[Synopsis: A chaotic chain of events somehow ends with TheGentleman and MrCheese trapped inside a Storage crate. MrCheese isn't particularly worried; he knows they'll be found eventually, and he doesn't mind the closeness with his associate. TheGentleman, on the other hand, is claustrophobic, so he isn't handling the situation very well.]

[Location: The Skeld]

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"There we go, that's it..."

TheGentleman's first task after the regular card swipe was to fix the wires in Storage. And with the panel being right across from the south hallway end, it was only a hop, skip and a jump away, so he got it done in no time flat.

He figured he might as well get his tasks in Electrical done before delving into much else; it was a good way to take advantage of the Impostors' beginning cooldown of ten seconds, so as long as he was in and out of there quickly, he'd probably be fine.

"Hey, TheGentleman! Up here!"

The black crewmate looked up to face the source of the voice, and he beheld what looked like...

"MrCheese!? What on earth are you doing up there?!?"

"I'm gettin' a bird's-eye view of Storage, baby!" he called from atop the massive pile of metal crates containing various supplies. "Why don'tcha join me!?"

"Indeed not, MrCheese!" TheGentleman staunchly declined. "Do be sensible and get yourself down from up there! One false move, and you could send the entire pile toppling over and crashing down onto us! Not to mention any possible bystanders!"

"Oh, relax, TheGentleman. Nothing like that's gonna-"

Before he could finish speaking, MrCheese felt the mountain of crates begin to shift under his weight, and a rumbling sound could be heard from beneath him with every move he made.

"...Okay, maybe I spoke a lil' too soon," the orange crewmate admitted.

The alarms blared, indicating a reactor sabotage. But MrCheese and TheGentleman barely heard it amidst their own problems at hand.

"MrCheese, it's going to collapse! JUMP!"

Just as TheGentleman had anticipated, the crate pile began to fall apart, causing an avalanche of Storage crates to come hurtling to the ground...But he didn't flee the room just yet. His first instinct was to make sure MrCheese got out of the ordeal safely.

He watched his associate hop down the still-collapsing tower, carefully maneuvering around the falling crates before finally landing beside him.

"Phew...You alright there, MrCheese?"

"As I'll ever be...Come on, let's get outta here before-"

"LOOK OUT!"

TheGentleman spoke up a moment too late. A particularly large, but now empty crate was falling down towards them, its top open. When the black crewmate tried and failed to shove MrCheese out of the way in time, he found himself being swallowed up by the metal box as well, and the force of his lunge caused the crate with them in it to tumble across one of the few sections of the floor that wasn't cluttered from the avalanche. The box finally came to a stop when it slammed up against the wall and then finally sat still against the floor, but the two crewmembers inside of it were still shaken up.

"Ough...That's going to leave a bruise," TheGentleman groaned as he massaged the side of his head, having bumped it against the metal crate during the fiasco. "MrCheese, are you okay...?"

"Agh...I think I'm good," he replied to him. "Hey, who knows? Maybe this crate managed to shield us from some of the other things falling, heh heh..."

"Perhaps...Can we get out of here now, though? I'm not very fond of cramped places..."

"Oh yeah, sure thing."

MrCheese stood up in the crate with his palms facing up, ready to push the flaps off of the crate...But they wouldn't budge.

"What's the holdup, MrCheese?"

The orange crewmember stopped struggling to open the box, and a look of realization spread across his face.

"...Uh-oh, I just remembered."

"Remembered what...!?" TheGentleman asked, sounding a bit desperate to know.

"Uhh, these Storage crates? They can only be opened from the outside; the insides of the flaps have some kind o' lid seals that make it so they don't come open unless someone actually wants to open it to get stuff that's inside of it. And uh...considering that the crew was just fixing the reactor meltdown, and the alarms probably drowned out the sound of all the crashing from the back of the ship, I don't think anyone's gonna be coming for us right away. So, uhh, yeah. We might be stuck in here for a little while before someone finds this mess and realizes we're missing."

"...H-how long do you suppose?"

"Dunno. In the meantime, though, we have some time to ourselves! Doesn't that sound cool?"

"Um...Yes! Cool!" TheGentleman fibbed, trying to keep a smile on his face. "You and me! Together! Separated from the others, and...trapped in a box...A dark, metal box with...n-no way out..."

"Um...TheGentleman? You okay?"

"Wh-what if we run out of air in here, though?" he fretted. "What if something else crashes down on us, and buries the box even more, and nobody will be able to get us out? What if it's big enough to crush the crate with us in it...!?"

"TheGentleman...?"

The black crewmate began gasping for air all of a sudden, curling into himself as his legs caved in on him. He sank to the bottom of the crate, his mind ablaze with nightmarish thoughts and his eyes wide with horror.

"I...I-I don't like this, MrCheese," he whimpered. "It's t-too small in here, it...It just makes me go into a panic, I-I don't know why..."

"Shhhhhhh, it's okay," MrCheese assured him, keeping his voice as quiet and soothing as he could manage. "Nothin' bad is gonna happen to us, alright?"

"H-how do you know?"

"Because I'm gonna make sure it doesn't, okay? Come on, take a few deep breaths and close your eyes for a sec. That might help."

"I-I'll try..."

TheGentleman shut his eyes tightly, then tried to calm himself...Every breath he drew in shuddered, and tears threatened to escape the corners of his eyes, but he did his best to fight them; what kind of spineless ninny would he make himself out to be in front of MrCheese if he let them spill?

He tried to picture somewhere safe; his bedroom was the first thing to come to mind, with the massive window and drapes, and his shelf of mystery novels...He pictured himself in bed, his head leaned back amongst the pillows and the soft comforter beneath him...

And MrCheese beside him. Funnily enough, MrCheese was actually there, and the rest of what he was picturing wasn't...But he didn't want to open his eyes and face what was around him. He just wanted to live in this little bubble of heaven that he'd conjured up, letting him forget about the issue at hand as best he could.

"Doing better now, TheGentleman?"

"Y...yes, MrCheese. Much better...Thank you."

He felt his associate gently take his hand and give it a tiny squeeze. The black crewmate returned the favor, scooching closer to MrCheese...Even though his eyes were shut, and he was only picturing him in his head, he could somehow tell exactly where he was.

The orange crewmate let TheGentleman lean up against him, and he listened to his breathing and heartbeat; they were both still a bit fast, but he seemed to be doing a lot better than before.

As TheGentleman relaxed, the tears in the corners of his visor finally escaped, and the small amount of light entering the crate through the sliver of a space between the flaps made them just barely visible to MrCheese. But he didn't say anything; he just reached out to him and dried them away with his thumb...Nobody needed to say anything else. They just needed to be there with one another for as long as they needed to be.

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...

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Several minutes passed before the calm silence between them was broken by the sound of other voices from the outside.

"Holy cow! What the blazing Beelzebub happened here!?"

"Looks like a mess happened, that's what...And what the heck is a Beelzebub?"

Captain and Veteran were the first voices MrCheese identified, and they were quickly followed by that of Player.

"I, uh...think it's another name for the devil? Like, you know how TheGentleman sometimes says 'what the devil was that?' It's kinda like that."

"Oh...Well, that line from Bohemian Rhapsody makes a lot more sense now."

"We should probably pick this mess up, gang...Say, I wonder where TheGentleman and MrCheese have been all this round? They never came up dead at any meetings...Nor did they attend any meetings, come to think of it. Huh. Strange, isn't it?"

"We're in here, guys!" MrCheese called out from inside the crate, hoping he would be heard. "We got stuck in this crate when it fell on us, and we need help getting out!"

"MrCheese?" Player called out. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's me! Just follow the sound of my voice, Player! I'll go ahead and keep on talkin' for ya!"

"Hm...? Beanie boy, what's all the fuss?"

TheGentleman stirred a bit where he sat, and MrCheese saw his visor prying back open when he turned to look at him.

"Didja fall asleep there, TheGentleman?"

"It, ah...seems as though I did," he yawned, wiping his eyes to clear his blurred vision...And quickly realizing that they were still inside the crate.

"Oh, dear me...W-we're still in here!?"

He jumped where he sat and started to panic again, but MrCheese grabbed hold of him and pulled him close before he could completely lose his cool.

"TheGentleman, it's okay...Player, Captain and Veteran are here, and they're gonna get us out o' here now, alright?"

"Th-they are?"

"Yeah!" he chirped. "Ain't that right, guys!?"

"Yep, we're on it," Veteran assured him.

"Did you find the box we're in yet!?"

"Is this it?" Player asked, before knocking against the side of the crate they were in with his fist.

"Yep! You got the one! You know how to open these things, right?"

"Step aside, gang..." Captain announced from the outside. "Watch and learn how it's done."

TheGentleman and MrCheese heard a clicking noise coming from the sides of the crate, then all of a sudden, the dark box was washed over with light from above. They looked up to see the roof of Storage, followed by their red, white and yellow-clad friends peering down at them.

"Uh...Was there something private going on in here?" Veteran asked, raising an eyebrow at the sight of them holding one another.

"Shuddup, Veteran..." the orange crewmate responded.

"Ha ha, freedom at last!"

TheGentleman sprang to his feet and hoisted himself out of the crate and back onto the Storage floor, then grabbed his associate's hand and pulled him out as well.

"Many thanks for your intervention, good sirs," he thanked their three rescuers. "The box fell onto us with the open side down, then the next thing we knew, it was right-side up, and it wouldn't budge open."

"Sounds like it was a doozy," Veteran remarked. "Guess it's a good thing neither of you are claustrophobic, huh?"

MrCheese scoffed and held back a giggle; he was SO tempted to tell the crewmembers just how WRONG they were, but for the sake of TheGentleman's dignity, he decided not to spill the beans.

"Yeah...Guess so," he replied instead as he and his associate turned away. "Alright, TheGentleman. Let's go get out tasks done."

"That is a most wonderful idea...But later, we'll need to pick up the mess you made in Storage."

"Ehhh, fine..."