Crewmate

4

I pull myself out of the vent quickly and close it behind me. I only just stand up when yellow walks into security with me. I jump to attention at her presence, and she passes me a strange look before going over to stand by the large computer. Wow, way to not look sus, I scold myself. What the fuck is wrong with me, in all actuality?

Yellow takes the mouse on the right side of the desk and slides it frantically across the surface a few times before she finds the pointer on the screen. She opens the security footage and takes off her helmet while it loads, placing the headpiece beside her on the left side of the desk. Then she goes back to surveying the monitors. I walk over to stand beside her and lean in to look at the screen with her. She glances at me for a second then turns back to the video feed.

"Have you finished your tasks yet, blue?" she questions me. There's something in her voice that makes me theorize that she suspects me, but I can't have that.

"Yep," I confirm, not turning my view from the live camera recording. "Just watching out for anything sus at this point."

I see her nod from my peripheral vision. "Good; it's always good to see a productive crewmate."

I click my tongue and nod again. "Yep," I repeat.

We fall into a silence, both of us observing the security footage intently with fixed gazes. Then I see movement. It's red coming up the west hall from the lower engine. I lean back from the computer screen to see him walk into the room with us. He looks briefly between yellow and me and clears his throat. Yellow looks up and gives Ezra a questioning look. He locks eyes with her then glances at me and back to her, communicating something silently. She mirrors his actions before a dawn of realization passes over her face as her lips shape into an 'o'. She grabs her helmet from the desk and lowers her head, hastily walking from the room. Ezra continues to watch her movements up until she turns the corner and disappears down the hall. Then, he turns back to me.

My face gets so incredibly hot, so I look away from him and to the cameras again. I feel him come up beside me, and I see him put his helmet down on the desk where yellow's rested before. I don't want to look up at him again. If I do, I know I'll just fall under the trace of his dashing good looks again.

"How're you doing, Archer?" I hear him ask me. The sound of my name on his tongue sends shivers through me, but I don't dare look at him. With how bright my face is right now, he'll see it even through the dark tint of my shield.

"Um, well, I guess," I mumble, trying to conceal the anxiety coursing through my blood and infecting my nerves, but my voice betrays me. It cracks in the middle, revealing just how anxious he makes me. It doesn't help that I can feel the way he's watching me—taking in my every movement. It makes me feel hot all over as if someone raised the temperature of the room. Are we sure the reactor isn't having a nuclear meltdown again?

Everything in my body is begging me to look at him. He's just standing there with his helmet off, exposing those wondrous eyes of his that pierce through all the lies and walls that I try so hard to put up. It's like hypnosis. Just one look and I'd tell him anything he wants to hear.

Of course, I wouldn't really. If he finds out I'm the imposter, I'm done for, but he's so mesmerizing that I can't help but take a glimpse of him from the corner of vision. Then another and another. It's like a drug, and I can't get enough until I find myself pulling off my helmet and just staring at him like before, in awe of everything he is.

Strands of Ezra's dark black hair slip down from his ponytail and fall to the sides of his face. His slender nose is aligned perfectly down the center of his face, only adding to the complete symmetry he has. I swear you could put a mirror right between his eyes, and you'd think it was a piece of clear glass. Not to mention those beautiful fucking gray eyes that look so perfect under his thick dark lashes just kill me every time. His lips tug upwards in the slightest smile, which does nothing to keep me from ogling him. Does Ezra know how amazing he is? Does he know that red is most definitely his color?

"Archer," he starts, and I feel my heart leap and quicken in pace, beating impossibly hard in my chest. I feel as if it'll break my ribs with how hard it's pounding. Ezra continues, "Would you like to be my partner?"

I think my heart skips a beat, and I choke on my own spit like some incompetent being. Did I hear that correctly? "I'm sorry, what?" I ask for clarification.

"Like buddies, you know. We can stick together, so we don't get killed without a witness," he adds, and I feel deflated. I shouldn't though. This is good. It means he trusts me, and he won't get in the way of completing my goals. I should be overwhelmed with happiness, but, damn, does he look delicious.

I bite my lip and look off to the side. "Yeah, we could do that."

"Cool," Ezra responds, shifting his weight to his other foot nervously.

Why is he nervous? He came in here to friendzone me. What's so nerve-racking about that? He should feel the anxiety I felt when he said my name. He should feel the anxiety I feel right now as I see him reach out for the side of my face; he should feel the pounding of my heart and the heat reaching to the tips of my ears. He should feel the tickle on my skin and the numbing pleasure I get from the feeling of his fingertips lightly brushing across my face.

Most of all, he should feel the way his lips feel. They are so warm and lovely on mine, filling me with adrenaline and making my chest constrict. His mouth slides against mine softly, and our tongues brush together the slightest bit. I open my mouth more to let Ezra slip his tongue completely into my mouth, and I relish in the wonderful warmth he gives me. I bring my hands to the back of his neck and pull him closer against me, my body flush with his. His other hand snakes its way around my waist as he pushes me back into the wall. With the extra structure, he kisses me harder, pressing my back firmly against the ship's metal frame.

I feel like I can't breathe. It's as if he's stolen all the air from my lungs and taken it into his. He's so perfect, and I feel so hot all over my body. Suddenly, Ezra breaks our kiss to reach up and pull his hairband from his hair. He shakes it loose, and it falls magnificently around his head like a lion's mane. He admires me briefly through the long bangs that loosely cover his alluring eyes before kissing me again and feeding my driving hunger for him.

I bring my arms up so that my elbows rest on his shoulders, and I weave my hands through his soft, thin hair. I tug on it just the slightest bit to feel him groan against my mouth. His kisses turn rough as he holds me tight against him.

Then, I hear the footsteps, but it's like we can't pull away fast enough before pink makes his appearance in the doorway. He stops suddenly and drops his tablet to the ground. Blood rushes to my face to the tips of my ears, coloring me a vivid red (brighter than the shade of Ezra's jumpsuit). I push Ezra away from me and dart from the room out of embarrassment, muttering an apology under my breath as I pass pink. He is standing in shock of his discovery, still posed at the doorway. I run down the hall, past the lower engine, and into electrical. I jump down into the vents and crawl a bit of the way down. I keep on until I'm encompassed in the familiar shadows and cold confines.

I cradle my knees to my chest as a sarcastic laugh starts to bubble up in my throat, and I let it out, cackling to myself in the dark like some kind of maniac. Nothing could be more ironic. Nothing in the world—in the universe—could be more ironic.

The crewmate's in love with the imposter, and impossibly, the imposter could say the same!