Opposites Attract

Cyan was lying underneath one of the sinks in the shared bathroom, tightening a pipe with a wrench. They heard someone walk in, and they got up into a sitting position. They looked up to see Pink looking down at them.

“Hi, Cyan! Did the sink start leaking again?” Pink said cheerfully, reaching a hand down to help them to their feet. Cyan took it, and Pink lifted them to their feet

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that MIRA just bought the cheapest sinks that they could while still being up to code. What are you doing here?” Pink wiped some dust off of Cyan’s shoulder.

“I finished my tasks, and I’m just praying that Purple’s too occupied with her work to notice that I wandered off without her.” Pink made a hand gesture. “Speaking of groups, where’s Red?” Cyan cracked their knuckles, and stretched their arms above their head.

“He’s trying to figure out who took my Phillips screwdriver, I couldn’t find it in my toolbox this morning, and I found a loose vent that needs to be fixed.” Pink nodded, and Cyan crouched back down under the sink, working silently for a few moments with Pink hovering behind them.

“Cyan, could you come out from under the sink for a moment?” She laughed, and Cyan finished tightening the leaky pipe. They sat up, staring up at Pink curiously. 

“What is it?” Pink grinned, and ran out of the room. 

Cyan waited for Pink, crossing their legs as they sat on the cold tile, and Pink ran back in after a minute. She tossed them a screwdriver with a yellow handle, and Cyan fumbled to catch it, before staring at it in surprise. They tried to speak sternly, but it came out really confused. 

“Pink, why do you have my screwdriver?” Pink put a hand on her hip, leaning to one side.

“I think Orange took it, I saw it in his duffel bag, so I just grabbed it.” Cyan pulled the toolbox that they had placed next to the sink, and opened it, dropping the screwdriver in.

“I don’t know why Orange would need it, but I’m glad that you found it.” Pink gave them a thumbs up.

“No problem! Also, how much longer will you be? I need to take a shower, and I don’t like having other people in here with me.” Cyan got up, picking up their toolbox as they did, and smiled softly.

“I actually just finished, so it’s all yours.” They glanced at the row of curtained off shower stalls, completely understanding why Pink preferred showering in the room alone. They personally didn’t like how if they didn’t draw the curtain enough, anyone could see through.

They left the room, and heard a small squeak, followed by the sound of running water. Everyone knew how long it took for the water to heat up, so they ended up running the water while they got ready. Cyan still wanted to check out the water heater to see if something was wrong with it, but kept forgetting.

They walked down the hall, and carefully climbed down the ladder, holding tightly onto their toolbox. Cyan placed it on a crate momentarily, and pulled out their tablet, skimming through their tasks. They were usually one of the first to finish their tasks, and spent their free time fixing stuff, since things broke a lot, or reading on their tablet.

They pumped a fist once they saw they only had one task left, which was divert power, and they slid their tablet back in their pocket. They started jogging at a slow pace over to Electrical, as they somehow ran into Purple every time they ran anywhere, and they paused, remembering that they had asked Red to help them find their screwdriver. Cyan clicked a button on their helmet, and pulled out their tablet once again, screen prompting them to choose who they wanted to call. They clicked the icon for Red, and waited for him to respond. 

They heard a deep voice above a thin layer of static say, “Hello?” Cyan cleared their throat before responding.

“Hey Red? You know how I asked you to see if someone had taken my Phillips screwdriver?” 

“Yes, I’ve been asking the others to see if they have it.” Red replied, sounding like he knew where this was going.

“Well, turns out Orange took it, what he wanted it for is beyond me, but Pink already found it.” Cyan heard Red sigh, but it sounded a bit fainter, like he had taken off his helmet partway.

“Got it, I’ll go find him, and remind him for the third time this week, that he can’t take people’s things.” His voice dropped to a mutter, “First with Blue’s blanket, then with one of Lime’s scented candles, and now this.” Cyan was strolling down the hall as they talked, and had already made it to Electrical.

“Sounds like I won’t have to reprimand him, which would be a strange experience, considering that he’s older than me, although not by much.” Red chuckled.

“If you have nothing else to say, see you later, Cyan.” They smiled.

“Bye, Red!” They heard the audio cut out, taking the static with it, and the tablet displayed that Red had turned off his comms. 

Cyan walked into Electrical, squeezing in before the doors opened all the way, and they shoved their hand in their side pocket as they walked to the back. They crouched down to place their toolbox on the ground, and stood back up. Cyan flipped open a metal box, and pushed a slider up, a label below reading ‘Shields’.  

They turned to leave, and jumped when they saw Lime nearby. They lightly punched Lime on the arm, and he looked over with a bewildered expression.

“Lime, you scared me!” Lime laughed.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I thought you heard me come in!” They leaned on Lime’s shoulder, shrugging.

“I didn’t, since I’ve pretty much tuned out most sounds, which probably isn’t a good thing.” Lime had an amused look on his face.

“It’s really not, especially because you’ve also seemed to tune out talking.” Cyan put a hand up to their face in a thoughtful gesture.

“Really?” Lime knocked a fist on their helmet playfully, causing it to tilt to the side.

“Yep. When I walked in, I said, ‘Hey, Cyan!’ And you didn’t even react!” Cyan blinked, trying unsuccessfully to remember if they had heard Lime.

“Huh.” Lime giggled, and they took their head off of his shoulder, adjusting their helmet back into the correct position.

“You’re such an idiot.” He said affectionately, and they got close enough to Lime’s face that their helmets bumped together.

“Says the one who sprained their wrist because they fell out of bed.” They teased, and Lime rolled his eyes at them.

“It was 3 months ago, Cyan. Will you ever let it go?” Lime pulled Cyan into a hug, and they nestled their head against his neck, inhaling his scent, which was faintly of lavender and lemon.

“Nope!” Lime groaned, and they let go of him a bit reluctantly. “I’m going to go finish my task.” Lime nodded.

“I’m going to be making lunch shortly, so if you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen.” Cyan pushed their helmet up to give Lime a quick peck on the cheek, before walking past him, and towards the doors.

They stepped out of Electrical, letting the automatic doors shut behind them, and turned to walk down the hall. Cyan passed through storage, and saw Orange fixing some wiring with Blue watching nearby. Orange attempted to connect wires that didn’t go together, and it sparked brightly, making him step back with a jolt. Cyan twitched, and ran up beside him. Orange spotted them, and flinched a bit, but Blue didn’t look all that surprised that Cyan was there, despite him just seeing them.

“I didn’t see you there, Cyan! What’s up?” Orange spoke in a fake happy tone, like he didn’t almost set himself on fire moments before.

They pushed Orange to the side silently, and he yelped in protest. They took two wires of the same color in both their hands.

“You’re doing this wrong, Orange. I don’t want you short circuiting the power again. ” Orange leaned against the wall with a shrug, and Cyan joined the wires that they were holding together.

“Eh, they should have made the wires easier for colorblind people to differentiate between.” Cyan made a noise, and connected a pair of yellow wires together smoothly.

“Orange! If it’s that much of an issue, you should tell Purple to stop making you fix the wires!” Orange glanced at them.

“Probably, but I keep forgetting.” Cyan sighed, and closed the wire box.

“So you’re just going to keep messing up with it until I get fed up enough that I do it for you?” Orange gave them a thumbs up.

“Yeah.” Cyan pushed their helmet up to rub their temples.

“Lime is going to be making lunch in a little bit, so try to finish up the majority of your tasks now.” Blue nodded, and smiled from under his visor.

“Thanks for helping Orange.” Cyan smiled back, and Orange crossed his arms, muttering something that they couldn’t make out.

“No problem! Also, Orange, be prepared for Red to lecture you.” Orange gave them a confused glance, and Cyan walked over to the right hand side of Storage.

“What does that mean!?” Orange called out, and they snickered.

“You’ll find out!” They replied, and speed walked out of the room before Orange could make them elaborate. 

_ _ _ _

Pink sat at one of the tables in Cafeteria on her tablet, noises of dishes clattering and the rustling sound of a bag being opened coming from the kitchen. Pink was reading a Wikipedia article out of sheer boredom with a towel around her neck, and her helmet placed next to her on the table.

She clicked off of the article, and onto a story she had been reading. She didn’t really like one of the characters, since she was a cookie cutter, ‘not like the other girls’ type, but the other characters were bearable, and the plot was interesting enough for her to keep reading. Pink groaned as she read one of the lines of dialogue, which was the female character talking nervously to the male love interest. Romance in novels wasn’t really her thing.  

Out of nowhere, there was a loud, dull crash as something fell on the ground, and Pink nearly jumped out of her skin. She dropped her tablet, and just barely caught it before it hit the ground. She placed it on the table, stood up, and sprinted over to the back of the Cafeteria.

“Lime! Are you okay? What fell?” Lime was standing a little ways into the kitchen, foot raised off of the ground, and a black frying pan in front of him.

“A pan fell out of my hands,” He put his foot on the ground, and lifted it back up with a wince. “and onto my foot.” Pink slid over the counter, and walked up to Lime, looking at him nervously.

“Is it bad? Can you walk? Should I get Red, or-” Lime shook his head.

“I should be fine, it’s not that big a deal.” He tried putting weight on his foot again, and he hissed in pain. “ Ow. I- I think I just need a Tylenol.” Pink sighed in relief, she didn’t want Lime to be hurt. 

“Good, but if it’s still hurting after, I will drag you to Medbay myself.” Pink looked Lime up and down for a moment. He wasn’t the largest person, but Pink only reached to just above his chest. “Well, it might just be me clinging to your leg, and being a nuisance until you get medical attention.” Lime picked up the pan with a laugh.

“That would be a sight to see.” Pink sat on the counter as Lime placed the pan on the nearby stove, and he turned to her.

“Could you watch the pan for me?” He asked, “I’ll get things going, but just don’t let it burn.” She got up, walking beside Lime, where he had a small stack of buttered bread and cheese next to the stove.    

“Sure! What are you making?” She said happily. He placed two slices of bread with cheese between it in the pan, and turned a knob to medium.

“Grilled cheese, it’s pretty simple, and you guys have liked it when I made it before.” Lime walked around the counter that separated the kitchen from Cafeteria, 

“Cool! No promises on not letting it burn though, I’m pretty bad at cooking.” Lime shook his head.

“And this is why I cook all your meals.” He muttered, before walking away, leaving Pink alone in the kitchen.

She felt awkward for some reason, and she ran her hand through her damp hair. She thought it might be because of the silence, or that she had barely cooked anything for herself in a while, and felt out of place in the kitchen. She hummed quietly to herself, and grabbed a spatula, flipping the grilled cheese over, which made a sizzling sound.   

Pink didn't notice as Purple speed walked into the Cafeteria frantically, and spotted her. Pink heard footsteps, and turned her head to see Purple glaring at her from across the counter, arms crossed.

“Pink! Where have you been?!” She shouted, and Pink automatically raised her hands up to cover her ears, stopping just short. Purple noticed, and lowered her voice, giving her an apologetic glance. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell,” Purple went up next to Pink, and pointed at her. “but I was looking all over for you! Why did you run off?” 

“I’m sorry…” Pink muttered, looking at the ground, and Purple uncrossed her arms before walking behind the counter.

“Don’t apologize, I was just worried.” She said in a gentle tone, “Something could have happened to you!” Pink took the grilled cheese off of the pan, and put it on a plate.

“I know, but I stayed with other people! Lime was just here, and I was sitting nearby.” Purple sighed.

“I’m going to relax the rules for being in groups, since everyone seems to stick together anyways.” Pink stared at her, wide eyed.

“Really? You don’t usually do that this quickly!” Purple shot her a smile.

“I don’t, but I don’t think anyone else is going to die, the few crew members that were killed had other people that could have wanted to get rid of them, and Yellow’s was an accident, if they're even dead.” Pink flinched at Yellow’s name, and she looked back at the pan. 

A month after getting on the Skeld, there had been an accident with the airlock, and Yellow had been sucked out. They had probably survived, and it was very likely that they had just found another ship, but Pink had always felt like it was her fault because she had walked by Yellow just minutes before, making her feel like she could have prevented it. 

“Well, I appreciate it!” Pink said, putting a bit of fake cheerfulness into her voice. Purple had a blank expression for a moment, thinking about something, before jolting.

“Wait, did you say Lime was here? Where did he go?” Pink took another grilled cheese off the pan.

“He dropped a frying pan on his foot.” Pink said in a monotone, and when she saw the look on Purple’s face, had the urge to give her a cup of water to spit out.

“What!? Is he okay?” Pink laughed a little.

“Yeah, he’s fine, he left to get a painkiller.” Purple put a hand to her chest.

“So he’s not hurt too badly, right?” Pink shrugged her shoulders.

“Probably, because I may have threatened to cling to his leg if it still hurt afterwards.” Purple sighed.

“I don’t like how easily I can picture you doing that.” Pink heard the doors open, and she looked over to see Lime walking through, walking on a barely noticeable limp.  

"Pink, is the grilled cheese at least intact?” Lime said, walking up to herself and Purple, using the counter for support as he walked behind it.

“I mean, it’s not burnt, but these ones aren’t going to be as good as yours, that’s for sure.” Lime laughed softly.

“There won’t be that much of a difference, you think too highly of me.” Pink punched Lime lightly.

“You think too little of yourself! Your cooking is amazing!” Lime rubbed the back of his head.

“I don’t really think that’s true.” He said bashfully, and Pink jabbed the center his chest with one finger.

“Stop it! Just take the compliment, or I’m going to get Cyan here to back me up, and you can’t tell them they’re wrong!” Lime started to say something, but Pink cut him off. Don’t try to deny it, I have seen you do it myself, even when they were wrong!” She saw Purple stifle a laugh, and Pink beamed at her.

“Honestly though, because of you, I actually eat.” Commented Purple, “Before I was in this crew, no one had really figured out how to make meals that were even edible, I don’t think, so I ended up going multiple days without eating a lot of the time.” Pink nodded, and raised her hand for a second.

“I second that, I have been on ships where I had to either not eat, or eat whatever indistinguishable thing that the supposed ‘cook’ had made that day.” Pink could just barely make out Lime blushing from under his visor.

“Thanks guys.” He pointed out into the Cafeteria, and said, “But, if I’m going to finish cooking, I need to be alone.” Pink smiled at him.

“Of course!” Purple nodded, and took Pink by the arm lightly, almost dragging her away, ignoring her loud protests.

Purple let go of her, and Pink walked back over to the table that had her stuff on it. She slipped her tablet into her pocket, and Purple picked up her helmet for her, passing it to her.

“Here, we’re supposed to wear our helmets as often as possible, in case of anything bad happening, like the O2 malfunction yesterday.” Pink took her helmet from Purple.

“Do you have a hair band that I could borrow?” She asked, motioning to her head. “My hair’s still drying.” Purple took off her glove, and rolled a black hair band off of her wrist.

“Sure, here.” Purple gave Pink the hair band, and she tied her hair up into a messy bun, slipping the helmet overtop.

“Thank you!” Pink said gratefully, and Purple leaned on the table.

“No problem, I always keep one on me.” Pink grinned mischievously at her.

“I’m going to go bother somebody else now!” She said cheerfully, walking quickly out the right hand door.

“Pink! Don’t-” Purple called, before giving up with a sigh.

Pink skipped while she walked, and glanced out of the window in Weapons for a moment as she passed. She spotted Black and White walking down the hallway together.

“Hey Black!” She exclaimed, and White jumped, but Black just turned her head with a small wave.

“Oh, hi Pink.” Black said, turning to face Pink, while White took her hand. 

“What do you need?” White said in her calm voice that somewhat reminded her of a therapist’s.

“Nothing, I’m done my tasks, so I’m just talking with people.” White nodded.

“Okay, you can walk with us if you’d like!” She said, gesturing down the hall. Pink smiled, and strode up to the two of them.

“That sounds nice, although I’m probably just going to distract you.” Black chuckled, and shrugged.

“I think we’ll manage, it’s nice having company.” Pink stood next to White on her right, and she pulled out her tablet, Pink glanced over when she did.

“I have a task in O2,” White said, “why Purple didn’t assign it to Cyan, I’ll never know.” Pink made a hand gesture, and White walked into O2, Pink hovering in the doorway.

“Cyan has to do basically all the maintenance stuff, so maybe Purple wanted to make it easier for them today.” White hummed, and leaned down to pry a panel attached to a pipe open.

“Well, this is one of the easier ones for someone not experienced to do, so I don’t feel like Cyan needs to do it, but it still makes more sense that way.” White started taking objects clogging the O2 filter out, and the room became quiet.

Pink fidgeted with her hands uncomfortably because of the silence, and she got lost in her own thoughts.

“I really hope that whoever the imposter is doesn’t kill anyone else.” She thought out loud, speaking in a quiet and sad voice, barely catching the way that Black flinched out of the corner of her eye.

“Oh, um, yeah me too.” Black stammered, and White glanced at her with an expression Pink couldn’t make out, given the distance between them, and the tinted visors.

“I mean, it doesn’t feel like anyone else is going to die, since the only two who we think were killed by the imposter were both shitty people, and we had been on the Skeld for a long time before anyone died.” She continued, mostly to herself. Black looked relatively uncomfortable with what Pink was saying, and she was a little confused on why. 

Maybe she’s been on a ship that had an imposter attack before. She thought, thinking of it as the only reasonable explanation. Pink had never been on a ship with an imposter before, and she was trying her best to think of the imposter on the Skeld as not too serious, mostly to prevent herself from breaking down. Although talking about it made her heart beat louder, and made her feel like sitting in her bed for a while until the awful feeling passed.

“God damnit…” White muttered, trying to tug something out of the O2 filter that was stuck. Black looked down at her.

“Do you need help?” White stood up, letting Black crouch down in front of the O2 filter, looking a bit surprised.

“You can-” She glanced over at Pink, as if remembering that she was in the room. “Nevermind.” 

Pink gazed at White curiously. What was she going to say? She frowned, and shook her head. I shouldn’t get too worried, it’s probably nothing. Black accidentally made the panel slam shut, knocking Pink out of her thoughts suddenly. Black stood up, and turned to Pink. She looked up from the ground, and at her.

“What’s up?” Black studied her face for a second.

“Have you ever encountered a shape- imposter before?” Pink stared out into the hallway.

“No, so this is a very new experience for me, as well as a scary one. Why do you ask?” Black walked up next to her.

“No reason, just wondering.” Pink eyed Black for a moment, before White joined them, and they continued walking.

A notification sound came from all of their tablets simultaneously, and Pink flinched slightly at the noise. She pulled out her tablet, the screen already on, and there was a message from Lime reading, ‘Lunch is ready!’. Pink put the tablet away, smiling.

“Do you know what we’re having?” White asked, and walked up into Weapons, turning to the left, towards the Cafeteria doors.

“Grilled cheese.” Pink responded, passing White, who quickly followed her, with Black not far behind.

“Great! I love Lime’s grilled cheese!” White said happily, and Black patted her on the head affectionately, making White giggle.

The doors opened with a hiss, and there was a strong smell in the air. Purple was already there, and was making small talk with Lime at the counter. Lime placed a large plate with grilled cheese piled on top of it. Pink walked up to Lime, and took a tray off of a stack.

“Thanks, Lime!” Lime smiled at her, and used tongs to put two grilled cheeses on her plate.

Pink walked off to a nearby table, and sat down, taking her helmet off. Black grabbed a tray, and Lime turned to grab another tray.

“Here, I know you prefer having meat on your food, so I made a couple with bacon.” Black placed one on her tray, and put it on the counter for a moment to lean against it.

“Thank you! It’s scary how much you know about our preferences!” She laughed, and Lime laughed as well.

“I pick these things up when I’ve been with you guys for a year.” Black picked the tray back up, and walked over to sit at Pink’s table.

White sat down soon after, sitting directly next to Black. The doors opened, and Red walked in with Cyan, who ran up to Lime immediately, vaulting over the edge of the counter.

“Hi!” They exclaimed as they landed lightly on the ground, and they hugged Lime tightly. “Whatever you made smells really good! Is it grilled cheese?” Lime gestured to the plate on the counter.

“Yep! How did you guess?” Lime handed Cyan a tray with one and a half pieces of grilled cheese on top, and they leaned against the counter to eat, as they usually did until Lime was finished giving everyone their food.  

“I remember the smell from last time.” Pink turned her attention to the people sitting at her table, Green sitting down just as she did.

“I'm glad that it’s finally lunch, because I’m starving .” Exaggerated White. She took off her helmet, and placed it next to her on the seat.

“It’s not like you didn’t have breakfast today, dear! You should be fine.” Black said in a teasing voice, and White leaned on her shoulder, gazing up at her face. 

Pink lingered on Black’s nickname for White, and she blinked a couple of times, before connecting the dots in her head, remembering how they had acted together. She flickered her gaze between Black and White, knowing that she definitely had a shocked expression on her face.

“ Oh…” She muttered, taking a bite out of her food, and resting her head on her hand. They’re dating. Pink hummed. Probably. How did I not catch on?  

Pink had been one of the first to notice when Lime and Cyan started dating, so she thought she would have realized sooner. She heard a quiet thump as Black placed her helmet on the table, followed shortly by Green’s. The Cafeteria got marginally louder as everyone sat down and started talking amongst themselves. 

“Pink!” Orange called to her, and she turned around to see Orange sitting at the table next to hers, pointing at Blue.

“What is it?” She responded, and Orange leaned closer.

“I need you to settle this for us. Is Blue a top or bottom?” Blue smacked Orange upside the back of his head, and Orange laughed. 

“Orange! Stop it!” Pink grinned at Orange, and gave him a look.

“He’s definitely a bottom, no questions asked.” Blue blushed, and Orange turned back to him, smiling widely.

“I told you!” Pink giggled, and Blue crossed his arms.

“Pink!” Pink dodged as Blue tried to hit her, and she noticed Black staring at her.

“I’m not involved in this conversation, but to be honest, I agree with Pink.” Blue’s jaw dropped, and Orange looked smugly up at him.

“See! Even Black agrees, and she’s supposed to be one of the more serious people in the crew!” White narrowed her eyes at Black, and lightly hit her on the shoulder, trying to stifle her laughter.

“Black! Don’t say that!” Black shrugged.

“What? It’s true! Blue would be a bottom!” Black said, laughing, and Blue buried his face in his hands, obviously embarrassed.

Purple passed by, and Orange stopped her by tapping her on the shoulder. She turned, and Pink snickered, as she knew where this was going.

“Purple! Is Blue a top or bottom?” Blue tried to shove Orange before he could say anything, but Orange was ready, and dodged. 

“Like, in a bunk bed?” Purple asked, looking oblivious, and Pink bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

“No, as in, in the bedroom.” Orange said, trying to explain, and Purple just looked confused.

“That’s what I said, in a bed.” Orange sighed, and Blue looked a little relieved. White was trying not to laugh, and Black wasn’t even trying to hide it.

“I mean like, dom or sub.” Orange clarified, and Purple snapped her fingers.

“Oh! That’s what you meant! Bottom.” Purple said, and walked off to her seat.

Blue had taken a sip of his water, and he spat it out, getting water droplets on Orange. Orange laughed even harder, and grabbed a napkin from his tray.

“It’s unanimous then! Purple’s asexual, and she also thinks that you’re a bottom!” He said, wiping himself off quickly, before passing the napkin to Blue, who was blushing so much that his face was red.

“I’m going to murder you, Orange!” Orange slid into Blue’s lap, crossing his arms.

“I doubt that.” He said teasingly, and Blue pushed Orange’s head away, forcing him out of his lap.

Pink giggled, and finished eating, listening as Orange and Blue continued to bicker.