The Plumbers, as a whole, was a community built around helping people with the goal of providing peace to the galaxy. All members had important ideals, distinct personalities, and little quirks that made them who they were. Case in point? Zeta Squad.

Rook had distinct relations with his team. There was his brotherly relationship with Ben; while Blonko was the responsible one, Ben was the curious little brother who had a knack for getting into trouble. And while he was hesitant to admit it, Rook would also feel like a father at times; whenever Ben was in one room and Blonko in another, he knew Ben was fine because of the noise coming from the room...however, when the noise stopped, Rook would PANIC. But aside from that, they were just a typical pair of weird siblings.

Kevin was Blonko's best friend- he knew where to get all the best car hook ups (usually illegal, but hey, you had a nicer engine for your ride) and took him to rock concerts from time to time. The two would prattle on for hours and hours about cars and bounce off one another about whatever, whenever. No one really expected them to be best friends when you first saw them, but hey, it worked.

Kylie, like Rook, was a mediator. They would often try to placate stupid arguments or mediate fights so some sort of agreement or compromise could be reached. The two also shared a love for gardening; Rook would often help Kylie maintain her neighborhood park's garden, when he had the time.

Ceres and Blonko shared a sort of a brother-sister type relationship, as Ceres was almost constantly looking out for him, and Rook respected her skills and intelligence. While Rook wasn't much of a "wisecrack" amongst everyone else, he felt oddly comfortable enough to...sort of let himself go.

For example:

"Rook, can you turn down the music, I'm pretty sure the people in this subdivision are sleeping."

"Fuck the Police."

(That was the one and only time Rook ever said fuck. Nobody believed Ceres.)

While she wasn't technically a member, Ari felt like one to Rook. They got along well, being able to fight alongside one another with ease. She would also dote on Rook from time to time, making sure he was eating well and ensuring he was taking the right medications. (Revonahganders hadn't been exposed to half the bacteria humans had.)

And then, there was Lev.

...he was a fucking chaotic monster.

The first time Rook met Lev, he was using Ceres' lab to make homemade napalm. Which he then used to set fire to numerous crappy Plumber PSA videos.

...honestly, Rook wasn't all that upset by the fire destroying those. He did, however, freak out over the actual fire, WHAT THE HELL GUYS.

Well, there was more to it than that, but it's what Rook recalled most about that day. It started out fairly typical. A freshly formed Zeta Squad was still getting its act together, trying to see how they bounced off one another. A lot quieter than their usual present selves.

It was...stilted. Overly polite, in some ways. And yet, Lev brought them all together when he nearly burned down Ceres' lab that day. For a brief but memorable moment, anyway.

"So...your species doesn't use contractions?" Kylie asked, a few minutes before the Burning™.

"That is correct. Contractions add unnecessary complexity. And it does sound informal," Blonko explained.

"That is so fascinating." Kylie grinned, writing that down.

He was bemused yet pleased that someone was writing notes about his culture. A lot of people didn't take Revonnaganders seriously, so it was... nice.

"Hey, Rook," Ben said, walking over. He was looking down at his phone. "I talked to my parents- I think we have a room open for you."

"Ben, again, you do not need to do that."

He shrugged. "Hey, I just want to make sure you're feeling 'at home' here on Earth."

"Plus the dormitories are pretty cramped here," Kevin pointed out. "Sienna often complains how spartan accommodations are for our long-term workers, so you're better off rooming with someone else."

"Well, her words are usually true, so...alright. I will stay with you." Rook smiled.

Ben fist pumped the air. "Yes! Alright, sweet! I'll text them!"

"...what was that motion?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Oh, just a fist pump."

"...what is the fist pumping?"

"The air?"

There was an alert on their badges, yet not the base- which was weird, considering it was a lab fire-

"HOLY SHIT WHERE'S CERES?!" Kylie yelled out.

"I...I think she was in the lab?" Ben said tentatively.

The quartet shared a look. And then they raced off to the labs, screaming the entire way there. Ben had somehow turned into Water Hazard in the midst of all the panic. Rook had his Proto-Tool ready, and the others had their weapons at hand as well, and they stormed into the labs as quickly as they could-

Only to find Ceres in a gas mask and lab coat, cackling like a mad scientist, as a well-dressed young man (also with a gas mask) laughed maniacally and threw napalm at those crappy Plumber-approved PSA tapes.

"...what the actual fuck?" Ben asked, shuddering in fear.

Kevin backed away from the door. "Did Ceres snap or something!?"

"Never mind that! Who the hell is the guy ENCOURAGING the fire!?"

"...honestly I'm kinda glad he is?" Kylie admitted sheepishly. "I've seen those PSA videos, they suck."

"I agree," Blonko said, shocking the others. "I also feel like we should be wearing gas masks, since, you know, burning plastic."

"...I mean I'm Water Hazard-" Ben pointed to his mollusk face. "I should be fine?"

Kevin turned to him. "Then put out the fire already."

"...oh, yeah. Sorry, I was caught up in the madness." Ben apologized, slapping his mollusk face. He began to spray the fire down, causing some shrieks of "NOOOOO" from the two gas masked-wearing individuals.

"WHY WAS THIS EVEN HAPPENING?" Kylie shouted over the noise.

"BECAUSE SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO BURN IT ALL DOWN!" the well-dressed young man shouted back.

"YEAH BUT WHY!? FIRE HAS TO HAVE A PURPOSE!"

"AND YOU WOULD THINK LIFE WOULD HAVE A PURPOSE, AND YET MOST OF THE TIME IT DOESN'T!" the man protested.

"...what the fuck is his deal?" Ben asked as he finished putting on the fire. "Ceres! Did you find this dude on the streets or something!?"

Ceres took off her gas mask to reveal a grinning face. "Nope! Found him back home and he came with me."

"Okay, but who the hell is he!?"

"My brother in all but blood, Lev Ivanova."

Lev took off his mask to reveal a golden-eyed gaze set in a handsome face. His black hair was cut in a stylish undercut, and the glasses he put on were black-rimmed and framed his eyes nicely. He looked similar to Ceres, almost like a brother, and he was dressed in slim-fitting black pants and a black button up with a red plaid design in the middle.

Ben blinked as he returned to human form. "Oh God, there's two of them."

"Is this the guy you mentioned a few days ago?" Kylie asked, a finger to her chin. "When I envisioned him, I pictured someone a little less..."

"Arsonist-y?" Kevin deadpanned.

Kylie rolled her eyes. "Yes, I think that's the term." She suddenly blinked. "Wait, where's Ari? Doesn't she usually love stuff like this?"

"Oh, I've been here this whole time."

Kevin shrieked and nearly jumped into Rook's arms. Ari, who had been silently standing right next to him, gave him an unimpressed look. Which was kind of amazing, since she was wearing a plague doctor mask.

"Nice mask," Kylie said appraisingly. "Got any spares? I think that'd go well with my powers…"

"Oh sure, follow me," Ari said, leading the girl to the medical wing.

Everyone else stared after them, blinked, and then turned back to the smoldering ruins of what had been a napalm bomb site.

"…so, are you gonna need help cleaning this up?" Ben said, looking around at the charred room. "Because…holy shit?"

"Nah, me and Cer already made roombas that can help," Lev said dismissively.

"But Roombas fail at their jobs...?" Rook trailed off in confusion.

"Roombas also can't go on ceilings," Kevin said, looking at the scorch marks above them.

"Just watch," Ceres said as the dinner plate-sized monstrosities slid out of the walls, blades spinning out of the sides and tinny voices shouting, "SANITATION! SANITATION!" And then they started cleaning up the scorch marks and the pile of burnt VHS plastic and Rook just. Accepted the fact that he needed a session with his Plumber-mandated therapist. This day was just too much.

At least Lev got him homemade boba later, as an apology. It made up for some of it.

For a long while after that, Blonko saw Lev as a destructive force of nature, a constantly moving blur that gleefully defied rationality. Lev was always frantically typing away, frantically pranking Ben and Kevin, frantically anything-

It got to the point where they had to hide the coffee machine away from him because he made his drinks so strong. In Kevin's words: "He makes it stronger than Death Wish coffee. I'm pretty sure that's the strongest coffee in the world? And he drinks like two pots a day, how the FUCK is he still alive-"

But then Blonko found Lev sitting on a bench in a more secluded part of the medical wing, staring listlessly at a wall, eyes red.

It was the first time Lev had ever been like this- his energy was always turned up to 100%, in the few months Rook knew him. It was weird…

And concerning.

"Are you...alright?" Blonko asked hesitantly, walking towards him.

Lev blinked and looked up at him. He gave a smirk, but it looked so fake that Rook had to cringe. "Been better. Therapy's a bitch."

"…therapy?"

"Yeah. Saw some stuff I'd like to forget back home," Lev explained. "Dreams have been hell, meds aren't working all that great. It's fun."

"It does not sound like fun at all," Rook commented, sitting down next to him. Lev smirked again, this one a little more genuine.

"God, I could use a drink," he said, rubbing his face.

"That is a terrible thing to say after therapy," Rook stated bluntly.

"...yeah. It is."

"…is your…high energy just a way of coping with everything?" he asked- it didn't sound mean, just concerned.

"...a bit," Lev admitted, his expression becoming more calm and neutral. "I was always like that, if I'm being honest. But I had to grow up fast, like Cer and Ari, and that meant putting aside childish things like my personality. I guess I'm just... trying to get that back."

"In one big concentrated burst," Rook realized. "I see."

"The worst part is that what I'm doing is kind of pointless," Lev said with a bitter smile. "Ari and Ceres went through much worse things than I did, so there's no point in me being this traumatized. I'm just acting the way I should have always acted, except half the time it feels like I want to curl up and cry. It's such a pain in the ass."

"Your experiences are not invalid- you went through hardship and turmoil, all the same. You are not the same Lev you were before, and you may not be ever again…But, it is commendable how you are trying to get help," Blonko said sincerely. "A majority of men in my culture just bottle things up…"

Lev winced. "Yeah, that sounds like a disaster."

He scoffed bitterly. "It is."

The silence between them was awkward but no less sincere. And then Lev broke it when he clapped his hands and declared," Well, now that that's out in the open, let's go see if anyone needs to be pranked."

Rook groaned but got up nonetheless. But then Lev looked up at him and smiled prettily and said, "But first we need some chapstick, you got any?"

"I do not."

"Well, we'll fix that." Lev's gaze softened. "And... Thank you. For listening."

Rook's heart skipped a beat, but he pressed that thought out of mind, instead wondering why Lev needed chapstick for a prank of all things.

The third event... might have been the clincher on Rook's (possibly) ill-advised crush.

Blonko's experiences at the Plumber academy were…interesting. While it was an open-minded environment that allows for exploration, the academy also felt frightfully large. At times he felt out of place, questioning himself about what he liked and disliked truly.

It was quite different from back home- oh sure it was spacious thanks to the desert, and Revonnahganders were surprisingly open-minded about things like same-sex romance and other LGBT+ occurrences, but the planet was still traditional in a way that Rook found stifling growing up.

His father was one of those traditionalists, and he was already a bit suspicious that Blonko, a handsome young Revonnahgander, was not taking any of the many girls that asked him to date up on their offers. Rook didn't even know why he didn't do it himself back then- sure, he dated Rayona…but even then, he realized it was because they were maybe in the same boat. He was her "beard", a term Rook heard Kylie use once or twice.

And while Rayona and Rook had been childhood friends, neither of them had seen each other in a romantic light. It didn't help that they wanted different things in life, which was why their friendship fizzled out over the years. And while Rook Da was tolerant of same-sex couples in general, Blonko doubted he would be so accepting if the same happened to his own kin. Not when the chief's position was at stake.

And so, as daunting as the Plumber Academy was, it was at least more accepting than his own home planet was.

Rook experimented a bit, went on a few dates, and was a bit more successful with finding what he was comfortable with. It was nice- and it also helped his team was open to being "true" about yourself. After all, Ceres was bisexual, Kylie was both trans and a lesbian, and Ben- well, he also wasn't sure himself, but maybe he was bi.

(Kevin was straight, but there's nothing wrong with that.)

Lev, Rook had found out, was fully asexual, which meant he had little to no sex drive. This honestly had no bearing on how Blonko saw the Archimedean- Lev was still a friend, and this was just a new factoid he now knew about his friend.

Rook, well, he liked the idea of romance and wanted some for himself, but little beyond that. But he was willing to wait for romance to happen, and in the meantime Blonko could cultivate his friendships.

But Rook had to admit, Lev was just nice to look at. The young man always dressed well- perhaps a little too well for Plumber HQ.

"Lev, there is something I have been wondering for some time," Blonko asked one day.

"Oh yeah? What's good?" Lev said, trying to get that famous Blonko 'head tilt' of confusion.

When the Revonnahgander did so, Lev had to suppress a victory shriek. Instead he focused on the question:

"Why do you always dress so nicely? I have never seen you wear any type of uniform while at base, and you typically work in cyber security, which does not get a lot of foot traffic," Rook said. "So, I have to wonder what the point is."

"I do it for me," Lev replied smoothly. "My body is a temple, and it's gonna look nice."

His eyes softened, and his confidence melted into something more quiet and vulnerable. "And if I'm being honest, people are going to stare anyway." And then he put his leg on the table and lifted his pants to reveal smooth, dark metal.

Rook took in the sight of nuts and bolts and a faint glow underneath the metal before it was covered again, Lev putting his leg back on the floor. "I was actually born without legs-" and that was enough whiplash to force Blonko to pay proper attention.

"It was a weird- and rare- genetic mutation," Lev continued. "It's happened before in my family. I've basically had prosthetics my entire life, and since the Empire is big on making sure every potential soldier gets onto the battlefield at some point, my actual prosthetics have always been pretty decent. But Ceres has become my main engineer, so to speak, and honesty? She's really good at making and managing my legs."

"I…I never knew," Rook said quietly.

"I try not to show it off. I've learned to hide stuff like that," Lev said, shrugging. "Especially since people stare no matter what." He smiled ruefully. "And just because I've gotten used to it doesn't mean it doesn't still get to me sometimes, you know? So I guess that's why I put so much effort into my wardrobe." Lev gestured to his distressed jeans and t-shirt and stylish black blazer. "If I dress like a ten out of ten, I can feel better about myself. And let's face it, I'd rather people stare and discuss how attractive I am than stare and whisper about my legs."

"…that is fair." Blonko nodded. He was very attractive, with or without the wardrobe. "But…I'm sure the others would not stare. They respect you- you are a good friend, a great hacker…and honestly, a fascinating person."

Lev looked at him, his rueful smile melting into something more genuine. "I know Zeta wouldn't, Ceres and Ari wouldn't associate with them otherwise. But I'd still rather have them get to know me first before they find out about the prosthetics. Just in case."

Blonko slowly nodded. "I understand."

Lev's smile turned a touch flirty. "And if someone like you finds me fascinating, well. How can I refute such high praise?"

He spluttered despite himself, and Lev's teasing laughter made Rook feel... light. Happy.

Ah, he realized. There might be something here.

"You know, I do have an idea…" Blonko said, looking around.

"Oooh, sounds mischievous. I'm in. Whatcha thinking?" Lev asked, rubbing his hands together.

"How much duct tape do you think we will need to attach a body onto the ceiling?" Rook asked, mirth in his eyes.

Lev's smirk turned downright sinister, and Blonko realized that, if he truly had the beginnings of a crush, then that meant he was interested in Lev's evil side.

And you know what? He was fine with that.