Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Almost everything in the room was coated in a thin layer of dust. It gave Purple the sniffles, leaving their voice sounding congested (they may have forgotten they had dust allergies, but that's okay).

Purple's nose scrunched up against their will, and then-

"Achoo!"

Purple heard a giggle.

”Aw, you sneezed.”

Apparently, Red found their suffering entertaining, and Purple groaned.

"I'm really glad you find this so amusing." The sarcasm in their congested voice was impossible to miss. Why did they have to be the one with allergies? 

“Well, you were the one who picked a dusty old storage room to hide in.” 

Purple shot Red a flat look. 

“Yeah, cause obviously I wanted to hang out with the dust bunnymates,” they grunted, “it’s just- we needed a room without cameras.” They wiped their stuffy nose. 

Red sat on their makeshift seat, which was quite literally just a large cardboard box full of things heavy enough to hold their weight, and swayed their legs absent-mindedly.

Then randomly, ”it kind of smells like my grandmate’s used socks in here.” 

Purple blinked, completely thrown off, though they had to agree it did smell pretty funky in there.

“Wow, that… was definitely a thing you just said. I’m concerned for your grandmate’s feet.” 

“Exactly, but the socks actually help contain it.”

Purple did not want to know what Red meant by ‘contain’ it, so they decided not to ask. 

Red watched Purple continue exploring for a while longer before they spoke up again. 

“Hey, uh Purps? Don’t you think we should start heading back now?”

Purple was busy scanning the cases of things long forgotten and outdated, “huh? Why’s that, Red?” They sounded a lot less enthusiastic about work and a lot more interested in the dusty looking pair of binoculars sitting all alone on one of the shelves. 

Those binoculars were in mint condition too…

…The lens caps were still firmly secured, like they’ve never been used before; they were practically begging to be brought home to their collection, and the idea of sneaking them into their work locker seemed very compelling…

“Uh, hellooo? We need to start transporting the Ore+ supply, sound familiar?,” Red reminded them of the work they unfortunately still had to do, “and I don’t want MIRA to find out we're not doing our jobs, should we really be in here?” 

The guilt in Red’s voice pulled Purple out of their thoughts. They sounded like a criminal who just got away with a heinous crime instead of an overworked intern taking time off their shift. 

It was evident Red didn’t like Purple’s idea.

Their idea had brought them into the storage room for their ‘break.’ What was so bad about that?

But something about it felt wrong to Red, as if taking time out of their day to rest was something they were supposed to feel guilty for.

Purple tried to reassure their friend. “What MIRA won’t know won’t hurt them. Also, fun fact, I’ve hid in the supply closet before. For two whole hours, and no one found me,” they paused briefly, “well, except for the janitor.”

Purple was lucky enough to have used that time to take a nap, which was nice as a crewmate who struggled to get sleep. The downside was that they could only smell cleaning chemicals for the rest of the day. 

They also woke to a janitor yelling at them and shooing them out with a broom for sleeping in a pile of clean towels.

They couldn’t help it, they were incredibly soft, okay? 

”No way.”

”Uh-huh.”

”When?”

”Remember that company-wide gathering we had in November?”

Red shuddered, knowing exactly which one Purple was referring to.

“I wish I didn’t... Wait, is that why you took so long in the bathroom?” 

Purple chose to ignore that question.

“My point is, no one will know- whoa!”

Something caught Purple’s attention before they could finish their sentence. 

”What is it? What’d you find?” 

It was a mystery until Purple flipped the canvas around. They raised their brow and held it up for Red to see.

”Uh, looks like… an old portrait of the boss?” Purple wasn’t sure what they were expecting, but certainly not this.

It was a framed oil painting of Pink, though it’d seen better days. Like, way better days.

Purple dusted it off with a hand, revealing Pink’s full title etched in the plaque below it, which seemed a little more than egotistical. 

There was also a big crack in the middle where their face should’ve been; which branched off into circular patterns and resembled a spidermate web.

Yeesh, no wonder it was shoved in a spot where no one would find it. 

“Ya’know, I think I like them better with the crack. It brings out their visor more.” They joked (it wasn’t a joke).

”Purple.” Red sounded offended on Pink’s behalf, which was frustrating to say the least. 

”C’mon, you know I’m kidding!” Purple put the portrait back in its original spot. 

The room had clutter on shelves while boxes were piled up against walls. Old, unused MIRA equipment were stuffed into different parts of the room; left there to rot with no further intention of getting used again.

“Anyways… we’re on a break. I don’t see the harm in staying just a wee bit longer?” Purple pointed out.

“That’s because it’s an un-authorized break, Purple.” Red countered, “we could get in serious trouble,” they held a hand over their chest, “so as your very responsible friend and colleague, I say we leave and resume our tasks.”

Red paused, then nervously chuckled.
“…Well, right after we use the bathroom that is. I um, really have to pee.”  

”You always need to pee.” Purple was blunt in their response as they rummaged through more boxes, curious about their contents.

Red gasped. “I-I do not! I’m just… regularly hydrated. If anything, it’s a sign of a healthy body.” They stated, matter-of-factly.

“Yup, mhm. Totally.” Purple hummed to themself as they pulled a box out from under a shelf. Red was always trying to spin things around to make it seem intentional on their part. 

The moment they opened the box and peeked inside, their visor lit up with excitement. Finally, something actually interesting (aside from the binoculars). 

”Yo, Redsie,” they reached in to grab something, “you’re gonna wanna take a look at this.”

They pulled out a dusty, tattered hat that looked in serious poor condition. It was worn with age and despite the colors being faded, Purple could still identify the familiar symbol on the front of it. 

Purple turned towards Red with a smile that reached their visor. 

“Hey, you always said you wanted to be a captain someday, right?”

Red watched as Purple blew dust off from an old captain’s hat, their visor going wide with the same excited sparkle as Purple’s. 

“Heads up!”

Before Red could react, their friend threw the hat like a frisbee in their direction.

Red beamed once they caught the captain’s hat, forgetting all about their tasks as they placed it on their head.

Purple dashed over to stand in front of Red.

“At your service, captain!” They deepened their voice, puffed out their chest, and held up a salute. 

They were mimicking the character they saw in the company video tapes, which were the same ones they had to watch during their first week as interns.

It was fun doing the impression, even if Purple wouldn’t so easily admit it. Besides, it was worth it seeing the smile on Red’s face, which was very contagious. 

Red took all the pretend glory in as they nudged the captain’s hat up and rest their hands on their hips.

The red intern looked to the side. 

“Get ready, co-captain, for the space excursion of your life! As I, your captain, will guide us through the asteroid field!” 

Purple felt butterflies in their stomach when Red addressed them as ‘co-captain.’ It wasn’t even a role that existed but it still made them feel important. 

“But-but, captain, what if we run into aliens?” Purple asked in a meek voice, taking inspiration from a sci-fi movie they and Red had seen together at the theatre. 

Red seemed eager to play along. ”Then I’ll blast them with our weapons system, of course! The day is now saved, thanks to me, the captain!”

”Oh no! Captain, the aliens have evaded the blast and got on the ship!” Purple dramatically waved their hands around, pretending to panic about their very real situation.

They even provided their own sound effects, adding to their performance. 

“No alien will get past co-captain Purple and their trusty fishmate, Heracles!” Red declared, pointing at Purple in exaggeration.

Purple grinned at the mention of Heracles and got an idea. They tilted their hat down and pointed at the air.

“Heracles, I choose you! Use ‘Bubble Barrage’ on those aliens!” 

“Purps, everybody knows ‘Wave Pool’ is the better water type move. Get your Pokémate facts right.” Red chided as if they weren’t both huge Pokémate fans. 

“I actually prefer using ‘Bubble Barrage’ and that’s because I use a strategy where-“

Red cupped their mouth. “B-b-b-boringgg!” They interrupted. “Strategy play is for nerds. I just click whatever move I think sounds the coolest.”

“Excuse you?” Purple feigned offense. (Well, actually they were slightly offended). ”Strategy play is awesome, at least I don’t lose in all of my gym battles like someone I know.” They hinted at Red with their visor. 

Red laughed. “You’re such a dork.” 

All of the playful banter brought Purple back to their first few months as interns, when they were still finding their footing.

They remembered all the ways in which they would goof off during work, until Red started growing distant when their jobs got more tedious. 

”Am I?” Purple teasingly raised their brow, “I’d say I’m pretty cool,” they gestured to themself, earning a playful visor roll from Red. 

“Hm… if by ‘cool’ you mean you’re secretly a massive dork, then sure.” Red teased lightheartedly.

If only MIRA weren’t such bums, Purple would say Red would’ve made a decent captain. So long as they learned when to take charge, and learned how to assess situations properly, and could take things more seriously, and-

Purple was close enough for Red to flick them on their hat which startled them out of their thoughts. They batted Red’s hand away with a groan and gave them a glare before the two friends broke out into laughter.

After they both recovered from the giggles, Red took the captain hat off with a sigh and set it down on the box beside them.

Red stared at the hat for a long time. 

Purple watched Red in a comfortable silence.

“Welp… I think it’s officially time to go, Purps.” Of course, Red’s only concern were their jobs. “I mean, we had our fun… but it’s time to get back to work. If there’s any cameras in here, we’re-“ 

“There aren’t. I’ve double and triple checked.” They found no cameras in the room, and Purple was a careful crewmate, they’ve mapped out all of the cameras in MIRA HQ to avoid getting seen. 

Purple was now determined to stay for a full break. “Red, we’ve been working for 7 hours.”

Purple held up a hand to emphasize their point.

Wait… They narrowed their visor at their four fingers, then raised the other hand to add three more.

“They keep extending our workload to keep us too busy to ask questions! Sorry for thinking we deserve a break,” they mumbled with sarcasm in their voice,

“and I’ll be damned what MIRA tries to tell us.”

They scowled, their frustration finally reaching the top and spilling over like a glass of water. Red just wasn’t getting it.

“Their schedule got full, Purps. I’m sure they were planning to give us a break eventually. They just had to move the times around to make things work, right? No biggie.”

Red dismissed their argument with a wave of their hand, which really annoyed Purple.

The ‘no biggie’ thing was really starting to get on their nerves. Red picked it up from overhearing all of the senior workers using it, and Purple hated it, because 9 times out of 10, it was a biggie. 

“Besides, maybe they’ll give us a longer holiday break to make up for it, and who could say no to that?”

Red sounded so very hopeful just to be so very wrong. 

”Okay first, that’s not how it works,”

”and second, why are you defending them? They’re just lying to make us think what they’re doing is fine and-“

“MIRA doesn’t lie.”

”Red-“

“Purple, enough. This isn’t about MIRA anymore,” Red pushed themself off from their makeshift seat, their sandals hitting the floor as they landed, and took a step towards their friend.

“I want you to tell me what's really going on.”

Purple was caught off guard by Red’s sudden burst of persistence. Where did that come from?

The red intern searched their friend’s visor with the quiet urge to understand them.

“I know there's more to this than what you're telling me.” 

Purple couldn't stand it. Now they wanted the truth?

After being so damn obtuse all the time?

After months of brushing everything aside?

It felt like no one else was taking this seriously besides Purple, and the concern Red was showing was almost insulting. Why pretend to care now? 

”There’s nothing going on.”

Purple’s response came out harsher than intended as they paced the storage room, stress written all over their face and body language.  

Red raised a brow, clearly skeptical as they held a hand to their heart. ”Wow. That was so obviously a lie that I’m a little offended you thought I’d believe you.” There was a note of dry humor in their response. 

Purple sighed, fooling Red wasn’t an option anymore, was it? Purple was just too easy to read when they had something to hide, and Red knew exactly what signs to look for.

They were like two sides of the same coin, reflections yet opposites; the friends knew each other inside and out. 

It wouldn’t even be surprising if they could read each other’s thoughts by now. 

“I know you, Purple.”

Red’s soft tone made Purple stop pacing to look directly at them, their expression resembling a deermate caught in headlights.

There was a pause as Red analyzed the other intern closely. “It’s just- you keep acting like you know something I don’t and it’s freaking me out.”

Purple felt so exposed.

”You keep getting called to the office for these ‘workplace mishaps,’” Red said with air quotes,

“and don’t pretend like it’s not noticeable. It’s been happening for months now.” They pointed an accusatory finger at Purple, growing tired of the way they were dodging all of their questions.

Purple instantly tensed, wait what?

It was… uncomfortable knowing Red was strangely good at keeping track of them and their habits. If Red noticed it, how haven’t the others? 

Who was this imposter and where was the real Red? The Red that would act obliviously even if the world was ending? 

Their gaze dropped to the floor, unable to meet Red’s visor.

Maybe they shouldn’t think of their friend like that. Red could be really knowledgeable sometimes, and they liked to help… but Red was overly trusting and that made them naive. 

Red was still too loyal to the code and Purple had broken the code multiple times… because if Red knew they were the one trying to expose MIRA, who knew how they’d react? They’d probably run right to Pink and tell them everything. 

They wanted to trust Red, they really did, but it was hard to do that when they consistently fell victim to MIRA’s propaganda without fail.

Their friend would put their faith into the company before anyone else, so forgive Purple for being hesitant to feed them information that could potentially lead to an even worse outcome. 

Red just couldn’t be trusted until Purple knew for certain they wouldn’t ratmate them out to Pink. 

“Ya’know, I noticed that every few weeks, you’re in Pink’s office.” The red crewmate went on, leaning in close like they had it all figured out. 

“Will you please keep your voice down?” Purple whispered as they tried to force down the desperation in their voice; they glanced quickly at the door. Geez, did Red ever learn how to be subtle?

”Someone might hear you.”

Even Purple could hear the paranoia seeping into their voice and they hated how obvious it sounded.

Red followed their glance before looking back at Purple. “See?” they said, as they folded their hands across their chest.

“This is exactly what I mean. You're acting like someone's listening. You don’t do that unless you’re hiding something.”

Purple swallowed hard before turning to face the wall. With their back towards Red, Purple shut their visor. “You wouldn’t understand...” They muttered.

The purple intern was suddenly very aware of their surroundings as they kept facing the wall.

Red let out a long sigh, rubbing their forehead before dropping their hand to their side. 

“There you go again. Keeping things from me,” Red started, upset by Purple’s unwillingness to tell them the truth.

Weren’t they supposed to be friends? 

“Friends don’t keep secrets from each other. We promised we wouldn’t-” 

“Red, shh!”

”No, we’re having this conversation right now.” Red took on a demanding tone that sounded unnatural coming from them.

It felt… strange. 

Purple grew furious. 

“I’m telling you the truth when I say there’s nothing to tell you. Weird things just happen, so I go to the office once in a while. It’s-“ they hesitated, “it’s not a big deal.” 

Red didn’t look convinced. “Purple, I saw you-“

How unfortunate of the timing, because as soon as Red started speaking, the door to the storage room slowly creaked open.

Fluorescent lights flooded the room within seconds and both interns startled from seeing the silhouette of another crewmate standing in the doorframe. 

The sound of a walkie-talkie crackled on, followed by white noise, and the crewmate’s gruff voice talking into the speaker.

“We found em, boss.”