Boiling Gems (The Owl House x Steven Universe)

Summary:

All the reels you could ever want

Vee hummed as she looked over her notes. Her shapeshifting hadn't quite come back yet, so she used the time to figure out what she wanted for a new look … while also hiding out inside the temple. The police had come by a couple of times … and while before the majority of the gems were against fighting humans, now everyone, aside from Pearl, was pretty much open to punching them across the beach at least once. 

Vee pleaded for them to not be too rough, so it ended with Lapis throwing them across the ocean, just far enough for them to swim back without drowning any of them. Her tolerance on violence was really starting to slip. "Maybe I should go for blond hair this time …" Would be nice to look at.

The door was knocked on, as everyone tensed for another attempt to arrest them. "Vee, it's me, Connie." Before sighing in relief. "... Masha is also here to see you." Wait what?

"I'm going to go look over the crystal heart." Garnet said, grabbing Pearl. "I need your assistance." Wait no, don't leave them alone!

"I just remembered I have something shiny to eat back in my room." Amethyst rolled away. And with Lapis making sure to keep all the police away….that left her alone. Damn it, Garnet's future vision must've seen this coming! This was NOT the kind of surprise it should be used for!

Vee slithered over to the door, opening it after a moment of hesitation to show Connie and Masha standing there. "... Hey guys …" She nervously waved.

"You're way too tense, it's alright." Masha said, patting her shoulder. "No one's here to take you away Vee… or Steven… whatever you want to go by."

"Vee. That was the name I was born with, and the past month or so has made me more comfortable with using it." She explained with a nervous chuckle.

"Alright than Vee." They said, walking in and moving to their bed. "So … shapeshifter, nice."

"Yeah … how long have you known?" Vee asked.

"Meep morp sale." They shrugged. "That was the first time I've seen you and 'Steven' together. You had the same bubbly and vibrant aura while he had a much more blunt and crass approach to life. Not that I find that a bad thing… but it wasn't you… the you I knew at least."

"I see … thanks for that." Vee said honestly. "It means a lot that you kept my secret."

"Yeah, that leads to my question… why?" Connie glared. "Why did you keep that secret? What do you have to gain?"

"Nothing. I just like her. Nothing more complicated than that." …Huh?

"And by like me…you mean… as a friend?" Vee asked.

"As a friend, as a cutie pie, as someone I have a small crush on, you know, the normal things." They nonchalantly responded.

"I … see." Vee said, trying to hide her blush. This was a LOT more blunt than she was used to. "I don't um …"

"Hey it's cool, just a crush." They shrugged. "I get you're with Connie and all." Masha leaned in close. "But I do wanna hear how close you got."

"We're dating!" ….Wait, they WERE?! 

"We are… I mean… I know we like each other like that… but…we haven't really said anything." Vee scratched her head. "We haven't actually gone on official dates, and… well, during the dinner… you didn't introduce us as a couple."

"Well … you never said anything either." Connie said, looking away. "After the kiss we never really did much, I figured it was your move."

"I didn't do anything because … this." She gestured to her scaly body. "I was just happy to have a friend the way I am. I knew you were into guys and I didn't want to push you into this. Not to mention…. I kind of sort of… like…Masha too…."

There was a pause again. "Wait so… you want to date…"

"I'm not saying I don't want to be with you Connie…I…." She took in a deep breath. "...I want to date both of you…at the same time." And of course Connie looked awkward at that. "I know it's weird…"

"Not as weird as you think." Masha waved off. "I have dreams where I'm married to two people at the same time, perfectly natural."

"It's more than just a fantasy… back in the Boiling Isles, relationships like that are pretty common. Especially among Basilisk. Alpha was the one with the most memories of our culture. He told us everything we could know. Basilisk could be anyone and anything at any time. It was natural for us to become someone else and start new relationships almost daily."

"So they were just naturalists in their purest form." Masha smirked. "Nice. Now I'm into this even more." Okay… nice to know they haven't scared them away. "What about you Connie?"

"I…" The girl looked more flabbergasted. "I… I didn't expect this… I..I'm going to need time to adjust to… all of that." That was fair.

"I'd adjust fast though." Masha said.

"... Why?" Vee asked.

"Because by your own admission, you and Connie haven't moved past a kiss and hand holding." They grabbed her hand. "Not to mention no one else is in the house, and there's a bed right there." Masha leaned in close. "And I'm someone that loves to experiment." And planted a kiss on her lips… more than just a kiss. She felt their tongue explore the depths of her mouth, practically dancing inside of it.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?"

"Kissing my girlfriend." Masha said as Vee's brain tried to take in air and reboot. "Do you want to keep watching?"

"I..uh…what…" Vee was still trying to follow everything that happened.

"Or you could join in. I never tongued two people at the same time."

THUD

"Great, you knocked her out." Vee heard Connie's voice grumble as she passed out. Apparently the phrase 'too much of a good thing' was very, very real.

=======================================================================

Kiki sighed as she went on her break, taking a sip of soda. Sure water was preferable … but right now she was in the mood to say 'fuck' to her normal diet. She still had no idea what the fuck happened last night. All she knew was that Cherry ran away, protected her from that goopy Jacob monster, and then proceeded to go on the run again, with even the gems on the wanted list now. This was far too much for her to process right now.

The sad part about it was that she STILL felt the same about Cherry. The five eyes and multiple limbs did little to turn her off…in fact it did quite the opposite. "Does that make me someone with a weird fetish?" She asked no one in particular, lamenting the situation. "My first crush and I fell for the unattainable… figures." Well, Jenny couldn't say Kiki didn't try. She just had to live with the fact she'll probably never see Cherry again.

"Do we have to do this right now, I feel like we should give it more time." Boscha's voice came in as the door opened.

"No, the quicker we are, the less painful it'll be in the long run. Trust me, I know from experience." Steven's voice answered as they walked up to her.

"Hey Boscha." She sighed. "I'm gonna have to pull a Jenny and ask you to cover my shift today … I'm just not in the mood."

"..Heheheh….yeah… I have… a… not so funny story to tell you and well… partially… it has to do with me… not going to be able to work here anymore…"

"Wait, you're quitting?" Kiki tilted her head. "But you're so good at your job. You picked it up faster than anyone I've seen."

"I know, and in any other situation I wouldn't…but…it's not exactly…" Boscha winced, turning her head. "Lucci, Crystal, please explain. You're good at being blunt." Lucci?

"Can't argue with that." Steven sighed. "Okay, first things first. You remember Vee, and how she's a shapeshifter?" 

"Uh huh." Kiki nodded.

"Well you've met her before you knew her as Vee… before she was Vee… She was Steven Universe."

"... So … identity theft?" She asked.

"You caught on quick … anyway yeah … would have preferred it that way to … because while she grew up Steven universe… I grew up as Lucifer Clawthorne…a witch from another dimension." He pulled back his hair covering his ears, which were pointy. Boscha did the same, undoing the hat she usually wore…. showing off a third eye. A third eye that looked eerily similar to Cherry's.

"...aaaaaaaahhhh…" She wasn't sure how to respond so far.

He winced. "Anyway, I have gem powers … one of which involves fusion." He said. "It's putting two people and their personalities together … sometimes they grow extra limbs …"

Okay … she wasn't sure where they were going with-wait. Curly hair, pink hair, androgynous, multiple limbs … "Oh my god." Kiki muttered in shock.

"So … you've been crushing two kids." Lucci winced. "I mean…we're almost fifteen… but yeah."

"Who are witches from another dimension." Boscha went on. 

"So… the whole time… it's been…you… who I've been hanging out with… dancing with…" Kissed….

"We didn't mean for it to get this far, you were just this nice and cool girl and you were fun to hang out with as a friend." Lucci sighed. 

"And… Cherry's boldness?" Kiki asked.

"It's just… how they act..or rather, how we act when we're together like…that." Boscha tried to look away. "I hate being on earth, I want nothing more than to go back home. I have to hide my physical appearance the most with my third eye…but as Cherry…we could feel free to be who we are."

"So we could do whatever we want and rock out on earth when we were together." Lucci winced. "It was nice and fun, and we got to finally vent a lot of pent up emotions … but we didn't expect for you to …"

"To like Cherry…like that…" She slowly nodded.

"Yeah, it came out of nowhere…and even then…when you…you know….Cherry ran off…not just because me and Lucci are dating…but because….they….liked you too." Boscha blushed.

"We didn't want to play with your emotions like that, it was wrong." Lucci said with a sigh. "I've seen how depressing and downtrodden a broken heart can make people… so … all we can say now is…"

"We're sorry." The two of them said at the same time, looking ashamed.

Kiki took a minute to breathe, before letting out a small smile, and kissing them both on the forehead. "I get it. You're both in a sucky situation and you were venting. I wish I had known about the fusion thing sooner, but it's not like we were about to be married."

"Yeah, true." The boy sighed in relief. "Thanks for not being mad."

"No problem … although it's no reason to quit, you know." She said to Boscha.

"That has more to do with everything that happened last night with that sludge creature." Boscha explained. "It's name is Belos, and they're a genocidal witch hunter. They can take over people, and now they've riled up the school into attacking Vee and Amity. The more public the rest of our friends are, the more situations like that are going to happen… so… we're laying low for a while."

"Ah …" Yeah, that was a fair reason. "One last pizza for the road then?" She offered.

"Yes please. Last night took so much energy out of us." Lucci slumped down in the chair. "So does a pizza with ham, pineapple and Jalapeno sound good, my lovely angel?"

"Very lovely crystal." The girl smiled, kissing his cheek.

"By the way… you two made me realize I had a type..or rather…types." She winked. "So if you ever feel like picking this up again when your older, give me a call."

The two instantly began choking on air. "No no, I don't think we're interested in three way, right?" Lucci asked his girlfriend.

"..,.I'll need time to think about that." The three eyed girl blushed.

The boy blinked, now looking rather miffed surprisingly. "Wait, a girl flirts with me and you violently fend them off and demand my time, but a girl flirts with you and it's A okay?"

"One, she's flirting with the both of us, so that negates it. Two, you're the only one that's ever flirted with me before, I'm new to anyone else doing it to me." Boscha defended. "Three, you once had a crush on both Amity's siblings and wanted to date both of them. Who's to say we can't expand later down the road."

Ah lovers spats … how fun.

=======================================================================

Gus looked over the pile of money. Since they were all quitting jobs they wouldn't be able to pay for everything anymore, so they needed to compile and conserve their money for every expense. Since Luz was comforting Amity (the irony) and Lucci and Boscha were having a 'lovers spat', it was up to him, Willow, and Hunter to figure out how long their money would last in terms of food and miscellaneous expenses.

"If we account for Lucci's stomach taking up this much, the rest of us take up this much …" Gus muttered as they looked over the notes. "We have enough to last a month and a half."

"If we could get the portal door up and running, that wouldn't be a problem, of course, we don't know when that's actually going to pull through." Willow sighed. "And that's not to mention Belos. We can't just leave him alone to run around the human realm possessing whoever he wants."

"True, but with our time table being as short as it is, we should go back to working on the drill full time anyways." Hunter groaned. "Money's not going to matter if the world blows up."

"That's true … and we can't rely on just the gems for the drill since they're the main force against Belos." Gus noted, trying to rationalize what to do first. "It looks like we're going to have another sleep deprived night."

"Should I prepare the coffee?" Hunter asked. Willow gave the scar faced boy a glaring look, and slapped him. "I deserve that."

"Good. I'm going to the kitchen to get you some tea to relax…. decaffeinated tea." Willow nodded as she left the room.

"So … Belos is active …" Gus spoke up. "... Wanna talk about it?"

"Not much to talk about. He's a maniac that can kill us all when we're not careful and ruin our lives when we try to be happy." The former golden guard grumbled. "I am willing to bet he exposed Vee and Amity publicly just to be petty. If he has to hide himself, then he'll take away any cover we have. He can't be seen as the hero anymore, so the next best thing is to expose us as monsters."

"True …" That was a rough part of everything. "But he doesn't have his army."

"Yet." He grumbled. "Belos has centuries of experience on us. He's a master of weaving and manipulation. He exploited the school's cluesness and riled them up into his own mob force. Imagine if he got the entire town on his side. Or the entire country."

"He'd have to possess someone important first, and there's not too many of those people in GravesField." Gus said.

"I guess … hey Gus, can I ask you something else?" Hunter asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

"Is it important?" He questioned.

"Depends on the perspective. So… you know how Luz and Amity are a thing?"

"..." Gus gave him the most 'really' look he could muster.

"Right, dumb question. So…you know how Clawthorne and Boscha are a thing?"

"Are you just stalling talking about Belos by pointing out the most obvious things in the world?" Gus countered. "Is there a point you're trying to make?"

"Yes… yes there is." Hunter sighed. "So what if….theortically, I… wanted to have a… thing with someone?"

Gus was starting to understand. "I'd just ask them. We hang out with pretty oblivious people. Blunt tends to work best with us."

"Gotcha… but what if the someone I wanted to have the thing with… isn't all that enthused by relationships?" Wasn't enthused by…oh…oooooh, now Gus knew where this was going.

"So you like Willow?" He asked directly.

"Sssssssh!" Hunter quickly covered his mouth. "Don't say it outloud, she could hear you!"

Gus slowly nodded as the hand was removed. "Hunter, if Willow didn't like you at all, she wouldn't have stood up for you during the multiple times you tried to kill and hunt us down." He explained. "Like I cannot tell you how many times she and Lucci got into it. It was basically a reversal of her arguments with him over Boscha. The only difference here is that you have more points geared in your favor because you're friendly to everyone now."

"That does make me feel a little better about it." Hunter said softly. "But you've heard her. She thinks romance stinks."

"Because the only two examples she ever heard were oblivious and/or came off far too strongly." Gus pointed out. "Hunter, you're a simple guy, in a good way. You're not planning anything elaborate or going to call her by some cutesy nickname twenty four seven, are you?"

"I..I don't know…maybe…I'm not sure how these feelings work."He admitted. "I figured we'd just hug and hold hands like everyone else does."

"I guess that's a good start, and I'm not really an expert on this stuff." Romance hadn't exactly given him much interest. "But I have known Willow for a long time. She may say she's not interested, but that's because her first crush ended in disaster."

"Really? How bad could it have been?"

"It was on Amity."

Hunter looked confused. "I don't see how that's a problem."

Right, he came into the group AFTER Luz and Amity began dating. "Alright, before you came into the fold, Amity wasn't exactly the nicest person. In some ways she was like a less malicious version of you. Prioritizing her family names, success, and stomping on top of whoever she could to get ahead."

"...Ouch, that hurt more than I thought it would." Hunter clenched his arm.

"Yeah … but they went into Lucci's head, and Amity began improving herself as a person." Gus smiled. "So don't think you're someone Willow would just say no to."

"Oh … wait… so she might like me… but it could be because I remind her of Amity…" Great, Gus added to his already messy identity crisis.

He was about to say something else, until Willow came in. "Tea anyone?"

"Oh, yes please, thanks." Hunter accepted, immediately switching the conversations like he did before. "Thanks captain."

"No prob. It's what friends do for each other."

… This was gonna be as disastrous as everything else in their life, wasn't it?

=======================================================================

Luz could finally cross out school on her list of priorities…something she's wanted to do for years … although given everyone losing their jobs, she may need to pick one up herself. Maybe Lucci could give her tips on how to sell garbage to people. Or maybe they could collaborate on 'Meep morps' together and she could be the 'human representative' for all their art.

Of course, now they had more pressing concerns. Like fixing up the drill before the world blew up. And then finding Belos before he possessed someone else and started up another mob that could run them out of town, or get them all imprisoned. And then Peridot before she built a way to let Homeworld know everything. Then stopping the Rubies from-They were never going to get another break again, were they?

At least she could take comfort in the one moment of time, sitting on a beanbag in the cabin with her girlfriend laying down on top of her lap, watching the tales of Azura sequel, the betrayal of the fellowship. "Told you this would be amazing."

"You were right. Nothing like a book coming to life in visual form." Amity nodded. "… They totally fubbed with psycoren though."

"Meh, movies never get the books perfect." Luz shrugged. "There's always going to be changes from the source material, some of it mainly to streamline the concepts to make them more accessible to the 'modern audience'.'

"Why modernize something timeless?" She asked.

"Because studios think by bringing up something they might recognize or by using lingo they use, it'll be popular." Luz explained. "Sometimes it works when it adds a layer of depth that expands the concept or delves deeper than even the creator intended, but for the most part… it just comes off as sad and tasteless."

"What a shame." Amity mumbled, munching on a chip. 

"Krkrkrkr."

"Yes, you can have one too." She tossed a few to the centipeetles, rubbing their heads. "They really are nice creatures after a while."

"Mewwwww!" No they are not!

"The palisman are never going to like me, are they?" Luz sighed, holding onto her egg. "Maybe you'll end up in the hands of someone better."

"Hey don't give up hope." Amity rubbed her. "I'm sure whatever hatches out of that egg is going to love you as much as I do." She kissed her cheek.

"Oh please for the love of titan don't make out now, we're all too tired to deal with it." They turned their heads to see the rest of their friends enter, all of them looking tired or disheveled in some way. 

"Okay, them I get." Luz said, looking at Lucci and Boscha, looking like they had just ended their little lovers spat. "What about the rest of you?"

"Turns out I accidently grabbed the caffeinated tea by mistake, so me and Gus had to wrestle the packs out of Hunter's hands." Willow groaned, rubbing the jittery boy's back.

"Why would you even have caffeinated tea, it's the opposite of its job?" Gus asked.

"And I made up with Connie and Masha …" An exhausted looking Vee said with a bit of a flush. "What's the term for a romantic partner that's non binary?"

"Whatever they say is fine from my experience in the Boiling Isles." Lucci said with a yawn. "Boscha and I have come to an agreement." He told them, as both he and Boscha had dark rings around their eyes. "We are explicitly inclusive to each other and no one else, but if someone comes along, flirts with the both of us while within the same vicinity, then they go on the list for possible third partners."

"But we are to never explicitly go out searching for third partners, and if there's even a tiny disagreement, they go off the list immediately." Boscha completed. "Of course this is to only happen once we're grown adults. We are to not engage in adult fun with other third parties unless both prior consenting parties are in the same room on the full moon."

"Even then, we are to stop every three moons so that we may have time to evaluate the emotional connections we have made with those third parties, if the love will equally spread all around and if they'll get in the way for a happy union. And then there's the matter of when kids eventually get involved, so we've planned-"

"We get it, you made rules so that neither of you can fuck someone else behind the others back, now can it!" Willow shouted. Everyone paused, looking at the plant girl. "I don't regret it. Someone had to say it or they would've kept going."

"Fair enough." Amity shrugged. "So tomorrow we're going back to fixing up the drill? We don't have a lot of time as it is."

"That's been our consensus, yes." Willow leaned against the wall. "I used to think that earth would be a mundane, peaceful place to visit. I have no idea why I was that naive."

"It's like the Boiling Isles without the charm." Lucci grumbled. "No excitement for fun, only screwing us over."

"It's still a good place at times." Vee tried to defend the place.

"When it's been quiet, but we haven't had a quiet moment like at all since we've come here." Boscha groaned. "The gems are a mess and a half to deal with, homeworld is annoying to handle, and the planet is literally about to blow up." The three eyed witch rubbed her forehead. "Who in this fucked universe decided it was our job to save the world?"

"Either the Axolotl or that Koala they mentioned." Luz said without missing a beat as she watched with Amity. "Let's just enjoy this one moment we have together before the world turns to shit." It was the closest thing she had to happiness right now.

=======================================================================

Camila finally hung up the phone. She just got off with the principal of the school, having taken Luz out. It was a surprisingly easy process. The principal couldn't have accepted the news fast enough…that was probably all the more reason to pull Luz out. Sure she was a troublemaker occasionally, but no teacher should be that enthusiastic to get rid of a kid.

"Now I just have to deal with keeping the house fed, keeping my job, warding off the police should they come close … and you." Camila looked down at her stomach. Both a reminder of the mistakes she had made in the past few months, and a gift that came out of a messy situation. It hadn't hit her too hard yet; but that was only a matter of time. And even then…she didn't have Manny to help her out this time around.

"What am I going to do?" She asked herself. The problems just seemed to pile up one after another without an end in sight. How long was this going to go on? How long would she be able to keep this from Luz? Her daughter was going through so much, she didn't want to burden her with another responsibility that Camila needed to get through herself. How long would it be before Greg would learn of the baby's existence?

Knock Knock

The door sounded. It was either a kid, a Morman, or an officer …she wasn't that sure which was worst in all honesty.

Taking a deep breathe; she approached the door and opened it. "Hello-Greg?" She immediately caught sight of the man she had dated for a few months 

"Hey Camila…" The man weakly presented flowers to her. "How have you been?" … Maybe the Mormon would have been the best option. 

"What are you doing here?" She glared. She didn't want to be mean, but this wasn't not the best time for him to show up.

"I know I'm not allowed in the house, but it's been a while and I was wondering if you wanted to spend the night at my place." He asked her.

"Your place…Greg, your place is the back of a van." Camila reminded him. The man was very sweet, and she enjoyed his company for a time…but he was so unmotivated with his life, and the time they spent together was mostly spent enabling each other's drinking.

"I know, which is why I rented a motel room. Just the two of us on a bed binging shows. It would be nice." He said.

"Greg, Greg…" Why did he have to make this so difficult? "I can't. I can't do this."

"..Can't spend the night with me tonight.."

"Not tonight, not tomorrow, not even next month!" Camila exclaimed. "What are you trying to do Greg? I've told you I needed space, I told you not to come, but here you are, not respecting my boundaries!"

"It's been months, Camila! I just came to offer you one night together, but apparently I can't even get that without an argument!" He exclaimed. "Seriously, if you give me a time I can work with that, but I can't just spend half a year sitting around and waiting for a random moment to come!"

"You spend half your time sleeping in a van, Greg! You don't use your money wisely; you spend most of it drinking.."

"And suddenly that's a problem!?" He yelled. "You drank just as much as I did!"

"But I stopped! I kept going to my job, making sure to take care of my daughter and her friends. And I am dealing with so much right now, I can't split my time watching over both my daughter and a man who can't take care of himself!" She shouted"Why don't you look after your own kids for once!"

"Do you not remember ANY of the times I told you that the snake abandoned me!?" He argued back.

"Because you pretended that she didn't exist! You didn't even know her name!" She countered. "And you can't even respect your own son's boundaries! You expect everything to work out fine, that the world is just going to provide for you just because!"

"The world is shit!" He shouted violently. "You are LITERALLY the only nice thing in it left!" He went to grab her arm. "And I'm not going to let you go no matter what-!"

Slap

She took out her sandal and knocked him out the door, back on the pavement. "Don't you ever touch me again." She huffed. "We're over Greg. Don't come back. Ever."

"What, no, I'm not-" A hand rested on his shoulder.

"I'm not paying for your hospital bills." Lucci spoke. "Do not, push it." And threw the man to the side. "You okay, Ms. Noceda?"

"Fine Lucci…just winded." She felt her knees getting weak. "Whoa, that took a lot out of me."

"I'll help you to your bed." The boy supported her upright. "Sorry about that bastard."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Lucci. No kid is their parent. You're not Greg." She patted him as she got back on her feet. "Would you mind shutting the door behind you?"

"Gladly." He punched the approaching Greg before slamming it shut. "See yah, mr, Demayo.""

"Why you-" The man was cut off as the door closed.

"Mr. Demayo?" She asked.

"His real last name. Let's just say hating sperm donors doesn't just start with me." Oh … that was actually a bit funny.