Corrupted Heart - Steven Universe x Reader

WARNING: This chapter contains themes of child abandonment (This is Steven Universe though so, expect some pretty distressing stuff).

At first, I thought it was just a coincidence. I wasn't quite sure I believed in those anymore since there had been a lot of "Everything-Happens-For-A-Reason" events throughout the last couple of months. That's why originally, I had to believe it was just an occurrence of random events that all related to one thing:

Fusion.

It started off as something understandable.

A Corrupted Gem was seen wreaking havoc outside the Beach City convenience store. I volunteered to go with Steven and Garnet because Steven and I previously planned to meet at the cinema later to check the age rating and session times of a movie we planned to watch, less than a block away from the sighting.

Standing on its hind legs and letting out a monstrous shriek, what seemed to be a giant slime worm was crashing into store doors and leaving a trail of rubble destruction. It was a lot more violent than most gem monsters we dealt with, either obliterating or drenching in slime everything that was in its path.

That's when Steven had his brilliant idea, "(Y/N), let's fuse!".

I caught his gaze, incredulously and asked, "What?".

"If we fuse, we can merge our strengths together! It'll be easier to bubble the gem if we're synchronised!".

I barely managed to hold back the uncertainty on my face. A tidal wave of unpleasant memories came flooding back into my head, threatening to drown me in discomfort. It had been a while since he asked me to fuse, and I kind of thought he dropped the topic. Clearly, I was wrong. I decided to take a step back, letting Garnet take control of the situation. I looked up at her, hoping she wouldn't ask any questions as I stated, "Maybe you should take care of this one. I'm not feeling so well all of a sudden".

Though she eyed me suspiciously at first, she eventually put aside her doubts and went charging towards the corrupted gem, who was in the process of trying to plough into a fruit stand. I caught a glimpse of Steven's look of puzzlement before he quickly masked it with triumph when Garnet managed to successfully apprehend the gem, poof it despite its resistance and encase the gem in a bubble.

I was relieved when I managed to narrowly dodge a lethal bullet. I was sure that it was just a one-off situation, and by tomorrow, it'll just be another memory in an endless sea of recollection.

We managed to reach the cinema shortly after with no issue other than Steven occasionally shifting me a sideways, dubious glance. As if he was voicing his suspicions through his eyes. In complete silence, we reached the ticket counter. That seemed to drag Steven's attention away as his expression was replaced with fear and trepidation.

"Are you sure we're allowed to see this movie? The trailer looked a little intense", Steven spoke with concern laced in his voice. "Why don't we just watch Dogcopter?".

"Don't go backpedalling now", I could barely hold back a snicker seeing Steven's look of distraught. I had told him a million times that I was fine seeing the movie myself, but he insisted on spending the day with me. This is the repercussion of being so stubborn. "I told myself I had to watch the movie before Connie has the chance to. Otherwise, she won't be able to contain herself and spoil me!".

"Didn't you say that you thought the books were mediocre? Why do you even care?", Steven asked.

I eyed him with vast determination, "Because I don't like to be spoiled".

Not immediately getting the worker's attention with our presence, I tapped a finger on the glass, making the ticket attendant's head shoot up from the desk.