It was finally time. Black was finally feeling well enough to leave his room. He’d managed to pin down most of the triggers for his micro headaches, and learned some meditation techniques from Rose to manage his newfound powers. With a tentative sense of confidence, Black slowly but surely readied himself to see the rest of the crew. A quick shower and change of clothes later, he was settled in his wheelchair. He made it two feet from his door when Gray seemed to materialize from nowhere. Black wanted to be annoyed at the obvious motherhenning, but he couldn’t find it in himself to keep up the facade.

“Hey Gray.” He said casually as he continued to wheel to the elevator. Gray hummed out a greeting, obviously still half asleep. “What are you doing up? Isn’t it your day off?” Black asked curiously as they loaded into the elevator.

“Heard you movin’ around.” Gray muttered, “makin’s sure you get where you’re goin’.” Black was stunned into silence for a moment. Not only at the half-conscious admission, but at the gentle thoughts that glided to him.

C̸͓̿Ȏ̴͍N̴̼̆C̶̩̓E̸̡͋r̴̨̾n̷̎͜ ̷̙̓g̵̼̋U̴̙͊í̶̮l̶̛͍Ť̵̝ ̵̳̽g̵̨̏U̷̹̇ȉ̴͇l̸̙͌t̷̜͆ ̶̻̔A̶̳͘F̸͉͛F̸͍̽É̴̙c̶̭̆T̵i̷o̷N̷ ̷c̶O̶n̷C̶erN gUilt Concern

No flickering lights, no sudden pain, and even the odd static that seemed to blanket what he sensed was fading. Guilt, and concern. Gray still felt guilty for what had happened. Black desperately wanted to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t caused the accident. But he knew he could never really explain his reasons. Besides, a tiny biter part of him that looked down as his damaged legs whispered things that he would rather not think about his friend. His friend who, despite looking dead on his feet, had gotten up and decided to accompany him just to make sure he got there. His friend who even now was unable to escape the bitter guilt he felt for the situation.

Black could feel the awkward aura settle over them as they rode the elevator. Soon enough, though it felt much longer to him, the doors opened and he quickly wheeled out and into the corridor. Gray followed dutifully behind him. It took them less than a minute to reach the cafeteria, where nearly the entire crew was gathered, eating their fill. Rose spotted them first, waving them over to her table. Around the table sat Blue, Brown, Tan, and surprisingly, Maroon. Black waved, and gestured for the food line. Before he would wheel that way, he heard Pink shouting for him to go relax. Black shrugged and wheeled over to settle in the open spot between Rose and an empty seat that Gray took. The entire time he could hear Gray’s quiet chuckles.

“Glad to see you out and about! How you feelin’?” Pink asked, patting his shoulder. Black shrugged, looking over at his friend and returning her gentle smile.

“Improving.” He responded, “White says that more than likely I’ll be able to go without the chair periodically, but until they figure something out with the equipment they won’t be able to tell if there’s damage they can further fix.” His voice fell a bit as he thought about the prospect of never really being able to escape the chair again. There was a clatter as Tan dropped his fork, which was halfway to his open mouth. Tan and Brown lacked their helmets at the moment, revealing two handsome looking men, both with dark hair. Tan’s green eyes were fixed on Black, while Brown’s dark ones were focused on cleaning up his partner’s mess.

“You mean this might be permanent?” Tan asked, his normally strong voice reduced to a squeak. Black returned his look with a sad nod.

ConcERn woRRY fEar GUiLT fEaR AFFECTIon worrY GUilT fEar coNcerN GUilt guILT AFfEctIon coNcERn

The influx of emotions almost made Black flinch, Thankfully, he kept his composure as Tan began babbling half finished apologies. He was going so fast that Black, or more accurately nobody at the table, could keep up. Eventually, Brown was able to calm him down enough to be understood.

“Black, I am so so sorry,” He said, “If you hadn’t had to cover for me while I was on cleaning duty, none of this would have happened!” Tan looked two words away from sobbing. Black really wasn’t sure what to think. Logic told him that Tan couldn’t have possibly known that the power would fail, or that he’d be so close to the cargo, or that they would have such bad turbulence, or even that Black would be the one filling in for him. However… The lights above them were flickering ever so slightly. The sounds of the ship settling seemed to become more pronounced. Black winced as emotions crashed into him again.

cOnCeRn raGE CaLm sOOTHe REaSOn CoNCERn CAre feaR ConCERn gUILT GUIlt Guilt Guilt Concern

Interesting…

“It’s fine.” Black managed to force out. The lights’ flickering slowly evened out. The wave of emotions seemed to quiet in his mind. “You couldn’t have known.” Black said. He could feel Maroon’s eyes on him from across the table. The faint taste of concern and intrigue still on his tongue. Maroon’s voice cut through the awkward air like a knife.

“Black, are you alright?” He said. That same concern that had assaulted his senses thick in the second officer’s voice. Black spared a quick glance to Rose and Blue, who were smirking at him from behind their food. No help to be found there. Black meekly nodded before jumping in surprise as a large hand ruffled his hair. Completely breaking the tension. Black looked up to see Pink leaning over his chair to deposit a lunch tray in front of him.

“Leave him be, Maroon.” Pink chuckled. Black quickly focused his attention on the tray, trying to ignore the sniggering from his right. His face was warm. The tray was piled high with sausage, boiled eggs, rice, fried tofu strips, cubed steak still red in the middle, a small bowl of edamame, and even a few drumsticks. Some of these were from Pink’s private stores, he was certain of that.

Hunger hit him like a truck. Before he knew it he was digging into the vast array of food before him. He barely noticed pink patting his head before walking away. He barely noticed the amused chuckles from Gray and Maroon. He certainly didn’t notice the look of dawning realization and amused glances Brown and Tan were giving the four of them. What does end up catching his attention is the sound of Maroon getting up from the table. A brief wave of emotions cascading over Black as he did.

Amusement affection humor concern nervous resolve

“Eat up, you’ll need your strength.” Maroon said with a chuckle. “I have somewhere to be. Gray, make sure he gets back to his room to rest. The rest of you…” Maroon’s visor swept over the quartet all shooting him knowing glances. “Behave…” He mumbled before making his way towards admin. It was only then that Black noticed he hadn’t had a tray. Neither did Gray for that matter. His thoughts were quickly taken up by the growling of his stomach as he went back to his meal.

Though he didn’t notice it, everyone else at the table heard the happy sounding trill that left his throat as he continued to eat.

---

I once again have to apologize for the delay on updates.
I lost my job again thanks to my health issues, and my roommates threw me out. I briefly travelled to IL to try and stay with friends but that didn't pan out so they paid to send me back to TN. I am staying with my friends temporarily but I am essentially homeless as of now. I'm on the waiting list for section 8 housing but I don't know exactly how long the wait will be. I have a gofundme going but it hasn't had much traction.
I also have my emergency commissions open but those haven't had much attention either. In the meantime I'm trying to get on disability, saw a new doctor who referred my to a neurologist, and I've been drawing a lot.
I started staying with friends for the time being while I wait to hear back, and I started another job search.
Then I find a new job, get really sick, have to go to urgent care, and am probably gonna loose the new job soon thanks to how sick I am.
We also had a scare where we weren't able to get rent together. So yeah it's been a lot.
I'll put links to my socials below if you want to see any of that. :3

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

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Ao3: archiveofourown.org/users/FledgeDragonFox
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Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artie_the_homebrew_maker
SoFurry: https://thedragonfox.sofurry.com