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Everyone was absolutely tired.
The entire crew had been celebrating the fix of the massive hole caused by White’s inability to have any common sense. It was ridiculous. Of course on the outside they wouldn't show that they were upset, irritated even, but it wasn't difficult to see it. The whole party they had been aimlessly swirling their drink in their red silo cup - similar to the ones seen in movies. Green had been watching White from across the room attempt to converse with the rest of the crew. It was strange, with all the others it was like they just mimicked how they spoke.
With Red they acted confident and praised their actions, with Orange they discussed policies and whatever capitalist mumbo jumbo they were on about. Cyan was weird to watch, never expected White to know anything about star signs. Turns out they’re a Libra from what they heard. With Black and Blue White talked about deeper meanings or something, Green didn't listen when they talked to Purple, Brown or Yellow.
The only person White didn't seem to copy was Green, which was the weirdest of all. It’s like White couldn't grab onto a specific trait of theirs to mirror. They had chalked it up to be because of social status at first, but as the night went on it had been proven time and time again that class wasn't an issue for them. Hell they managed to have a somewhat equal conversation with Lime. That in itself was impressive. Not even the Captain knew how to have a real conversation with them.
Throughout the night Green would accidentally catch White’s eye, resulting in very uncomfortable visor contact on multiple occasions - each time Green would quickly dart their line of sight away from White and pretend to be doing something else, usually doodling something on a napkin with a pen they found laying around. Force of habit they supposed. The napkin had an array of bees and worms drawn sporadically across the paper. But over time as more and more awkward gazes were shared between the two, the drawings slowly formed into a replica of the person they were watching. Before Green knew it, there was a portrait representing the very person they hated in the moment.
Green stared at the napkin, pen in hand. What were they supposed to do with this? They had just been idly drawing without much thought, so it makes sense they drew who they saw. Green grabbed their cup and took the napkin over towards the bin. Not like either served them any purpose. The cup was empty and the napkin felt like a crime against themself. They just wanted the party to be over - they want to sleep away this uncharacteristic frustration.
As night time rolled around, people went to their designated sleeping areas and the lights dimmed into a deep blue to mimic the ambience back on Earth. It was surprisingly nice, reminded Green of home. They missed home, but to become captain they would suck up the homesickness and persevere through to Industria. Sure they almost had the wheel right in their hands before it got taken from them and then the ship crashed so the likeliness of Red ever letting them use the steering ever again was about as small as a baby worm, but you never know! Maybe Mira will see how good of an unpaid intern they are and think ‘hey we should hire them as paid captain’ and all their efforts would be worth it!
They weren’t tired however. After all the internal complaining and waiting for the pizza party to be over all the energy they had been lacking had suddenly sprung back into them. Sounds great until you realise nobody else is awake. Probably cant even wander the ship either without being told to fuck off or waking someone up.
Everyone else on the ship had a sleeping quarters, aside from Green, that they knew of at least. Medbay was also inconveniently locked during the night, unless someone was injured. This meant Green adapted the cafeteria into their own place to sleep, choosing a very specific corner of the room to turn into a makeshift bed. It was close to window as to watch the stars while also not being directly next to the rubbish chute. No-one wants to smell whatever was in that thing as they slept, it likely hasn’t been cleaned since the last trip on the ship. Maybe Green should clean that in the morning, gives them something to do.
The hard floor caused Green’s back to ache, it was awkward having their backpack force their back into a position that could only be described as a bending stick. That sort of arch hurts. After a very long amount of mental back and fourths, Green begrudgingly unclasped their bag as to actually let them sleep without getting the worst back pain known to Amongi-kind. Laying their back flat on the floor was the best feeling they had been able to get all day, they could finally let go of all the tension in their muscles and relax. Tomorrow would be better.
White was lost. Surprisingly, Mira hadn’t actually provided White with a place to sleep. Considering they were a contest winner even just a small room would have been expected. But alas, they were bed-less. They weren’t entirely sure what to do about it since everyone else was asleep. Cant ask for assistance when everyone had their doors locked and were sleeping peacefully, they would probably get split in twain if they even tried to wake one of them up. Not that they would as manners are very important when meeting new people.
Since they didn’t have anywhere to rest White had began to wander through the halls looking for literally anyone who would be awake for whatever reason. It would be nice to have someone to talk to, ignoring the lack of beauty sleep. Good thing they wake up well rested no matter when they fall asleep. White made their way through the upper hallway, the engine giving them a slight headache from the low rumbling forcing its way into their ears. Medbay was locked when they tried to open the door. Why would you lock the only medical suite on the entire ship? What if they maimed themselves during the night and needed Blue to assist? Ridiculous!
With a sigh they walked away. The only room they hadn’t tried yet was the cafeteria, but their hopes weren’t exactly high. If they found nobody it would inevitably have to become their new sleeping quarter. Disgusting. White was a celebrity and they were being practically forced to sleep on a dining hall floor. Thank goodness none of the crew were allowed electronics or White would have jumped into the rubbish chute and sent themselves into space. As they defeatedly walked inside the cafeteria, scanning the room. There wasn’t anyone from what they saw, however as they stepped further in they spotted a pile of blankets off in the corner. Maybe someone left their belongings here? White would have to return it! The previously warm orange lights faded into darkness.
White waltzed over towards the pile, dodging whatever leftovers had been abandoned on the floor. The dark made in increasingly difficult to see what they were doing and what was actually inside the bundle of blankets. As much as they didn't want to admit it, the lack of sleep was starting to affect White. It was rare for them to ever stay up so late. Maybe they should just use the blankets for the night? Surely the owner would understand the predicament and if they had left the items here and never returned to retrieve them it wasn't of utmost importance. They can always wash them in the morning. They eventually got close to the blankets and reached their hands out to grab them before they spotted a visor staring directly at them.
“What on Polus are you doing?”
In no way shape or form did White expect to see the unpaid intern inside the heap. They let out a small yelp. The sudden loud voice rang through their head like a bullet as it cut through the silence of the ship. They didn't even have the best reason in the world to be grabbing their potential bed!
It only made it worse that White had been avoiding Green.
“I wasn't aware someone was there, sorry.” White quickly apologised in the most monotone voice possible before quickly spinning and walking to the kitchen side of the food court. White didn’t want to look Green in the visor. The embarrassment was something they had been raised to never admit or accept.
You see, the entire day White had been avoiding seeing Green. Ever since they crashed the ship in an attempt to impress them, they hadn’t had the guts to speak to them. It was shameful and and further discussion would cause a confrontation that could easily risk their reputation. The entirety of the party White had attempted to make connections with the other crewmates in a move to have a better repute with the rest of the ship. Most of the conversations were decently boring aside from Blue. They actually had something in common with Blue thanks to being in the pharmaceutical business but aside from them it was easier to mimic the interests of those they were speaking to. All except Green.
While the sheer humility of crashing the ship was in the most basic terms unideal, there was a much bigger issue White was facing. They found Green incredibly attractive. On one had this was the first time White had experienced any true form of attraction to someone. Usually they had been being pressured by their family to take liking to the options they provided. They never did, truly. White knew if they managed to bring Green back to their parents they would be disowned mentally by their parents for dating someone of such a status. However on the much more important hand, Green definitely hated them. Rightfully so yet it still stung all the same.
White curled up in a ball on the freezing cold floor. It was like sleeping in a freezer. Actually the freezer atleast had something to rest their head on. Their head was pounding and it made them feel nauseous. Of course of all of the moments in time they had to fight a migraine right when they were stuck in a room with the person that caused most shameful emotions of their life. All of those bottled up feelings all spiralled into White all at once like a tornado. All the effort in keeping a calm manner became futile as they laid on the tile. White’s breathing shallowed and became shaky, eyes beginning to water. Whether or not if it was because of the social dishonour, pain slamming itself into their head or some mysterious third option didn't matter at the minute.
They were crying on the cafeteria floor.
Did they see them without their bag on? Green was absolutely horrified at the idea. If White had seen them in the dark without their backpack they would never be able to look them in the visor ever again. Refusing to speak to each other was one thing, but the concept of them seeing the other fully vulnerable was whole other subsection of mutual mortification. What was even worse for Green was they didn't even dislike the idea. That thought in their head alone made them blush violently, contrasting the icy floor.
Without any hesitation they shoved the idea as far away into their mental back-burner as physically possible. In no way were they going to give it the light of day, they were supposed to be angry dammit! It was such a weird distraction to their sleep and one they hoped would never happen again. Green was pulled out of their head when they heard shaky whimpers coming from the other person in the room. Was it really that uncomfortable for them?
Even if Green wasn't exactly happy with White at the moment, they weren't going to ignore them crying in the corner. Why they hadn't gone back to their room to cry was an odd decision but there had to be a reason they were here in the first place. With a very exaggerated sigh Green lunged forwards into a sitting position and returning their backpack onto their back. Walking over exposed in such a way would be a weird decision. A potential restraining order level of weird, and Green cant afford a lawyer.
Quietly as to not startle them too bad, Green made their way over towards the crying ball on the floor. God that must've been uncomfortable. They weren't entirely sure what to say when they would make it over there, how do you comfort a crying millionaire when you don't even know what upset them in the first place? Curse Mira for taking away their only access to Google. With a final delicate step they were directly in front of White and reached a hand out, only to bring it back in hesitantly.
“Uh White,” They said gently as to not make the crying worse. White turned to look back up at them with an unreadable expression on their face. “You doing alright over here?”
“Please leave me alone.” White turned away from Green, breaking the shared eye contact between the two. This was going to be harder than Green thought. Maybe they should just leave them be. Yeah no that goes against every moral code programmed into them.
“What happened? Is the trip that stressful for you?” Green sat down cross-legged beside White. They didn't know how long this was gonna take nor did they want to be standing for all of it.
“Gosh since you just forced it out of me!” White suddenly leaped up and put the back of their hand to their forehead. Alright, not that much harder then. “Not only do i have no sleeping quarters which means I am utterly freezing, I am riddled in guilt of nearly killing oh so many crew! My head hurts and im tired and..”
The long spiel of woes was ended with an unillegible mumble Green couldn't make out. Before they tried to comprehend any of the many complaints they needed to quickly double check what White had ended it with. The tiredness must've been getting to them.
“Sorry can u repeat that last part? Didn't quite catch it.”
“No.”
“Wait why? I thought you wanted me to help?”
“You came up to me. Not the other way around.”
God this idiot was unneededly stubborn. Green was running out of the already dwindling motivation to actually help the person in front of them. Tears or not. Noone shared any words, neither of them knowing what to say from that point on, It would help if Green could think of ways to help White yet their mind was foggy from the lack of sleep.
“Look im going to get sleep, if you want to actually talk you can wake me up or something.” Green began to get up and walk away before they felt a hand on their leg. Where was this going.
“Can i sleep with you?”
After a few moments of blank staring from the two of them, it finally clicked in White’s clearly not fully their mind what they had said.
“Not like that! I mean literally!” They swiftly began to stumble over their correction, pale face become a very clear warm pink despite the lack of illumination. “It is very cold over here and you actually have blankets!”
Green considered their options. Either A; reject White’s plea and have to deal with their probable crying and have a newfound very rich enemy, or B; allow White to sleep next to them despite their differences and have an extra heat source. Green hated how appealing the idea being next to White had. Their face scrunched as they weighed the pros and cons in their head, this was an odd decision to be making so late at night.
“Fine,” They sighed, lending a hand out for White to get up. “But I want you out my…bed…before the others arrive in the room.” A very important part in the deal. Green was not going to allow the others to even entertain the notion of being together. Heaven knows Cyan would.
White’s visor lit up and they swiftly used Green’s hand to launch themselves forwards and shook their hand.
“Thank you Green! This is ever so generous!”
The two made their way over towards Green’s bundle of stuff that was laid alone on the floor. They were no doubt going to have to clean those every night considering the state of the floor. White was beaming despite practically falling asleep on Green’s shoulder as they walked. That had to be some sort of skill to sleep and walk while conscious.
Green only realised they never let go of White’s hand until they sat down on the blankets. Oh well, they were just guiding them. Nothing to dig deep in their psyche about. Without much thought, mostly the sleepiness taking over most common sense, Green huddled up to White and placed their knees bent touching the other’s. They were just getting more warmth is all. It’s cold.
Luckily for White, Green had always been a cuddly person, so they had the honour of falling asleep with Green using them as a makeshift teddy bear. Best sleep they will ever have.