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As Head Engineer of the Invincible II, Mark has a lot of responsibilities on and off the ship. Whether it’s keeping up with the ship’s many, many systems or designing machinery to help the colonists down on the surface, there’s always something for him to do, something for him to fix. And he likes it that way. He likes being helpful, being needed.
Which is why he’s found himself here - doing laps around the Main Control console, checking the communicator on his wrist every few minutes, and trying not to feel helpless.
Gunther and the Captain have gone planetside to deal with a mob of hostile animals that has been terrorizing the colony ever since they’d arrived. Normally something so trivial wouldn’t be a job for the Captain but they’d insisted, desperate to get their boots on solid ground. Mark had asked to go as well but the Captain denied the request. After all, someone needed to stay to keep an eye on the ship and the only other person on board with the qualifications was Mack and the Captain would die before they left him in charge.
So Mark waited…and waited……and waited.
He was sure it had been hours, maybe even days. The Captain and Gunther were likely already dead, fallen prey to the aliens who would surely leave nothing but their bones left to be found. What if he never sees the Captain again? Who will run the colony? Who will captain the ship now that they were gone? Surely he couldn’t do it. He wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility, that kind of pressure. Would they even have the resources for a proper funeral? Who would be able to fight off the monsters to retrieve their remains? Oh, ye cruel fate! They were so young! They were so-
Mark checks the time on his communicator.
It hasn’t even been an hour.
So…maybe it’s not the animals he’s really worried about. Maybe, and he feels silly even considering it, maybe not having the Captain at his side makes him a little nervous. From the moment they had been elected by the Board for the position of Captain, they had never been very far away, overseeing every detail as the Invincible was rebuilt. Mark thinks maybe that’s why the original ship didn’t make it through its maiden voyage, there was no one else on board to rival his meticulous care of the vessel as it was being built. And sure, maybe the Captain couldn’t tell the difference between a plasma contractor and an electromagnetic thruster, but they did their best.
And now, after what the two of them had dubbed the C.F.W.I. or Crazy Fucking Wormhole Incident, Mark made sure they were never more than an arm's width away. After everything they’d been through, he thinks he deserves to feel a little cautious, especially now that the two of them are…whatever they are to each other.
Which is why, the second his communicator pings, Mark almost falls forward as he stops dead in what feels like his millionth lap around the room to read the message.
Threat taken care of. Coming back up. Gunther needs minor medical attention.
Mark turns on his heel and sprints to the Hangar, stopping by the Medbay to let them know Gunther would be heading over shortly.
Soon enough, the shuttle docks. The Captain steps out of the ship, supporting Gunther’s weight with an arm tight around his waist. Mark rushes over to his other side.
“You said minor medical attention.”
Gunther waves him off. “I’m all good, just a flesh wound and all that. I’m just dizzy from the blood loss.”
Mark sighs with a shake of his head and helps the Captain get Gunther to Medbay. Once they’ve dropped him on one of the cots, Mark turns to the Captain.
“Are you alright? Did you get hurt at all?”
“I’m fine, Mark, really. Thank you for the concern.”
He squints his eyes, looking them up and down before nodding. “I trust your word, Captain. So how did it go?”
They shrug. “Nothing we couldn’t handle. It was nice to get out on the field again, I missed the action.”
The Captain’s eyes are beginning to droop, eyelids feeling heavy.
“Are you sure you’re alright, Captain?”
“Yeah, I just need to go lay down, I think. All this time in space has got me out of shape.”
“...Okay, but you let me know if there’s anything I can do for you, yeah?”
They reach out and stroke the side of his face gently. “Of course, Mark.”
It’s been four hours since the Captain left for their quarters and Mark hasn’t heard a peep from them. It’s unlike them to take naps, especially during working hours, so he decides to go check and make sure they’re okay.
Mark stops in front of their door, pressing the little button above the scanner to ping them. When there’s no answer, he frowns, sending them another message from his communicator. After waiting a few minutes with no response, Mark decides to just go in. Maybe the Captain would be grumpy at him for interrupting their rest, but at least he would know they were okay.
He presses his hand to the scanner and the door slides open. The room is quiet, too quiet. Usually, the Captain sleeps with white noise or one of the audiobooks Burt had recommended but there’s nothing.
“Captain?”
Mark tiptoes into their bedroom, heart freezing in his chest at the sight before him. The Captain is curled up in a ball on top of the sheets, face unnaturally pallid. They’re trembling and when he gets closer, Mark is horrified to see all the blood staining the sheets.
He cries their name, grabbing their shoulders and turning them onto their back.
“Captain? Captain, can you hear me?”
The Captain raises a hand, trying to push him away weakly.
“M’okay, j-just tired.”
“Like hell you’re okay! You’re bleeding!”
“Just a scratch, m’fine.”
“Yeah, sure you are. Why didn’t you go get patched up in the medbay?”
“Crew comes first.”
Mark sighs. Normally, the Captain’s care for the people under their command would be admirable if it wasn’t the reason they were practically bleeding out. He grabs the emergency first aid kit from the bathroom and sits down on the edge of the bed. Carefully, he pulls off their captain’s jacket and unzips their jumpsuit, pushing it off their shoulders.
“Buy me dinner first,” they mumble.
He chuckles. “Once the colony has a place for me to buy you dinner, I will.”
There are three long gashes on the Captain’s side. Thankfully, they’re not as deep as Mark had originally thought, missing all their internal organs. He gets to work disinfecting the wounds, shushing them when they whine at the sting. Mark’s touches are gentle and tender, careful not to cause them any more pain. He stitches the wounds up with a practiced hand; a small benefit of traveling helplessly through an infinite multiverse - you have an endless amount of time and opportunities to learn how to patch up wounds.
Once he’s done, the Head Engineer washes his hands in the bathroom and fills a glass with water, returning to the Captain’s side. He tilts their head up, helping them to take a few sips.
“We should really get you to the Medbay, Captain.”
“Later. Just sit with me for a bit.”
The Captain gives him their best puppy dog eyes and he sighs with a shake of his head; they know he’d do anything they ask of him when they give him that look. Mark sits down next to them with his back against the headboard, running a hand through their hair.
“You scared me, you know.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to worry anyone.”
“So bleeding out alone is the solution? You don’t think that’s going to worry people even more?”
“Well…”
“Captain, you’re allowed to be cared for just as much as anyone else on this ship. And if you can’t let anyone else do it, then at least let me. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. Well…I do know.”
“I’m sorry. It was stupid of me, wasn’t it? I can’t take care of the ship if I’m not at my best.”
“You’re worth more than your ability to take care of the ship, you have to understand that, right? Everyone on this ship wants you to be happy and healthy, not because it makes you a better Captain, but because we care about you. You’re worth caring about.”
The Captain doesn’t say anything at that, too lost in thought. Mark takes one of their hands between his and presses it to his lips.
“Promise me, you won’t do this again.”
“But-”
“Don’t.” He gives them a stern look. “Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“Good, now seriously, we need to get you to the Medbay. The longer we wait, the angrier Dr. Iplier is going to be with me for not bringing you down sooner. You don’t want me to get in trouble, do you?”