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"I want to know the real you" Red whispered, visor so close they were practically touching.
A galaxy of stars glittered above them in the navigation room. All the others with their doubt, paranoia and hatred had ran off, maybe to camp at the security cameras or to double triple check every member, but the two had slipped away to find respite from the chaos of pointing fingers and terrified defenses.
The ship gently hummed their ears, the sound of suit against suit. For so long they had to wear this PPE it was driving Black crazy.
The tinted visor hid Black's face flushing hard as he felt Red's glove brush his side. The first real… intimate touch he had felt in a long, long time. His heart pounded so hard he could have sworn Red could hear it.
"T-the real me?" His sheepish voice peeped, and Red's confidence facade melted.
"Oh! Oh no I meant- i mean- no not like that- its just- um-" he drew back, suddenly scared and flustered at what he just accidentally implied.
But black's giggle stopped their fiddling hands and they looked back up.
"You're so silly, Red… of course I hate these suits… solar radiation carcinogen doesn't sound fun but… but I do miss human contact, y'know..."
"I.. wanna see you," Red rubbed the back of his klunky helmet in a cute nervous gesture. "I know you can't really-"
Without hesitation Black's hands shot up to the safety latch on the outside of his helmet, and black reached out in flusterdness.
"No! No no no not like-"
"Calm down Red, you're so nervous all the time," black laughed again to calm him down. "Its okay for just a little bit. It's the long term exposure that hurts you."
They were all taught that in basic training, but he couldn't fault Red's apprehension.
He could see the burning curiosity glint in Red's visor. All of them were doctors, PhDs, highly trained astronauts, of course they were curious.
There was a tense silence as Black squatted down and unceremoniously pulled off his helmet. He shook his sweaty mop of pitch black curly hair and huffed his first breath of cool, stale ship air. There was never a need to brush his hair or trim his short beard or treat acne when they all were going to be behind masks anyway, but in the moment of vulnerability, he suddenly wished he had. He was as human as they came, imperfections and all.
He wasn't sure how to get a read on red when they knelt back, hands on their lap.
"Lemme guess I'm not what you-"
"Y-... you're perfect-" Red sounded truly dumbfounded. Their small voice I'm awe like they had never seen a human before in their life. Their hand hesitated, almost for a moment tempted to reach out and stroke
"Oh, oh woah there," black chuckled and looked away, unable to hide his bitten lip and shy eyes darting away. "I g-guess I'm not- um, not really-"
He choked on his words.
"No, no really, youre- youre- um, you're really handsome," red stuttered.
He never had been complimented like that before, let alone with such unexpected genuineness.
"You… you're playing with me, man, cmon," he deflected, unable to face the butterflies in his stomach. "Aight, you're turn,"
"What what? Turn?"
"Yeah, fair and square, I show you my real face, so you owe it to me."
"But, um- um.. i dont know if… um,"
"Shh, it's okay dude, i wont judge you. It's just you and me. Just us here," he had gotten used to calming red down, the nervous wreck.
"But I'm ugly"
"So what? Try me,"
"But… um, I dont know, I'm not really sure this is a good idea, I dont know if I can-"
Black shushed him and reached out. He was used to his pudgey klunky gloves, getting quite dexterous with them by now. All the better to hold Red with. Draw red closer. Pull him in. Red was practically on his lap.
"Dont be so scared, its okay, its only for a few minutes." But no matter his reassurance, red still looked unusually scared about it. Acting like a cornered animal about to bite. "Cmon, What's wrong?"
"Would… would you still treat me the same no matter what I look like under this?" Their voice was so small and stressed, black could barely hear it.
"I mean… I guess? Yes? Sure?" Despite his wishy washy answer, all that time they had grown so close together, the moments they shared, the feeling of trust and security he hadn't felt in years. No matter how 'ugly' Red felt they wrre, there was something between them that was more than skin deep. Or suit deep. Best friends or something. Black's hands were already on Red' helmet latch, curious as ever.
"I-its not, um…" Red began, not stopping him, but they never finished.
The room was bathed in red and an alarm screamed out, ripping them both from the intimate moment. He could feel is heart nearly jump into his throat from the jump scare, but he took a deep breath and grumbling stood up. Before Black put his helmet back on, he gave Red a smirk.
"You still owe me dude. Whatever you are under there," and with a hiss the dumb bobble head was back on.
As they both ran down to 02, black's heart was pounding, and it wasn't from the startling alarm. Even as he typed in the boring code to save everyone's life, his head was swimming with Red's words. He craved the moment ripped from them, and he was going to get back alone with Red one way or another.