, but she is a defender first and foremost. Firstly, of herself; she’s aware of how fragile she is, as a human on the battlefield with gems. Secondly, of her friends and teammates, Steven especially. She knows he’d much rather put himself in danger than let anyone else get hurt. So, she figures she’ll return the favor.
Connie wishes she was there when Spinel showed up. She wishes she’d been there to fight, to protect Steven and the gems. They may not have known it, but they didn’t stand a chance from the start. Her, though? She could have done something. She could have fought.
When Steven first saw Connie, when she dropped her bracelet on the boardwalk, he followed her. Lost in the crowd, he didn’t catch up to her until she turned onto a side street and sat down on the sidewalk, pulling her knees up to her chest. She didn’t cry, but she came close, instead taking several deep breaths.
“C’mon Connie, you can do this,” she whispered to herself, unaware of Steven’s presence. “Just a few more hours, and you can go home and avoid people for the rest of the summer.”
She took one last deep breath, got up, and walked back towards the crowd. Steven watched her go, completely forgetting about the bracelet in the moment. Right then, all he wanted to do was protect her.
Steven saved the bracelet, just in case. Almost a year later, he finally saw her again, and the first thing he did was save her life. Pretty strange way to properly meet someone, but Steven wasn’t going to complain.
For Connie, when she met Steven she saw someone special, someone with a destiny. He fit the description of every fantasy protagonist she’d ever read about, only a few years too young to be starting his journey, in her eyes.
But there was something else about Steven, something that she didn’t realise until she got home that night. Even after spending several hours in the bubble with him, she didn’t feel tired from socializing.
For any introvert, finding that one friend who doesn’t tire you out is like winning the lottery. Connie knew, then, that this was her chance to finally make a friend, one that she’d be able to keep.
Steven saw in Connie someone he’d be able to protect, someone he wanted to protect. He was already tired of having the gems protect him constantly; he wanted to be there for them, and the best way to do that in his eyes was to be there for Connie.
Steven had no idea what he was in for.
He already had a pretty crazy life, even though the gems did their best to keep him out of it. But once Connie showed up, Steven suddenly found himself thrust into situations where he had to be the one in control, where he had to protect her. He’d never considered what would happen if he failed.
He came far too close too many times to count. He wondered, occasionally, how many times Garnet had seen him or Connie die, in an alternate future. Then he’d shake his head, and remind himself to stay focused on the present.
Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all swore to Rose that they’d protect Steven, for as long as they could, until he was old enough to protect himself.
Pearl almost dreaded that day; the day he didn’t need her anymore. When that day came, however, she realised that just because he could protect himself didn’t mean that he didn’t need some help once in awhile. And sometimes, she was glad for his help, too.
Amethyst was there for Steven from the very beginning. She was the first to visit him after he was born, there every step of the way as he learned to walk, talk, write, swim, you name it. He was her little brother, and she vowed to be there for him, no matter what. Sure, sometimes she might have put him in danger without realising, but it always turned out alright. She likes to think she was the one who taught him how to laugh, how to make the best out of any situation. She was the one who snuck him along on dangerous adventures, long before Pearl and Garnet thought he was ready, because she had a feeling he’d learn best from experience.
Garnet loved Steven unconditionally, from the moment he was born. Even though seeing him reminded her of Rose, the joy she found from watching him grow far surpassed her grief. She visited him when he was a few days old, surprised to find Amethyst already there, helping Greg feed him. It was then that she knew everything would work out. Amethyst had been her biggest fear when it came to raising Steven; there was just no way to see how she’d act after Rose was gone. But she was maturing more than Garnet cared to admit, and she knew that Steven would follow in her footsteps.
The gems put Steven before themselves, no matter what. But even Garnet never quite realised just how much they would come to depend on him.
Steven’s natural instinct is to protect. Over time, he has learned to accept that sometimes, he needs to be protected too.
