Warning, light swearing.

Word count: 8832 words. This fic may be too long for you to read and i am sorry.
If there are any miss spelled words again, i am sorry.

His memory was blurry.
He walked down the corridor and went into his room, then sat on his bed.

Stoner had said..
No.
He had promised that he would stop, or atleast smoke less

Im just a junkie. He couldn't have expected much from me.

Stoner looked around his room.
It was unorganized.
The walls and floor were white, his shirts, trousers and what looked like a photograph of his family were spread across the floor.
He didn't care to pick them up nor had any intentions to ever do so.

Stoner put his hand on his forehead, feeling rather lightheaded.
His sickness wasn't completely gone, but it felt slightly better.

it feels nauseous to breath.

His lungs had a slight burning sensation. He shrugged it off.
As he did so he exhaled and remembered about the events that accured earlier.

So stupid

His high self had manadged to wander out of his bedroom, get the attention of their Captain and cause trouble.

Captain had said that it wasn't a big deal.
But Stoner felt stupid anyway.
Before Captain could wake up, he got up. Fell face first onto the cold hard ground atleast 3 times and exited Medbay.
No one else was awake, thank god for that.

Stoner couldn't begin picturing the scenario of a crewmate entering Medbay and finding the two of them asleep.
But he has more things to worry about.
Stoner feared that Captain would find his presence an embarrassment.
He had half a mind to throw himself out the airlock and run away from the aftermath.

But rethought it when he realized there are so much more drugs out there on earth that he hadn't been able to try yet.

God he really was a serious addict.

His friends and crewmates think he just does Marijuana every then and there but theres so much more to it.

He didn't have any illegal ones at the moment. NASA would be forced to turn him in if he come abroad with pills the government put laws against.
Though NASA had bent a few rules so he could take legal ones with him.
It was the most they could manadge.

Stoner jumped as the sudden sound of the emergency meeting alarm broke the silence in his room.

Before he could get off his bed, he felt like his body evaporated as the ships teleporters took him to the cafeteria.
He felt his body land on a familiar chair.
After readjusting himself he looked up and saw the equally tired, confused, and annoyed crewmates around the table who had also been taken here.
He looked down and saw he now wore his suit.

He eyed each of his team, looking for the person that called this meeting.

He was annoyed and confused. He wanted nothing more than to leave and rot in his room.

But everyone was also looking around.

To the left of Stoner, the gentleman wiped his eye, looking untidy and tired.
He turned to Mr cheese and said something he couldn't hear.
Mr cheese responded whispering something and shaking his head.
Stoner assumed Mr cheese denied calling the meeting.

The gentleman turned to face everyone, he blinked the strain out of his eye and spoke to the room.

"Who called this meeting? What is it that we need to discuss?"
He said, his voice raspy from just waking up.

He waited for a response but got nothing.

"Man, i was having the best night ever. If this isn't important. Why are we here?"
Bro said, half awake, looking a bit undead.

Still, no one said anything.
It was as like no one had called a meeting.

"Well obviously someone called this meeting. Was it a mistake?"

Engineer said his voice deeper and even more geeky with one arm still around Gnome, its commonly known that the two spends nights together.

Stoner now irritated as hell.
"Who called this meeting?" He said grogilly, finding it hard to exhale.

"We're trying to figure that out." Engineer replied, inhaling awkwardly

Stoner, scanning the room again, made eye contact with Captain for a split second before looking away.
He was across the table from Stoner.

Don't look at him.

Stoner wanted to avoid him if he could...

"Raise your hand if you were the one to rudely wake us all up." Captain announced.

No one raised their hand.

"Really? No one?" Captain said looking at his crew.

"Did no one actually call this?" Bro asked.

"Someone must have" Stoner said resting his head on his hand with his elbows on the table.

My chest feels tight.

"Yo ninja. Did you do this?" Bro accused.

"Eh? No. I did not call." Ninja said, in a thick accent.
Even though he had obviously been sleeping. He wore his headband.

Bro squinted at Ninja, as if trying to see if theres any lies on his face.

"Are you sure?" He asked again.

"Positive" Ninja said, putting a hand through his messy hair.

"then who?" Bro looked away from Ninja and towards the rest.
Everyone looked as clueless as Ninja.

Stoner looked at bro and saw he has breathing in an unusual way.

"If this is another silly prank by you, Bro. There will be issues. Im sure you've noticed, no one finds your shinanigans humorous"

The gentleman said with clear annoyance in his voice.
His hair was far from neat and there were bags under his eyes.
Most of the crew had been asleep. But everyone is in their respective space suits.
The ship automatically transports them along with their suits to avoid any...

Accidental naked meetings.

Engineer lifted his hand and tapped on the tablet screen he had on his inner arm, attached to his suit.
It acted like a small phone, connected to the ships status.

His face went from neutrally tired to concerned instantly.

Gnome noticed this nearly instantly.

"Engi, whats wrong?" She asked placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Oh my god" He said under his breath, he retracted his arm from gnome and placed it on his seat.

He looked at Captain and said.

"All our sheilds are down."

Captains brows burrowed, knowing that thats not good.

"As you know. Its normal for a few of the shields to go down because of loss of power or something of the same matter. But they're never all down."
Engineer explained, waving one hand making motions to look more knowledgeable.

Stoner, extremly drowsy responded without thinking.

"Thats like... not good, right?"

"Not at all! We could come in contact with a metorite or even just a rock and our ship would go down!
Without shields, we're just as weak as being outside of the ship"

"Well, then fix it!" Bro exclaimed.

"Thats exactly what i was going to suggest!"
Engineer said suddenly awake and full of alert.

"Well stop suggesting it and actually do it!" Bro said back, sounding out of breath.

Engineer got up and sprinted to the direction of shields.
Stoner out of the corner of his eye. Saw that engineer was having a hard time breathing air.

Stoners fellow crewmates started talking amongst eachother.

"Thats not normal, is it?!"
"Why would sheilds be down?"
"This makes no sense"
"We could have died?!"
"Engineer will fix it. Hes good with that stuff"

Rose, who sat next to Bday. Turned on her own screen that was on the inner side of her right arm. Just like engineers.

There was a loud gasp and she stood up.
"Oxygen dropped to 28 percent! Thats dangerously low!"

Is that why im so drowsy...?
Thats would explain everyones breathing problem...

"Ill get on it!" Rose said sprinting off.
Bday without speaking followed close behind her.
Both retracting from running.

"No alarm?" Ninja asked no one specifically.
As ninja inhaled, he coughed.

"If the alarm didnt go off, that means that there must be a wiring error.
Ill go around and see if i can find the problem."
The gentleman announced walking off in a rush

"Accompany me if you wish." He added to mr cheese.

Mr cheese nodded and went after him, having to jog to keep up with the gentlemans walk.

The ship was having problems that could have been lethal, had it not been noticed.
Something clicked in stoners mind.

Oxygen depleted and that would cause the alarm to go off.
But if theres a wiring issue, of course it wouldn't sound.
The ship knows that the alarm wasn't going off and the crew is alseep. It has schedules written into its database.
Making the logic answer that the ship automatically activated the teleporters to wake us and bring us all together.

But how could there have been a wiring issue?
All shields went under. Making us vulnerable.

Why would oxygen be depleting in the first place?

Stoner looked up and saw that Captain was up and going.
Stoner wanted to follow him, but thought better of it.
He needed the full picture before venting to Captain about things Captain probably already knew.

eveyone that was once around the table had gotten up, even without things to do, they didnt want to appear like they weren't busy.
Stoner decided that following everyone elses moves were a better idea than being on his own in the cafeteria.

What was he good at?
Not activating the reactor thats for sure.

he wasn't the worst when it came to fixing wires, he went down of cafeteria, down the hallway and into admin.

There was an alarm speaker next to the camera which stood high on the wall. Outside admin area.

He went in and opened up an electric panel, revealing wires.
He scanned them, trying to spot any out of place things.

His sense of smell had become worse and less efficient over the years, but despite that, he could pick up on the smell of something burnt.

Stoner grabbed a stack of wires and saw the pink coloured wire had black patches.

They're burning.

Theres a good list of things that are worrisome.

Burnt wires are pretty high on the list.
With inspection it became clear that only a certain part of the cables were damadged, if he removed them and connected new ones it should hold up until he finds the source of what caused the spike in electricity and made the cables over heat then burn inside out.

And to do that he needs equipment, theres a box in the storage that has extra tools.
He tried to run into storage but nearly collapsing from the extreme pressure on his lungs.

right... low o2, goddamn.

Faster than strolling, slower than jogging. He made it to storage and looked around at the stack of crates.
He picked up one and looked at the label.

wires, connection cords, chargers, HDMI cables.
Was written in big letters and in plain sight.

He opened the crate and dug around, he took out wires that were in mint condition and went back to admin area.
He had electrical tape, cutters and an electricity tester with him on his suit.

He went back to the panel, took out the electricity tester and checked which parts of the wires still worked and which parts were completely burnt away.

After that, he took cutters, ripped off the useless cables, he took the mint ones he got and took out his clamp tool to connect the lines.
After that he took tape and taped them.
He moved on to the next pair and then the next ones.

When he connected the lines of the last wire, the sudden shriek of the emergency alarm caused him to drop his tools and cover his ears in agony.

Oxygens still depleting thats a problem... atleast ive fixed the alarm.

Stoner left his tools on the floor of admin and tried to run towards o2.

Halfway there he stopped and fell to the floor, unable to breath properly.

He turned on his screen tablet and saw that the oxygen capacity is 17%.
So much lower than before.

His head felt light as his lungs struggled to comprehend the sudden drop of air supply. He nealed on the wall and slowly but Surely walked towards o2, the alarm still ringing in his ear.

Oxygen is depleting... why?
If it was a problem with the o2 filter it would decrease slowly since we are breathing it, it would take a week atleast to run out of oxygen.

Stoner thought of possibilities as his vision was slowly fading. His vital organs and brain were suffering from lack of oxygen. Normally a person would be able to live for a while, but Stoner is a heavy smoker, his worn out lungs couldn't deal with this.

Air must be escaping...
Or its getting sucked out...
Which...
Is the same thing in our situation.
Where is air escaping?

He dropped to his knees and leaned on the wall on his right side.
He was bracing to pass out, when he heard someone calling him from behind, to the left.

"Stoner! Hey hey, dont fall down"

Stoner turned around and saw the blonde leader coming to him.

"I knew you'd have trouble breathing. Frankly, i cant breath myself." He said as he got stoner to get off from his knees then wrapped Stoners arm around his shoulder.

Captains face was stern and calm as anyone could be in this situation.

Stoner despite being in a bad conditions, couldn't help but feel useless.

"You fixed the alarm right? Thank you. The gentleman couldnt figure out what the problem was"
Captain said getting Stoner to walk forward.
Stoner lifted his head and looked at captain.

"Captain?" Stoner said.

Captain now picking up the pace while keeping Stoner steady.

"Yeah stoner?"

"Oxygen... whats happening?"

Captain waited a second before speaking.

"Well im not exactly sure, but id like to be"
Captain replied honestly.
Stoner stirred and did his best keep up.

Stoner turned to Captain who glanced at him then continued to face forward.

He doesn't want anything to do with me. I need to get away...

Stoner shook his head and tried to push Captain away.
Captain put his hand around Stoners waist, not letting himself be moved away.

"Im fine" Stoner repeating what he said hours earlier.

Captain scoffed.

"We are not doing that again, you are coming with me whether you like it or not. I mean, look at you, you can't breath Stoner"

"Yes i can" Stoner replied.

"Bet" Captain said as he walked Stoner forward.

Stoner accepted defeat. Convincing himself that Captain perhaps did want something to with him, though that still didnt mean Captain liked him.

"where are we going?"  He decided to ask.

Captain had went around storage and brought Stoner back to where he came from.

"Ill drop you at Cafateria, after that i must be at o2."

Captain walked stoner to cafeteria, made him sit at a table, despite Stoners refusal and hurried off to the right, where o2 was.
Captain having to stop running in between finding he couldn't take full breaths.

The alarm still sounded and it started to give him a migraine.
He saw engineer run into cafeteria, he fall hard onto his knees mid movement.
He got up immediately, far faster than he intended.

Engineer realized he shouldn't have got up that fast and got extremely dizzy.

He looked up and saw Stoner. Engineer spoke but it was muffled out from the alarm.
Stoner gave a confused look.

Engineer stumbled towards and stood near Stoner.

"Why is oxygen still depleting?" Engineer asked.

"I thought you were at shields?" Stoner said.

"I was, i needed to get something from storage.
Why is oxygen depleting?" He repeated himself.

Shields... sheilds was down. Something could have hit us as we were moving.
Oxygen is leaking from somewhere.
Oxygen
Sheilds
Wires damadged.

"is the ship undamadged?" Stoner asked.

"No damage i know of"

"So it could be?"

"Very much so. Im getting that you don't know why we are losing oxygen?"

shields down
Something couldve hit
Wires damadged
Air escaping

"I have an idea, Engineer i need a favor." Stoner suddenly said.
Have an idea of what could be happening to the ship.

Stoner, with Engineer supporting him Headed to navigation.

Stoner needed to be sure of something.

"Why are we going to navigation?" Engineer asked, having trouble with Stoners weight.

"I need to check something." He answered.

As they passed up shields and towards navigation, both stopped in the hallway leading into navigation.

They heard a noise on top of the alarm.
They found it hard to extremely hard to breath and it was cold, really cold.

Stoner got off Engineer, leaned on the wall then peered around the corner into Navigation.

To Stoners shock but not his suprise.
The window that showed the space sky, seperating the crew from outside and inside.
had a tennis ball sized hole in the middle, a hole that sure as hell isn't supposed to be there.

Sucking out air and items.

Stoners hair was getting blown in the direction of the break in the window.
Engineer looked terrified, his question now answered on why oxygen was depleting.

Engineer looked at Stoner, who looked to the right where the electric panel with wires on the wall should be.

Whatever space rock that crashed into the ship had went through the glass and into the navigation wires.

Oxygen...
Damadged wires...

Stoners knees buckled under his legs and he fell onto his hands and knees.

There was barely any oxygen in that area and Stoners body screamed in agony from lack of air in his blood cells.

His body felt so cold, he felt no heat at all.

Engineer tried to pick up stoner but he wasnt strong enough to lift him, now that Stoner wasn't supporting himself, he was as heavy as a dead body.

Engineer panicked and looked around, he couldn't pick him up and Stoner would surely die if Engineet doesn't get him out of here.

"Can you stand at all?" Engineer asked when he couldn't think of any ideas.

Stoner responded to his question by completely dropping to the floor.
Stoner fought to stay conscience, but he was slowly losing that battle.
Engineer panicked but perked up when he heard someone shout hey!

He turned to the right and across the hall stood bro.

"What in the world is this?" Bro said having to yell over the alarm which was still sounding and flashing a red eary glow.

"HELP ME! Stoner can't get up!"
Engineet yelled back.

Bro went across, nearly falling and losing his footing when he felt the space vaccum pulling from that small entrance.
His hat however was snatched from his head and flew out the hole.
Bros eyes widened and he stared for a few seconds before returning to reality and going to help Stoner.

Bro loved that hat, he had it since his college days.

Engineer grabbed stoners legs and bro, who was much more athletic than engineer lifted up Stoners upper body. They carried Stoner back to shields where they placed him down slowly.

Stoners vision blurred and fuzzed and he blacked out before anything else happened.

Engineer and bro breathed heavily, out of breath.
Engineer turned on his tablet on his inner arm once again.

Warning: Oxygen 10%

"We need to fix that!" Engineer said to Bro.

"How?!" He asked back.

Engineer pointed past communication and towards Storage.

"Theres a gun thats made for closing up holes. It should be mounted on the wall."
Engineer said and he turned to bro.

"ill go get it" Bro quickly said walking off, trying not to move too fast. If he did, he would collapse and join Stoner on the floor.

Bro entered Storage and bumped into The gentleman, Mr cheese and Captain.
Bro pointed at Engineer who was nervously waiting.

"He needs help. We know why oxygens depleting!" Bro said.
Mr cheese and the gentleman (who still looked awful, but really alert) nodded and went to Engineers aid.

Captain however was asking if he knows where stoner is.
He looked concerned and on edge.
Bro knows about Stoners lung problem and thought Captain must be looking for Stoner for that exact reason.

"With engineer" He said, then wasting no time pushed passed Captain and picked up the gun on the wall.

He and Captain both went down and as Bro handed Engineer the gun, he could've sworn Captains face went pale when he saw stoner on the floor.

Engineer frantically explained what was happening and what they needed to do.
Having to repeat himself because of the blaring alarm. Another reason being that no one could understand his ridiculous voice.

Mr cheese raised his hand to volunteer but was immediately shut down by The gentleman.
Ebeneezer didn't want to do it and sure as hell would not let Mr cheese either. But he'd unhappily risk himself if no one else was up for the job

"I should do it" Captain who was kneeling down infront of stoner, suddenly got up and announced.
His face definitely pale, from no oxygen or from seeing Stoners state. No one was exactly sure which.

Ninja, who no one knew was in the room said.

"Me"

Engineer streched out his arm, obviously having no intention to do it. Even if no one else wanted to either.
Ninja got to the gun before Captain did and refused to give it to him.

"I go, Captain" Ninja said in broken english.

Captain shook his head,
"Are you sure? We need to hurry"

Ninja put his finger on the trigger threateningly.

"Yes i am"
Captain didn't persue it, he knew that Ninja was more than trust worthy and capable.
So Captain turned his attention to the second problem.
Stoner.

Ninja left and the others gathered around Stoner.
Captain Lifted Stoner and placed him leaning against a wall seated

Captain wanted to take Stoner else where but he would surely collapse before making it 10 steps.

No one at the momment could move around without choking on their own lungs. They need to fix that damn leakage.

Ninja went down the hallway, doing his best to stay upright. He grew up in a place with excellent air quality and his body couldn't handle this deprivation.
His vision every so often went blank and came back in.

When he turned and peaked around the corner into navigation like Stoner, his headband flew off his head and out of the ship, meeting the same fate Bros hat did.
His body was dizzy and so frozen, he couldn't act fast enough to grab it.

He looked at the window, the hole barely bigger than a tennis ball.

He needed to get close enough to seal it off properly.
He turned the corner completly and felt the vaccum pull. He had to tighten his grasp on the gun to make sure he didn't lose it.

He took a step, got pulled forwards, fell and hit his knees into the control panels front section.
infront of the window.

He held his breath because there was absolutely no air, he lifted his arm and pointed it.

He tried to pull the trigger, but found it difficult to do so, his fingers felt lifeless.

When he finally pulled it the gun, as designed to do so.
shot out a hot silver liquid that hardened in seconds upon landing on solid surface.

He closed it off and fell backwards as the skeld regulated the gravity.
After making sure that the crack was fully sealed , he exhaled and took a breath of air.

The alarms of the ship silenced instantly and it automatically started regenerating O2 again. The constant red flashing stopped and Ninja could actually hear himself think again.

Back in shields.
Everyone perked up as the alarms went out, Engineer checked his screen and the O2 levels.

11%.....

12%.....

13%.....

14%.....

It would take a few minutes before reaching 100% again.

Engineer announced in a stressed voice that the oxygen was increasing and everyone let go of the breath they hadn't known they were holding in their chests.

Captain turned to Stoner and took his pulse, his heart rate was slow. His body had to somehow regulate and had lowered his oxygen usage.

As the skeld refilled with air again, Rose and bday came over, they had been in electrical, the gentleman and Mr cheese
(Mostly The gentleman) asked the two to start fixing severly burned and broken wires in electrical while The gentleman worked the ones outside security and the ones in storage Mr cheese repaired.

The wires that were destroyed in navigation from the space rock created accsess energy that burned up all the other wires.

From navigation to admin, admin to electrical and it traveled to security then to storage, after that into cafeteria.
The faulty wires caused O2 to stop being generated and the alarm to not go off.
Before all wires burned, the ships teleporters in Cafeteria activated and brought the crew together before they died in their sleep.

After oxygen levels filled over 50%.
Captain bent down and picked up Stoner.
Engineer looked at their Captain as he carried Stoner away bridal style.

Engineer had seen on reality shows that grooms often do that when carrying their wives.

He turned back around, adressing the situation to his girlfriend who had apparently blacked out in Cafeteria earlier. Gnome now held a defining bruise on her forehead to back up her story.

Captain took Stoner back to the place they spent hours together before.

Back in medbay.

Captain placed Stoner on the bed he slept in and sat on the bed opposite.

Captain put his hands to his face and exhaled.

It hasnt even reached breakfast time and the day has already been so disastrous, his head felt like cracking from the amount of stress he felt in the span of an hour.

His body was very jumpy, he's been anxious since he woke up and his anxiety worsened when he saw Stoner collapsed in storage and how weak he looked and was.

This made his efforts vain when adressing the huge crisis that had just accured.

He couldn't focus.
That caused him to have trouble figureing out what was wrong with the ship and that made him stress more.

Captain felt extremely useless, he barely did anything while his team did everything.
He took a deep breath, finding much easier to do so with the oxygen fixed.

He looked up and at Stoner who was still out cold.
He looked down at his hands.

Useless

Captain thought about what happened a few hours ago. With stoners episode and his ilness.
And how they slept in the same bed. And how he hoped that things would work out.

Captain now realized his own worth.

Not much... Never has been...

And he knew Stoners standards.

Im not worth Stoners time at all.
How stupid of me to hope that...

Captains neutral face fell and his expression saddened.
His eyes heated from incoming tears.

He never cried.

He laughed sadly and wiped his eyes with his arm.
Wether from a stress break or pity for himself.
He couldn't tell anymore at the moment.

"You alright Captain?" A voice behind him out of the blue asked.
Captain was caught off guard but turned and saw Player and Veteran, who were absent through out most of the hour, and most of the crisis.

His first instinct was to smile and say he was completly fine. But he didnt have the energy to do that.
He didn't have energy to pretend.

Not today atleast.

"Where have you been?" Captain asked.

Players expression changed when Captain asked so seriously.
Captain noticed that and added to his question
"Im just asking. Im not angry in any way."

"Well, as soon as we found out what was happening. We went to communications and reported it to HQ"
Veteran explained.

Captains expression stiffined.
He turned away while saying.
"Thank you. Leave me alone."

Player realized Captain never answered his question and and was slightly taken aback by his last words.

L e a v e  m e   a l o n e

It sounded so full of hate and anger.

He nudged Veteran to leave.
Seeing Captain not in high spirits made him nervous. It was extremely uncommon for their usually bubbly captain to be like this.

The two left and Captain blankly stared at the ground.
Theres was nothing interesting about the floor but it was the only thing that Captain felt wasn't better than him at the moment.

Captain has things to do, but felt so weak at the moment. His head hurt and something else stung just as bad.

Expectations

His hopes were cruely broken and that hurt more than his head, hurt more than that one time he broke his arm in elementary school.
And much worse than the time he was beaten in highschool.

Physical pain healed but mental pain seemed to always linger after years.

Doubt from when he failed his flight school again and again still followed him years even after he proved himself successful and and joined the crew.

Captain was over thinking.
Even though he felt awful, he started to get up and head to the door and exited Medbay. He looked back at Stoner one last time and walked away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stoner woke up.
He didn't know when and had trouble remembering where he was for a few seconds.

He looked around and saw that the atmosphere was calm.

Not dead. Im not dead.

Stoner wondered if the oxygen issue was fixed and then called himself stupid, because if it wasn't he'd be dead and just a second ago he addressed that he indeed was alive.

He sat up, feeling sore from having slept in his suit.
He got up and left the room.

He entered cafeteria and was greeted by bro shaking him profusely.

"And there he is! The green guys alive guys!" Bro said attracting the attention of everyone.

Alot of his teammates were in the cafeteria and all came up to Stoner to greet him and check on his well being.

The sudden voices and people made Stoner uneasy.
The gentleman barked at them to give Stoner space and they all moved away, noticing how unpolite they were acting.

Stoner was apologetic about being out and everyone assured him that it was okay. Everything was fixed and they were all fine.

Stoner looked past everyone and spotted Captain at the far back sitting at a table alone.

Captain lacked any emotion and just sat there.
Captain didn't look up or even acknowledge him and this Rubbed Stoner the wrong way.

All of his thoughts from before this crisis and from his act in medbay came back to him in an instant and he suddenly felt uncomfortable there, infront of people and ignored by Captain.

He turned around and left cafeteria. Everyone looked confused but dissmissed it to Stoner feeling sick.
Everyone could use a break.

Engineer glanced at Captain and the leaving figure of Stoner.
Engineer was no expert but felt that there was a dillema between the two.

Suddenly thinking of the time Captain carried Stoner away like a bride. But immediately brushed that memory.

He turned to his girlfriend and told her his thoughts.
Gnome turned and looked at Captain who hadn't moved an inch.

Gnome suggested that they talk to Captain. But engineer brought that idea down as he's far too introverted for that.
Gnome then decided that she'd go over and ask herself.

Engineer said to her more than a few times of how that was a horrible idea but she ignored him and went through with her plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Captain stared at the table, his mind empty of thoughts or anything at all.

He heard from the corner of his mind bro say

"And there he is! The green guys alive guys!

He looked up and saw Stoner briefly before everyone else bombarded him.
He found himself give a small smile before saddening again.
He wanted to go over and ask Stoner if he was alright.
But a thought persuaded him otherwise.

You're aren't worth his time. You know that. You addressed that in medbay you moron.

He shook his head and turned back to the table, not looking towards Stoner again.

You actually thought you could get close with him? You can't. You know that.

Captain heard The gentleman bark something. And a minute later everyone walk back to their original places, with Stoner having left.

Just as Captain felt he had enough of this and planned to leave, he felt a hand on his right shoulder.
He looked up and saw the lime girl that was Gnome.
His eyes wandering over her bruise she got from face planting to the ground.

"Hey Captain, you wouldn't mind if we chatted will you?. You look down." Gnome said.

Captain wanted to tell her to get lost.

What did she do? Gonna take your anger out on a girl? You'll just look sad in front of everyone.

"Of course Gnome" Captain responded motioning to the empty space next to him with his hand.

Gnome smiled and took a seat next to Captain.

"Rough day huh?" She asked.

Captain didn't need reminding of how inefficient he was today.
Or how he is in general.

"Yeah, but im glad everyones okay." He answered.

"Well, everyones okay because everyone did their part. Well exept me of course. I was born with a lung problem and i kinda dropped"

She said randomly and gestured at her forehead that still had a bruise on it.

"I knew that." He said.

Gnome raised her eyebrows.

"You did?"

"I read everyones backgrounds when i first joined the team" Captain explained.

You sound like a creep jesus chirst.

Gnome smiled.
"You're so considerate! You really care about us don't you, Captain?" Gnome bloomed.

They don't care for you the same way you care for them.

"Perhaps. But i did it out of authority"

Authority? Don't flatter yourself.

Gnome gave a cheeky grin and froze, thinking her next words carefully.
She remembered her main objecgive and clicked her tongue.

"Speaking of caring. Everything alright between you and Stoner?"

Those words hit Captain differently.

They must know. Wow, they must really think you're pathetic now!

"Theres nothing wrong why do you ask?"
Captain said keeping a calm demeanor and trying everything to stay calm

Don't get angry don't get angry.

Don't get angry? Really...?

Im fine. Theres nothing wrong with that question.
Think about it!

"Oh nothing, Me and engineer just think that there might a be a little.
Uhh i dunno. Whats the right word?"

Problem. A huge problem and
you're the reason.
You're a burden and a problem to everyone.

"Uhm, a problem i guess." Gnome said.

Captains eyes widened and he started to breath aggravatedly.
Gnome noticed but didn't know what it meant.
She tried to continue but Captain spoke up.

"What?" Captain said, his tone no longer emotionless.

Gnome tried to turn the conversation around.

"I don't know how to say it. Did something happen? It looked like Stoner was avoiding you, or were avoiding him? Perhaps im overthinking it?" Gnome ranted.

Many questions. So many...

Captain no longer calm at all, he broke a little.

"Listen. What ever you and your geek of a boyfriend think. Drop it. There is no 'problem' and there never will be. between me and Stoner theres nothing. But keep being nosy and it will be problematic between you and me instead got it you snag?"

Captain said his whole demeanor falling along with his expression.
There was no doubt in his voice of what he said. But unlike before when he told Stoner he'd stay with him, Captain threatened Gnome with staying away from him.
Far fucking away from him.

Gnomes puzzled expression turned to awe, having taken a lethal step she tried to undo what she'd done.

"Im not saying that in a bad way Captain. I- i- we- were just curious and we were concerned-"

"You think your concern means anything to me? Well don't flatter yourself"
Captain said getting up from his seat and and storming off.

"Captain!" Gnome yelled after him.

He stopped and looked at her.

"This isn't like you, whats wrong? You can trust us!"
Gnome said as a last stitch effort to undo her serious mistake.

C a n    y o u?

Captain looked at everyone whos attention had been caught and now looked at Captain.

Players and Veterans eyes went back and forth from Gnome to Captain while Engineer looked like he was a in a stupor of i told you so.

The gentleman stared at him with pure confusion.
Rose and bday were whispering to one another while Bro and Ninja shared glances with each other.

His anger faded and replaced with nothing again.

"I don't know. I seriously dont"

As he said that, the dreadful voice of doubt returned back to him.

They think you are strange.
They'll talk and happily rip you apart in their conversations

They wouldn't do that.

I thought you didn't know.

They would... They definitely would.

Captain gave in into his mental battle.
He turned back around and left the cafeteria without a second word.

He exited through the bottom into storage and towards the right.
He went into shields and from there straight down and towards his room.
Captain turned left, down the hall and when he looked forward, he saw Stoner.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Stoner left Cafeteria, he returned to his room and planned to stay there until the work peroid was over.
When he entered his room however, it didn't feel welcoming anymore.

Ever since his first encounter with Captain that was only just several hours ago, the initial Medbay encounter.

He hasn't been at peace of mind. Espiecally not when he could not stop replaying the events in his head.

Again and again and again.

Stoner at the moment was the most sober he's been in months. Having your life threatened, and without a doubt really does something to your mind.

Stoner thought about Captain like he did earlier before everyone woke up.
Just now sober this time.

You really frightened me back there Stoner.

Suddenly the enounter didn't feel so stupid.
Stoner didnt feel as stupid either.

Oh no, don't apologize

Captain didn't sound like he was annoyed or tired.
The weight on his chest lightened as he recalled what Captain said throughout it.

"Wont you get tired of me?"

No. Why would i?

Stoner took a deep breath and tried to recall something.
Towards the end, didn't Captain say something? Stoner remembered feeling relaxed by it.

I think you're quite great too Stoner

Stoner sat down onto the floor and coughed into his sleeve.
Suddenly feeling like a fool.
Like an idiot.

His first thoughts were to find Captain.
Stoner was thick minded, not even he can argue against that.
But to be that oblivious is just ridiculous.
Stoner thought too deeply into it.

Captain didn't hate him at all. He wouldn't say that if he did hate Stoner.

Captain ignoring him earlier was natural.
No ones exactly had a great day today.

Stoner checked the time.
5:24 pm.

I was out for a long time.

Nevertheless its early. Stoner wanted to settle things between him and Captain.
Atleast get in friendly terms again.
Another reason Captain ignored him could have been because Stoner never even went up to Captain.
Stoner assumed things and then got upset at absolutely nothing.

He got up from the floor and opened his door, when he entered the hallway.
He saw Captain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stoner shut his door and faced Captain.

There he is, the man who hates our guts.

Stoner looked as though he wanted to speak.
Captain went for his door but he heard Stoner call out to him.

"Captain?"

Captain froze, not looking Stoners way.
He felt panicked and didn't think of what to say.

"Hey, i just wanted to talk." Stoner said.

Captain looked at Stoner with an expression out of character for Captain.

Stoner looked puzzled at him.

Captain stayed silent for a while, looking more and more blank.

He did not want to talk to Stoner
He did not want to look at Stoner
He did want to face Stoner

ignore him. Most likely wants to make fun of you.

"Im busy. Im sorry Stoner" Captain said neutrally.

Stoner gave him a look. An unfamiliar look.

Was he disappointed?

Dissapointed. Thats worse than made fun of.

Disappointed?

Captain felt like lashing out, but he shouldn't do that when Stoner hasn't even done anything.

He turned back around and went to input the code for his door.
He heard Stoner walk over.
Before he could input the last digit, a hand was placed on his shoulder.

Unlike when Gnome tapped his shoulder, he wasn't annoyed or aggravated.

He turned and looked at Stoner.

He wore this expression that Captain could not read.

Anger?
Disgust?
Annoyed?

I don't know.

Stoner tried to speak but didn't actually say anything. It seems hes lost for words.

"I understand that you're not very social at the moment but I was hoping we could, you know. Talk about stuff."

Captains anger felt muffled, no matter how angry he felt. He couldn't ignore Stoner.
Espiecally not when Stoner was the one seeking conversation.

Captain knew he couldn't avoid Stoner forever, no matter how much he wanted too.
Captain shoulders dropped and he faces Stoner.

"I-im sorry I, just..."

P a t h e t i c

"Im sober now, and while I still am. I just wanted to-"

Tell you how stupid you are
How much you don't matter.
That you dont matter to anyone

"-thank you"

He stared at Stoner dumbfounded. He truly didn't expect that.
He was relived to know that he was perhaps overthinking too much.
Being thanked was so much better than what he was being over whelmed by.

"Oh, Stoner. Its nothing" He began.

"Okay bro, its not nothing. You went out of your way to help. I'm saying thank you and accept it please" Stoner repeated.

"Stoner don't. Its my job to-"

"Even then! Thank you" Stoner kept on insisting.

Captain was expecting his horrid thoughts to barade him and convince him that Stoner wasn't being honest But they never came.
Captain knew Stoner wasn't lying. No matter the arguement.
Captain couldn't help but give a small smile.

In return Stoner grinned.

"Its no problem Stoner, id like to apologize for being a bit..."

"Cranky"

"Yeah, that's the word im looking for. Cranky. Its been a bad day"

"Yeah, actually, you've handled this so much better than I would have if I were in your shoes"

"You always make me sound like I'm such a great person"

"Well, I mean, you are."

"You're too kind Stoner"

"You're more compassionate than me though."

"You overestimate me too much, ive said countless times, im not that great. Im just... Not."

For the last few weeks, Captains self worth has slowly started decreasing and decreasing.
Todays incident completly broke it, and if that wasn't clear earlier.

He realized this negative talk was not helping Stoner with what hes trying to achieve.

Captain shook his head.

"Yes i know, i shouldn't say that. Im sorry. Like you said. Im just feeling weird right now"

To Captains suprise, Stoner took a step forward.

"I could help you. Im feeling rather different too"

"I can tell"

Stoner raised his eyebrows

"Is that an insult?"

"No wait, no it's not" Captain quickly cut in.

Stoner chuckled a bit,
"Im just messing with ya, i know you'd never insult me."

"Really?"

"Well i mean, yes. Not to sound cheesy, but you're probably one of the greatest friends i could have possibly asked for"

This made Captain more happy then it should have. Him knowing that Stoner wouldn't lie like this made it even better.

"You dont know how much that means to me Stoner"

"Is it alot?"

"Yes."

Stoner looked pleased with Captains answer.

"Now that ive thought about it, you're one of my only friends really."

"Im sure thats an over statement."

"Its not if i know im sure. Dont downgrade yourself."

Captain gave Stoner a genuine happy smile.
Stoner playfully hit Captain on the shoulder.

"There he is."

There he is? What does Stoner mean, there he is?

"Who is?"

Stoner without a second thought said his next words.

"The man i lo-"

Stoner cut himself off mid sentence and froze.
Captain did too.

Captain could have sworn Stoners next word was love.

Is this a joke?
This is a joke.

Stoners smile had gone and he looked like he had made a mistake.

This isn't a joke?

"You...?"

"I-"

"Forget i said anything, im sorry dude i-"

"I-"

"Are you lying?"

Captain knew he wasn't, but had to be sure. He had to be completely sure.

"Im uhm, no.
I- i- im not lying..." Stoner replied.
He shook his head and looked at the wall.

"Like i said, Forget it im sorry. I got to go"

Stoner in an instant turned and started walking away quick pased.
Captains mind didnt react, he didn't even have enough time to think but his vocal cords acted as if they had a life of their own.

"Stoner, i do too"

He stopped walking and just stood there.
He turned back to Captain.

"What?"
Stoner replied still not fully comprehending what he was hearing.

He slowly walked over to Stoner.

"I said, i do too."

Captain didn't think twice about this after thinking about it the first time.
He would even go as far as saying he was confident.

Stoner looked from captain to the floor and back at Captain.
He seemed puzzled to how he would proceed.

"You're not just saying that to make me feel better, right?"
Stoner asked, the way he asked it saddened Captain again.

Captain shook his head.

"You know me, i'd never do that. Im not like that"

Stoner scoffed.
"I do know. Its just... I never thought you'd. You know-"

Captain laughed.
"I thought the same thing Stoner. I hoped, but i never actually expected"

Stoner looked Captain in the eyes, like he did before, Stoner took in what Captain said and a small smile returned.

Captain returned the smile and he out streched his hand towards Stoner.

Stoner looked down at it and slowly lifted his own hand and held Captains.

Stoners hand was much softer than Captain anticipated and gave it a light squeeze.
To Captains suprise Stoner suddenly stepped forward and gave him a tight loving hug.
As expected, Stoner still wreeked of marijuana and other substances. But that wasn't exactly such a bad smell.
Perhaps not so great for Stoners health, those edibles and drugs.

But Captain believed they could work that out.
He felt so much better now.
He didnt feel gloomy, he didn't feel angry, doubtful or mad at himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Captain smelled like mens perfume, the less strong and nicer kind.
Captain didnt smell like that when they were in bed, Captain must have not had it on then.

That would mean the first thing Captain did when he woke up was put on perfume, for some reason that made Stoner feel warm.
Its a funny thing to imagine.
Captain waking up and badazzling himself up.
Perhaps Stoner should get advice from him, of all people he needs it.

Stoner didn't know how to proceed right now.
He is holding hands and hugging the man he could have sworn thought Stoner was embarrassing.

Yet here he is.

He wanted to do something. But what he wanted would be overkill.
He wanted to possibly give Captain a small kiss.

But he didn't want to risk ruining the delicate situation.

Stoner exhaled and relaxed into captain, Stoner was slightly shorter than the blonde leader but that doesn't matter.

"I've always liked you. You're a good person"

Captain said after a while.

"I wouldn't be so confident about that. Theres always better than me"

"It depends Stoner, theres always someone better but it depends on standards"

"I always thought you were out of my league"

"I believed you were out of mine"

"Really? Im not that up there on leagues"

"Swallow your own advice, dont downgrade yourself, i think you're perfect the way you are"

"You're too kind"

"You are too"

Captain pulled away slightly and placed a small kiss on Stoners cheek.

Stoner could feel his face turn red and Captain chuckled when he noticed.

"Oh... im not kissed very often.."
Stoner said placing a hand on his cheek.
Hes got to admit he doesnt remember the last time he was kissed in the last 3 years.
Until just now of course.

"Would you like to be?"
Captain asked.

Stoner flustered at the idea of being kissed by Captain again.

"I would if you want to" Captain carefully offered.

"I- uh...
That would be... very nice" Stoner said feeling even more flustered.

Captain took that as a yes, bent down slightly and gave Stoner a kiss.
On the lips.

Of course there were hazards to this, Stoner was still sick.
But just one smooch isn't the end of the world.

Stoner is never going to ever say this outloud or to anyone ever. But Captain strangely tasted like sweet strawberry.

Stoner rapped his hands around captains neck and pulled him closer so he could get a better position.

Captains lips were so soft and Stoner could feel himself get more and more flustered and red.

Stoner had forgotten how nice human contact was, he'd been alone for so many years.

No partners for atleast 5 years if he recalls correctly.

For the first time today, he didn't feel so negative about himself.
He felt one of Captains hands grab his back, the other behind his head.

Stoner in no way was good at making out. Or kissing in general.

He felt butterflies go from his stomach and up his chest.
A heat traveled through his body in an alarming rate.
It was a new and exciting feeling.
And he had to admit, it was the best feeling hes had in a very long time.

The sensation was contagious and his mind was getting fuzzy, he couldn't think about much other than Captain.
He didn't want to think about anything other than Captain anyway.

After what felt like hours, in hignsight it was most likely a few minutes, they split apart.

Stoner stepped back and covered his face with his arm.
He was so flushed and red, he didn't need to be seen like that.

Stoner looked up and saw that Captain was a beatiful shade of pink himself.

This was the best case scenario Stoner could have dreamed of.

With his free hand he lifted it towards Captain and Captain with no hesitation took it immediately.

Through his arm, covering his face, Stoner had the cheekiest smile hes ever made.
This was really not like him to be cheeky or flushed. But love does strange things, as gnome likes to put it whenever she'd sit on engineers lap.

Stoner hoped this wasnt going to be some meaningless kiss.

Not to sound like a love-sick teenager in a cheesy romance highschool movie, but Stoner truly wanted a relationship.

The day he met Captain, and when he helped Stoner hours before and during the oxygen crisis. He realized he didn't want to live his whole drug addicted life by himself.

He wanted someone to apart of it, or be apart of someones elses life instead.

He could turn his attitude life around.
Like how the gentleman went from a rude snobby rich man, to a kind snobby rich man when he met Mr cheese.

He and Captain could be like the gentleman and Mr cheese.

Thoughts like that made Stoner actually enjoy the future for once.
He was excited and unexpectedly happy.

Holding hands with Captain was a small thing but held so much possibilities.
And such a bright future, even for a person like Stoner who was a pill addicted junkie.

He really, really loved the idea of being a couple with Captain. Just like Gnome and engineer, Rose and bday, and just like Mr cheese and the gentleman.

Though he'd enjoy less arguements.

Stoner gave Captain one last hug before they went different directions.
Captain wanted a small rest in his room, and Stoner realized he hadn't ate in 2 days.

Stoner was excited for the next time he would encounter Captain.

It even made him smile.

And an encounter  making Stoner smile was...
Rare.

He couldn't wait to see Captain again.