Ships That Pass In The Night / Steven Universe

• Pairing Fusions with each other is not only this trope in the usual way, but in some cases, like Opal/Sugilite, it is physically impossible for the two to exist at the same time.
• It took seasons for Blue Pearl, Yellow Pearl, and Pearl to interact - heck, Blue Pearl didn't even speak until "Steven's Dream" - however, fans instantly began shipping combinations of them together. Shipping all three of them together is called "Polypearls".
• Greg/Jasper (termed "Grasper") is a somewhat common ship - not only have they never interacted, but one of them is an alien who probably doesn't have a high opinion of humans. It seems to mostly stem from a mix of Pair the Spares and Greg's well-established love of women with Jasper's build.
• Jasper and Pearl has a following as well, despite the extremely minimum interaction between them in Season 1. Many fans enjoy the contrast in their characters and their size difference. Following "Cry For Help" and "Earthlings", people began to see parallels between Jasper and Pearl as profoundly lonely and broken individuals who use Fusion as a crutch to empower themselves, and whose treatment of their Fusion partners is portrayed as unhealthy, with some seeing the two healing via a hurt-and-comfort dynamic. Interestingly, their Fusion partners were the teams' respective foils of one another: Leaders Garnet and Jasper, and waif-like Pearl and Lapis.
• Similarly, Pearl/Lapis has a lot of fans, despite the two characters barely interacting in the show and the implication in "Same Old World" that Lapis associates Pearl with her imprisonment in the mirror more than the other Crystal Gems. Both characters sharing a Dark and Troubled Past as unwitting servants of other Gems is the most common reason for pairing them.
• Lapis/Peridot was this before "Barn Mates"; it sprung up surprisingly strong after "Warp Tour", before they ever even met, as they were the first two Gems to be introduced outside of the Crystal Gems. It became even stronger after "The Return", where they appear together for the first time but don’t interact^note though they presumably had offscreen opportunities for interaction — the pairing became one of the top few most common pairings for the show on Archive of Our Own.
• Kiki Pizza and Ronaldo Fryman. Some of the few scenes where they are together, (dancing together during Steven's song with the Gems, their family restaurants being next door to each other, Ronaldo including Kiki and titling her as a Pizza Heiress in his documentary) along with some comments about Kiki from Ronaldo's blog on tumblr, provide "proof" for fans of this ship. Although this is more likely a Just Friends seen via Shipping Goggles. Funnily enough, this was fueled in "Restaurant Wars" when the two faked being in love to fool their fathers into stopping their feud. However, this same episode also sunk the ship to a degree, as not only are neither of them particularly enthusiastic, it is almost immediately revealed that Ronaldo had an actual girlfriend.
• Peridot/Ronaldo is surprisingly easy to find, despite the fact that the two of them have not shared any scenes together.
• There's also Kevin/Jamie, despite the fact that the two haven't been in the same episode, much less the same scene.
• Pairing Padparadscha of the Off-Colors with Leggy of Yellow Diamond's Ruby Squad has started to become popular despite them technically being on opposing sides. It may have something to do with how innocently adorable they both are, as well as the idea of them fusing into an awkward Garnet.
• Aquamarine and Navy are sometimes paired, despite the two of them never even appearing in the same episode. This is due to both of them being fake cuties that manipulate and mock the Gems just for fun. It also helps that they both have adorable designs.
• Hessonite and Emerald have supporters, mostly because of both being very high-ranked Gems with similar designs. They have yet to meet in the show, and Hessonite has yet to appear in the show, and she was only mentioned in "Legs From Here To Homeworld". While her appearance in Save the Light is considered canon, it's unclear whether or not the events of the game will ever be alluded to in the show barring namedrops of the Hessonite Gem type.
• After "Together Alone" and especially "Change Your Mind", shipping Our!Pearl and White Pearl/Pink Pearl has become a common point of discussion, since both originally belonged to Pink Diamond, with Pearl potentially helping Pink Pearl overcome her grief, much like how others have helped Pearl overcome hers. Others like the idea of them acting like sisters in a potential Alternate Universe Fic. However, after "Volleyball" aired, this ship gained a lot more traction, for the exact same reasons.
• Just days after Steven Universe: The Movie aired, the pairing of Spinel/Pink Pearl exploded in the fandom. Despite them never meeting (as far as we know), nor the latter appearing or even being mentioned in the movie, many fans have figured that they both share similar experiences and trauma that lasted thousands of years directly and indirectly caused by Pink Diamond, who owned them both. Not to mention the implication that Pink Pearl was replaced by Spinel as Pink Diamond’s playmate, as Pearls were not made to play with their owners. Not only is it theorised that they would definitely have similar experiences to bond over and cry in each other’s arms about, their personalities seem like they’d mesh very well, what with Pink Pearl being curious, kind and playful, from what we’ve seen at least, and Spinel being a Gem designed to amuse and entertain others and wanting a friend so badly, it almost seems like a perfect match. Both being pink and cute is probably a plus too.

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