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Long tiring missions often resulted in exhausted Captains. That was pretty ordinary at this point, and the past couple of days had been no exception to that rule. Everything had worked out in the end, thankfully, the Mysteron’s had been stopped and aside from a few bruises, everyone was in one piece. But they were all so tired that four of the five of them had napped on the flight home, leaving Scarlet alone in the cockpit whilst they slept.
Though that wasn't particularly uncommon either, as he generally needed less sleep than they did.
Usually, what would follow once they got back to Cloudbase was each of them shuffling off to their quarters, where they'd promptly collapse into bed. Not always before changing out of their uniform first, that depended on the day.
But this time, somehow, they'd all ended up in the officers lounge instead, the evening sunlight casting a yellow-orange glow across the room.
"My feet are killing me," Grey grumbled as he dropped onto one of the chairs and started tugging the zippers on his boots down.
"Is this what it feels like after running a marathon?" Magenta asked nobody in particular and leaned over the back of the sofa next to Grey. "I'm so tired."
"Marathon runners don't spend their time dealing with Mysteron's," Scarlet said. "So I'd assume that's more fun than what we deal with," he added as he took his cap off and dropped it onto the coffee table before sitting down.
"I don't know if 'fun' is a word I'd use for long distance running," said Blue. He sat next to Scarlet, leaning back in his seat for a moment before moving to take his boots off too. "And it's definitely not the word I'd use for that mission."
Ochre shrugged off his tunic and draped it over the back of an empty chair. "I think 'fun' is the last word I'd use," he said, sitting down on Scarlet's other side and tossing his cap onto the table as well. "Frustrating, tedious, tiring, yes. But fun? Not in the slightest."
"At least we won?" Magenta pointed out.
"We did win," Grey nodded, unzipping his tunic now that he'd gotten his boots off. "So it's not all bad."
Blue dropped his cap onto the growing pile on the table. "We won, but I'm still tired," he said, before breaking into a yawn and leaning against Scarlet, shifting so that he could rest his head on his shoulder.
"Comfy there, Adam?" Scarlet asked, not able to stop himself from smiling, especially when all he got in response was a hum of acknowledgement and little else.
"I think Adam has the right idea," Ochre yawned. "Ugh, making me yawn now too," he added, but didn’t try to hide how tired he was. Instead, he turned in his seat so that he could lean back against Scarlet and kicked his feet up onto the sofa.
"Boots on the couch is going to make someone complain," Grey smiled and stood, crossing the space to sit next to Blue instead of on his own, adding his cap to the pile on the way.
"I genuinely don't care right now," Ochre said, his eyes closed and arms crossed over his chest. None of them bothered to argue with him on that.
Magenta's gaze wandered across the four of them, before he seemed to decide that he felt left out. He stepped over and dropped onto the sofa, half-sprawled on top of Ochre, settling easily on his front with his head resting just below Ochre's sternum.
"Pat- do you have to do that," Ochre grunted as Magenta's weight hit him, but he made no attempt to stop it from happening, or to move Magenta once he'd settled.
"Yes, you're comfy," Magenta murmured, his voice slightly muffled by Ochre's shirt.
Ochre plucked Magenta's cap off of his head and tossed it in the general direction of where the others were on the table. It missed, and fell to the floor, but Ochre waved his hand dismissively, too tired to pick it up, and no one else moved to get it either.
Scarlet looked at Ochre and Magenta on his right, and then to Blue and Grey on his left. "You all slept on the way back, how are you still so tired?" he asked.
"It was hardly a long flight," said Grey, and Scarlet supposed he wasn’t wrong, they had only been in the air for about an hour and a half.
"And unlike you Paul, we don't all have limitless stamina," Blue added. Scarlet wanted to refute that claim, he by no means had 'limitless' stamina, enhanced yes, he could thank the retrometabolism for that, but even he had a limit.
"If that's true then why am I tired too?" he asked instead, which got a quiet chuckle out of Blue.
"Even the indestructible Captain Scarlet needs a nap after a long day," Blue said, a small smile on his lips. Scarlet rolled his eyes at him. Admittedly, he probably wasn’t wrong, but Scarlet wasn’t sure he was tired enough to fall asleep as easily as the others seemed to be.
"He's not the only one," Grey said as he grabbed a nearby cushion. He shifted so that he could lay down and place it on Blue's lap, before resting his head on top and making himself comfortable. "I think we could all do with a nap."
"Piled together in here?" Scarlet asked. It wouldn't be the first time they'd all crashed out like this, but it wasn't common.
"Well, I've got a pink idiot on me, so I'm not going anywhere," Ochre said, playfully flicking at Magenta's forehead and getting nothing but mumbled Irish in return. "Give him five minutes and he'll be dead to the world."
"Less than that by the looks of him," Scarlet said. In fact, despite the vague response to Ochre's teasing, he wasn't so sure that Magenta hadn’t already fallen asleep.
"May as well join him then," Grey yawned, which in turn pulled another yawn out of Ochre.
Scarlet smiled to himself. "Then rest," he said. "All of you." They needed their rest, and he could keep watch. Not that there was any danger here, but he couldn’t help but feel the need to protect his friends when they were vulnerable.
Blue lifted his head just enough to look up at Scarlet. "That includes you, Paul," he said. "It's been a long couple of days and we all made it home in one piece, so rest too. You don't need to watch over us anymore," he added, and Scarlet was struck by how easily Blue could figure out what was going through his head.
Not that he should be surprised by that anymore, mind you. Adam knew him far too well for it to be any kind of shock.
"I know that," Scarlet said, a little too quickly to be casual. He cleared his throat before he spoke again. "And besides, it's not like I'm going anywhere with you all leaning on me."
"Good excuse for you to sleep too then," Blue’s smile was soft, and he held Scarlet’s gaze for a moment longer before settling back down with his head against his shoulder.
Scarlet knew that Blue was right, but that need to keep watch was still pulling at the back of his mind, especially so soon after getting home from a mission.
The room quickly fell into silence, disturbed only by the Captain's soft breathing and the constant faint hum of Cloudbase itself. The sun started to dip below the horizon as the remaining daylight slowly faded away, and the automatic lights in the ceiling flickered to life.
Scarlet sat in the middle of his friends, and one by one they drifted off to sleep around him, exhausted and in dire need of rest. It was a testament to their complete trust in each other that they could sleep so easily all bundled together like this. They were all so used to being on high alert that it could be difficult to relax sometimes, especially when they'd just returned from a mission. And sometimes, at least for Scarlet, that could make it difficult to sleep even when he knew it was safe.
But, on occasion, exhaustion won out, and let them sleep comfortably where they usually wouldn't.
That was clearly what had happened here.
Scarlet yawned and brought a hand up to his mouth to stifle it. He didn’t want to fall asleep, that little voice in the back of his head still telling him that he needed to stay alert and keep watch. But it had been a long and tiring couple of days for him too, and unlike the others, he didn't get the benefit of a nap on the flight home.
As the minutes ticked by, it'd be easy for him to doze off. His eyelids started to feel heavy as he tried to fight off the tiredness that was rapidly settling over him.
He yawned again and rubbed his eyes, careful not to move too much and disturb the others. Maybe Adam was right and he should just let himself sleep for a while. It wasn't like he had anything else that needed doing right now. Nor was he able to go anywhere with his friends practically sleeping on top of him.
Scarlet wasn't sure how long he sat there before he found himself resting his head on top of Adam's, his eyes drifting shut as his remaining energy faded. He wanted to stay awake, but he was so tired, he'd been on his feet all day and was finally home and safe with his friends. Everyone was in one piece, the Mysteron’s had been dealt with for the time being, everything was okay. He could let his guard down and rest.
Joining them and dozing off for a while really did sound rather inviting right about now...
"Captain Scarlet said that the other four Captain's all slept for most of the flight home," Lieutenant Green said as he walked down the corridor at Colonel White's side. "I expected them all to go to their quarters once they were back on Cloudbase."
"As did I," Colonel White replied, "But you are sure they've all gathered in the officer's lounge instead?"
"Yes, sir," Green nodded. Locating uniformed officers from the Control Room was very easy, the built in trackers kept working even after they returned to Cloudbase, after all.
"Then I'm sure they won't mind us dropping by to see how they are," said the Colonel as they turned a corner and approached the door to the officers lounge. Green knew this was Colonel White's way of making sure everyone was okay after a rough mission, it was less formal than gathering them all in control for a debrief for one thing, but despite his often gruff exterior, the old man cared an awful lot about his officers, and so Green didn't question it.
Green stood at Colonel White's side as the door to the lounge opened, and the first thing he noticed was that it was completely quiet there. No sound of chatter or movement. Silence.
Colonel White took two steps into the room before he stopped. "Well, would you look at that," he said, his voice slightly hushed, and Green followed him in to see exactly what he was looking at.
Lounging across one of the couches were the Captain's. All five of them. Practically piled together with Scarlet in the middle, Magenta half on top of Ochre, and Grey with his head cushioned on Blue’s lap. All seemingly fast asleep.
A smile pulled at Green's lips at the unexpected sight. He had heard that such things had happened, a fleeting comment from Magenta once, if he remembered right. But he had never seen it with his own eyes before.
"I rather wish I had a camera on me," he muttered, half expecting an unimpressed remark from the Colonel, but when he looked up at him all he saw was a fond smile on the older man's face.
Scarlet shifted slightly in his sleep, and sharp blue eyes fluttered open, glancing between Green and the Colonel, before closing again as he settled back down. Ever the light sleeper, but, at a guess, quickly assessing that he and his friends were still safe to sleep here, before dozing off again.
"Come along, Lieutenant, we should let them rest," said Colonel White, quiet so as not to disturb the sleeping Captain's further, before turning on his heel and leaving the room.
Green spared the Captain's one last glance, still wishing he had a camera, before following after the Colonel and closing the door behind him.
They could check on them again later, for now, the Captains had definitely deserved their rest.