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As usual, the Engineer was the first one to leave his quarters. It wasn’t so much that he had anything to wake up early for, more so that he’d never fallen asleep at all. There was just too much to work on and he got caught up in it and then, well…once he stayed up past a certain hour, any chance of actually going to sleep was shot.
So he walked into the shared kitchen and brewed himself a cup of coffee. He was about to head back to his workshop (just one more thing to fix and then he would stop). But then he cut through the common sitting area and did a double take.
It looked like a tornado had rolled through the room. All the cushions on the couches and chairs were strewn about the floor, intermingled with spare blankets and pillows seemingly stolen from the linen closet. It took a moment to realize the order to the chaos. This was not a mess, but a very deliberate pillow fort.
He pondered to himself who might be responsible, though he already had a few ideas, when suddenly a gas masked head poked out of the heap.
“Mornin’, Pyro. You do all this?”
Pyro nodded cheerfully.
Engineer nodded, taking a sip of his coffee.
“Why?”
Pyro shrugged.
Engineer thought that would be the end of it. But suddenly Pyro was advancing on him to gently pry his mug from his hand “Pyro-“
Pyro shooshed him, muffled by his filter and went over to the kettle where he began boiling water.
“Pyro, what are-“ again, the Engineer couldn’t finish as Pyro gently herded him back to the fort.
“I don’t have time, buddy. Spy’s watch is still turning on and off randomly, I promised Doc I’d- hey!” Suddenly he was scooped up and deposited in the makeshift nest.
He huffed a sigh as Pyro left and came back with the same mug he had been holding earlier. The novelty one that said “saddle up, cowboy” with a graphic of a bull rider. He unthinkingly took a sip. It was some kind of herbal tea.
“What in-?”
Pyro patted him on the head and tucked the blankets around him. Within minutes he was out like a light.
Soldier was the second person awake, though he’d likely be upset he wasn’t the first. He walked in to see Engineer curled up asleep in the fort. Pyro was watching over him the same way he often did in battle.
“What exactly-!”
Pyro shushed him harshly, pointing to Engineer.
“What exactly are you both doing?” he whisper-yelled.
Pyro answered back in mumbled whispers that were even harder to understand than his usual noises.
“Just because we aren’t fighting today doesn’t mean we can just lay around. There are no days off in war, Private, and there's never not room to keep improving.”
From the way Pyro’s head tilted back, he may have been rolling his eyes.
“That’s the spirit. Don’t think I didn't see you miss that reflect yesterday, maggot. Those skills are use it or lose it. Grab your flamethrower and meet me at the the training yard in-“
Pyro let out a full body sigh and started shoving Soldier over to the fort.
“What? Pyro, report to resupply to prepare for training this instant. That is an order.”
Pyro put a finger to his filter, sat Soldier down on a pillow, and picked up the tv remote.
“Negative, Lieutenant. We are the first to reach this far.”
“Sir, contact with an object. It's moving toward us. No visual contact yet.”
“Deflectors, full intensity.”
“Pyro, I’m not watching this nerd cra-“
“It’s coming at light speed.”
“Collision course.”
“Wait, collision?”
“Evasive maneuvers Mr Sulu.”
“Object changing direction, too, sir. Keeps coming at us.”
“I'm getting no signal from it, sir.”
“Still collision course. Deflectors aren't stopping it.”
Soldier leaned forward on his cushion, now fully invested.
Pyro nodded to himself in satisfaction and left to go make popcorn.
He watched as Soldier watched, handing over a bowl of only slightly burnt popcorn around the 3 minute mark. Before long he had finished the whole episode.
“That was some good thinking. This Kirk guy is an exemplary leader.” Soldier said around a mouthful of popcorn.
Pyro nodded and put in another tape.
“Deep Space Station K7 now within sensor range, Captain.”
“Good. Mister Chekov, this flight is supposed to provide both experience and knowledge. How close will we come to the Klingon outpost if we continue on our present course?”“
Medic walked into the room, Heavy followed closely behind. “Guten…was ist…”
“Oh, this is good one,.” said Heavy.
“Well yes, objectively, but it’s no Corbomite Maneuver."
“We just finished that one,.” said Soldier.
“Ah. Shame,.” said Medic. “…What are we doing here?”
“I have no idea,.” said Soldier.
Heavy made himself comfortable in the fort.
“Heavy, as nice as this all seems, we have work to do. Engineer and I were supposed to-“
“Engineer is sleeping.” said Heavy, pointing to the Texan as he hugged a slightly drool-covered pillow. “Is nothing wrong with taking a day off on day off.”
“I suppose…” Medic said, sitting beside Heavy. “We have Amok Time taped, right?”
“Of course we do.” said Heavy.
Sniper walked in. “Oi, do we have any…am I missing something?”
“Your guess is as good as ours.” said Medic.
“Care to join us?” asked Heavy.
“I’m just here to restock my-“ Pyro started guiding Sniper towards the fort. He looked down at him with a start, meeting immovable black lenses. “Ah, fuck it.” he said. He wedged himself between Engie and Heavy and put his feet up on a pillow and slid his slouch hat over his eyes
Scout trudged in looking barely awake not long after. His hair was a mess like he had just rolled out of bed,. but his sleeves were still rolled up and he was wearing his dog tags as if he had fallen asleep in uniform.
“Are you guys seriously watching this nerd shit?” he asked through a yawn.
“Yes.” said Heavy.
“Looks like it.” said Sniper.
“Who’s lame idea was all this?”
Everyone pointed at Pyro.
“Figures.”
Scout walked over to the fridge to grab one of his toxic energy drinks and was quickly grabbed around the waist by Pyro and deposited between Heavy and Medic. “Yo what the hell?!”
“Just go with it mate.” Sniper said from under his hat.
Scout grumbled and resigned himself to watching the show.
“So are the captain and the alien guy gay?” he asked after a while.
“Of course not.” said Soldier at the same time Medic said, “Of course they are.”
Scout decided to drop it.
Pyro heard stumbling footsteps and dimmed the lights before Demo had even entered.
“Star Trek?” he asked.
“Yep.” said Sniper.
“Amok Time?”
“Oh yes.” said Heavy.
“Nice.” he said before slumping down in Soldier’s lap.
Pyro got up to fetch him a glass of water and some aspirin and ran into Spy on the way to the kitchen.
“What exactly is your game here?” he asked before “good morning” or “hello.”
Pyro shrugged and mumbled something he didn’t understand before snuffing out his morning cigarette and taking him by the hand.
“Pyro! Unhand me! This is not funny!”
Pyro shushed him as they entered the living room. Engineer was still catching up on sleep after all.
“Just let her have what she wants, mate.” said Sniper. “Seems harmless enough.” he said through a yawn.
Spy glanced at Pyro skeptically and he waved back to him sweetly.
“Ugh. Fine.” he said, sitting next to Medic.
It wasn’t long before one by one, Pyro’s teammates began to doze off.
Pyro nodded in satisfaction and carefully removed Medic’s glasses without upsetting his position slumped against Heavy’s shoulder, setting them safely aside. He did the same with Soldier’s helmet
“Hey, guys. Sorry for showing up without calling. I wanted to check up on…” Miss Pauling stopped in her tracks.
“What’s going on? Is this like a team building thing or…?”
Pyro gestured to the fort with a dramatic, sweeping motion.
“No way, Pyro I can’t. I have a bunch of bodies to get rid of. There’s a delivery I have to make to hq. I’ve got a meeting with-“ she rambled on about her seemingly endless to do list. With each task listed, it was like she could feel the concealed bags under her eyes grow more prominent and her shoulders grow heavier.
Pyro crossed his arms and nodded like she was proving some point he made.
Pauling signed in defeat. “One day.” she said firmly.
She handed Pyro her glasses and face planted into a pillow fort more than big enough for 10 people, even if one was Heavy.
Pyro let out a content sigh. Under the mask, they were smiling.
Mission accomplished.
