[Synopsis: After a humiliating loss to Player, followed by an argument, Bro decides to pull a fast one on him...Unfortunately, his seemingly petty revenge turns into a pretty big deal, and the only way to fix it is to directly undo what he did.]

[Location: The Skeld]

____________________________________________________________

"Guys, I'm TELLIN' ya, it's a self report!"

"Bro, Veteran was with me in Security. He followed me up to the MedBay doors where we saw you kill MrCheese."

"Well that'd make Veteran your accomplice!"

"There's only one Impostor left, ya dingus," Veteran told him...Bro couldn't think of anyway to defend himself once that part slipped.

"Y'all are stupid."

"Your name isn't 'Y'all," it's Bro," Player retorted. "Now you're getting ejected."

"All those in favor of casting Bro into the cold, empty void of space, say aye!"

"Aye!"

All of the remaining crewmembers agreed, and Bro was immediately voted off, thrown into the airlock and ejected into the vacuum of outerspace...The screen faded to black, and the crewmate victory screen faded in. Player, Veteran, Captain and TheGentleman were the only ones left alive, and everyone else's ghosts hovered around them.

When everyone spawned back into the dropship, it was all cheers and happiness. MrCheese reunited with TheGentleman in a tight hug.

"Sorry I had to die on you, TheGentleman. But cam baiting does work, heh heh."

"You did a great job out there, beany boy."

"Man. After all this time, you'd think Bro would know how to better play his cards as an Impostor," Player remarked as he spoke to Captain an Veteran. "Say Captain, has he ever actually won a round as Impostor without getting ejected?"

"I...can't recall. And he's been a part of the lobby for longer than you and Veteran, so I guess that's saying something."

"You guys talkin' about me?"

Bro stepped up to them, not looking very pleased about people talking about him like that.

"Y'know, just because I get caught a lot doesn't mean I can't not get caught. What do you guys take me for, an idiot?"

The trio exchanged glances with one another before looking at the blue-clad crewmate again.

"...Do you really want us to answer that question?" Player asked him.

"Oh, wise guy, huh? You wanna piece o' me?"

"No."

"Dude, step off," Veteran told him. "You just made a fool outta yourself out there, and I don't think makin' yourself look like a jerk on top of that is going to help anything."

Bro paid him no mind.

"When I'm the Impostor next time, you're the first one on my list, ya hear?"

"Wow. Do you think it was a good idea to say that in front of two other people?" the red crewmate asked him, adjusting his beanie in a somewhat smug manner.

Bro stammered for a few seconds as he thought of what to say next, then shook his head and growled.

"Like either of your dumb friends are gonna remember that! One has a goldfish memory, and the other's just an overgrown 1st grader!"

"Alright, Bro, I think it's time you backed off. Veteran might not have the best memory, but he isn't going to put up with you saying stuff like that about him. Are you?"

"Hurmph. I might have goldfish memory, and Captain might have the mentality of a 1st grader, but that won't stop us from putting you in your place."

"Yeah!" Captain agreed. "Because bullies stink, and they should all consider acting a little nicer!"

"Yeah? Well maybe YOU guys should start actin' less like morons."

Bro didn't bother keeping himself in the conversation after that. He just left them and walked away, and the three of them looked back at one another again.

"Ain't he a little ray o' sunshine?" Veteran mocked.

"Alright, everyone, let's not get all sour in here," MrCheese announced to the crew. "You guys know what I'm doin' tonight, right?"

Instantly, Player's face lit up.

"Oh, that's right! You're making us your bacon cheeseburgers tonight!"

"You bet your brie I am."

"Oh, wait," Player remembered, his smile disappearing as soon as it'd show up.

"What's wrong, Player?"

"I forgot for a sec', there...I'm lactose intolerant. I can't eat cheese..."

"Ohhh, turn that frown back upside-down, Player. I've got some good news: I ordered up a package of lactose-free cheese from Earth! It just arrived in the telepost before the last game!"

"Lactose-free cheese?"

"Yep! Sharp cheddar. And I tried a slice, just to make sure it didn't taste all funky, so you'll be happy to know that it'll go pretty fweakin' good on your burger tonight."

"Alright!" he cheered. "Man, thanks so much for that, MrCheese!"

"Hey, it can't be a dinner without everyone here, right?"

Everyone continued to celebrate...Except for Bro, who was still salty about the whole ordeal that'd occurred between him and Player before. He just sat in the corner and sulked.

____________________________________________________________

...

____________________________________________________________

Evening on the Skeld was a bit busy for a few of the crewmembers. Engineer and Gnome were fixing one of the engines together, MrCheese was at it in the kitchen making dinner, and Mother was doing the laundry; some of the hats the crewmates wore needed to be washed, along with the usual load of clothing she did, and one of her now clean loads was sitting on the floor in the laundry room in the back of the dormitory.

Bro just happened to be heading down that way, still mumbling to himself about what went on between him and Player earlier.

"Callin' me stupid and humiliating me in front of everyone else...Stupid son of a..."

He looked into the laundry room and noticed the laundry basket still sitting in there, and he eyed the red wool beanie sitting on top of some of the other clothing articles. A tiny smirk appeared on Bro's face, and he plucked it off the clothing pile and hid it under his own, much better-looking cap before leaving the room and heading back out into the main portion of the Skeld, making his way down into Storage.

"Heh. Welp...Guess he'll have to buy a new hat," he said to himself as he pulled it out, tossed it into the trash chute and pulled the lever, sending the beanie out into the vast expanse of space along with a few scraps of paper and leaves leftover from the last O2 filter cleaning. Bro walked off satisfied with his deed. Petty? Probably. But he was content with the fact that it would leave Player disgruntled and confused, and above all, he'd easily gotten away with it...Right?

____________________________________________________________

...

____________________________________________________________

The orange figure in a chef's hat skipped out of the kitchen with a steaming platter of his classic Bacon MrCheeseburgers, much to the crew's delight. When MrCheese was in charge of the kitchen, mealtime was always great, so everyone had been looking forward to dinner all day. ESPECIALLY Player when he learned that MrCheese had even made accommodations for him.

...But the red clad crewmate was absolutely nowhere to be seen by the time everyone had started to dig in, much to everyone's confusion.

"Anyone know where Player is?" the chef wondered aloud. "He was so hyped about tonight, and now it's like he's just kinda vanished."

"I dunno," Bro shrugged nonchalantly. "Probably in his room playing that Freaky Night Flippin' game again, or whatever the heck it's called."

"Hmm...I don't know," Veteran remarked, his face etched with a bit of concern, even as he bit into his burger. "Even when he and I are caught up with gaming, we're usually out once it's time to chow down."

"You don't think something bad happened to him, do you?" Captain worried, looking over at Dum, who seemed equally concerned.

Mother stood up from her spot at the table.

"I'm gonna go check on him," she announced. "Timmy, make sure Franklin doesn't unscrew the top of his bottle again while I'm gone, okay?"

Her eldest gave her a thumbs up before she turned and left the dinner table, heading into the back of the ship towards Player's room...The door was ajar, so she peered in, and her eyes widened at what she saw. His quarters looked like they'd been turned inside out, and Player was rummaging through all of the drawers in his dresser in a frenzy.

"Player, what's-"

"Did you do something with my hat!?"

He shot his head up to look her in the eye, and only then did Mother see the look of distress on his face.

"I...Well, I did do the laundry today, and you gave it to me to wash, right?"

"Yeah. but it wasn't in the pile you gave me, a-and it usually is!"

"I remember putting it in the pile...But it's obvious that you've been looking for it. Are you sure there isn't anywhere you might've missed?"

"No! I looked everywhere! It's gone!"

His breathing quickened, and he placed a hand over his chest to try and slow his heartrate, tears forming in the corners of his visor. Mother approached him and gently rested a hand against his back.

"Calm down, sweetie, it's okay," she told him gently. "If we can't find it, I'll see if I can get you another one."

"I-I don't want another one, Mother. That beanie was my granddad's, and h-he gave it to me just the year before he died, it's special to me, and if I lost it somehow, oh my God..."

"Shhhhhh, Player, there there, I'm sure it's around somewhere. Maybe I dropped it in the laundry room somewhere. I'll go check. You just go out and eat your dinner before it gets cold; you've been looking forward to it all day, remember?"

Player sniffled a bit and reluctantly nodded, trying to regain his composure as he went out into the Cafeteria. Even though he'd managed to calm down some by then, it was obvious to the others that he was upset about something.

"Mr. Player, are you alright? You seem rather upset about something," TheGentleman remarked.

"Yeah, you okay, dude?" Veteran asked him.

"I...well...My hat's missing, and I looked everywhere for it."

"You mean the one your grandfather gave you when you were younger?" Angel asked him, gently motioning for him to sit beside her.

Bro stopped chewing for a moment when he heard that, and he looked over to where Player was sitting.

"Yeah. That one...I don't know what could've happened to it. Mother said she'd check the laundry room, since it was washed today, but..."

He sighed deeply.

"...Like Angel said, m-my grandpa gave that to me the year before he passed away. If it's gone, I...I don't know what I'd do. I've had that thing for years."

He paused again.

"...It's all I really have left of him."

Bro stopped looking in Player's direction and inhaled deeply, his gaze tensing up. He hadn't meant to take his revenge that far. But it was just a hat; he'd get over it, right?

"Somethin' the matter there, Bro?"

Hearing his name being addressed caught him off guard, and he jumped where he sat.

"Oh, what, who, me? No, I don't, no, there's nothin' wrong with me."

"You sure, Bro?" Captain pried. "You're usually not easily startled."

"I wasn't startled. I just had...uh, hiccups."

"Erm...Only one?" TheGentleman inquired.

"Well, yeah, but then I burped, so..."

"Player, hon', I...I don't see it anywhere in or around the laundry room," Mother said as she came back to the Cafeteria, looking pretty concerned herself at that point. "I'm not really sure where else to look...Has anyone else here seen Player's hat anywhere?"

Everyone denied having seen it anywhere since the laundry had been done...Except for Bro, who just ignored the conversation and refrained from making eye contact with anyone as he took another bite from his burger.

...A poor decision on his part.

"Bro?" Mother asked, to which he was once again very obviously startled.

"Huh? What? What's goin' on?"

"Do you happen to know anything about where Player's beanie is?"

"What, me? Erp-I don't know anything about it."

The lack of eye contact Mother was getting paired with his apparent nervousness told her otherwise.

"...Bro, I can tell you're lying to me."

He tensed.

"...No you can't."

She put her hands on her hips, and her gaze narrowed at him a bit.

"Bro?"

"...What?"

"What did you do with Player's hat?"

Now, every eye in the Cafeteria was on him...He looked around at the faces around him. Captain looked confused, Angel and Veteran looked visibly angry, TheGentleman and MrCheese had their eyebrows raised in an almost smug manner, and Player stared at him with a very concerned look on his face.

...Well, if you keep your mouth shut, they'll never let ya hear the end of it, he said to himself as he swallowed the bite of burger in his mouth, allowing himself to speak.

"Um...Oh, God," he began. "I, uh...Well, I didn't think somethin' like that would be hard to replace, so I...I, uh..."

"Spit it out," Mother ordered him.

"I threw it in the Storage chute and chucked it into space."

...Silence. Nothing but silence in the Cafeteria for a good solid ten seconds. TheGentleman and MrCheese looked at one another nervously, and so did Veteran and Captain...All eyes looked to Player next.

The red crewmate stared at Bro wide-eyed, the look on his face one of pure, utter horror.

"...You what?"

"Look, dude," Bro continued. "I didn't know anything about your granddad given it to-"

"YOU WHAT!?!?!?!?!"

He slammed his hands down on the table as he screamed...If looks could kill, every single person on the Skeld would have been dead.

"I said I didn't know anything about that, calm down!"

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU, BRO!!!!"

Some of the other crewmates had to get up from their seats to restrain Player, because just a moment later, he was lunging towards the blue crewmate, a rage in his visor that none of the others had ever seen before.

"Player, Player, easy!" Captain said to him, trying to hold him back along with Veteran, TheGentleman, MrCheese and Gnome.

"Bro, how long ago did you eject Player's hat from the ship?" Engineer asked him, slightly overwhelmed by the sudden commotion. "If it's not to far, we might be able to retrieve it."

"Like, half an hour ago or something?"

Engineer frowned.

"...Even with the engines on energy-saving mode, it'd probably too far away to be able to safely retrieve it at this point. And without so little resistance in space, it could be as far away as several miles by now."

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW IMPORTANT THAT HAT WAS TO ME!?!?!?!?!" Player screamed at him, still trying to break free as what Engineer said sunk into his head. "MY GRANDPA GAVE THAT TO ME THE YEAR BEFORE HE PASSED AWAY, YOU SICK ANIMAL!!!! AND NOW IT'S GONE!!!"

He paused, finally stopped struggling, and seemed to freeze where he stood.

"Player...?" Angel addressed him as she read the look on his face. "Player, are you okay?"

"It's gone..."

His face scrunched up into a contorted look of sheer despair, and visor welled up with tears, which quickly overflowed and ran down his cheeks like a pair of waterfalls.

"Sweetie, I..." Mother said to him softly. "I'm so sorry this-"

"IT'S GONE...!"

The red crewmate sobbed heavily, then collapsed to the ground and fell apart into a bawling mess. Those who were trying to restrain him before now kneeled down and tried to comfort him.

At first, Mother looked like she was going to tend to Player, but at the last second, she turned her head to look at Bro, and her piteous expression shifted into one of horrified anger.

"How could you DO something like that to him!?!" she hollered at the blue clad crewmember, stomping over to him and getting just a foot or so away from his face. "Do you have any idea how important that hat was to him!?"

"NO! I didn't!" Bro defended himself, suddenly grabbing Engineer, who was just a couple feet away himself. "Stop yelling at me!"

"Don't tell me to stop yelling at you! You just threw poor Player's hat out into space with no way to get it back, why wouldn't anyone be yelling at you for that!?!"

"I'LL GET IT BACK!!"

"Wh-what?" Engineer stammered.

"Excuse us, now, wouldja?!" Bro finished as he stormed out of the Cafeteria with the poindexter in tow.

"Bro, I already told you it's probably too far away by now-"

"Screw it. I'm gonna try to get it back anyway," he interrupted him. "Listen. You're the inventor. Do you have any gadgets that can detect certain materials from a distance, like animal fibers or polyester or somethin' like that?"

"A-a multisensor?"

"Whatever it's called. Do you have anything like that?"

"Well, I-I mean, as luck would have it, I do, yes. It's bulky, but it works well; it can detect certain materials within a range of ten miles."

"How fast is the ship going?"

"Ten MPH. It's in energy-saving mode, so we can't go much faster than that while major repairs are being done."

"So then it should still be within range of your multisensor if I go out there."

"But our longest lifeline is only a hundred feet long."

"Then I'm goin' out there without one," Bro said to him as he lead him back to the Cafeteria, doing his best to avoid eye contact with a very cross Mother as they headed to the airlock.

"You can't do that! How are you gonna get back to the ship, even if you do find it!?! Even if we were able to turn around, you might drift off to the point where we wouldn't be able to find you!"

"I'll figure somethin' out, alright? Just go get me the gadget, and hurry."

Engineer begrudgingly complied, fetching the multisensor from his gadget closet in his quarters and giving it to Bro...It was a rather large device that looked a bit like the steering dashboard for a plane, complete with a radar system, a material selection panel and range settings. It looked like Engineer had already set the sensor's range to the maximum, and it was already set to pick up readings of animal fibers and polyester(since neither of them were sure which one Player's beanie was made out of.)

Bro stepped into the airlock with the device, and motioned for a still skeptical Engineer to activate the door...As it slowly slid shut, the two continued to speak to one another.

"Is there anyway you can aim this so that I get shot in the direction it went?"

"I've readjusted the launch settings, so you should head in the right direction. It'd be wise to activate the device once you're in the vacuum so that you can get a reading soon enough."

"A'ight, good."

"How are you going to get back here, though?"

"Like I said, I'll figure somethin' out," he assured him again. "...Don't worry about it. Keep an eye on Player, I guess."

With that, the doors shut all the way, and the back airlock door opened. There was a loud whoosh, and Bro was gone from sight in a flash.

____________________________________________________________

Bro was ejected.

____________________________________________________________

"...Alright. Let's turn this baby on."

He flipped the power switch as he floated around in the void of space, and the multisensor immediately started picking up traces of animal fibers from below somewhere, within a range of six miles according to the readings.

That's gotta be it, he said to himself as he tried to swim through the nothingness in the given direction...without getting very far.

"Hmmm..."

Bro felt around his suit for a moment, looking for anything that might be able to help propel himself forward.

Let's see, utility pocket, radio...Jet pack? Dang, I didn't know our suits had anything like this.

He pushed the activation button for the jet, and he was suddenly propelled forward with just a short burst of usage. And once he got moving, he didn't show any signs of slowing down.

"Alright, now we're gettin' somewhere," he grinned as he continued to drift further and further down from where the Skeld was, the readings from Engineer's multisensor becoming gradually stronger...But not strong enough soon enough.

"Better us a bit more firepower," he decided, pushing down on the jet activation button and holding it...THAT was when he started to pick up speed. And as his velocity continued to rise, so did the strength of the readings. Within just a minute, the object being picked up on the radar was within a hundred yards.

That was when he finally let go of the jet button, then leaned backwards and pushed it again to put on the breaks.

"Man, he was right about no air resistance out here..." he said to himself as he moved the multisensor around some more to pinpoint which direction the readings were coming from now.

"Still below, huh? Welp, guess I'm gonna keep goin' down."

He put on the gas again and kept his eyes peeled for the red beanie, the glimmer of the countless stars out yonder illuminating the dark vacuum.

"It can't be far now..." he figured. "Good thing somthin' like that won't be hard to spot. Just gotta look for..."

His train of thought stopped when he caught sight of a little red spec floating below him, and when he pointed the multisensor in its direction, the readings increased.

...Something red, he finished.

Without any hesitation, he started up the jetpack again and made his way towards it. The spec became more and more defined the closer he got to it, donning a soft knitted texture and taking the shape of a hat.

"Ha! Found it! And closing in...Almost there..."

It was drifting away from him, but he was drifting towards it much faster. It wasn't long until he finally caught up to it, then stretched his hand out as far as he could reach...

...And successfully snatched it.

"Gotcha!"

He held onto it tight as he turned around in the vacuum and pointed the multisensor in the opposite direction, changing the detector settings a bit. Luckily for him, the settings were pretty easy to figure out, so he was able to adjust them to pick up traces of metal so that he could successfully find his way back to the Skeld.

Just as he hoped, the radar picked up readings from above and ahead, and the familiar silhouette of the massive spacecraft appeared within nine miles of his location.

"Alright...Time to fire up again."

He pressed the jet button again and readied himself for a straight, fast beeline back to the ship.

...The jetpack ran for two seconds, then sputtered, puffed out a few smoke clouds and then stopped.

Bro was caught off guard by the unwanted malfunction, and he tried to start them up again...Nothing.

What, am I out of fuel? he thought, looking up in the direction the Skeld was in, only to be met with the dark void of space...He WAS moving in the right direction, but he was going at a snail's pace, so by the time he finally made it back to where he'd been ejected from...

Panic began to set in, and his eyes widened as he realized the severity of the situation.

"Okay, okay, chill out, Bro. There's gotta be a way you can get back there. Just think...Maybe there's another way to do this."

He looked around his suit again, finding else that stood out as particularly useful to his situation except...

"What's this...? Pressure valve?"

Curious, he turned the switch a bit...And the moment he did, he felt another gush enter the bottom of his tank and shoot him forward.

...My oxygen...The air pressure, he realized, taking a look at the meter.

"Almost completely full," he said to himself. "...That should be enough."

He clutched Player's hat tighter and took his own hat in the same hand, using his free one to turn the knob again and shoot himself forward with his own air supply. It ran for ten seconds before he was at a high enough speed, and before he even knew it, the Skeld was coming back into view, the multisensor beeping louder and faster.

Bro suddenly felt short of breath, though he wasn't sure if it was from the loss of oxygen or the relief he felt from finally making it back...But when he started to feel light headed, he knew it was probably the former, so he took in the deepest breath he could with his waning supply and held it in as he approached the Skeld.

He was unlucky enough to land on the opposite window from where the airlock was, but fortunately for him, there was a horizontal ladder along the Skeld roof that allowed for safe travel between the port and starboard sides, so he took it over as quickly as he could without having to let go of his breath, then looked inside through the window...The crowd was still there, most of the crewmembers gathered around a still-distraught Player and Engineer pacing back and forth by the airlock.

Bro knocked on the window to get his attention, and the moment Engineer looked up to see that he'd returned, his face lit up.

And then his eyes widened in shock when he saw that Bro had the familiar red beanie in his hand.

The purple crewmate hastily activated the back airlock door, and Bro climbed inside. When the back door closed, the artificial gravity activated again, and Bro planted his feet on the floor.

When the door to the Cafeteria opened, the blue crewmember stumbled inside and took a deep breath in.

"Agh...I, ah...I got it...I told you I'd get it..."

"Ha...! You did...You actually did!!"

"Ha...Oh, God...Thought I was gonna pass out for a minute...Ha..."

The rest of the crew wasn't really paying attention to what was happening between Bro and Engineer, so they stepped forward and tried to get their attention...Player seemed exhausted at that point and had drained most of his tears, but he was still obviously very upset.

"You feeling better, buddo?" Captain asked him as he patted him on the head.

"N-not really..." he squeaked out, sniveling some more. "I just...I c-can't cry anymore..."

"I'll make you a spot of tea," TheGentleman offered. "That might help to at least soothe those shot nerves of yours."

"...Thank you, TheGentleman..."

"Hey, guys?"

The sound of Bro's voice fell upon the rest of the crew, and they all tensed. TheGentleman hastily left to go brew Player's tea, knowing the chaos that was about to ensue...Gnome was the first one to look up from the crowd around the red crewmate, looking pretty annoyed.

"What is it, Bro?" she snapped. "You're the one who-"

That was when her eyes fell upon the beanie he'd retrieved.

"Wait. Is...is that...?"

"Yeah. I...I went out to get it. Geek here helped me out."

Gnome's face suddenly shifted from angry to overjoyed, and she knelt down beside the red crewmate again and shook him lightly.

"Player! Player, look!"

"Huh...Wh-what is it, Gnome?"

He lifted his head and looked up at Bro. At first, he looked like he was about to go off on a tirade at him again, but then he saw the hat in his hands, and his visor widened.

"He went out into space with my multisensor and managed to find it a ways away from the ship," Engineer explained. "Heh...w-without a lifeline or anything."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it back..." Bro replied, an embarrassed blush dusting his face as he handed Player his beanie back, looking away from him. "Here ya go."

His shaking, vermillion-gloved hands reached out to take the fuzzy hat, running over the texture of it, just to make sure it was the right one(though how anyone could have fished out another red beanie from somewhere was beyond him.) He inspected the knitted pattern, and the wear along the edges of the flipped edges, and then he brought it up to his face and smelled it...The faint scent of pine which had never fully faded in what was nearly 90 years at that point still lingered in it.

Tears formed in his eyes again as he confirmed that yes, THIS was his hat, and he let out a shuddery breath as he hugged it up to him, letting the tears flow from his visor again as he smiled.

"I thought I'd never see it again...!"

The rest of the crew looked up at Bro and Engineer, then back at Player again, some of them murmuring and some of them sighing with relief. Most of them still stayed around Player, assuring him further, but Mother and Gnome each stood up and made their way towards the blue and purple beans.

"So you two managed to get it back?" the cyan crewmate asked them.

"Well, all I really did was give him the multisensor to work with," Engineer replied. "Bro did all of the legwork. Heck, I was the one who told him it was too late to fetch it, but hey."

"You're prepared for just about anything, aren't you, Engie?" Gnome smiled, nuzzling his cheek with her own.

"Heh heh...Thanks, babe."

Mother looked Bro in the eye again, an incredulous look on her face, and she sighed.

"Okay...Bro, I'm glad you managed to get Player's beanie back," she said to him, her tone stern but smooth. "But I'm still not happy that you threw it out of the ship in the first place. What if you hadn't have been able to get it back?"

"Chill out. I did get it back, and I pretty much ran out of O2 out there while I was coming back, and you're telling me I didn't do enough now? My hands are washed, Mother; step off."

Mother huffed out a frustrated sigh.

"Why are you like this, Bro? You know you don't have to be."

"Says who?"

"Says someone who cares about you and how your attitude affects the people around you," she replied. "...Look. I know that you like to make yourself out to be all big and tough, but there's a lot more to you than that, especially if what Engineer said about you being the one who wanted to risk your own safety just to get Player's hat back was true."

"Psh. I just got it back so I wouldn't have to hear him cry about it anymore and so the others wouldn't kill me over it."

Engineer and Gnome looked at one another upon hearing that. The former shook his head and rolled his eyes, and the latter just looked appalled, and the two of them left to return to their shared quarters, grabbing what was left of their meals off the table and taking it with them.

Mother left as well, giving up on the conversation at hand and turning around shaking her head...Bro was a lost cause, at least for now.

"Well, you ruined dinner for everyone," MrCheese remarked as he confronted him next. "Good job, jerkface."

"Hey, who you callin' 'jerkface'?"

"Look, loser. I might be stuck-up and egotistical, because I'm the greatest Impostor this crew's ever seen, but I don't treat my friends this bad."

"He's not my friend."

"Well neither am I. And pretty soon, no one else here will be either. Now why don'tcha think about what you're doin' for once?"

MrCheese left him with that, and just as he was leaving, TheGentleman entered the room with a steaming cup of tea in hand.

"Mr. Player, I have your tea. It's lavender and honey, so it should help to...calm you down...?"

He noticed that he was holding what looked like his beanie.

"Why, Mr. Player! Is that your hat?"

"M-hm..." he nodded, standing up from where he'd been sitting and hastily taking the teacup from the black crewmate. "I...E-excuse me, okay? I need to go..."

He loosely put his beanie back on his head, then went over to the table to grab the rest of his dinner(which was stone cold at that point) and headed off to his own room...TheGentleman turned to face the blue crewmate and sighed, shaking his head.

"Agh...What...Why must you do these things?"

"I didn't think it would be this big a deal, y'know. I said that already. Besides, I fixed it, didn't I?"

"Well, yes, but...I think on top of that, you should at least give Player an apology for throwing his hat out into space in the first place."

"Hmph..."

The black crewmate sighed again, grabbed his dinner off the table and headed back to his and MrCheese's shared quarters...Before Bro even knew it, he was the only one left in the Cafeteria.

He sighed deeply, then sat down at the table everyone had been gathered at before, grabbing his burger and taking another bite out of it...He cringed at how much heat it'd lost, so he took it to the microwave and stuck it in for another half a minute to warm it back up. Once it was done, he took it out, headed back to the table and continued to eat. Though he didn't have much of an appetite anymore, he figured he shouldn't let it go to waste.

So he sat there in the Cafeteria, eating a slightly warm burger, with only his thoughts for company...He figured he might as well do some thinking, too.

After all, he did have a lot to think about.

____________________________________________________________

...

____________________________________________________________

As the blue figure made its way down the hall through the dormitory, he made sure his footsteps were quiet. He didn't want to startle anyone, much less attract any unwanted attention as he headed towards Player's room.

He stopped for a moment, took his dusty blue cap off his head and looked long and hard at the front of it, then sighed deeply and kept going, finally stopping again at Player's door...The light was on in there, so he had to still be awake.

A'ight...Here goes nothing, he said to himself.

Bro turned the knob and pushed the door open as quietly as he could, not wanting to startle what would likely be a still-upset Player. He saw the red crewmate sitting on his bed with his back turned towards him, his beanie back on his head where it should be and his knees hugged up to himself, an empty dinnerplate and teacup off to his left.

The blue crewmate cleared his throat to get his attention, and Player turned his head and looked behind him, making eye contact with the crewmate standing in his doorway.

"...Hey."

Bro saw the other crewmember's eyes narrow a bit before he turned away again.

"What is it?" he asked him, trying not to snap.

"I, ah...Look, man," he began, slowly approaching where Player was seated. "I know I said this before, but, I, ah...I didn't know anything about your granddad givin' that thing to ya before he passed, and...well...I guess I wanted to give you an apology about what happened earlier. I didn't think it'd be that big a deal, but, hey, the more y'know, y'know?"

Player didn't say anything, but he at least gave Bro the satisfaction of having some eye contact so he knew he was listening.

"And, uh...Guess I'm also sorry about the crap I said about you and your friends before. You were kinda right about me bein' stupid with that kill...Man, I need to take some pages outta Ninja's book, huh?"

"Heh..."

Player lit up just a tiny bit, and Bro continued.

"Yeah, so anyways, I should think Mother's still kinda pissed off at me for all that, and so are you, but hey. I've put up with worse...And I guess I kinda deserve it."

"Hm...Not after you went out into space and got my hat back. And you went out so far too. And without a lifeline? If you hadn't have been able to use your O2 tank as a jet to get back to the Skeld, you'd have been stranded out there."

"Maybe, but hey. I'd do the same if it were my hat."

He took his cap off his head for a moment to show it off, and Player looked at it...Bro's hat was obviously old, but it was clear that it was well taken care of. Same with the beanie Player cherished so much.

"...Where'd you get it?" he asked him.

"What, this? Well..."

There was a brief silence between them before Bro  answered him.

"...'Bout eight years ago, my dad passed it down to me. He was on a baseball team when he was in high school and college, and at that point, I'd been getting into it myself, so he gave me a cap from his old team, see?"

He showed the front off to Player, the logo for "The Blue Falcons" brandished on it.

"Wow..."

"Yeah...I was stoked. Almost never took it off...I still don't that often."

His smile fell.

"...It's all I have left to remember him by. When I was gettin' ready to finish up junior high myself, he ended up getting up with a...well...a band o' dealers. We live in a rough neighborhood, and a lot of the time, a decent payin' job is hard to come by, so I know he only joined 'em so that he'd be able to pay the bills...Yeah, I know that's not right, but he was kinda pushed into a corner, from what I remember."

Bro sighed deeply before continuing.

"...And one day, he just disappeared. Never came back home when he was s'posed to...Not really sure what happened to him. Maybe the cops were on his tail and he had to go into hiding...Maybe he was shot up by a rival group somewhere...I don't know. I might never know...At least you know what happened to your granddad, though."

Player's expression shifted into one of sympathy, and he slowly, somewhat hesitantly brought his hand up and rested it against his back. He knew Bro wasn't exactly one for touchy-feely stuff, but it seemed like he could at least use a kind gesture at the moment.

And to his surprise, he didn't even flinch.

"...I'm sorry about that, Bro."

"Eh...whatever. It's fine. Life goes on."

"I guess it does," Player shrugged. "But...when the going gets rough, it's good to have someone to lean on, you know."

As if to respond, the blue crewmate leaned up against the red one and drew in another deep breath, letting it out somewhat shakily.

"...Sorry about the whole hat fiasco."

"It's alright. You did get it back after all."

"Hm...Doesn't fix the fact that I'm a jerkface who ruined dinner for everyone."

"Who said you were a jerkface?"

"MrCheese."

"Oh. Heh...Yeah, sounds like something he'd say."

"Heh..."

There was a period of silence between the two crewmates. Neither of them were really sure what to say next; it seemed like everything that needed to be said had been said.

...So the only thing that could really be done at that point was to change the subject.

"So, uh...You free the rest of the evening?" Player asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I dunno, do you, like...wanna play some Minecraft, or something like that?"

"Eh...Sure."

Player's face brightened up a bit as he headed over to his TV, turned it on then booted up the Switch sitting just on the shelf below it, grabbing the two controllers for each of them as he set things up.

"Creative or Survival?"

"I usually do Survival. Let's see who can make it to the Nether first."

"Oh, you're on."

____________________________________________________________

...

____________________________________________________________

He's been in there for a while...I hope he's alright.

Mother approached Player's quarters, concern etched across her face as she peered into the cracked-open door to see what he was up to...And her visor widened a bit at what she saw.

Player and Bro were both fast asleep on the former's bed, their game paused and still on the screen...Needless to say, she was a little confused as to how something like this had happened, but she was pleased nonetheless.

She saved and quit the game, booted the console down and switched the TV off, then grabbed one of the spare blankets off of Player's bed and draped it over top the two of them.

"...Good job, Bro," she whispered before snapping the light off and leaving...Things had turned out alright between them after all.

____________________________________________________________

Challenge: Find the Pokémon reference. 🤣

Man, I'm glad I finally got this done. XD There was a pretty big chunk of it that was completely scrapped, but I was only halfway done with it, and if I'd left it in and finished it, this story would probably be pushing double the length it actually is.

Oh, and I know I mentioned something about a "certain premise" for a story I have in progress somewhere else, so just to clear some things up, I do plan to publish it at some point, but I only have the end plot written down at the moment, and I want it to be REALLY suspenseful, so it might take me quite some time to finish and perfect.

...Sorry, @Bootieos16  ; it'll be a while. 😅

But in the meantime, I'll try to get some more shorter works put out there! Thanks again for stopping by, peeps! :D