It's a Plan(et)

by Caelan94

Midoriya Izuku used to laugh when asked that thought-provoking icebreaker question in middle school: Would you rather be stranded on an island alone or with your worst enemy? He used to imagine being stranded on an island with Kacchan-not being abducted by aliens with Shigaraki Tomura. With Shigaraki yelling in the next cell over, he thinks he might rather be alone.

4. Chapter 4

A/N: Just a reminder that time is measured in "clicks" where one click = one second.

Therefore…

Hectoclick = 100 seconds

Kiloclick = 16 minutes, 40 seconds

Megaclick = 11.6 days

Gigaclick = 31.7 years

Teraclick = 31,700 years

H'zashi struggled to divide his attention between the Terran in his own cell and what was happening in A'zawa's cell, not that there was anything he'd be able to do anything about it, if the blue-furred Terran decided to attack A'zawa.

The green-furred Terran, to H'zashi's surprise, started to introduce himself, and it seemed to be a similar circumstance in A'zawa's cell with the blue-furred Terran, as well.

Except, for some reason, the green-furred Terran must not have liked what he was hearing, as he interrupted the introductions to go argue with the blue-furred Terran some more.

Eventually, H'zashi got it right that the green-furred Terran's name was "Midoriya." It was a pretty smooth sounding name, if not a little boring without any clicks or chirps to break up the syllables. H'zashi learned that the Terran must be at least decently patient, not immediately giving up or flying into a rage when H'zashi did not pronounce his name correctly the first few tries.

When it was H'zashi's turn to introduce himself, he copied the motion of putting his wing against his chest and said his name aloud. When Midoriya did not try to say his name right away, H'zashi just continued to say his name again. He was starting to wonder by the third time he said his name if Terrans are even capable of making the sounds required to say his name correctly, but the Terran finally gave it a shot after the fourth time he said his name and it was correct–the very first time the Terran tried!

Was mimicry a talent that Terrans had? Were they not already terrifying enough?

H'zashi broke himself out of his thoughts to clack his beak in confirmation at Midoriya. Midoriya then bared his teeth at H'zashi.

H'zashi tensed in momentary fear before all of his research on Terra and its inhabitants came rushing back to him.

That's how they smile, he reminded himself. Midoriya is pleased, not angry.

He might not have corrected himself so quickly if he wasn't used to A'zawa's culture; they, too, bared their teeth in pleasure and greeting. It was one of the reasons why thretuils were considered an outcast species among the universe.

It was odd seeing a smile on a face that wasn't A'zawa's.

H'zashi attempted to smile back, hoping that his earlier practice in the mirrors on the space ship back in Terra's solar system when he first learned about their odd ways of smiling and showing pleasure and friendliness had paid off and stuck with him. He hoped that it didn't look as awkward as it felt as he forced himself to bare his teeth at his cellmate against all his instincts that screamed that he was starting a fight.

The Terran–Midoriya–called over to the blue-furred Terran. H'zashi took that moment to see how A'zawa was faring and saw wide, stretched out smiles and wide eyes on both the Terran's and A'zawa's faces.

It looked like the initial greeting was going well. Maybe H'zashi was worrying over nothing.

Midoriya touched the floor and said a word in his Terran language, and H'zashi could have taken flight with how giddy he became that the Terran was willing to share his language with him.

H'zashi repeated the word "floor" until he got it right, and then was momentarily stumped on what exactly the translation into Standard would be.

Was Midoriya asking for the word for "floor" or "metal"? H'zashi took a guess and taught Midoriya the word for "metal" in Standard until he got it right.

Next, Midoriya pointed at his fur and said "green," so H'zashi then taught Midoriya the word for "fur" in Standard.

After that was the word "white" that H'zashi learned was the word for "clothes" in Standard, which is what H'zashi was teaching Midoriya when the blue-furred Terran called a word that H'zashi recognized– Midoriya's name!

The Terrans then coordinated themselves to stretch their lower limbs out into the corridor.

"What do you think they might be doing?" H'zashi asked A'zawa, watching the Terrans curiously.

"I'm not entirely sure," A'zawa said. "I taught my Terran how to say "food," and pointed out that the cart was coming, and this is what he did immediately after."

"Oh, how interesting!"

"He acted like he understood me, but then he goes and does something like this, going so far to drag his companion into it as well. I'm not sure how to read him, yet," A'zawa said, watching the Terran in his cell with guarded eyes.

"We didn't see anything like this during our research on Terra, but maybe they're part of a subspecies that we didn't get a chance to observe that need to be seated to digest food," H'zashi theorized.

"But wouldn't it make more sense that they would need to be lying down if their orientation was important for digestion?" A'zawa questioned, making H'zashi rethink his initial theory.

Soon it became obvious what exactly the Terrans were up to when the dolluns that were in charge of handing out meals were impeded in their progress by the Terrans' lower limbs.

Oh, they're mischievous ones, H'zashi thought to himself, but knew better than to voice his thoughts aloud with the dolluns there, knowing that his giddiness that would leak through in his voice would be sure to start a fight. We might have our hands full with these ones.

"H'zashi?" Midoriya had asked, looking up at him from his place on the floor, against the electrified bars that had no effect on him. H'zashi was once again reminded how effortlessly Midoriya could say his complicated name, but he wasn't quite as startled as the first time. It would surely take some getting used to, though.

Midoriya pointed at the dolluns, and so H'zashi responded with his best guess of what Midoriya was asking: with the species' name.

"Dollun," H'zashi said, and tried to tamper down his glee so it was not so obvious when the dolluns startled.

They startled again, little bug limbs rattling in displeasure when Midoriya said some words in his own language across the hall to the other Terran, but the word "dollun" in Standard was crisp and clear among the unrecognizable words.

They already seemed nervous that the Terran in H'zashi's cell was already saying H'zashi's name, but to be able to nonverbally ask a question and get an answer in response? To easily repeat the word in Standard after just hearing it once and then communicate that to another Terran? Maybe H'zashi was giving the dolluns too much credit, though. That would be an interesting development for one of the scientific species on the planet, but not necessarily the guard species. The dolluns were probably just nervous that they were being discussed by the Terrans at all, especially since neither had received a Universal Translation Device implant.

It really did speak to their intelligence, and H'zashi was fascinated all over again. He wanted the dolluns to leave so he could speak freely with A'zawa about their Terran charges.

While the dolluns tried to figure out what to do about the obstacle in their way, he heard Midoriya say his name again, but Midoriya wasn't looking his way when he looked back down, and his voice didn't have that uptick at the end of his name.

So, not a question this time, then, H'zashi decided as he watched Midoriya talk to the blue-furred Terran, repeating his name multiple times. An introduction?

Soon, there were two Terrans who knew his name, and H'zashi felt more special than terrified. He didn't know what the dolluns' problem was.

Then he heard his partner's name leave the lips of the blue-furred Terran, and his heart sang that they were getting along and communicating. He also felt a twinge of fear, and knew that sometimes instinct could not be suppressed and it would just have to be something that came with time as he was reminded once again of Terrans' talent for mimicry. With the shapes of their mouths and throats, he did not suspect that they would have been able to get the purr of A'zawa's name right, but they did. Oh, but they did.

Midoriya used his smaller appendages at the ends of his upper limbs to point at the blue-furred Terran and repeated a word in his own language that H'zashi understood to be the blue-furred Terran's name.

H'zashi repeated the blue-furred Terran's name, "Shigaraki," and had a great time learning and interacting with the two Terrans as the two dolluns continued to grow more and more panicked in the hallway as they continued to fail to move forward and deliver the meals, growing more and more behind schedule.

Dinner and a show.

"Maybe we can tempt the Terrans away from their spots with their food," one of the dolluns suggested to the other.

"I don't want to be holding their food when they come running at me!"

"Well, I don't either, but what other choice do we have here?!"

It was a decent plan, but the Terrans were not tempted. Not by the food. But, with the dolluns be so close, Shigaraki's face changed. The corners of his mouth turned up just slightly as his body tensed, and A'zawa and H'zashi prepared themselves for whatever Shigaraki was planning to do.

It wasn't anything harmful. Shigaraki just let out a loud bark of a noise and made a quick movement toward the dollun, not even trying to grab the dollun, it didn't seem like. It reminded H'zashi of the childish fun of the kits of A'zawa's species, how the thretuil kits would stalk each other and jump out at each other for play and sport.

The dollun closest to Shigaraki, however, startled so badly that he fell backwards onto his rounded back and flailed around, unable to get back up without assistance, which the other dollun was quick to provide before they both scuttled away from Shigaraki, closely keeping their eyes on Midoriya as well for good measure.

H'zashi tried to hold in his laughter. He really did. But once A'zawa started laughing, he was no match and couldn't hold back any longer, either.

"It's not funny!" one of the dolluns snapped at them. "You would react the same way in our position!"

"Oh, you mean, like outside of the bars instead of locked in here with the Terrans? Sure! Why not? Let's give it a try!" H'zashi offered, splaying his wings out toward the door like he thought they might really fall for it.

The dolluns scowled at them and then turned to each other. "Maybe we should just try pushing the cart over their limbs."

"Not a good idea," A'zawa drawled.

"What would you know about it?" the dolluns asked. They didn't want an answer, but they were going to get one anyway.

"These Terrans are the first two Terrans off of their own planet of Terra," A'zawa informed. "Ever. In the history of the universe. Do you think your superiors would be pleased if you injured them? What if their injuries are bad enough that they need their limbs amputated? What if they can't recover from something like that and they die? Two dolluns killing two Terrans just to get a meal cart through. How do you think that will go over?"

One of the dolluns swore. The other one suggested, "what if we asked the scraks to help us lift the cart over their limbs?"

"The scraks hate to help us with our chores."

"The only two Terrans, though. They can't risk being injured. I don't think they'd have a choice."

The Terrans were talking among themselves, and H'zashi had been keeping an ear on their conversation. He didn't recognize any words they were saying and he didn't hear them saying his or A'zawa's name, but then he froze and turned to stare at them even though staring was rude because he heard their laughter.

He was getting a first-hand witness account of Terran laughter. He could've cried. He didn't think it was possible, and especially not so soon. What were they laughing about after being taken from Terra against their will and locked behind bars?

When the Terrans noticed H'zashi staring (and, after a quick glance over at A'zawa, H'zashi realized that A'zawa was staring, too), their laughter trailed off. H'zashi made a mental note to try not to stare the next time they laughed to see if they would keep going for longer.

"H'zashi?" Midoriya asked when the dolluns came back with the scraks. H'zashi gave Midoriya his immediate attention and found him pointing at the scraks.

H'zashi fought down a trill, so pleased that his cellmate had such a desire to learn. "Scrak," H'zashi informed.

The process from before repeated, with Midoriya informing Shigaraki of what he had learned and the scraks seeming unpleasantly surprised that the Terrans were learning of their species' name and learning to communicate without the help of the Universal Translation Device.

The scrak, known for their single-minded focus, ignored the conversation and just set their minds to the task of lifting the meal cart up and over the Terrans' lower limbs as the Terrans continued their conversation in their own language, seemingly getting more heated as their speech became louder and more pressured, but not nearly to the level as when they first arrived.

The scraks completing their task seemed to have broken the Terrans' argument completely as Shigaraki pulled his lower limbs back into his cell, Midoriya following soon after.

Instead of going right for the meal trays, the Terrans talked some more, and Shigaraki returned the favor of teaching and taught Midoriya the word for "food" in Standard.

The Terrans waited until after H'zashi and A'zawa grabbed their meal trays before grabbing their own. H'zashi would have predicted that they would have grabbed theirs, or even both options, first, seeing how territorial they could be on their home planet. But, these Terrans were also smart and on a different planet. They might not recognize these food options and might not know which tray is for them and if the other meal option for their cellmates is even safe for them to consume, H'zashi rationalized.

The Terrans continued to talk in between bites as they ate, so H'zashi and A'zawa did the same.

"Strange situation we've found ourselves in," A'zawa said.

H'zashi hummed, eyes crinkling in amusement at his partner. "I did warn you that unluck was coming our way."

"You did," A'zawa said. "Good thing the deathworlders we're trapped with are the ones that we've been researching for gigaclicks."

"That does make it easier in some ways," H'zashi said.

"Only some ways?" A'zawa asked, as always knowing what questions to ask.

"I feel like our research of their species in general might cloud my judgment of me getting to know them as individuals," H'zashi explained. "It happens everywhere, and I fear this will be no different. Especially because we have no anecdotal information to compare it to."

"I see," A'zawa said. "It can be said that aldoi and thretuil cannot coexist, for instance, but if someone knows us, they know that it can, in fact, be done."

"Exactly," H'zashi said. "I tensed up earlier when he smiled at me," H'zashi admitted, looking at Midoriya sitting on the floor, eating from his colorful tray. "I should have remembered from our research and been used to it from your species, but I still froze."

"They seem flexible and forgiving, so far," A'zawa noted. "For all the yelling that occurred upon first arrival," he amended with a sheepish grin. "But they even seemed to have worked that out with each other."

"Yes," H'zashi agreed. "I can only hope that any miscommunication mistakes that are made can be fixed instead of acted rashly upon." H'zashi sighed, nervous all of a sudden. "I really like these Terrans so far."

"Are you surprised?" A'zawa asked. "I don't think there's anyone we've met so far that you haven't grown to like, eventually. You always see the good in everyone."

"Well, we haven't met whoever has accused us of forging research documents," H'zashi said. "There's still time!"

Once again, the lovers found themselves laughing while locked inside the research facility that doubled as a prison while trapped in separate cells and having Terrans as their cellmates. Never in a terraclick would H'zashi have predicted this, but oddly enough, he was content.

"Some Terrans are more territorial than others?" A'zawa theorized aloud when Shigaraki refused to give his meal tray back to the dolluns after meal time was over, but Midoriya copied H'zashi in giving back his meal tray easily.

"Get the tray from him!" the dollun commanded.

A'waza blankly stared at the dollun. "Who are you to give me commands? I'm here as a prisoner, in case you forgot. As far as I'm concerned, that Terran is on my team, and you are not. I'm not making enemies with my cellmate. Get it yourself."

The dollun looked between A'zawa and Shigaraki and eventually gave up when the scraks wouldn't even respond to their request for help, advising to just "let the Terran keep his trinket" and "maybe he'll be dumb enough to put it within reach so you can grab it when he's sleeping."

When the lights started to dim to indicate the start of the sleeping period of the cycle, H'zashi about panicked when he saw Midoriya rubbing at his eyes, and was immensely relieved when he stopped to see no visible damage to the Terran's eyes. But, then he started rubbing at his eyes again, and it didn't look gentle! H'zashi flapped his wings and clacked his beak at him to get him to stop, and luckily, Midoriya seemed to abandon the eye-rubbing for talking to Shigaraki instead, to H'zashi's relief.

H'zashi watched as Midoriya and Shigaraki both looked upwards towards the dimming lights and realized that they have no idea what is going on and he has no way of explaining it to them. They must be so confused to be inside but have the lights dim gradually instead of flick on and off suddenly. Midoriya must have thought something was wrong with his eyes, and that's why he became self-destructive with them, but H'zashi is pretty sure that Terran eyes do not regenerate when destroyed, so it is an odd behavior to have, for sure.

"The Terrans have no way of knowing that it's time for sleep," H'zashi said. "We should get an early start to bed to show them!"

A'zawa agreed that it was a good idea, and H'zashi and A'zawa both traversed to their bed-grass boxes.

Luckily, along with their hint, the Terrans must have realized that the dimming lights, even while indoors, meant that it was time to go to sleep, because Shigaraki headed toward the bed-grass boxes. Except, he went straight for the box that A'zawa was in instead of the free one.

"A'zawa!" H'zashi called out. "Uh–I think the territorial Terran has claimed your bed-grass box as his own! You might want to evacuate–!"

It was too late.

Shigaraki had climbed into the bed-grass box with A'zawa. H'zashi and A'zawa froze, both afraid to even breathe too loud in fear of setting off the territorial Terran, who is so territorial that he would not even give his meal tray back to the dolluns. If A'zawa moved and Shigaraki felt that A'zawa was invading his space, it could result in a bloodbath.

A'zawa was obviously forcing himself to be still, even as Shigaraki continued to talk to Midoriya as he snuggled up against A'zawa.

H'zashi wanted to ask A'zawa if it felt like he was being affectionate on purpose, but he was too afraid to make a noise that might set Shigaraki off, because what if he was wrong? What if Shigaraki was not being affectionate despite what it looked like? What if one wrong move, one reminder that A'zawa was there, in Shigaraki's space, would be all it would take for Shigaraki to lash out?

Shigaraki yelled, and H'zashi could have cried if he wasn't frozen in terror. But, instead of attacking A'zawa, Shigaraki leaped out of the bed-grass box, away from A'zawa.

A'zawa, not looking away from Shigaraki for a single second, just in case, whispered, "I think the bed-grass startled him. They probably don't have anything like bed-grass on Terra."

H'zashi let out the breath he was holding and his three wildly beating hearts calmed just slightly as he waited to see what would happen next as Shigaraki continued to yell in his language, communicating with Midoriya but pointing at A'zawa's bed-grass box.

Midoriya walked over to his own (not H'zashi's, thank the stars) bed-grass box and put his hand inside. After a few clicks, he pulled away again and spoke across the hall to Shigaraki in their language, but H'zashi recognized his own and his partner's names.

Shigaraki stormed back over to A'zawa's box, and both lovers were tense, waiting to see what would happen. Shigaraki talked to A'zawa in his own language, even though he must know that A'zawa would not understand. He climbed back into the box, fully knowing that A'zawa was already in there, but he didn't make any obvious gestures that he wanted A'zawa to leave.

In fact, he grabbed A'zawa's limb, and seemingly called out to Midoriya, showing Midoriya his paw for some reason, somehow knowingly or coincidentally pushing in just the right spots to get A'zawa's claws to unsheath. H'zashi held his breath again, hoping that Shigaraki wouldn't see that as a threat, but Shigaraki just dropped A'zawa's paw and once again snuggled up to A'zawa's chest, squirming for a click before seeming to get comfortable and finally stilling.

"Oh my stars," H'zashi whispered to himself when everything seemed to have settled down.

And if he thought Shigaraki was scary, every time he looked to see if Midoriya had gone to his bed-grass box, he found reflective green eyes, still wide open and awake, looking around as if categorizing every iota of everything he could see. H'zashi had to wonder how much he could see in the dark and how much sleep Terrans actually needed.

He made a mental note to discuss with A'zawa when they awoke… if they both survived the sleep portion of the cycle.

"My Terran didn't sleep all night!" H'zashi reported the next morning, when it was finally safe to do so. Or, well, safe enough, H'zashi figured, once Shigaraki had woken up and moved away from A'zawa.

Oh, and how stressful that had been! Some species were disoriented and aggressive upon waking up, let alone if they were waking up in an unfamiliar place, like the Terran would be. A'zawa braced himself for the worst only for Shigaraki to blink up blearily at him, snuggle his face against his fur for just a tick longer, before taking a deep, groaning breath that just about made H'zashi jump out of his feathers. After that, Shigaraki pulled himself up out of the bed-grass box and seemed to stretch out his limbs while conversing with Midoriya.

Disaster averted. Narrowly, probably.

"Mine did," A'zawa said, glancing at Shigaraki. "Very soundly."

"Maybe mine is a different sub-species that doesn't need as much sleep," H'zashi theorized, looking back and forth between the two.

"Or maybe stress affects them differently. Mine was very loud when they first arrived. Maybe that's how he got his anxious energy out. Yours was rather calm, but maybe that means his anxiety had not been released, and that kept him awake longer. If that's the case, his sleep schedule should eventually stabilize once the anxious energy naturally works its way out of his system," A'zawa said.

"Well, hopefully sooner rather than later," H'zashi squawked. "It was nerve-wracking being watched all night like that."

"Maybe your Terran is a snuggler, too," A'zawa pondered.

"On second thought," H'zashi said with a nervous trill in the back of his throat, looking sideways at Midoriya as he talked with Shigaraki. "Maybe it won't be so bad to have another night being watched over, as long as that means I get by bed-grass box to myself."

"Oh?" A'zawa teased. "But you love to snuggle."

"You," H'zashi stated firmly with the clack of his beak for emphasis. "I love to snuggle you, lover. But I don't know how I'd feel about getting all close and personal with a deathworlder."

"Are you jealous?" A'zawa asked, sly smile sliding over his face.

"Jealous?!" H'zashi squawked. Then he paused, taking a second to glance at A'zawa's cellmate. "I think I am, a little, but for different reasons."

A'zawa made a 'go on' gesture with his paw, and H'zashi decided to oblige.

"Not only does someone other than me get to snuggle with you," H'zashi said, "but you are snuggling with a Terran. Who ever would have thought either of us would have gotten that experience? So, I might be a little jealous, but I'm glad that one of us is getting the experience as long as it does turn out to be safe in the end," H'zashi explained. "But I'm more than satisfied to watch from a distance!" he said, already objecting to what he guessed A'zawa might suggest next. "So, no! I won't be sliding in next to my Terran to get the experience for myself!"

"But at least you'll know that it's not a death sentence if your Terran decides to do the same thing this cycle," A'zawa said. "Your feathers are a lot harder to control than my tail or claws when under stress."

"That's a good point," H'zashi said. "I think there might have been some injuries, maybe even a fight that could have broken out without a way to communicate that I can't help what my feathers do under stress, if Midoriya had tried to snuggle with me last cycle."

Midoriya looked between H'zashi and A'zawa, recognizing the use of his name.

"Whoops," H'zashi said, puffing up his feathers. "I used the Terran's name."

A'zawa nodded sagely. "We've got to get you better at gossiping."

Over the next two cycles, A'zawa and H'zashi took the time to learn more about their cellmates. A'zawa learned that Shigaraki was not going to sleep in his own bed-grass box any time soon, and that he had a regular sleep schedule. H'zashi learned that Midoriya tried to stay awake as long as possible, and sometimes fell asleep against the electrified bars. When he was truly exhausted, he would sometimes drag himself into his own bed-grass box, but never ventured in to snuggle with H'zashi in his.

On the third cycle, H'zashi and A'zawa freaked out a little bit (okay, a lot) when Midoriya and Shigaraki got into similar positions, bodies straight, and hands on the floor. Then, at the same time, they began to push themselves up and let themselves fall back down, each saying the same words at the same time.

"Are they playing?" A'zawa guessed.

"Oh!" H'zashi exclaimed after another moment of watching them. "Maybe it's a competition! Like how the aldoi see how many jumps we can do on one leg before we fall over!"

They watched them a few clicks longer before A'zawa's body tensed, getting closer to get a better look at Shigaraki.

"He's sweating!" A'zawa shouted, alarmed. "Stop, Shigaraki! Stop!"

"Mine is, too!" H'zashi said, wings flapping with panic. "Stop, Midoriya! Both of you, please! This game isn't worth dying for!"

"Guards! Guards!" A'zawa and H'zashi started to yell out. Everyone watching the Terrans and listening in to A'zawa's and H'zashi's commentary started to yell out, getting some dolluns to come running.

"They're dying!" H'zashi yelled, feathers sharpened with stress and splayed out as he indicated toward his cellmate, who was still going through the weird pushing and falling motions and seemed to be counting in his Terran language. "They're sweating! At this rate, they're going to lose all their water and die from dehydration! Get as much water as you can!"

The dolluns scrambled for it, yelling commands in their communication devices. It was all limbs on deck to save the two Terrans on Kulphea who were obviously on their deathbeds.

Sweating, for all species, was a last ditch effort to cool the overheated, but it was a flaw in the body's design in that while it attempted to cool that what was overheated, it used essential water to do so, thereby killing the individual via dehydration where they were saved from being overheated. Either way, they were doomed unless they could get the Terrans cooled down and rehydrated. Quickly.

And maybe if they would stop doing that exercise, for stars' sake!

A'zawa, in the infinite wisdom he possessed, jumped up on Shigaraki's back in an effort to flatten him to the surface. It would cool his body against the metal floor and keep him still until the water replenishment could arrive.

H'zashi thought this was a great idea, so he placed himself on Midoriya's back, having to focus on the emergency at hand rather than this being the first time he was touching his Terran cellmate.

To the lovers' infinite horror, the Terrans kept going. They were making it even worse, they noticed, as they watched the sweat continue to gather at a higher rate on the backs of the Terrans' necks, darkening the Terrans' hair with their effort as they continued with their competition, not even slowing down!

These Terrans had no sense of self-preservation! How were H'zashi and A'zawa going to keep them alive?!