Chapter Text
There was something odd about his body.
Well, no, that’s not quite right. It was like his body had been before he was mechanised. Flesh and blood and sticky from sweat. He did not miss that feeling. He didn’t really remember that feeling until just now, waking up in a familiar bed and blinking eyes that were not made for him.
A squeak made it out of fleshy lips, and he bolted upright in the bed he was in. Jonny’s bed. Jonny’s body. Jonny’s mechanical heart ticking away in the otherwise silence of the room, steady and slow, keeping its normal pace even as Brian felt the adrenaline rushing through blood and organic systems.
Brian was not used to being in an organic body any longer. Everything felt so off and squishy and vulnerable. Also, body functions he no longer had to go through were making themselves painfully obvious if the sudden stream of hot rancid smelling liquid gushing out of him from between his legs meant anything.
He lifted up the sheets he was under, saw the growing puddle of piss and groaned, before slumping back on the pillow and just let the rest leak out, because he had to remember how organs worked now he had them and right now was not the time.
He was done by the time the frantic hammering at the door came. He let his head turn to the side to stare at the door, before it opened when Aurora must have pinged on to the person banging outside must be Jonny. A Jonny who looked frantically about him and was currently in the body of Marius.
“Why does my room smell of piss? Marius, I swear to god you’re a dead man. I’m throwing you out the fucking airlock!”
“Brian. I’m not Marius. I haven’t had a working bladder in centuries, Jonny. I’ll clean up the mess.”
Jonny blinked at him, frowned and stomped his way to his desk and sat heavily in the seat. “Well, fuck. Fine. You’re on cleaning duty of that mess. And whatever other messes you make while in me too for that matter.” Jonny looked down at Marius’ metal arm and scowled at it. “I’m busy trying not to touch shit with this thing. Don’t know how strong it is until you break glass trying to get a drink of water. That didn’t work well.”
Letting out a sigh, Brian pulled the sheets off of himself bundled them up in a ball and threw them on the ground. “Ugh. I’m having a shower. And it looks like this is crew wide. We will all have to get used to different bodies and mechanisms. Crew meeting is needed for this one, if only to find out who is who.”
Jonny nodded at that. “Yeah, I’ll say. You go have a shower and get clean. You reek right now. I’ll get everyone in the mess hall and meet you in there.”
Relaxing slightly at the thought of being clean, Brian nodded at Jonny and turned towards the door to the bathroom. “I’ll meet you in there then.”
* * * * * * * * * *
“Right, you lot. Who’s who?” Was the way Jonny decided to start the meeting off with. Brian slapped his hands against his face, hoping that when they all go back to their own bodies, Jonny somehow felt that.
“You already know I’m Brian in you, Jonny. And you are in Marius, obviously. How about raise your hand if you are in your own body?”
The only person to raise their hand was the Toy Soldier, who looked put out at being left out of the fun. Hah. Fun, yes, that’s exactly what this was. Fun.
“Can I Be Next? This Looks Like It Could Be A Fun Game!” TS stated, a grin on its face.
Jonny twitched his fingers close to where his gun was, holster not fitting as well on Marius’ body as it did on the one Jonny was used to. He’d be slower to the draw and his aim probably off. Brian had the thought that would likely be true for all of them. “This is not a fun game, TS. Anyone got any idea why this happened?”
Nastya’s body waved her hand about in a very unNastya-like way. “Oh! I was experimenting last night. Maybe that had something to do with it. I thought it was a failed thing, but apparently something happened, it just did when we were all out. I never expected this though.”
Well, they had found Raphaella. Brian shook his head. “I’m writing nametags. We should all remember who everyone is then.”
Raphaella in Nastya nodded at that. “I think that may be a good idea. On the plus side, we get to see what it’s like to be someone else for however long this lasts until things go back to normal. The things I was looking to do weren’t permanent, so this shouldn’t be.”
Whoever was in Ivy perked up. “Ooh, what were you trying to do, Raph? It could be helpful to know.”
“Oh, it was an idea for my date night with Ivy. I was trying to mix up a formula to make it possible to feel the pleasure of your partner as well as yourself.”
Not!Ivy leaned forwards with a grin. “Nice. Okay, this accident makes sense. Bit too much love in that juice though, I think. You’ll have to try the finished product on me when it’s done.”
Ah, so, Ivy’s body is currently inhabited by Marius. Another name to list off.
“Just as long as you don’t do anything together in my body, I don’t care what you do,” spoke Nastya and Brian had to blink, because that was Nastya in his body. Oh, that would be awkward. He couldn’t get in the vents where Nastya lived, as he was a bit too heavy and big to get in there.
Brian held up a hand. “Okay, Nastya, I have name tag stickers in my pockets, can you get them out for me, so I can write names. Please.”
He watched as his own body began rummaging around in his coat for the pack of stickers he keeps in there for situations just like this one. Well, not quite this one. There were times when people needed reminding of things. Stickers were the best way to do it. Sometimes, on planets that weren’t populated with the smartest of people, they needed reminders of who was playing what character.
That habit of his didn’t feel so stupid now when it was themselves who were going to get confused until someone opened their mouth and talked. And even then confusion could happen. The voice itself after all, depended on the body. It was the words spoken that were used that would give people away.
Nastya, finally successful in her hunt through his coat handed the things over to him. “There. I’m not looking for a pen too.”
Brian shook his head. “That’s fine. I have one on me.”
He pulled a pen he’d found stuffed in a pocket in Jonny’s clothes and waved it about. He then went about writing their names on the nametags to hand out. He even made one for the Toy Soldier so that it wasn’t being left out.
Once the labels were made, he put them on the table for everyone to grab their name. His was already plastered on his chest.
At least everyone seemed to be taking this seriously, as Jonny went and grabbed his name first and stuck it on his clothes. Well, Marius’ clothes. This was getting confusing in his own head, and he no longer had the processing power to help keep it all straight. All he had was Jonny’s brain to figure things out with.
He already missed his own body and wanted it back.
Once everyone had name tags on, he looked them over and let out a sigh. “Okay. Anyone have any ideas?”
“Yeah. Anyone else got massive consent issues?” Jonny stated. And oh, yes, Jonny would bring that up.
Brian nodded at that. “Good point. We all need ground rules for this. Ones not to be broken. So private talks between the ones in your body and the one you are in.”
“Right, we’ll write the rules down and pin them on the fridge along with the kitchen rules. Sound good to everyone?” Jonny stated, looking around the room. His serious expression didn’t fit well with Marius’ face.
Everyone nodded at that, pairing off in groups of two. Brian found himself attached to Jonny, since he’s the one that brought it up to begin with. Also, he was currently the one with the pen. Jonny pulled out a notebook from wherever it was Marius generally keeps his violin stashed and blinked at it.
He and Jonny began to devise themselves a rule list of the current predicament they shared. It took an hour, but by the time their squabbling was sorted out, they finally had a workable list.
Rules for BS:
1. Ask permission from original body’s owner if sex is a thing you want. If answer is no, DO NOT have sex.
2. DO NOT kill anyone to get out of embarrassing conversations. We all have questions and we will all need to give answers to them. No matter how embarrassing they are. Yes, Jonny, this does include you.
3. In case of malfunctions in mechanisms, Raphaella is currently residing in Nastya’s body. DO keep up maintenance routines. For any needed questions, ask body’s owner for specifics.
4. If you kill someone DO stay with the body until it revives and record how long it takes and see if it matches with body or mind. Ivy will keep records of times. She is currently residing in Tim.
The list was only those 4 points at the moment, but for right now it was enough to start with. Jonny pinned it to the fridge next to the kitchen rules so everyone would see it.
With that done, Brian stared at Jonny and shifted on the spot. “So, uh, your room or mine?” They did, after all, have a conversation that involved embarrassing things to be said.
Letting out a loud moan, Jonny threw his hands in the air. “Mine, it’s closer. Let’s get this fucking conversation over with…”
With that said, they both made their way to Jonny’s room. This was going to hurt in all the weirdest ways possible.