Kaminari had questions.

He had been diligently trailing behind the two once they left the medical bay, keeping his mouth shut as Kirishima scrambled to find clean clothes for the human. He remained silent at the constant glares he received. He didn't make so much as a noise when the human shoved past him to get to their tiny shower. All in all, he was on his best behaviour; not provoking their "guest," not demanding answers from Kirishima, and not breaking down in hysterics over being left in the dark.

The silence - the calm, cool demeanor Kaminari was so expertly exuding - did not go unnoticed by Kirishima. He wanted to be impressed, he wanted to be thankful that he only had to focus on one thing at a time, but it was that exact silence that was sending a chill down his spine. The patience Kaminari seemingly manifested for the whole situation was winding a coil tighter and tighter in Kirishima's gut and he was just waiting for it to snap.

And it did.

With Bakugou safely tucked away behind closed doors, the two were left alone in the hall, resting against opposite walls and facing each other. Yellow eyes scrutinized him, making Kirishima feel more and more like a scolded child who was caught holding onto a lie, but Kaminari's mouth remained locked.

Kirishima couldn't take it anymore.

"I can't let him back out there!" He blurted, relieved to get words off of his chest, but not relieved to see Kaminari's eyes roll.

"I heard him say that he didn't want to stay with us!"

"He's going to die out there!"

Kaminari sputtered, his arms wheeling in the air and he gawked at his friend. "He didn't die out there last time, dude! He held his own pretty well, too, if those five dead guys are anything to go off of!" Kirishima physically winced at the notion, willingly burying it down, and Kaminari's eyes widened even more. "Did you even ask about those corpses you found? Because that was pretty high on my red flag list, Kirishima!"

"Okay, just calm down, man. He said he's not a criminal—" Kaminari cut him off with a loud, staged gasp.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Did the criminal tell you that he wasn't a criminal? Did he? Is that what he said, Kirishima? Did he almost say the exact thing a criminal would say if he didn't want anyone to know that he's a criminal?" Kirishima folded his arms over his chest and stared impassively at his friend's sarcastic rant, arching an eyebrow when Kaminari jabbed a finger in his direction. "We are going to be murdered before we even make it back!"

"We're not going to be murdered and keep your voice down!" Kirishima blew out a heavy sigh, and Kaminari remained quiet. "He's not going to kill us because he needs us, okay? He has no idea what he's doing out here and I can't just let him go off and get himself killed." The silence stretched between them and the glare Kirishima was receiving gradually softened. It wasn't by much, but it was noticeable and a tiny, flickering fire of hope bloomed in his chest when Kaminari slumped back against the wall to mimic his posture.

"You realize you don't owe him anything, right? When you found him on that planet, you were doing a good thing, even if it was something that put us in way over our heads." He met Kirishima's eyes and held them. "I don't know what you were expecting, but I do know that it wasn't this. The situation changed, dude, and you are not obligated to see it through."

"I want to, though. I know I'm not obligated to, I don't even think he really wants me to," Kirishima chuckled, shaking his head, "but it just feels like something I need to do. Like there's this reason I have to do it." Kaminari squinted at his friend and Kirishima felt his face heat up, letting out another embarrassed laugh. "It sounds stupid, I know."

"It does," Kaminari agreed without missing a beat. He looked over his friend once more, eyes narrowed and skeptical, and then groaned, pushing himself away from the wall. "But you're a big boy," he conceded, "and you're my friend, so if you say there's some divine intervention happening, then I have to trust you. So, what's the plan?" Not completely on board yet, Kirishima noted, but that was fine. The sheepish smile on his face blossomed into a broad grin.

"He'll come with us to Oterra." Kaminari nodded.

"Okay."

"He'll stay with us." Kaminari shook his head.

"Not okay."

"Just for a bit! Maybe I can convince him to go back to Earth or show him enough so he won't immediately die or, I don't know, something. I have to try something. I dragged him into this whole thing so I can't exactly just boot him out and be like 'Oh, just kidding, things got more fucked than I wanted!' That's not fair and that's not right." Kirishima was given a wary look, and it was a look he knew he deserved. The whole situation had gone from a mess to an even messier mess in just over twenty-four hours. He was barely keeping his head above water, he had no idea how he was going to keep his friendship from disintegrating, and he had no idea how to keep Bakugou safe, but he was going to try. He was determined to try. "Besides," he tried to lighten the mood, and gave Kaminari's shoulder a light punch, "he might not even stay. I can't force him to do anything he doesn't want to do and he seems pretty annoyed about my gallant rescue."

"Well, he's staying in your room if he doesn't leave. I've seen what he did to yours here. He's not trashing my shit."

. . .

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. Extremely uneventful, actually. It was a little disappointing if Kirishima were to be completely honest.

He didn't expect to magically bond with Bakugou over the next few days. He didn't think that they'd buddy up, have some heart-to-hearts, and bloom a life-long friendship or anything like that. He may have been painfully optimistic at times, but he wasn't dumb. So, while Kirishima didn't think the two of them would grow closer, he did think (or at least hoped) the human in question would warm up to him, even just a little bit.

Bakugou, maybe humans as a whole, was the most stubborn being to ever exist.

He chose to spend the remainder of the trip holed up in Kirishima's room, apparently claiming it as his own personal sanctuary, and only left when necessary. And Kirishima was fine with it! He didn't mind and he was more than happy to share. He was, in fact, glad that Bakugou seemed to at least find some comfort in the tiny room, but Kirishima had just been hoping that maybe some walls would be knocked down and he could at least get a few answers out of him.

Kirishima had tried a handful of times to reach out to Bakugou, who was unsurprisingly not very forthcoming with information, and was often rebuffed or met with monosyllabic answers. When Kirishima did get answers the precious few times, Bakugou was sure to keep them short and vague, leaving Kirishima with even more questions.

"Do you remember how you got hurt?"

"I did it."

"Why?"

"Tracking chip."

"From who?"

No answer.

He was beginning to think it was intentional now, as opposed to general aloofness, but Kirishima was patient and, much to his own advantage, he was determined. He switched tactics.

Once everyone accepted that "Mission: Save Kirishima's Human" was still in effect and resigned themselves to their selected fates, Kirishima's curiosity returned full-force. He was brimming with questions that no longer required "charades" - not exclusively related to Bakugou, but humans in general. Now, Kirishima didn't want to pry exactly. He still wanted to respect Bakugou's boundaries and privacy, but he also wanted him to feel safe enough to talk. Kaminari was already adamant that someone had to keep an eye on Bakugou and, when it obviously wasn't going to be him, the noble duty fell onto Kirishima. It worked in favour with his new plan of attack.

He was still allowed to go into his room thankfully, Bakugou loudly proclaiming that he didn't give a shit what Kirishima did when he politely asked if his presence bothered him. Whether or not the human intended Kirishima to spend most of his time in the room (he most definitely didn't), Kirishima did just that. He would hang out in the room for a few hours, sometimes only a few minutes, multiple times a day and would either talk aimlessly to the human or sit in one-sided companionable silence as he scrolled through his comm or attempted to read reports. Bakugou would sit on the bed, as he had been doing, resting up against one of the walls and glaring straight ahead.

Kirishima hoped that by being around Bakugou, but not bothering him too much, would act almost like exposure therapy; Bakugou would maybe start talking more, about anything really, if he started to view Kirishima as something beyond a stranger. Not friends, Kirishima didn't blame him for not taking that big of a step, but maybe acquaintances? Maybe he'd let something slip about human culture or maybe he'd have questions of his own that would turn into a back and forth of questions and answers.

When day four rolled around following the same routine, a gnawing worry began to nip at Kirishima's insides that started to overpower and subsequently quiet the curiosity within him.

Bakugou barely moved from his spot. Kirishima had seen him a few times in a different position usually when he was changing the bandage or cleaning his wound, and he once even caught him standing up to stretch, but other than that, the human stayed on the bed in the same corner like he had been glued there. Kirishima at first thought that maybe Bakugou was being whatever his version of shy was, not wanting to impose by doing anything beyond sitting still and breathing, so he offered up his communicator. He offered to show him dumb little games, offered to play music, offered to find something to read - he even offered to find the human something to write or scribble on. Surely he had to be bored, but everything was denied.

It wasn't just moving, though. Bakugou barely ate. When he discovered that Bakugou liked them, Kirishima managed to commandeer the last few remaining bags of Starfreys, much to Kaminari's dismay. He did find one of the bags empty since Bakugou had taken over his room, but it did little to relieve him. The snacks hardly held any nutritional value as it was, and eating only two of the small packages over the course of four days had Kirishima stressing out even more over Bakugou's well-being.

Sleeping was a whole other disaster. Although Kirishima wanted to spend time with Bakugou, even just sharing each other's presence, he left the room often enough and long enough for the human to rest. While Bakugou did have free rein of the ship, it was in everyone's best interest to lock up the room at night. Kaminari didn't want to be murdered in his sleep (or at all) and Bakugou bluntly stated that he had nowhere else to go, so why did he care? But every morning when Kirishima returned, Bakugou was awake. Every time Kirishima walked past the room, Bakugou was awake. Every time he popped in to "hang out," Bakugou was awake. Maybe he did nap periodically, doze off sitting up or something, but Kirishima never saw it.

The lack of eating and sleeping was beginning to show. Bakugou had been in rough shape ever since they met back on Alduous, but this was a whole other level and the alarm bells in Kirishima's head were deafening.

Kirishima was damn near sure he almost broke from worry, long abandoning his exposure therapy experiment to fret over the human's health. He was trying to come up with possible ideas that would help Bakugou follow the basic rules of living. Was he scared to sleep? Should Kirishima stay with him? Did Bakugou want to be the one to lock the door? (Was it safe to be locked out of a room on your own ship by a practically unknown species?)

Kaminari tried to ease Kirishima's worries by telling him that maybe it was just a human trait; just a human thing. Maybe they did just sit in almost complete silence for days on end, not eating or sleeping, and maybe he was right. It wasn't like Kirishima would know because a certain human with all the certain human answers certainly wasn't talking to him. Would someone really starve themselves out of stubbornness? Kirishima didn't know Bakugou as well as he would like, but from what he had seen so far, he wasn't going to be surprised if it turned out that the human was just being too proud to accept the hospitality. He was very reluctantly convinced by Kaminari that what Bakugou chose to do or not do was out of his hands and, while Kirishima legitimately hated that all help he offered was declined, Kaminari was right. He had already made it abundantly clear to the human that if needed anything at all, all he had to do was ask. If Bakugou wasn't going to ask, Kirishima had to trust that he felt that he didn't need anything.

But it was so frustrating!

Day six had Kirishima almost at his wit's end. He held his tongue, promising himself that he could keep the worry back for one more day until they arrived on Oterra, but he spent significantly more time with Bakugou, hardly leaving the room at all. He forced himself to leave once in search of something to eat and was caught walking back with a plate overflowing with food that may or may not have been an attempt to entice the human. Kaminari noticed, snorted on a laugh, and told him that he was hovering when they passed in the hall.

He didn't think it was hovering, though. Kirishima could agree that he was probably lingering more than he should, but he wasn't hovering. He just wanted to be there for Bakugou if he needed anything, given his worsening state. That wasn't a bad thing. Kaminari's words still stuck with him as he entered his room again, plopping down in his now usual spot on the floor, and dropping the plate beside him. Bakugou hadn't moved, hadn't acknowledged him when he walked back in, but Kirishima fixed him with a quick smile anyway.

"Denki found this shirt of his with a hood," he said absentmindedly, swiping open his comm to where he left off. With only a day left and Bakugou's health seemingly dwindling before his eyes, Kirishima was fumbling for a plan. He had been scanning for updates and articles; scouring for any news regarding humans in space, specifically a certain human in space, but was coming up empty. It brought some relief to the situation Kirishima had pulled everyone into - the less that was out there, the better. Getting Bakugou onto the planet would be significantly easier if no one was on the lookout for a human.

"You're lucky most of us out here are bipedal, too. You're not going to stand out much, not unless someone is really looking at you. So we'll just put the hood up, Denki will hand in our report and samples, and you and I can go directly to my place." Bakugou didn't respond, Kirishima wasn't even sure if he was listening, but saying the plan out loud made it feel more tangible. He felt as though he actually had some footing in the matter at hand now, even if the plan wasn't fully realized. It was a start and it was the most solid plan he had had since finding Bakugou back on Alduous 579.

That was his plan though. Kirishima couldn't deny his concern over what Bakugou was planning if anything.

"Where are you from?" Kirishima choked on the piece of fruit he had popped into his mouth, his eyes watering when he ripped them away from the comm to stare at the human. He had been lost in thought, but the voice cut through the silence like a knife even though Bakugou hadn't spoken loud or really all that clear. He sounded tired. He sounded exhausted . His voice was rough from the lack of use and nowhere near as scathing as it was before. Kirishima paused, trying to assess if he had actually heard Bakugou speak or if he was just imagining it, but Bakugou was looking back at him expectantly, if not irritated. The scowl he normally wore was gone and it was then Kirishima was actually able to look at him properly without being chased away by a piercing glare. He was healing at least, the few small cuts that peppered his face were healed into scabs, and the redness that bled out from underneath his bandage was hardly noticeable. The dark circles, though, carving a home under Bakugou's eyes made Kirishima's heart lurch and he couldn't miss the way the whites of his eyes were tinged pink.

"Oh, uh," Kirishima paused to cough on the fruit juice still lodged in his throat and placed the comm down on the floor when he recovered. "Well, I'm from Borix-C. It's this huge planet in the Diae galaxy. Have you guys discovered Diae yet?" No answer. Okay, so he still didn't like questions in return. Kirishima could work with that. "Anyway, we're going to Oterra, though. That's where Kaminari and I live most of the time."

"Most of the time?" Bakugou echoed.

"Yeah, Oterra isn't really a planet that you live permanently on. It's kind of a business planet. Not corporations though." Kirishima chuckled at the expression Bakugou was giving him, one of frustration and confusion; regret from striking up a conversation. "It's a contract hub. Businesses will put out a posting for contract work, basically grunt work, and my employer will take those contracts and give them to me to complete. Denki and I typically do contract work for scientists and anthropologists - basically anyone who is wanting to learn more about other planets. But then you got construction workers, tradesmen, labourers. Pretty much anyone who does odd jobs is on Oterra.

"It's a nice planet, but it's small and crowded with apartments. There's nothing for entertainment and it's definitely not a place for opportunity. It's kind of just a place for a quick buck. When the contracts are good, sometimes you only get a day or two between each one, so it's nice to have a place you can call your own. When the contracts die off, everyone tends to just go home because there's not much to do while you wait for business to pick back up."

"Are there trees?" The question was asked almost instantly, as though Bakugou was waiting for Kirishima to stop talking about the business mechanics of Oterra before blurting it out. The sudden interest had Kirishima hesitating for a moment, trying to study Bakugou's face but he wasn't looking at him now. He nodded his head.

"There are. Not a lot, though. There's a park near our place that has some." He leaned a little in an effort to read Bakugou's expression and gave up when he couldn't do so without making it blatantly obvious. "We can… go… see them? If you'd like?" he risked asking, smiling apologetically when Bakugou rolled his eyes.

"I don't care about fucking trees. We have them on Earth."

"Do you have a lot of trees?" Bakugou eyed him suspiciously and Kirishima just continued to smile innocently. He didn't get an answer, he didn't expect one, but he did get something better. Bakugou gave him one final sneer and turned away from him, lying down on his side.

"Get out. I'm tired." Kirishima didn't know if he was actually going to sleep, but at least attempting was better than nothing.

. . .

Landing on Oterra had been easy. Kirishima knew it was going to be; Oterra was a planet that ran on an honour system and if someone chose not to abide by said honour, then the affected residents would take it into their own hands. Most kept to themselves, not bothering to get wrapped up in any drama or crimes if they didn't need to. Kirishima wasn't a criminal, he had to remind himself, but if he was dealing with criminal activities, at least no one would go poking around.

He didn't count fraternizing with a species the Federation explicitly said not to fraternize with as "criminal activity." At least, not when the species he wasn't supposed to fraternize with needed help. Surely that was an exception, right?

"I'll meet up with you guys later," Kaminari said once they were all outside of the ship, holding the case of samples out in front him and precariously balancing his comm with the hopefully completed report on top of it. "Thanks for not murdering us, Bakugou!" Over the last few hours, Kaminari had warmed up to Bakugou substantially, something that clearly seemed to annoy the human. It appeared that as the promise of returning home safely despite a potential murderer onboard became a higher and higher probability, Kaminari had allowed his opinion of Bakugou to change. Bakugou's stance on Kaminari, however, hadn't despite the other's now-chummy attitude. Kirishima was just thankful for the one-sided peace between the two, all things considering.

"If they ask why I'm not there—" Kaminari cut Kirishima off with a wave of his hand.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll tell them you got the space shits or something." The devilish grin was blinding before he turned on his heel, hurrying away to avoid Kirishima's spluttered protest about the rumour he knew he was going to start. "Head home before you see someone you know!"

"Ugh," Kirishima whined, glaring at Kaminari's retreating back, "I know he's going to use that exact excuse, too." Shaking away the ill thoughts he had towards his friend, Kirishima turned to Bakugou to give his appearance one final inspection. He wasn't sure if Bakugou would wear the shirt Kaminari had found, worried that he'd be too stubborn to hide his identity, but he complied without difficulty. The hood was decently sized; it obscured most of Bakugou's face if he pulled it forward enough and looked downwards, but it didn't look overly suspicious either. Satisfied, Kirishima gave Bakugou a thumbs up and gestured towards the open doors leading out to Oterra. "Well, he's an idiot, but he's right. We should go before we do run into someone."

The walk to his place wasn't far, ten minutes at most, and even though they still had to actually get to his place, Kirishima felt much more at ease. He was still trying to navigate through the unfamiliar metaphorical territory, but at least now he could do it on the familiar literal territory. They could lock themselves away somewhere safe and be free to figure out the next steps.

The relief he felt did not seem to spill over to Bakugou. As soon as they left the hangar and were out in the open on the street, Bakugou took one look up at all of the beings milling about, looked back down at the pavement, and subtly stepped closer to Kirishima. He wasn't so close that they were touching, but, seeing as the human had a personal space bubble the size of a planet, Bakugou's proximity took Kirishima by surprise. A moment of concern flicked across his mind when he looked at him. They hadn't known each other long at all, but in that short amount of time, Bakugou had expressed a rather large personality despite hardly saying a word. Looking at him now, almost trying to shrink in on himself, was worrying. Kirishima figured that Bakugou, no matter how strong he seemed, was quite possibly nervous about being on a new planet, especially one bustling with life. He opted to keep his mouth shut about his observation.

"Hey," Kirishima said instead, keeping his voice low enough for only Bakugou to hear, "It's not that far of a walk and we'll be there in no time, okay?" Bakugou didn't look up from the impressive stare he was keeping on the ground. Unperturbed by the lack of answer, and in truth expecting it, Kirishima waved the unsure Bakugou forward when he took a few steps. "It's just a little busy near the port, but when we get up to the next street it'll thin out." He watched Bakugou clench and unclench his fists at his sides a few times, patiently waiting for him to make the next move on his own.

Finally, the red eyes tore away from the ground to meet his only briefly, enough to catch the hint of hesitancy. Affixing a confident smile to his face, Kirishima stepped back over to Bakugou and leaned down to see the embarrassed scowl, forcing eye contact. "I know this is probably a lot to take in, but you have been through a lot already. Getting through this crowd is going to be nothing for you." Bakugou glowered at the words and Kirishima only grinned wider, waving the human forward again. This time he did move. Still unsure and still closer to Kirishima than he'd probably like to be, but Kirishima pretended not to notice as they weaved their way through the crowd.

Bakugou kept silent the whole way, even when the streets grew empty. Kirishima was torn on being unsurprised because it was Bakugou or surprised because he knew that if he were walking on a new planet for the first time, especially with a local, he'd have a thousand questions. Bakugou had none. Or, if he did have some, he didn't verbalize it. Kirishima instead took it upon himself to point out anything that may have been interesting to a human.

Oterra wasn't teeming with culture by any means and it didn't have a rich history. It wasn't even aesthetically pleasing, just tall building after tall building crammed together tightly to accommodate apartments for all of the contract workers, but that didn't stop Kirishima from letting Bakugou know when they passed any stores he liked or his favourite place to eat or the corner that Kaminari had gotten sick all over after a night of drinking. He stopped at the tiny alleyway nestled between two buildings and told a very bored looking Bakugou that the path would lead to the park with the trees he said he didn't give a fuck about. He may have made the walk a little longer with his unprompted tour, but after a couple more blocks away from the alley, the two were climbing up the narrow stairs to Kirishima's apartment door.

Just as he was punching in the code, Kirishima froze when a hand, rough and warm, clasped a little too tightly around his wrist. He knew who it was, there was only one option, but the sudden contact still made him nearly jump out of his skin.

"Is anyone in there?" Bakugou was staring at him, eyes tired but focused and intense. He didn't trust Kirishima completely yet and Kirishima knew that and respected it, but he couldn't chase away the curiosity about why Bakugou would even ask if he didn't trust him and expect an honest answer.

And then he saw it.

A faint glow, a slight twist, of Bakugou's left iris and he felt the fingers against the underside of his wrist press in just a bit harder. Could he tell if he was lying by using his tech? The thought alone made Kirishima nervous. His pulse picked up noticeably and he tried to fight it down to avoid looking suspicious, but it only sped up more.

"No," he answered honestly, pretending that his voice didn't shake in a totally convincing way. Bakugou stared a while longer, eyes narrowing skeptically, and for a moment Kirishima was sure Bakugou would clock him in the face or take off. Or clock him in the face and then take off. All outcomes were bad. Instead, Kirishima's wrist was freed and he was given a curt nod. He let out the breath that was sitting uncomfortably in his lungs and laughed lightly, trying to brush off his nerves and Bakugou's weird behaviour in one go. He punched in the code completely now and gestured for Bakugou to step inside, following after him and letting the door slide shut.

Bakugou immediately peeled away from the front door to inspect the first room, stalking around the furniture and flipping his hood down to properly look at the items he picked up at random. Kirishima watched in both fascination and confusion as Bakugou turned the objects over in his hands inquisitively before gingerly placing them back down in roughly their original spots. He didn't make a sound or ask any questions and everything he did, he did it with his usual glare. It was almost as if he were studying everything in the room. Kirishima didn't know what exactly Bakugou was looking for, if he was looking for anything, so he stayed close to the door and watched the human flit around the room at his leisure. He didn't have anything to hide, after all, if that was what Bakugou was trying to find and, as far as Kirishima knew, Bakugou hadn't really indulged in his curiosity up until that point. If he needed to look around at all the new sights in the cramped space, Kirishima was more than glad to let him do so.

It was when Bakugou circled the room a few times did Kirishima start to feel vaguely self-conscious about the overall size of his apartment. "There's not a lot of space," he said quickly, stepping more into the room with Bakugou. He doubted he needed to provide an explanation, he doubted Bakugou even cared, but he found himself rambling. "Bigger than the ship at least! You can take my room again. It's upstairs. I'm sure Denki wi—"

A quiet thump from the room over had the sentence dying off and had both of their heads whipping towards the source of the sound. Sure, Kirishima was worried about an intruder, but when he saw Bakugou begin to head to the other room, shoulders tense and moving quick and quiet, Kirishima suddenly became more worried for the intruder. Without thinking, he grabbed Bakugou's arm and instantly realized his mistake.

Bakugou slammed him back against the wall so violently that it knocked the air from his lungs and curled a hand around his throat. From over Bakugou's shoulder, Kirishima could see a shock of pink round the corner and stop short with a horrified shriek.

"Holy shit, Ei!"

"Mina, it's okay!" The situation may not have looked ideal, but Kirishima was arguably okay. Bakugou was only applying enough pressure to keep him in place, but Kirishima could still breathe freely and, if needed, he was sure he could've easily swatted the hand away. He thought it was best not to exacerbate the situation at the current moment.

"What the fuck is going on!? Let go of him!"

"Go." As Kirishima said the words, Bakugou's hand tightened more around his neck and he shot his other hand backwards, poised in Mina's direction without looking over his shoulder at her.

"She stays right fucking there," Bakugou snarled, craning his neck to look over in Mina's direction. "You hear that, Pinky? Don't fucking move." Satisfied that Mina wasn't about to run off, Bakugou turned his attention back to Kirishima and it was then Kirishima really did start to worry about exactly how dangerous the human was. "You lied." Kirishima was still in no way incapacitated by Bakugou, faintly registering the words hissed at him, but he remained frozen, focusing on the hand aimed in Mina's direction.

He could feel a heat at his neck, much warmer than when Bakugou grabbed his wrist minutes earlier. The unnatural heat was radiating from Bakugou's palm, forcing an uncomfortable stinging sensation to prickle across his skin as the temperature rose. It wasn't painful, not yet, but it had the potential to be and all Kirishima could focus on was the fact that the other hand, no doubt just as hot, was pointed at his friend.

"Who did you contact?" Kirishima took in a calming breath, forcing his eyes away from Mina to meet the red ones again. "Is she with the Federation?"

"I wanted to surprise them when they got back!"

"Shut the fuck up!" The heat flared well past the sting, a bright burst of pain coating the column of Kirishima's neck when Bakugou yelled, dulling out into a steady burn just as quickly as it came.

"She's a friend. Bakugou, she's a friend." He hissed when the fingers flexed against the fresh burn, Mina's muffled whimpers echoing in the room while Bakugou digested the words. "She has access to our apartment," Kirishima went on to explain, wincing against the pain, "I didn't know she was here. I promise you."

"Why are you here?" Bakugou growled, looking over his shoulder again. Mina's wide eyes bounced back and forth between the human and Kirishima, narrowing into a glare when Kirishima winced in pain again.

"They were gone for like two weeks!" She pointed back to the doorway she came from, her trembling hand shattering the brave face she had put on. "I got back early and did some shopping for them! I wasn't expecting Eiji to bring home a… a monster!" There was another flare-up and for a horrifying moment, Kirishima tried to figure out if he was truly smelling burnt skin or if his mind was playing tricks on him. Normally he'd love his friend's fierce tenacity, how she managed to stick to her guns even in the face of danger, but with all due respect, she wasn't the one with a white-hot hand wrapped around her throat.

"I'm not turning you in, Bakugou," Kirishima said as convincingly as he could with the flesh of his neck literally burning under the human's touch, trying to pull his attention away from the feisty woman.

"I'm not a monster," Bakugou bit out and Kirishima had to fight back the nagging thought that it was weird that those words were something Bakugou latched onto.

"I know." He nodded even with the hand around his neck and Bakugou's breathing stuttered a bit, just a quiet hitch catching in his throat.

"And I'm not going back to Earth," he leaned in closer, punctuating the words by squeezing Kirishima's throat with a hand back to normal temperature, "I'm not." He shoved Kirishima back roughly and stepped away from him, stepping even further away when Mina threw caution to the wind and rushed over.

"Are you okay?" She fretted around Kirishima's neck, holding shaking fingers up to the blistered skin but not touching. "You could've killed him!"

"Mina—"

"That was the point."

"Bakug—"

"Who even are you!?"

"None of your fucking business!"

"Can you both just stop for one second!?" Kirishima was startled by his own yelling but chased the guilt away. Here he was with a well-done neck courtesy of the human he saved and said human and one of his closest friends were arguing like children. "Mina," he took a steadying breath, smiling at his friend's worried face, thumbing away a tear even as she scoffed, "Hey."

"Don't 'hey' me, Kirishima! You have so much explaining to do right now! He—" Mina stopped herself, turning to face Bakugou standing off to the side. "You're a human, aren't you? Where the hell did you find a human, Ei, and why did you bring him here?"

"He was hurt on Alduous," Kirishima said simply, purposely avoiding looking at the expression Mina was giving him. "I wanted to get him back to Earth, he doesn't want to go back to Earth, so now we're just… trying to figure something out?"

"Ei, honey," Mina pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, "I love you, but you are so infuriatingly stupid sometimes. You can't - you can't - just adopt a human like some kind of pet!"

"I'm not!"

"He's dangerous!"

"He's not!"

"He broiled your fucking neck, dude!" Kirishima gingerly raised a hand to his neck, resting his palm over his collarbones instead of touching the raw skin, and maybe felt just a little stupid at the words that had just come out of his mouth. He eyed Bakugou unsurely, not missing the way the human's locked onto the damaged skin before jumping back to his face.

"He just…" Kirishima trailed off, studying Bakugou's face, trying to find any ounce of remorse or something in his expression, but came up empty. "We're working on it," he decided on, giving Bakugou a short nod. "You can't tell anyone, okay? Denki only knows because he was there, but we're - I'm - trying to keep everyone out of it. So you should go." Mina balked, adamantly shaking her head.

"I'm not leaving you with him!" The ache in his neck sent a message to his brain screaming that Mina was probably right. He wanted to defend Bakugou as he had done over and over, but it was getting harder to do so. The reality of it was Kirishima had already put his own safety on the line, he wasn't going to gamble with Mina's. She had to stay away for her own protection; he wouldn't budge on that.

"Mina," Kirishima said firmly, gently holding either side of her arms and giving them a reassuring squeeze, "I need you to go. I'll send you a message every hour, every half hour, every fifteen minutes, whatever you want, but I need you to go. I'm serious." He could tell Mina wanted to object to his request, but at his quiet, begging "Please," she knew she wasn't going to win.

"Every hour," Mina said, her voice wobbling at the end, "Or more, but every hour at least, okay?" Black and gold eyes shifted to Bakugou's form, glaring despite the sheen of tears. "Or I will contact the Federation. I don't care what you do to me, if I don't hear from him, I'll talk." The human rolled his eyes at the threat and Kirishima felt like he would've laughed if the situations were different. Mina was dead serious, he knew that, and the thought alone caused a fond bubble of pride to swell in his chest. He truly was lucky to have such amazing friends and it made pushing them away that much harder.

They parted with a hug that felt too short, Mina forcing Kirishima to promise over and over that he'd message her before she finally left. When she did, Kirishima was left staring at the closed door for minutes, trying to breathe through the heavy tension that still flooded the air. Gathering up all of his remaining courage and scrambling to find energy left in him, Kirishima turned around to face Bakugou.

"You can't do that," he said quietly, but he stared at the human with an unwavering and serious look despite the exhaustion. "You can do whatever you want to me if you feel scared or unsafe or mad or whatever the hell you have going through your head right now, but you cannot ever threaten my friends like that again, Bakugou." Bakugou returned the glare, just as venomous and bristled at the mention of him feeling threatened, but Kirishima refused to look away. "I'm going to help you, but you do that again and I will be the one contacting the Federation."

"You'd go to jail."

"I don't care. If it means keeping my friends safe, I'll even take a death penalty." Bakugou let go of his glare momentarily, backing down enough for Kirishima to get the upperhand in the situation. He curled his lip into a sneer, attempting to call the bluff that wasn't there, and Kirishima shook his head stubbornly. "Do you understand me?" Bakugou muttered out a curse in his own language and backed down completely.

"Fine."