Hitoshi sighs and gets up from the couch. The ship is silent but for the low thrum and occasional creak.
The silence would have once been oppressing if it wasn't needed respite from everything, a small pause where he can sit and just breathe. He missed talking to people, but being in the same room with four other aliens that actually interacted with him had been a lot more overwhelming than he imagined.
Even now, Shinsou feels like there's too much happening. There's so much to see here—even after looking through each room, he always finds something new he didn't notice—something scribbled on the side of a panel, what looked like Lamp or Engine's toy shoved and forgotten behind a shelf to gather dust, or small knick-knacks tied to the various storage bins and equipment strapped to the walls and ceiling. It's fun, it's exciting, and not even in a bad, dangerous way.
He's already mapped out the ship the first two times, with its odd twists and turns that lead to wide open rooms, tip-toeing throughout and poking his head inside the rooms unknown to him, taking note of where they lead and where they're connected. He skirts nervously around the aliens' bedroom, remembering Hizashi's spouse's warning.
His feet lead him to the kitchen. He looks at the floor before he passes by the windows he knows lines this hallway. He would have stayed in the room with the sandbox until Hizashi woke up—he missed the sun, the warm light heating his skin and turning the inside of his eyelids red, and he yearns for even a mimicry of it—but he doesn't know how to open the lights and he doesn't dare touch any the buttons near the door, unwilling to accidentally set the ship on fire. He had been explicitly told he's free to roam the ship and go in every room, as long as the rooms open for him when he hovers his hand over each door panel. From his understanding, he's been barred from the pilot area, the medical scanner and another room that holds motors or whatever from what he understood.
He's almost sure he could force the doors open, but Hitoshi doesn't plan on losing his newfound freedom any time soon.
He's curious though, and he's always been good at not getting caught. He stays clear of the futuristic looking machines lining the walls, but the cupboards are fair game. Probably.
There are placards with bright embossed symbols Hitoshi can't decipher stuck to each door. He hadn't dared touch them before, but in the moment, emboldened by the ship's stillness and the thing gnawing at his stomach, he goes to feel the raised symbols and almost screams when it vibrates under his fingers, snatching his hand away like he just touched a burning stove.
It stops vibrating as suddenly as it started. With his heart still pounding in his chest, Hitoshi, who's been told times and times again that he's too dumb for a lesson to stick, reaches out and touches the symbol again. There's a pattern to it, two quick buzzes and a slower one afterward.
Do the other ones do the same thing? Hitoshi presses another symbol, legs bent like springs to jump away if something happens. The pattern is different, and so is every other placard.
Hitoshi furtively looks around. He can't hear anyone—not that that means anything—and unless they have hidden cameras, nobody will know if he places everything back in its place. A look at the weird watch he's been given tells him he still has a good hour before Hizashi and his spouse wake up.
Besides, this isn't the pilot area. He saw Hizashi's husband open one of the cupboards to take out food.
Even if he gets caught, what are they going to do?
With that in mind, Hitoshi undoes the magnetic latch holding the cabinet door closed and swings it open, prepared for tubes filled with coloured liquids or weird creatures encapsulated in glass jars.
It's nothing like that. Racks of pouches line the inside shelves, all stacked by colour. There's more symbols, similar to the meal bags on the escape shuttle.
Encouraged by the discovery, Hitoshi opens the other cabinets. It's all food he can't recognize but is familiar enough to try and classify into grain, fruit, or various sized foil bags. Hitoshi is kind of hungry, but he can't see anything that looks like the meal bags he can hold on until Hizashi wakes up, and even if he did, taking one without Hizashi's or his husband's approval, having them find the discarded foil, it makes him break into anxious sweat.
Even then, with everything screaming at him about the risk, he eyes the pouch cabinet. There're so many, no one will notice if he only takes one, right?
(Hitoshi knows Hizashi would give him something to eat if he asked, but he's moving on instinct and learned experiences, and those urged him to take and apologize later, because asking would just make Hizashi suspicious about missing food afterward.)
The pouch flops in his hand, something sloshing inside. Juice, then. Juice is good. No one cares about juice unless it's the healthy, fancy kind. He slides the pouch under his clothes, where it's held by the makeshift belt, pulling the bandage tight so the juice pouch doesn't accidentally fall.
He wants another bath. The water had felt so nice, and he had been so warm and clean afterward. He doesn't know if he's allowed though. What if he uses all of the water? They're in the middle of space, where do they even get it from?
He has to put the juice back. But no matter how much it stresses him out, his hands move by themselves to tighten the makeshift belt. He's stronger than anyone here, and besides, Hizashi told him they were heroes. They wouldn't hurt him for something so trivial. They wouldn't, Hitoshi has to believe that. Heroes don't do that.
Heroes put killers behind bars.
He closes the cabinet door a bit too hard, jumping when it clangs. Hitoshi hurries toward the living room, picking the corner of his band-aid until it barely sticks to his skin. Plopping himself on the backless couch, Hitoshi forces himself to take deep breaths, smoothing out the bandage so it lays flat on his neck.
Hitoshi isn't a killer. Well, he killed, but he isn't a killer killer. He's almost certain he can't be completely held responsible for that, not when he was forced to end fights and put people out of their misery. Will they recognize that? His hands are covered in blood, intentions be damned. He doesn't want to be locked up again.
There are some aliens that haunt his dreams—all his victims do, but some reappear more often than others—that he could have saved if he had tried harder. If he had resisted more, if he had actually fought against his captors—he'd been so stupid, the lightning stick is nothing compared to what he's experiencing right now—would he have been able to save more people?
(He resolutely ignores the inconsistency and the shady way everything has been handled. Shouldn't he be handed over to, he doesn't know, the space police so he can give a report? Hitoshi knows enough not to air his suspicions, not when he's in the middle of nowhere with no way out. He's treated well enough, and that's all that matters.)
Hitoshi hunches over, pressing his hands hard against his eyes. It's fine. Everything is fine. He'll ask to be dropped at the nearest—the nearest planet, or something, and he'll find a way to… deal with all of this. That's all. No use thinking about it now.
He drags his hands down, pulling at the skin until his face hurts a little, before standing back up. Splashing his face helps him gain back control over himself. The embroidered image of Lamp and Engine stares back at him where a mirror would usually hang.
He wishes he could play with them to take his mind off his fights, but Hizashi's spouse took Lamp and Engine with him, giving him a warning look before heading to bed. Forty-five minutes left until they wake up.
Hitoshi takes the opportunity to use the toilet, if it can even be called that, with a slight grimace. He has to crouch weirdly and when it flushes, it startles him even if he expects it. The noise is so loud and sudden that he can hear it over his broken ears, and even the floor vibrates slightly.
Hitoshi heads back to the living room. There's stuff Hizashi left so he can entertain himself, but he doesn't want to waste the thrill of discovery when he already got to greed the ship, so he lays on his side and waits for the others to wake.
Shinsou greets them with a wave of his upper limb. His front is slightly damp, with two hand prints wetting his clothes side.
Hizashi preens when Shinsou notices his new—albeit ruffled—feathers, the way he's almost completely covered by them and his jewelry. He shakes his limbs lightly, to show off how his bracelets shine and glint under the lights.
Shouta stretches at his side, mouth wide open with his tongue curling at the tip. Surprisingly, Shinsou yawns in response, flashing his own teeth and scrunching up his face. Hizashi shares a look with his bondmate; contagious yawning usually happens in social species. Humans really do have packs then. It's not that he's still in denial about it, not when he has a live example of a Human, Shinsou, in a pack, him, but a small part of him thought it was a Shinsou-only phenomenon. Perhaps an anomaly or an atypical presentation. The contagious yawning proves revolutions of evolutionary development.
Shinsou takes his place on Hizashi's side when he finds that none of the mèos have followed them out of their resting quarters. Hizashi's flanked on both sides when he starts heading for the scullery, his mate and Shinsou following him closely. Warm skin slithers along his back, sneaking under his wing until he's held against Shouta's side by his scarf. None of them are in the mood to actually cook something—Shinsou more out of incapacity than anything—so Hizashi inputs a familiar first meal for himself and Shouta. He shows Shinsou how to scroll through the meals slowly so his friend can choose what he wants to eat, skipping over dishes that taste like those Iodahc he'eècs he disliked.
The Human points at what he wants with the tip of one of his digits. Hizashi whistles in amusement at his mate's still squinted eyes, inputting Shinsou's meal with a wing while he pushes Shouta's fur out of his face. Shouta had been planning on checking the cams when they wake, but his plan had quickly been forgotten when he had been confronted with the reality of having to leave a warm nest, sleep clinging to his fur. Hizashi turns toward Shinsou since he's the only other person capable of conversation right now. "You didn't get too bored?"
Shinsou shakes his head from side to side. "I walk. I look around." He pauses, and when all Hizashi does is warble encouragingly, he adds, "You have a nice ship."
Hizashi whistles a thanks-grateful-happy at the compliment. Their ship is heavily modded, the result of revolutions of cumulative effort. It isn't the brightest nor newest model, but his ship got them out of many sticky situations and is very reliable.
They eat, Shinsou scarfing down the soup he chose and washing it down with water. He stares at Hizashi and Shouta's own meals unblinking, tongue passing over his teeth, but when Hizashi offers to make him something else, he denies being hungry.
When they've put their plates in the washer and their teeth have been brushed, Hizashi brings Shinsou to the pilot area, sitting him down on an ill-fitting jump seat.
"Okay, so first lesson is how to suit up." Hizashi pulls out a harness, holding it up to Shinsou's torso, before discarding it and picking out another. "Me and Shouta have personalized ones"—he showcases his, placing the case over his sternum and putting in his bionics. Straps shoot out, wrapping around his waist, wings and back limbs, clicking into place—"but you're going to have to learn how to put one yourself until you get one of these."
Instead of paying attention, Shinsou stares at the automatic harness in wonder while Hizashi shows him how to pull the straps and place the pieces of reinforced nets. "Usually, you put that over an actual space suit, but it's easier to learn how to do this part without the whole thing getting in the way. Plus, we don't have one for you right now, which isn't that great, but we're going to pass by a trading center soon to fix that."
Hizashi's old flight instructors would have had an aneurysm if they knew he let Shinsou onto a spaceship before he even got a fitted suit, but it's not like they got a choice.
Once Hizashi's pretty sure the harness won't accidentally kill Shinsou instead of keeping him in his seat in the event of an accident and Shouta double checks his work, Hizashi clips the nets into position and starts taking it off Shinsou. "Try to put it on yourself. You don't have to go fast, just try to get it right."
While Hizashi coaches Shinsou through how to avoid getting tangled with little success, Shouta plans their route. They're going to stay idle for a few cycles—their own cycle, not Shinsou's cycle—and then it's off to the stars. Toshinori will protest their decision, but it's never a good idea to stay in the same place for too long, even less when the ISC from this region is going to be on high alert because of the fight ring.
When Shinsou manages to put on the harness three times in a row adequately without any help, Hizashi shows him how to attach himself to the jump seat. He goes to explain how the hydraulic restraints work, their safeguards, and why Shinsou won't get propelled everywhere even if the entire ship, the backup generator and the backup's backup generator fails, but Shinsou's weak grasp on the language prevents him from appreciating any of the security features built into the ship.
Shouta's finishes planning their route as Hizashi is making Shinsou try to suit up and tie himself to the chair as fast as possible, brushing their tails together while his mate helps him adjust the jump seat. There's now a bigger back rest, with sides where Shinsou's head will be kept in position to protect his neck.
When Shinsou starts slowing down and making mistakes, Hizashi calls for a break, making him keep the harness on. It's better he gets used to it now, although Hizashi thinks he'll have an easier time since he already has garments. He took off his own harness a while ago; he's done his time, and while he can endure it for cycles on end, he's rather not make himself uncomfortable for no reason. Shouta helps him move his feathers back from where they've been displaced while Shinsou sits on the modded chair.
Shinsou's relaxed pose doesn't last. Before long, one of his lower limbs starts shaking up and down, and he starts tugging at his garments, smoothing out the bunched up textile around the straps. It's when one upper limb starts creeping toward the back of his neck that Hizashi decides to intervene.
"What's it like, on your planet?"
And okay, maybe his question isn't entirely selfless and out of the goodness of his heart. It's not everyday Hizashi gets to interact with a non-hostile Human in a non-life-threatening scenario. Every report he's pirated has been so blacked out that all he can get out of them is that Humans exist, and a lot of what he knows from rumours have turned out to be false or a warped version of the truth. And when they were captive, Hizashi spent more time worrying that he was going to get killed as soon as Shinsou died to ask questions about whether Humans really lived in caves.
Shinsou takes a moment to think over his answer. Hizashi catches himself leaning in anticipation. What kind of tales will he spin? The fledgling part of him imagines battles with monstrous beasts, last second reversals, escaping death's reach by the tip of his primaries. Oh, the stories Shinsou could weave! Even Shouta's interested, ears perked up.
Hizashi holds his breath when Shinsou finally moves, lifting both of his shoulders to hide his neck. "I don't know. A little boring."
Hizashi stares incredulously at him. "What do you mean boring? What about the ferocious animals that can kill in a single bite? The plants that burn anyone who touches them? The huge water walls that raze everything in their path?"
He ignores the amused churr behind him. Shouta is curious too, he has no right to make fun of Hizashi.
"Oh. Fe-ro-ci-ous animals do not live where I live. Sorry. But I have water walls!" Hitoshi quickly adds when Hizashi's feathers drop in disappointment. "The ground shake a lot, because the ground under the ground move, and then the water makes a big—" Hitoshi says a word in his language, upper limbs held wide to emphasize the size of the water wall. "It's called a—" he says another human word, sounding it slowly. "I never see one, but when I am little, a water wall happen near me."
Hizashi can't believe the casual way Shinsou says it, like it's nothing, an every cycle occurrence. Hizashi wonders how the water walls and the ground shaking affects Humans.
When he asks him if he moved a lot because of it, Shinsou's previously enthusiastic expression—Hizashi should get him to talk about his home more often, getting him to talk about his planet's weather made him relax—shuts down. Hizashi doesn't know what he said, but he obviously stumbled onto a sore point. He doesn't step back when he's nudged behind by a worried Shouta, but he changes the subject.
"If you can put on the harness and clip yourself to the seat in less than"—Hizashi does a quick calculation—"two 'minutes', I'll show you some stuff from the front."
Shinsou isn't as animated as before, but he goes through the motions without that closed off expression. Hizashi congratulates him with a thrill and a shoulder bump, discreetly motioning to Shouta to reset the timer so Shinsou doesn't see that he went a few clicks over the time limit.
Hizashi and his mate show Shinsou how to engage the autopilot. It's supposed to be easy, but Shinsou constantly gets distracted by the occasional flashing lights and Engine's clicking. Hizashi doesn't understand how he managed to get the escape pod going under pressure and half dazed.
His bondmate takes over Hizashi when he starts struggling to explain the honestly very simple steps. Shinsou and Shouta are awkward and wary, but his bondmate quickly falls into a teacher mindset, and as Shouta keeps his gestures steady even as Shinsou messes up, he starts relaxing, dedicating his effort to the task at hand instead of watching Shouta's every move.
Shouta's stern but not overly harsh tone makes Hizashi want to croon. If his bondmate had made teaching his career, Hizashi would have been in class all the time. Whether he would have actually listened to the class material or spent entire tones admiring his mate on that front podium doesn't matter, he wouldn't have a single absence under his name.
(There's a slight bitterness to it all. The moment Shouta chose to follow after Hizashi, he left any chance of him becoming a pilot instructor. His mate's textbooks were left on the corner of their table when they ran away, one tome still open to where Shouta had been reading at the time. Hizashi sometimes wonders what they did with all of their stuff.)
When they're done, they go take a break in the sunroom. Shinsou studies him intensely the entire time, almost breaking all the progress he made with Shouta until Hizashi realizes after a bit of prodding that his friend wants to use the room when they're asleep but is too shy to ask. And isn't that surprising? A Deathworlder, shy.
Hizashi accepts of course. Shinsou saved his life, the least he can do is give him access to his sunroom.
He's gently woken up for meal time, centuries of companionship recognizing Shouta's low rumble keeping him from instinctively lashing out. Warm skin rubs circles around his beak, making him croon at the touch.
"Shinsou is hungry."
He almost knocks Shouta's face with his own when he sits up. "He told you?"
Hizashi has known Shinsou for longer and his friend doesn't tell him stuff like that. Shouta lets his head fall forward until their brows touch. "No. I heard his stomach growling."
Hizashi laughs, the whistle attracting Shinsou's attention. That's a good sign for his hearing. His healing is faster than usual; maybe Humans' really are accelerated.
"What were you both up to when I was out?"
Shinsou holds up his open palm, showing a small clicker. "Shouta show me words in Standard."
Carefully, Shinsou repeats what he signed in Standard, slowly clicking and rolling the wheel to produce a faster tapping sound, the light underneath flashing in tandem. He beams when Shouta confirms he did well, turning to Hizashi and missing his bondmate's scarf pleased undulation.
"That's great, listener!" Hizashi pats his upper limb, repressing a laugh at the way Shinsou is trying to keep his happiness contained. Hizashi bares his teeth to share his friend's delight and is rewarded by a quick sliver of teeth from Shinsou.
Shouta doesn't even tense. He still picks up Engine—Lamp's still hiding from the ship newcomer—when Shinsou comes too close to her though. Small steps.
Eating together is very enjoyable now that they're all awake and not about to jump at each other's throat. An actually cooked meal would be an improvement, but the replicated food is wingspans better than that bland gritty stuff they were served during their imprisonment so he doesn't complain.
Even when he tries to prevent it, Shouta manages to sneak ripe pieces of fruit and tender cuts of meat into his plate. It takes Hizashi longer to realize what his bondmate is doing because the amount of food on his plate remains the same, until he catches him stealing a lesser piece and exchanging it for a better one when he thinks Hizashi is distracted.
Shinsou follows their interaction, tugged between the need to show his teeth or avert his eyes. His friend's plate has barely been touched, and Hizashi would have commented on it if he knew offering other food would have worked. As far as he knows, Shinsou will refuse anything in favour of finishing his meal, even if he dislikes it.
Hizashi and Shouta are done before Shinsou's even started on his second half, still painstakingly chewing.
"I'm going to check on the engines," Shouta says suddenly. He stiffly walks away, signing behind Shinsou's back, "I'm not in pack. He'll eat easier."
Hizashi flares his feathers gratefully. He doesn't kid himself in pretending Shouta isn't going to stay in the room over, padd in hand so he can check on them, but he appreciates the gesture all the same. At this point, Hizashi isn't sure if the clinginess of his mate is because of Shinsou's presence or if it's because of his capture. Even in their nest, Hizashi is held close, his bondmate's scarf a constant point of contact.
Shinsou looks at the kept-open door. "You are not going with him?"
Hizashi hesitates. Even after all those cycles spent with him, it's difficult to read Shinsou. There are no feathers to examine, nor tail that flick in discontentment. Only weird grimaces that he can barely tell apart, and that's when he remembers to look at Shinsou's face.
He doesn't know what answer will put Shinsou more at ease, which forces him to ask directly, "Do you want me to stay?"
Shinsou's eyes go all squinty, which could either mean he's pissed off or he's thinking of his answer. "Go with Shouta. I eat alone."
Hizashi's pretty sure that's a dismissal if he ever heard one. He gets up, stretch to give Shinsou time to rethink his decision. Shinsou doesn't say anything, curling over his plate.
"Tap this button if there's an emergency, okay?"
Shinsou takes the small comm device, examining it carefully before shaking his head.
Perhaps Humans don't actually eat together then. What they had, Hizashi and him, were the results of extenuating conditions. He'll give it two cycles or three, just in case it's a cultural thing where he's actually supposed to insist or Shinsou is simply not in the mood for company right now.
Shouta doesn't even try to hide that he's looking at the surveillance cameras. Hizashi hides the screen with his head, tilting up so he can look at his bondame. "You really have no shame."
"Hmm." Hizashi squawks when Shouta pushes him out of the way, but he settles down when he's moved until his bondmate can rest his chin over his head. "He stole one of my jelly pouches."
"Huh. Do you think Humans have food hoards? If he's taken a liking to your jelly pouches, I should give it all to him. " He laughs when a small hiss starts up behind him, the sound reverberating through his back. "Hey, that tickles!"
"It was my favourite flavour."
Hizashi pats his bondmate's head in response to his pouting while he messages the others about their departure. He doesn't give any specifics; it's too risky to share any coords, and Hizashi doesn't even tell them the exact date they're going to warp. The danger of someone intercepting their communication far outweighs the cons of keeping his friends in the dark.
Hizashi isn't used to this much downtime. They have Shinsou to teach, but even then, most of Hizashi's cycle is spent sleeping or eating.
He'd talked to Shinsou about the stolen jelly pouch, even if Shouta had wanted to confront him himself. Learning and helping with boundaries, that's the type of stuff pack is for, right? At least, that had been Hizashi's flock's role. He remembers how ashamed he had been as a fledgling when he'd been reprimanded by an outsider.
When he'd broached the subject, as casually as he could, Shinsou had tensed up anyway, upper limbs coming up to cross across his chest. Hizashi had quickly offered other snacks Shinsou was welcome to take, food that didn't belong to Shouta or him.
Shinsou had looked downright confused when Hizashi had explained that while they would never discourage any of his human needs or cultural practices, it's best to talk about it with one of them so they can accommodate him without infringing on each other's territories. He's pretty certain he had overexplained the concept, since he'd been uncertain if Shinsou, with his revolutions of living on a Deathworld, could understandd that stealing is unnecessary, and if it weren't for Shinsou being super apologetic about it—the only way Hizashi had gotten him to stop was by shoving a quarter bag filled with various non-perishable that could be eaten straight out of their packaging into his grasp, and he's pretty sure it was the shock more than anything that shut him up—Hizashi would have been unsure about whether or not he had gotten his point across.
Disregarding that, it's been a smooth sail since. Shinsou can now strap himself in under the required amount of click, could probably engage autopilot in his sleep and he knows the procedure for various small emergencies. It's enough for Hizashi and Shouta to risk disengaging out of idle to start their route.
Hizashi can't help the loud whistling laugh when Shinsou grips the side of his seat in alarm when the ship starts accelerating, the heart squeezing moment when it reaches its peak and their body feel like they'll never unstick from their seat before everything seems to drop down into a fast nauseous swoop, the entire ship finally stops rumbling around them to mark the successful start of a warp.
He swallows down while unclipping out of his seat, the rush unpleasantly making him want to shake his wings. Despite experiencing drops and flips when he flies, not having any control or any external cues when it happens in a warp makes the experience unenjoyable. "What did you think of that?"
Shinsou shakily wipes drool off the side of his mouth. When he stands, he wobbles and shakes his head as if to rearrange his brain. "It is different from the holovid you show me," he signs accusingly, yet there's his teeth-baring human smile stretching his face. "Similar to something on Dirt."
Shouta stops fiddling with the controls, his ears tilting toward Shinsou. Humans aren't supposed to have achieved space warp yet, that's the one thing they're certain about Humans. After stumbling upon the fact that Shinsou apparently used to reside in a territory with millions of Humans, which necessitates a higher degree of cooperation and technical advancement than what was previously thought possible. They aren't even all packbonded, and according to Shinsou, his living situation is common. Hizashi has stopped looking for any information pertaining to his friend that isn't coming directly out of Shinsou.
If they can already build warp drives, the ISC have to be warned so they can make an intergalactic announcement and send several representatives to establish alliances. Shinsou will be able to return to his planet.
Shouta checks on his mèos, freeing them from their holding cage. As soon as she's out of her small harness, Lamp quickly darts away, Engine on her tail. Hizashi watches them go enviously. Lucky bastards, with their genetically manipulated ability to withstand warps and jumps. "What do you mean 'similar'?"
Shinsou reaches for Hizashi's padd, drawing a big squiggly shape, almost like sand dunes, if sand dunes had a loop in the middle. There's a small rectangle illustrated in the beginning of one end, with what Shinsou had called branch Humans behind it. "It is a big machine, and you go in small seats with harness, and then it goes fast."
"What is its purpose?" Shouta's glaring at the picture like he'll be able to intimidate more information out of the drawing. It's very much undermined by the fact that he still looks woozy from the jump.
"Uh. Amusement?"
"For fun? Humans do this for fun?" Hizashi stares at the drawing. "Are you sure it's not a hidden training facility? To send people up in space?"
"I… no?"
Shouta mutters something in his language, too high-pitched for Hizashi to catch. He then signs, "At least we know we can charge Humans for warps if the whole"—Hizashi tenses, prepared for his lie to be exposed, but his bondmate only makes his scarf gestures at the entire cabin—"doesn't work out."
After Hizashi and his bondmate checks that the ship didn't get damaged by entering the warp, taking the time to explain to Shinsou what they're doing—Hizashi's mind is still reeling from the newfound knowledge that Humans voluntarily subject themselves to anything akin to a warp—they go prepare their meal. Hizashi has the time and energy to actually make something this cycle. He starts cutting some roots from a planet in the next quadrant from his own, Shouta helping him out on the side by starting out the sauce. He makes Shinsou hydrate packaged meat so he can practice using the rehydrator.
"It's one of my flock members' recipes, way better than the replicated one. When Shouta got added, they changed it just for him since he can't eat some of the spices you would traditionally find in here."
The underside of Shouta's scarf flushed slightly at the reminder, even now.
"But…" Shinsou hesitates, looking between Hizashi or Shouta, "you replicate a lot of the ingredients?"
"So the replicated dish should taste the same, right?" Hizashi finishes Shinsou's thought. "That would totally be the logical conclusion, but it really does taste different, I swear! The replicated spices don't taste the same as the homegrown one, and you have to use rehydrated meat for this, the texture plays a really important role, and it doesn't seem to hold the sauce as well as when it's freshly cooked, which helps not overwhelm your taste buds. It's also 'cuz it's always the same when it's replicated, ya know? Like maybe you would get more char on a cut of meat in some places, a bite more flavourful than the other, but with replicated meals, it's always too well mixed up."
"There are several mods that allow for a more randomized element, but at that point, might as well cook it yourself," Shouta adds. "Good for morale too."
Shinsou turns the new information over while he tries to pull the nozzle off. By then, Hizashi has finished cutting the various roots and stems, and tossed it all together. Thankfully, Shinsou seems to be eating easier for this meal. Hizashi and Shouta had to leave the room a few times during the last cycles.
It's an easy meal, and Shinsou even does his hacking laugh at one of Shouta's comments.
They wave goodnight at each other, and when the door closes, Hizashi flops into his nest with his wings spread out, letting out a lilting chirp to tease his bondmate when Shouta takes too long. Shouta huffs, but he lowers to the ground, tail slowly wagging behind, his scarf commanded under stillness. Hizashi braces his lower limbs, and when his mate pounces on him, he keeps the momentum and continues the roll, ending up on top before a loop of scarf pulls him down again.
They wrestle like they're fledglings again, rolling and nipping, until they're both out of breath. Hizashi's pretty sure Shouta is more gentle than usual, but that just means he'll get an easy victory.
"I win," Shouta declares.
"What?" Hizashi pats his side with a laugh to remind him of who's on top. "In what world?"
A sly quirk of the lips, a flash of teeth. "You're pinning me, so I win."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever helps you sleep." Hizashi lets himself fall on Shouta, nuzzling him before settling down in between fur and bands of scarf. He bats at his bondmate's scarf end, until Shouta sends it out to dim the lights. "You're such a sap."
They settle into their cot, the inside toasty from the internal heat mat. No one speaks for long clicks, content to lay silent. Hizashi checks to see if Shouta's awake. Two red eyes slowly blink back at him. "Tomorrow, with you?"
It brings forward the intended reaction. Shouta's scarf tightens around him until he's pressed against a rumbling chest. Hizashi feels his mate reply under his purr's vibration
When Hizashi is woken up from another nightmare, he doesn't tell Shouta that he dreamt of his bondmate's teeth closing around his throat.
Hizashi gets up to head to the washroom, briefly closing his eyes when pitter-pattering steps quickly follow after him, whatever Shinsou had been doing dropped in favour of sticking close to him.
Is this a pack bond thing? No flock member does this, apart from hatchlings, but even they aren't this persistent. It's starting to grate on Shouta's nerves too, but Hizashi's bondmate is a hypocrite because he's also following Hizashi from room to room.
Thankfully, they're about to touch down on a trading outpost, where they'll all hopefully get some fresh air and space to stretch their wings.
They don't need a shipsitter and no one in their three people crew is willing to stay behind, so they pack all their valuables and sentimentals into Hizashi's resting quarters; that part of the ship is detachable, and in the advent of a thief getting away with their ship without the codes, the room will isolate and detach from the rest of the ship, which will self-destruct—useful but non-intended result of having a center room disappear in the middle of takeoff.
Shinsou loses some of his colour when Hizashi explains why they're moving some supplies, looking in Hizashi's nest's direction as if it will suddenly fly away if he takes his eyes off it. He doesn't look reassured when Hizashi tells him no one will want to steal their ship when there are shinier ones all around—he doesn't mention the small logo printed on the underside, well hidden when traveling, but unmissable when docked and grounded, spelling death and more to anyone daring enough to touch what's theirs.
Maybe he should have. Shinsou has to find out that they aren't particularly loved by the law at some point. It might have prevented him from packing everything he owns in his food bag and deciding to keep it on him for the trip outside.
A sudden hacking laugh erupts from Shinsou. Hizashi turns to see Shouta, decked out in his usual outfit when they touch ground; a yellow H-straps bag holding his comm, water, food amongst other necessities, with two attachments clipped on the side, where Lamp and Engine are sitting, held from jumping out by their harnesses.
"You are sure they are not your youngs?" The tension in Shinsou's shoulders ease slightly when Shouta hisses at him lightheartedly.
"It's practical." Shouta takes in Shinsou's disguise. "Nice costume."
Shinsou pulls down the cloth tied around his face to show a pulled-out tongue. Shouta's fur only bristles for a click before he huffs in annoyance. He's transferring credits into several burner cards, handing them out so they can all hide the cards around their body.
"Everyone ready?" Shouta twists their tails together in response while Shinsou shakes his head, nervously making sure his disguise is in place. With the cloth hiding the lower half of his face, the goggles, and the cloak pulled up to hide his head fur, no one will suspect he's a Human. "Alright, here we go!"
The transition chamber hisses, light streaming in and blinding Hizashi for a few clicks. The ramp finishes lowering, the light flashing with a small beeping sound to indicate it's safe. Hizashi chirps excitedly, accidentally pulling on Shouta's tail when he runs down the ramp faster than his bondmate expects. It's been so long since he's been outside a ship. The small breeze rustling through his feathers, the massive spacecrafts crowding the open sky, the noise, he's missed it all.
Shinsou's looking around with barely contained amazement, although he stays close, unwilling to stray farther than a few steps away from Hizashi. With the way Shouta keeps their tails intertwined, Hizashi is starting to realize that he'll get even less wing room than on their ship. He resigns himself to the fact that the trip will be spent boxed in between Shouta and Shinsou.
It's a good time to be at this trading post. It isn't too crowded, with enough people milling around for the outpost to give it some life. Open stalls greet them, with their huge flashing signs marketing their low sales and tasty snacks.
With the way Shouta and Shinsou are sticking close to Hizashi, there's no way any of them are getting separated. Hizashi buys some spices from a nice enough trader who sends him some personal recipes, before proceeding toward an electronics stall to buy a memory stick, straying by a small stall so Shouta can pick up enrichment for his mèos, and ending up at a stall so they can buy Shinsou a space suit.
It's not hard to throw together a relatively safe suit made with different parts for Shinsou. Whether any ISC patrol would find it up to code is frankly irrelevant.
Shinsou ends up carrying most of the bags, easily lifting all their purchases. Hizashi finishes haggling with a particularly persistent vendor for a really shiny bracelet that joins the others on his ankle, clinking every time he moves. When he finishes admiring how the light reflects on all his jewelry, he notices how the vendor's antennas are lit up in disapproval. "Tell your companions to calm down. They're making everyone nervous."
Shinsou is hunched over under the cloak with the ends pulled tight. Shouta doesn't look better. His fur is in disarray, ears twitching wildly and his mèos have read his mood because they're both clicking aggressively at anyone that steps too close.
Shouta won't settle until they're off this outpost, away from any perceived danger, so Hizashi only flattens the fur on his shoulder and turns his attention toward Shinsou. "You alright there?"
Shinsou holds his belonging bags close. "Everyone is looking at me."
He isn't entirely wrong. Hizashi is used to people whispering in his and his bondmate's wake, unused to seeing their kind this far from their respective home planets. They're even more curious now, with the way Shinsou doesn't look like any particular species from this quadrant.
"Don't worry about it. It's cuz they're trying to figure out what you are." Shinsou steps closer to put distance between him and someone who's pretending to browse through the neighbouring stall. He doesn't relax, not even when Hizashi rubs his back. "Maybe it's time to cut this short. We got everything?"
Shouta's middle limbs bring his mèos closer when he notices the nosy alien, until they're almost hidden underneath him.
"Okay, got it, we got everything important, let's go back now."
The way to their ship is hurried, both Shouta and Shinsou breathing in relief when the hatch closes off and Shouta sniffs the air for any intruders. Their nervousness is contagious, to the point Hizashi has to consciously unclench his beak until they've launched out of this outpost's artificial gravity.
A/N: Thank you all for your patience. If you find typos or weird grammar, just leave a comment and I'll fix it :) Tell me what you think! I appreciate everyone who has left a review
