Summary: You're dating them, sharing a bed with them, and now you have to deal with them. None of them sleep normally, unfortunately.
Includes: Actor Mark, Darkiplier, Head Engineer Mark, Yancy, Murdock/Murderiplier, Wilford, Damien, God of Night, and Simon.
TW: Sleepwalking, Insomnia, Nightmares/Night Terrors, and of course Mentioned Murder
Actor Mark
He doesn't sleep very soundly due to the entities in the manor. While their influence over him outside of the Upside-Down is limited, they can still find him in his sleep. So, he often suffers from pretty bad night terrors. Due to this, he has become a night owl of sorts, putting off sleeping for a while. If you asked him to come to bed to cuddle to sleep or something, however, he'd be there in an instant. He's never turning down that offer. Just don't be upset if you wake up to getting smacked because he's started flailing in his sleep.
Another thing he does, albeit not that often, is sleepwalking. He is only somewhat aware of this, though. It barely ever happened before moving into the manor, then once he did move, it has started happening more and more due to the stress from the entities and Celine leaving. The most helpful usually does is opening his eyes, sitting up, and maybe getting out of bed to lie down on the floor next to it. He used to believe he just fell out of bed either by his partner at the time kicking him out or because he moved t much in his sleep since he never went far, even when you told him that you saw him get up. There was that one time when he managed to get downstairs and lie back down on the couch, though... That shut him up real quick and made him panic. Don't tell anybody he does this please. He's scared that the papers will make wild stories about it-
Overall, though? He's going to wrap his arms around you and fall asleep. Even if he's climbing into bed at 1 in the morning and you're already asleep, he's going to tuck himself in and latch onto you like a lifeline. He almost always wakes up after you, or at the same time as you if Benjamin wakes you both up for breakfast that morning.
Darkiplier
You... can't actually tell if he sleeps or not? Maybe it depends on who is most in control of the body at that moment in time, because sometimes he'll lie down next to you while you're falling asleep, like he's going to sleep alongside you, then sometimes he'll say he doesn't need to. As much as you'd like to ask what the situation actually is, you don't want to seem too invasive of their privacy. Not that the entity would really care, but you still want to respect Celine and Damien.
The entity, of course, doesn't really need to sleep. So, the choice on whether or not to "sleep" is based entirely on what Celine or Damien wants to do. Celine prefers to stay awake, trying to protect you from whoever might bother you. Especially Mark. When Damien is put in charge, however, he prefers to sleep alongside you to give you some semblance of "normalcy" in the relationship. He understands that you love them while knowing that they aren't exactly human, but that doesn't mean some of the things they do won't make you unnerved or feel like you're missing out on basic human experiences (like falling asleep next to someone you love).
This conflict often results in the compromise of Dark simply... lying down next to you until you fall asleep, pretending to sleep, but actually staying awake to keep an eye on you. On the rare times he actually does fall asleep, he's as still as stone and almost always has an arm wrapped around you.
Head Engineer
(Not me stabbing myself in the feels choosing this GIF, but it kinda fits-)
He does one of two things: Stays up for three days straight because he just can't sleep, or when he does fall asleep, he talks in his sleep. Both of these you probably didn't notice until getting to the new planet, simply because the cryo chambers force your body to sleep and be completely still with chemicals. The only hint you might get from him before actually witnessing it, yourself, is him jokingly saying "I haven't slept that well in years! 😄" as he steps out of his cryo station. It's not even that he stays up because he can't sleep, either. He'll climb into bed and try sleeping, but he just can't fall asleep, so he'll lie in bed and pretend to sleep for like... Two hours, before getting back up to work because he's bored.
Whenever he talks in his sleep, it's mostly just mumbles. There are the rare few times when you can make something out, like random names or lists, but it usually isn't anything interesting. It doesn't even last that long when he sleeps talks, either. There was one time when you caught him saying your name, though, and you lovingly teased him about it for weeks.
Even if he can't fall asleep, he does like lying in bed with you to help you fall asleep. If you need him to give you some space? He'll do that. Do you need some cuddles to relax? He'll be happy to provide! Just don't be too disappointed if you wake up to him still awake in bed, or out of bed and working on something. You didn't keep him up at all. It's just how he is... to be honest he probably needs a sleep medication, but that will take a while to be shipped in from a different planet to the colony. Maybe he can try listening to some of that ASMR stuff he hears some of the colonists rambling about?
Yancy
He falls asleep easily, but is a light sleeper. He's knocked out the second his head touches his pillow, but if so much as a mouse scuttles by, he's wide awake. As much as prison is absolutely wonderful in Yancy's opinion, with people willing to stab a guy just to stay inside? You learn to sleep with one eye open... or in Yancy's case, learn to wake up at the slightest disturbance. This can cause some problems if you move around a lot in your sleep, or if you tend to go to sleep later than he does.
Once Yancy is out on parole, he does find a few things to help him. For one: ear plugs. That helps with keeping out some noises that'd usually wake him up. He also really likes white noise machines, too. It's like replacing all the annoying noises that keeps him up with ones that he likes and relaxes him.
He might wake up from time to time if he sleeps next to someone who moves around a lot, but that doesn't really bother him, so long as it's you. He'll wake up, get to check on if you're still sleeping alright, then pass back out. If you aren't, he might stay up a bit to see if you're going to wake up on your own. He's heard it's bad to wake someone having a nightmare, so if you don't wake up on your own, he'll go back to sleep until you wake him up.
Murdock
Your chances of actually having a peaceful sleep in the same house as him, much less the same bed as him, are 50/50. This is entirely because he sometimes forgoes sleep in favor of murdering somebody. So, you sometimes are woken up by the sounds of agonized screaming and maniacal laughter at 3 in the morning. However, whenever he actually decides to sleep at the same time as you? It is, surprisingly, extremely peaceful.
He sleeps like a baby, despite all his crimes. On the rare occasion he'll have a nightmare, but even then they don't wake him up or bother him that much. He'll just wrap his arms around you or let you wrap your arms around him, then passes out for the night. He might even nuzzle his face into your neck or shoulder if he's feeling especially tired and relaxed.
Even if you don't wake up on the nights he stays awake, it's still a bit easy to tell when he decides to stay up. He usually wakes up around 7 in the morning when he goes to bed at his regular time. Yet, when he decides to murder instead of sleep, that just means he goes to sleep at a later time, which means he wakes up later the next day. You've learned that if he sleeps in until the afternoon, that's a day that you probably shouldn't check the basement.
Wilford
He can only sleep if he has some sort of pressure on him. Like a weighted blanket, or being wrapped tightly in his blankets, or if you drape yourself over him. Anything along those lines, really! If he doesn't have that? He's tossing and turning all night, unable to relax. This also comes with the caveat that he will fall asleep really quickly if you give him a weighted blanket or decide to wrap him up in a blanket burrito, no matter the time of day. So if you want to cuddle in a blanket burrito together and not have a mid-day nap, it might be best to save it as a night time treat.
Outside of that, he has extremely wild and vivid dreams. Every dream of his is like a fever dream. So, whenever he has a dream that is frightening, or hits an emotional cord in the wrong way, he'll wake up confused and fearful. So, he would appreciate it if you don't get frustrated if he wakes you up on the rare occasion that this happens. Don't be surprised if you wake up to him asking what year it is, or something along those lines.
He also loves white noise when he sleeps. He's never exactly known the term for it, though. He just describes it as "Honey, I need the fan, again." and you understand that he wants you to turn on the fan to help him sleep.
Damien
Damien has a messed up, delayed sleep schedule. If it weren't for the fact that being the mayor requires him to be up very early in the morning, he'd be sleeping in until the afternoon. Even then, he only really falls asleep at like... 1 in the morning, despite getting into bed at 9 PM. This results in him only really getting restful sleep on his few days off, when he can sleep in, with him running off of around 5 hours of actual sleep every other day. Which is hard to tell, since he somehow acts wide awake and rested during work days... You assume he takes naps, but you've never caught him taking one.
This doesn't mean that he's not going to try, though, or that he's not going to be in bed when you're in bed. As I said, he still gets into bed at a regular time. He'll be laying beside you, holding you in his arms, with his eyes shut as he tries to sleep. He does find that, even if it doesn't lull him to sleep completely, he finds you humming to be extremely relaxing. It makes the process of actually falling asleep a bit easier.
On his days where he gets to sleep in, he won't mind if you wake up before him. In fact, he'd much rather wake up to an empty bed, since he doesn't want you to put off your day for him, or for you to wake him up when he finally gets to sleep for a longer amount of time. The only thing he might ask for is for brunch... Since he wakes up so late, he misses breakfast, but he still really wants pancakes when he wakes up-
God of Night
He's just downright nocturnal. In the literal sense, too, where he sleeps during the day and is awake at night. The night is his job, after all, so it's somewhat natural that he's awake for the entirety of it. Gods still need to sleep, even if they need less than humans do on a daily/nightly basis. This does, however, cause obvious problems for you if you're a human... Your sleep schedules are the exact opposite. This is something that probably bothers Night more than it bothers you. His relationship with Day was strained, even before his betrayal, and one of the problems was simply how little they saw each other due to this exact reason. Day awoke and worked during the day, he awoke and worked during the night. They didn't see each other as often as they would've liked.
So, Night tries to stay awake to see you. After all, gods only need about half the sleep you humans do. He should be fine! No need to even tell you about it. Next thing you know, a few weeks go by of him slowly growing sleep deprived, before he finally passes out on your living room floor. Once he gets back up, there's a high chance he might try to do it again if you don't convince him that you don't mind him needing to sleep during the day quick enough. Yet, once you manage to get through to him, he's willing to go back to his usual schedule...
On one condition: you need to be there when he falls asleep. It helps him feel like he's still spending time with you, even when asleep. He might even place his head in your lap and ask for you to run your hand through his hair as he falls asleep. In turn, he'll make sure to do the same for you when you fall asleep at night.
Simon
Simon mostly has a difficult time sleeping because the beds in this resource dwindling universe? They are terrible. On Eden they sucked, and while imprisoned by the C.O.I they definitely sucked. He's very particular about the surfaces he sleeps on, and every mattress he's ever had the chance to sleep on was either too rough, too hard, or basically not even a mattress due to being so thin. Simon would much, much prefer a soft, springy mattress.
When it comes to any sleep behaviors, he's extremely still and quiet when he sleeps. It's almost to the point where you want to check if he died, but you can faintly hear him breathing, so you know he's okay. This also means that whatever position he fell asleep in is the one he's going to stay in the whole night, unless you move him.
He is probably going to lay his head on your shoulder or chest, since he's just happy to not be alone. So... you're stuck like that the whole night, since he barely moves an inch.
In Space With Markiplier/Iron Lung x Captain! reader
Word count: 5,677
A/N: This isn’t perfect and doesn’t follow the movie exactly right. Deal with it.
If you ever escaped this stupid wormhole, you would have to learn how these warp crystals actually worked. Ideally, you’d get the one currently lodged in your palm removed and destroy it, but if similar things continued to prove a problem in your cursed life, you’d need a better foundation of knowledge to work with.
The trip on the Invincible II was never going to be easy, but it sure as hell wasn’t supposed to be like this. Mark and his horribly misguided ideas got you stuck here. And there. And there. And everywhere, apparently. Between all the shootouts and betrayals and grayscale inner monologue bullshit, you were so tired. More than anything, as you pressed the button on your wrist again, you wished for a quiet ending to it all.
You knew by now you had to be careful what you wished for.
When the light around you faded and your feet hit solid ground, you opened your eyes into a terrifyingly quiet new world. You were in front of a window, you could tell that much. But the sky was… wrong. Sparse. And the waves rising to meet the horizon, they felt off somehow. The warp crystal was your best source of light as your eyes locked on the view of the cosmos, but the strangeness nagged at you, set your hairs on end.
You took slow, measured steps down the dim hallways until you reached an open door. It revealed a small submersible. Worn, stained red from rust, you supposed. Its entrance was open and a sense of urgency pulled you in, prompted you to climb inside. You could feel what a bad idea it was, but something in you couldn’t fight it.
As soon as your boots hit the metal flooring, the world stuttered around you and suddenly a man was sitting in the chair at the front of the sub. Your eyes tracked his motions, adjusting the controls and muttering to himself. A low groan sounded outside the walls of the sub and though you knew what you’d see, your eyes darted around anyway.
You were sealed inside. Of course.
When your weight shifted back, the metal beneath you creaked sharply and the man whirled around. You locked eyes, two caged animals suddenly thrust into the same cramped enclosure.
“Who the hell are you?”
His tone was sharp, but he made no move towards you. There was a hesitant glint in his eyes. You shifted your weight onto your back foot, tensed for a fight if one proved to be inevitable.
“What is this place?”
The man narrowed his eyes at you. His clothes were a patchwork mess of different textures and colors. A leather sheath was strapped to his shoulder. His dark hair framed his face, the locks falling in loose waves.
“I asked you first.”
“I’m a… traveler. I lost my ship, I’m trying to get back to it.”
“Well, this is a ship. Pretty shitty one, though.”
Your focus finally drifted from him for a moment to properly take in your surroundings. It was dim, with a speaker on the wall and a glowing button behind you. The pipes were almost sizzling when condensation dripped onto them.
It was hot in here.
Comparing it to that dying star you wound up in, feeling your flesh melt from your bones, would be a bit dramatic. But you figured you’d earned a bit of dramatic license by now.
“Why’s the porthole covered?”
The man’s brow furrowed at you.
“Uh… the pressure? It would break the glass.”
“How far down are we?”
He helplessly gestured at the gauge to the left of the closed porthole.
“There aren’t numbers. I’m just supposed to avoid the red.”
The marker was barely hovering above the edge of the red.
You huffed. Figures.
Without thinking, your fingers drifted to the glowing button. The man didn’t try to stop you, so you pressed in and a light flashed.
“Geh.” You blinked hard and stared at the image impressed on the wall in front of you. “What’s all that shit?”
“Beats me. I’m just here to take some pictures and serve my time. Then I’m free. That was the deal.”
What kind of fucked up sentence was he serving?
You’d met more than your share of criminals. Hell, in a lot of worlds, you were one yourself. But this was a whole different kind of punishment system. What could they hope to accomplish with this?
You pressed the button again and braced for the flash of light. You’d never seen a camera like this before, the images almost felt like a topographical map more than a light exposure. You could almost swear you’d feel the ridges of each shape if you just reached out a little further…
“You said you lost your ship. Which station was it?”
“The Invincible II.”
The man tilted his head in thought, then shook it.
“Never heard of it. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, a lot of the people I meet these days haven’t.”
You both stared at the image as it disappeared, leaving the sub in dim light once again.
“How’d you wind up here? I’m welded in, there shouldn’t-”
“Sorry, did you say welded in?”
He gave a pitiful nod.
“It was the most secure way to travel. This way the blood can’t get in. Theoretically.”
Blood?
You stepped toward the front of the sub and the small light above the porthole. Your fingers drifted forward and slid down the metal. They came away red.
“What the hell…?”
A clicking noise started up and your head darted around looking for the source. Your unexpected companion tensed up.
“Hold on to something.”
You listened without hesitation, dropping to one knee and gripping the control panel while the man pressed himself against the wall and shut his eyes tight. A deep, horrible moan surrounded you, drowning out even your thoughts for several tense moments. The sub shook as something gargantuan rolled past in the sea. The blood.
What the hell is this place?
You didn’t dare move until the clicking sound stopped. Your eyes slid up the wall in front of you and settled on the sealed porthole. The man behind you cleared his throat and moved to one side, clearly waiting for you to back up from the controls.
“Do I want to know what that was?”
“Probably not. I don’t.”
You shook your head and looked down at the warp crystal in your palm. This damn thing just never could give you a break.
“I’m Simon, by the way.” Your focus snapped over to him. “Figured if we’re stuck in here together somehow… might as well tell you my name.”
“I’m- uh… Most people just call me Captain.”
His brow furrowed. Someone of your apparent status would typically be given a hell of a lot more recognition than just a title. But, he supposed, someone of your status also wouldn’t be down here with a convict like him.
You were quiet after that, caught up in your head. Mark wasn’t here. Your ship wasn’t here. This place was some kind of hell, that much was clear. A blood ocean? Welding someone into a sub to explore it? With some kind of beast lurking out there?
Until you found a way out or the crystal sent you hurtling through the multiverse again, you would play its game. You had no other choice.
With a sigh of resignation, you leaned against the pipes running the length of the sub and looked over the controls.
“So, what are you taking pictures of?”
Simon handed you a page of what appeared to be a scan of the area, with a few points marked with coordinates.
“Whatever’s at those spots. I just have to get those pictures, then my sentence is considered served and I’ll be a free man again.”
You nodded as your eyes flickered between the scan and the coordinates on the controls. He was getting close to a point.
Simon maneuvered the ship in silence, allowing you to take charge in conversation if you saw fit. You wandered back toward the camera and pressed it again while Simon watched the numbers tick closer and closer to what he needed. The flash of light came, and you stared hard at the vague shapes in the dark void.
You felt the sub come to a stop and Simon double checked the numbers again.
“Okay, press that button for me again.”
You did so.
“I don’t know what the hell I’m looking at.”
“Neither do I. Just have to hope it’s what the COI wants.”
COI. New name. He’s not a prisoner of the woman chasing you across the cosmos then. Or maybe that was just a division of the United Space Authority. Either way, they were unlikely to be friends of yours.
You had little more to do than take photos for Simon while he maneuvered the sub around. In the quiet moments, he asked questions, making it clear he didn’t feel entitled to a response. There weren’t a lot of answers you could offer without getting into the whole wormhole issue, but you tried. Awful as this place was, it was indeed much calmer than what you’d been through so far with Mark.
When the speaker crackled to life, you gestured for Simon not to mention you. The woman on the other end spoke with bitterness and vitriol as she gave Simon new orders. He tried to defend that he’d done as she ordered; he’d managed to get photos of the skeleton down below. Now the rug was being pulled and he was brought up with it.
You ducked back and pressed yourself to the dark computer terminal to hide from view when the woman wiped off the porthole window with a dirty rag. Simon begged to be let out, to at least get answers, but she only said a tool was being attached to get a sample from the bones. It didn’t sit right with you, but there was nothing you could do about it.
When she turned away to bark out more orders, Simon growled in frustration and lunged toward the back wall to slam his hand on the button. You reached out for his hand, but there was no stopping him, at least not without revealing yourself. The flash caught your attention and your stomach dropped at the stark image of skeletons standing on the metal scaffolding around the sub.
The woman was back at the porthole screaming at Simon in an instant, then before you knew it you were thrown back down into the sea. You both lifted in the air at the sudden drop, slamming face first into the metal grates on the floor when you hit the blood.
Your eyes drifted to Simon as a man came over the speaker, apologizing for the woman’s attitude and in the same breath telling him he deserved it. There hadn’t been any way for him to have known that camera was an X-ray.
You stifled a pained groan and checked the device on your wrist. It was scratched up, but appeared functional. If you pressed it now, you could probably leave.
But he needed you. Or maybe you needed him.
You had spent so long already with wild characters and in the worst of situations. Simon was a desperately needed breath of fresh air. Maybe you were the same for him, maybe your presence was a comfort to him here.
You slowly rolled over and curled up on the floor, knees drawn into your chest. This place sucked. There was no doubt about that. You had to get out. And you couldn’t leave Simon here.
“Simon…”
You only dared to speak once the radio was silent for several minutes.
He tilted his head toward your voice.
“We can’t do this. I can’t do this.”
The ship stopped and Simon turned to face you.
“I don’t like this either, Captain. But we can end it once we have the sample.”
“There’s no guarantee-”
You stopped at the look in his eyes. Simon was desperate. You’d heard his outburst. How many times will you use me… You’d been a pawn before. You’d been cheated, lied to, left behind. You’d never let it break you. You couldn’t be the one to break him now.
“I just- we need to be very careful here. Those people… they aren’t interested in keeping you alive beyond making you their errand boy down here. They don’t even know I exist at all. That makes me effectively worthless.”
You weren’t sure what being careful even meant down here. He was instructed to ram into the thing you found to get a sample. Based on the X-ray image from above the waves, you had a sickening suspicion it was more than just bones you were looking for now.
Simon did his best to keep a clear head despite the growing heat and the mounting terror. You were forced to remove your helmet and your gloves, an uncomfortable process with the warp crystal sticking out of your hand.
Simon tried not to marvel at the condition of your clothes, made of fibers he only vaguely recalled and stitched so well he couldn’t even see the seams. He couldn’t comprehend how you could think the COI would consider you worthless if you had been given resources like that.
You stayed near the camera, trying to expel from your mind the image of the cracking glass as Simon had raised the porthole cover. The spurt of blood across his face. The unsympathetic voice over the speaker, no better than the woman before him.
When you allowed yourself to explore your limited surroundings for a moment, you noticed a scrap of paper sticking out of a small panel. Without considering the potential outcomes, you pulled at it and revealed a small pendant with a sprout preserved inside.
You brought it to Simon’s attention, stepping back and minding the controls while he studied the pendant. A part of you wanted to know what the pendant meant, but you hardly felt right to ask. The people up above, they’d talked about Filament Station, about how it was Simon’s fault; the Convict’s fault. About there being so few of them left. And the sky, it had looked so empty, so wrong.
“Simon…”
He snapped up from looking at the preserved sprout to stare at you.
“I have a way out of here. I think.”
He tilted his head and you were struck with the memory of Chica, a treasured crew member of the Invincible II.
You let go of the controls, leaving the sub still, buffeted only slightly by the waves. Keeping some distance, you raised your palm to show Simon the warp crystal and explained what little you understood about it.
“It’s definitely not perfect, but it’s a way out of here.”
Simon thought about it, his dark eyes swimming with thoughts.
A way out. An escape.
No execution, no COI, no Eden.
“Where would it take us?”
“With any luck, back to my ship. I have a crew there. You could join us, help us with the colony.”
His brow furrowed.
“Colony?”
“Well, yeah. It would be our first, Mark- he’s my head engineer- calculated the trip and everything, the planet is supposed to be beau-”
“Planet? What are you talking about?”
You paused. Despite yourself, your mind had flooded with images of Simon working alongside you and Mark and the rest of the crew. He’d fit in, maybe. He’d be free, you’d find an end to the loop and everything would work out.
“We don’t have a name for it, but-”
“Captain. There are no more planets.”
You stared at him. That couldn’t be right. How far into the future was this world if planets had collapsed or become uninhabitable to the point of giving up?
“That’s insane. Of course there are planets, Simon. The Invincible II is headed for one.”
Simon shook his head slowly, his eyes locked on you.
“I don’t understand where you’re from or how. But since the Quiet Rapture there aren’t any planets. There aren’t even any habitable moons left. Just this. The blood ocean.”
“What the hell is the Quiet Rapture?”
Simon watched for a moment, almost daring you to laugh and say you were messing with him. It couldn’t be possible for you not to know. There was nothing else but this. Nothing but the blood ocean and the wreck of Filament Station and the guilt of the killer he’d become.
When you just stared right back, Simon took a deep breath to steady himself and told you the sad and lonely tale of the Quiet Rapture.
You sat down hard and dropped your head into your hands. What sick cosmic joke was this? What entity of suffering had overtaken this universe? Why was this all that remained?
You had no time to consider it further. The clicking noise came back fast, offering barely enough time to hold on and none to make a plan of any kind. Despite your grip, you and Simon were both thrown from your feet and into the wall, the sub rattling hard as whatever traversed the blood ocean came back for you.
A deep part of you, more creature than human, latched onto the deep bellowing tone of the unseen beast as it circled you and then left. It was toying with you and you weren’t having it. On instinct, you lunged at the wall and pounded your fist against it in rage. Nothing had killed you and stuck yet; this would be no different.
Simon watched on silently. You had every right to be angry right now. He’d been angry, and now two people were doomed to a radiated death. At least there was nothing you could do down here that would have consequences for anyone above the surface.
When you steadied your breathing and pressed your hands tight together to work out some pressure, you moved over to the controls and righted the chair.
“Let’s do this shit. Once the CIA or whatever is saved, I’m using this crystal and getting both of us out of here. You’re getting your freedom, Simon. One way or another.”
Simon nodded once in agreement and settled in the chair. You stood beside him with the map in hand, reading off coordinates to get back to the creature you’d found before.
This sample had better be worth it.
Of course, when you reached the location, nothing was there.
“Uh, Simon?”
Simon turned in the chair to look back at you. You pressed the camera again.
“The thing is gone.”
“Gone?”
Simon joined you, leaning in until your shoulders nearly touched. You pressed the camera for a third identical, blank image.
“Shit.”
You triple checked the coordinates. This was supposed to be the right place. Your stomach sank as your suspicion solidified into a certainty.
“Simon, I’ve been thinking.”
He hummed softly as he turned the sub to one side and took another picture.
“When the camera went off above the surface-” Your words were stilted; you didn’t want to remind him what it caused. “-those people looked like skeletons. But they weren’t. This thing looked like a skeleton too. So what if…”
He shuddered at the thought when it hit him.
“No. It’s a skeleton.”
“Simon-”
“It has to be around here somewhere.”
You let him maneuver the sub around the area, clearing sections bit by bit. The cramped space kept getting hotter. The small beads of blood kept seeping in, trailing down the walls. You removed your flight suit halfway, zipping it down and tying the sleeves around your waist. Simon tied half his hair back from his face with his headband, allowing you to help when it fell out for the third time.
“Aha! There it is.”
You tilted your head at the image of the skeleton. Because it had to be a skeleton. But it was wrong. Different than before. Why couldn’t you put your finger on it?
“Simon, it… doesn’t it look wrong?”
He tilted his head to match yours and squinted as he pressed the button for another image.
“Huh.”
A sinking feeling struck your gut and you stepped away from the camera. Simon turned a bit to watch as you pulled your hands to your chest, pressing at the crystal in your palm. The staticky pain helped you stay centered, kept you from the spiral you lived at the edge of.
“Simon. We need to leave. I mean it-”
Another moan swept over you, mingling with the clicking warning of the sub’s sensors as you braced against the metal beneath your feet. It wasn’t enough, and you tumbled backward, slamming into the wall behind you. The hot metal and nearly boiling trails of blood burned into your exposed skin, forcing a pained cry from your lips.
When the unseen attacker stopped for a moment, Simon seized the chance to rush towards you and try to check on you. You hissed as you forced yourself one step forward, away from the unforgiving wall of iron.
The voice came back over the speaker, demanding an explanation for the delay. Simon tried to answer, tried to explain that the skeleton had moved, that it seemed to be missing half its jaw. The woman only shouted at him to hurry up.
Then all hell broke loose.
As you attempted to right yourself with Simon’s hand hovering a few inches shy of supporting you, the warning system cried out again and the whole ship tilted violently. You hit your head again, blacking out for a few seconds before coming to in total darkness.
You were sprawled out on the grated flooring at the back of the sub. Your head ached and the warp crystal pulsed, providing only the barest light. Simon had landed closer to the controls. He hadn’t moved yet.
You slowly moved to your knees, pressing one hand against your temple in a meaningless effort to quell the headache making itself at home. You braced yourself against the wall, setting off the camera as you struggled to stand. In the brief light, you could see Simon rise and fall with each breath, allowing you the smallest comfort in knowing he was still alive.
“...Simon…”
You took slow, uncertain steps toward him. As carefully as you could manage, you dropped to your knees beside him. One hand reached out and settled on his shoulder.
“Simon.”
He jerked back and slowly blinked his eyes open. Your eyes caught again on the pendant now wrapped around his wrist. It was undamaged, remarkably.
“What happened?” He groaned more than spoke.
“We’re lost, I think. And the power’s out.”
You held out a hand and braced as Simon pushed to his feet and checked the controls. You were right; the display was dark. No voice came over the radio.
“Well, this is a problem. You think there might be something in the manuals?”
You stared at the vague shadow of him in the dark.
“There are manuals?”
“Yeah. They’re in a- hold on,” Simon leaned down and felt around, standing back up with a bag in hand, “they’re right here.”
“You’re telling me there has been a stack of manuals here the whole time? And you haven’t read them?”
“That’s correct.”
In a flash of irritation, you thought of Mark. Then your heart seized and you remembered why you were here. You needed to go back to him. To your ship.
You snatched the bag from Simon and sat down, crossing your legs and balancing the manuals in your lap. You flipped through each one, holding your glowing palm just above the text to read it. Once you felt you had a solid idea of what to do, you handed them off to Simon and felt along the floor for a panel.
It took some doing and a long string of curses, but you got the power back on.
“Shit!”
You popped up from the maintenance tunnel and stared at Simon, who stood at the controls with a sour expression.
“What now?”
“We’re- damn it, we’re so far off…”
You hauled yourself out of the floor and stood up, brushing your hands off on your increasingly dirty flight suit. The metal creaked quietly with each step you took to join Simon at the controls. He was right, you were way off. With the chain undoubtedly broken, you had little chance of finding your way back to the tugboat.
You ran a hand over your hair to keep it clear of your face and huffed out a deep breath.
“Okay, the way I see it we have three choices. Give up and die,” Simon snorted derisively, “try to navigate our way back,” you pressed your eyes shut tight, then forced them open and looked down at the warp crystal, “or we use this and get the hell out of here.”
Simon stared at the crystal as well, his fingers hovering barely an inch away. Your hands were shaking slightly, but you did your best to still them. The glow seemed to grow for a moment, then dimmed as Simon drifted away.
“We’re smart. We could find a way back.”
“They almost certainly think you’re dead, Simon.”
They want him dead. You’re sure of that. So is he.
Still.
“Is this thing a guarantee?”
“It’ll get us out. It usually takes me back to my ship.”
Simon’s fingers drifted closer again. The crystal almost seemed to call for him.
“And if it doesn’t?”
“I can’t imagine it’ll be worse than this.”
The sub was only getting hotter. Redder. A buzz sounded and a blank voice announced that your oxygen had dropped lower. You were running out of time, out of air, out of luck to not be killed by whatever was out there.
“What happens if we make it?”
Your gaze flickered up to meet his for a moment. The briefest second.
“I’m the Captain. I can do anything. I can make you a full crew member, a colonist when we land. You’d be free, Simon.”
“And the people here…”
“They don’t care about you. Or me. They don’t even know your name. I can promise you the chance to live, in any way you want.”
You understood that it might sound cruel. That these people would be without a sub in a world with dwindling resources. That Simon would be leaving behind everyone he’d ever known, everything he was used to.
A voice crackled over the speaker. She sounded… soft. Smooth. Nothing like the captain above. She called to Simon by name, beckoned him near to her. Your serpent of dread coiled tight around your organs. For a moment, you were sure you’d be sick.
“Simon, I think we should-”
“Here. We must see it together.”
Your head jerked up and you scrambled to hit the camera button. An incomprehensible light seemed to almost hover in the center of the image.
“Simon. We need to go. Now.”
You pushed past him to the controls, leaving him staring at the fading image of the light. You set the sub full throttle in reverse until the warning system started, then flicked it back into forward at a sharp angle. It didn’t matter where you went right now, you just needed to leave here.
You stopped dead when the voice spoke a single word.
“Captain.”
You’d hardly spoken since her arrival on the radio. No one needed to know you were there. But she knew it anyway.
“What did you just say?”
Simon moved toward the speaker, but you were frozen in place. Your fingers twitched over the controls, itching to flee.
“We must see the light together. All of us.”
“Fuck this.”
You slammed the sub back into motion just as the moaning of the approaching beast overwhelmed all other sound. You just needed a few more seconds. You grabbed one of the manuals and forced it into position, keeping the sub moving at full speed.
“It’s time to go.”
You scooped up your helmet and gloves, then wrapped one arm tight around Simon. Just before you pressed the button on your wrist, The sub jerked to a stop as several massive teeth sank into the metal and punctured your only protection. You and Simon were soaked in an instant, then gone the next.
In a disorienting flash of light, you and Simon hit solid ground, cramped together in your cryo pod aboard the Invincible II. You couldn’t quite reach the emergency release, but it wasn’t a problem for long. Mark opened your pod for you, allowing you and your new companion to fall to the floor in a heap of tangled limbs and blood.
“Captain!”
Mark knelt down and hoisted you up by your shoulders, dragging you a foot or two away as he called out for the computer to wake the medical crew lead. Simon sat up a bit and wiped the blood from his face, but it barely helped.
“Mark, we need… help…”
You flopped back onto the floor and heaved out a breath.
When you managed to open your eyes again, you were sitting in a hospital bed with Simon in the same position five feet to your left. You were both being hooked up to machines and one of the crew members was carefully trying to wipe up all the blood and viscera.
Once you got a better look at Simon, you realized the extent of the damage. He was sitting perfectly still, his head turned just enough to see you. Two medics were trying to get a needle in his arm and struggling to find a vein. If the blood were the only problem, it’d be a quick fix. But there were dark, stringy tendrils of growth trailing up and down his entire body, weaving above and beneath his skin around angry red boils.
When one of them tried to nudge a bit of one tendril aside, Simon jerked away and hissed in pain. A quick apology was followed by another attempt to find a vein.
“Any chance we can skip the needles?”
“You both look like you’ve lost a lot of blood, Captain.”
“This isn’t from either of us. Mostly.”
Your head medic gave you a blank look, then nodded and the needles were abandoned. Simon was clearly uncomfortable with being fussed over, so you reached one hand out toward him. He took the invitation and pressed his fingertips into your palm while the medics continued to work.
It took a long while to get you both cleaned up and looked over. The head medic outlined plans to remove the unnatural growths from both of you and reverse the effects of the radiation poisoning caused by the camera. Perks of being on a state-of-the-art ship with the best and most well-developed technology.
Simon would be stuck in medical for weeks, and you would have to receive treatment in increments to continue with your duties as captain. Mark was on you the whole time like a dog with a bone, asking questions and trying to get you to use the warp crystal again. A few days before Simon was cleared from medical, you and Mark had an all-out fight.
There was yelling and pushing, Mark pried the warp crystal from your hand, and you nearly lost him in the wormhole. When it finally ended, the crystal gone, the wormhole settled, both of you curled up on the floor weeping together and apologizing to each other, a small piece of you finally felt at peace.
The rest of your journey to your new planet was smooth sailing. Comparatively.
“You have… a whole room of them?”
Simon stared in awe at the oxygen room, filled to the brim with plants.
“And a huge stockpile of seeds we can plant once we set up the colony.”
He took a step closer and gently took a leaf between his fingers, running over the smooth organic material.
Simon was looking better by the day. It took some doing to remove the blood and its after effects, and it had certainly left its scars. He had thin, creeping lines of scabs and scar tissue running along his whole body. You had the same, prompting you to keep your suit half off and leave your helmet in your room. The ship’s problems were behind it, so you felt safe enough to leave yourself somewhat exposed.
“I haven’t seen this much green since…”
You leaned back against the wall to watch Simon. He moved with reverence, studying each plant closely before moving to the next.
“I could use some help tending to them. If you’re interested in a bit of work.”
His eyes slowly drifted back to you.
“I could…”
“It’s not much, just watering them when they need it, trimming them a bit if they get unruly.”
Simon was quiet, so you pushed off the wall and came around the corner of an aisle of plants. As soon as you were within reach, Simon lunged forward and wrapped his arms around you. It was a somewhat stilted gesture, like he understood the concept but wasn’t very familiar with the experience. Your breath caught in your lungs, then your arms wrapped around him too, one hand coming up to settle in the ends of his curls.
“Thank you, Captain.”
You weren’t sure what possessed you, but you whispered your name. Not your title, not anything your countless friends and foes called you. Your real name. Saying it felt like sending a claw ripping through your own chest, an invitation for pain. Hearing Simon repeat it was a soothing balm, a gentle hand resting over cracked ribs and a bleeding heart.
You couldn’t be certain what would happen when you landed. You were pretty sure you wouldn’t become an obsessive tyrant and seal your people away underground. Mark wasn’t going to smother you in your sleep for putting him through hell.
It was a foreign sensation, but you actually felt… hopeful.
could i request something angsty/fluffy with engineer!mark x captain? your other fic absolutely destroyed me, adore your writing <3
Bad Day
Engineer Mark x gn!reader
Aw thank you so much! I had the start of this in my drafts for a bit, and decided it would work perfectly for this ask! Hopefully it fits with what you were asking for!
tw: angst
Word count: 2.5k
Prompt: the ask^
Summary: The Invincible II’s Captain is not having a good day, everything seems to be going wrong for them. They reach a breaking point and try to hide out in their room, but their head Engineer can’t help but follow them to make sure they're ok.
As the Captain of the Invincible II, you were not one to let much get under your skin. You’ve already been through a wormhole collapse that sucked you into a timeloop full of alternate universes. After all that nothing really seemed too worth getting upset at. Unfortunately it seemed like today really wanted to figure out just how far that ironclad patience really went.
Your morning started with a long briefing from Central Control. Your higher ups from back on earth have suddenly decided that a recount of all the supplies on the ship was absolutely necessary. They claim it’s a mandatory precaution before allowing the start up of any colonies on the planet you had finally arrived at. Along with a few other completely unnecessary “safety” preparations that would take days, at the very least. You try to explain to them that all the colonists, as well as your entire crew, and even yourself, had been in cryosleep throughout the entire journey. How none of the supplies or systems on the ship had even been touched until you had all woken up just about a few days ago. The people down at Central Control, hadn’t, slept through those years though. They wanted exact numbers before they would allow you or your crew leads to even step down onto the new planet. You had already sent some crew down to take some top to bottom scans, but they had returned to analyze them. Everyone was back on the ship getting ready to go down to see the planet for yourselves tomorrow, but with these new instructions… After everything you’ve been through guiding your ship here, you were going to have to wait even longer before you could finally finish the mission you’d been so desperately working to accomplish.
After your incredibly long and frustrating meeting, you headed to the cafeteria to make yourself a nice cup of coffee, hoping it would relieve some of your newfound stress. However, since your meeting went on for so long there was none left in the pot. No big deal. You reached for the upper cabinet to make another pot, but the door wouldn’t budge. You’ve got to be kidding me... It seemed to be stuck on something inside, so you pull at it again, a bit harder this time. Instead of the door opening, you feel yourself fly backwards landing on your ass, cabinet handle still in hand. After sending a quick message to Burt on your communicator, you decide to give up on the coffee.
Next came the part you were most dreading– informing all your crew that instead of finally getting off the ship and onto solid ground tomorrow, they’d have to wait until every single supply and protocol on the ship was accounted for, marked off, and filed with the correct paperwork back to Central Control. You couldn’t look your crew leads in the eyes as you shared the news, and before they could pick their jaws back off of the floor from the shock, you gave out a few orders to keep them busy. Thankfully Mark had caught on, and quickly repeated your orders to your, rightfully annoyed, crew leads. The rest of the day you spend helping with the new preparations, and listening to every person you come across complain to you about the frustrating delay. You weren’t used to working alone, and technically you weren’t. But before your voyage even started, Mark had always followed you around the ship like an excited puppy, trying to help wherever he could. After the whole thing with the wormhole though… you guess you couldn’t blame him wanting some space.
Didn’t make you miss him any less though.
. . .
The first couple hours you were fine, I mean it’s not like you disagreed with anyone about the ridiculousness of the situation. You always prided yourself in being a captain that people could come to if they ever had a problem, making sure everyone felt comfortable to speak up. This characteristic however, was backfiring on you in this scenario, as the hours ticked by and you had to listen to the same rant from a different person about the sixtieth time that day.
This was going to be a long day.
. . .
After hours of your patience growing thin, the end of the day finally comes and you gather with your crew leads– people you were close to and considered your friends. You take off your helmet as the door shuts, separating you from the rest of the crew. You were hoping you had finally escaped the non-stop criticism of your newly changed schedules, but you hoped incorrectly, apparently, because it actually seemed like they had been waiting all day for this moment. They all start speaking their minds almost simultaneously, voices overlapping each other. You rub your temples as you try to calm them down.
“I know you're all upset, but please, one at a time.” Your words come out more tired than commanding.
Mark, who has been unusually quiet, pipes up trying to defend you, “Leave the Captain alone. They’re just following orders.” You gave him a strained smile, but you weren’t sure his words were going to do any good.
“But they’re goddamn stupid orders! Recounting all the ammo we’ve packed will take days!” Gunther snaps back, and you could feel a headache coming along because, well, he was right. Not that you could say that. Speaking against your own bosses down at Central Control was hardly a good look.
You keep your voice level as you respond, “I understand it’s stupid, but having a more accurate number will help with keeping colonists safe when we finally land on-”
“But surely manually disinfecting every single Cryo-pod is just excessive! They have self-cleaning cycles, and it’s not like we’re even going to use them again anytime soon-” Celci adds on, with her logical, but unhelpful comment.
“Again, I agree with you but-” You don’t even get to finish your thought before Burt's serious voice interrupts you.
“A bird that spends its whole life preparing to jump off a branch, will die before getting the chance to fly.” You aren’t even quite sure if that had anything to do with his additional engine checks.
“Enough!” You raise your voice, not quite yelling, but it's a surprising enough volume to get everyone in the room to freeze. “I am your Captain, am I not? If my instructions were unclear, feel free to come to me for any clarifications. Otherwise, you have your orders.” You finalize your words with a stern nod, before turning to leave the room. You don’t notice Mark reaching out a hand towards you as you leave.
You're lost in your thoughts as you head back to your quarters. You felt bad for raising your voice, but these stupid “preperations” had put a wrench into all your carefully laid out plans. You almost felt like you did when you and Mark were jumping through wormholes– disoriented and unsure of the correct path ahead. You hated that feeling. You were this ship's Captain dammit! You had to pull it together.
In your rush to escape, you manage to stub your pinky toe on the doorway just as you're about to step into your room. You yell out a curse, because even through your space boots, it fucking hurts. You could feel tears prick at the corner of your eyes as you stumble your way into your room, just managing to hobble over to your bed, and fall right into it. You curl up into a ball, holding your hurt foot as the waves of frustrations from the entire day come crashing into you all at once. You could feel yourself crying, but you were too tired to wipe away the tears. You just lay there, sobbing softly.
Not even a minute of your sniffles pass before you hear a knock on the door. You bite your tongue to try and keep quiet. You hear a muffled voice call out to you, “...Captain?” You unfurl yourself quickly, wiping away your tears. “Captain, it's Mark! Is…is your foot ok? I saw you hit it…” You fan at your eyes in a feeble attempt to dry them before you go to open the door. “Cap- oh… Hi.” Mark stands there awkwardly, still mid knock.
He scans you bottom to top, noticing first that you were leaning on one foot, but that everything seemed to still be attached. As he moves up to look at your face though, you realize your eyes were probably still a bit red. “Oh my god Captain are you ok? Did you break your foot or- why are you standing on it?!” Mark quickly invites himself into your room, ushering you towards the bed with an arm on your back for support.
“Mark, my leg is fine-” You try to reassure him but don’t fight him as he sits you down, and kneels down on the ground to check your leg. You swat his hands away. “Goddammit why is no one listening to me today.” Your words start off stern, but your voice betrays you and cracks halfway. You can feel the tears start to well up again. Mark finally stops worrying about your foot, and looks up at you, eyes wide. This is the first time he’s ever seen you cry. Even through all the timeloops, all the deaths in alternate universes, and wormholes ripping your bodies through space and time, you had kept your eyes dry. Too determined on saving everyone…saving him. He had so much unwavering faith in how strong his Captain was, he almost forgot you were also… just a person, like anyone else.
“Captain…I-” The sympathetic look in his eyes just made you more mad at yourself.
“No I…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at any of you. I’m not even angry, really, I just- just...” You take a breath so you won’t start crying again. “I had a plan. A good one, and now it’s all falling apart. Again.” Your voice breaks once more, and you curse yourself for sounding so weak. For crying in front of anybody on your crew, much less your head engineer.
But before you can utter another word, Mark sits up on his knees, still on the ground, and slides himself between your legs, wrapping both his arms around your waist. He presses his head against your side, and you freeze a moment, before slowly melting into his hug, leaning down to hug him back. You cry into his shoulder, it's quiet, but it feels like you're letting out all the pent up emotions you’ve been feeling since the first wormhole collapsed. It felt like a millennia ago. Since then, the only thing that hasn’t changed, has been Mark always being by your side.
Through your stifled sobs, you hear his encouraging voice, “It’s not falling apart. This is all just a small delay that everyone will forget about the second we step foot on that planet! The crew’s not really mad at you, they're just frustrated. Same as you are. And, we’re all saying a lot of things we probably will want to forget when this all blows over. You didn’t do anything wrong Cap…and you’re not alone.” His voice is so sure and full of unwavering trust in you that you almost start to let yourself believe him. You hold him tighter, sobs wracking your body as you finally let yourself cry about all the shit you’ve had to go through. At least now , you knew that it would turn out ok, because your right hand man would always be there by your side.
After a while your sobs start to calm down a bit, and you gently push him away from the awkwardly situated hug. Mark sits back on his knees, but not before taking both your hands in his. You look down at him still sniffling. “Mark, it’s ok…”
He looks up at you, a misty look in his own eyes. “It’s not! I should be the one getting criticized by the crew. Everyone should be mad at me. After- after everything I put you through I- I never even said sorry…” He hangs his head in shame, holding your hands tighter as if praying for your forgiveness. “I’m so fucking sorry…for the wormhole, for blaming you for the mess I caused, for…for everything.” Your eyes widen in surprise before softening. You take one hand from his grasp to instead gently tilt his head back up to face you.
“You have nothing to apologize for. You were just trying to save everyone. You didn’t know. You made the best call you could make with the information you had.” Your words are gentle, but full of conviction. Then your tone shifts a little. “Just like I did when I tried to ‘Fix it from the outside’.” You hear him let an involuntary snort.
“You knew there was no tether, you ass-” His voice came out slightly hoarse, but you could see a small smile come back to his face. You just look at him, a smile growing on your own face. “What?” He asks, tilting his head slightly to the side in that cute habit of his.
“Nothing, I just miss our banter. You’ve been way too nice to me lately… Plus, it’s nice to see you smile again.” His face flushes.
“W- what? You want me to be more mean?” He sputters. You chuckle in response.
“No…but you used to call me out on my shit. Now you act like I’m some hero who can do no wrong.”
“Well yea? Cause it’s true! You saved the entire multiverse and you don’t even care that no one knows about it!” You use his hold on your hands to pull him up to sit next to you on the bed.
You laugh, “We saved the multiverse. But it’s not like anyone’s even gonna believe us… Besides, my whole universe already knows I’m a hero.” You smirk.
He blinks at you, confused, “What? But nobody-” he stops as you gently cup one of his cheeks with your hand.
“Not nobody…you know.” It takes him a second to register what you mean. “And that’s the universe that really matters.” When it finally clicks, he groans rolling his eyes, but his face flushes even brighter.
“That is the corniest shit I’ve ever- I can't believe I think you're cool.” You laugh at his unamused expression.
“Aww, you think I’m cool?” You tease, reveling in the light feeling in your heart that feels almost foreign to you after all this time.
“Oh shut up.” He rolls his eyes again, but his smile only grows.
“Make me~” Your smirk widens and you wink at him. You can see his eyes searching yours for permission, to make sure he wasn’t reading this wrong. You give him a reassuring nod. It’s all he needs to gently grab your uniform collar and pull you into a kiss. It starts off soft and sweet, but then you both melt into it, holding onto each other as if another wormhole was going to appear and whisk the moment away.
That doesn’t happen though, and when you finally pull apart for air, you're still looking into each other's eyes. The reality that all the time loop stuff really was finally over, genuinely, starts to settle in. For good this time. You were both stuck in this timeline together, and neither of you would have it any other way.
Egos mentioned: Mark (Actor, Date, Heist, Engineer), Dark, Wilford, Yancy, Illinois, Murdock, Bim, Dr. Iplier, Yandere, Ed Edgar, Author, The Host, Silver Shepard, Bing, Google
Tags: ISWM, Fluff, Smut, No Use of Y/N For Reader-Insert, Gender-Neutral Reader-Insert, Praise Kink, Dry humping, Grinding, Hair Pulling, Whimpering, Light D/S Dynamics, Implied Aftercare, Not Edited, Not Beta Read.
You wandered through the ship idly, checking up on crew members and making sure everything was functioning smoothly. A quick once over of your metal checklist revealed you hadn’t seen your dear head engineer. You sighed. He was probably overworking himself again — he never did seem to take a break these days.
Walking through the halls in a familiar pattern, you make your way towards the primary workshop in the ship. You spot Engie working on something, his jumpsuit unzipped and hanging loosely by his waist. He looked tired, sweat glistening on his arms as he worked. His hair was loose and tousled and grease was smeared all over him. You leaned against the door, watching him for a moment before clearing your throat. Engie startled, glancing towards you and then instantly relaxing at the sight of you standing there.
“Captain! What brings you here?” Engie asks cheerfully, grabbing a cloth and attempting to wipe some of the grease off of his hands with little success. You raise an eyebrow, glancing pointedly to the clock.
“If you ever actually paid attention to the time, you would have it figured out in an instant. At least then you’d know you’re spending too much time in here,” you comment dryly. Engie has the decency to look somewhat sheepish at that.
“Ah. I suppose I have been here a while, haven’t I?” He says softly. You nod, making your way over to him. Your hands brush over his shoulders gently and you internally smirk at the small shudder that goes through him.
“We’ve talked about this, Engie,” you scold him teasingly, “you can’t go on overworking yourself. It’s not healthy for you. I can’t have my head engineer out of commission because he refused to take a few breaks throughout the day, can I?”
Your hands slide down and settle to grip at Engie’s arms and he gives you a tired smile.
“But Captain,” he says, a little breathless, “I’ve still got work to do— mfph!” He’s cut off as you crash your lips into his, licking eagerly into his mouth. Engie melts immediately, leaning into it, his hands coming up to rest on your waist. He tastes like sweat and grease, and you pull back with a laugh, your thumb swiping over his lips to wipe the spit away.
“How'd you even get grease on your lips?” You coo teasingly, delighting in the way his cheeks flush red, a dazed little smile on his face.
“I— I don’t know—“ he stammers. You grin, tilting your head.
“Come on honey,” you drawl, “I’m sure you can figure out how it happened and tell me. Then…” your fingers trail down his chest, “maybe I’ll give you a reward.” Engie’s eyes widen at the statement and he pouts a little at you, brow furrowed.
“Captain, you can’t surely—“ he gives a little gasp as you cut him off with a light tug of his hair. You smirk.
“No,” your voice is firm, “no arguing. If you want a reward, you tell me how the grease got onto your lips. Or I can leave you to your work, if you’d prefer?” Engie whines softly at the thought, hands tightening on your waist. You just grin in response. Some days he could win you over with some whining and a cute look, but today? He wasn’t getting out of it easily. He seems to figure it out as well, squirming a bit as his mind tries to put the pieces together.
“I— I guess I must’ve accidentally brushed my hand on my lips?” He gets out, “something like that.” You raise an eyebrow, not moving or doing anything just yet. When he tries to press into you a bit, you keep your hold tight and refuse to let him. Engie gives you a betrayed look, but you simply shake your head.
“You didn’t sound awfully sure, honey,” you shrug, “I don’t know if ‘something like that’ is a good enough answer to get what you want.” Engie makes a small, frustrated noise in the back of his throat.
“That’s not fair!” He pouts, “please Captain. It was so long ago. I tried my best.” You sigh, running a few fingers through his hair and tugging lightly as you think.
“Maybe if you beg a little more I’ll give you a pass,” you decide, “if you can’t give me a proper answer, you have to earn your reward a different way.” Engie nods immediately and pulls your hand up to his cheek, nuzzling into it. Some of the grease on his face smears into your hand, but you’re not particularly concerned with that right now. He peers up at you, eyes pleading.
“Please Captain?” He begs, “I’ve been good.” Normally you’d hold out a little longer, make him frustrated to the point of tears or tease him a bit more. Today you don’t feel the same sort of restraint. You tug him up into a kiss, nipping at his lip and making a pleased noise at the soft moan that escapes him. You pull back, licking your lips and giving him a smile.
“Good boy,” you coo, relishing the whimper that escapes him, “since you were good you can have a reward.” You press a knee between his legs, humming in delight at the feeling of his cock already growing hard. “You can get yourself off, just like this, can’t you?” Engie blinks, caught off guard. His cheeks flush bright red.
“But… Captain…” he whines. You rub at a bit of the grease, smiling.
“You’re already such a mess,” you tilt your head down, “what’s one more?” Engie flusters, torn between arguing with you and simply giving in. You just wait, patiently. Engie can easily tap out if anything was ever too much, but you have an inkling that despite his protests he doesn’t mind this. He huffs, red faced.
“…fine,” he mumbles, glancing away, “okay.” You beam, cupping under his chin and pecking a kiss to his cheek.
“Good boy. Get to work, then,” you say, pressing into him a little more. Engie moans, head lolling forward to rest on your shoulder. His hands fumble to grip at your side to keep himself steady and one of your hands comes up to support him, the other threading through his hair. His cock is hard and you can feel it pressed against you as he grinds down with a whimper.
As he grinds, you tug gently at his hair and mouth at his neck, relishing at the noises that escape him. Slowly a damp spot starts to form on his jumpsuit as he gets a little more desperate against you, rubbing harder up and down. You smile at him, tilting his chin to look at you, taking in Engie’s dazed expression and flushed cheeks.
“Already so messy, aren’t you?” You murmur, “you’re such a messy puppy sometimes.” He lets out a choked noise at the nickname, nodding in your grasp as he moves frantically, humping your leg. You press hard into him, giving him more friction to work with and feeling pleased that it results in some more moans and gasps escaping from him. You lick a strip up his neck, the bitter taste of the grease on him stinging your tongue. It’s worth it for the way he whimpers incoherently into your shoulder.
“Please captain, I’m so close,” he babbles, “please, I’m good, I’ve been good.” You hum, teasingly, but you feel nice today. You give a small nod, nipping at his skin.
“You can cum,” you say, “be a good boy and cum for me.” Engie mumbles something, likely agreement, but he’s too dazed for it to make much sense. His movements get desperate and sloppy against you as he gets close and you have to help guide him along, but you don’t really mind. Eventually he comes with a whimper of your name against your skin, spilling into his boxers and jumpsuit. He slows, panting heavily, the dampness between his legs obvious.
“Good boy.” You let him stay leaning against you, playing with his hair gently as he gradually comes down from the high. After a few moments he manages to pull back shakily, giving you a dazed smile. He giggles as you wipe some of the drool from his lips, quirking an eyebrow at him.
“Thank you, Captain. I don’t suppose I can return the favour?” While the offer is tempting, you can see how exhausted he is. You shake your head slightly, leaning forward to kiss his forehead gently.
“Another time. Making you feel good was all I needed for today. Now,” you give him a cheeky grin, “I think you’re dirty in more ways than one—“
“Captain!” Engie protests, flustered. You simply laugh, helping him stand up a bit, supporting him as he stabilizes the wobble in his legs.
“I’m not wrong,” you say, tugging him along towards the showers once he can walk, a hand on his lower back, “let’s go clean up. Then we can sleep and cuddle.” He sighs, rolling his eyes, but his expression is fond.
“Yeah. I think that sounds good, Captain.” You grin. Sounds good indeed.
Just a handful of headcanons on what it's like to kiss this death-defying adventurer -- GN reader, below the cut!
Illinois kisses like he’s trying to take your breath away. He’s a charmer by nature, but it’s more than just raw talent — you can tell he really, really loves you when you kiss, and that’s what makes him so damn good at it. At some point you became more than just a partner, and became his partner. For a man whose been running from love all his life, the weight of this really can’t be overstated.
He’ll take basically any excuse to orchestrate a good, Hollywood-style kiss. If it’s raining outside, it’s best to make peace with getting drenched now, because you will be kissing in the rain. You always tell yourself you’re not gonna fall for it this time, but then you look at him, and with how his dark hair clings to his face as the raindrops come down… well, you find it hard to resist the temptation.
He’s also rather fond of pressing kisses to the back of your hand — he thinks it’s charming.
He likes to use his kisses as bribes, and embarrassingly, it does work. Now granted, you had already planned on crossing that chasm… but hey, you’re not going to turn down a reward.
But for his suave exterior, he’s actually very easy to fluster. Tug him in by the lapel, by the belt loop, hell, steal his hat, and you’ll be treated to the most starry-eyed adventurer this side of the Mississippi. He has to clear his throat before speaking again, and even then, he struggles to put together any sort of tease. He’s so used to being the one that teases that when you not only reciprocate, but take charge, that he just melts. He’ll never admit it, of course, but you take the wins where you can get them.
