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As nice as Mr. Toshinori was, Izuku couldn't help but miss home. He missed school, missed going hiking with Kacchan, missed Mom's hugs and cooking and- and everything. It wasn’t usually safe for him to leave the ship, he was too visibly human and nothing Mr. Toshinori had acquired for him would hide that. They were at least getting the space-cats back soon, which would be nice! It got so boring sometimes, out here in space, which would've been really weird to hear anyone say back on Earth but... well, he was basically stuck in an apartment. An apartment that needed a bunch of maintenance all the time, so at least he got to learn how the spaceship worked, but still.
Boring.
So when the space-cats' owners- who were only about his size, but apparently full grown adults?- came over and Mr. Toshinori sat them down in the living room... well, better to ask forgiveness, right? Izuku held the buttons on the airlock door so it opened only partway and didn't make its loud doorbell Ding, and slipped through in the brief pause before it snapped shut again.
He didn't have much time, but he knew the other ship wasn't that much bigger than Mr. Toshinori's, and all he wanted was a look. He wasn’t dumb enough to stow away by accident, though he’d bet any of Mr. Toshinori's friends would be easy enough to talk into taking him back... not home, home was an apartment with Mom and a room covered in superhero posters, but Toshinori's ship was the closest thing he had out here. His space-home.
“Lamp, get back here!” a voice snapped from down the hall, and Izuku froze where he was. There were only supposed to be two people on this ship. Mr. Toshinori would've warned him if they'd brought a friend, right? He'd mentioned it when they came to pick up their space-cats last time!
Lamp skidded around a corner and meowed loudly at the sight of him, bolting for him as fast as their tiny legs could carry them. Izuku scooped the space-cat up on reflex, and ducked through the nearest doorway as heavy footsteps came charging closer. Oh, he was going to be in so much trouble, if he even survived! Being a deathworlder kinda majorly sucked, when he was only twelve and didn’t live up to the reputation of his species at all. Everyone who saw him thought he was a threat, that was why Mr. Toshinori wouldn’t let him off the ship around other aliens until they could find a way to disguise him as something else. And now he was trespassing on a stranger's ship, holding one of their pets, and oh no he was So Dead.
Izuku looked around frantically, and dove for the first spot that looked like a half decent hiding place. Lamp protested, and he only barely managed to curl himself up out of sight before the door slid open. “How did you get into my room?” the stranger's voice asked, and Izuku held perfectly still. Plenty of aliens had actually kinda awful vision, so if he just stayed still maybe- “Who are you?”
Izuku swallowed a curse- just because this alien didn't speak Japanese didn’t mean it was okay to swear- and decided he would play dumb. Pity was powerful, and apparently universal, so if he played up pretending not to speak their language he probably wouldn’t get murdered?
“I’m sorry.” he mumbled in Japanese, loosening his arms so Lamp could squirm free. “I'm staying with Toshinori-san, I just-”
A hand grabbed him by the wrist, yanking him clean out of his hiding spot, and Izuku yelped as he stumbled, flailing for balance. “You’re from Japan?!” the stranger exclaimed in Japanese, and Izuku straightened up to see... another boy. A human boy, his purple hair messy and eyes huge in his pale face.
“You’re human.” Izuku blurted out, and the other boy laughed. “You’re human too!”
“How long have you been in space?” the other boy asked, then shook his head. “Sorry, I’m Shinsou Hitoshi.” he released Izuku's wrist and stuck his hand out. “I’m... thirteen, maybe?”
“Midoriya Izuku.” Izuku introduced himself with a wide smile, shaking Shinsou's offered hand. “I’m pretty sure I’m still twelve.”
“Lamp likes you.” Shinsou observed, looking down at the space-cat rubbing against his legs.
“Lamp is easy to bribe.” Izuku nodded, which made Shinsou laugh. “Wanna be friends?”
“I'm not as easy to bribe as a méo.” Shinsou chuckled, but his smile was wide and beaming.
“That’s alright.” Izuku dug around in his pockets, and fished out a cool rock he'd found the last time Toshinori had deemed it okay for him to leave the ship. “Lookit this neat rock I found!”
Shinsou peered at it with wide eyes, appreciating the sparkly bits which stuck out of the dull brown-grey base like an extra shiny hedgehog. “Wanna see the thing I’m working on?” he asked, and Izuku nodded eagerly. The project in question looked like a bunch of yarn in different colours, but Shinsou eagerly explained what each one meant, and how he wanted it to be a present, since the cats' parents wouldn't let him do as many chores anymore.
A trill from the hallway made Shinsou sit up straighter, and Izuku jolt with the realization that he had no idea how long he'd been here. Long enough for his feet to fall asleep, under the weight of Lamp on his crossed legs. “Shit, I'm supposed to have them crated already.” Shinsou hissed, snatching Lamp up off of Izuku's lap.
“Sorry, got distracted.” he called in the alien tongue, but the door opened before he reached it. The birdlike alien who stood in the open doorway blinked once, a disarmingly human shock reaction, but before any sound left his open beak Shinsou had shoved Lamp into his arms- wings?- and rapidly signed something. Then he slammed the door.
“What was- did you just-”
“Hitoshi!” an unfamiliar voice barked, presumably the other alien who owned this ship, and Izuku cringed. Shinsou grimaced, and shoved his yarn project under his bed.
“Toshinori-san is going to be so mad at me.” Izuku mumbled, as the door snapped open again to reveal the cat-like alien of the pair.
“Holy-” he stared for a moment, clearly dumbfounded. “When did you multiply? Is that a thing humans can do in good health?”
Izuku couldn’t help it, he giggled. That was a mistake, because cat-alien's scarf thing started waving and those inhuman eyes laser-focused on him. Shit, he couldn’t pretend not to know the language anymore. “My name is Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you.” he said, standing up so he could give a polite bow. “I mean no harm to you or your cats.”
“He’s my friend.” Shinsou added, retreating from the door to grab Izuku's elbow and give the aliens a pleading look. “We even speak the same language!” he turned to Izuku. “What part of Japan are you from?” he asked, switching back to Japanese.
“I'm from Shizuoka.” Izuku replied, almost by reflex. “What about you?”
“Saitama.” Shinsou huffed. “Damn.”
“Well, does it really matter?” Izuku asked, and Shinsou blinked at him. “We’re friends now, right?”
“Yes!” he blurted, then cringed a little. “I’ve... never really had friends, even before I got alien-abducted. I don’t think I’m good at it.”
“I’ve only had one.” Izuku smiled, though it faltered at the memory of Kacchan, the fact that he would likely never see his friend again, or his mom, or anyone else he'd grown up with.
“Hitoshi, where did he come from?” the cat-alien demanded, his bird partner apparently having slipped away with Lamp.
“I’m right here, you know.” Izuku huffed, crossing his arms. “I’ve been staying with Mr. Toshinori, since I can’t go home.”
The cat-alien stared at him, and he shifted from foot to foot, arms wrapping around his middle. “Do you think he’s gonna be mad at me?” he asked, the words slipping out despite himself.
“I think we all need to sit down and have a nice little talk.”
“You’re not leaving me behind.” Shinsou snapped, bristling.
“We should.” the cat-alien sighed. “We really, really should. Anything too dangerous for our cats is too dangerous for a kid like you.”
“But I can help.” Shinsou whined, and Izuku got the feeling this was an argument they'd had many times already. His stomach growled, and he felt his cheeks go pink when the cat-alien’s gaze snapped to him.
“Sorry.” he mumbled. “Just a little hungry.”
“Let’s get you two and the cats onto Yagi’s ship.” the cat-alien sighed. “Hizashi will fuss if he hears you that hungry.”
“Hizashi is the worst with fussing.” Shinsou agreed with a nod, then turned towards Izuku and held out a hand. “Think Toshinori-san has snacks for both of us?” he asked in Japanese, and something in Izuku relaxed a little to hear it.
“We just got a fresh grocery delivery the other day, there’s plenty of food.” Izuku replied in kind, taking the outstretched hand. He hadn’t expected to meet any other humans, out here among the stars, and to meet one who was not only his own age, but from his own county? The odds were... well, they were really really small!
The bird-alien returned with both space-cats in carrying crates, and when Shinsou took one Izuku hurriedly stepped forward and offered his arms to take the other. The bird-alien gave him a suspicious look, trilling something which was probably a language he didn’t understand, but after a few quick signs from the cat-alien- Izuku thought he caught child and friend in there, but he wasn’t fluent in space sign yet- the bird-alien sighed and deposited the crate in his arms.
“Hi Engine.” he cooed in Japanese, once he got a look inside. “Oh you don’t like this at all, do you?”
“Lamp doesn’t either.” Shinsou huffed, and Izuku let himself be shuffled to the front of the group. He was probably about to be super grounded, but he also might get to have a friend over, along with the cats, so... that about evened out. And even if Shinsou did get to go with and do whatever was too dangerous to bring the space-cats along, they could still be friends! Space email was a thing, he was sure, and the way the cats’ owners looked at him... Izuku was sure they'd help Shinsou set up a space email so they could chat.
Today was turning out to be an even better day than he’d expected!