We begin the episode with Steven on a video call with Connie, who is in the middle of her study break. Connie is deep in her plans for early admission at The University of Jayhawk, and Steven is amazed at how thought out her future plans are. After the end of her break, she ends the call to resume her studies. Steven looks at a brochure she left behind and notices that Connie’s college of choice is very far away from Beach City. He starts to glow pink again at the thought of Connie being so far away.
Steven heads downstairs and sees Garnet ready to head out. He asks her for advice, but Garnet doesn’t have the time and she splits, literally. She unfuses as both Ruby and Sapphire both have classes to teach at Little Homeschool that day. Sapphire goes off to lecture about alternate timelines, and Steven goes to talk with Ruby in the woods while she leads her troop of gem scouts. While in the woods, Steven confesses to Ruby that he feels lost whenever he’s talking to Connie, that while she knows exactly what she wants to do with her life, he does not. Even further complicating things is that these feelings go away when he and Connie are Stevonnie and he’s ready for anything. More than anything, he doesn’t want to feel lost on his own and wants to remain with Connie.
A realization soon pops in Steven’s head. If being with Connie helps him overcome his anxieties, then Connie is the answer to his problems. Ruby excitedly suggests that Steven should propose to Connie. While Steven is initially unsure, he admits the thought crossed his mind. Ruby suggests checking in with Sapphire’s future vision to be sure. Steven runs over to Sapphire’s lecture at the beach and asks the blue gem whether proposing to Connie is a good idea. Sapphire tells Steven that her relationship and marriage with Ruby was something she never saw coming and that love is unquantifiable and can make the impossible possible. She then echoes Ruby’s emphatic suggestion and Steven makes up his mind. He announces to the class that he will propose to Connie.
Happier than he’s been over the past few months, Steven goes around town preparing a romantic picnic on the beach, buying a cake frosted with the words “Together Forever”, flowers, and a glowstick bracelet that he will use as a ring. That evening during Connie’s study break, Steven surprises Connie by showing up at her house, dressed in a tuxedo jacket, and offers to take her for a walk, which she agrees. The two reminisce about the first time they met and Steven takes her to that same spot. When they arrive, Connie is surprised to see that Steven set up a picnic for them. Steven then takes out a guitar and sings her a song about wherever she goes, he wants to be there with her.
Connie is touched by the song until Steven kneels on one knee holding the glow bracelet in his hand. Steven pops the question; to get married and live the rest of their lives as Stevonnie. Connie is shocked and tries to laugh it off, suggesting they talk about it first. Steven, however, is insistent on the idea and that it makes sense. Connie tells Steven that they are both too young for marriage, and that while she enjoys being Stevonnie, she wants to be her own person too. Despite Connie giving him a warm hug to comfort him, Steven is heartbroken.
- Steven: I-Is it a no?Connie: It’s a ‘not now’, Steven.
Connie’s alarm soon goes off, indicating her study break is over. She pushes studying aside to be there for Steven, but he insists she goes back to study since its important to her. She reluctantly agrees and goes back home, leaving Steven alone on the beach completely devastated by the turn of events. As he sighs, he falls on his back and a sudden outburst of pink energy leaves him in a crater, destroying the picnic.Hours of sulking later, Steven emerges from the crater where Garnet is sitting with the remnants of the picnic waiting for him. As they walk home, Steven talks with Garnet who tells him that not only that getting relationship advice from the romantically-minded Ruby and Sapphire was a bad idea, but she couldn’t stop him herself since he would have proposed to Connie regardless if anyone stopped him. Garnet comforts Steven and tells him that a soulmate is a compliment, not a missing piece.
Steven is still upset and tries to cheer himself up by eating the remains of the cake. Garnet warns him that it won’t make him feel better, but Steven eats it anyway.
Tropes:
- Aesop Amnesia: Steven asks Connie to marry him under the belief that they can stay permanently fused as Stevonnie together. He has apparently forgotten that when Ruby and Sapphire got married they learned that it was healthier for them and their relationship if they spent some time apart occasionally, a lesson that he himself helped teach them.
- An Aesop:
- Your significant other is not a crutch you can use in order to fill up a hole in your life, but a complete individual who complements you.
- 16 or 17 is too young to get married, even if the two individuals are very mature and love each other very much.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: This could be seen as an unintentional Call-Back. In "Prickly Pair", one of Steven's gripes to Cactus Steven was that he didn't want anymore "high-and-mighty advice from Garnet". Here, he did want advice from Garnet due to her knowledge of love, but was instead given advice from her components: Ruby and Sapphire, who are already so madly in love with one another that they insisted that Steven go through with his proposal to Connie without any second thoughts. After Connie turns down Steven's proposal, he is met by Garnet, who finally give Steven her advice, but by that point, he does not take it well at all.
- Big "WHAT?!": When Steven proposes:Steven: Connie, will you marry me?
Connie: What?
Steven: Let's get married and live as Stevonnie!
Connie: What!? - Call-Back:
- Steven's picnic lunch includes jam and biscuits, calling back to the "jam buds" scene from "Sworn to the Sword".
- The first lyrics of Steven's love song "I'd Rather Be Me (With You)" ("I'd rather be tall/I'd rather be smart") play off those from his dad's song "Let Me Drive My Van (into Your Heart)" ("I know I'm not that tall/I know I'm not that smart").
- Career Versus Man: Played with; Connie's educational path has left her with less time for Steven, but she doesn't stress over this, and is even open to being with him more. Steven worries about it much more and from both sides, feeling he'll be worse off without her but still isn't worth getting in her way regardless. Steven tries to Take a Third Option by living together as Stevonnie, who can study and go to college in Connie's place, but Connie still wants to live most of her life as an individual.
- Cross-Referenced Titles: To "Alone Together" and "Together Alone".
- Go Back to the Source: Steven proposes to Connie by taking them to the spot on the beach where he introduced himself to her in "Bubble Buddies", and even uses a glow bracelet instead of a ring.
- Ironic Episode Title: Steven wants to fuse with Connie most of the time, even buying a cake with "Together Forever" written on it, but she doesn't go for it.
- Irony: Ruby and Sapphire have a perfectly healthy relationship and Garnet is the living manifestation of this, but they themselves give terrible love advice, encouraging Steven to rush to propose to Connie (and skirting by the fact that they learned spending time apart was healthy for them). Garnet even lampshades this, calling the two of them hopeless romantics.
- Literal Metaphor: Garnet says she has to split... and then separates into Sapphire and Ruby.
- Married Too Young: One reason Connie gives for rejecting (or rather deferring) Steven's proposal is that they're both very young and have plenty of time ahead of them.
- Measuring the Marigolds: Steven asks Sapphire to predict his and Connie's wedded life, and rather than using her future vision, she writes a lengthy equation in the sand to quantify different variables. Subverted though, since she timed it so that a wave would wash the formula away as her point was that love defies logic and analysis.
- Merit Badges for Everything: Ruby instructs her troop on how to earn the "Nature Sketching" badge, which would make sense for a real scout organization to give out, but then tells Steven he could receive a "Proposal" badge if he proposes to Connie.
- Not Helping Your Case: Connie assures Steven that they don't have to rush to get married because they have plenty of time. Then her alarm signals her break is over, and Steven insists she goes back to studying.
- Power Incontinence: When realizing that Steven wants to propose to Connie, Ruby gets so excited that she sets the grass where she's standing on fire and has to grab a blanket to put it out (an actual Boy/Girl Scout technique for quenching small fires).
- Psychoactive Powers: Steven's Pink mode develops a new ability that's an inverse of his floating powers. Rather than slowing his descent based on his happiness he now becomes heavier the sadder he's feeling. At first he just sinks into his bed but after Connie rejects his proposal he craters the beach where he's laying down.
- Rejected Marriage Proposal: Steven proposes to Connie. She gently rejects him, saying that while she does care about him, she thinks it's way too soon in both of their lives to consider it (Steven's only sixteen years old and Connie is even younger than he is). Steven suggesting that they spend all their time fused together doesn't help, as Connie wants to be her own person. Steven is upset, but accepts her rejection graciously. It's indicated that Steven mostly asked Connie to marry him as a poor attempt to cope with his trauma, as he was afraid of losing Connie when she revealed she was leaving to attend college.
- Serenade Your Lover: Steven precedes his proposal with "I'd Rather Be Me (With You)", a song about how much he wants to spend his life beside Connie—with a distinct undertone that he wants to spend that time fused together as Stevonnie.
- Shipper on Deck: Both Ruby and Sapphire encourage Steven to propose to Connie.
- Stepford Smiler: After Connie turns down Steven's proposal but wants to stay around, Steven insists he's fine and that he shouldn't keep her from her studies. As soon as Lion takes her out of sight, Steven falls over onto the sand in tears, unconsciously sends out a shockwave that destroys the picnic, and Steven spends the next several hours laying in the crater.
- Understanding Boyfriend: Gender-inverted; Connie finds Steven's proposal very off-putting, but does her best to spare his feelings over it, seemingly realizes the stress he's been under, and is willing to spend more time with him. She doesn't even reject him, but rather defers the idea, saying they're young and they have plenty of time.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Steven runs his idea to propose to Connie by Ruby and Sapphire (but not Garnet), which ends up failing.
- Wingding Eyes: Ruby has stars in her eyes (gold ones, unlike Steven's) when she gets excited and tells Steven to propose to Connie.
- With This Ring: Instead of a diamond ring, Steven uses a glowstick bracelet like the one Connie had in "Bubble Buddies" to propose to Connie.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Sapphire says love is unpredictable and tells Steven to propose to Connie, but Garnet says that she didn't warn Steven not to because she couldn't see any timeline where he wouldn't.
