Work Text:
Lime had gotten sick. No big deal. They always hid in the vents, so there wasn't any risk of getting someone else sick. They just thought they could wait it out, pour some holy water on themselves every now and then to heal it. Because that's how it worked, right?
Ignore it, keep doing tasks, and stay in the vents most of the time. It was probably just a common cold anyways, couldn't be anything serious.
Lime was finishing up with cooling the Reactor, pressing the panels and checking what stage the Reactor was at. It seemed to be at the lowest stage once they were done, so they moved onto tightening the bolts and screws on the machine. They didn't have to do that part, but it would always bother them later on in the day if they didn't do it. During their work they found themselves hot and their head aching. Normal since they were sick, but there was also other things like shaky hands and feeling weak. Lime brushed it off like normal, not wanting to go to Med-bay Because they'd see blue, but also wanting to go to Med-bay Because they'd see blue. Lime felt mixed about that place, not wanting to go there since Blue would sell their info to MIRA and the government with scans and tests, be also wanting to go since Blue was hot, nice, charming, and-
"Swoon.." Lime mumbled, before noticing how hoarse their voice is. They cleared their throat before trying to think about something else. Well, a thing to think about is what they were working on right now.. Which they had already completed. Lime sighed, putting their wrench onto their work belt and scrambling into a vent.
They checked each vent they passed by, seeing the marker they had written on the metal so they knew which rooms they were below. They first passed under Security, then went down to electrical, then over to Med-bay. They were almost to their room under the wall dividing Med-bay and the cafeteria, when A familiar voice called out to them from above.
"Lime? I heard you down there! could you pop up here for a moment?"
Blue.. of course they had to call them up when they was sick.. there was no way Blue wouldn't notice..
Lime grumbled and backed up to open the vents lid slowly, poking his head into Med-bay to see Blue in front of them, crouched down to [almost] their level.
"What!? You wanna do a test on me!? Send my info to the government!?" Lime spat, on guard and tense as always.
"No, no, no. Lime, as embarrassing as it is.. it's stressing being the doctor for the rest for the crew, and I would like some company to talk casually with for a few minutes." ...Well that's one thing to add out of a hundred things that Lime hates about being sick, not getting to spend time with blue because they'll get the DOCTOR sick..
"Wh- What? You wanna.. No, I can't, I'm trying to bring something back to my room here. I also have more tasks to do, you know. I'll uh.. come here later." Lime hated saying that, but shouldn't they be happy they're avoiding Blue's attempt at interrogating them?
"Ah, I see. I should have known, I mean, we all are busy with tasks.." Blue chuckled, patting Lime's bandanna as they stood up. Lime felt guilty just pushing the doctor away like that. They felt like they had to do something so they didn't look like an asshole.. So once Blue's back was turned they quietly crawled out of the vent and walked up to them. Lime took a deep breath in before quickly wrapping their arms around Blue. Blue was certainly surprised but before they could say anything Lime let go of them and scrambled back into the vents.
..So I guess Blue DIDN'T notice Lime's sickness...
The next day, Lime felt really bad. The 'cold' had gotten worse and they could barely walk. they didn't feel like doing tasks, they didn't even feel like coming out of the vents at all. They did have to get lunch though..
Lime's body felt heavier then normal as they pushed themselves through the vents. Hungry, sweaty, weak, and with a throbbing headache, their hands were slipping on the vent's metal instead of pulling them forward. They were stuck. They were too weak to pull themselves out of the vent, and too weak to scream. Lime panicked, they were going to die down there, they were going to fucking die down there! And it's all because they pushed aside the sickness and didn't go to Med-bay!
They banged their fist against the vent walls, hoping since they were close to the cafeteria that someone would hear them.
The cafeteria was loud, and Blue was just popping in so they could get their food and get out. Yellow and Brown always made pizza for the others, but Blue got something special. Pot stickers. The pot stickers were always good, but Blue always wondered why they were treated like royalty by the others..
"Thank you, and like yesterday, I would like A coffee at 10PM please" Blue said, taking their plate and walking away, before Yellow called out to them "You sure? Having coffee that late could make you stay up way late into the night!" Blue looked back and sighed "I'm behind on work, I'll need to stay up a few more hours to get my work done."
Yellow frowned as they walked back into the kitchen, getting another Pizza out of the oven to prepare for the rest of the crew.
Blue walked over to Med-bay so they could eat alone preferring that over the noises of 10 other crew members. as they walked to the cafeterias exit, they felt some rumbling by the cafeteria's vent. Blue thought nothing of it, mostly thinking of all the work he had to get done and continued walking. once he got to Med-bay, he placed his food down but didn't sit down just yet. he then remembered that Lime lived in those vents, and there was no one else on the ship who could fit down there. Damn it, why didn't Blue realize sooner!? Blue rushed back through the Med-bay's doors and slipped into the cafeteria before crouching down at the vet.
"Lime? Lime, are you down there?" Blue asked, Lifting the lid to the vent and poking their head in.
Lime was there all right, a bit far away from the vent's entrance though. They looked horrible, flat down on the vent's floor, weakly banging on the walls. Blue looked at lime for a second, quickly realizing there was something wrong. Blue took his head out from inside the vent and looked back at the others in the cafeteria.
"Everyone, we need to get Lime out of the vents now!" Blue yelled, surprising most of the crew there.
"What? What's happening? Why?" Purple said, getting up quickly as Red followed behind them. "Lime is stuck in the vents! we need to find someway to pull them ou-"
"Ahem." Red cleared their throat, stepping beside Blue. "It seems our fellow crewmate Lime is stuck. if we want to get them out, we'll need to find a rope or something to help them."
"Red, we can't push a rope horizontally, it will just get caught on something or bunch up in a random spot." Purple said, rolling their eyes. "We need something long and solid.."
"we could use the peel." Brown said flatly from the kitchen, Red looking over in confusion.
"A.. A what now?"
Yellow then interrupted "God damn it, A Pizza shovel! Me and Brown just call them peels." they said, showing Red the pizza shovel they just used to take the second pizza for the crew out of the oven. "If we are using a peel, we might want to use one other then this, hold on.." Yellow said, going back into the kitchen to get a clean pizza shovel.
"Alright then, we're going to be using a pizza shovel! Or a peel, or whatever.." Red said, looking around as everyone gathered around, really to help.
Blue looked down at the vent, then to Red. "Please get them out, they looks sick. I'll have to take them to Med-bay once they're out." Red nodded their head, a bit jealous that Blue cared about Lime more then anyone else, all the time, not just now.
"Ok got the clean peel!" Yellow said, coming out from the kitchen door and walking out of the hallway to hand Red the pizza shovel. Red grabbed the tool and stuck it into the vent, trying to be careful so they didn't drop it.
Lime looked up after hearing all the commotion, to see the flat side of a pizza shovel near them. They grabbed onto it, making sure to wrap their arms around it so it wasn't as easy to slip off. Red felt this movement and took it as a sign to pull, so they did. Red pulled as hard as they could, but still had a bit of trouble getting lime up. Purple sighed, coming up to Red and grabbing the pizza shovel, pulling it with red. Blue grabbed on too from the other side. Great, now Red was surrounded by hot people.
With their combined strength, all three were able to pull lime out of the vent. As soon as lime was out, Blue rushed over and picked him up quickly running over to Med-bay.
"I feel like that guy cares about Lime more then anyone else here." Red said, Purple nodding their head.
"Here's you coffee doc, and how's Lime doing?" Yellow said, waiting as Blue took a sip from the mug Yellow just handed them.
"after a lot of convincing, they let me inject a cure into them. what they had wasn't very contagious but was very harmful and if we had gotten to them any time later, they'd be dead. But don't worry, they're fine now, just sleeping." Blue said, taking a sip of his coffee once he was done.
"Well it's nice to hear that we won't have any deaths at all!" Yellow said, before continuing: "well I better get going, Brown's probably waiting for me in bed."
".. you two share a room..?"
"Ah- no, no! Uh- just a fun little sleepover tonight!"
"Alright then. Well goodnight Yellow." Blue said, turning around and walking to his desk. Yellow called goodnight back before Blue closed the Med-bay doors via remote. Blue set their coffee down on their desk, walking over to Lime. Lime was sleeping, out cold, looking like he had never slept on a real bed in forever, which was probably true. Blue didn't know what Lime slept on down in the vents.. But just looking at Lime's cute little sleepy face was amazing..
"Swoon.." Blue mumbled, before trying to cover it up with clearing their throat. Blue then stood up, trying not to get distracted from his work.