A/N:

this chapter is a short one, but it's also the start of some plot? mayhap?

honestly i figured out the plot of this and most of it will honestly just be steven interfering in BNHA canon lol

considered adding gems to bnha universe but that would make for a super complicated thing that this story isn't supposed to be (looks at my other fic in shame)

Chapter 7: nighteye and garnet are very different people

Clothes dropped off in his room, ready to be sorted and folded as soon as he returned, Steven followed Kayama to his meeting with Nedzu and his mystery guest. His escort had no idea what was in store when he asked, so he was a bit nervous.

Why would Nedzu want him to meet with anyone? Would they be another superhero? Were they there to help him return home? Suddenly, all the good feelings of his outing dissolved, leaving a dense pit of anxiety in his stomach. Out of nowhere, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry," Kayama looked at him with a soft smile. "I'm sure there's no reason to be nervous. Nedzu just might have a lead on your situation."

"Maybe," he said, unsure, but the pressure from her grip was grounding. With a deep breath to steady himself, he knocked firmly on the office door, and it swung open automatically.

"Steven!" the principal beamed at him from his seat, gesturing for him to come in. "Welcome back! I hope your trip went well. I just wanted you to meet someone who could assist us in the case."

Steven stepped inside, now spotting the sharply-dressed man looking him over with a critical eye.

(Nedzu made eye contact with Nemuri, and his approving nod had her relaxing, a genuine smile threatening to spill out as she left.)

Before he could take a seat, the gangly man stood up, towering above him, and extended a hand.

"Greetings, Universe," he said. The man's voice was steady and even, and Steven couldn't pick up anything from him. "Nedzu has asked for me to meet you and provide what assistance I can. My name is Sir Nighteye."

Steven looked him in the eyes, trying to judge his intentions. Even as good as he was at judging people, Sir Nighteye was a blank slate. His schooled expression gave nothing away, so he ultimately accepted the handshake with an uneasy smile.

His grip tightened around his hand, and suddenly the man seemed to be staring right through him. Steven was about to pull himself away when the man did it himself, flinching backwards like he'd just been smacked.

"What?" Steven asked, wondering what the hell was going on. He looked back at Nighteye, but this time the man wasn't so composed, his previous stoicism cracking to reveal… fear?

"Apologies," he murmured, then coughed and repeated it a second time more clearly. "I was… not expecting that."

"Expecting what?" Steven was baffled, but he put two and two together a moment later. "Wait, did you just use your quirk on me?"

"Under my direction," Nedzu interjected. "I had Sir Nighteye use his quirk on you in order to provide us with more information."

"Well, maybe you could have asked my permission first!" he said, agitated now. "What did you even do?"

"It's called Foresight."

"What?"

"My quirk," Nighteye clarified. "You're right— as a potential ally, I should have received your consent before using my quirk. I typically do not inform villains when I use it on them, and that suspicion was extended to you."

"So your quirk is Foresight? Like— like Garnet's Future Vision?"

"Like what?"

"Okay, assuming Principal Nedzu briefed you on what's up with me—" Nedzu nodded once, "—Garnet is one of the Crystal Gems, and she can look into the future and see all the different branches and stuff whenever she wants."

"What do you mean, branches," Nighteye bristled. "The future does not branch. It is set in stone the moment I view it, and nothing can change that!"

"First of all, that's very close minded," Steven rebuked. "Second of all, you're wrong, because I've literally seen those branching paths!"

"Then what you saw was not the future, boy," Nighteye sneered.

"Ugh. Fine," Steven stood up, turning towards Nedzu. "I don't care if his Foresight or whatever is helpful, I'm not going to sit here when he can't bother to respect me and my family."

With that, he stormed out of the office, not even thirty seconds after he entered. Kayama wasn't even gone yet— she was still at the end of the hallway, and had turned around when he slammed the door shut.

"Steven?" she asked, surprised. "I thought you were supposed to meet—"

"I did," he muttered. "Sir Nighteye is a jerk."

Kayama winced. "Yeah, I can see that. Never met him, thankfully."

"Count yourself lucky," Steven said.

She snorted. "You bet. Wanna come with me to the teachers' lounge and meet my coworkers?"

"Sure." It's not like he had anything else to do.

Nedzu turned to the hero. "Really, Sasaki?"

He'd called in a favor for Sir Nighteye to come in and use his quirk on Steven, specifically asking him to be polite, in light of his circumstances.

"I did nothing," Nighteye defended himself. "If he does not understand the future, and refuses to accept the word of someone who views it daily, then he should not be here in the first place."

"Hm." Nedzu didn't comment, as he had long ago made clear his views on Nighteye's philosophy. In his opinion, Foresight merely chose the most likely future, and it was only a matter of time until it failed.

"Regardless of your opinion on him, you still were able to see his future."

Nighteye coughed into his fist. "About that…"

"What did you see?" Nedzu asked, now gravely serious.

"It's fragmented," he admitted. "Bits and pieces, and all of it mundane. Almost anything that could potentially be classified as an important or major event doesn't exist."

"Interesting," Nedzu murmured. This was unprecedented— at worst, he was expecting the boy's death, but this was definitely something to look into. Perhaps it was a side effect of not being fully human? An inherent level of unpredictability that made Nighteye's quirk go haywire? It was a distinct possibility, and he filed it for further research.

"But," Nighteye continued, "there was one thing. At the end of the month, he's watching the news. I could not make it out, but something on it makes him leap out of U.A. grounds, and," he swallowed, "he lands in what appears to be a raid on a villain base. The rest is unintelligible, but then it goes dark."

Nedzu's eyes darkened. "You mean…"

"Yes," Nighteye nodded. "My condolences. I will send a written copy of what I saw in the coming days."

The man left promptly, leaving behind a silent Nedzu. As much as he refused to believe in the inevitability of Foresight, it still has never been wrong before.

"N— Kayama, what's up!"

Steven followed Kayama into what was, presumably, the teachers' lounge (whatever that was). His first impression of it was that it seemed to be a place where teachers could relax. A refrigerator, a coffee machine, two couches, and a table with chairs made up the significant furniture, and the man who spoke was sitting on one of the couches.

"He's cool, 'Zashi," Kayama waved his concerns away, collapsing into the space next to him. "Steven, meet Hizashi Yamada, also known as the hero Present Mic."

"Wait, Steven?" Yamada looked at him more closely. "Like, the Steven all of 1-A is gossiping about?"

"Probably," Steven admitted.

"Well, it's nice to meet ya, little listener!" He grinned. "Honestly, I'm not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed that you look normal. Some of the students say the most outlandish things…"

"Oh? Like…" Kayama perked up, turning towards him as Steven took a seat on the other couch with a bemused expression.

"I'm pretty sure that Ashido and Kaminari have started a cult, as far as I can tell."

"A whaaaat?" Steven, had he been drinking anything then, would have spat it out. Kayama, on the other hand, burst into hysterical laughter.

"Trust me, I'm not joking! These kids are mental!" Yamada waved his hands around, his voice getting progressively louder. "They were saying things about offerings to their 'alien lord of the universe' and it took me everything not to break down in the middle of class."

"Lord of the— are you kidding me?" Steven buried his face in his hands, which only made Kayama laugh harder. "I thought I asked them to treat me normally!"

"Welcome to U.A., where this is normal," Yamada said dryly.

Steven's stomach rumbled, pulling him away from the conversation and reminding him that he hadn't eaten lunch. "I'm going to get lunch from the cafeteria, be right back."

Nemuri waited until she was sure that Steven was far away enough not to overhear, and she squealed. "'Zashi, please, he's adorable!"

He looked at her weirdly. "Seems like literally any normal teenage boy."

"Ah, but that's only because you haven't heard his tragic backstory!" Nemuri giggled, but calmed down. "Seriously, his life's been pretty shitty. Nedzu wanted me to chaperone him because he needed to go clothes shopping—"

"Bet you loved that."

"Shut up," she glared with no venom. "As I was saying, I went clothes shopping with him this morning, and apparently I did something right, since he spent the next three hours going over his life story."

"Three hours, huh?" Hizashi whistled. "Must have been some story."

"I'm serious!" She hit his arm. "I'm surprised he's functioning normally. He said he's seeing a therapist, but his life's been complete chaos and he just got taken to another world."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty sucky," he said, frowning.

"But wait, there's more! He mentioned that he likes playing guitar, so I tell him about that place you keep going on about—"

"Nemuri, please, it's not that place, it's a palace of audio goodness."

She rolled her eyes. "So after we grab all the clothes he needs, I take him to the 'palace of audio goodness' so he can, like, screw around with some guitars and distress. And I kid you not, he just grabs this guitar off the wall and starts serenading his girlfriend-maybe-fiancée and it's just the most heart-melting thing."

"He's that good?"

"However good you think he is, he's better," Nemuri shook her head. "He sings that beautiful little song and then excuses himself to go to the bathroom— I think to cry, poor guy. But while he's gone, I take that guitar up, buy it with the card I got from Nedzu, and it's going to be delivered to the dorms pretty soon."

Hizashi raised an eyebrow. "And Nedzu let you?"

"He nodded! Like he was proud of my life decisions or something. It was so surreal."

"Daaamn. Well, I bet the kid will— welcome back, little listener!" He switched gears the moment the door began to open, letting Steven through with a tray of lunch food.

"Hey hey, sorry about that!" He sat across from them once more, and swallowed a mouthful of rice before he asked, "So, Yamada-san, you're a hero too!"

"Yessir!" Hizashi beamed. "Present Mic, the Voice Hero, at your service!"

After a nice conversation with Kayama and Yamada (and an hour-long nap on the sofa), Steven left the room feeling awake and refreshed. Kayama had taken the time to do some grading, and she graciously explained how that worked, since he'd never been to any school (much less a Japanese one).

They were on their way back to the 1-A dorms when he decided to say something. "K-Kayama-san, I just wanted to thank you for the whole day. It was fun shopping with you, and— well, it was— I needed…"

"I know what you mean, kid," she smirked. "Anytime you need an ear, come find me."

"Right! Thank you," he repeated. It was at that moment that they entered the dorms, to a fairly baffling sight.

"Guys, are we sure someone didn't order a package?"

"Ahem! I can confirm that no one in this class has ordered anything to be delivered to the dorms. Therefore, I suggest we report this to Aizawa as potentially dangerous and wait for his instructions!"

"God, Iida, don't be so uptight."

"Let's just open it, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Cut that out!" yelled Kayama, who looked mightily annoyed at the commotion. "What's going on?"

Everyone looked to Iida, who stood up straighter and started chopping his arms. "Kayama-sensei! The dorms received a mysterious package sometime while we were still in class, and we have been debating the correct course of action in case it turns out to be the ploy of a dastardly villain!"

Kayama just stared at him. "Did any of you think to check the shipping label?"

Iida froze, before slumping over, a stricken expression plastered on his face. "No, Sensei."

"Next time, consider doing that. Anyways," she said, walking up and checking the sticker herself, "this here is for Steven."

"Me?" he asked, confused. "I'm a hundred percent sure that I didn't order anything."

"Might be because I'm the one who ordered it," she said with a wink. "Go ahead, open it up! Don't be shy!"

Steven approached the box with a bit of suspicion and some self-consciousness— every student of Class 1-A was watching him, probably to see what was inside the box.

A quick shapeshift of his fingernail let him cut the tape sealing the cardboard box. It was fairly large and rectangular in shape, and he had absolutely no idea what it could be— even the hint that it was for him didn't help him. He was going in as blind as the rest of the students.

Opening up the cardboard flaps revealed a healthy amount of styrofoam, and as he carefully set it aside his breath caught in his throat. It couldn't be…

Faster, now, he threw the packing material to the side. Under all of it was what certainly looked like a guitar case. A hardshell design, covered in a dark vinyl textured to look like leather. Steven didn't even bother taking it out of the box it came in, instead just throwing open the latches and lifting the top of the case.

Inside it was exactly what he thought might be, but didn't let himself hope for. It wasn't just any guitar, it was the guitar. The only one he played at the store, the one that called to him over any other, the one that reminded him so much of his dad.

Steven looked up at Kayama, who was standing to his side with a sly smile on her face. "Figured you'd want it," she said. "Nedzu approves, if you're wondering."

"T-this is too much," he stuttered. "You didn't need to—"

"I didn't need to, sure, but I wanted to. Besides, it's not like you won't put it to good use."

He stood up then and wrapped his arms around the woman, who froze for a moment before tentatively returning the hug.

When they separated, he wiped his eyes of any tears, smiling all the while. "Thank you, Kayama-san."

"Don't mention it, kid."

"Is that a guitar?" someone asked, reminding Steven that he was, in fact, in a room with twenty other students.

"You play?" Jirou's widened eyes met his, and he nodded in confirmation.

"Sick," she replied, gaze returning to the guitar still in its case. "We should totally jam sometime."

"Sounds fun!"

There are other questions being shouted around, both rhetorical and directed at him, but he ignored most of it. Steven crouched down, carefully lifting the instrument from its velvet cradle. A strum of a chord was all it took for all of them to quiet down.

(And even as Steven grew closer to the class in spirit, his family grew frustrated;

Connie, having not slept since the disappearance, finally collapsed in exhaustion;

Garnet, worried sick, split in two;

Peridot, irritated, with no progress to speak of;

Amethyst and Greg, scared, distracting themselves from their fears;

Pearl, devoid of hope, stared at the stars, in the hopes of finding the answers she sought;

The Diamonds, among the stars, clueless to the catastrophe on Earth, at least for the moment.)

End Notes:

Steven is pissed at Nighteye, they have very different views on the future.

also momnight supremacy do not take this away from me this is my baby

steven will be bonding with more students now! some deep conversations, some not so deep conversations, but like we're really gonna start getting into the meat of the fluff! there will be angst, but honestly it'll be few and far between (but oh boy will it be angsty when it happens)

the next chapter might take a while since it turns out i really should start working on my college apps

Add me on Discord at blobertthebob#3284 — just let me know what fic you're coming from!