((AAAAAAH 4K READS THANK YOU GUYS SO SO MUCH ILY))

Recommended Song(s) For This Imagine:
Outer Space/Carry On - 5 Seconds of Summer

Sol 62

You were outside messing around with the wirings with the communications for probably the fifth time. Botany was your major in college, you were no electrician, but you tried anyway.

You sighed, giving up on 'fixing' it, it wasn't even broken. Back inside the HAB, you could immediately feel the heat. The temperature fluctuated to basically a sauna. Oh joy. You stripped into as little you could while still keeping your modesty, after all you weren't alone.

Walking around in shorts and a tank top, you were inclined to just sit in the fridge, which was the only thing that seemed to be cold. When you reached it, apparently Mark had the same idea, standing in front of the open fridge door in just some shorts. You admired his back for a moment before joining him in the cold air, scooting him over a bit.

"How much energy do you think this is wasting?" You asked, eyes closed in the blissful coolness.

"Enough that when NASA contacts us, they will flip their shit." He replied, and you could sense the smile he probably had on his face.

His comment was meant to make you laugh, but it only made you think of the silence between you and the rest of the team. "Yeah, if they ever..." You shook your head, leaving the fridge and sitting in front of the communications panel, resigned.

The sound of Mark's bare footsteps met your ears, as did his voice. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Our communication system isn't broken, theirs is probably in tip top shape, and hell, I haven't even seen them orbiting overhead! In 35 sols, don't you think we'd have seen the Hermes? They've fucking left us for dead."

"Y/N, don't say that. If they could contact us, I'm sure they would." He reassured you, and you found yourself focusing on his eyes. They were so kind, and intelligent, his pupils nearly melting into the dark irises. For some reason, it reminded you of sunflowers, the way their seeds accumulate in the middle.

"Oh my god!" You shot up, running over to your botany room.

"What?" Mark yelled, jogging after you.

You pulled out box after box, desperately trying to find the right bag. "Sunflowers! Sunflower oil!"

"What?"

"Ares VI's NAV is already here, right?"

"Right, basically on the other side of the planet though, we can't get over there."

"Ah, but we can!" You were nearly giddy as you found the packets of sunflower seeds, in case you did find fertile soil. "Sunflower oil!"

"The Rover works on solar power?"

"I designed a vegetable oil-powered model car in ninth grade with skateboard wheels, a tin can, tubes, and a basic engine. I think I can make the Rover run on sunflower oil." You pulled out a pad of paper to begin the calculations. "Okay, so the average sunflower farm yields 1,871 pounds of oil per acre, and 100 g of oil has 3,699 kJ of energy, meaning that there's 31,392,351.39 kJ per acre. Now obviously we can't grow an acre of sunflowers here, but that means that there's 720.669 kJ of energy per square foot, so we would have enough energy to get from here to the Ares VI NAV in the Rover if we planted just 35 square feet of sunflowers!"

((i actually spent 20 minutes calculating that are you guys proud of me))

"That's incredible." Mark breathed in awe. "You can do that?"

"Yeah, but I'm unfortunately going to need our... manure."

That night, you had already said goodnight to Mark when the temperature dropped suddenly to about a chilling 8°C. You put on the jacket Mark had leant you, but you still found yourself shivering under your covers.

"Y/N." Mark whispered through the darkness.

"Yeah?" You replied, just as quiet.

"I'm cold."

"Me too."

Brief silence.

"You wanna cuddle?"

"Yes." You got out of your bed and crept over to Mark's, quickly slipping under the covers.

Neither of you protested when his arm snaked around your waist and you buried your head in his chest. It was definitely warmer.

Sol 63

Strange noises next to your ear woke you up just hours after you fell asleep. Your internal clock told you it was extremely early in the morning, and your ears told you the noises were something like Mark crying. It sounded like he was trying to muffle his sobs.

"Mark? Are you okay?" You propped yourself up on your elbow.

He sniffled and put on a fake voice. "Oh yeah, I'm fine."

"Well that's bullshit."

"It's nothing, really."

"Obviously it's something if you're awake crying about it." You reached your hand out to grab his.

In the dim light, you could see a faint smile on his face as he squeezed your hand, then it faded to one of melancholy. "We're going to die here. Even if we can get over to the Ares VI NAV, its only intended to go up to intercept with the Hermes. We have no fucking clue where the Hermes is."

"As we're drifting through space possibly on a death ride, there's two things that we can do. We can give up and accept our death, and die alone. Or, we can try our damn hardest and live together. So, what do you want to do?"

He took a deep breath. "Together. After all, we are the best scientists on this planet."

"That's the spirit!" You cheered, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Now, can we go back to sleep?"