Heartwarming / Ask White Pearl and Steven (almost!) anything

Even with the more depressing circumstances of Steven's life, the comic manages many heartwarming moments.

WARNING! As per wiki policy, all spoilers are off.

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• Steven and White Pearl's first meeting in "Finally Free." Anyone would be frightened if they bumped into a silent, ghost-like, one-eyed, mysterious lady in the woods in the middle of the night, but Steven's first reaction is not fear of White Pearl but fear for her, that his foster mother might try and hurt her.
• Despite being homeless, Steven refuses to shoplift.
• In Season 1, Episode 18, Anonymous asks if Steven ever gets any comments on the street because of his strange appearance. In that same episode Steven does get comments while ordering food in a diner ...from a waitress, who calls him a cinnamon roll and compliments his grey hair, telling him she thinks its cool.
• Rose and Steven having fun while she's teaching him to shape-shift in "Shapeshift Salon," when she morphs her hair into different styles.
• When Steven finally manages (with Amethyst's help) to bring Earl to Beach City, he wades into the ocean in the middle of the night to find her. When he can't see her anywhere he wonders if she even wanted to find him again... and then Earl reaches up from under the water and grabs his hand.
  Steven: I'm glad to see you again. A-are you... glad... to see me?
  Earl: (repeating Steven's words) I'm glad to see you.
  Steven: Really? Are you not tired of me?
  Earl: Really...not tired.
  • Even more Heartwarming in Hindsight: even though Earl was still partly under Steven's control at this time, she truly meant what she said.
• Realization: Steven, worried about Earl but afraid to mention her to the Crystal Gems, awkwardly uses an excuse to ask Garnet to show him how to use the warp pad so he can try and find Earl. Garnet is happy to do so... and then kindly asks him if he wants to find his 'lost friend' that he mentioned being separated from. Even when Steven lies and says that Earl is human, she doesn't have a problem with him using the warp to look for her.
• From Season 2, Episode 47, "First Contact":
  • Steven's fascination with other aliens and him now being excited to be a Gem.
  • When he learns that Homeworld has wiped out countless other alien races, Garnet does her best to let him down gently.
• All of Steven and Amethyst's interactions in Season 2, Episode 49, which is called "Family."
  • Amethyst getting over her resentment of Steven, which was enough to make her nearly frame him for releasing a corrupted gem. The reason she doesn't go through with the prank? Because she overhears Steven on the phone to Connie, talking about how he thinks he should leave because everyone would be happier if he wasn't around.
  • Steven mentions that despite disliking him, Amethyst still trained with him and ate pizza with him. To Steven, who has never really had family or friends other than Earl, that means a lot.
  • Amethyst assuring Steven that the Crystal Gems won't care if he wants Earl to live with them: if he trusts her, than they will too.
    Amethyst: Because we're like... your family...kinda.
• Connie supporting Steven as best she can with the search for Earl and taking all of Steven's "freakiness" understandingly and non-judgmentally. When Steven gets put under house arrest, she spends hours wandering the countryside to find him.
• When Steven is put under house arrest in Renegade Connie, he explains everything to Connie. As soon as she was able, she immediately rushed to Steven's side to check on him. Not even the revelation that he "was" White Diamond deters her at all.
• In Season 3, Episode 16, Pearl tries to talk Earl into leaving Steven. It turns out later that she did this against Rose's orders. Which means that despite them being complete strangers, Pearl was willing to go behind Rose's back to help out another pearl that she thought was in trouble.
  • Steven overhears this conversation and tries to tell Earl that he doesn't want her to serve him anymore. When she salutes him as White Diamond, he asks her not to. Then they smile at each other and hug, understanding perfectly what the other means.
• Season 3, Episode 22: White Pearl goes into extensive detail on how she awakened and watched over Steven his whole life. She was so touched and amazed by his kindness towards others that she wondered if he'd do the same with her, despite him being White Diamond. Their travels proved to her that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Steven is nothing like White Diamond. The entire two part episode proves beyond anything that White Pearl's loyalty and care for Steven aren't the result of brainwashing or unintentional mind control, but because she loves and trusts Steven that much.
  • These lines in particular were so moving that all the Crystal Gems were moved to tears, and they really show just how much White Pearl cares for Steven.
    Pearl (translating for White Pearl as she begins to cry): Steven - the night we found each other in the ocean... You said you didn't want to control me. You said you just wanted a friend. That didn't need to change. I've always been your friend, Steven.
  • When asked if she's scared that Steven may control her again like White did, she simply replies in sign language that she places her trust in him. The last sign she makes is a diamond that shifts into a heart. Chekhov has stated that the sign doesn't have a defined meaning, but what's said is perfectly clear. Steven and White Pearl aren't just friends anymore, they're family.
• Steven identifying himself as pansexual in the third Steven Bomb after spending so long being too scared to question himself, and the look of relief and happiness at finally being able to say it without fear.
• Episode 34 of Season 3 shows that Rose is well past her previous treatment of Steven and is back to the motherly figure she used to be. Even though Steven is distraught by being told that reasoning with Lapis isn't an option, Rose tries her best to comfort him.
  • Both of them yelling Earl's name when she gets blasted away.
  • Similarly, as of Episode 23 of Season 3, Pearl and Steven's relationship has definitely improved from what it was. A throwaway line seems to imply that her relationship with Earl has also improved ever since Pearl translated Earl's story for her.
• Episode 38 of Season 3 shows that Rose doesn't blame Steven for what happened with Lapis. She also makes it clear that she now understands that Steven is a different person from White Diamond and that if he wants to help the Crystal Gems, he won't be doing it as White, but as himself. As Steven.
• Rose, Earl and the rest of the Crystal Gems all having exactly the same reaction when Steven gets Jasper's attention in "The Arrival." Cue all of them being visibly relieved when he's left unhurt by the encounter.
• Connie cheering Steven up with light-related puns after he accidentally spooks Rose in episode 41 with his White-Diamond-esque glow-in-the-dark power.
  Connie: Look on the bright side...it's literally the only one you have.
  Steven: Pfft...Okay, that was really bad.
  Connie: C'mon Steven, lighten up.
  Steven: Khhh...Can't believe you.
  Connie: WATT's the matter? Geddit? Watts? Like the lightbulb?
• Steven's whole interaction with Opal is adorable.
• In a way, Earl's reaction to Opal, when she tries to pull her apart, turns out to be because she was afraid they'd get stuck together permanently against their will.
• After Steven works out that Ruby and Sapphire are Garnet.
  Steven: What kind of mathematician could guess that one plus one... also equals one?
  Ruby: Heh... that's not the answer.
  • Ruby and Steven messing around, taking pictures and sending them to Amethyst.
• Amethyst's reaction when she realizes Connie and Steven fused.
  Amethyst: Dude, it's AWESOME!
  • Then she asks Steven to tell her how they did it.
• Rose's Tears of Joy when she recovers from her surprise. Even though fusion with a human is something she has not been able to do, she shows nothing but happiness for Stevonnie.
• Episode 52 begins with a shot of Garnet and Rose looking into the barn. It transpires that Steven and Connie have just finished showing Earl that they can fuse. Since both Garnet and Rose know Earl's feelings on fusion, the implication is that both of them were waiting outside to make sure everything went okay.
• Garnet taking a walk with Connie to explain to her properly about fusion.
• Rose's response when Steven tentatively asks if she's going to put him under house arrest again "just in case."
  Rose: What?! No, of course not!
• Earl being the one to initiate a fusion between her and Steven. All it takes is a hug.
• Despite Earl going dormant when Steven fused with her, none of the Crystal Gems are angry with him over it, despite his worries that they would be.
  • Pearl and Amethyst both doubt that Steven did anything bad, pointing out that he tends to jump to the worst conclusions, and express their congratulations that he fused with Earl, while Garnet invites Steven to sit and discuss his fears with her.
• Steven awkwardly offering Rose his support after overhearing Rose's private fears about Homeworld in "Fountain of Confessions." She hugs him.
  • Before that, Lion licking Rose's face to comfort her.
• The Crystal Gems and Earl happily taking to Seaglass and adopting her as a younger sibling of sorts.
• Season 4 Episode 12: despite being one of the darkest episodes so far, there's a very cute moment where we see Earl and Seaglass cuddled up together, fast asleep on a beanbag.
• Garnet wholeheartedly supporting Connie's decision to take control of her future and join the Crystal gems. After the fact, Ruby starts training Connie.
• Sapphire and Steven's talk in episode 15, when Steven confides some of his fears about being White Diamond. Without dismissing his worries, Sapphire explains that he's the only one in control of who he is, who he can become, and offers encouragement by telling him to remember that he's nothing like the tyrant White Diamond was, even if he has her gem.
  • Steven remembers these words when he finally works up the courage to use his True Sight on himself - and sees himself. Even though White Diamond's presence is by no means gone, it seems that with the support of the Crystal Gems, Earl and Connie, Steven is enough to keep her at bay.
• Steven's normally very apprehensive about using his Mind Manipulation at the best of times due to not wanting to exert his will on anyone and his fears that he'll lose himself to White Diamond. What causes him to immediately resort to using them in the first episode of Season 5? Jasper threatening to kill Seaglass.

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