[Synopsis: Player isn't able to sleep, and as he wanders the ship in the wee hours of morning, he gets to thinking bad things about himself again...So when Mother finds out he's awake and catches onto the problem, she decides to lend him a hand the best way she knows how.(Just a fluffy friendship fic; not intended to be shipping.)]

[Location: The Skeld]

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Player sighed to himself and rolled over onto his stomach, kicking the blankets off of himself. His body refused to let itself relax and sink into the covers, and no matter what position he shifted into, he didn't feel comfortable at all.

This is ridiculous, he said to himself, hiding his visor in his hands. I've been lying here for over two hours trying to fall asleep, and nothing's working.

He rolled back onto his side, pulled the covers back overtop of him and tried to convince himself that he was comfortable; he'd been sleeping perfectly fine! Why should tonight be any different?

"Urrgh..." he groaned aloud. "It's no use."

Too frustrated to stay down in bed, Player threw the blankets back off of himself and stood up on the floor, pondering what to do next. He obviously wasn't going to lie back down right away and try again when he knew it wouldn't work.

"I already have a hard enough time playing this game," he complained to himself. "Why did this have to happen to me? Did I really do something so horrible that Innersloth decided to turn me into an insomniac?"

He scanned across his room looking for something to occupy himself with; his eyes had been open for hours since he'd turned off the lights, so they'd adjusted to the darkness well enough for him to see a little.

But when every item he had failed to interest him, his gaze finally settled on the door.

"Hmm..."

Maybe a walk is what I need, he figured. It'll probably get some of this unwanted energy out of my system.

Without any further hesitation, Player opened his door, tip-toed out of his room and quietly shut it behind him, leaving his quarters to venture out into the rest of the ship.

...The Skeld was a quiet, peaceful place during the night. Most of the lights were off, and the endless array of shimmering stars and colorful nebulas in the vast expanse of space outside the windows was more visible. Player smiled as he looked out the cafeteria window and admired the view; very few sights back on earth compared to something like this.

It really is something special, he said to himself, his frustration seeming to melt away as he stared out into the immense universe outside the spaceship. ...I should come out here at night more often.

He continued to look out the window and admire the view, pacing back and forth every so often to see if he could catch a glimpse of a comet zooming by, or the magnificent rings of one of the gas giants way out yonder...But even so, the urge to sleep was still nowhere to be found.

It did take several minutes, but Player eventually lost interest in the scenery; nothing seemed to change about it tonight. So he went back to pacing around the circumference of the cafeteria. His mind was beginning to wander as much as his body was. What caused this sudden bout of sleeplessness? He hadn't eaten anything since 7:00, and he DEFINITELY hadn't had any coffee to drink that late at night for any reason. He'd slept fine last night and the night before, and all of the nights going back about a month or more; the last time he really had any trouble sleeping was when he had that horrible nightmare about the zombies, but even that had been resolved fairly quickly. A few of his earlier assumptions, in spite of how ridiculous they really were, began to come back and haunt him.

...Maybe I really DID do something to warrant this, he wondered. ...What was it that tipped the scale? The cheating I did? How I treated Captain before the zombie outbreak...? Am I just...not supposed to be here for some reason?

His head hung lower and lower the more he walked in circles. He was going nowhere, and neither was his newfound state of sadness.

...What am I supposed to do? he thought, plopping down on one of the table seats and hiding his visor in his hands. ...Why am I so stupid and useless...?

His grim train of thought was suddenly torn from its tracks when he heard a high-pitched scream pierce the silence of the Skeld, and his lowered head immediately jerked back up to its proper position in reaction to the jarring noise.

"What the...?" he said to himself. "There aren't supposed to be any Impostors wandering the ship at this hour. What's going on?"

He tip-toed through the ship and approached the source of the noise, finding himself returning to the crew's quarters as he drew nearer to the sound. It grew more distinct and recognizable the closer he got.

Is that a...baby crying?

Player saw that Mother's door was slightly ajar, and the noise seemed to be coming from inside. He forgot for a minute that it was impolite to snoop, and peered in through the crack in the door to watch what was happening...

It was Franklin who'd woken up screaming, and his mother had him cradled in her hands, whispering to him as she rocked him back and forth.

"It's okay, sweetie...I'm right here..."

He didn't seem to be calming down at all, and it sparked some concern in Player. What if it woke up the entire crew? What if someone found him snooping around for some reason? He wasn't up for a barrage of questions at this hour. And especially over something as stupid as...

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a tune entering his ears.

"Hm...?"

Mother had started humming to her youngest child, lowly and softly. It was barely a moment after Player heard it himself that Franklin's crying lowered into a whine, followed by nothing at all.

It'd worked like a charm...Even Player himself was pacified by it.

Huh...Nice tune.

It was steady and soothing, and...oddly familiar? Player knew he'd heard it somewhere before...Maybe it'd been used in another video game? That was his first thought, at least.

It didn't matter where it was from, though; what mattered was that the melody was beautiful, and it'd put Franklin right back to sleep.

Mother continued to hum the tune as she lowered her child back into his crib, looking down at him with that tender, motherly glint in her visor.

"Sweet dreams, Franklin..." she whispered to him.

Player sighed contently, leaning up against the door frame. There was always just something so wholesome about Mother bonding with her two sons...He almost forgot that he wasn't supposed to be there outside the door.

But by the time he remembered, it was too late; his right foot, which was propping him up, slipped as he tried to stand up straight again, and he let out a bit of a yelp as he tried to keep himself from falling.

When he managed to steady himself again, he cautiously peered back inside Mother's room through the crack in between her door and its hinges...Her alert expression and raised hands were all he needed to see to know that he'd been heard.

Mother drew a deep breath in to ease herself, then looked into the crack of the doorframe herself, her gaze meeting Player's through the small space. When she heard a nervous gasp and saw the visor retreat, she knew that whoever was looking inside was more afraid of her than she was of them, so she decided to respond.

"...I know someone's there," she announced, though she didn't sound very alarmed. "Whoever it is, would you mind letting me see who you are?"

She watched the figure slowly, quietly push his way in through the door.

"...Hi, Mother," Player greeted sheepishly, making himself known.

"Player?" she recognized. She wasn't very upset about him intruding; curious maybe. And perhaps a tad concerned. "What are you doing up so late...?"

"Well..." he began, deciding to come clean; there was no good reason for him to lie about something so simple; Mother would understand, out of all the crewmates. "I just...I couldn't sleep, no matter how hard I tried. So I came out here to walk for a bit, look out at space, you know. I've only been standing here for a minute or so. Before that, I...I guess I was just thinking about things for a while."

"You do look tired...I'm sorry you're so restless tonight."

"It's fine. I might try again at some point here soon. I dunno..."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"I, uh...heard you humming to Franklin. Thought it sounded really nice..."

"Aw, thank you, dear. It always puts him right to sleep."

"Heh. Yeah, it...kinda sounds familiar, but I can't put my finger on where I've heard it before...What's it called?"

"It's Brahms' Waltz. I always thought his lullaby piece was a little...how do I put this...cliché. I want my kids to be musically cultured, y'know."

"Well...I liked it," he said to her, trying to put on a smile. "It kinda puts your mind at ease, doesn't it? Makes you..."

The halfhearted grin faded as soon as he tried to put it on.

"...Forget about your troubles for a bit, doesn't it...?"

Mother carefully looked into his gaze...Without any doubt, that was the face of someone who had unpleasant things on their mind.

"...Would you care to tell me what you've been thinking about tonight?" she asked him softly, leading him out of her room and back towards his, quietly shutting her door behind them.

"Um...Well, I-I guess-"

"And Player."

"...Yeah?"

"Please tell me the truth, okay? I worry about you sometimes..."

The red crewmate let out a long, heavy sigh as Mother opened the door to his room and sat him back down on his bed, an attentive look in her eye.

"It's just...Sometimes I think that it's my fault that I never win. Because it happens all the time, and...I-I don't know if I did s-something to deserve it somehow, because even before I pulled that thing with NotOrange and Blue with the cheating, it seems like I'm just..."

He sniffled, wiping away the prick of a tear in the far corner of his visor with his thumb.

"...Doomed to lose all the time," he finished. "Wh-what am I doing wrong? How do I fix it? Why do I ruin everything for everyone? Why..."

Player paused and hid his visor away in his hands, trying to suppress the sob building up in the back of his throat.

"...Why am I such a screw-up?"

"Ohh, Player..."

Mother sat beside him and wrapped him into a tender embrace, and he let himself fall apart in her hold as soon as he acknowledged the hug...He very rarely spilled anything about his waning self-worth, and tried to push it to the back of his mind or just disregard its merit as often as he was able...But it would eventually come rearing back, and now it was too much. He needed someone to know, a shoulder to cry on...A voice to tell him whether or not it was true.

...He didn't expect to get all three in one package.

"You don't ruin everything for everyone," she said to him. "And it's not your fault that you lose all the time. Nobody's perfect at the game, but seeing the things you've been through, it seems to me that you're just...well...a victim of unfair circumstance."

"B-but why'd it h-have to be me...?"

"I don't know...Sometimes it's just like that for some people...But just because you don't ever win doesn't put you any lower than the rest of us. Everyone still loves you the same. And a lot of the time, it seems to me like you're the one who needs it the most...Especially now."

"R...really?" Player squeaked through his tears. "Y-you really think so?"

"I know so," she whispered, reaching up to rub his damp cheek with her thumb. "And I want you to know that if you ever feel like this again, you're always welcome to come to me, okay?"

He hiccupped, then tried to utter a coherent response through his crying.

"Th...th-thank you...I-I don't deserve..."

"Shhhhhhhh..." Mother hushed him, gently swaying back and forth with him still in her hold. "Yes, you do...Don't put yourself down like this...You do deserve it."

He sighed through his sobbing and continued to weep...There wasn't much else he could say to her that she didn't already know, so he just sat there as she kept rocking him.

"There there, sweetheart...It's going to be okay. I'm here for you..."

Player eventually rose his hands and hugged her back...She certainly lived up to her name, and not just for her own children. He could see that now, and he was more than grateful for her comfort.

...As his sobs lessened and his tears fell more slowly, he acknowledged the sound of her humming again. He wasn't sure how long she'd been doing it, but it didn't seem like she was about to stop.

Player shut his heavy eyes, then hung limply in her hold. The occasional tear still escaped him, usually paired with a sniffle, but Mother could tell by his easy breathing that he was doing much better.

She continued to hum to him as she lifted up the messy covers on his bed with one hand, keeping him propped up against her with the other. Once Player's bedding was tidied up a little and pulled away, she fluffed up his pillow and carefully lowered his head down onto it, then pulled the blanket back up and tucked him in...He shifted where he lay, still seeming a little uneasy, so she reached out and rubbed his back in comforting circles.

By the time she was done humming the song again, Player had completely stilled, save for his slow, steady breathing...He was finally asleep.

"...Sweet dreams, Player."

She stroked the top of his head a few times and planted a kiss against his forehead before standing up off the bed again and quietly headed back to the open door.

Before she left the room, Mother looked at the red-clad crewmate one more time, just to make sure she hadn't woken him up by mistake...But she hadn't. His eyes were still shut, and he was still wrapped snugly in the blanket...He looked so peaceful.

You'll win one day, Player, she silently assured him as she quietly shut his door. ...I promise you will.

She smiled at him one more time before she shut the door behind her, leaving Player with nothing but pleasant dreams for the rest of the night.

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About halfway through writing this, I kinda felt like I was just rehashing a previous one-shot in this collection(e.g. "You're a Winner in My Book.) But after thinking about it some more, it does seem different enough to earn some originality points. Tell me what you think, because sometimes I don't trust my own integrity as a writer. XD

Also, I understand that Franklin is canonically a bloodthirsty psychopath("I relish in the pain of others!") but it doesn't fit the wholesome vibe, so let's just say that he's a normal mini crewmate like he was in episode 2, mkay?