Chapter Text
Midoriya Izuku who is a well established scientist who spent his entire life studying deep space biology and geology all with the dream of flying through the stars and nebular storms seeking new planets and creatures. All of that young and youthful energy slowly drained away, the exhausting bureaucratic process of moving supplies through space customs and having to report back to lackluster capitalistic scum who only wanted to sell his research, not indulge it.
All of his struggles, his accomplishments, his hopes and dreams for a future of being an intergalactic academician… all to wind up stranded on a decommissioned station on the far outskirts of an abandoned system.
The station and system left behind once it was discovered that the resources within were little to no use, all of which having been discovered on other planets within closer proximity and at greater quantity. It was a backwater system, and the anticipatory ‘cross-roads’ station had been an unfortunate victim to overzealous resource scalpers. There wouldn’t be thousands coming and going from this station, no one was coming to see this stupid little sector of the vast vaccum.
Which is how Izuku ended up being alone.
No one was coming back, not for a long time.
We’re sorry Sir, but someone must remain to monitor the planet's outputs. You’re the most qualified, and we’re needed for manual labor elsewhere. A ship will come around to collect you in future endeavors…
Bullshit.
Izuku waits for a month, then two, then seven. Years pass and he continues to read about the various planets and transfer their data to his Boss’. It’s incredibly tedious, even if he enjoys personally controlling the drop ships and autopilot resource modules and their little collector bots.
He loves space, but he’s not traveling space. He’s sitting at a cluttered desk talking out loud about how He has to fix everything around here and how shitty it was that they left a Scientist but not a human engineer - just his fucking manuals. Manuals that got sealed in with him in the habital wings, but tools that got sealed on the opposite side of locked fucking doors. He even pulls up the holo-diagrams of the tools he needs, letting them spin in the air as he tries to MacGyver them into creation to no avail.
So, he clearly notices when said tools appear on his desk.
Patiently waiting for him to find it and he kinda wants to freak out but-
It just saved him the fucking headache of trying to locate the replacement. So he takes it. And if he starts leaving behind things like food and water and idk something shiny just to see, that's for him and the stars to know. Just him, the stars, and the thing watching him from the vents. Something alive and moving is onboard with him, and at first he thinks it may be a stowaway passenger from the crew...but he quickly realizes this thing is not human. A human wouldn’t be rattling the vents above his head...
If he one day, months into this new routine, decides to say fuck it, what else is he doing with his life anymore, and wander the station unarmed with only some hesitance, that's also for the stars. Certainly not for ground control, or the big bosses who abandoned him.
Moreso, it's for the very large thing that just ducked behind the corner as he turned into the next hallway that is definitely not human. Said thing that starts following him, silently at first, but then giving off low growls and hums as he slows his steps and starts taking more winding hallways and side doors until he's gone and properly cornered himself off somewhere, the only exit behind him as something hisses.
This is fine, why not.
He turns, slowly and takes in the full sight: sheer muscle and cartilage that is this...thing...looming over him. Not quite bipedal, not quadruped, it walks with a hunch and grasping, clawed hands tapping away at the wall where it braces. It’s body is long and slender, roughly nine feet long on all four legs he guesses, making it maybe eight feet tall as it hunches over him.
It's drooling, leaving behind clear little plips on the floor. Massive teeth all gnashing against each other as it sniffs and approaches him slowly. A part of him is petrified , another part is fascinated . His whole life, he wanted to see beyond space. His whole career, he wanted to find something new.
And right here, this massive thing is hunched over him, backing him into the wall and clicking into his ear rhythmically. He thinks, hopes, that if it was hungry-
It would have eaten him days ago. Instead, it seems...curious. As curious of him, as he is towards it.
A clawed hand taps his chest, his ribs, tick tick tick against him. It growls again, low and rumbly against his skin. In the dim light, it looks menacing. All black hardened plates and dark rust colored skin underneath. It has some green flecks, little flashes of iridescence, and it screams 'poison poison poison!'
But it doesn't attack. It sniffs at him, lolls out a too long tongue against his fluttering pulse before letting off a low hum and backing off.
Ah, it's got his scent now. Goodie . "...you..." Izuku whispers, the thing hisses and he swallows hard, "can you...shit..." he tries not to shake as it nudges his side with its too-long face until he moves at is pleases. Leading him towards the exit of the hall.
"Can you hear me..." he whispers. It clicks again. Answer, yes - but no.
It can hear a lot of things, and is constantly listening for them. But it doesn't speak words. It's language is physical, pushing him along the hall until he finds himself standing at the door to the FLOW wing: Flora-Life-Organics-Water
There are several wings to the station, all branching off and grouped together according to usage. All of the merchant wing is gone to him, locked up tight with empty rooms. Half of the habitation wing is shut off - only a handful of personal rooms and living quarters/necessities accessible. The navigation wing is fully operational and for the most part on an automated system, said system operates from a lower portion of the station - the engineering decks - and that’s off limits to him without the codes.
What’s left is the Science and Research wings, the research wing being his home sweet home with its labs and testing facilities, and the ‘Science’ wing being a dual purpose wing: It’s for Fauna and Flora research and development.
The FLOW wing is actually a series of rooms dedicated to supporting life onboard. One room is purely hydroponics, one room is dedicated to manufacturing energy, one wing for housing any small fauna (of which they never found), and finally the Flora rooms.
It's your classic sterile looking room with large square plant beds spaced out along the floor
In one corner is a large overhead water tank connected to the pipes on the ceiling that mist the room in intervals. Along the wall are water tanks open to the air.
These rooms are overgrown messes, he likes them that way and there’s no use in organizing them, so they’ve turned into small jungles of lush foliage and untempered growth. Various plants are grown here, mostly from their Colony of Origin (where Izuku boarded the ship before it traveled here) and some have been collected from the various planet systems they passed, and few from the planet systems currently around the Station.
The plants from the planet nearby were hardy things, but they were carnivorous and poorly suited for a ship with no small prey.
And god dammit
The alien has destroyed his FLOW wing.
In a crafty way, but whatever rough organization there was is blasted. Shredded. The watering tank has plants in it, the plants have been dragged across the pristine floor. Dirt all over the ground, a massive stockpile of food. He scowls, tuts at the damage to the plantlife, and still admires the nest this alien has made on the station.
It's dragged things into the room and made a nest in the corner. Beneath the large overhead drum that holds the water for the misting pipes that run the length of the ceiling where more plants hang in baskets periodically.
Shredded blankets, bedding, clothes. In it, as it shoves him closer, he sees shiny things. His shiny things. The things he has left out in return for the bits and pieces that have showed up in his main office. All of them have been placed around the nest like little trinkets. Inside of it, he sees some of his lab coats and missing clothing. Ah, that's where it went. This creature has been hoarding his belongings. Perhaps in part to being the only other sentient creature onboard?
"You've settled in," he mumbles, brushing his hand along the edge of the piled up soft-things, "Fascinating, you're a nesting species? But why?"
"Well, offspring for one." He crouches down, the nest is fairly wide. Big enough to fit the creature if curled up and stretched out. It must have raided half the ship without Izuku knowing. "What kind of offspring would you have? You don't resemble mammalians-"
He frowns at a wayward piece of wire from a pillow and gently rearranges it to avoid it poking into the nest proper, he hears a grumbling sound, like a purr, and resumes mumbling himself, "Too dry for amphibious but surrounded by humidity, and you're alone but I can’t determine if that means you a solitary nester usually or due to circumstance. Or is it just for habitation as is and regardless of rearing young?”
There's a shuffling sound behind him, the aliens' long limbed arms come down on either side of him and the claws tick away at the nest flooring. He feels a drag of drool slide down his neck and shivers. "Unless...you just were here by yourself until now ..." he whispers, the drool has been exchanged for something thick and slimy working down the column of his throat.
"Aaah...oh.." he whimpers and gently settles on his knees. The creature has sat itself behind him, hunched over with its head tucked close to his. Long arms set to balance it as it licks across his exposed skin and nuzzles his hair with huffing sniffs. There's a thumping, it's tail hitting the nest in a pleased manner.
Izuku gulps. The creature pushes him down into the nest with his chest to the floor, it hunches over him still letting off that deep rumbly purr. He bites his lip and tries to relax, doesn’t want to upset the creature one way or the other, but it’s definitely enforcing dominances over him.
Which, it needn't bother, considering its claws alone could gut him. Claws which dig into the nest on either side of his head, flexing excitedly as the creature purrs and hums to him, still messing with his hair and licking his neck and cheeks.
There’s the logical, and ethical, part of his mind screaming that this breaks so many international laws and ethics codes by staying as he is, the Human side of his brain is reminding him occasionally that this is an Alien several feet taller than him capable, possibly, of eating him. The other part of him, the part that used to sit on the cold driveway to watch the stars in the dead of winter despite his trembling limbs and chattering teeth - it’s positively beaming at him.
Hold still, let it smell. Present as non-threatening, gain its trust.
Well, he’s technically already gained it’s trust. Surely, since it brought him to it’s nest and started grooming him. Which he realized just now is the current situation, he’s being groomed tediously. The tongue lays his curls flat though, and he doubts that the cooling slick saliva will be pleasant afterwards.
But it's...sweet. The Creature is grooming him, curled over him like a cat does with a kitten. He relaxes that little bit more and it purrs with a thump-thump-thump of its tail. The appendage is long and slender, scaled with a soft underside, and a flare at the tip with a...rattle? It looks like a snake rattle, but he hasn’t heard such a sound, not once.
“Danger..” he mumbles and the creature abruptly stops, it gives off a low growl and swivels its head around to survey the room. Izuku huffs and raises a hand, glad to see it steady, before gently touching one of the clawed hands.
The creature turns back to him with a little...burp? It’s not a chirp, too deep. “I meant your tail, I can hear you hitting it… do you rattle to show danger?” he mumbles, the Alien pauses then huffs and sits back. With one hand, it snags his shirt and forcibly drags him around. He’s shuffled until he’s sitting in a crescent shaped alien. With its head curled on a long neck, it eyes him with slitted bright amber-red colored eyes. Then it swiftly wraps the long tail around his belly and leaves the rattle in his lap.
He grins, laughs even, and pets his hand down the scaled tail. It’s smooth and so warm…
“You can hear me. Somehow you understand. You’re amazing…”
The Creature bursts into a purr, preening under his compliment. He chuckles back and strokes down it’s tail before gently lifting the rattle. It’s heavy! But it’s the same as a snake, it’s scales specially layered over one another. Cool!
The creature hums and lays it’s head down, satisfied with it’s grooming job and content to let the little human play with it’s tail. Despite it’s intelligence, and bipedal form, it’s certainly an animal of sorts.
He’s got nothing better to do, he doubts he’ll ever have something better than this, so he contents himself to study the being meticulously while it has him in its literal clutches. There’s a claw hooked into his shirt, not holding but touching.
It’s...tender. Sweet. It seems comfortable with him and is willing to relax with him in it’s claimed territory. He’s thrilled! “You’re so warm ,” he praises and pets at scales carefully. He avoids the softer bits, creating boundaries as he goes, “Reptilian scales, but then again Pangolins have scales, hell you almost look like one without the huge body suit...but those teeth...predator for sure...the claws and teeth of a hunter, the muscle distribution too. But you nest, burrow? Would you burrow?”
The body is long, scaled, and lithe. But extremely muscular. Reminiscent of those creatures that run long distances - the cheetah and greyhound - with the same thick legs and strange larger chest to slim abdomen combo. But it’s other features suggest reptilian, scales and rattle and the hissing sounds it makes. It could call any terrain its home he sumises.
He turns slightly, leaning back against the Alien’s side and admiring the rise and fall of it’s chest. Lungs! Or something of the like. Carefully, he leans his head down and presses his face closer, ear to scales, and hears the great whoosh of air being inhaled and exhaled. Gurgling, lower down. The stomach is a bit concave, and maybe it hasn’t been eating well. There’s little fresh prey...he’ll try to find something for it.
A little higher, near the whooshing, there!
Thump, thump, thump, thump . It’s steady, heavy, a bit faster than a Human’s but controlled. The heartbeat under his ear is a wonderfully surreal thing.
The tail squeezes him a bit tighter, rattled tip moving up to slide against his ribs up and down before settling. “You’re stunning. I can see exactly how you survive on the closest planet, it has so much foliage and such harsh climate changes. But...how did you get here?”
Indeed, the closest planet in the system, which the Station had used as its grounded orbital focus, was a beautiful thing. Full of deadly wildlife and plant life, and resources but again - all more easily obtained for cheaper elsewhere.
Under his cheek, the creature rumbles. He listens with a smile and curls up closer, the tail loosening as he adjusts. “We never got far, the environment was too harsh on our ship. The few shuttles that landed barely made it back without major support. We certainly didn’t settle, but the general atmosphere is...sort of compatible?”
“It was livable, but reacted poorly with our ships. So was it the air or something else...electromagnetics? They would pass us by but affect the electronics…” he mumbles, growing quiet until something flicks against his nose.
The tongue flicks out, and he sees how it mimics a snake's tongue, long and forked but thicker and more flexible and much longer. Again it touches his cheek and nose, catching his attention.
“Hm?” he pats his hand gently on its side. Carefully, the Alien shifts until it’s laying flat on its side, belly facing out with Izuku tucked into the crescent shape once more. The tail never lets him go, but the creature is rearranging until he’s curled up facing it with his head to it’s chest. It’s so warm, pleasantly so. The nest is well padded, the creature emitting a steady hum and purr. There’s a slight musky smell, thick like warm stones, but it’s not pervasive.
Carefully, he runs a hand across the soft belly and admires the smooth softer skin. So warm…
“Hmm...are you hungry?” he whispers. The creature pauses and curls its neck to nose at his head. “There isn’t much meat on the ship. But, I can crack into the reserved storage and find something. If you need all the meat, I can give it. I’ll be alright--”
The growl is low, it rattles his teeth, it says If you don’t eat properly, I’ll bite ’
He laughs and leans closer, “Shh shh….okay. Okay..”
Gradually, the alien relaxes and dozes off. It keeps him wrapped up, has him tucked inside the nest with the wall to his back safely. How fascinating! The actions are heavily pack-bond reminiscent and fit right into the weird hybrid mammal reptile status he’s forming for the creature. He wants to study more, he wants to learn everything.
But it’s so warm and he’s been tired, so tired, for years on this ship alone and just being skin to skin with something alive and breathing is so utterly wrecking his sensibilities. He’s not sure when he fell asleep, but he wakes up snugly placed in the nest under what remains of a lab coat, his nap buddy nowhere to be seen.
He sits up and rubs at his eyes, feels the tacky remains of spit on his skin and rolls his eyes. Careful not to mess up the nest, he sets about looking around.
The food pile is unchanged, it’s a rough assortment. Food things, organic things. No meat, but he can’t tell if it's because the alien ate those things first or doesn’t want them. He opts for the first option. Mindful of the...decor...he makes his way out to the hall and listens.
It’s quiet, only the hum of the station and its electronics. He hums himself and starts towards what he knows to be a storage section of the Habitat wing..
About half way, he can hear something clicking above him. Steady little taps that move as he does down the hall. He chuckles and pauses at the door of the storage room, listening as something rattles above, then slides across metal, before venturing down the hall towards one of the grates in the wall. Scratching at the grate.
“Hello?” He calls, and smiles when a familiar grunt and grumble responds.
He walks over and peeks into the grate, seeing the slightly shiny amber eyes reflect the light from the hall, “Ah, there you are. What's in the vents?”
He runs his finger along the seam before finding the small pressure switch that pops open the hatch control.
The grate releases with its own hiss and he slides it to the floor. The creature slithers out of the small space, twisting and turning until it's hunched in the hall. Immediately it grabs him and sniffs at him. “Hmm..” he smiles and rests his hand on the creature’s side, “Wanna see what we can find for you? I don’t think I’ve raided this room yet.”
It clicks at him, and he leads it to the storage room.
An armful of thin linens, some extra plain pre-assigned suits, and a large pack filled with ration MREs are snagged - Izuku follows the creature back through the halls and to the FLOW . It grabbed it’s own large handful, clamped teeth around cotton and polyester. The whole time it was giving off muffled purrs as it dragged it’s goodies back down the hall. It had a large bundle wrapped in its tail, a sheet filled with random bits and pieces it gathered.
It waddled, like a big cat holding a kitten as it brought pilfered goods home.
“Not a lot of food, we can go for the preserves next.” Izuku sets the materials down, mindful of their purpose and the Alien's possible sentiments. He sorts the things out and watches with no little curiosity and fascination as the creature begins rooting in the supplies.
It’s so meticulous, studying each garment and fabric before deciding where to tuck them into the nest. He notes that thicker items go on the bottom, and clothes line the inside. Then, once it exhausts those goods, it begins sorting out the little objects it stole. More shinnies. Once it pauses and turns to him, a large pale green blanket between its teeth as he stares at him.
“Hm?” He rises from his seat and meanders over admiring the nest and the blanket. “Where to put it?”
It shakes its head, swishing the blanket, before abruptly dropping it on his head. Izuku yelps, laughs as the creature bundles him up and rolls him into the nest. He’s still giggling as it steps around, swiping its tail out and dragging it closer before crawling into the nest. It presents him with MREs and some of the tubers that were growing in the FLOW wing.
Ah, that's right. He hasn’t eaten in at least 24 hours. He holds up a finger, detangles himself from the blanket and snags a water bottle from the pile. The creature grouches until he settles back into its side.
“Thank you.” he smiles and pets along its flank. “Your nest is wonderful, very warm and comfortable."
As he opens the MRE, the creature booms a purr and kneads at the nest with a self-pleased swish of its tail. Thus begins a newer, more enriching routine than constant laying in his bunk staring at the ceiling.
He spends every day with the creature, desperate for the bond of another living thing. He used to enjoy having roommates, but the crew all left and took the social life with them, leaving Izuku to his own devices in his own small corner of the ship.
Speaking of, Izuku makes a trip with the creature rattling vents above to his room, he gathers his soft things, shoves several bags of personal items together and hauls them back
When the creature sees him adding his own personal touch, it launches at him and grooms him for a solid two hours in a blissful state.
It enjoys his comforter best, curls up with the thick blanket over its frame just barely covering it. It sleeps with its head in his lap. He settles in with his laptop to do his work from the comfort of the nest...
So much to record!
He ends up naming the creature, not scientifically - he calls it Katsuki.
“I knew someone once who had a name like that, I was a child then.” He smiles and runs his finger across the rough scaled snout in his lap. The eyelid membrane flickers and the tongue flicks out once before settling. "'Victory of Self’, roughly. I’d take a good bet on you winning any fight.”
Katsuki, Kacchan when it’s being moody with him.
Together they peruse the station, he all but abandons his regular duties - truthfully, he hasn’t had any reason to get back to work for years. He’s been left out here, left to lose his mind unmonitored and unchecked.
The station was abandoned by Control, when the planet was deemed ‘uninhabitable’ for civilians, and lacking in any ‘good’ natural resources (i.e oil and minerals) - they had simply left it. It was one of many newly discovered planets, and the others were more profitable. This station took too long to get to for too little return. They didn’t even have a good radiation output.
So, he was happy to let it slide. To wander the halls with his companion chittering at his side. Raiding closets, chests, so many lockers. The nest was wonderfully padded and took up a good quarter of FLOW. So many knick knacks, it became a game - Izuku would secretly find something and it appeared in the nest, and when Kacchan noticed, he’d be rewarded with cuddles. The creatures' favorite things - were green.
Izuku finally found the deep storage, the off limits storage he was supposed to com in to request access too. As it is, he was able to slide through the wall vents with the creature leading. Tumbling into the room, caught in its strong arms and hauled to his feet.
Food, not fresh, but good protein. It would do… for now.
Izuku was worried.
After some time, his Kacchan was getting...sluggish. Fully fed, it’s belly grew distended. It seemed to be slowing down and sleeping more, the signs of exhaustion? Weakness?
If he asked in any way he got growled at. He was getting used to the noises, deciphering them. Growls were growls, warnings and reprimands.
Purrs were pleasure and happiness, chirps were surprise, grunts acknowledgement, chittering mindless chatter, and the clicking hissing was to catch his attention and direct him. He’d only heard the rattle once.
It came suddenly, one moment he was scrounging deep in the station’s underbelly of mechanics, trying to figure out how to crack the security access and open all doors - when the rattling ricocheted through the room.
Suddenly he was on the floor, a growling, rattling Kacchan laying over him with slitted eyes and raised frills along its neck and lower abdomen. It was glaring into the darkness, and Izuku shuddered under the flexing muscles. “Kacchan..” he whispered, only to be hissed at and the rattling kicked up higher.
Carefully, Izuku swiveled his hand and shined the flashlight into the darkness.
Standing there, perfectly still, was one of the ship's few Androids. Solid black, blending into the shadows, with the luminous blue eyes and pale grey jumpsuit. Izuku shivered again, unnerved by its stillness. “Android.” He whispered, “They...they're supposed to be offline. In their reserve storage wing...mechanics though would still be necessary for function….what's it doing..” he murmurs to himself, Kacchan’s tail is ramrod straight and shivering as it rattles. The Android is watching. Unmoving.
“Shh..shh…” Izuku lays his hand against Katsuki’s belly and feels the shiver of tense muscles, “Hold on…”
He clears his throat and calls out, “Purpose and identification.”
The Android remains silent.
“Purpose, answer.”
“Threat detected. Unknown, unclassified lifeform on ship.”
Izuku flinches, Kacchan’s rattle is deafening as it begins drooling from bared fangs.
“Threat level zero, I repeat, level zero. Do not engage with lifeforms.This is an order from Doctor Midoriya.” Izuku calls, his voice echoing but low under the rattle. The Android eye’s begin to flicker in recognition of a command, but when they settle back to blue and it responds, Izuku’s heart plummets.
“Denied. Threat level higher than Red. Unidentified life form must be secured, containment must be contacted--”
The second Izuku lurches, panic swelling past his lips in a rushed “Abort contact! Do not contact!”- Kacchan lunges.
The Android can’t defend itself. Despite flailing fists of steel, it’s torso cracks between Kacchan’s powerful jaws. It thrashes the Android, shaking its head and slamming the body into the floor rapidly.
Izuku watches, frozen, as the oil of the Android pools out beneath the heaving alien. “Fuck..fuck..” Izuku whines and Katsuki whips around to him, it limps over and Izuku freaks out, seeing that a scale has been ripped on the Alien's leg. The Android must have been clawing at it…
“Kacchan?! Kacchan c’mere, fuck you’re bleeding!” he hisses and rips his over shirt into a thick strip to wrap around the leg, it barely fits over the muscle. “Leaving, we are leaving !” he seethes and starts pushing gently until Katsuki picks up pace and limps back to FLOW . Izuku is a mess, fretting with medical supplies. It’s a superficial injury, and Katsuki seems pleased to have his frantic attention. He’s worried though….
“The contact order…. I don’t know if it went through before or after it said it…” he whispers-
The alien hums, long tongue flicks out and gently prods his cheek. He sighs and wraps his arms around it’s shoulders, the neck curls around his shoulders loosely.
It’s just another reason he needs to get Kacchan home. Katsuki heals quickly . The wound patches itself within hours, accelerated healing knitting the soft skin back together but there's no sign of the scale healing as quickly. Izuku fusses over it until the big beast lays over him and keeps him muffled. It becomes his mood more so than not, fussing.
He digs into every log he can get his hands on. Every piece of relay and contact protocol, and nothing is clear on whether or not the Android had submitted its inquiry for containment. No transmissions, no requests. It's radio silence and keeps him on edge.
Izuku feels like a live wire these days, antsy and itching to move around. But he always winds up right back in FLOW , curling up to listen as Katsuki hums and rumbles. It's warmer, Katsuki is. It's radiating heat steadily and feels feverish when Izuku presses his cheek to scales.
Katsuki isn't doing well, something clearly disturbing the creature. It's pacing, rooting around FLOW and rearranging the nest only to huff in frustration and start over. Izuku helps but planting some overhead vines that enclose the nest and it seems to help some, but now Katsuki roots through the nest with grunts and groans. It won't leave FLOW , anxious energy making it shiver. Izuku frets, and then Katsuki frets when Izuku tries to leave FLOW .
It's becoming demanding with cuddles and grooming, and makes a sad sound whenever he leaves to check for incoming messages. Worst of all, the creature's belly is bloating. Low on his thin frame the skin has become tauter with each passing day, until now the once concave slope is a large lump pushing up into the prominent rib cage.
Poor thing, it's discomfort grows each day with its belly. Tossing and turning and losing sleep, sitting up with Izuku as it grunts and shifts to relieve the ache. Kacchan must be ill, maybe malnourished. Izuku knows what heartworms do to a dogs stomach over time…
Izuku isn’t even sure how long it was on station before it started following him.
Couldn’t be too terribly long, but the last trip to soil was at least 6 months before he noticed, the last manned ship was at least two years ago! “Cargo..” he muttered, thinking back about how the last to-soil mission was a bit off.
It was solo run, just him managing from station as a probe shuttle landed to collect and update biometrics. The shuttle came back suspiciously intact, but when he went to observe it in the hold - it was damaged.
It had left the station undamaged.
Carefully, Izuku squeezed his Kacchan, “You need to go home..” he whispered, “If...if they send containment, what the hell am I gonna do?”
He was fretting. Checking the coms constantly, making many trips to check with relays, signals, any sign that someone was requesting a two-way transmission.
He was terrified to think of them coming out and finding Kacchan, especially when the creature was getting weaker. Too warm, feverish, making constant little grunts and groans. Refusing to eat anything in the pile. Sleeping, when it did, like the dead.
He felt useless, nerves frayed and like his skin was in a constant itch. There was something else, something gnawing in his stomach and warming the back of his throat. His arms ached, his belly felt like a knot was tying itself with his guts. All the while he thought that he was starting to...to.. He heard a voice. Coming back from the Communication tower, he heard someone whisper,
Need