Steven Universe x Reader

Chapter Six - Training

Y/N's POV:
jasper crouched into a fighting stance a few feet away from me, her eyes sharp and challenging. "fight me." she demanded.

"i can't, you know that." i sighed back.

being with jasper was different than being with others. with others, i didn't know if they would hurt me, yell, or worse. even steven felt like a wild card to me. but i knew jasper would do all of those things no matter what i did. she was predictable; easy to judge.

she started tossing rocks and tree bark at me, and i did my best to stop them from hitting me. "you're a terrible teacher." i shouted.

"i'm not teaching, i'm fighting." she paused, "so... how do you know pink diamond?"

"who?" i flicked a small rock back at her.

"...steven." she corrected herself with an eye roll.

"oh, right. he started bothering me so i told him i would be his friend for the week."

"why a week? is your father out of town, again?"

my father had herded me out the back door, landing one last kick to my side before slamming the door shut.

he kicked me out occasionally when he was really mad. though he always let me back in when he wanted dinner or didn't know how to get to the tv channel he wanted.

i walked into the woods, stumbling through the trees and rocks and ferns. 10 minutes into my walk i reached a messy clearing, trees forcefully snapped at the base.

"go away." a voice yelled from inside the homemade cave.

"um, sorry." i peeked into the cave meekly, and stumbled back as a tall orange gem marched out.

"gross, a you a human?"

"um, ye- well not technically. just half-human." i pulled down the collar of my shirt, showing her the glittering gem embedded in my skin.

"another one?" she leaned forward to examine it, "hmm. what gem is that? i've never seen it before."

i shrugged, "i don't know. my dad never told me."

"well, what weapon do you have?"

i shrugged again, "i don't know. never used it."

she hummed and stood up straight, "fine, you've convinced me. i will train you to use your abilities."

"what? no, i wasn't trying to-"

"shut up, half-gem. fight me."

and she did. one a month i spent the day with jasper, learning more about my abilities and how to control them.

"yeah, he went to empire city." i cracked my knuckles, letting a chuck of earth lift me up into the air.

"summon your weapon." jasper demanded.

"how do you know steven?" i asked instead.

"his mother was pink diamond."

before i could ask anymore questions, i heard a roar. i turned to see a pink portal opening up a few yards away. stevens lion, thankfully alone, jumped out and flopped down on the ground between some trees. he blinked a greeting, huffing and resting his head on his paws.

"oh, finally! an animal that isn't a bird!" jasper shouted.

"shut up, i can't control it." i looked over to lion. "and... i don't think i did that."

-.-.-.-.-.-
i laid on my back, trying desperately to catch my breath. jasper and i had finished our training, neither of us severely injured -thankfully-. of course, jasper was perfectly fine because she was a gem.

she was laying with her limbs spread dramatically out next to me, holding her helmet in her hand. "so, what're you gonna do about steven after the week is over?"

i glanced over at lion, who was peacefully sleeping  at the edge of the clearing. "go back to avoiding him, i guess. my dad said i can't have friends."

"well, when are you going to leave?"

i sat up and looked down at her in confusion, "what do you mean?"

"leave your dads house. you are leaving, right?" she sat up as well.

"i don't have anywhere to go." i shrugged. "unless you want me to stay with you-"

"no! forget i said anything." she stood up, rolling her eyes and starting to re-stack the rocks we fought with.

i laughed, then stood up and walked over to lion. "can you... take me to steven's house?"

lion stood with a tired huff that i took as a 'yes', roaring loudly to open a swirling pink portal.

i scrambled on lion's back quickly, "bye, jasper! i love you!!" she hurled a large rock into the portal after me as a response.

-.-.-.-.-
Steven's POV:

i was watching crying breakfast friends when i heard a knock on the door. i put my journal down, descending the stairs and freezing at the familiar face on my porch.

(Y/N).

"hey!" i rushed to open the door for her. "i thought you were visiting your dad!" i waved her inside excitedly, taking in her... oddly tattered appearance. her clothes were covered in dirt and rips and grass stains.

she paused, eyes darting to the side, "um- we got back early." she stumbled a bit as lion pushed her aside and walked straight up to my room.

i lead her up to my room after lion, preparing to shoo him off my bed. "so, what do you want to do?"

she shrugged, "whatever you want."

"i can... show you around little homeworld?" i suggested. after she nodded, i led her back outside to my car. i slowed to a stop on the porch, puzzled at the large rock settled in the sand. "what the.." i looked over at (Y/N) in confusion. "do you know what happened?"

she shook her head and hopped in the dondai, almost looking as if she was holding back a laugh.

-.-.-.-.-
i waved at the gems scattered around little homeworld as we walked to peridot's greenhouse.

"wow." (Y/N) breathed. "you guys built all this?"

"yeah! well, it was mainly bismuth. but everyone else helped, too." i opened the greenhouse door for her.

peridot popped out from behind a large plant as we entered. "hello, steven. who is this?"

"(Y/N). she's a human." i patted her back, making her jump. i furrowed my brows, looking at her for a confused moment before peridot distracted me.

"hello, human. i am peridot!" she beamed. she grabbed her tablet, immediately becoming distracted by a game or statistic or article.

i sighed, knowing she would be distracted for ages, and pulled steven towards bismuth's shop.

"steven!" bismuth's hammer-hands morphed back to normal and she ran to hug me, "oh, who's this?"

"(Y/N). this is bismuth."

bismuth shook her hand firmly, "nice to meet you!"

"you too." (Y/N) murmured back.

"go on inside, look at my weapons." bismuth gestured inside excitedly, happy to show off her hard work. she leaned closer to me, lowering her voice. "she's an odd human. seems sad."

i nodded, "yeah, but we're only friends for a week, so i gotta make it count, right?" i ran inside after her before bismuth could ask any questions.

[ACTUALLY edited] (this chapter is beyond repair)