The Octonauts and the Random Role Reversal

Chapter One

"What do you mean, my job's not as difficult as yours?"

"Well it's not! Yours is easy compared to mine!"

The Captain sighed as he looked up from where he was adding short notes to the Octopod driving manual, almost unconsciously preparing himself for the tricky task of mediation as he made out the muffled sound of raised voices from the deck below. Usually, relationships were fairly friendly on the Octopod - better than he had initially expected, really, considering they lived together all the time like a large family - but occasionally opposing wills would clash, especially after a busy week. One of these clashes seemed to be taking place at the moment; Tweak and Kwazii tended to be pretty competitive, and would get into a few minor arguments now and then, usually to prove a point. And neither of them had ever exactly been fond of backing down on their side of the debate.

"He says that my job is - I quote - 'just bolts and screws'," Tweak's thunderous expression showed it all as she stormed into the HQ, the pirate cat close on her heels. "Tell him he's an idiot, Cap."

"She says she doesn't really know what my job is, apart from driving around far too fast!" countered Kwazii heatedly. "What does she know? She's just an engineer!"

"Just an engineer?!"

"Guys!" Barnacles quickly intervened, since he feared that Tweak might actually explode if Kwazii riled her up much more. Come to think of it, she had turned a rather interesting variant of her usual shade of green... "What is with you two today?"

"It's not me," both Octonauts insisted at the same time, then turned accusing stares on each other.

"It's both of you," the captain noted sternly. "Calm down, Tweak. You know what Kwazii's like."

"Hey!" complained a certain cat.

"And Kwazii, don't let Tweak wind you up." Barnacles paused thoughtfully. "Though... what is your actual job description anyway?"

"You're not exactly helping my side of the argument," hissed his best friend affrontedly, casting a meaningful glance at a smug-looking Tweak.

"Neither of your jobs are more important than the other," the reasonable captain explained. "You both do different jobs for the crew, and both of those jobs are vitally important to keep us up and running. Tweak, you work harder than anyone I've ever known keeping all our equipment shipshape, and somehow finding time to invent new things too. Kwazii, you're the bravest and most daring one here, and you're an expert at rescuing and making friends with all kinds of creatures."

"And driving fast," Kwazii reminded almost proudly.

"And driving fast," Barnacles concluded, suddenly quite glad that he was good at calming people down in this sort of situation. "Both of you do equally important jobs. And the Octonauts wouldn't be the same without either of you. Okay?"

"Okay," Tweak was the first to concede, flashing a small smile at the Captain as the usually good natured bunny cooled off a little.

"Okay," Kwazii agreed with a similar smile.

Mentally, Barnacles breathed a sigh of relief. Phew. "Good," he said as solemnly as he could manage, turning back to the dashboard and picking up the pencil again. It could sometimes be quite funny when Tweak and Kwazii were sulking after a fight with each other, as long as the rest of the crew were aware not to bother them for a little while. Neither of them ever stayed mad for long in any case, since Kwazii had an attention span of a goldfish and Tweak liked chatting to Kwazii too much to be yelling at him all the time. Still, the Captain did feel like it was his position to keep his crew members happy, and no-one liked tension on the Octopod.

"Though my job's more useful," he heard Tweak add in an undertone, as usual unable to resist having the last word in the argument.

"Not true!" Kwazii instantly disagreed, flaring up again in less than a second.

Oh no.

Tweak and Kwazii glared at each other.

Captain Barnacles suddenly had an idea as he looked helplessly from one to the other, both now bickering with renewed force and unlikely to listen to any more of his reasoning any time soon. It was crazy, sure, but - it could work. Especially since he was well aware that this wasn't the first time that this particular argument had been voiced over the years of the crew travelling together. Plus, he did feel like he could do with a break...

"I may have something that can sort this out," he said loudly in order to cut their arguing off, making a quick decision and turning to press the large Octo Alert button situated on the wall. "Octonauts, to the HQ!"

A/N) Look, a new Octonauts story, after all this time! I'm as surprised as you are, believe me XD