A/N: Going forward, "." between paragraphs indicates a break within a scene. ". . ." between paragraphs indicates a jump to a new scene.
"Your human's awake…" Kirishima stirred at the voice and grunted in acknowledgement, and yet made no effort to move.
The human had remained out cold for two hours after Kaminari's tasing and, with his vitals all seeming fine, Kirishima and Kaminari figured that they should try to sleep while they could. It took some convincing, but after an impressive display of whining, apologizing, and begging, Kaminari allowed Kirishima to crash in his bed instead of on the bridge of their ship like they bickered about earlier on Alduous 579.
A few hours prior, and with the never-failing assistance of Kaminari, the human was moved to Kirishima's room which would serve as a surprisingly comfortable holding cell. An override code was entered for the lock, a feed had been set up that could be accessed via their communicators, and as an extra precaution, the human's hands were bound together again. There was a small argument about whether or not having the human's hands cuffed in front of him was more or less dangerous, but Kirishima ultimately won by insisting that this way gave the human some range of movement. Maybe he wouldn't feel as restrained and thus less hostile, was his logic. Kaminari laughed directly into his friend's face, but conceded; he wasn't the one dealing with the human, after all.
Except it felt like he was because Kirishima wasn't waking up.
Kaminari had heard it first; a few thumps and then a loud crash. Then more crashes. He didn't need to look at his comm to know that the human was trashing Kirishima's room. Exhaustion and bitterness lingering, Kaminari couldn't exactly bring himself to care all too much that his friend's room was likely meeting the equivalent of a storm packed into a human's body. Karma or not, it had woken him up.
"Dude," Kaminari pressed again at a particularly loud smash, booting Kirishima's leg with his foot. "He's breaking your shit." The swift kick was effective and the redhead glared over his shoulder through sleepy eyes; his brain clouded with drowsiness as he sluggishly tried to process why Kaminari was waking him. It was an impressively jarring bang against the wall that made those same sleepy eyes widen with clarity. Kirishima bolted upright, and frantic hands scrambled for his communicator on the nearby table.
"Aw, man. What the hell!" Kirishima breathed after swiping open the feed, his eyes flicking over the footage to assess the damage. Everything that wasn't bolted down had a new home across the room in a million different pieces. Kirishima had never put anything of value in his room per se - it was literally just a place to fall asleep while on the job - but it had still been his. And now his stuff was either smashed, torn, or completely obliterated due to some kind of temper tantrum from the human he had saved.
From beside him, Kaminari sat up as well, letting out a low whistle as he peered over at the screen. "You know, if his hands were behi—"
"I know," Kirishima seethed back without hearing the rest of the sentence and he swung his legs over the side of the bed. Eyes not leaving the comm, Kirishima stalked out of the room and towards the makeshift cell. He stopped in front of the door and eyed it warily, looking back down at the footage to gauge exactly how safe it was to approach. The human was fuming; pacing around the room like a captive animal. Scared. He's scared, Kirishima tried to remind himself and he closed his eyes, letting out a slow and even breath to try and relax. He wasn't mad at the human, of course, but the frustration at his broken items and the exhaustion from the emotionally taxing day were pulling on his seemingly never-ending string of patience.
Steeling himself, Kirishima raised his knuckles to the door and knocked twice. On the screen, the human halted in his tracks and his head jerked towards the door at the sound. "Hey," Kirishima called out just loud enough to be heard through the metal separating them. As expected, the human didn't respond but his head did tilt just a little which prompted Kirishima to continue. "I know you can't, like, understand me, but you can't just go around breaking someone's stuff, bro! That's just not…" he trailed off, fumbling with his words. "Look," he tried instead, "I know we probably scared you, but you can trust us. We're trying to help you so can you please just calm down?"
The human hadn't moved and continued to stare at the door, but his shoulders were no longer rising and falling as rapidly as before. Kirishima noticed that while he hadn't relaxed completely, it didn't look like the human would immediately lunge at his throat if he entered the room. Well, he hoped. It wasn't like he had become a human behavioural expert over the past few hours. "I'm going to open the door now…" From down the short hallway, Kaminari's voice pointed out that Kirishima's idea was, in fact, a very bad one. Ignoring the warning, Kirishima shifted his comm to his other hand to punch in the override code.
He still watched the screen as the door hissed and slid open, just in case the human decided to make a mad dash at him while the metal was still obscuring his vision. Even after the door sealed behind Kirishima again, the human remained rooted to his current spot, although his posture had shifted; shoulders squared, legs apart. He wasn't about to attack, but the possibility was certainly there.
Figuring he wasn't in immediate danger and keeping his back to the door, Kirishima was able to survey his room up close. His heart sunk. His room was pretty bare compared to Kaminari's, but he did have a few mementos that were now strewn about the room. A crystal from his first mission had been obliterated against the wall and lay in shards on the ground, a small lamp from his desk was bent at an unnatural angle near the door, and even the bedding (though seemingly undamaged) was torn from the bed and spread across the room. "Wow. I mean, I guess I can't blame you for freaking out, but… wow." His eyes met the human's again, not in the least bit surprised that the scowl hadn't left the other's face.
The man hissed something lowly in response, lips drawing up into a snarl and the look he gave Kirishima was like he was trying to render him dead with his glare alone. In an effort to assuage some of the human's hostility, Kirishima did the only thing he could think of that didn't involve stumbling over words which was to smile widely at the human.
It kind of worked.
Tension seemed to pour out of the human at a rapid pace, confusion replacing the anger quickly. The blonde eyebrows furrowed again just as fast and the glare returned albeit less heated. He muttered something in his language, lifting up his hands to gesture at his wrists. Although Kirishima had no idea what he was saying, he was able to piece it together enough to answer.
"I can't remove them," he said sympathetically, smile softening and tacking on, "sorry," for good measure. Just because they couldn't understand each other didn't mean he couldn't display proper manners, even though Kirishima doubted the human had the same mindset. Harshly saying something else, the human stepped closer and shook his hands more violently in Kirishima's direction. "Dude, I really in good conscience can't remove those. Look what you did to my room with them bound!" Red eyes followed Kirishima's vague gesture to the decimation around his room before they locked back onto his face. The human's jaw flexed in frustration and for a painful moment, Kirishima thought the human would be lunging at him again. Instead, an irritated sigh spilled from the other's mouth, his hands dropping uselessly in front of him.
Kirishima blew out a breath of air as well when silence fell across the room, scuffing his foot across the ground at the feeling of awkwardness that was now rolling over his body. He didn't ever like the tense silence that filled the space between two strangers. Typically he'd be talking away with icebreaker questions, genuinely interested in the other's answers, but even if the human could speak Universal, Kirishima doubted that he'd have much to say. "I know!" he exclaimed suddenly, startling the human into moving back a step. "Wait right here." Kirishima held a finger up as if to say 'one moment,' blatantly ignoring the fact that the human was pretty much locked in the room by his own doing. "I'll be right back. Don't trash anything else." Kirishima flapped his hand around aimlessly, backing up towards the door and turning just enough to punch in the code. "Just a sec."
When he returned about ten minutes later (after carefully checking the communicator, of course, he totally didn't just barrel blindly back into the room), he found the human still standing in roughly the same spot. He ignored the unusual behaviour and plastered his brightest smile back onto his face. "You must be hungry, dude!" He announced, lifting a bowl up in one hand and gesturing to the other items he had balanced in his other arm. They didn't have much in their limited pantry, but they had packed enough for the trip and then some. Certainly enough to share. "Sit!" Kirishima dropped to the ground a few feet away from the human, carefully placing the bowl down onto the floor and putting the other two food items out in front of him. "I've no idea what you eat," he rambled on, looking up at the human to wave him down to his level, "but this should be fine. This stuff is pretty standard across the whole universe. Everyone seems to eat it without dying, so that's a good start."
The human stared down at him, unamused. A frown was pulling on his lips as his eyes bounced between the food and cheery redhead who was seemingly unperturbed by his less than enthused response. "This," Kirishima picked up a bright, teal sphere covered in small ruffles with a purple tinge along the edges, "is uh… Well, it's a fruit, I guess. Maybe a vegetable. There are debates about it." He paused and contemplated the fruit-vegetable in his hand as though he had never considered its existence. He let out a light laugh, holding it out to the human and pulling it back in when the other made did not attempt to grab it. "Okay, that's fine. These are my favourite. Starfreys." Placing the produce onto the ground, Kirishima picked up the colourful bag that held clearly processed snacks. "They're usually for kids and they say it's healthy, but I don't really believe that." Opening the bag, he dumped a few small, multicoloured stars into his hand and popped them into his mouth. He offered the open bag to the human who, yet again, refused. He shook the bag for emphasis, eyebrows raised expectantly and shrugged his shoulders when the human remained still. "Alright, well, the last thing I have is this. It's really, really bland, but I figure that's probably the safest. It's essentially grains and hot water…"
He nudged the bowl across the floor closer to the human, trying to bridge the gap and establish trust. Narrowed red eyes dropped from Kirishima's face and to the bowl of beige mush and finally - finally - the human sat down slowly, eyes cautious. Kirishima could hardly contain his excitement when the human reached forward at long last with a bandaged and still cuffed hand, a brief feeling of guilt licking at his insides knowing that his face had caused those bruised knuckles. He forced himself to sit still when the human pulled the bowl across the floor to have it in front of him and held his breath as he waited for the human's next move. The gruel-like substance was stirred slowly, and the human lifted the spoon to his nose before pulling a face and letting it plop back down into the bowl. The spoon clattered against the bowl roughly as if it had personally offended the human and Kirishima couldn't bite back the laugh that erupted from his mouth. He earned a sneer in his direction which only made Kirishima laugh harder and he leaned back against his palms, catching his breath.
"Yeah, that's about my reaction too," he grinned lazily at the human, a weird sense of camaraderie swelling in his chest at their mutual dislike over the food. "But," he straightened back up now, leaning forward to pull the bowl back over to him, "You need to eat." His grin slowly fell from his face and he looked at the human more seriously. He really didn't have anything to base his opinion off of - he didn't know the human prior, he didn't know any human prior, but the one in front of him looked sick. He looked tired and rundown; still fiery, but just clinging on to any ounce of adrenaline his body offered up to keep him alive. "Like, when was the last time you even had food? How long were you on that planet?"
Kirishima didn't know why he waited for a reply, but he did. Unsurprisingly, none came, so Kirishima lifted the bowl instead and raised the spoon. "Come on, bro! Just a bite. It's really not that bad and it's safe! Look!" He took a bite without hesitation, trying to show that it was safe to eat, but his face contorted as he chewed. It was like eating a flavourless paste and, throwing all manners out the window, Kirishima spat the food back into the bowl and pushed it away from him. "Oh, wow. Yeah, no, that's really bad. Try the fruit instead." He rolled the fruit towards the human, huffing out a sigh when it was rolled back with a bit more force. "We have like a week left! You need to eat something!" He rolled the fruit back over, a grin threatening to split his face when a quiet growling came from the human's stomach. "Ha! You are hungry!" This time the growl came from the human himself, and he crushed the fruit in his hand, shaking the pulpy white mess in Kirishima's direction. The redhead held his hands up innocently, laughing again when the human stood up and stalked towards him. He snatched up the colourful bag still laid out in front of Kirishima and stormed to a corner of the room to sit in instead.
They sat in slightly awkward, but amicable silence for a short while. Kirishima was scrolling aimlessly through his comm, eyes staring unfocused on the screen as he pretended to not notice the human slowly, but surely picking away at the snack. Satisfied that the human wasn't going to starve under his care, Kirishima let himself get absorbed into the world of social media - replying to messages from his friends and checking the feeds he had neglected the past few days. An hour had ticked by before he knew it and the nag of sleep tugged at his eyes. Kirishima placed the comm down onto the floor and stretched his arms over his head, grunting when his back cracked with a satisfying pop. The human was still in his corner, his head slumped against the wall, but more or less awake. The red eyes were trained on Kirishima, watching him stubbornly although his eyes looked heavy, but having been watched constantly over the past hour, the staring didn't bother him. He knew he was probably getting too comfortable in the other's presence; letting his guard down too much. But he was an optimist by nature! Surely if the human wanted to attack him, he would've done so already.
"You're really not so bad," he decided to say, standing up slowly and cautiously so the human wouldn't take the movement as a threat. "A little prickly, but I think you're just protecting yourself." Kirishima stooped down to grab the sheet off of the floor and began to tuck it back over the mattress. "I guess I would be like that, too," he mumbled more to himself, grabbing the two pillows and tossing them haphazardly onto the bed. A wave of sadness rolled over him when he grabbed the blanket, gripping the fabric in his hands for a moment to compose himself. He didn't know the human's history, but he could only imagine how it felt to be ripped so far away from everything you knew. Kirishima put the blanket back onto the bed and turned his full attention to the human. "Hey…"
The tired, but still burning eyes focused onto his face and Kirishima felt his mouth grow dry under the gaze. He cleared his throat nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, admonishing himself for feeling foolish and embarrassed when the human didn't even have a clue what he was saying. "I don't know how you got on Alduous and I don't know who those other humans were. I don't know why you were hurt and I don't know how they got hurt. Maybe it was self-defense or…" he trailed off, not wanting to admit to himself that the human he saved was actually capable of ending the lives of five of his own. "Anyway, I just want to say that while you're with me, you're safe. I'm going to protect you and get you home. Okay?" He paused like he was waiting for a reply and Kirishima swore that the intensity of the human's gaze softened, even just a fraction. "Well!" Kirishima said all too loudly and all too suddenly, feeling his face heat up for reasons he didn't need nor want to explore. "You can sleep in the actual bed and uh… good night!"
He scurried out of the room as quickly as he could and back down the short hallway to Kaminari's room, heart hammering in his chest the whole way.
. . .
Kaminari awoke again, this time to a bright light shining from beside him. He cracked open his eyes to find the source and saw Kirishima sitting up on the bed, comm balanced on his knees and reflecting the blue-tinted light back into his face. "Dude," Kaminari croaked, voice thick was sleep and annoyance, "what the fuck?"
Kirishima didn't acknowledge the half-formed complaint. He adjusted his position, as though Kaminari's voice snapped him out of a trance, but only moved enough so his legs were crossed instead of propped up. "He's still in the corner." Kaminari squinted at his friend. His sleep-filled brain was still trying to process what was going on. Who was still in the corner? What corner? It dawned on him quickly enough and he let out a disgusted noise.
"Stop watching him, you creep. God, what time is it?" Kaminari rolled over in the bed so his back was facing the offending light and tugged the blankets up over his shoulders forcefully, trying in vain to pull them from beneath Kirishima's ass. "Dude. "
"I don't think he used the bed at all." Apparently Kaminari's sleep and the need for his own blanket wasn't a priority in Kirishima's world.
"Maybe they don't use beds on Earth," Kaminari supplied for lack of anything better to say, punctuating the sentence with an unnecessarily large yawn to drive his point home.
"Well, he used the blanket."
Kaminari clicked his tongue against his teeth. "I'd like to use my blanket." The saltiness of the tone seemed to snap Kirishima out of his thoughts again. He muttered something about 'being a baby,' but lifted himself up a bit so Kaminari could tug the blanket free and cover himself completely. The redhead remained silent as he settled back in and Kaminari was sure the conversation was done. Just as his mind began to switch off, sinking back into the world of sleep, Kirishima's voice cut in to rip him back into consciousness.
"I wonder if he slept. He looks like shit." A groan which sounded more like a whine left Kaminari. He rolled over onto his back and clapped his palms over his face, huffing out a dramatic sigh.
"Clearly you want to talk about your new friend." A sheepish smile appeared on Kirishima's face that Kaminari missed but totally knew was there.
"I got him to eat. He liked Starfreys."
"Everyone likes Starfreys," came the muffled response. Kaminari dropped his hands to the bed, eyeing Kirishima from the side; tired and frustrated. Sleep was evidently not going to happen anymore, at least not right now.
"He spoke to me last night," Kirishima said, backpedaling at the unimpressed expression Kaminari gave him. "Well, he was kind of aggressively talking in his language, but he was trying to communicate with me! Isn't that cool?" Kaminari opened his mouth to reply, clamping it shut when Kirishima started to speak again. "And he was listening to me when I talked to him! I know he doesn't understand me, but he was listening. I thought he was going to attack me again when I walked into the room, but he didn't! I think he's starting to trust me."
"Or he's getting you to trust him," Kaminari pointed out. He grinned smugly at Kirishima, pulling the blankets up to his chin and closing his eyes. "Get you all close and comfy and then bam. He'll get ya like the rest of those humans."
"You're a dick."
"Nah, 'm just sayin'." Kaminari shrugged his shoulders, huffing out a laugh when Kirishima hit him with a pillow as he stood up.
"I'm going to make sure we're still on course and get my day started." Kaminari nodded, pulling the pillow Kirishima had hit him with closer to rest his head against it. "You gotta format the report still, too," Kirishima tossed in, grinning as the door swished shut behind him, drowning out the groan coming from his friend.
His morning routine was simple, even more so on the way back from a mission. Once the mission was done, there really was no more prepping needed and usually, just a simple report documenting their findings was all that was required after the fact. As far as Kirishima was concerned, the report was Kaminari's problem. Now all he had to do was ensure their ship was still heading in the right direction via the preset coords (it was) and the rest of the day was his to do as he pleased.
Kirishima cut his already short workout in the limited space provided from thirty minutes to twenty and hopped into the shower. He was eager to see the human again and he didn't really care how obvious it was, not that Kaminari had been awake to notice him rushing through his sets. He wanted to play it cool and calm, but the fact that he was helping a human, a being from a place that was basically cut off from the entire universe, was too exciting to contain. It wasn't even the thought of being a hero or bridging the gap between the humans the rest of the universe that got to him. No, as much as he liked to help, the fame and recognition didn't appeal to him. The adventure aspect certainly helped, but, after the last night, his outlook had changed significantly.
It was obvious that he had decided to help the human back on Alduous 579, there was no question about it. Spending a little over an hour with the human, though most of it in silence, however, is what really stayed in the forefront of Kirishima's mind. They were not taught that humans were bad, exactly, but they were taught to stay away. Humans weren't accepting, humans were hostile, and humans were to be avoided. Mostly it was for keeping the peace, but it didn't ultimately paint Earth in a positive light. Humans weren't evil, but they were bad news.
Except they weren't. At least not his human. Well, not exactly. Humans were vibrant. They were expressive, analytical, stubborn, and smart. They were strong , both mentally and physically. Kirishima chuckled to himself as he rinsed the shampoo from his hair, recalling the bruises on the human's knuckles. Given Earth's relationship with the rest of the universe, Kirishima assumed the human didn't have much exposure to other lifeforms, but he was still ready to fight. He didn't know that Kirishima's bones were as dense as stone, he didn't know Kaminari could zap him into unconsciousness, and yet he still didn't cower.
Humans were resilient.
While brushing his teeth, it dawned on Kirishima that the human probably wanted to shower, too. He assumed that was a staple in their culture as well, seeing as most beings of the universe had some sort of aversion to filth in one way or another. He had done his best to clean the blood away from the human's body, but that was more to repair the wounds as opposed to actual cleanliness. The pale hair had still been tinted with dried blood when Kirishima saw him hours before, and the clothes the human had on were undoubtedly filthy. Kirishima scolded himself mentally for not thinking about it sooner, too wrapped up in the novel idea of being near a human to offer some basic hospitality. He spat out the toothpaste and eyed himself in the mirror with determination. They maybe still had to be cautious about the human, but, until they were proven otherwise, Kirishima refused to treat him like a prisoner. He left the bathroom on a mission.
"I'm going to offer him a shower," Kirishima announced when he entered the small kitchen nook, finding Kaminari propped against one of the counters still half asleep. The blonde hardly acknowledged him. He waited a moment for Kaminari to protest and when he didn't, Kirishima began to pull out all the supplies needed to make enough for two protein smoothies. He wasn't holding his breath for the human to accept the drink, but it didn't hurt to offer it to him. Besides, if the human did like it, it would be definitely more nutritious than Starfreys and he'd have two things the human would actually eat. No starving on his watch!
"You'd have to uncuff him." The response was so quiet, not to mention delayed, that Kirishima almost wasn't sure what Kaminari was replying to. "Unless you're going to scrub him down, I guess."
"I'm not going to strip him of his dignity." Kaminari hummed, sipping his drink and eyeing his friend from over the lip of the mug.
"I think it's a bad idea." Shrugging his shoulders defiantly, Kirishima began blending the smoothies as if to drown out any more of Kaminari's disagreements. He smiled innocently at his friend's half playful and half definitely real glare and turned back to the drinks. "If he stabs you," Kaminari said loud enough to be heard over the whirring of the machine, "I'm going to let you bleed out." Kirishima let out a sharp laugh, flicking the machine off as pouring the smoothie into two glasses.
"You're too kind to me, dude."
Smoothie in hand, Kirishima left Kaminari in the kitchen to work on the report. Given his friend's only mild protest, he liked to believe that perhaps spending the evening with the human unscathed helped ease Kaminari's mind some as well about the human's hostility. Though, he supposed that the fact that he could easily take on the human if needed helped Kaminari's concerns. He cringed at the thought of having to use force on the human as soon as the cuffs were off but promptly shoved that scenario to the back of his mind. No point in stressing over something that hadn't happened.
Giving the comm a cursory glance, Kirishima rapped his knuckles against the door as a warning and punched the code in to step inside. The human was still crushed in the corner of the room, blanket wrapped around him like a cocoon, but he looked downright miserable. Not in a way that reminded Kirishima of the anger from before, but rather pitiful and broken. Something was wrong. "Dude…" he murmured softly, eyebrows knitting together in concern when he was able to get a proper look at the human. There was an effort to glare at Kirishima, but it was short-lived as a wince contorted his expression. "Shit, are you okay?" He placed the two smoothies down on the desk and quickly made his way over to the human, freezing in his tracks when the human scrambled to free himself from the blanket with a snarl. "Right, right. You're okay," Kirishima breathed out, raising his hands like before with his palms facing outwards as a sign of peace. The human relaxed a little when Kirishima had stopped moving and he slumped back against the wall tiredly.
Kirishima slowly let his hands drop and lowered himself to the ground in front of the human, an action he hoped that would calm him. It at least put them on relatively equal playing fields opposed to Kirishima towering over him. They stared at each other for what felt like minutes, until the human finally caved. His face twisted into a grimace, the left side scrunching in pain more than the right. He brought his shoulder up and tried to rest his temple against it, as though he could squash whatever pain he was feeling away, but it was no use. "Is it your tech?" Kirishima asked quietly when the human relaxed again, looking more drained than before. The pain he was fighting off no doubt was taking a toll. How long had he been feeling the pain? How long had Kirishima left him to feel the pain? "Your hardware got pretty fucked up…"
He knew the look the human was giving him was supposed to be a scowl - warning and threatening - but he held no heat in his eyes and it caused worry to bloom in Kirishima's chest. Something was definitely wrong. "Can I look?" He pressed his hand to his chest and tapped his head where the bandage sat on the human's, a weak attempt at trying to communicate in a non-verbal fashion. He didn't receive a nod, but the human didn't shake his head either. Without a response, Kirishima decided to cut his losses and attempt to approach the human again. He seemed apprehensive, but the reaction was nowhere near as aggressive as the first time, and Kirishima felt just the faintest amount of optimism course through him thinking that the human understood at least on some level.
When he was close enough, Kirishima lifted both of his hands slowly into the human's line of sight. So far, so good. Moving at a snail's pace, he reached forward to the bandage on the human's temple, flicking his eyes back down to the human's face every so often to ensure that they were both on the same page. The last thing he wanted was to have the human freak out as he looked at the wound, potentially causing more damage to not only the human but to himself as well.
He vaguely noticed that his fingers were trembling when they reached the edge of the bandage, his breath hitching nervously when he came into contact with the warm and inflamed skin. The human had tensed under his touch, his eyes slanted in a way that screamed at Kirishima to let him know that he was walking on some dangerously thin ice right now. Drawing his bottom lip into his mouth - due to concentration or nerves, he wasn't sure - Kirishima began to remove the gauze as slowly as possible. He winced with the human when some of the dried blood had adhered to the gauze, making the removal slightly more difficult in spots, and uttered frequent and soft apologies over and over like a mantra.
"It doesn't look infected," Kirishima commented once the bandage was completely removed. The skin around the stitches definitely looked irritated with its red colour and slight swelling, but that was to be expected. Not only had an open gash been there prior, but the skin had to suffer the trauma of having a needle and thread drag and pull through it repeatedly. He brushed some of the skin just under the stitches, trying to avoid making direct contact with the wound, but that was enough for the human to hiss in pain and shove him back. Kirishima gave some space when the human curled in on himself, his shaking hand hovering over the injury. The episode lasted a few seconds longer than the previous wince and, when the human straightened back out, his chest was rising and falling deeper than it had been before. The pain seemed to be getting worse.
"Is it inside?" Kirishima asked, clamping his mouth shut when the human affixed him with the most toxic glare. "Uh… like… inside? Like with the wires?" He fumbled clumsily with his wording, opting to tap on his own temple with his finger. "In? Like, under the skin?" The human squinted in a mix of pissed off confusion and, finally, after Kirishima made a few more random and desperate gestures, the human dipped his head once in a nod. If this had been a time to celebrate breaking down language barriers, Kirishima would've, but there were more pressing things at hand. "Okay, what can I do? How can I help?" The human's hand lifted to his stitches as best he could with the cuffs and opened and closed his fingers a few times. He let out a groan and rolled his eyes at Kirishima's attentive, but still clueless expression. He dropped his hands in front of him instead, pressing them together and pulling them apart slowly. "Open… Open? Open it up? Uh… Fuck… Okay."
Kirishima got to his feet suddenly, looking around the room as though there would be something to help them. "Okay, we need the scalpel then. Just… uh…" The human was wincing again and even though Kirishima knew he should go and grab the medical supplies, his heart was screaming at him not to leave the human alone. "Can you stand?" He asked quickly, feeling rushed and out of breath as he tried to press the panic down. This was a bad idea, this was such a bad idea. When the pain seemed to subside again, Kirishima waved his hand in a gesture to get the human to follow him. The blonde slowly stood on unsteady legs, ripping his body away when Kirishima automatically reached out to help. Despite the pain, he was still fiercely independent and it took everything in Kirishima to not reach out and help again when the human's first couple of steps were hesitant and unsure.
Getting to the makeshift med bay still set up from the previous night hadn't been too difficult. They stopped twice along the way when another wave of pain washed over the human, forcing him to crouch down into a ball. The way his fingers scrabbled at his hair, digging in and tugging at the roots, made Kirishima feel sick with worry; the human hardly made a sound beyond soft, guttural grunts, but the clenching at the hair proved the pain was far greater than he let on. Again, how long did Kirishima leave him to sit and suffer? Given his head a shake, Kirishima knew that he didn't have time to stew in the guilt as he guided the human into the room.
The equipment Kaminari and Kirishima had used were still all laid out. Everything had been wiped down and cleaned, but Kirishima questioned how sanitary things remained after sitting out all night. He supposed when the time came, they could find a way to re-sterilize any of the tools needed to avoid infection, but he seriously doubted that that was a concern of the human's right now.
Kirishima reached for the cuffs around the human's wrists and for the first time was not met with the human reeling back defensively. Whether it was pain or from the very gradually building trust, Kirishima didn't know, but he'd like to think it was the latter. Again, more pressing things at hand than celebrating a growing bond. He pressed a sequence of buttons, and the clasps of the cuffs unhinged immediately and dropped to the ground. The human rubbed at the faded, red marks around his wrists absentmindedly while another thought popped into Kirishima's head. Sure, they had medical equipment at the ready, but they weren't only going to be dealing with flesh and blood. "I think we have a tool kit in here, too," Kirishima stated more to himself, and turned away from the human to rummage through a cupboard. He produced a small case filled with tools and dropped it on the counter to inspect the contents. The human promptly shoved him aside and dug through the tools instead. Trusting that the human knew what he was looking for more than he ever could, Kirishima stepped aside to give him some space.
"What are you doing?" Kaminari's voice made Kirishima nearly jump out of his skin and he whipped around so fast that it made his head spin.
"Don't do that!" Kirishima blurted, grasping at his chest, "Oh my god, dude! You scared the shit out of me!" Kaminari was too busy staring at the human messing with the supplies on the counter to listen to his friend's scolding.
"I thought you were just letting him shower."
After he caught his breath and his heartbeat slowed down, Kirishima shook his head. Okay, the little voice in his head told him this was a bad idea and he'd be the first to admit that. He just needed Kaminari to understand why the potentially dangerous human was now uncuffed and roaming freely in their ship and maybe things would go smoothly. "He's in pain," Kirishima explained gently, voice calm and even, and he stepped forward towards his friend as though to block the human from any possible tasing.
"So get him painkillers, Kirishima!"
There goes his plan of appealing to reason. "There's something wrong with the wires and stuff inside him!" Kirishima protested. He heaved a sigh when his friend refused to acknowledge him, instead having his eyes glued onto the back of the human. "Hey," Kirishima grabbed Kaminari's shoulders, twisting him to break the line of sight, "It's fine. We're fine!"
"You spent like an hour with him and—" The sentence died off and the yellow eyes were now staring over Kirishima's shoulder again, the annoyance leaving his face and being replaced with alarm. "What the fuck?" Given his friend's expression, Kirishima wasn't sure if he wanted to turn around, but he knew he had to. If he fucked up royally, the least he could do was acknowledge it. He craned his neck to look over his shoulder, spinning around quickly on his heel at the sight.
The human had just finished running the scalpel along the stitches, slicing the threads and opening the wound again. Despite the fresh blood now oozing down his face and the trembling hand dragging the scalpel along the wound once more, the human had an expression of concentration. He looked almost impassive to the whole ordeal like he wasn't running a blade through his own face. Horrified at what he was seeing, Kirishima surged forward, halting so quickly that he stumbled when the human's expression changed. The bloodied scalpel was pointed in his direction, outstretched at arm's length. Though the blade was small and not overly threatening in itself, the expression human wore - eyes murderous and jaw set firm - told Kirishima that he had better back off if he didn't want his jugular sliced open. Kirishima nodded his head and took a few steps back, one hand reaching behind him to push Kaminari back as well.
"I fucking knew it, dude," Kaminari hissed, his hand still scrambling to cling to the back of his friend's shirt despite how he was feeling towards Kirishima at the moment.
"Just relax. Just let him do this thing," Kirishima responded quietly, trying to keep his voice steady and the air of the room calm even with the tense Kaminari and the equally as tense human making that exceedingly difficult.
"He's a psychopath, man! He's doing surgery on himself!" Kaminari shot back, his voice pitched up in a panic. He wasn't necessarily wrong. With one arm still outstretched in their direction, scalpel poised threateningly, the human's other hand was busy digging into the wound. It made Kirishima's stomach turn, watching the fingers slick with blood press into the flesh, skin shifting and tearing in protest as he agitated the cut more and more. Seemingly satisfied with whatever he did, the human reached behind him to the counter and didn't once remove his eyes from the two standing in the doorway. He only looked away when his hand grasped a small tool, one Kirishima recognized simply because he had seen Kaminari use it to weld delicate electronics back together. The human clicked it on.
It was then the human took in a sharp breath, mouth set in a tight line as he pressed the soldering wand into his temple. It couldn't have taken more than half a second, but it felt like forever before both tools fell from the human's hands and clattered to the ground. Before Kirishima could even attempt to process what he had just witnessed, Kaminari spoke. "What the hell is that noise?" He said it in a rush and it took a moment for Kirishima to catch on, but sure enough, a soft whirring could be heard in the room. He let his eyes dart away from the human momentarily, trying to assess where the sound was coming from and then, "What's happening to his eye!?"
The iris of the human's left eye seemed to shift slowly, spinning in its fixed spot, the red melting away into a radiant orange that began to glow bright enough to illuminate parts of the human's face. The human's eyes widened a fraction, glazing over into an unfocused stare. His expression was lax, as though he were in a trance, and Kirishima could feel his own throat constricting in panic. The whirring sound increased, sounding faster and growing higher in pitch as it sped up.
"What the fuck is going on!?"
"I don't…" Kirishima tried to answer, transfixed on the human standing in front of them. "Are you—"
"Dude, what the fuck is wrong with him!?" Kaminari tugged on his sleeve and frustration bubbled in Kirishima's veins at all of the questions. He was in the exact same sinking boat as his friend, he had no idea why he was expected to know why the human, a species he had never encountered before in his life, was shutting down in front of them while his eye radiated a fluorescent, orange light.
"Nothing!" Kirishima snapped all too quickly when his sleeve was yanked on again, exasperated over the questions and perhaps a little defensive over the human. He wanted the human to be okay, he wanted this to be normal, but he couldn't even begin to lie to himself. Even with his very limited knowledge about humans, he knew that whatever was happening wouldn't be considered normal on Earth, either. "Just… calm down, okay?" He said softer this time - an effort to calm Kaminari or himself at this point, he didn't know.
The whirring stopped abruptly and with it went the light of the human's eye, leaving the familiar red in its place.
The human's brows bunched together in confusion momentarily, and he stumbled backwards to the counter, leaning on it heavily for support. He blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear his mind, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as though he were staving off a headache. Kaminari and Kirishima both held their breath waiting for the human to do something - anything - that would somehow magically explain what had just happened.
Slowly the human straightened up again, using the back of his hand to smear away some of the blood still pooling from the wound. He fixed the two with his standard venomous glare - eyes locking with Kaminari's before shooting over to Kirishima's, sending chills down both of their spines at the intensity of the look. The human took a step away from the counter, holding eye contact with Kirishima as he took another step forward and pointed at him.
"If you take me back to Earth, I'll fucking kill you."