? So This is Love ? Steven x Reader

Steven groaned, faceplanted into his pillow. It'd been a long day. He'd had to stop himself from going pink more times than he had in the last year.

He hadn't even seen the girl at all, nobody had mentioned her and he hadn't even gone near the café and yet she persisted, her face popping into his head now and then, sending a rush of heat through his gem.

Speaking of...

He sighed, peeking out from his pillow and sure enough, his arm was bright pink. Judging by how hot he felt, so was the rest of him.

And on top of all these pink shenanigans, he'd felt this odd anxious pit in his stomach all day. It'd ebb and flow as the day progressed, but he couldn't shake it. It felt like... like something bad was happening, and he wasn't there to help.

It'd been a very long and confusing day.

The first person he'd gone to was Connie. She knew much more about this kind of thing than he did, and she was the one who helped him the first time this happened. He'd relayed all of the encounter to her, through text, as specific as he could.

His phone chimed. A reply.

Connie: So, let me get this straight

Connie: You saw this mystery girl at the café, and you had such an instant crush on her that you went pink?

He picked his phone up from beside him, sighing.

sounds dumb when you say it like that

but yeah

Connie: It could be your gem reacting to the intense emotions

Connie: You find somebody attractive and it overreacts, simple.

...Something about that didn't sit right with him.

i don't think that's what this is

Connie: How so?

it doesn't feel like just a crush

it's like she's

pulling me in kinda?

There was a long space between messages this time.

Connie: Can I call you?

okay

The trill of his ringtone lasted less than a second.

"What do you mean, 'pulling you in'??"

"I don't know??" Steven probably sounded just as confused as Connie did, "I just feel like... like I need to be close to her. I've felt weird all day because of it..."

"That's... odd," Connie hummed, and he heard the rustling of paper from her side.

A pen clicked. "Anxious... turning pink..." She mumbled, probably to herself, "What else?"

"I've just felt... off. It's hard to describe."

He heard Connie scribbling. "Okay. How about when you turn pink, what happens then?"

"Well when she, the mystery girl, was there, everything got fuzzy except her. It's like tunnel vision." He rolled onto his side, subconsciously fiddling with the drawstring of his shorts, "I felt... energized, yet also calm? Everything felt safe."

"But all the other times after that," he continued, "I got the energized and happy part but without the calm. It was kinda more stressful, I've spent most of the day trying not to turn pink so when I do it's always just me hiding and hoping it goes away, y'know?"