A/N:

chapter title is accurate lmao

Chapter 15: in which nothing happens (yet)

"All Might!"

Izuku jogged towards his mentor, careful not to be going too quickly—after all, it wouldn't do to make a certain someone suspicious if he was seen.

(Although, to be fair, how much Steven knew of his relationship with All Might was uncertain. A topic for further investigation, perhaps.)

(And besides, the sun was barely rising. He probably wasn't even awake yet anyways.)

The former hero waved at Izuku, an unreadable smile on his face.

That was another thing, Izuku realized. While he would typically call himself fairly skilled at reading emotions and facial expressions (especially Steven's, given how expressive he was—which was a godsend), he couldn't read All Might at all. Maybe it was the way that his now-permanent skeletal form was just less capable of showing emotion, or some fault with Izuku himself, but regardless, he found his idol incredibly hard to read.

Whatever. He was working on it, and he was sure he could improve his results with only a few more weeks of studying All Might's faces.

"Young Midoriya, how are you? I hope you got enough sleep last night!" All Might said when Izuku made it over to him.

He nodded vigorously in response as he set his backpack down on the bench next to All Might. In reality, Izuku didn't get any sleep last night as he was too busy organizing his notes on Steven, but he didn't want All Might to worry about him.

"Well then, my boy!" All Might's grin widened.

(And to keep that smile on his face, Izuku would do anything.)

Oblivious to Izuku's train of thought, All Might continued. "As I understand it, you've been busy with your internship under Sir Nighteye."

"Ah. Yeah, I have been," Izuku said rather unconvincingly. If he was being truthful, half of the time he was consumed with thoughts and theories about Steven. The other half was spent trying to figure out what he could do for Eri, and trying to reconcile the fact that not saving her was technically the right choice, with the reality that he could have done it.

Izuku looked up at his mentor, and realized that the older man was waiting for more of an answer. "Oh, uh, sorry! It's—uh, well," he stammered. "It's—Sir Nighteye is cool. He's very strict, but I spend most of my time patrolling with Togata-senpai anyways."

All Might hummed in response. "As long as you're sure you're learning from him. Now, uh…" He coughed into his fist. "How goes your… research?"

Izuku straightened as they moved past the pleasantries. He revealed his notebook in his hand, opening it and flipping through it until he found the relevant pages.

"I've been eavesdropping as much as I could, but he hasn't given away too much," he explained. Finally finding the correct page, he pointed at a specific passage. "However, at dinner on Saturday, he explained some things about the Gems."

All Might cocked his head. "Those are the 'aliens' he's supposedly descended from, yes?"

"Right," Izuku nodded. "But, All Might, it's bad. These Gems, he said they were like robots, with the ability to control light, but that wasn't the worst part. He said that in order for new—new Gems to be created, they need to absorb the life around them." He shuddered at the next part. "All Might, he said the Gems used to colonize planets just to leave them broken and lifeless."

All Might grimaced. "That's rather gruesome. Is there a way you can check whether he's telling the truth?"

Izuku shook his head. He'd tried, but as far as he could tell, Steven fully believed what he was saying. That meant that either he was a master liar, trained by All For One to use this ridiculous story as a cover, or the opposite—that Steven was exactly who he said he was.

The hero sighed. "Well, no matter. I'll have a chat with Tsukauchi-san later. And—Midoriya?"

"Yes, All Might?"

"Don't worry too much about this Universe boy. I'll speak to him this weekend, see if he displays any of the typical signs that All For One's agents do."

"But—"

"No, my boy. You are not obligated to place this sort of burden upon yourself. I'll also discuss him with Aizawa-san and Kayama-san, see what they have to say about the boy, since they've both spent substantial time with him and are rather good judges of character."

"All Might—" Izuku tried to argue, but…

"No, Midoriya-shounen," he said forcefully. "You don't need to worry yourself." He stood up, brushing off his legs and extending a hand to Izuku. "Allow this former hero to do some investigative work of own, eh?"

Izuku bit back any arguments. He didn't want to make his mentor mad at him… and he could honestly use the time to sleep.

"Yes, All Might."

The man grinned. "Excellent! Now, let us head back to the dorms. I'm sure you'd like to eat some breakfast before class starts!"

Steven allowed himself to drift away on the couch, brain lulled by the white noise of chaos that consisted of class 1-A getting ready for the day.

Hey, he might have woken up only twenty minutes ago, but he was allowed to take a nap if he wanted to. Besides, it didn't seem like anyone had noticed him yet. He was sequestered away in the far corner of the living room, on a couch facing the window through which the rising sun shone at just the right angle.

As he basked in the sunlight and stretched, he heard someone say, "Are you sure he's not a cat?" He peeled his eyes open slightly to see who was standing above him.

"Hey Yaomomo, Jirou," he greeted them. "Kaminari." The boy he acknowledged a bit more sternly, in response to his comment. He had some self-respect, thank you very much.

Kaminari actually looked a bit sheepish when he was called out, a slight blush creeping up his face as Yaomomo and Jirou broke into laughter.

"Yeah, laugh it up, you two," he snarked at his friends before turning back to Steven. "I'm so sorry, you weren't supposed to hear that. I thought you were asleep, I didn't think—"

"To be fair," Jirou interjected, "you were acting like a cat."

Steven rolled his eyes, knowing that they weren't wrong. He couldn't help it that he really liked to lay in the sun. Probably something to do with him being half-Gem and needing sunlight. Connie could probably explain it better.

Connie. A pang of hurt ran through him. It'd been about a week since he'd arrived here, and he was still no closer to finding a way home than he had been at first. Would he ever see her again? Or the rest of the Crystal Gems?

No, he would. He would. He trusted that Connie, or Pearl, or Peridot would find a way to get him back. Maybe the diamonds would be able to help them.

He just had to trust them.

"—think, Steven?" Yaomomo had just said, shaking him out of his reverie. It took him a moment to realize that yes, they were asking him something and were expecting some sort of response.

"Uh, sorry. I just sorta—" he made a gesture around his head, "—spaced out for a moment there."

Jirou snorted. "No worries. Momo was just asking if you wanted to come to 1-B's dorm with us."

Steven looked at them quizzically for a moment. "Sure? Why are you guys going to 1-B?"

"Well, Momo wanted to give Kendo a late birthday present because she was busy when it actually happened a few days ago. I'm going with her because I'm her best friend and I wanted time to chat with some of them." She turned and looked at Kaminari for a moment before continuing. "I'm not sure why he's here, to be honest."

He looked at her, affecting an affronted expression. "Rude," he said dramatically.

Jirou snorted. "Please. You don't mind." As Kaminari shrugged in response, she turned to Steven and asked, "So?"

He rolled off the couch in response, landing on his feet and popping up. "Sure. I'd like to meet everyone, might as well do it now."

"That's the spirit!" She cheered. Yaomomo smiled, and even Kaminari stopped his whole 'being insulted' act and pumped a fist into the air.

They started walking towards the main doors, the three students keeping up a constant stream of chatter that Steven found oddly soothing. He waved at Todoroki, who nodded back, and Bakugou, who pointedly didn't acknowledge him—although he could tell the other boy noticed him.

Well. Can't change everyone.

He walked just behind the group of three as they made their way to the other class's dorm building, mostly just listening to their conversation and interjecting only a few times. A lot of the talk was centered around their band, which hadn't met yet just because they hadn't found the time yet. They seemed to be excited though, which Steven found uplifting. He was looking forward to playing with them too, and he couldn't wait for their first practice. As it was, Yaomomo was busy with her internship, while Bakugou was busy doing remedial lessons for his hero license.

Which reminded him—wasn't he doing those too? He remembered something Aizawa said about him getting a hero license of his own. He'd have ask him about that.

Then another thought popped into his head—should he have brought a present? Yaomomo did, after all. Maybe he should have ran to a store nearby, he probably would have made it if he really pushed his Diamond abilities…

Wait, no. He was fine. Jirou and Kaminari hadn't brought anything with them either, so he was fine. No reason to worry. As he relaxed, he could feel the stress leave his body and warmth rush out of his face. Jeez, was he so far gone that this was enough to throw him off?

I need to find a therapist, he thought to himself.

As they entered the 1-B dorms, Steven looked around. The dorm itself was identical to 1-A's, in construction and furnishing. The same color sofas in the same places, arranged around the same kind of television. Where the two differed, however, was in the people. Everything was a lot more…

Well, he wouldn't say quiet. It was still chaotic as everything, but it felt a lot more controlled. There was less "people running around uncontrollably"—there was much more of a sense of purpose and organization. A boy wearing a white headband fluidly ducked under someone reaching for one of the cabinets, whereas in 1-A that would have likely resulted in a collision and a series of hasty apologies.

"Momo!" Kendo called from the kitchen area. She waved them over and continued, "What brings you here? And Jirou, Kaminari, good morning to you too. Universe-san, I wanted to apologize once more about Monoma—"

He held up a hand. "Don't worry, it's not needed. He's apologized for himself already."

Kendo looked at him, clearly measuring him up, but eventually seemed to take him at his word. "Alright. But if he does anything else stupid, you know where to find me. Anyways, what brings you guys here?"

Yaomomo blushed. "Well, I-Itsuka, I was feeling a touch guilty still for not being able to make the time to celebrate your birthday…"

"Didn't we already discuss this?" she asked.

"Y-yes, but regardless, I still felt guilty so I ended up purchasing you a gift anyways." Yaomomo held out the wrapped box, which Kendo took gingerly and set on the counter. She then stepped forward to envelope the girl in a hug.

"Thank you, Momo," she said quietly. "I really appreciate it—and I'll open the present later."

Steven felt slightly awkward, like he was intruding upon a personal moment, so he stepped back and took to surveying the room. Near the stairwell he spotted Monoma talking animatedly with a few of his classmates, so he waved in greeting, but when he made eye contact with Steven, his face immediately turned a deep red. When the kids he was talking to realized what had happened, they started to laugh hysterically.

Remembering what happened with Midoriya, Steven took this as his cue to step out. He wasn't interested in creating another enemy or making anyone dislike him.

On his way back to the 1-A dorms, he saw Aizawa standing by the entrance, nonchalantly leaning against the wall. Steven waved in greeting, not wanting to bother the man with… whatever he was doing.

Really, he shouldn't have been surprised when Aizawa stopped him on his way in.

"Universe. Clear your schedule for Saturday."

"I wasn't—I didn't have anything scheduled." Steven cocked his head to the side. "Am I doing something?"

Aizawa grinned, and his wicked smirk seemed far too close to Jasper's for his liking.

"You're going to your first remedial hero license lesson, along with Todoroki and Bakugou. You're more than a bit behind with the necessary content, but don't worry." His smirk grew into a fully evil smile, and Steven stepped back. "I'll make sure you're up to speed by Saturday."

Steven suddenly found himself very worried.

"I suppose that you're the young man known as Steven Universe?"

"Yessir, although you can just call me Steven."

"Well, Steven, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Toshinori Yagi, formerly also known as All Might. Although," he said with a wink, "You can just call me Yagi."

Steven shook Yagi's hand. It felt oddly fragile as he held it, despite the way its size dwarfed his own hand.

Steven had, in fact, been doing some research into this world in his spare time, so it came as a surprise to him that he actually recognized one of those names—All Might. Throughout his research (which was more accurately described as a series of increasingly unhinged internet searches) he found it hard not to find that name referenced on nearly every hero-related topic.

All Might.

So, this man was the most accomplished Japanese pro hero of all time—and one of the most prolific heroes ever. Steven had seen pictures, and the difference was stark. The hair was pretty close, but rather than the imposing figure struck by All Might in his prime, this man was gaunt and sickly.

But he did know why the former hero had changed so much. There was this battle—the Battle of Casino? Something like that—where All Might had fought a powerful supervillain—All For One.

And this was a name that Steven had already heard before, from Midoriya. The person who had made the genetically modified Noumu.

As those thoughts ran through his head while he analyzed the situation, Yagi gingerly lowered himself onto the wooden bench and patted the space next to him. "Sit down, my boy," he invited. Steven snapped out of his reverie and accepted the invitation, because he was fifteen minutes early and there wasn't anything else to do, not when Bakugou and Todoroki weren't there yet.

"I must say, I am glad that we had this chance to meet more personally," Yagi began. "I heard from my coworkers that you're assisting Aizawa-san with his class during heroics lessons. In addition to him for 1-A and Kan-san for 1-B, I serve as another teacher and trainer in hero strategy and combat. I would have met you in class earlier this week," he broke to hack a weak cough into his arm, "but I was preoccupied with other duties."

Steven nodded in understanding. "Fortunately," he turned to him with a smile, "I will be rejoining your classes this week and look forward to working with you."

Returning the grin, Steven said, "Well, I'm already looking forward to next week! But, if you don't mind, I'm wondering…" He trailed off, trying to find the right words. "I don't know what the principal told you about me…"

"Not much," Yagi interjected quietly. "Actually," he added, almost apprehensively, "I would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time we have now to tell me a bit about your story and perhaps clarify some questions I had."

Steven pursed his lips together. Although the first few times he needed to explain his backstory felt almost therapeutic (especially the time with Kayama—he definitely needed to spend some more time with her), it was starting to get annoying just because of how often people asked him to do so.

Honestly, writing everything down and making a book out of it would take less time…

Regardless, Steven acquiesced to Yagi's request. Just a quick overview, nothing more, and then he could find out what happened to him to make him so frail and ill. He could nearly hear Yagi's bones creak and groan, and—was that blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth?

Oh, stars…

End Notes:

yeah sorry nothing happens in this chapter really. it was either publish this now or have a 4-6k long chapter in like another 3-4 weeks and i want to have at LEAST 1 chapter a month so I just published this. look forward to next chapter though!

:) luv y'all

If you have any questions, you can comment or DM me on Discord nickabovethecity#3284