Corrupted Heart - Steven Universe x Reader

Chapter 24

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Owen began shuffling through the contents of his backpacks before cursing under his breath.

"What's wrong?", Frankie asked him.

Owen's eyelids dropped, "I lost my school binder! It has all my handouts in it!".

Frankie raised a brow in doubt, "You lost it?".

"Are you implying someone stole it?".

I didn't hesitate to have a general idea of who would stoop that low. I could practically see Mable's smug grin projecting in my head. I didn't have any proof, but my gut feeling was enough to convince me. We all walked out the school doors, along with other kids who took off to the car park to get picked up, the bus stop or the kids who began walking home. My eyes darted around for Steven, as we agreed to meet up after school. My eyes then locked onto a sight that stunned me.

"Wow! You have a real lion?! So cool!".

Steven grinned widely, standing next to Lion as Mable was sucking up to him, giggling at almost everything that he said. Since when did they know each other? And, why was Mable talking to him? It then clicked, she was up to something. I could tell when her eyes shifted over to me with a taunting smirk on her face.

Jerry's eyes sparkled with excitement, "Woah! There's a lion! Are you guys seeing this?!".

I jogged up to Steven, tapping a finger on his shoulder as he turned to face me. "Oh, (Y/N)! You're here!", he smiled.

"That's my cue to leave!", Mable said, batting her eyelashes as if she was innocent. "I'll see you around Steven!".

She took off, but not before sending me a discrete smirk.

"She's really nice!", Steven smiled in her direction, as I could only glare at the back of her head. Glancing down, I noticed Steven holding a blue binder with colourful sticky notes and sheets of paper sticking out. On the front, a name was written in big, bold writing.

"My binder!", Owen was now next to me, pointing at the binder in Steven's hand. How did Steven have Owen's binder? He couldn't have entered the school, and there's no way he stole.

"Where did you get that?", I asked him, his expression didn't falter.

"That nice girl, Mable, gave it to me. Sorry, was it yours?", he handed it over to Owen who took it out of his hand with a sceptical glance. So, our suspicions were correct. Mable stole Owen's binder, but why? And more importantly, why did she give it to Steven? Was she trying to frame him?

Cutting off the uncomfortable tension, Frankie extended her hand out, "You're Steven, right?". He nodded, gripping her hand and shaking it firmly. She glanced up at Lion, who returned a lethargic look back. "When (Y/N) said you had a pet lion, I thought she meant a stuffed animal", she took a couple of steps back with caution.

"Does anyone ever tell you, you have a babyface?", Jerry asked, leaning closer to examine all of Steven's features. Steven's face flushed with a hue of pink when he noticed the obvious difference of how Jerry looked much older. He had to look up at him, and his voice was lower, it made Steven feel a little self-conscious. "How old are you, anyway?"

Steve pushed down the insecurities and smiled, "I'm turning 14 next week!", he chirped happily. It suddenly hit me like a big, red bat. Steven's birthday was coming up, and I forgot. I remember him rambling about it for ages the last time we met up and it totally slipped my mind. Steven could read me like a book and he honestly wasn't offended or surprised at all. At least, he pretended he wasn't.