As soon as the admiral was off the ship and out of sight, Mike turned around to face Finn, but was

surprised to realise his second-in-command was nowhere to be seen.

“Finn?" He called, gazing over the ship worriedly. "Finn? Where'd you go?"

He passed through the ship's rag-tag crew, glancing this way and that until ...

“Finn?" He asked the figure hunched over in the doorway leading to Mike’s private quarters, "Are

you okay?"

Finn looked up sharply and Mike felt his heart flip as he was scrutinised by Finn's piercing blue gaze.

But just as suddenly he felt his heart drop into his stomach when he realised Finn was crying.

“You okay?" Mike asked, his tone much softer than before, desperate to comfort his

best friend.

Finn quieted his sobs and choked out the words "It's ... all ... unghh ... my fault!" before he erupted

in another soul-crushing howl.

“Hey ... uh ... it's okay ... I'm sure you haven't done anything wrong ... I mean ... Do you wanna talk

about it?" Mike tried being diplomatic, anything to stop Finn crying.

Finn had to take a few more deep breaths before he could speak again, and Mike distracted himself

by thinking Finn was clasping his hands in the most adorable way and that maybe one day Mike

would be able to hold his hand and they would go on long walks together and talk about what dog

they would own when they moved in together and - FOCUS MIKE DAMMIT!

When Finn had calmed himself enough to be able to talk, Mike helped him to stand and gestured for

them to move over to the side of the ship. Now that the crew had ventured ashore it was just the

two of them, and Mike knew that he could get Finn to open up about what was bothering him.

“I have to tell you something. And I need you to not judge me. Please. Just know that I didn't really

think it through ... And now I'm paying the price.”

“Finn, whatever it is ... you can tell me. Trust me, I’ve done some stupid things in my time, you don’t

have to cry. Here.” Mike proffered a (fairly) clean rag from his trouser pocket and Finn took it

gratefully, offering a small smile in return.

Mike felt his knees weaken for that smile.

“Not end-of-the-world stupid, that's for sure!" Finn hiccupped.

“Hey there, just breathe now, okay? Don't panic, and when you're ready, just tell me, yeah?"

“Alright,” Finn sniffed, “But once I do this you can never go back. You understand?”

In the weeks that followed, Mike often looked back on the silence that followed and wished he had

stayed naive.