These stairs would be the death of Emil. He stumbled down them on his way to his destination. What was he doing there? As the blond stood in the doorway of the burner room, that question echoed in his mind. Suddenly, steam erupted from one of the pipes, as if to give him an answer. He knew fixing pipes wasn’t what he meant to be doing right now, but he might as well since he made it all the way down here.
There was one problem, though. He had no tools! The lieutenant held his head in his hands, laughing. Who would he be if he didn’t make such careless mistakes? He left the room, thinking he must’ve forgotten them when he…
What exactly did he do last? He tallied most of the medical supplies by hand, set out some food on the kitchen counter to thaw, or at least he thought he did, he went by the gym to fix…what was it he meant to fix? Was there anything to fix? The events of the day jumbled into mush. All he knew for sure was that he’d been running around the ship so much, he could qualify for a marathon.
The tools were in the burner room! Recollection smacked the lieutenant captain in the face, as did his own hand for almost going around in circles. He groaned as he walked back down the troublesome staircase.
Back in the burner room, he handled the adjustable wrench carefully. Not out of skill, though. To be honest, he wasn’t really sure what he was doing. A burst of steam nearly missed his face, sending him tumbling backward on the floor with a yell. As he rubbed his face, the door slammed open. National hero Jun Kim towered in the doorway, followed by the rookie ranger Leon Summers. Both looked frantic.
“I heard a scream.” Jun must’ve thought there was real trouble. How embarrassing!
“Emil, are you okay?” Leon looked so worried.
“I’m good.” Though he said that, Emil couldn’t muster it in himself to get off the floor.
Jun helped him up to his feet instead. It surprised Emil how concerned the older ranger looked. All traces of a breezy surfer were gone and replaced with someone much more alert and vigilant. It reminded him of his brother. Emil felt bad for making Jun worry, but also wished he could change his own demeanor that easily. He felt too silly and too irresponsible to belong in the Interstellar Forces. Meanwhile, Leon cautiously made his way toward the steam.
“Hey Rookie, don’t get too close to that, okay? Nearly melted my face off...” warned the blond.
“Ah, don’t worry, I was just taking a closer look!” Leon pointed at the pipe. “Were you trying to tighten that bolt?”
“Yeah…” The lieutenant chuckled in spite of himself. “I know a goofball like me shouldn’t be anywhere near this stuff, but I don’t know when to quit. I don’t even know if I really know how to use this wrench!” Emil was starting to learn that little brother privileges came with setbacks. Other people usually handled this stuff for him.
“Me neither, actually!”
“O-oh really?” Emil breathed a sigh of relief. Despite his lighthearted joking, he felt self-conscious not knowing how to use something as simple as a wrench, especially as a guy. He always made a careful effort to be just masculine enough not to cause suspicion. It was a tiring act no one knew about, but he wanted to keep it that way. In any event, He was glad to meet another non-handyman.
“I can show you guys, if you feel like it.” Once again, Jun was a hero. At least one person in this group knew what they were doing.
“That’d be great!” The blond wished he had Leon’s energy right now.
“Cool.” Jun backed out of the room. “I’m gonna run by my dorm to pick up my gloves real quick.”
Once Jun left, Emil absentmindedly stretched his arms, yawned, and then slouched over.
“I know it’s bad, but I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t know how to wrench things!” He chuckled. “I thought it was something so basic, everyone knew.”
“Don’t worry about it, Emil! Besides, even if it was, we’d be glad to help you out!”
“Aaaah, you don’t have to do all that… But thanks!” Though he appreciated Leon’s offer, the lieutenant didn’t want to trouble anyone else with his problems. With an entire crew under him now, he felt like it was high time he started practicing that responsibility thing his brother and father loved so much.
Jun mozied back into the room a few minutes later, wearing the standard Interstellar Forces teal gloves. Jet-black waves of hair swished back and forth over her right eye. It gave her the carefree look Emil was more used to seeing. It had been five years since Jun posed as a man to get into the IF, but the older ranger still kept an androgynous look. May rumors speculated why this was the case, but she never gave a straight answer or otherwise.
“Let’s get this party started.” the eldest ranger announced with a dry smile. “Rox is gonna kill me if I burn myself because of this, but--”
Bending backwards, Jun limboed under the steam, springing back up on the other side.
“Tadaaa.”
Emil and Leon gave their applause. The former tried to cheer, but it came out in a yawn.
Jun bowed. “Thank you, thank---” She suddenly drew back after almost bowing head-first into the steam. “First lesson of wrenching!” She pointed at the steam. “Don’t do that.”
“Noted!” The lieutenant tried his best to pay attention like the good student his teachers always said he could’ve been.
The eldest ranger paused. “So were you, like, trying to tighten this bolt orrr…?”
“Yeah.” Emil pulled at one of his curls. “...I think so?”
“Okay, so… Actually, I should be on the other side. I’m gonna walk back around to the other side like a normal person.”
“Is there a way we could turn off the steam?” asked Leon.
“Good thinking!” encouraged the blond. “That would probably cut down on a lot of the almost-dying going on. I thiiink it’s that over there?” His finger found its way over to point at a valve at the back of the room.
Leon hurried over to the valve. He struggled turning it, but eventually the steam slowed down to a stop. Afterwards, Jun instructed the other two step by step on how to use a wrench, even letting them try it out for themselves.
“Sweeeet, you guys got the hang of it pretty quickly!” Jun clapped.
“All thanks to you, Jun!” The lieutenant gave a thumbs-up and winked.
The dark-haired ranger thumbed at the door. “I think I’m gonna go grab a bite to eat. You two joinin’?”
“No thanks!” Leon declined. “I’m headed to the gym.”
“Weren’t you there earlier?” Like everything else today, Emil couldn’t quite remember.
“Yeah, but I figured with as much free time as I have now, I should do what I can to be in tip-top shape! I wanna make sure I’m ready the next time I use the jet armor!”
Emil had no idea what exercising would have to do with flying in zero gravity, but he didn’t ask questions. With a quick salute, Leon headed out of the room.
“Don’t overwork yourself, Rookie!” the lieutenant called after him. He got the feeling that he meant to tell Leon something, but it didn’t come to mind. It probably wasn’t that important.
“What about you, Emil?” Jun turned to him. “I haven’t seen you sit down all day. Or yesterday. Why don’t you, like... take a load off for a while, dude?”
Sure, he may’ve looked overly busy to Jun, but it wasn’t like he worked that hard. He had plenty of times to take a rest! Like… Actually, he couldn’t remember.
“You know… Maybe that’s not a bad idea.”
Jun gave a thumbs-up of approval. “Niiice.”
He appreciated Jun looking out for him like that. They made their way back up to the first floor with no problem.
“Sorry to cause such a fuss.” Emil apologized. “What have you been up to?”
“Nothing much...”
“Anything good on TV? Enjoy service while it lasts. Once we go past the moon, we’ll be stuck with whatever movies we brought with us.”
“Huh?” Jun looked at him, confused. “The TV still doesn’t work yet.”
“Ughhh, seriously...?” The lieutenant groaned. One more thing for him to fix. “Sorry. I really shouldn’t let myself get so heated. Gotta stay cool~” He pretended to smooth back his hair. His brother, his father, and even Jun always seemed so cool-headed. He didn’t understand how nothing got under their skin.
Jun smiled at his antics. He must’ve looked like a silly kid in comparison to her, but that was alright.
“You know, even though I’ve only known you for two weeks, not counting all the times I saw you on TV back in middle school--”
“Dang, you were in middle school back when I was found out?” Jun’s eyebrows raised. “I mean, you are only like 18, so I guess it makes sense, but… still… Anyway, what were you gonna say? Sorry for cutting in.”
“No problem! I was just gonna say, you remind me of a big cousin or something.” The lieutenant felt like he could be more himself around Jun, more himself than around a good portion of his family, actually. He got the feeling that the two of them were alike on some level, a level they couldn’t talk about freely, not with his brother’s eyes monitoring the ship’s cameras.
“Aww.” Jun lightly elbowed Emil’s shoulder. “You’re like a little cousin to me too, ‘cept I can actually understand you.”
“You can’t understand your cousins?”
“Nah. Ma’s side of the family lives in South Korea, and Pops is an only child. Me and him only understand a little bit of Korean, not enough to actually, like, talk to anyone. There’s this one cousin I have--” Jun laughed. “--Me and him communicate exclusively in finger guns. Like so.” The older ranger finger gunned at Emil.
He zoned out for a second, but managed to return it. “I can’t imagine not bein’ able to understand my folks.” Emil leaned on the staircase to the second floor. “My mom’s family mostly lives in the States, but my grandparents on her side only know a little English. You’ve actually been to Korea though?”
Jun moved toward the kitchen door, probably wanting lunch. “Yep, we used to go every few years, but I haven’t been since the, ahem, incident. Anyway, I wish I was bilingual. It’s cool that you are. I’m assuming the captain is, too?”
“Yep!” Emil pumped his arm. “Dad made sure we learned every last in and out of the Spanish language!” He remembered the days he and his brother were made to sift through endless pages of Spanish academia. No matter the language, it was still a chore.
“Cool!” Jun looked around. “Where is the captain, anyway? I haven’t seen him around.”
“He’s… probably in his room.” The blond looked down. As tired as he felt, he knew his brother had to be under so much more pressure than he could even imagine. Emil had to stay strong.
To tell the truth, he’d been feeling a little sour lately. He didn’t like it. This mission needed a good start, that good start needed a good crew, and that good crew needed good morale from a leader who was in a good mood! Since his brother wasn’t planning on showing his face any time soon, Emil took it upon himself to be that guy.
He didn’t mind that! Pumping people up was something he considered to be one of his best traits. Fixing things was not. Neither was staying focused on tasks he already didn’t want to do. Those were all his brother’s strengths, Lorenzo’s strengths. Even if Emil was somehow able to hold this ship together, it didn’t come as easily to him as it did for his brother.
After all, Lorenzo actually trained to be a captain.
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