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"Okay, okay," Ilyukhina argued, putting her hands up. "I could maybe see them together, but you're seriously telling me that she would let him top her? Really?" She added, incredulously. "My bets still on him being aroace and not knowing or at least not telling us, but you seriously think that if Grace and Stratt were sleeping together that Stratt would be the bottom? Have you seen Grace? That man is way too anxious to be anything other than a bottom at best."
"I'm just saying," DuBois shot back, sipping his beer while Ilyukhina took another shot of vodka. "If Stratt is constantly ordering people around here, what makes you think that she doesn't want to be ordered around every once in a while? You see what I mean?"
"I mean," Yao cut in, pushing himself in to the seat besides Ilyukhina, across from Shapiro. "Maybe? But does Stratt seem like the kind of woman who would give up her power to anyone?"
"If she did, it would only be to her second in command," Shapiro added. "I'm putting 5 on Grace being the top in that situation."
"I'll add 10 for the same," DuBois said, passing a crisp bill to the middle of the table.
"I'll put 5 on them sleeping together, but Grace is a pillow princess for her," Yao bantered with a chuckle, throwing his cash into the growing pile.
"All of you are wrong and I'm betting 20 that Grace is not sleeping with her," Ilyukhina smirked. "Throw another 10 on Grace being aroace."
"Are we seriously still betting on that?" Shapiro asked. "I thought we all basically knew he was?"
"Yeah, but he hasn't come out and said it yet, so…" DuBois trailed off.
"Wait," Yao cut him off. "If Grace is aroace, then why would he be sleeping with Stratt? Doesn't that go against being asexual? Or am I missing something?"
"Doesn't have to," Shapiro explained gently. "People can be asexual and still have sex. It just means that they don't really have a drive for it. It could be like a stress relief thing for them."
"Okay," Yao accepted with a nod. "I can respect that."
"Hey guys!" A familiar voice called over, pulling up a chair as everyone shut up immediately. "You mind?"
"Not at all, Grace. Please," Ilyukhina said, gesturing for him to take a seat and join them. "You don't normally come down here? Everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," Grace stuttered out, sipping on the small glass of whiskey he'd grabbed from the bar. "Just… Stratt has been riding me like stupid," he admitted. "Like, she has all of these guys here that will literally do anything she asks, but yet, she always asks me. I'm getting sick of the 3am calls to her office."
Everyone at the table just side-eyed each other, waiting for him to continue and either confirm or deny their suspicions. He did not.
"So, I figured I'd come and get a drink before getting back to work because I know she's gonna call me back sooner or later. I might as well try to get some work done," he admitted, taking a sip from his glass.
"What's all that money for?" Grace asked, eyeing the growing sum on the table. "Do you guys like tip the bartenders here or something?"
It didn't make sense to Grace. Everything had been covered cost wise by Stratt and her iron fist over the governments, including the alcohol on the ship. Why would they have money if they didn't need to pay?
"Oh. That…" Yao fumbled for an answer. "That is-"
"It's for Yao's kids!" Shapiro exclaimed. "Yeah! One of their birthdays is coming up, so were putting our money together for a shared gift from us," she lied smoothly as Yao, DuBois, and Ilyukhina all nodded.
It would be best to stick to the lie and not explain to Dr. Grace, and Stratt by extension, that they were betting on his sex life.
"Oh!" Grace brightened at the idea. "That's so sweet of you guys. Here," he said, digging into his wallet and pulling out a larger bill. "Let me help too. It's the least I can do."
"Thank you very much, Grace," Yao thanked, keeping up pretenses. "I'm sure they'll appreciate it."
A phone buzzing interrupted the conversation as Grace sighed out, rubbing his head and finishing the rest of his drink in one last sip.
"Stratt's calling me back already," he complained. "I swear, that woman is never satisfied. Enjoy the drinks guys and wish your kid a happy birthday from me, Yao," he said before taking off, leaving the four astronauts alone, all breathing out a sigh of relief.
They all watched as he left, waiting until he was out of view to speak up.
"So, Ilyukhina," DuBois began. "Does that make you want to change your bet or…?"
~~~
"Pay up, fuckers!" Ilyukhina shouted, racing into the common room where Yao, Shapiro, and DuBois were all sitting and chatting. "I was right!"
"What are you talking about?" Yao asked calmly, used to her constant swearing and jittery personality.
"Have none of you walked by Grace yet today?" She asked, bouncing on her toes.
Everyone shook their heads. Of course they hadn't seen him, the man hadn't even left the lab in days as far as they knew, which wasn't an odd occurrence. It was just part of being the lead scientist and second in command to them.
"His new lanyard proves me right," Ilyukhina explained, pulling out her phone and flashing a blurry photo of Dr. Grace walking with a new, colorful lanyard aorund his neck. "Look at those colors."
"Am I supposed to know what those are or…?" DuBois trailed off, not knowing why she was getting so excited about the blues and oranges that hung from his neck.
"It's the aroace flag, you fucking straights," she explained with a giant grin on her face. "He's aroace."
"Colors don't prove anything," Yao shook his head. "Anyone can wear some colors."
"Oh come on!" Ilyukhina argued with a loud sigh. "This is damning evidence that my gaydar never lies."
"Why don't we just ask him?" Shapiro offered. "I mean, if we're right about the colors, then we'll know. And if not, then misunderstanding solved."
"But then we'd have to explain why were interested," Yao shot back, leaning back into his seat. "Do you want to be the one to explain to Dr. Grace that we were betting on his sexuality or lack of one?"
"Just have Ilyukhina ask," DuBois offered. "She noticed the colors and got interested. She could say that she was excited to have another queer person on the ship."
Everyone sat with that idea for a moment, looking for someway for it to not work. There wasn't one.
Ilyukhina let out a loud sigh before stepping away from the group, looking for the scientist, swearing in Russian about stupid people not trusting her gaydar and that this was homophobic.
"Oi! Grace!" She shouted down the hall, spotting the scientist and startling him into jumping before he turned to face her.
"Oh! Hi, Ilyukhina," he greeted with a smile. "Is everything okay?"
"Your lanyard," she said pointedly. "You know what those colors mean?"
"Um…" he trailed off, looking away to avoid looking her in the eyes. "Yeah. Do… Do you?"
"Grace, I have a girlfriend."
"Oh."
There was a moment of silence between them as he processed what she said.
"That's wonderful! What's her name?"
"Olga," Ilyukhina responded.
"That's a beautiful name," he complimented. "I honestly wasn't expecting anyone to recognize the colors," he admitted. "I just thought it would be nice to at least show a bit of myself here."
"You are welcome to show us all of you," Ilyukhina comforted, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Did you just get this or is it old?" She asked.
"It's old. It was a gift one of my students gave me, but I never got the chance to wear it yet," he explained, a soft, sad smile falling onto his face.
"Well, I'm very happy you got the chance to. It suits you, Dr. Grace."
"Thank you. I'm happy to know I'm not alone here."
"We are never alone," Ilyukhina told him. "We must stick together against the heteros, yes?" She joked, making Grace laugh slightly.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Shoot! I gotta go," he rambled, pulling out his phone and answering it quickly. "Bye!"
Watching him take off, Ilyukhina smiled softly. It was a nice feeling to know for certain that she wasn't alone on this ship, that she had someone who was like her, who was queer.
It was also nice to know that by tonight, she would be 40 dollars richer.
~~~
"You'll pay me how much?" DuBois gasped out.
"I said I'll give you 50 to prank Stratt and get away with it," Yao repeated himself. "No external help, no getting caught, and it's yours."
"Why are we pranking Stratt?" Shapiro asked, leaning onto the table.
"I'm bored and I would like to know what will happen if someone does," Yao admitted. "Someone that isn't Dr. Grace, of course. That man has free reign," he muttered, not out of malice or anything like that. It was just a fact.
It was known on Stratt's Vat that Dr. Grace could do practically anything and get away with it. Whether that was destroying a whole lab by blowing it up, as he did several weeks ago, or accidentally skipping out on a meeting that had mandatory attendance by sleeping through his alarm, as he had done multiple times already, Stratt would give him a pointed look, maybe an insulting reminder to do his job, and that was all. Being second in command, aware of it or not, gave him lots of freedoms that nobody else had.
Yao, DuBois, and Shapiro still bet that part of that was because Stratt was sleeping with him. She wouldn't punish her partner.
"So, I just have to prank her in one way or another and I earn the money? That's all?" DuBois double checked.
"Yes," Yao confirmed. "But if you get caught or anything like that, you owe me the money. Deal?" Yao asked, holding out a hand for DuBois to shake.
"Hell yeah!" DuBois shouted out, shaking Yao's hand and planning what to do.
He came up with an easy prank: hiding photos around Stratt's office.
He didn't want anything that would get in the way or cause issues, especially with the severity of the situation they were in, so something small and harmless, if not mildly annoying would be perfect.
DuBois quickly got to work, entering Stratt's office and taping up the same photo of Dr. Grace around the room, in cabinets, in drawers, under her desk, basically anywhere that Stratt might look. He figured that Grace would be perfect for it - a face that she couldn't stay mad at, like everyone else on the ship.
He'd posted them all over the room in under ten minutes, quickly making his way in and out while she was in a meeting with world leaders. Now, all he had to do was wait for her to find them and for Yao to give him the money. It had all gone to plan.
At least, DuBois thought it did until he got called down to her office the next day.
"DuBois, do you know why I called you in here?" Stratt asked him, sitting behind her desk, hands clasped in front of her as she stared him down.
He was sure that staring down a firing squad would be less anxiety inducing than facing the woman in front of him.
"No, ma'am," he shook his head, standing at attention in front of her, trying to play cool and calm.
"Yesterday, you came into my office with the papers I asked you for. It should have only taken you a minute or so, but you stuck around for over ten. Then I come back and I find my office different than how I left it. Why is that?" She asked.
"I have no idea," DuBois lied. "I thought you might want to discuss the plans, so I stuck around for a bit before I remembered that you had a meeting. I left after," he explained. "What happened to your office?"
"Nothing of importance," Stratt shook her head. "Thank you, DuBois. Please, let me know if you hear anything," she said finally before sending him out of the room.
Stepping out and shutting the door behind him, DuBois immediately let out a loud sigh, all of the tension leaving his body from her interrogation.
God, Stratt was a scary woman and Yao definitely owed him a few rounds after dealing with that. It was worth far more than 50 dollars.