Chapter Text
Aventurine groggily woke up. That was strange; he was pretty sure he should be dead in a forest. "Oh! You're awake?" The Astral Express twins, who had been playing some idiotic mobile game, turned their heads towards him in sync. "WE'RE SO SORRY! WE-" the girl said. Aventurine cut her off. "I’m pretty sure you didn’t mean to stab me, and the big mountain crystal probably had something do do with it." The girl nodded vigourously. "Yeah, right Caelus? We didn't do it on purpose, so stop crying." Twin #2 looked up from his phone, face with a conspicuous lack of tear tracks. "Oh! You need some food. Your friend Topaz is awake too. She woke up pretty early, and gave us her soup recipe so you two can eat lunch together.” The twins left, texting someone. A few minutes later, Topaz ran in, carrying another container of that amazing tomato soup she had brought when he was sick. “You’re awake! I was really worried.” Aventurine felt a little warm that someone cared. They sat in silence, spooning the fragrant soup up as Aventurine fished for words to say. The air in the room felt thick and tense, and Topaz was looking intently into her soup, seemingly also searching for the right words. In the end, Topaz broke the silence first. "I wanted to ask you a question. Have you ever had a crush?" Play it safe, Aventurine. Don't screw it up this time.
Aventurine's spoon clattered loudly against the bowl. "Hm...why do you ask? I've had many, and still have a couple." Was Topaz blushing, or was that just the light or reflections or something? She pulled out a slice of cheesecake from a little nearby shop, garnished with berries and sugar and split into two pieces. As they both reached for the same slice, their hands bumped together and Aventurine felt his face heat up. Why was he blushing like some nervous teenager? In order to save face, he stuffed the cake into his mouth, getting a smear of frosting on his lip. Apparently not realizing what she was doing, Topaz licked a finger and rubbed at the cream, until suddenly blushing tomato-red. "Sorry! I think I made that weird, and-" Topaz kept stuttering as Aventurine fumbled. "No, really Topaz, it was fine, great even!" Now it was Aventurine's turn to go tomato mode. Topaz tilted her head sweetly, face framed by evening sunlight. "So you liked it? That reminds me... Who do you still have a crush on, Aventurine?" Aventurine pretended to think. "Well, there's this girl, who is sweet and caring but stands up to injustice with every fiber of her being. She's talented and hard-working and beautiful. I would die for her. Ahhhh, love-" He was cut off as Topaz leaned in for a kiss and shut him up. It was soft and sweet, and more of a promise than a contract. Stay here, and I'll stay with you.
Of course, Corundum chose that exact moment to walk in. "Ah," the doctor said, infuriatingly handsome face marred by a hint of disappointment. "It seems what I came here to say would go unappreciated. I wish you two all the best, and I shall find someone else to drop a useless doctor's sweet nothings upon." Aventurine took about six and a half seconds to break through the fancy words. "Doctor dear, are you saying you love me?"
"On an overly technical note, both of you."
Topaz sighed giantly. "Oh thank goodness. I felt quite a lot of mixed emotions for having two crushes at once." Aventurine nodded in solidarity. Corundum looked like his internal logic circuit had spontaeneously combusted, and instead declared Aventurine's and Topaz's eyes to be the most important things in the world. "You reciprocate my love? " Topaz sighed again. "You too, Doctor?" As she had done with Aventurine, she shut him up by leaning in with a kiss. On coming up, she pointedly glanced at Aventurine. The message was clear: Show him you love him, stupid. As requested by the tiny Topaz in his head, Aventurine kissed Corundum as well.
"I just can't believe people would fall in love with Corundum, the failed, friendless, overhyped genius."
"Well, much the same could be said for Aventurine, the office pest and flirtatious gambler."
"Or Topaz the unremarkable, normal girl, who doesn’t look like anything next to the other Stonehearts.”
Aventurine grabbed Corundum’s hand. “Then I suppose it’s much for the better that I fell in love with Veritas Ratio, the kindest genius in the galaxy. Kind enough even to turn an eye towards-“ Topaz interrupted. “The man who holds the IPC record for his proportion of successful missions to civilian deaths? Hundreds of people owe their lives to you.” Ratio butted in this time. “And of course, the best shot and kindest heart in the IPC.” Aventurine felt warm all over and inside. “That was absolutely the best near-death experience of my life. Most of them just end with hospital stays, not, y’know, people confessing they love me.” Topaz laughed. “I think you speak for all of us.”