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There were some things that Mark couldn't leave behind on Mars.
For one, he insisted on rationing his food, even though there was more stock than he could ever dream of. He was pretty apprehensive when Beck had him start to slowly eat larger meals. After a certain point, he got worried he was eating too much. That he wasn't going to have enough for the trip back to Earth, or that he wasn't leaving enough for the others.
("As much as I appreciate your concern for us," Beck had said when he mentioned it, "We will be fine, and you need to gain weight." Needless to say, Beck didn't find it as worrying as Mark did.)
Mark ate as much as he was told, but that anxiety only settled when he dipped back into the habit of checking on supplies. He did the math on everything they had, just like he had done on Mars. It helped, but it also felt eerily wrong. It felt like a familiar situation, but that situation he was trying to recreate was a stint of pure survival he'd rather not keep feeding.
Lewis had caught him once, and while Mark stumbled his way through an embarrassed explanation, she said nothing. She didn't say it was irrational (even though he knew it was), she didn't scoff at him, she just told him to send her the math he had done. He knew what she was doing. Give him a definite end goal so his coping mechanism didn't feel entirely useless. But damn, if he didn't fall for it. Every week when he would check, he would send all his equations to Lewis even though it was steadily going down just like any of them could have predicted. It helped. A lot. It felt like he was just doing a regular task any of them would have done while still doubling as reassurance he needed. Lewis is one smart cookie. Mark never questioned that though.
The next little gift Mars had left him with was the expectation that he was alone. He didn't hate being alone, not at all. Even before Mars, he found an empty room helped him work more efficiently. Mars didn't give that to him, nor did it taint it. All it did was make him think that the empty room was permanent, that there would be no one outside the door. So, if he was left too long in a room by himself, his lab for example, he would forget he wasn't the only one in the ship. This meant that if someone did wander in, and quietly enough, they would scare the ever living shit out of him. The first few times this happened, that spook was also accompanied by a panic attack. You know, big sounds when you're alone usually mean somethings gone terribly wrong and all.
The crew had caught on pretty quick that if they intentionally made sound before and while entering, everything would go pretty smoothly. Of course, in a spaceship with mostly no gravity perfectly designed so you don't bump into things and make noise, they had to get a bit creative. Like Martinez, who started to hum as he made his way closer. Sometimes it was songs Mark could recognize, sometimes melodies he was sure weren't actually anything. Johanssen, being on the opposite side of that "elegant fix" scale, decided she would just call something out right when she was in earshot. A swear, some vague insult, and rarely, a nerdy reference. Mark couldn't really be angry about it though, because it just made him laugh.
Oh, yeah that was also a thing. Once the crew was around Mark, they had to be careful about touching him. Throughout all of that first physical with Beck to "assess the damage" as Mark called it, he was holding back tears because every single time Beck touched him, it felt like he was on fire. Beck was very apologetic and offered him a break, but he didn't take it. After that, Beck always explained what he was going to do before he did it, which helped Mark prepare.
The news of that incident was definitely passed on to everyone else because even Martinez was more conscious of the little jabs he would try before the whole Mars situation. Everyone was really kind about the situation, but Vogel was (unsurprisingly) the best about it. He always asked if it was okay to pat Mark on the shoulder or whatever, and if Mark decided afterwards that he had chosen wrong, Vogel would remember. Mark had said something about a supervillain being kind to his underlings.
The touch thing was something Mark felt very guilty for. These are his friends who have given so much just for him and they couldn't even hug him. Hell, Mark wanted a hug. Everyone told him it was okay and that he could take his time, Beck told him it was pretty much expected based on his time isolated, but it didn't help.
For a bit he tried to grit his teeth and let them do what they wanted because he knew physical touch was pretty important. Tough it out through the discomfort like he had with everything else. Johanssen told him to cut that out, and Johanssen is a little scary, so he listened.
It seemed like communication would help ease most of these problems, but Mark was a bit too used to handling everything himself so he usually forgot asking for help or accommodations was even an option. Whenever he hit a problem, he had this feeling that he had to fix it, and it would take over before he even thought about how much more thorough he could be with someone else's help.
But hey, nothings a straight line once you've lived on Mars for a year. Shit takes time to get used to. Mark knows this, the crew around him knows this, and they are painfully patient about it. It honestly made Mark want to cry. Yes, there were times where Beck became an overbearing mother hen around him, and times where Lewis would dismiss his tasks for the day just because of a slightly negative look on his face, but there were also times where Vogel sat quietly next to him while he fought the urge to pack the rest of his meal away, and times where Martinez and Johanssen listened to him ramble on about the things he knew he couldn't (or didn't have to) do but had no outlet for. This wasn't some act they were putting on so he wouldn't feel bad, they genuinely didn't find his readjustment a burden. They built little paths around topics they found were sensitive, created new routines with him, picked up where he left off if he wasn't feeling good enough to do something. It was… an overwhelming change, to say the least. A welcome one, of course, but still a little intimidating.
So sure. He may have some new little quirks from his time alone, but he also had a damn good set of friends who would help him understand and reform them into something better. And that is something he will be forever grateful for.
