It's a Plan(et)

Chapter 3

A/N: I used italics for words in Standard.

_ _ _ _ _

"We need to work together," Izuku said.

Shigaraki scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I'm not doing that."

"I can't get off of this spaceship alone–"

"Planet," Shigaraki interjected, lip lifted in a scowl at having to correct Izuku again.

"And neither can you," Izuku continued, ignoring Shigaraki's correction, much to Shigaraki's chagrin. "And until we get off of this spaceship–"

"Planet. It's a planet," Shigaraki insisted. "We're on. A. Planet."

"We're allies," Izuku continued, talking over Shigaraki.

Shigaraki turned around and dropped to the floor, crossing his legs and his arms.

Izuku's jaw dropped. "Are you sulking?"

"If you want to ignore me, that's fine. I'll just ignore you, too," Shigaraki muttered under his breath without turning back around, but Izuku still heard him with how quiet and unmoving all of the other creatures in the surrounding area were.

"Well, you're still answering me," Izuku hedged against his better judgment. "That's not exactly ignoring me."

Izuku saw Shigaraki's jaw open to retort and then snap close in resistance. Izuku resisted the urge to sigh, forcing himself not to roll his eyes in case Shigaraki turned around.

"You cornered me at the mall because you wanted to talk," Izuku said. "Well, here's what I have to say: You can be upset all you want about the situation, but it's not going to do anything about it."

Izuku tentatively moved forward and touched his own cell bars. When the electricity buzzing through them was nothing more than a tingle, he grabbed onto them to try to see if he could bend them with his own strength, without the use of his quirk. No luck.

Izuku continued, "We're on our own here, and we have to do this ourselves. That means teaming up, even if neither of us wants to."

Izuku could see Shigaraki's jaw working, could see the tense line of Shigaraki's spine as he curled further in on himself as he resisted snapping at him in response, and he could see when the reality of what he was saying sunk in and the lines of Shigaraki relaxed just the slightest.

He spun around then, still seated on the floor, but twisted at the waist so he was facing Izuku once again. "Fine. But it doesn't mean I like you."

"Of course not," Izuku said. Then, unable to resist, "the fact that you keep seeking me out for "talks" means that you like me."

Shigaraki's lips lifted into a disgusted kind of sneer as he snarled out a quick "fuck you" that lacked any real energy. Then, he asked, "what's your plan?"

"Well, we need to try to start communication with our cellmates. Try not to be overly intimidating." Izuku hesitates, eyes flickering to the feline-alien in Shigaraki's cell. "That might be difficult with the way you were just carrying on."

"That's a stupid plan," Shigaraki said. "This is what they teach you in that hero school? I hope you can get your money back."

"They're stuck in here, too," Izuku said, ignoring the jab. "They know what this place is, first of all. They'll want to get out of here, too, and they'll know the technology and guards' schedules better than us because they're native to space and they've been here in these cells longer. Maybe if they're already planning to escape, if we can play nice and make friends, they'll bring us along. Either way, it's somewhere to start. It's a plan. It's more than what you have."