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Team Can’t Take This
Jonny didn’t want to get up. His head rested on the table he was sitting at in the mess hall, hoping that no one would wander in and see him looking pathetic and weak and like absolute shit.
It was made worse by the fact he had no idea if the pain he was in now was from dehydration or just a stress headache, because Brian hadn’t drunk much yesterday. He needed a glass of water or two. But he didn’t want to get up because he felt rotten in every way possible.
He wanted to not have a headache. He wanted to not feel like shit. He wanted to get drunk and go lie down and sleep away the embarrassment of needing to be drugged up to the damn gills to not freak out over the stupidest, little thing.
Even better, it would be absolutely fucking great if he hadn’t just heard someone shuffle their way into the room.
“Jonny?” came the voice of Marius and Jonny felt his body relax a little. Marius was okay. He had freaked out as well.
He grunted in response. He heard footsteps coming closer to him and he cracked his eyes open to look to his side. “Wassup?”
“You okay?”
Jonny grimaced into the table. Usually that question coming from Marius of all people would have had his hackles rise, because it meant another shitty attempt at a therapy session. This time though, the normal tone that came with that question, the one that made it quite clear exactly what the arse was doing was missing. Instead, Marius sounded tired and nervous. He lifted his head and rubbed at his forehead, trying to get rid of the pounding in his head. “Fuck no, I feel like shit.”
There were a few seconds of a pause before Marius sat down heavily beside him and let out a moan. “Same. Fucking nightmares for me. You?”
“Nah, just a massive headache. Feels like I have a hangover without the hangover. Fucking dehydration mixed with stress is not a good combo. Need to get up, but light hurts.”
Marius grunted and got back up. “I’ll get us some water. No alcohol today either, it’ll just make the dehydration worse.”
He let out a moan. “Fucking great. My alcoholic arse is not going to like that.”
“Your alcoholic arse is going to feel even worse if you don’t get some water in you. And anyway, that hangover wouldn’t even be yours if you had one, it’d be mine. Brian was in you. He ate a lot, but I didn’t see him drink much, so yeah, probably dehydration.”
Jonny thought on that for a bit and let his head rest ever so lightly on the table in front of him, because he really didn’t want to thump it down and make the headache worse. He let out a loud groan of realisation. “Fucking Brian. He got spooked by having a working bladder. Did you know he pissed himself in my bed? Fucking disgusting.”
Marius snickered at that. “No. You didn’t tell anyone that yesterday.”
Jonny huffed. “I had to change the mattress to one that was clean. Then I had to change the sheets and find a nice blanket. Then I had to sit down and fucking panic for a while because what the fuck. My room stunk of piss for hours after. Every time I tried to sleep during the day I couldn’t for long. Even when I was you and high off my face on those pills.”
“Yeah, those pills were nice. And, might I add, no ill effects. Apart from having a shit night, I feel fine.”
Jonny glared at the man sitting by his side. “Good for you. I still suffer. Because Brian is shit at making decisions. Go get me water, before I die of dehydration right here at the fucking table…”
“Right, water. Be right back.”
Jonny lay there feeling sorry for himself for a few minutes in silence that was glorious for his aching head, but not the best for his ever-plummeting mood before Marius returned with two large glasses of water. “It came from the purifier, don’t worry. I know how much you loathe the water out of the tap. There is a filter, you know?”
Pulling himself up to a sitting position took far too much energy. He still did it, but he really wished he didn’t have to. He grabbed at a glass and pulled it close. He doubted he’d be able to hold it still enough to drink properly for very long. Thankfully once he got some water in him that should clear up.
Marius wasn’t lying at least. He could always tell too. That shit had been tested on him time and again as a joke. He slowly sipped at the water, his body craving it like nothing else wanted to drink the glass as fast as possible, but he also knew that would end up with him just vomiting it up over the table.
Dehydration and Jonny d’Ville were old friends. Comes with the alcohol. Unfortunately.
Thankfully, the water began working and he felt better after the glass was empty. He still had a headache, but it was lesser now. He rubbed at his forehead. “Ugh, I want to lie down, but doubt I’d be getting any sleep. At least Brian had the idea to lie down on a bed to sleep on last night. That was nice. I was dreading waking up sitting in the pilot’s seat. It’s been a while since I woke up wrapped in metal arms.”
Marius nodded at that, his head being held up by a hand. “Yeah, you left before Brian and Nastya did. Brian helped Nastya go into sleep mode, so they went to sleep together.”
Jonny grunted at that. “Makes sense. Wish I was more awake during yesterday, but when I was alert enough I’d just freak the fuck out over nothing.”
A pat on his shoulder was the answer he got to that before the room fell back into silence. Then Marius had to open his mouth to speak, and Jonny wished he’d close it again. “I kept freaking out too.”
He let out a hum of agreement to that. “Thankfully that shit is over with. My ticker is doing what it’s supposed to be doing. Ticking.”
Marius was…oddly quiet after he said that. “Yeah, over with. Back to normal.”
And that was not normal. “Huh. You gonna drink that water, or did you get me two glasses?”
The glass was pushed over to him. “You can have it. I’m not the one that is dehydrated. Heh, you’re going to be up all night pissing like a sieve.”
A chuckle made its way passed his lips. “Yeah, but at least it won’t be done in my bed.”
Marius snorted. “I can’t believe Brian did that. Well, I mean I can, the guy hasn’t had a working bladder in a long time, but wow. Just lying there letting it all out sounds really uncomfortable.”
Jonny grinned and sipped at the second glass. “Yeah. I think it was more embarrassment than anything and I am going to hold that over his head for a long time.”
The room fell into silence except for the odd sip of water from Jonny, as he slowly went through the second glass. It didn’t get rid of the headache completely, of course, but it had definitely helped a lot. He felt a lot better now that was in him. Physically at least. He knew he was going to get teased something shocking by the rest of the crew. Well, apparently not by Marius at least. He looked to the man sitting beside him and frowned. “It’s weird you’re not trying to psychoanalyse the whole crew over this. Not that I want you to, it’s just out of the norm.”
“I am really not in the mood. I just…you’re the only one who freaked out as bad as I did.”
Jonny grunted at the now empty glasses in front of him. “Nah, it’s different. I freaked over a beating fucking heart. You freaked out because you got all of Ivy’s fucked up brain shit to deal with. And there’s a lot there to deal with.”
Marius let out a moan. “It’s really fucked me up, Jonny. I don’t know how she lives with that every day.”
Shrugging, Jonny rubbed at his head. “She’s a trooper, our Ivy. Always has been. We all got pretty used to it very early on. Helping her in the mornings that is. How she deals with that is…well, only she knows. And, I guess, you do too now.”
A loud thunk as Marius let his head hit the table echoed through the room. It was soon followed by a low, moan. “Owwww. I want to sleep. I want to go to bed. I’m so tired.”
Jonny turned his head to glared at the sad lump sitting beside him. “What, you looking for permission or something?”
“Noooo. Just…having trouble getting to sleep.”
Wincing, because that one was something he knew well. “Oh, fuck, yeah, insomnia sucks.”
Marius blinked at him, confused for a second, before that cleared, and he grimaced. “Oh, yeah. There’s a word for that. I forgot.”
Jonny snorted at that, before shaking his head. “Well, I’m feeling better now. Still feel like absolute shit, but better. I’m going to go drink another glass and grab something for this headache. Go to sleep.”
“I’m sure ordering me to bed will help loads with getting me to sleep, Jonny. Thanks for that.”
Jonny gave their medic a shit eating grin and patted his head. “You’re welcome. Look, we can even start a club. We’ll call it the Can’t Take Shit club. Any time someone on board the ship has a panic attack over stupid shit, they automatically get an invite.”
Marius snorted. “Yeah, Team Can’t Take Shit. Sounds like a team I should be a part of right now.”
“Yeah, well, at least I’m not alone. I’m going to go now. Have fun moping. Do it in your bed.”
His response to that was to be given the finger. He stuck his tongue out and laughed, before getting up and making his way towards the kitchen, where the purifier lived. One more glass then off to pilfer the med bay of pain meds.
He may feel like shit physically, but he was definitely feeling better in mood.