Private Escape With Me

Briar's chuckling was infectious and Mukuchi's shoulders shook a bit, as he chuckled along. Mukuchi regretted not asking Briar to come along earlier, this was much more enjoyable than when he did these rooms on his own.

Mukuchi nodded, and stepped to Briar's side in order to show how the cube worked. Mukuchi started turning the sides of the cube with experienced and nimble fingers, wordless since he needed both hands to turn the sides.
It didn't take long for Mukuchi to form the correct pattern on one side, and once he did certain symbols lit up on the cube. Mukuchi blinked, then hurried over to the cabinet with the red keypad and punched in the lit-up symbols from the cube in a random order. With a hiss the locker opened and they had gotten one suit.

Mukuchi did a small fist pump and turned to Briar with smile in his eyes. He lifted a hand and held it up for a high five. He rarely gave high fives, he always felt like they were a "youngster" thing to do, but it felt appropriate in this situation.

The possibility that Briar didn't know what a high-five was passed through Mukuchi's mind when Briar paused, and a small embarrassed blush crept to his cheeks. But before Mukuchi could lower his hand Briar gave him a high-five. Mukuchi let out a sigh of relief and his shoulder shook a bit in silent chuckle.

"Of course, we're both here to have fun, after all"
Mukuchi typed, smiling with his eyes, and looked around at the remaining lockers.
"I imagine if you want less of a challenge you could look into the blue lockers, there are only three. So it's a three-piece puzzle, most likely"

When Mukuchi saw the pieces Briar fished out from the blue lockers his brain quite quickly fit them together in his mind. Mukuchi almost reached for them to solve the puzzle himself, but held himself back. This was Briar's puzzle and Mukuchi would let him solve it.

When Briar asked his question Mukuchi merely shrugged, with a small playful twinkle in his eye. He was going to let Briar figure this out on his own, no matter what. So, Mukuchi just followed curiously from the sidelines as Briar tried to fit the pieces together. Couple of times Mukuchi caught himself almost reaching out to the pieces to fix what Briar had done wrong. Mukuchi was patient but when it came to puzzles a strange competitive side of him came out.

Briar was able to solve the puzzle by the time they had about 7 minutes left on the clock. Not bad for a first time. Mukuchi smiled with his eyes when Briar celebrated his little victory, and once the suit cabinet had been unlocked Mukuchi held up a hand to give Briar another high-five.
"Well then, let's quickly put on the suits, or we will be swept away to space."
Mukuchi typed and his shoulders shook in silent laughter.

The suits looked heavy, and that concerned Mukuchi. He wasn't exactly all that strong, and he was in the middle of pondering how exactly he should go about putting the suit on when Briar just went ahead and got to it. Mukuchi observed from the sidelines and let out few amused huffs at Briar's attempts. He just couldn't help himself, the sight was funny, and strangely endearing.

"It is a challenging occupation, or so they say"
Mukuchi commented with a silent chuckle, and then stepped close when Briar asked for his help. There was no way he could say no to those eyes. Mukuchi looked at the suit for a moment, figuring out how exactly it worked. He put his phone away, circled around Briar and helped him slip him arms into the sleeves of the suit. And once that was done Mukuchi stood in front of Briar and assisted with the latches that sealed the suit around Briar. Once Mukuchi was done with that he looked up and realized that he was in fact quite close to Briar's face. Mukuchi blushed a bit again, leaned down and picked up the helmet (it was surprisingly light), handing it to Briar.

"You may not be cut out to be a space man, but now you certainly look the part"
Mukuchi commented once he got his phone out again, and smiled at Briar with his eyes. How was it possible that Briar managed to look, well, cute even in a bulky space suit? It was one of world's greatest mysteries...
"I suppose it's my turn now"
Mukuchi said, and just in time too. They only had 5 minutes remaining. Mukuchi turned to his suit and tried to lift it out of the locker, but the weight surprised him and Mukuchi stumbled backwards and started falling to the ground, his eyes startled wide.

Mukuchi missed Briar's offer to help, he had already turned away and facing the suit. Unfortunately that led to Mukuchi's (literal) downfall, and he was already prepared for his collision with the ground. It didn't come, however, since Briar moved to catch him and suddenly they were very, very close together. Maybe for bit longer than necessary, since Mukuchi's body didn't seem to want to move. Briar's arms were sturdy and reliable around him, and Mukuchi could feel the heat of his cheek against his own. And when Briar nuzzled their faces together Mukuchi's whole face erupted in a dark grey blush and his heart was racing 100 miles an hour.

Finally, after Briar finished speaking, Mukuchi managed to right himself and he straightened his clothes, still looking flustered. His shirt had ridden up during the scuffle and Mukuchi tried to quickly hide the sliver of lower back and stomach that had been revealed.
"Thank you for catching me, that could have ended badly"
Mukuchi typed on his phone, but he avoided eye contact, he was still too embarrassed. But he did see that they only had 3 minutes left.
"We don't have much time left, could you help me with my suit?"