9

When Curly finished telling Daisuke about what him and Jimmy had spoken of (minus a few things regarding the whole second chance thing), the man couldn't help but start to feel guilty.

"Kinda dumb of me to talk with Jim alone, yeah?" Curly muttered as he fidgeted with a pant leg.

Daisuke made a so-so gesture with a grimace, "Maaaayybeeee… like, uhhhh… a little bit? But, um, but did it, you know, help?"

Curly smiled bitterly, wiping his face against his uninjured shoulder, "I think so? And, uh, heh… well it'll keep him in line for yall."

"Really?"

"Mhm. Jim always did like having someone else come up with the plan, I think he knows on some level he doesn't really have the patience for 'em… as long as he thinks I got one for us, yeah." He bounced a leg as things really started to settle in for him, "Jesus Christ, I think Imma cry or somethin.'"

The younger man gave a weak laugh, "Curly, you've been, you've been kinda, sorta, crying this whole time?"

He hummed softly. Heh, yeah he was, wasn't he? "I— ha. I am, ain't I?" He wiped at his face, finding a laugh bubbling up in his throat. "Fuck— fuck! I can't, I can't believe I actually t-talked to Jim like that, Swansea's gonna be so mad at me."

"Whatcha mean?" Daisuke looked at him wide-eyed.

"I snuck around in t-the, the dead of night to go talk to my ex-friend who beat the shit outta me the last time we were in a room together," he bit out with a wince.

"Mmmmmm, but like that wasn't your fault."

"I still went into a room alone with him," he emphasized, "So. Now that it's catchin' up with me, uh, that was like… such a bad idea."

"…maybe we can make brownies or cookies and tell him and Anya in the morning? Cause she's probably going to be mad at you for that, too…"

"Shit," he sighed, "You're so right… do we even have the stuff for cooking that?"

"Technically, it'd be baking," Daisuke rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin at Curly's stare, "Buuut… not that it like matters or whatever, yup. Uh-huh… You know I think we actually do have the stuff for it though! And if not, we can totally improvise!"

Curly couldn't help but snort softly, the guy's enthusiasm was refreshing when things just got too much. One hell of a fresh breath of air, that's for sure. "Ya know what… yeah. Cheers to that, let's do it."

Daisuke gave him the biggest smile he could muster without pulling at his stitches.

~

"How does the food machine even work?" Daisuke asked as he leaned against the countertop, eyeing the contraption infront of him, "Like the fact we can just shove some things in and it makes like genuinely edible stuff is soooooo weird. I'm so glad they gave us like some actual materials for baking and cooking ourselves."

Curly nodded with a hum, "I looked it up once, the best to my understandin' is that it's like… a heat-based chemical reaction in the food packets whereas they've kinda dehydrated the ingredients, shoved it into some neat'n'tudy lil packin' and when it hits certain heat, it reacts in a manner where it'll come together and makes food!"

Daisuke stuck his tongue out, looking from Curly to the machine and back again. "I'll be honest, I still don't think I really understood that."

"Fair'nough." The blond held up one dusty box of brownie mix, "Okay, so we got this… looks like packagin' says it's good'n'dandy but don't we need like milk still? I mean… we have that powdered stuff? Or condensed?" He leaned back, tapping a foot, "Do you t'ink either of em will work? Or if they're still good… shit I gotta make a list of things to re-supply us with when we dock…"

"I think all that's already in the brownie mix?"

"What is?"

"The milk."

"Yeah?" He glanced at the box's ingredients, squinting, "Then what'n the hell do we add to it? I thought you added somethin' to the mix?"

Daisuke tugged open a cupboard, pulled out a bowl, and wandered over to place it down before him. "Well, besides water and oil, technically we're supposed to add eggs, but uhhhh, I know a few substitutes we could try instead? We could even experiment with it!"

"Why not, we only got… 32 days left with our current supplies, so fuck it. Let's have fun with it, yeah?"

He got an excited cheer, Daisuke fist pumping the air. "Awesome!"

~

Anya woke up alone, looking about for the boys but finding to her growing anxiety neither were around. She knew, logically, they had to be fine, but emotionally?

She practically scrambled out her sheets, not bothering to put on her uniform as she just slipped on a pair of her flip-flops. The woman stumbled out the room, first moving along to check Daisuke's room (empty) and then Curly's (also empty) before starting to head down the hallway. She did pause when she heard someone call out to her, glancing back and blinking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Anya, what the hell are you doin'?" Swansea was leaned against his doorway, rubbing his face. Oh dear, oh dear, she must've been louder than she'd thought.

"I-I can't, I don't know where the boys are— I, sorry—"

He held up a hand and she clamped her mouth close, fidgeting with her Metallica bed shirt.

Swansea straightened himself out, grumbling as something audible cracked in his back. "Alright. Let's go see where them knuckleheads went off to…" He walked over with a yawn, "M'sure they're fine, kiddo."

Anya made a face, "Y-Yeah, but— but I just, I know they're probably fine, logically, but—"

"But your head's still frettin.'"

She nodded, frowning a moment, "D-Did I wake you? You're, you're still in your jammies?"

"These ain't my jammies. I sleep in my boxers," he grumbled, giving a tired hum, "Tossed on whatever was around, you've already been traumatized enough, don't need to add to it by exposing ya to that."

Anya couldn't help but snort out a laugh, quickly covering her mouth when he raised his eyebrows at her. "Sorry," she squeaked.

He snorted, ruffling her hair, pausing a moment to look at her outfit. He gave a little hum, "Huh. Didn't take ya for a metal head… though did you have to pair it with pink?"

"It's soothing to listen to when I'm studying sometimes." She glanced down to her fuzzy pants, "I think the pastels are a nice contrast."

"Whatever you say, now let's go see where those idiots went off to, I don't trust them two being left alone, who knows what they've managed to get up to."

Anya laughed.

~

Turns out, the two were asleep out in the common area, both men passed out against each other, absolutely dead to the world.

Curly was still in his goddawful tie-dye tee and orange sweatpants, sprawled out like a starfish with the occasional snore leaving his agape mouth.

Daisuke, also still in his jammies (more sensible ones if you asked her, simple pastel blue pants paired with a baggy cobalt t-shirt showing off an image of Hatsune Miku in a simplistic style), was tucked up into a neat little ball against the captain's side. However, unfortunately for Curly, Daisuke had a habit of sometimes drooling while he slept. Which was what was happening right now. Onto the blond's tee. Gross.

Infront of the pair on the table were a few sheets of paper, notes scribbled over it (and a few doodles she suspected were from Daisuke of eastern dragons and varying plants). Anya snorted, looking over the two's work, apparently they'd made some list for different ingredients? And recipes?

"Jesus Christ."

She looked over at the tired grumble, staring at Swansea a moment before looking past him to the kitchen— oh goodness gracious that was so many brownies. "Oh my."

Swansea silently mouthed 'why?' to himself before huffing, "I guess we better check if they're any good, huh?"

Anya hummed, gently tidying up the boys' papers into a neat pile and setting it back down on the table. She stood and followed after. She admittedly hadn't had a brownie in a while.

~

Curly woke up to the sound of voices, blinking a few times in groggy confusion, "Oi?"

He heard a grumble to his side, hissing out a breath as he looked about slowly. Where in the bloody hell was he…?

"Morning, Captain!"

"Mnghhh?" He had one hell of a case of dry mouth, licking his lips a few times as he tried to sit up, "Was'it?"

A low whine of protest followed his movement, a weight rolling off him. He squinted to see it was apparently an asleep Daisuke. Had the darn dingus rolled over to his side of the floor in the night or something?

The blond tried to move his hands to prop himself up before giving a hiss as he was painfully reminded of his bloody fuckin' shoulder. He flopped back down, staring up at the ceiling.

"You okay?" That darn voice he couldn't quite place right now spoke again.

"Sh'older."

A sympathetic hum, "I'll grab you something for that."

"Tankssss," he mumbled, closing his eyes again with a heavy yawn. Jesus Christ he was tired… something nudged his leg and he jolted, eyes shooting open again. "Huh?"

"Heya, Curly. Care to elaborate what you two nimrods were up to? And why there are fucking five pans of brownies in the kitchen?"

The man stared at the blurry shape above him, "Uhhhhh…" Browniessss… yeah, yeah there was something bout brownies? "We made em."

"No kiddin.'"

He nodded simply, raising his good hand to his mouth as he yawned widely again, "Ain't had… no eggs? Mhmmm."

"The hell's that gotta do with things?" He watched as Swansea pinched the bridge of his nose, the blond humming softly.

"Can't uh… gotta have em substituted, yeah?"

"What?"

He nodded again, "Mhmmm, ain't no eggs. Substitute em… but, uh… yeah? Different, different tastes, wanna be good for yall…"

Ugh, he really couldn't wait to get their coffee supply restocked. Curly paused, squinting a moment. Why had they made brownies again? There had been a reason…?

"I see you're ain't gonna be no help," the captain whined at that, "Oh, shut'it. Daisuke, wake up, brat."

A loud groan came from his right, a hand slapping Curly in the face, making the man jolt up with a yelp. He moved to clutch his good hand to his nose with a hiss, eyes watering as he heard Daisuke scramble up as well with a slurred shout.

A gruff laugh sounded from above them, Curly shooting a glare over at Swansea, "Fuck'off."

The mechanic snorted, "Mornin' sleeping beauty. You awake now?"

The blond rolled his eyes, touching his hand to his nose a few times to make sure it hadn't started bleeding or something, thankfully it had been able to take the sleepy assault fairly well. Still. It hurt like a right bitch.

"What's going on?" He looked around, watching as Daisuke groggily dragged his hands through his hair. Looked like they were in the common area, weird…

Waaaait.

Wait a second.

"Shit."

Last night came flooding back and he sucked in a breath, oh shit, oh—

The man flinched as Swansea cleared his throat purposefully. The blond looked at the older, mouth fumbling open, "I, uh, okay so—"

The mechanic held up one hand and he clamped his mouth shut. "Remember how to breath first, why don't you?"

Oh— oh yeah. He, he could do that. Curly sucked in a deep breath, running his good hand through his hair as he held it a moment, letting it out slowly. Epic, awesome— ugh he was spending way too much time around Daisuke— focus! Focus, Curly!

He jumped when something nudged against his arm, blinking wide-eyed at Anya's crouched form. Oh! When the hell had she gotten there? She gave him an amused smile, "Morning."

"Hey," he replied sheepishly. He glanced to the offered pills and water, sighing, "Thanks."

He popped the pills into his mouth before quickly washing them down, feeling that age old ache haunt his throat as he did so. He swallowed thickly, took a couple more swigs to be rid of the feeling and handed the empty cup back over.

"You good?"

Curly snorted, shuffling so he could move his legs to his chest, resting his chin on his knees, "Mmmm, you're gonna be right pissed at me."

"Oh?"

"I… kinda did something very dumb last night."

"How dumb," Swansea's voice butted in. Curly cringed.

"Uhhhhh, like… maybe, sorta, um, might've snuck off to talk to… er… Jimmy? Last night…?" He closed his eyes with a grimace.

"You dumbass." Aaaaand there was the disappointed dad voice. Curly felt his face flush. "Start explaining right now."

~

Anya stared open-mouthed at Curly as the man explained how he'd not only followed Swansea to figure out where Jimmy was being kept on the ship, but how the blond had fucking woken up when everyone was asleep to go talk to the guy alone.

"…and then, uh, so me and Daisuke talked and I knew yall two would be pissed at me so… we made brownies?" The man gave a one-shouldered shrug, "Sorry…?"

"What…" Anya spoke slowly, "Why would you— what were you thinking, Curly?"

The blond in question shrank in on himself, "I-I, well it wasn't like none of you were telling me where he was a-and, and—"

"He assaulted you last time you were in a room together," Swansea said darkly.

Anya winced, "…he's not wrong, Captain."

"…I, I'm not stupid." Curly said weakly, avoiding both of their gazes as he akwardly shared a look with Daisuke instead.

"What was that?" Swansea asked, the man tiredly dragging a hand down his face. "Ya know my hearing isn't the greatest when you muttering."

"I ain't stupid!" The blond looked up with a tremble, "That loud'nough for you!? I— I ain't some bloody damn moron t-that, that wanted to just go fuckin' off like a right twat! I… I just," the man slumped back down, "I just had to… to say my peace? I don't… I'm not stupid."

Swamsea huffed, "No one sayin' your stupid."

"Well, well maybe I feel stupid, aight? I— I coulda fuckin' just went about the day and gone off ta'sleep and, and that's coulda been all great, right!? Cheers!" The man shifted so he was looking pointedly at the ground, "Christ! I don't know, I— I dunno."

Swansea sighed, sitting down in his usual chair, "Blabbering on bout it won't change that you made one stupid fucking decision, you coulda been hurt."

"…he wouldn't have—"

"Curly. Look at me."

Anya watched the man slowly do so, tears welling up in the captain's eyes.

"You aren't alone, remember that?"

"I…"

"Whatcha do on this ship affects the whole crew, understood?"

Curly tucked his head back down against his knees, Anya looking between the two before speaking up softly, "I'm… I'm worried about you, Curly."

The blond peered one eye out at her. She gave him a gentle frown. "You said it yourself just the other day, Jimmy's not the man you thought he was. I-I don't know what it's like to be… to be close to someone and have them hurt you so much that y-you can't even recognize you're being hurt, but, but well it's not okay."

"H-he… I don't, I…"

"You're going to keep getting hurt if you keep trying to go back to him."

"What do you fuckin' know?" Curly's gaze hardened, his voice coming out low and vicious, unlike anything any of them had ever heard from him. Anya tensed while Daisuke eyed the captain worriedly. "I'm a fuckin' grown ass man. I ain't no kid needin' to be fuckin' coddled or some weak'n'daft sonna'bitch. I— I-I can't— I just, I'm— I'm the one fucking in charge here you stupid bitch—!"

"Curly, shut up!"

The man jerked his head up to flash his teeth at Swansea, "Oi?" The older man didn't even blink, Anya swallowing thickly. She felt numb.

"You're talking like Jimmy."

Curly took a sharp inhale like he'd been slapped, a whole body shudder going through him as his eyes widened. He looked over sharply and Anya couldn't help but flinch. His face fell in an instant, the irritation and annoyance visibly crumbling into pure horror.

His chest began to rise and fall faster, Curly opening his mouth before clamping it shut, his good hand going to grip into his hair. Anya wanted to say something, but she couldn't, her own heart was pounding in her ears. You stupid bitch.

"Curly," Swansea's voice made them all flinch this time around, Daisuke having moved over to be at her side now. "This is why I don't want you around that man, Christ."

"I—I didn't, d-didn't mean to raise, raise my voice— I shouldn't said that— I'm sorry, I—"

"I'm not the one you gotta apologize to." Curly shrank back, looking back to her and Daisuke.

Anya ducked her head sharply, afraid of what she'd see if she meet his eyes. Daisuke's hand held her own tightly.

"I'm so sorry, I'm j-just— I, I'm sorry, Anya, I'm sorry, Daisuke, shit, I'm…"

"It's fine." She was used to it, she shouldn't have spoken up— she, she should have—

"No!" She tensed as his voice raised into something desperate. "I— it's not okay, I shouldn't, I, I shouldn't have lost my temper, you were just, you were just being a-a good, a good friend t-to me a-and, and—"

His voice trailed off into a choked sound, "I-I don't like this, I don't want to be— I, I didn't—"

"Curly, shut it."

Anya focused on Daisuke's gentle grip, it was stabilizing, grounding. She took a few deep breathes, held them, and slowly let them out.

"I… I'll make breakfast," Curly said quietly.

The nurse could hear the man stumble to his feet, his footsteps trailing off towards the kitchen. She didn't look. Anya merely tucked her head against Daisuke's shoulder and focused on calming down.

~

Curly couldn't stop shaking, gripping the counter top tightly as he re-played what he'd just said. He, he— why had he said that!? They were just trying to help! Anya was just trying to fucking help! He, what was— movement out the corner of his eye made him turn to look with a shaky breath.

Swansea stood there, hands on his hips, "You can apologize better after you've calmed down, got it?"

He nodded, blinking back the building tears. "W-Why— why'd I do that?"

"Come here," the older sighed, Curly hesitated before trudging over. He straightened his back, tucking his hands behind himself despite how it strained his left shoulder. "Cut it out with that posture, I'm not your fucking drill sergeant."

The blond gave a sorry excuse for a laugh, tensing as a steady hand moved to tug him closer. It took a moment for him to realize it was a hug, Curly taking a shuddering breath in.

The man's other hand moved to tuck his head down against Swansea's shoulder. "You lashed out cause you gotta lot on your mind, I shouldn't have refused to tell you where Jimbo was, just… just didn't want you around that man anymore."

He made a soft sound in his throat, Curly was fairly certain it was supposed to be actual words but whatever.

"Every time you're around that idiot, it puts you into one hell of a headspace, I've… I've never seen that kinda fear in you, and we've been working this ship together for a few years now. That? Seeing that kind of panic? That was terrifying, Curly. Now this? That's not like you."

"Sorry," he whispered, burying his face deeper against the other man's shoulder, breathing hitching into a sob. "I-I'm sorry, I—"

"Curly." He hiccuped questioningly. "I'm just sorry it's been allowed to boil over like this."

"I-I don't like feelin' like this," he mumbled.

"Like what?"

"Broken."

~

"Anya…?"

The woman blinked over at Daisuke, feeling a few tears fall down her face. "Mhm?"

He gave a small smile, opening his arms, "You want a hug?"

Anya nodded tearfully, "Please?"

Daisuke dragged her into a fierce, tight hug. "You okay?"

She buried her face into his shoulder, inhaling shakily, "I dunno… I'm… I'm not… I'm not stupid am I?"

"No," her friend said confidently, "Curly was being dumb."

She snorted softly, "I, I feel— it still feels like I deserved it."

"You didn't. It was mean and it sucked that he said that."

The woman nodded again. It still had hurt to hear, even if logically she knew he probably didn't actually mean what he'd said. He shouldn't have said that to her, she— she d-didn't, she didn't deserve that.

"You're like super duper smart and like, casually, you're my best friend ever," Daisuke said boldly. "You never deserved to be hurt at all, okay?"

"Okay…"

"I'll keep telling you that until you believe me."

"Thank you."

~

Breakfast was an awkward endeavor, that's for certain. Especially considering the fact that Curly had somehow managed to burn the biscuits he'd been trying to make. They weren't bad, not really, but the captain kept apologizing for them until Daisuke wandered over, put a finger to the man's lips and said simply 'shush.'

That was admittedly pretty funny to watch, though even then it didn't help the stiffness of the room.

"So." Swansea spoke up as the quiet apparently went on long enough for him. "Anyone else got anything they want to come out with before we have another outburst?"

"I think I like men," Daisuke chirped brightly.

"Great. Thanks for that. Anything else."

"This whole trip is a fucking disaster," Curly said, dragging a hand down his face, "No wonder we're fuckin' losing our jobs, Christ."

"We're, we're what?" Anya blinked a few times, looking over at Swansea and Daisuke, who looked just as confused as she did, before looking back at Curly.

The captain squinted, looking up, "Huh?"

"The fuck you mean we're losing our jobs, Curly," Swansea said slowly.

"Didn't… didn't I tell you about the email?"

"What? What email?" Anya asked.

Curly glanced at her, looked over at Daisuke, and then turned to look at Swansea. The man gave a nervous laugh, "Uh… so. So well, I received an email regarding the future of the Tulpar and its crew a bit ago…?"

"Start talking," their mechanic sighed, placing his head in his hands.

"Okay, so, uh, technically I shouldn't have said anything, but well, that'd kinda be real shitty of me, but the company's gone bankrupt or something like that." He gestured with a tired sigh, "So. Yeah. We're essentially being 'let go' the moment we get back on Earth, or well, they tried to bribe me with a new job, but I'm fuckin' tired of this goddamned company."

"…when the hell did you get this email?"

"I… can't remember. I just, I don't know, sorry, sorry, I th-thought I said somethin' already and, and I didn't mean to keep it from any of you—"

"Gotta love capitalism," Swansea grumbled, "Shit. This trip… what the hell."

Curly stared at the ground, looking up a moment as he spoke, "…I'm gonna go do my rounds, uh, let you all… figure things. Sorry, just… s-sorry."

Anya sighed, "Come around to the medbay about lunch time, okay?"

"Sure, sure," the man nodded, tapping his fingers against the table with a shudder. "I—" he looked away with a soft shake of the head, closing his mouth and silencing himself. He left without another word.

There was a minute or two of silence in the wake of the captain's departure. Then Daisuke let out a loud sigh, "Dude… this sucks, I'm not even getting paid!"