JAMBUDS: steven universe

Cuddling

"Steven..."

"Please, I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't hurt me."

Connie looked at her best friend, whose back was turned to her. Steven was never like this, especially not to her. She didn't fully understand what was happening, but she'd figure it out eventually.

"How do you know that? I'm a monster," Steven said, voice cracking.

She winced at the word monster. It pained her to see him acting like this. "You aren't a monster," she stepped forward, the floor board creaking under her foot.

He glanced at her for a split second. His eyes were pink with tears. Connie looked him in the eyes, giving him a small smile to try and calm him down. His tense demeanor softened, yet he turned back around. "I haven't helped anyone in the past month. I've been doing the opposite. I've been...hurting them."

"You didn't mean to hurt anyone!" Connie took another step forward, coming closer to him.

"You don't know that! What if I wanted to hurt them? What if I wanted to hurt them deep down, but I knew I couldn't. And now that I have..." his words were broken off by small sobs.

She finally reached him and put a hand on his shoulder. He was hiding all of this all along. She felt terrible that she didn't know, but then again, Steven was amazing at hiding these emotions. She looked up at the back of his head. He was taller than her ever so slightly. No words were spoken as Connie slowly wrapped her arms around his torso. Steven touched her small, gentle hands. "I'm sorry..."

She shook her head. "Don't be," she brought the two to the ground, sitting against Steven's bed. "Steven, you are an amazing person. You know that, don't you?"

He sniffed and stared at her, "Connie-"

She cut him off, "And I know you would never hurt anyone on purpose, even if you wanted to. Whoever hurt them...that wasn't you."

He knew it was true, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that he's to blame for the mess they are in. He closed his eyes and started sobbing even more. He wrapped his arms around her, crying into her. She ran her hands through his curly hair. Hearing him cry almost made her cry, but she fought back the tears.

The two held each other for what seemed like forever. When they finally pulled apart, Steven was no longer crying. In fact, he was smiling. "Thank you," he told her.

She smiled back, "I hate to see you like this. I just want to make you feel better."

"Well, it worked," he chuckled. He still had a few tears in his eyes, and he put his left arm around her, pulling her closer. She blushed a bit and rested her head on his chest.

The two stayed there, holding each other until they fell asleep. The warmth from each other's bodies made them grin, so glad they had each other in their arms.

* 505 words (December 3, 2019)