By Your Side: Steven Universe x Reader

?Episode 5: Part 1?

This commercial was important to Steven so the least I could do was make sure the camera was properly taken care of.

"Steven," Peridot began. Her eyes closed and her palms pressed together as though she was about to break some difficult news to him. "You smell good."

She then punctuated the statement with, not one, but two thumbs up and a proud little smirk. Peridot peeked one eye open at Steven's raised eyebrows.

"Uh ha huh... What?"

I guess it wasn't the worst thing she could've said... I thought, trying to make sense of it.

"It's written on your back," Peridot explained, pointing to the paper taped to his back.

"Huh?"

I took the paper off and frowned down at it. Just as she said, the handwriting instructed: tell me I smell good. "What is this?" I asked. I know that I was trying to not be so obsessed with Steven's well-being, but how could I let someone pull this strangely executed prank?

"Hehe. You obviously wrote this, (Y/n)," Peridot said, taking the paper from my hand to appreciate it.

Before Steven could say anything to me, I raised my hands up defensively. "It wasn't me," I said. 

Steven grabbed a juice box from the duffel bag– another reason why I brought the camera case– and punctured the shiny foil circle with his straw. Once his straw was poised for consumption, he slung the duffel bag over his shoulder and rose to his feet. 

He took a sip and immediately fought the urge to spit it out.

I smacked the drink out of his hand. "Bad drink!"

"It's okay, (Y/n). No need to go overboard," Steven pointed out and looked at my victim on the ground. The face-up logo revealed the juice box imposter's true nature: tomato soup.

Why would someone put tomato soup in a box? I wondered.

Peridot didn't seem to understand why Steven wasn't ecstatic from these surprises. "I thought you loved tomato soup?" Peridot asked.

I made a mental note of this new piece of information.

"Yeah, but where'd my juice go..." Steven trailed off. His eyes followed the toilet paper rolling past us and leaving behind a line of unraveled white squares.

"Oh, no!" He suddenly exclaimed and ran to his car. Not even two steps later, he slowed to a stop. "The Dondai's been... Um. Kinda covered in toilet paper?"

Steven's car was untouched besides the unfinished stack of toilet paper rolls on the roof. I didn't know if I wanted to finish the rest of the TP pyramid or knock it down. Both seemed satisfying at the moment. The urge grew when the tallest roll in the stack fell and tumbled down the Dondai's windshield and hood.

Maniacal laughter taunted from some hidden place. I scanned the area but couldn't find the perpetrator.

"Hey! Whoever you are that's 'pranking' me, you got a really weird idea of what a prank is!" Steven shouted.

"You can say that again," I said. My arm swung through the stacked toilet paper, causing the vulnerable structure to topple.

Ah, yes. Destruction, I thought.

A corner of Steven's mouth lifted, as did an eyebrow. "Feel better?"

"Definitely." I basked in the momentary satisfaction before picking up the rolls I'd knocked over.

Steven sighed and grabbed the unfurled roll that had fallen from the very top of the stack. "At least we don't have to pick up more toilet paper from the store," he said.