Chapter Text
Izumi started to wonder if the shots he planned to get were really going to be worth the strenuous bike ride up this mountain. But when he spotted something fall out of the sky nearby, it suddenly became his lucky day. Photographing a meteorite would do way more to get his name out there than taking photos of the town lights like he originally planned.
The closer he got to the site, he noticed a strange blue glow emitting from it. He doesn’t know much about science, so he just hopes this doesn’t mean the meteorite is radioactive or something.
His heart immediately jumps into his throat when he finally reaches the clearing and the object comes into his view. It’s definitely not a meteorite - it’s a spaceship. Maybe that bike ride and hike up here tired him out too much, maybe he’s just seeing things. In his disbelief he adjusts his glasses, and yet the ship still stands before him.
It looks similar to the cartoons you often see with it’s saucer-like shape. But it’s sleek and powerful in real life, the glow coming from underneath it making it feel eerie.
Izumi stands there in shock, maybe even fear, for a few minutes before he realizes that he definitely should have his camera out and be taking photos of the greatest discovery of mankind that he just made. He fumbles to grab it, looks through the lens to line up the shot, and—
“Mind telling me what that device does before you use it on my ship?” a voice from behind him comes out of nowhere.
He was so stunned by seeing a UFO that he didn’t even notice the glowing creature sneak up behind him. Izumi screams, whips around to look at the owner of the voice, and falls on his ass in the process. What a great first impression for humankind.
He looks up to see the alien looking back at him. He’s looking at an alien - and there’s so much adrenaline coursing through him it feels like he’s about to throw up his heart. He just stares, throat too tight to speak.
“Hmmm? I asked you a question? Or can you not understand me? Aughhhh! And I was so sure I learned the right language too! I’m always so bad with words!” it says animatedly.
The first thing Izumi takes in about it is that it looks incredibly humanoid. Only a few features seem out of place - like its green eyes that almost glow when reflecting the light, and it’s hair that’s a little bit too bright orange to be natural. And of course what it’s wearing. A baggy green spacesuit with many light emitting blue accents throughout it.
It takes a step towards him.
“S-stop! Stay back!” Izumi yelps as he scoots backwards.
“So you can understand me! Are you afraid? Don’t worry! I come in peace! Uchuu~!” it does two peace signs with its fingers to accentuate its point.
And while the alien is certainly loud and boisterous, it doesn’t seem hostile. But Izumi still remains apprehensive.
“So answer my question! What’s your device? Not answering while being talked to is pretty rude on my planet you know?”
“Camera…..it’s a camera.” And maybe telling it that he was about to take photos of it’s ship to expose to all the world was not the best idea. But he isn’t in the state to think of a convincing lie right now.
“Ohhhhh that’s a camera? Interesting! But I can’t let you take images of my ship right now! No humans are supposed to know I’m here. Though I guess you’ve now changed that! Whahaha!” It's laugh is chaotic and exuberant. “Well since you’ve seen me I guess I’m your responsibility now! So take me to your home so I can hide for a bit!”
And that annoyed Izumi enough for him to get his personality back. He could become the most famous photographer in all of history because of this, and he’s not ready to throw it away just because someone, alien or not, just told him no. So he gets up, brushes himself off, and puts on a tough face. “No? I just made the greatest discovery of all time and you want me to hide it? Hell no. Why should I even help you?”
“Well first of all, I’ve broken like a ton of really major space travel laws just with this conversation. So you're now my accomplice.”
“Whatever. I’m sure once everyone knows about this my planet will protect me.” he’s bluffing of course. He really has no idea about any space stuff considering he obviously never thought he’d be in the position of arguing with an alien.
“This isn’t just about you. This little planet is nothing to them, you would all be endangered. You have no choice but to follow my instructions. Hide me.”
Izumi is self important enough to screw over one alien, but not enough to screw over the entire human race. The alien could be lying too, but on the off-chance it isn’t, he better just go along with it.
“This….this is crazy. You better explain all this to me. And you better not be plotting anything or stab me in the back or—“
“I already told you I mean you no harm! Humans shake hands to promise right? Here!” the alien extends a hand to him, but holds it upturned instead of sideways like a normal.
“Tch, you’re doing it wrong, it’s like this.” And once again Izumi makes history by reaching out and grabbing it’s hand and turning it sideways for a proper handshake. A human and alien joining hands, it’s a shame it’s an isolated moment with no one else to capture it. It’s hand feels inhumanly warm in his grip. As it gives Izumi a big smile and he can see it’s slightly fanged teeth. “But you’re explaining yourself as soon as we get there.”
“Yes yes! Now take me home!”
“Why does this feel like I’ve taken in a stray animal?”
The bike ride down the mountain and back home was certainly interesting. Right after Izumi witnessed the extraterrestrial visitor go into its ship, and activate something that made it vanish before his very eyes. As if Izumi hadn’t seen enough crazy stuff tonight.
The alien refused to take off it’s spacesuit, and wouldn’t shut the lights on it off. And driving a weirdly dressed glowing stranger through town would definitely attract a lot of attention. He took off his coat and draped it over the suit, and it did a passable job of covering most of the lights. Thankfully the creature radiated so much warmth that just it sitting on the back of Izumi’s bike was enough to keep him from freezing in the chilling fall air.
Izumi was dreading the trek back down, especially with lugging around the weight of an extra being. But for some reason it feels incredibly easier then the way up. Way too easy, but he just chalks it up to all the adrenaline.
After taking every possible backroad they finally arrived, and Izumi wasted no time dragging it into his apartment. It’s a puny studio apartment, and yet the alien looks around at it in awe. Well, it only got to look around a few moments before Izumi pulled it over to the bed and forced it to sit. ‘Stay’ he orders before grabbing a chair and sitting right in front of it.
Izumi’s interrogation begins. “Tell me everything now. What are you? Why are you here?”
“Hmmmmm it’s hard because there’s no word for my people in your language, or my planet. Words are really useless huh?” Which makes sense, but it still is an annoying answer.
“Whatever, answer my other question. Why are you here? What do you want?”
“Well….I’m here because I ran away! Wahaha! And I picked earth because as you can probably see from my appearance, my people are closely related to humans. So I would be able to blend in easier. See? I mean no harm! Your planet is really nothing but a hideout to me.”
“Hiding out from what?”
“Not important!”
It probably is important, but something tells Izumi he’s not going to get any answer right now. So he just moves on.
“How is it even possible you’re human if you’re from another planet?”
“No no. My people evolved from humans, we aren’t the same species anymore. Hmmmm, how do I explain it? We are descendants of the humans that were taken by what your people call ‘the gray ones’ many centuries ago. The human experiments, they had their memories wiped, and they learned everything over again. Eventually they were left to colonize their own planet, creating culture and society all anew, having to adapt to new environmental conditions. However they were greatly influenced by the gray ones, so we use a lot of their technology. Blah blah blah. Basically what matters is I know nothing about human society! Well, not really other than what I found out from learning your language.”
The information was a lot to take in, and yet it does all add up. It’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that all the conspiracies about alien abductions are true. It makes Izumi’s head hurt trying to unpack it all. He doesn’t even know how to respond, but he wants to know more about this mysterious visitor.
“Do you have a name?”
“Not in your language, but it’s—“ and then it makes a string of noises that are apparently it’s name. It sounds like, well, alien speak. To Izumi it literally just sounds like throat noises, he has no idea how any of the sounds differ from each other.
“Okay we gotta give you another name. Because there is no way I’m learning how to say that.”
“Well you could name me the same thing. In my language I’m named after one of the stars. But I’m a galaxy away now so you can’t see it from earth.”
“Stars huh….I have an idea.” Izumi gets up and puts the chair back, grabbing his laptop in the process. He comes back and sits next to the creature on his bed, opening the laptop. It’s a strange feeling to be casually sitting so close to an alien, even if it looks pretty human. But Izumi’s pride prevents him from acting like it’s a big deal.
“Aw, human technology is so cute!” the alien says as it leans over his shoulder to look.
Izumi ignores that slightly patronizing comment and goes through his folders of photos until he finds the one he’s looking for. “This is all photos of stars, constellations, and planets I’ve taken. Pick one you like and that will be your name.”
“But what about you? I still don’t know your name either.” And this question is about to shift things. Because soon it will no longer be an alien and the guy who happened to discover him. They would become acquaintances who call each other by name.
“Izumi….Izumi Sena.”
“Sena! How does it feel to be naming the greatest genius in the universe?”
“Genius? If you’re such a genius then why’d you get found out by a random human literally as soon as you landed?”
“Most humans aren’t at the top of mountains in the middle of the night, how was I supposed to know you’d show up! But it’s probably fate that we met! I’m much less lonely now that I have a friend!”
Friend…..that’s not how Izumi would describe them. If anything this alien is the most massive responsibility he’s ever had in his life, just thrust upon him.
“I don’t think you really understand what the word ‘friend’ means. Here just look at the photos.”
Izumi begins flipping through the slides of pictures.
“Wooow, you captured these Sena? They’re amazing!” the alien says as it looks at the beautiful images of the night sky.
Even if it’s from an alien, the compliment makes Izumi feel a sense of pride. “Of course they are, I’m the best photographer out here. Now hurry up and pick one before I do it for you.”
After a bit more browsing, the alien finally picks one. Izumi immediately recognizes the cluster of stars in the photograph. “That’s a constellation, it’s called Leo.”
The alien’s eyes light up. “Ooooh I like that! Is it a male name?”
“It is. So, you’re actually a male then?”
“What do you mean ‘actually’!? I’m similar enough to a human, can’t you see I’m male?!” and it, he , pouts at him.
And he’s right, even if he does have a bit of an androgynous look to him, Izumi already guessed he was a boy. But considering he’s an alien, he didn’t really know.
“Heh, don’t worry. I was just teasing you…Leo.” he tests out the name. It feels fitting, and Leo seems to like it too based off the grin he gives Izumi.
He reaches over and grabs his camera, feeling like he needs to commemorate this with a photo. But once again before he can get a shot in, he’s interrupted.
Leo turns away from the lens. “Hey! I thought I said no photos! No humans are supposed to know I’m here remember?”
Izumi sighs. He really, really just wants to take a picture of an alien. So maybe he’ll reassure Leo, even if it’s a lie and he very well may expose these photos to the world one day. “Relax, relax. It’s just for us, alright? I’m not going to show anyone. Don’t you want to remember this moment?”
Saying ‘just for us’ immediately felt a bit weird. Because he has no relationship to this alien, there is no ‘us’. And there never will be, since he plans on getting this guy out of his hair as soon as possible so things can go back to normal.
Leo seems to take the bait though, turning back around. “Alright, it’s my first night on earth after all, I want to remember this forever!” He even poses for the camera, doing a peace sign.
Izumi looks at Leo through the viewfinder. He doesn’t think too much about the composition of the shot, rather than just letting it be in the moment, raw and real. To most people Leo would probably look just like some guy in a weird costume, sitting in a boring apartment - but that makes it somewhat charming. No one would know the immense significance of the first photo of an alien captured by a human. He hits the shudder and Leo’s image is within his camera.
“Where the hell did you learn the peace sign? People do that in photos all the time here.”
“Peace sign? On my planet we use that gesture in greetings. But I guess it’s still fitting for me since I come in peace~”
Izumi resists the urge to roll his eyes - Leo saying a line like that really does make it feel like he’s in some cheesy sci-fi movie.
He looks at the time to see it’s already 1AM. This whole night has been quite the ordeal and Izumi quickly realizes how exhausted he is. “It’s late. We should get to sleep, if that’s something you do.”
“Of course I sleep! Where do humans sleep?”
“Right on the thing you're sitting on? It’s a bed.”
He looks down at the mattress he’s sitting on in fascination. “Woahhh this is a bed??? Interesting”
“What the hell do you sleep on then? You’ll be sleeping on the couch anyways so get off.”
Leo does the opposite of what he’s told, flopping down on the bed and curling up into a ball. “Don’t wanna! I wanna sleep on the human bed with Sena!”
Izumi thinks of his options. Having a weird alien creature sleeping right next to him in bed sounds pretty disturbing. But he doesn’t trust Leo yet, and at least if he’s in bed next to him, he’d be able to keep tabs on him all night and know if he gets up. He doesn’t need an alien snooping around his apartment while he sleeps.
“Fine. But you're changing out of that thing if you sleep in the bed.” he motions to the space suit he’s wearing. Leo nods happily in agreement.
He digs in his dresser for his own pajamas and a spare which he throws to the unearthly guy across the room, before turning around to change. He assumed that Leo was doing the same but when he finished and turned around, those bright green eyes were staring at him. “W-what are you looking at!?”
“I’ve never seen a human in real life before, Sena’s really beautiful.”
“Hah? You’re being creepy, just hurry up and change already!” He snaps as he can feel a bit of heat rise to his cheeks. However Izumi finds himself wanting to stare back at Leo when he changes as well, but for science of course. He wonders if he looks any different under that space suit.
When he looks over to see Leo shirtless, he’s shocked. Those blue lights weren’t coming from the suit, they were coming from him. Several circular metal implants spread across his torso, each emitting a glow from the center. Two beneath his collar bones, and a large one on his right side beneath the ribcage with two smaller ones horizontal to it. When he takes off his gloves, he even has two very shallow ones on the back of each hand.
“What are those things?”
“These?” he points to his chest, “The gravity on my planet is incredibly strong. They’re gravitational devices, stabilizers.” He says it casual as if it’s completely normal to have shining blue holes in your body. Where he’s from, it probably is.
“Do the lights turn off?” Izumi wonders, because if not, those things are going to be a pain in the ass to hide.
“Nope! They’ll only shut off when I’m dead! Whaha!”
Izumi has so many questions, but he’s too tired to try to find answers at the moment.
He makes Leo sleep on the side of the bed next to the wall. This way he’s forced to crawl over Izumi if he wanted to leave the bed, and any attempt to do so would wake him up. Leo seemed to fall asleep almost immediately. Izumi on the other hand took awhile. It wasn’t the blue lights that kept him awake. They were mostly covered by the sleep shirt he gave Leo to wear; the only ones really visible were on his hands. He was almost like a living nightlight, so it didn’t bother him. The warmth radiating off the other was a bit weird, even laying far apart he could feel it strongly between the covers they shared. But it wasn’t unpleasant. The thing that kept him up was finally being able to process what was happening to him. There’s someone from another planet laying next to him in his bed. The weight of that really sinking in, like it or not he’s now responsible for an alien. Tonight this chance encounter has probably changed his life forever.