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sukioyakio · 3 months

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LOSER!BOYFRIEND

Me and my pookie talking about things and then one thing leads to another😏

AND THEN LOSERBOYFRIEND THOUGHTS KEPT COMING THOUGH!

PARING: LOSERBOYFRIEND! Miguel x Reader

WARNING:May have smut content,but will be mostly FLUFF

SUMMARY: LoserBOYFRIEND!Miguel headcannons 💓

DID NOT PROREAD DID NOT EDITED

LOSERBOYFRIEND!miguel who works at an lego store because it was the only job his gym rat looking ass found,but he enjoy the job non the less,and plus he's the cashier meaning the front view of everything:)) (of course he love it,since he can get free Lego sets for him and for you)

LOSERBOYFRIEND!Miguel Who is Hardly more then happy to see you,come by his work job to say hi.Just your smile would make him down bad for you like you have no idea.But what makes him happy even more is That you come to give him some home made lunch.And then there he just got hard the tightness in his pants was unbearable,it felt like at any moment he was going to release his steman in his pants. He was lose in the thought of you being his wife and how he'll be abke to have that smile to wake up too.

LOSERBOYFRIEND!Miguel Who is hella nervous when you went over his house,especially in holiday days.My guy would sweat the most before you even arrive,he'll clean his house not once not twice but four times just to be prepare,he know he an absolute Loser,but he just want you to know that his trying and that even if he doesn't have the best of relationship advice (which is none 😅😢) HE WILL BE THERE!!!

LOSERBOYFREIND!Miguel who know after dating you for like 5 mouth,he will and know that he is gonna go inside your pretty little apartment,and knowing that makes him nervous.One because your smell it addicting to sent, and two it because he really never been at an girl apartment or stuff so he reallly doesnt know how to act.And so his cute loser ass search up "how to act when your in your girlfriend"s house" (HE IS SUCH AN TOTAL DORK AND dont tell me he would be all night researching about these things) and so when he finally got inside your house.

THis man is hard already,it like you put an drug on the air in your house.He was for sure that you could see his dick bulge through his pants.Already he has his flush out face and he barley inside your place.

"are you ok babe?" you asks sweetly,with your big doe eyes looking that him.The same eyes he has dreams about in dark hours of the night.

loserboyfreind!miguel nodded to your sweet question,As he hide his stuipd (big) little boner from you.He would get embrassed if you saw,and or so overthinks that you would leave him because of him thinking of you in an sexual way (My guy overthinks an lot but cant bring himself to tell you how he feels and really want to make himself feel like an good boyfreind even if he an total loser about it )

Walking around your place was like an new terrioty for him,he would particauly look and study each object in your room through the living room.

But when you took him to your room his dick got more stiffen in his pants and so he quickly ask where is the restroom to "use the bathroom",

WHERE HE IS AN TOTAL GREEK FOR VIDEO GAMES AND SCIENCE, but when you come into his life,he had no idea how to be a boyfriend.BRO WOULD HAVE AN NERD LOOK BUT would tried so hard to look presentable for you.

CUZ YOU DESERVE IT,but he’s broke and work in an Lego store and so GET AN SET OF THE FLOWER AND Chocolate BOX LEGOS SET AND WOULD BUILT IT FOR YOU,and would be embarrassed TO SHOW HIS FACE when his shoving his gift to you,HAVING A BLUSHING FACE.

GRUMBLING UNDERNEATH HIS mouth

“I-ii- I know is not the b-best gift,but please accept it”he says while looking down with a shy expression and shoving it to you.

you wonder how an built gaint is an such an adorable loser.boyfriend You had an smile on your face.

“Thank you for your gift” As you crane your neck and you were on tipped toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

HE LOOKED SO HAPPY SO APPRECIATIVE,the second later he would have a nose bleed from your kiss.THIS MEN NEVER HAD PHYSICAL TOUCH.

(That all I have 😭😭😭)

HAPPY VALENTINES 💝

#LoserBOYFRIEND #miguel o'hara fluff #miguel ohara fanfiction #miguel o’hara x reader #miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x reader #across the spiderverse #miguel o'hara x y/n #miguel spiderman #!sukio!✨

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doberbutts · 2 years

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eat as in suck the nectar from the base of the flower? colour ranging from blue to lavender? If so I think I know the plant but I need to look for a translation to english.

Eat as in pop the petals and steman off the plant and put it in your mouth. The petals didn't taste like much but the flower was too small to just get the steman without completely ripping it apart. Light blue in color. You could just roll it on your tongue to get most of the nectar/pollen and spit out the rest but it was easier to just eat the whole thing.

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stcloudstatearchives · 12 days

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Repository @ St. Cloud State March 2024 Report

Here is the Repository update for March 2024. The Repository is located at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/.

For March 2024:

49,496 full text downloads (49,455 for March 2023)

33 new submissions (10,673 total objects)

Read by 2,582 institutions across 181 countries

As of today, April 24, 2024, there have been 3,093,649 total downloads since August 2011 when the Repository was established. Over the past 12 months, there has been 627,193 downloads.

For March 2024, the most popular download was a culminating project from Criminal Justice with 1,095 – An Examination of the Relationship between Rehabilitation and Recidivism by Kumba Hannah Lebbie. It has been downloaded 10,819 times since it was first published in the Repository in March 2022:

https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/cjs_etds/16

The most popular publications came from the following series:

Culminating Projects in Information Assurance (4,568 downloads)

Culminating Projects in Teacher Development (4,087 downloads)

Culminating Projects in English (4,042 downloads)

We held our “Celebration of Scholarship” event a few weeks ago. Want to see the annotated bibliography? Check it out in the Repository:

https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/scsuesb/3/

Any questions, please contact Tom Steman at [email protected]. Happy to help as always.

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regioonlineofficial · 4 months

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Het verhaal van Gelderland – een unieke Nederlandse en Europese geschiedenis - verdient een plek in een museum. En de beste plek om dat verhaal te vertellen is in Zutphen, ‘Geschiedenishoofdstad van Gelderland’. In Zutphen liggen immers de wortels van de twee graafschappen waaruit de provincie is ontstaan. Wethouder Sjoerd Wannet openbaarde vanmorgen de plannen die vandaag nog door de ‘Ridders van Gelre’ aan de diverse fracties van de Provinciale Staten van Gelderland zullen worden overhandigd. Gelders Museum Wethouder Sjoerd Wannet: “Het Gelders Museum wordt wat ons betreft de centrale plek waar het Verhaal van Gelderland samenkomt. Het museum is de etalage waarin het hele verhaal te zien is. Voor meer diepgang wordt dan verwezen naar de vele musea die nu al bestaan binnen de provincie. Het Gelders museum wordt daarmee een centrale plek binnen een netwerk van kleine en grotere historische musea in de provincie. Zo maken de historische musea elkaar sterker. Vertellen ze samen het complete verhaal. Een bezoek aan het Gelders museum wordt een multimediale en sprankelende belevenis, voor jong en oud. En dat allemaal te midden van het historische decor dat de binnenstad van Zutphen is. Net als in 1130 heeft Zutphen, in de vorm van de witte vleugel, een fantastische bruidsschat voor Arnhem.” De geschiedenis van Gelderland is uniek De Gelderse geschiedenis verschilt op veel punten van de klassieke ‘vaderlandse geschiedenis’, die vaak het perspectief van Holland kiest. Daarom spannen de Ridders van Gelre, René Arendsen en Bas Steman, zich al jaren in om het Gelderse verhaal op een aantrekkelijke manier te vertellen. Dat doen ze voor een groot publiek op Omroep Gelderland. De provincie Gelderland steunt dat idee. De fractieleiders van de Provinciale Staten gaven de ridders daarom opdracht met een plan te komen. Ridders van Gelre: “Dit plan voor een Gelders Museum over de geschiedenis van Gelderland, hier in Zutphen, is een belangrijke stap in de mozaïek van de vaderlandse geschiedenis.” Na serieus onderzoek ligt er nu een plan dat door de gemeente Zutphen wordt omarmt. Want waar kan het Gelders Museum beter komen dan in Zutphen? De stad heeft zelfs al een locatie op het oog, aan het ’s Gravenhof. Dit plein is een van de kiemcellen van het huidige Gelderland. Hier liggen de wortels van de twee graafschappen waaruit de provincie is ontstaan. In de Walburgiskerk aan deze hof, vond rond 1130 de huwelijksverbintenis tussen Gerard II van Gelre en Irmgard van Zutphen plaats. Daarmee, werden de graafschappen Gelre en Zutphen verbonden. Daardoor kwam het zwaartepunt van Gelre in onze huidige provincie te liggen. “Wij gaan voor de oude hoofdstad van Gelre”, aldus de ridders. Witte Vleugel Aan ditzelfde plein zijn het Stedelijk Museum Zutphen, Museum Henriette Polak en de Walburgiskerk gevestigd. En daar is ook voor Team Archeologie met zijn depot plaats gemaakt. Zo zijn de eerste stappen gezet om een plein voor cultuur en erfgoed te creëren – een wens van het college van burgemeester en wethouders en de gemeenteraad. Aan dit plein bevindt zich ook de Witte Vleugel, een naoorlogse uitbouw van het oude stadhuis. De gemeente biedt nu deze plek aan als de perfecte locatie voor de vestiging van het Gelders Museum, in dit museumkwartier. Musea Zutphen is ook betrokken bij het plan. Zo zal Musea de organisatie van een nieuw museum op zich kunnen nemen. Zodoende hoeft er niet een hele nieuwe organisatie met alle kosten van dien te komen. Paulo Martina, directeur Musea Zutphen: “Wanneer je Zutphen binnenkomt, stap je al in het perfecte decor voor geschiedenis. De verdere realisatie van dit Gelders museum gaat vanaf nu volgens een zorgvuldig stappenplan, waar we alle musea in Gelderland die een deel van de geschiedenis vertellen, willen betrekken. Het doel is te zorgen dat dit museum, dankzij die samenwerking, een visitekaartje wordt voor de kleinere musea in de provincie.” Marc Wingens, directeur van de coöperatie ‘Erfgoed

Gelderland’ voegt hier aan toe: “Dit museum vormt straks een belangrijke link naar alle andere musea in de provincie.” Regionale draagkracht Zutphen ontvangt jaarlijks honderdduizenden bezoekers die genieten van de geschiedenis, maar ook van kunst en cultuur en horeca. Het aanbod van veilige horeca, long stay mogelijkheden en kwaliteitstoerisme kan plaats aan nieuwe cultuurtoeristen en daarmee extra groei doormaken. Een Gelders historisch museum in de stad sluit dan ook aan bij de ambitie van de gemeente Zutphen om een bruisend cultureel centrum van het oosten te maken, met regionale draagkracht en economisch gezond. Vervolg De komende maanden gaan Zutphen, Musea Zutphen en de Ridders van Gelre, samen met andere stedelijke en regionale historische musea, nadenken over samenwerking en het versterken van de Gelderse musea. De Rijksdienst voor Cultureel Erfgoed heeft al toegezegd mee te willen denken. Daarmee kan het een stuk gemakkelijker worden om topstukken naar Gelderland te halen om deze op verschillende locaties te laten zien. Tot slot: Het is heel belangrijk om de komende tijd in beeld te krijgen hoe groot het museum moet worden, wat de kosten zullen zijn voor het museum en hoe die moeten worden verdeeld. De ruimte voor dit museum, die in de ‘Witte Vleugel’ door de gemeente Zutphen ter beschikking wordt gesteld, is alvast beschikbaar. Nu is het wachten op de besluitvorming in de Provinciale Staten. Die, zoals gezegd, het plan nog deze avond gaan ontvangen.

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444names · 2 years

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american surnames + theological demons + roman emperor forenames

Agaleon Agiels Aguila Aguilard Alaborner Alez Allarsh Alstor Alvargate Amael Amallo Amdus Anas Andez Anth Antiago Apoll Armara Asbell Aurelison Austus Avidson Ayalal Azie Balberge Balls Banklin Bans Bard Barnolds Baroth Barrin Barris Barro Bart Bathius Bauerrin Beardina Bearson Belis Beller Belps Bent Berian Berithius Bertinez Berush Bifrong Blac Blaird Blang Bles Bott Bradowns Bradya Bran Brang Brewers Brews Brider Bridge Brius Broces Bryang Buchurley Buckett Bulline Burry Burtin Burtis Caac Caacrince Cabrado Cabrenex Calhouse Camahony Campus Cant Cardiaz Carrow Cart Carthist Cartin Carvey Castane Castanson Cham Chanedy Charris Chavres Chulch Cimes Clemerry Cobs Coffer Collocell Colomalph Coloman Comb Common Compson Connon Connorman Cons Contgomez Cookes Coole Coper Corman Craie Craii Cran Crank Crawfores Cros Crosa Crosario Cullerius Cunning Curra Danield Daugh Davespar Dejes Delandry Delech Demius Dennan Devila Dian Dick Dicks Diocleon Dods Donado Doyler Dreal Dudleth Dudleton Durhamb Eatos Elanch Englis Evancis Evantian Ewin Field Figuerra Fincubus Fish Fitzpatt Flaudius Flavres Flemius Fleton Flynch Fordian Fostina Freders Furcastan Gaine Gakios Galina Gall Galls Gamberian Ghouston Gilberg Giley Gillowell Gilmory Glas Glassya Glove Golds Gomerrel Goodson Goodwares Gory Greese Greever Gright Griguero Grosarin Grosby Gusian Gusios Guson Gustianus Haage Hamb Hard Hards Harmstri Harpe Harthim Hatfields Haura Hauranio Haydennon Hayers Heatos Hebers Hend Henders Heritt Hews Hine Hobbins Hodes Hollian Hollo Hols Hoove Hornian Houng Howan Howay Huffy Hulliotts Hulton Huntes Irencha Jeffer Jenson Jinner Joan Jose Juarey Kabhandle Kabhanson Kell Kins Klina Kokabhaka Kramele Krams Kramsey Lancock Landa Landoza Lanks Lard Larker Legord Leman Levinguy Lichael Licho Llock Lone Loper Lotts Lowansen Luciferry Magner Maliott Malius Malphen Mammond Maraclius Marcia Marison Mart Marta Mastanley Math Maxentios Maxenton Mayers Maymond Mccard Mccarthym Mccartis Mccorton Mccranch Mccubus Mcgoway Mcintes Mcinton Mckenning Mcleo Mcmilesit Mcphendez Medim Meleon Mene Mentos Merius Mill Molins Morand More Mores Morias Morinus Morphy Morrince Morsey Mory Mosh Muller Mullo Naber Nabezeth Namael Navage Newmanus Nich Nichapman Nikos Norias Nune Oconley Odosian Onorman Orcado Orincubus Oses Owellison Paceves Paimolock Palmes Pard Pates Patthews Peleton Peter Peterry Pett Phills Philos Phocase Pitt Poconrad Pontosh Popez Potton Prin Prinus Puck Puckee Raker Rakios Raverson Reeman Reer Reil Reillo Reillong Richartis Rick Ricker Riverush Robernard Robins Robinus Roblevian Robus Rogera Sala Sales Saliotton Sampus Satann Schenshee Schrison Schu Scoten Scotton Seards Shalendez Shase Shepark Sheppark Shepparks Ship Sili Simoline Singhan Smalds Snyde Snyderell Snydero Spearsh Spent Staney Stans Steman Stephis Sterson Steves Stheod Ston Strick Stus Succulsu Tacitif Taney Tannedy Tantice Taylorema Taylori Theod Theopheus Thews Thomerson Thompton Thorong Thorton Towns Toya Traney Tuchannon Turn Tyle Valennon Valexios Vanch Vansen Vantes Vauguson Velas Vepard Vines Wader Wadero Wagnus Watt Weavenson Well Weller Whitel Whitle Wiggs Wilcombs Wiles Wilker Willien Wittman Woodman Wooth Yeter Zamoss

#444names #444 names

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otisbergermx · 4 years

Photo

I’ve been thinking too much ... #ulala #steman #berger #oloc #pma #takingmatime #perinorte #instapic #instacruda #gorditoybonito (en Galerías Perinorte) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5mLZyYBHiH/?igshid=17eg5k4mxs4b6

#ulala #steman #berger #oloc #pma #takingmatime #perinorte #instapic #instacruda #gorditoybonito

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sytycdinternational · 4 years

Video

Steman Ntuela / Стеман Нтуела

#Steman Ntuela #Стеман Нтуела #SYTYCD Russia #rutnt6 #RUTNT6A #auditions #style:HH

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fromthe-point · 5 years

Link

The South Carolina Stingrays, proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Washington Capitals and AHL’s Hershey Bears, have agreed to terms with forward Dylan Steman for the 2019-20 season. The rookie forward from Maple Grove, Minn. began his professional career late last year with Hershey after completing his college season at Michigan Tech University.

Steman suited up in four games at the tail end of the Bears’ regular season before seeing action in seven postseason contests during the team’s Calder Cup Playoffs run. Prior to turning pro, the 25-year-old served as MTU’s captain in his senior season and posted 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 37 games.

“We expect Dylan to come in here and make a huge impact right away with his effort, his skating and high-energy style of play,” said Stingrays Head Coach Steve Bergin. “He gets in on the forecheck, gets under opponents’ skin and plays a hard, heavy type of hockey.

#echl #south carolina stingrays #dylan steman #hockey #t:news #s:contract

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focr · 4 years

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Hidden Faults

Forgive my hidden faults. Is that your prayer? Do you know what will happen when you pray that way? You might think that God will take a sponge and wipe around inside you so you will not even know what those hidden faults were. But God does not do that. His way of dealing with hidden faults is either to send somebody to point them out to you or to bring them out through some circumstance in which you are suddenly confronted with what you have done or said and you find that it is ugly and you do not like it. That is the way God cleanses us from hidden faults. He opens up the secret places.

Usually he does it through other people because, as God well knows, we cannot see ourselves, but other people can see us. These faults are hidden to us but not to others. They see them very plainly. And we can see their hidden faults better than they can. You know that you can see the faults of somebody you are thinking about right now better than that person can. You say, I don't see how that person can be so blind. Someone is thinking that very same way about you. That is why it is always proper to say, Lord, cleanse me from hidden faults. Help me to see myself through the eyes of a friend who loves me enough to tell me the truth.

And then, Keep me from willful sins. Willful sins are those in which you are confident that you have what it takes to do what God wants. Self-confidence is presumption. God never asks us to do anything on that basis. If we depend upon ourselves, we are acting presumptuously, and any activity that stems from self-confidence is a presumptuous sin. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. For me to act as though there is anything that I can contribute is to be guilty of this kind of sin. The cure for this is dependence upon the activity of God in you as a believer. So David is praying, Lord, let me realize that without You I can do nothing. Help me to depend upon You to work through me. Then I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

~ Ray Stedman

#focr #focr edition 15 #keep me #ray steman #devotional

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mimik-u · 3 years

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Togetherness

Summary: The aftermath of Steven transforming into a huge reptilian monster brings back old memories for Pearl, who remembers another time Steven was scared so many years ago.

A/N: This piece was written for the Pearl-focused I am a Pearl! mini-zine a couple of months ago! It was a great opportunity to get to explore Pearl's mind space after the events of "I am My Monster" and how her friendship with Greg has evolved over the years. ;w; Thanks to the mods for a great zine experience! <3

AO3 Link / Zine Tumblr Link / @iamapearlzine

—

Steven is sixteen years old when he erupts into a scaly, pink monster—fifty-foot tall and inconsolable.

Everyone tells him that they love him, but because words are rarely ever enough, they show him that they do; they embrace him; they hold him; they press their fingertips into his reptilian skin. His scales are cold and sharp against Pearl’s palms, keratin hard and impenetrable. She tells him that he shouldn’t have to keep anything from her, all the while burning with shame that he’s kept so much from her.

He’s felt responsible for her fragility and loved her enough to tiptoe around the Diamond in the room.

His mother.

His mother and the complicated history between them.

The love.

The torture.

The grief.

The love.

(Because what is grief after all but a manifestation of love? A reminder, its echo, and its painful, lingering, lovely ghost.)

Connie kisses Steven, very lightly, very softly, and he falls from the sky, a boy again.

Pearl wraps him in a blanket.

Garnet carries him into the wreckage of their home.

And approximately one hour later, they’re all standing on the deck, waiting for Priyanka Maheswaran to finish her professional assessment of him as the sun sinks into a honey-colored sea.

Pearl cradles her face in her hands, elbows sinking into the railing, trying to retrace every missed sign in the blackness of her own head. She sees his skin glowing pink in the darkness—at the Reef, in Little Homeworld, just moments ago in the living room…

So many flares in the night.

And Pearl had watched them all fizzle.

—

Steven is six years old when he moves into the newly minted beach house, and he tells Greg that he’s afraid of the silence. Nearly all of his life, he’s been surrounded by noise—the gentle rumble of the van’s motor, the susurrant murmur of the sea, wind, rain, buskers playing guitars on the Boardwalk, the whoosh of the rollercoasters at Funland.

His dad’s snores echoing off the tin ceiling.

His dad’s laughter.

His softly-sung lullabies, too.

The beach house is really quiet at night, Steven tells Greg who tells the Gems, and he doesn’t like that…

He’s trying really hard to like it, though.

Maybe things’ll get better next week.

Pearl never looks at Greg as he delivers this news, tapping her fingers against the side of her leg as she sits at the kitchen table, ankles primly crossed. He stands in the doorway—right beneath Rose’s painted image—wringing his hands and looking too awkward to be allowed. She resents him for this—for his awkwardness, for his intrusion into their lives, and for everything else, too.

(Namely for Rose.)

She inwardly knows that she’s being unfair.

That loathing a person on the basis of his existence is morally suspect.

Wrong.

But what are rightness and wrongness to emotions? To the sheer primality of grief?

Grief is irrational, she rationalizes to herself—she self-justifies; it knows nothing of ethicality.

“Why didn’t Steman tell us this?” Amethyst asks, absently scratching her nose. “If it’s noise he wants, I got an old drum set he can knock himself out on.”

Pearl frowns, well-remembering the ten straight years Amethyst played the drums through the nineties. Rose loved it; Pearl spent many hours alone in her room to decompress.

“He’s still intimidated by you three,” Greg shrugs kindly. “And shy. You just have to give him reason enough to trust ya with stuff like this. Tucking him in at bed at night, y’know. Checking under the bed for monsters.”

“There aren’t monsters under his bed,” Garnet says, practical as ever. “They wouldn’t fit.”

Greg chuckles, running a flat hand across the back of his neck as he peers between the three gems. When he and Pearl lock eyes, she meets his stare coldly, her mouth pressed into a thin line.

“But Steven doesn’t know that,” he mumbles, glancing away, his cheeks flushing. “You gotta shine a flashlight down there and show him there’s nothing there.”

“Doesn’t that seem patronizing to you?” Pearl asks, taking little care to disguise the condescension in her voice. Across the room, Garnet’s visored stare finds her—blank, inscrutable, and arcane—but Pearl knows her fellow gem well enough to understand that this is chastisement, silent and brutal.

Arching a thin brow, she ignores Garnet.

She demands an answer from Greg.

“Maybe,” the man concedes, but when he acknowledges her gaze again, there’s a little defiance in his eyes, an edge in his scratchy voice. “But maybe not. That’s what being a parent is sometimes. Patronizing the kid! Playing along. Showing him that you’re listening to what he needs. Letting him know that you’re there… haven’t you ever been afraid before, Pearl?”

“No,” she protests immediately, bristling.

“Pssh,” Amethyst snorts. “Last week, you jumped ten feet in the air ‘cuz you saw a snake.”

“You did,” Garnet smiles wryly. “I was there.”

Pearl scoffs, trying and failing to ignore that her cheeks are suffused with blue blush…

… and that Greg is staring at her with an almost distinguishable emotion in his eyes.

If she didn’t know better, she would say it was pity.

—

Dr. Maheswaran tells them that Steven is okay; he’s tired and sore—transforming expended a lot of his energy—but he’s ready to see everyone now. She tells them to be quiet and to maybe go in one by one, so he doesn’t get too overwhelmed.

Firmly, she warns them that it’ll take more than a good night’s sleep for him to heal .

And she doesn’t mean physically.

“Here’s a number of a good therapist I know,” she says, placing a card in Pearl’s hand. “Her office opens at nine.”

Pearl folds her fingertips over the edges of the glossy card stock but doesn’t quite glance down to look at the name—too fixated on watching Greg stand in front of the doorway, palming the screen door as he seemingly steels himself to go in.

He’s aged so much in the twenty-something years that Pearl has known him—from his nearly bald head to the branching lines creasing the corners of his eyes—but for some reason, it is only now, in this ephemeral moment, that she realizes how old he is.

She doesn’t mean physically either.

As the others gather around Dr. Maheswaran, asking her questions, voicing their concerns, Pearl takes one deliberate step and then another.

—

Garnet tells Steven that it’s okay—there are no monsters under the bed—and when she shines a flashlight beneath the mattress, Amethyst is there, shapeshifted into a tiny kitten, purring at the child sweetly.

“See, dude?” She laughs, bounding out from beneath the bed. In an instant of blurred matter and color, she becomes herself again, her bangs sweeping inelegantly over her eye. “No monsters under the bed, only cute kittens.”

“Only kittens?” He repeats, grinning that famous gap-toothed smile that everyone adores. His legs are nearly swallowed by his oversized shirt.

“Kittens and dust bunnies,” Amethyst confirms, knuckling his curls playfully and smiling broadly when he laughs. “G’night, Steman.”

“Night, Amethyst!”

“Goodnight, Steven,” Garnet murmurs, lifting the six-year old into her arms and gently placing him onto the bed. She tucks him beneath the covers. She tenderly kisses him on the head.

“Nighty night, Garnet.”

And then it’s Pearl’s turn. Garnet and Amethyst head towards their temple rooms, and Pearl settles down on the edge of the comforter, balancing her left ankle on top of her right knee.

“Don’t forget about M.C. Bear Bear!” She teases softly, reaching over and placing the stuffed animal next to Steven’s arm. “He needs a snuggle buddy.”

Steven nods in agreement, his brow furrowed seriously over his eyes.

“Yep,” he says importantly. “I’ll be sure to hug him tight.”

“Excellent,” she says primly.

“Excellent,” he echoes playfully.

She lightly skims her knuckles across his soft cheek, smiling when he giggles a little, always ticklish…

… but then, when she withdraws her hand, letting it fall away from his face, the moment that immediately follows is quiet.

Too much so.

So quiet that Pearl can hear the softness of Steven’s breath, quiet enough that Greg’s words from earlier haunt her in the absence of noise.

Haven’t you ever been afraid before, Pearl?

Contrary to what Garnet and Amethyst may believe, she isn’t afraid of snakes —pestilent creatures though they are.

She’s surprised by snakes.

And afraid of much bigger things—five-thousand-year old secrets and equally ancient insecurities, for instance.

Six thousand years ago, after all, she was coded to believe that her highest order in life was to be a slave.

And sometimes—if only sometimes—she fears that her weaknesses were ingrained then, in the very moment she emerged from a shell and was called a pearl

One of so many.

Disposable.

Programmable.

Objectified.

Sometimes, she barely knows what it means to be herself, much less what it means to be a parent .

Indeed, Greg Universe of all people seems to have the idea down better than she ever could.

So, yes, Greg, she is afraid.

(Afraid of failing Steven.)

(Terrified that she’s already failed her. )

Patronize him, Greg suggested.

Play with him.

Show him that you’re listening.

Let him know that you’re there.

—

“Greg?”

Pearl places a light hand on Greg’s arm, startling him from his trance as he turns around to face her.

“Pearl!” He exhales, his breath coming in short bursts. “Y’scared me!”

“I’m sorry,” she says sincerely, not quite moving her hand away yet. His skin is warm beneath her fingertips, soft like wave-washed sand. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Yes,” he returns immediately, and then—taking one look at her imperiously raised brow—just as quickly rectifies himself. “No. I don’t know. I’m freakin’ terrified, Pearl. I feel like a failure of a parent. I don’t know what to tell him. But I gotta go in there anyway.”

He says it all very rapidly, as though he’s talking to himself.

Encouraging himself.

And putting himself down to do it.

“I’m his dad,” he concludes, his voice breaking, tears standing in his dark eyes. “I’m his dad, and I didn’t… I wasn’t there for him, and I should have—“

“ Shh, ” Pearl cuts across him gently, patting his arm as tears threaten to slide down her own face. “Shh. There are so many hypothetical should haves that we’ll all have to face soon when it comes to Steven. But not today, Greg .”

With her free hand, she conjures a tissue from her gem and hands it to him, unflinching and kind, even when he needs to wipe his nose.

“Today,” she murmurs, her voice inhibited, a hundred emotions thick, “we just let him know that we’re here.”

—

“Pearl?” Steven asks.

Pearl blinks rapidly, coming back to herself; she’d been lost in her own thoughts, nearly consumed.

“Hey,” she smiles, placing her hand on top of Steven’s own. His skin is so warm and soft; she absently wonders if her alienness feels sharp to him… hard… cold… “Here’s an idea—how about I sing you a lullaby before you go to sleep?”

“You know how to sing?” Steven’s eyes widen incredulously, his mouth shaping itself into a delighted smile.

“Don’t look so surprised,” she laughs playfully. “When we were younger, your mother and I used to sing all the time—hymns from our home planet and the like…”

A pause, infinitesimal, hesitant.

“...I could sing one for you if you’d like?”

“You could?” The child dares to be hopeful; the very emotion shapes the pitch of his question, the light in his eyes.

He has his mother’s eyes.

Dark and full of stars.

“I could,” Pearl repeats. “I’d sing as long as you wanted me to.”

“How about fooooorever?”

“Let’s just start with until you fall asleep,” Pearl laughs. “That’s a part of forever, yes? This moment?”

“If you say so, Pearl,” he wrinkles his nose skeptically.

“I know so, Steven.”

As she sings him to sleep in her mother tongue, Pearl admits that this must be something that Greg knows, too.

The importance of hereness to a child.