Another day of jet training came to an end, leaving Jun with the same question they’ve had for the past three days: Where did Leon’s brother go?

They wished they asked that before he left the observation deck.

Not ideal, but not the end of the world. Everyone else stayed back for now, aside from Mia. Jun could ask one of them. 

“Yo, Kelly. Did you catch where your guy went?” His name escaped Jun.

“Don’t ask me.” Aiden shrugged. “I dunno where he skitters off to.” With that, he walked off.

“Darn.” They snapped their fingers. Luckily, they caught a glimpse of Leon over their shoulder. “Leon, I haven’t seen your little bro in a while. Where’d he go?”

“Yes! His absence is most peculiar!” Roxie piped up before he could answer. “Do you know how his handsies are doing?”

“Hm?” Leon didn’t seem to know what she was talking about. He also seemed… off. Ever since he found his phone, he had way less energy than usual, even now on his birthday.

“He burned himself.”

“What??” That got him to be more alert.

“Only first degree.” Emil walked backward toward the door. “They should clear up on their own, right Doc?”

“Yes, but I’d like to keep an eye on it.” Roxie whined. “And that still doesn’t explain his whereabouts!”

Jun noticed Captain Galhardo lingering a little ways behind Emil. Normally by now, he’d be up the stairs and in his room, but he seemed interested in the conversation.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen him in, like, days…” Jun realized something. “Not since you found your phone, actually.”  

Leon winced. Something must’ve happened that day. 

Before he could answer, Roxie nudged him. “I think this calls for another manhunt~! Our last quest for glory came to an unusual end.” She looked over at the captain, who looked away.

“Ah, I don’t know.” Leon answered. “Ángie could be anywhere at this point. When he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.”

“That just makes for extra challenge! Besides, it’s not safe! What if he turned into a ghost?” Roxie’s voice trembled. Jun guessed it was for dramatic effect.

“Rookie,” Emil turned toward Leon, “you said Angelo does this kinda thing a lot, right?”

“Yeah. If hide-and-seek was a sport, he’d go pro.”

“This might just be normal for him.” He addressed Roxie and Jun. “Prolly nothing to worry about.”

“I agree with Ranger Allen.” The captain finally spoke, stepping toward his brother with a swish of his cape. “His disappearance has been troubling. Everyone, keep an eye out for Ranger Summers, and report to me or the lieutenant when you find him. Pass this on to the others.” His cape flared out as he headed for his room. “I will monitor the cameras for him.”

“But Captain, I’m right–Ah, right.” Leon caught on. “He’s a ranger, too…”

“Where could he beeee…?” Roxie wondered, pitiful.

Jun looked around the empty room. “Well, he’s not in here.” They lightly elbowed her. “And there’s only so many places on the ship. We’ll find him.”

“Hey, Roxie!” Emil leaned forward. “I was planning on keepin’ an eye out for Angelo. Maybe Rookie can’t be your rival but–”

“You’re on!” Roxie took off running for the door with her arms behind her.

“Well, that’s that.” Emil shrugged. “Ciao~!” He winked and strolled away.

“I guess it’s just us now.” Jun walked alongside Leon. Even though his brother was missing in action, they might be able to get some info out of him. 

“Yeah.” Leon stayed quiet for a moment. It was weird to see him so somber. Jun almost picked up the conversation again, but he spoke up. “Jun, do you have any siblings? You always seemed like a big sibling type to me.”

“Nope. Rox is the closest I got. And Aiden. I kinda wondered what it’d be like to have one.” They thought for a moment. “I dunno, it feels like it’d be strange to go a couple years as an only child and then, like, suddenly have another kid around.” 

“I was excited to find out I’d have a little brother.” He smiled a little. “At least that’s what my mom told me. I don’t remember it all that well.”

Wow. That went smoother than Jun thought. They didn’t bring up how weird it was for Leon to say that.

They already knew he and Angelo weren’t twins. For Leon to have been excited by the news, he had to have at least a few years on Angelo, just as expected. Though Leon might not have been trying to hide it. Jun did remember him implying his brother would only stay a little while.

“How long did you say he was staying again?” Jun held open the door for the meeting room.

Leon visibly panicked. “Uhhhh, it looks like he’ll be with us for the whole trip.” A smile covered it up about as well as cheap air freshener on fish. “If nothing comes up, at least. So that’ll be interesting…”

“Oh, cool.” Jun smiled too, even though they felt bad for the poor kid. There’s no way he planned this. Finding out his brother’s stay was permanent had to be a huge bummer. No wonder he was all gloomy.

Inside the meeting room, Leon opened the panel to go downstairs. There was no one downstairs. This might be a good time.

“Hey Leon, how’s it going?”

“It’s going.” He stepped down first. “I know it’s my birthday and everything, but I’ll admit it’s been a little ehhh.”

“Yeah, you looked a little down lately.”

“I did?” Leon slowed his pace. “I guess I haven’t come out of my room much. But I probably shouldn’t be like this on my birthday, hm?”

“I mean. It’s your birthday, you can cry if you want to.”

He laughed. “Thanks. Weirdly enough, that makes me feel a lot better.”

Jun could imagine. Sometimes it’s best to be able to feel bad without anyone trying to stop it or worrying about being seen as weak. They weren’t a crier, though, so they didn’t really need that advice.

“But Emil really did cheer me up with that party!” Leon sounded more like his usual self. “Gosh, I’m still–I don’t know how he does it. He’s so–there’s a word for it–but he’s so good at paying attention to the little things about people. Like my favorite foods or how much I like his guitar-playing.”

“No yeah, he’s really attentive.”

“That’s the word! Attentive. He’s so attentive…”

Leon wasn’t exactly the most subtle about things he liked. He didn’t lie, though. Emil paid a lot of attention to everyone. Doing chores around the ship so his brother wouldn’t have to face people, going above and beyond to make sure Jun’s coming out went smoothly, Leon’s birthday party, it went far beyond just winking and encouraging. Jun would’ve never thought to snap a picture of that rainbow so Mia could have a memento of visiting Earth. Being thoughtful came second-nature to him.

 Showmen like Emil lived to please, but sometimes Jun wondered if he’d die if he didn’t. That day at the lake gave them some insight.

“I know they’re just worried, but sometimes it makes me feel–”

“–like I’m not good enough,” was what Jun would’ve guessed based on the rest of the conversation about his dad and brother. Too bad Mia almost died before he finished. They could only hope Emil took as good care of himself as he did others, but he didn’t have to be the only one looking out for someone else.

Leon stood at the bottom of the stairs, near the panel to the loading dock. He took a deep breath.

“Are you thinking of checking the loading dock? I don’t remember seeing anywhere he could hide down there.”

“I was thinking he might be in the incinerator room…” Dread filled his voice.

“Would he normally be in a place like that?”

“I don’t know anymore.”

Yikes. Jun couldn’t imagine wearing their heart on their sleeve like that. “Well, I hope you find him.”

“Thanks.” Leon opened the panel.

“Hey, before you go…” Jun stopped him. “If something’s ever, like, on your mind and you wanna talk it out…” They pointed at themself.

He smiled back at them, genuinely touched. “Thank you, Jun. I’ll keep that in mind.”

They parted ways. Jun decided to enter the kitchen and take a seat at the table. Chilling out seemed like the best thing they could do for now. So they sat. They sat there for minutes on end with nothing to do except, well, nothing.

Aiden dragged himself into the kitchen first.

“What up?”

Instead of answering Jun, he started toward the refrigerator, but headed in the other direction once he noticed the open boxes of space food. He grabbed a bag of pretzels out of one. Two, actually. One, he held up toward Jun.

“No, thanks.” They did a double take. “Wait, aren’t we supposed to save those for when the gravity’s off?”

Aiden did not respond, instead putting the extra bag back and meandered over to the table.

“By the way, the captain told us to tell everyone else to look for–”

“I know.” He shoved some pretzels into his mouth, looking down at them. “Blondie came poking around in our room.”

Jun blinked. “You’re also blond.”

“You know who I mean.” Aiden looked around. “Why aren’t you lookin’ for him?”

“I am.”

“...You’re just sitting there.”

“Yeah.” They didn’t deny it. Sure, they could go into more detail and say that from a strategic standpoint, hiding in the kitchen or the bathroom would be Angelo’s best bet, and either way, he’d have to commute between both. Not saying that was funnier.

Leon returned from the furnace.

“Any luck?” asked Jun.

“Yeah, I didn’t find him in the incinerator room.” A slight smile crossed his face. “I dunno where else he could be, though.” He reached the door. “There’s something else I gotta take care of first, and then I’ll keep looking.” 

Someone almost bumped into him on the way out.

“Hm?” He stepped out of the way. “Oh, sorry Emil. You go first. Good luck winning against Roxie.”

“Thank you~” Emil stepped into the kitchen while Leon left. 

“I take it you haven’t found him either?” asked Jun.

“Not yet. I think I’m gonna search the gym next. Maybe hit the weights while I’m there.” Emil wound up an arm. “Pushing that box earlier took a lot more outta me than it should’ve.” Unknowingly, he thumbed back toward empty space. The box he sat on was no longer in its place.

“Did you push it back?” Jun had a feeling they already knew the answer.

Emil shared their confusion upon seeing the missing box. “No. Huh, maybe someone else did.”

“Not me.” Aiden chomped on a pretzel.

Emil almost started to leave, but instead pivoted around, taking an interest in the pretzels. “May I ask where you got those from?”

“That box.” 

The lieutenant sighed, crouching down near one of the other boxes. “Aidennn, we’re only supposed to touch the space food when we’re in zero gravity. That’s why I had this box closed.”

“I didn’t open it.” denied Aiden.

“I’m gonna have to recount everything.” Emil shook his head, flipping through the stuffed container. He stopped. “Wait, actually…” His frown turned upside down as he jumped to his feet. “Aiden, can I talk to you for a sec?”

Aiden sluggishly followed the beckoning of his finger and leaned down for Emil to whisper something to him. 

In the meantime, Jun focused on the mystery of who moved the other box, mentally flipping through the possible suspects. They believed Aiden; he wouldn’t lie about something this inconsequential unless a prank was involved. Leon passed right through the kitchen, not stopping for the boxes. The captain hadn’t come downstairs since Jun woke up. That left Mia, Roxie, and Angelo.

Emil finally backed away from Aiden. “...And let this be a lesson to you that the Interstellar Forces will not tolerate such flippant disregard for the rules!” How uncharacteristically commanding of him. This might’ve been the first time Jun saw him frown. “You have a pretty big task ahead of you, so now’d be a perfect time to start.”

“Yes, sir.” Aiden agreed without the slightest bit of annoyance. Something’s up.

“Jun, you’re not busy are you? ‘Cause I’m gonna need ya to keep an eye on that one.” Emil gave them a wink and a smile. He let Aiden off the hook somehow, didn’t he?

“I’m searching for Angelo right now, but I can multitask.”

“Great! Anyway, see ya.” As if that didn’t just happen, he breezily left for the gym.

Aiden sat down on one of the nearby boxes and grabbed the pencil attached to the inventory sheet, while Jun finally stood up and leaned on the wall beside him. 

“So, like, what’s the punishment?” Jun asked.

“I gotta mark off what’s missing from this box.” Aiden raised the sheet and pencil.

While Jun could care less about solving the mystery of how Emil bent the rules this time, they figured it out almost right away. Packets of food filled the open box to the brim. There couldn’t have been much for Aiden to count.

“Ohhh, bummer, dude.” They offered the flattest of sympathy. Part of them wondered if Emil had it in him to put his foot down, but they weren’t too concerned about that. In fact, this arrangement worked out for them. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you about something.”