(Alternate) Steven Universe x Corrupt gem reader Insert

part 86: reading into the details..

"We understand completely, (name)."

Pearl crosses her arms matter-of-factly while amethyst grunts in exasperation, pouring soy sauce onto at a stack of pancakes with an grumpy expression. "Our bickering has brought a lot of harm to our team. Especially Steven."

As soon as his name was mentioned, steven looks up from his plate of pancakes with a quizzical hum, a bit of syrup dribbling down his lips. "We promise from this day forward, we will keep our opinions of each other at a reasonable level." Ameythyst scoffs under her breath rolled her eyes as she stuffed a soy covered pancake into her mouth. You nodded and grunted, turning back to your task at hand. "Good." You rumbled, cleaning out a pan in the sink. "Last thing we need is for pearl and amethyst to reach critical violence with each other on some trivial matter."

"Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen..." amethyst mumbles through her food. You grunted inwardly at the jeer, but chose to ignore it, and instead focused your annoyance on trying to get burnt on batter out of the corners of the pan. I hope you're right.. You were putting the dishes aside on the drying rack when you felt a hand on your shoulder. You didn't need to look up from your task to know who it was, as you already felt the gem that was embedded into the palm. "(Name), once you're done with the dishes, I'd like for you to come with on a mission with me."

"Oooh, you're goin' on a mission?!" Spinel pipes excitedly, her mouth full of pancakes.

"Can we come to?!" Steven stood up in his seat, eyes brimming in starry excitement.

"No," Garnet states calmly. "Just (Name)."

The young duo pouted slightly in their seats with a disappointed 'aaaw' in unison. With a hum, you gave her a side look of suspicion. Just... me and garnet..?

"Just... the two of you?" Pearl asked, sounding both curious, but slightly concerned. "Are you sure you don't want me and amethyst to tag along, or-?"

"I want (Name) to have full focus during this." She replied calmly, cutting pearl off. "I'd like to see how well her ability to communicate with corrupted gems work. I don't want her to have any distractions." Garnet then turns to look at you, a brief flash sliding across her visors. "It won't be long. I promise."

You hummed again in thought, squinting slightly into the faintest reflection of your eyes in the muggy dish water of the sink.

Seems harmless enough. If anything, anything, a little practice with your Corruption communication might do you a lot of good!

"...Give (name) a few minutes, she'll be with Garnet shortly."

Garnet nods, a small, barely visible but still noticeable smile present on her face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...They're right around here." You uttered, your horns flashing subtly as you caught a change in the atmosphere of the dense, damp jungle. You sniffed the humid air a few times, growling subtly at a sharp scent in the air. "Come."

You lead the visor donned gem deeper into the jungle, eyes glowing faintly against the darkness of the towering trees that covered the sky.

"That was a very impressive feat you accomplished yesterday, (name)." Garnet suddenly breaks the silence, prompting you to turn back to look at her with a hum of curiosity. "Not only did you manage to piece together an outfit for yourself on such a short notice, but you also held out pretty well the stress of the situation."

You snorted, and shrugged nonchalantly. "The only big things (name) really managed to do was make herself bipedal and retract her midarms." You waved a midarm for emphasis. "Other than that, (Name) found material and hat in Ameythyst's room, then she just shrank her horns and tried not to move her tail too much." You ducked beneath a large branch and held it up so Garnet can pass as well. "No big deal."

"It's a huge deal actually." Garnet reassures, her voice suddenly firm. "You don't realize how much of a special gem you're turning out to be, (name)."

You stop and turn to look at garnet with a lifted brow. "Corruption is the breakage a gem's mental state. It strips gems of their rationality. Leaves them lost and broken, rendering them to only rely on their instincts and corrupt gem abilities." She places her hand on her shoulder, and you see your quizzical expression in the reflection of her visors. "But then there's you, who's managed to power through this debilitating state against all odds." There was a very faint, but still noticeable air of excitement in her tone as she spoke. You were used to her stoicism and silence that even a sliver of excitement from her was a surprise.

"You're not only capable of thought and speech, but you're also still able to use gem abilities, like warp-pad usage and now shape-shifting. Those are some very big feats for a gem of corruption." You blinked, unsure of how to take her sudden admiration. "You've really come a long way since our first encounter. You've taught us a lot. You've changed a lot." Though you didn't see it, her eyes were also scanning your face. "...in more ways than one..."

"What's that mean?"

GrrrRRrrrrR....

Your heads snapped to the direction of a low growling coming from a deeper in the thick brushes of the forest. "Corrupted gem is close. Come on."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I wonder how it's going with (name) and garnet..." Steven thought out loud, laying side by side with spinel on his bed as they played golf quest mini. "I hope their okay."

Spinel shrugged. "Oh they're fine, I'm sure of it!" She chirped, smiling brightly. "I bet mama (name) has everything under control!" Steven chuckled at her cheerfulness. "Yeah- Wait.." Steven blinked as he processed her words and gave spinel a quizzical look. "Mama (Name)?"

"Well yeah!" Spinel giggled. "I mean, I've never really know what one was, but from what I've learned is that moms do what she does, right? So I thought that'd be a good nickname for her!" Steven tipped his head to the side for a moment before smiling warmly. "Yeah, it is."

There was a peaceful pause between the two as they returned their focus to their game play. As they advanced to the next stage of the game, spinel squinted slightly in thought. "Hey... Stevie?"

"Yeah?"

"During that dinner date, I kept hearing the word 'siblings'... what is that?"

Steven lifted his brow in slight surprise. "You don't know what that is?"

Spinel shrugs. "I've... never really heard it before..." here eyes dart back and forth uncomfortably. "...not where I'm from, anyway..."

"Oh... Well, a siblings are basically when two or more kids share a mom and dad!" Steven explains in which spinel's face brightens up. "Oh so, kinda like us with (Name), right?" Steven smiles warmly. "Yeah, exactly like that!"

Spinel giggles, kicking her feet in the air in a sudden sense of giddiness. "Wowee... I've never had a sibling before!"

There was a pause, as she tips her head to the side in thought. "...at least I don't think so." Steven looked at the pink gem curiously.

"Who were you with before?"

FLASH!

They were interrupted by a flash in the warp room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bit clunky here, but it's the best I can do at the moment-

Say, can you guess what episode's next?