A/N:

This one is...

A journey :)

Chapter 10: steven grossly miscalculates

Steven stood, unsure what to do with himself.

It was almost noon, and he had certainly enjoyed spending some extra time sleeping in. Thankfully, he was uninterrupted by nightmares, and so was fairly content, all things considered.

He just didn't know what to do.

Most of the other students were training or working on homework (specifically those who waited until the last minute). He supposed he could restart his workout routine, since he'd definitely been slacking on it. Before he could seriously consider the merits of this idea, though, someone coughed behind him.

"Yo," greeted Jirou.

"Hey, Jirou!" Steven smiled and waved. "What's up?"

"Nothing, really," she responded, twirling one of her headphone jack earlobes (which were still weird). "Listen, I was wondering if you were down to jam for a bit."

"Oh!" Steven remembered how she'd asked two days ago. "Yeah, sure! Let me just grab my guitar."

"Cool." She sounded nonchalant, but the twinkle in her eyes was unmistakable. "I'll wait for you. My room's the floor below yours."

He practically sprinted up to his room, grabbing the guitar out of the case and running down one floor to find Jirou just getting there.

She raised an eyebrow. "You're pretty fast, huh? Come on, first room here." She opened the door and Steven gaped at the interior.

Inside was a musician's dream room. An acoustic drum set, a full size digital piano, and a speaker system adorned the far wall. A bass guitar rested next to her desk, and right next to that was a whole shelf filled to the brim with vinyl records and CDs. Every inch of available wall space was taken up by posters for bands he'd never heard of. Finally, to his right rested two electric guitars, which were at least of familiar shapes if not brands.

Steven breathed in, and he could practically taste the music they'd be making here.

Jirou smirked at his reaction. "I'd say I'm jealous of your acoustic, and honestly I kinda am, but I have more than enough to keep me satisfied."

"No kidding," he remarked. "Uh, can I just…"

"Go ahead. You can sit on the bed, unless you want to borrow a strap." Steven shook his head in response, content to play seated. While he tuned up, Jirou grabbed the bass— a vibrant purple color that paired well with her darker hair— and plugged it into a small amp that escaped his notice when he first entered.

She started off with a groovy bass line, and Steven let her play while he took it in. After eight bars, she started to loop, and he took that as his cue to jump in.

Perhaps an electric bass and acoustic guitar duet was a bit strange, but it worked fairly well for them. The two alternated seamlessly between rhythm and lead, mellow acoustic solos followed by lo-fi funk-like bass breakdowns melded together, complementing each other with a sort of chemistry that neither could find frequently..

"You're pretty good," Jirou admitted, as they transitioned to a slower, more low-key instrumental. "Been playing long?"

"Basically my entire life, yeah!" Steven laughed. "I think there's a video somewhere where I'm like three years old and playing a ukulele as big as I was."

She raised an eyebrow. "Was that because you were small or because the uke was big?"

"Probably the first, to be fair," he admitted. "My dad was also a rock star. Kind of. He wasn't very popular, and he stopped touring when he met my mom."

"Cute," remarked Jirou. "So is mine. Both my parents, actually. Mom was a vocalist, though she works as a songwriter now. Dad is a studio musician and goes on tour sometimes."

Steven grinned. "Now I can tell where you got the talent from."

"I'm not that good," she said, a blush tinting her cheeks. "I haven't been playing for quite as long as you, and I still need to practice with stuff like keys and drums."

"You say you're not that good, but you can still hold a conversation with me while playing," he pointed out. "I know for a fact that's a lot tougher than we're making it seem. It took me until I was almost thirteen to do that with my dad."

She hummed noncommittally. "I guess. Do you play anything other than guitar?" Jirou changed the subject.

"Basically everything in this room, plus ukulele. And I sing."

"Everything, you say." Jirou smirked. "Alright then. Your turn." Steven set aside his guitar just in time to catch her bass, while she picked up one of the electrics and plugged it in.

In response to her challenge, Steven slapped out a syncopated bass line.

"You're on," he grinned.

Steven and Jirou left a few hours later, both of them sweaty and satisfied after one of the best jam sessions either of them had ever had.

"Fuck, I think my fingers are gonna bleed," Jirou complained. Neither of them had stayed with a single instrument for long, cycling between the numerous options multiple times. However, none of them, not even the guitar Kayama had bought for him, really held a candle to those owned by him and his dad, those he'd spent years playing and could name every grain of wood on.

"Need me to heal them?" he asked.

She considered it for a moment. "Sure, why not." She held out her hand, and Steven gave it a quick kiss as they walked out onto the first floor. Steven turned to ask her a question, but she was still on the stairs, hand in that same position and a blank look on her face.

"Jirou?" When he said her name, she jerked and blushed harder than he thought he'd ever seen.

"C-coming!"

Steven shook his head, already moving on past whatever that was supposed to be.

"Yeah, so, I was wondering if you would want to make that a more regular thing?"

"Like a weekly jamming thing?" she clarified, face still rosy.

"Something like that," he answered, before an idea popped into his head. "Oh! I know! We should start a band!"

"Like with my classmates?"

"Totally!"

Jirou didn't look too sure about that idea. "I don't know… I don't even think anyone here plays anything other than Momo with piano."

"Can't hurt to ask though, right?" Steven countered. And then, to prove his point, he called out to a group sitting at some of the couches. "Hey! Do any of you play any instruments? We're starting a band!"

"Ooh! I can play the guitar!" Kaminari nearly jumped over the couch in his haste to answer.

"See," Steven said to Jirou. "We already have someone!"

"Bakugou, didn't you say you took drum lessons at one point?" Kaminari asked.

The angry blond reeled back. "Huh?"

"You heard me," he teased.

"Fuck off, Dunce Face," Bakugou practically growled, stomping off.

Sero yelled after him, "Come on, try playing the drums!"

"No!"

Sero grinned devilishly. "Oh, is it too hard for you?"

Bakugou stiffened. "Oh yeah? Fuck you, Flat Face, I'll play drums for your shitty band." His answer didn't stop him from stomping upstairs, probably to his room.

"See!" Steven nudged Jirou with his elbow. "We have two people already!"

She made a face. "Yeah, but Bakugou's an asshole. And Kaminari is, well…"

"I heard that!" the boy in question yelled at them.

"Kaminari's cool," Steven waved her concerns away.

"Uh-huh." Jirou raised an eyebrow, but eventually shrugged and turned away. "Fine. Maybe we will start a band."

"That's the spirit!" Steven smiled.

"I said maybe!" she rebuked, walking off to join Yaoyorozu where she was reading.

He had to admit, it really had been fun to play with someone around his age. Maybe one day she'd want to write some songs together— now that would make him excited.

Someone was watching him. He didn't know how he knew, but there was definitely something odd. He turned around, and peeking his head from the stairwell was none other than Midoriya.

He waved, smiling broadly, but that seemed to scare the living daylights out of him, sending him scrambling upstairs.

Weird.

Was Midoriya scared of him? It was a possibility for sure, and that was a bit disheartening. Steven didn't want to appear scary to anyone, especially the people he was living with until he got back home.

No, that wouldn't do, he decided. As soon as he could catch the boy alone, he'd sit down with him and have a chat. Find out what was wrong, how he could do better— that sort of thing. If there was one thing he knew for sure, it was the fact that healthy communication was vitally important.

Literally. He probably would have been dead without it.

Steven camped out in the common room for the rest of the day, spending part of the time playing video games with the likes of Ashido, Kaminari, and Sero— but he always kept an eye on the stairs. He wanted to be able to talk to Midoriya as soon as possible, to learn what was wrong; and preferably alone, in case the boy got embarrassed in front of his classmates.

It was late that evening, well after he'd eaten a dinner he made for himself, that the green-haired boy showed himself. Every other occupant of the room had left for their rooms, at least temporarily, so it was really the perfect time to strike.

Steven quietly got up from his sofa, careful not to reveal his presence too early and ruin his plans. Midoriya was sitting at the kitchen counter, so Steven slid into the seat next to him with a friendly greeting on the tip of his tongue.

"How're you doing, Mido—"

Unfortunately, his immaculately planned introduction backfired when Midoriya gasped in shock and started choking on his food.

Crud, Steven thought to himself as he attempted to help Midoriya.

It was a minute or so later that the boy was finally able to regain the full use of his airways, and Steven did not stop apologizing. He probably should have expected something like this, to be fair. There weren't many people who wouldn't be shocked at anyone suddenly appearing next to them.

"Crap, Midoriya-san, I'm so sorry," he muttered, fretting over him even if there wasn't anything he could do.

"Fine, I'm fine," Midoriya said, taking deep breaths. "It's fine, you just startled me."

"I can see that," Steven responded, then winced. "Sorry, that was insensitive."

"It's fine," he repeated.

"I shouldn't have done that." Steven shook his head. "I could have, I don't know, warned you or something. You could have been seriously hurt. Actually, are you hurt? Do you need healing?"

Midoriya reddened and frantically shook his head. "No, I'm good! Nothing's wrong!"

The vicious immediacy of his response was odd to Steven, and he decided now would be a good time to broach the topic.

"Midoriya-san," he said softly, "are you scared of me?"

His eyes widened and he moved himself away as far as his seat allowed, shaking his head 'no'.

"It's fine if you are," Steven placated. And really, it was. He understood the hesitancy. Gems were scary, even to the citizens of Beach City, who knew of their existence. To someone who'd never encountered one in their life? Yeah, sentient alien rocks could be a strange and terrifying thing. "I just want to know what I can do to work through it."

"Work… through it?" Midoriya questioned.

"I don't know how long I'll be here," Steven admitted, "and I'll be staying in these dorms until we figure out a way back. And I don't want anyone I'm living with to be scared of me."

"Oh."

"So I'd like to know what about me makes you uncomfortable," Steven continued, "and then we can work on it together."

Midoriya stared at him for so long that Steven himself began to feel self-conscious. He didn't say anything, however, in case Midoriya was building up the courage to speak to him.

"I'm worried," he admitted. Steven smiled at him, encouraging him to continue, but it was almost thirty seconds before he spoke again.

"All For One."

Steven was thrown for a loop. "What?"

"Don't recognize the name? What about Sensei? Or Shigaraki?" Midoriya's expression grew intense.

"The only Sensei I know of is your teacher," he responded. He'd never heard of a Shigaraki either, whatever that was.

Midoriya dipped his head and sighed. "I'm sorry, Universe-senpai, but I don't know if I can trust you. Even if you don't know those names, you could still be a Nomu of some sort."

"I'm sorry, what?" Steven shook his head. "What's a Nomu?"

As he asked the question, he noticed the way Midoriya was gripping onto his pants leg, so hard he was quivering.

"Sorry," he averted his newly-widened eyes as he spoke. "I shouldn't have mentioned that. It's fine."

"Midoriya-san, please," Steven begged, "I promise I won't be mad. What is a Nomu?"

He swallowed. "A N-Nomu is— is a genetically modified creature," he started, haltingly stumbling over his words. If it got any worse, Steven was absolutely prepared to stop this immediately and help him through a potential panic attack.

"N-Nomus are m-mindless beasts," he continued, "that used to be human. They're—" His voice broke right then, dripping with fear and another emotion Steven couldn't quite place. "They're p-people, given so many q-quirks t-that... their m-minds b-break and— and they b-become slaves."

"What?!" Any thoughts of mindfulness flew out the window at that sentence. He hardly noticed his skin turn pink throughout his entire body. The way Midoriya described Nomus…

It was like the Cluster all over again. It was like the gem mutants, the prototype clusters that gave him nightmares to this day. A fear so deep, so primal, it shook him to his core.

Not again.

Preoccupied with his emotions as he was, Steven didn't notice the way Midoriya sprang back and activated his quirk until he spoke, much more forcefully than before.

"A-and, I d-don't know if you're a— a Nomu or not!" he said, tears streaming down his face. "I won't let you hurt anyone!"

By now, Midoriya was practically shaking in fear, and Steven realized that this was his fault, at least partially. Their fear, their panic, both had been amplified by his own abilities, and Midoriya's natural skepticism had turned to suspicion and then to fear within seconds.

This realization was like getting dunked in ice water. He forced down his powers (and the residual bile from finding out just what Nomus were) and held out both palms in a peaceful gesture.

"I'm sorry, Midoriya-san," he apologized softly. "Your description of Nomus… reminded me of something. I swear on my life that I will not hurt you or your friends."

Green lightning flickered over the trembling figure. "H-how can I trust you?"

Steven broke eye contact. "I… I don't know. But I'll do my best to show you that I'm not who you fear I am," he vowed.

He backed away, watching Midoriya's quirk slowly die away as he removed himself from the situation.

Steven didn't want to lie, it hurt, just a bit. Midoriya's mistrust ran further than Monoma's or even Todoroki's— there was genuine fear in the way he spoke and prepared to defend himself.

Defend himself against Steven.

Well, now he just felt horrible. He should have realized that Midoriya's mistrust was completely different from the rest. If he had known, he would have approached the conversation in a completely different way.

And now, he didn't even know if he could fix it.

And it was all his fault.

End Notes:

Posts chapter.

My readers can have a bit of angst. As a treat.

AAFHKALDSFJKAJ I AM SO SORRY FFN I JUST FORGOT TO POST THESE HERE