16

—7 days until Home—

Curly stared at himself in the mirror, blinking slowly as he lowered the razor he'd been using to shave. Huh.

Now that he was actually paying attention to himself, he couldn't help but smile just a bit. Curly wasn't fully certain if it was an illusion caused by the angle or something of the sort, but he had a feeling he was actually looking better than he had in ages. The blond tilted his head, watching the man in the mirror do the same. His face looked fuller, eyes just a touch brighter, the content smile that had been tugging at his lips easy and comfortable.

"Damn," he muttered, letting out a soft laugh. It didn't hurt like before.

—6 days until Home—

"Anya, pass me that salt will ya?" Swansea's voice cut through her focus, the woman blinking up and over at the man a moment before nodding as she looked back to the passage of her textbook she'd been reviewing.

"Sure thing, dad," she said distractedly. Anya grabbed at the little salt shaker and held it out in the older's general direction. Anya didn't notice the two shocked stares she got from Curly and Daisuke before the two quickly looked to Swansea.

The man just grabbed the salt and began sprinkling it over his dinner without much more than a casually spoken, "Thanks, kiddo."

~

Curly stared long and hard at the ceiling, listening absently as Daisuke and Anya bickered over their latest game. He spoke up before he even processed the words leaving his mouth, "Do we all have daddy issues?"

"…What?" Anya sputtered.

"You heard me."

Daisuke spoke up slowly, "My da's pretty cool actually? Well… when he's not all like 'you need to get a job' and 'you should stop trying to buy weed.' You know, casual dad stuff." The blond glanced over and Daisuke just shrugged, looking between him and Anya now. "You two have issues though."

"Daisuke!" Anya blinked sharply a few times while Curly just sadly nodded.

Daisuke snorted, "You keep calling Swansea dad, dude! That's like… total daddy issues."

"I do not call—!"

"Yes, you do." They all jumped at Swansea's interruption, all three of them snapping their gazes over. The mechanic just stared back, seemingly unbothered. Anya buried her face into her hands, Curly didn't doubt she was trying to pretend none of this was happening. "If we're keepin' track, Curly's done it at least twice and Daisuke kept slipping up the first few months."

"NUH-UH!!!"

Curly fumbled to sit up, his cheeks growing warm. "Uh— you must've misheard me—"

"You're all menaces and you might as well be my brats, too, so if you dare try to lie to me, boy, I'll set your ears ringing. Understood?"

The captain blushed deeper, nodding as he looked down to his own lap.

"Great. Now I'm headed to bed and you knuckleheads better not linger too long before doing the same."

Curly nodded again while Daisuke gave a chirped 'o-okay, boss!' Swansea eyed them a moment before grunting, shaking his head, and heading back out the room.

There was a beat of silence before Anya silently reached out for a pillow and threw it full force at their intern.

—5 days until Home—

Curly couldn't stop laughing, his bad hand clutching to his stomach as he wheezed for breath. He had tears in his eyes and the smile on his face was starting to hurt from how big it was. But hell! How was he supposed to not laugh at this?

Daisuke, the doofus that he was, had gotten his hand stuck in the sweetener container and Swansea was having to pry the damn thing apart to get him out.

"STOP LAUGHINGGGGGG!" Daisuke practically whined, voice strained with the sheer embarrassment the guy was dealing with.

Curly just leaned against Anya (who was trying and failing to hide her own giggling behind a hand) as he wheezed harshly. He almost threw himself into a coughing fit, reaching up to unsteadily wipe away more tears. He had to take a few shuddering breaths in before managing words, "This— pffffft— this is hilarious! HOW THE HELL DIDCHA MANAGE TO DO THIS!?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Daisuke whined back, tears in his eyes.

Swansea shook his head with a grumble, "Stay still ya damn idiot."

Curly kept on laughing himself silly until he fell over onto his ass, this merely causing Anya to finally break into full blown laughter as well.

Poor Daisuke could only stand there, mortified as Swansea kept up his work. The intern knew for a fact that he was never going to live this down.

—4 days until Home—

Anya kicked her feet up, lying upside down on the couch with her legs hooked over the top of it. Daisuke was sat next to her, the doofus grinning widely as he waved his arms around animatedly. "So then— okay, like, so they had these like realllllyyyy epic ass noodles at this place, yeah? But they legit look like pale worms."

"Mhm." She smiled as he nodded excitedly, his hair just going everywhere as he did so.

"Awesome, okay, now, imagine, you got like three highschool students who are looking to do a stupid prank for upcoming senior graduation. And the bio labs were growing mealworms, which funfact! They aren't, like, actually worms!"

Anya nodded, "They're beetles, right?"

Daisuke gave her a grin, "Hell yeah, dude. So like, yeah~ we totally hid some of the mealworms, got a bunch of noodles, and made people think we were eating bugs!" He snickered, kicking his feet a bit, "Me and those guys still talk sometimes, but like they got really busy jobs… wait."

"Hm?"

"I just realized that I'm like… actually going to have a real job when we get back??? Brooooo," he made hand gestures like his brain was exploding, getting a small laugh out of her. "This is so cray-cray!"

"…oh my gosh." Anya sat up a bit, blinking as she got used to not having all the blood rush to her head. "We only have… counting today… four days until we land."

Daisuke stared before jolting, "Wait, for real!?"

"Yes!"

"…duuuuude, we need to make a cake in celebration!"

"Can I help…?"

Daisuke looked at her excitedly, "Of course!"

~

Swansea had to admit, Daisuke was getting damn good at the whole baking thing, the cake sat on the table looking quite genuine.

"The frosting looks surprisingly good," the technician muttered, watching as Curly went ahead and started to cut up the cake. At least the captain figured to be smart about things and use that good hand of his.

"I did the frosting," Anya piped up, rubbing the back of her neck. "I… I just hope it isn't too sweet? I improvised a bit when we didn't have all the ingredients…"

"Well, it looks great, kiddo. You two made one fine lookin' cake, that's for certain."

The young woman gave a shy smile before shooting a grin on over to Daisuke, who eagerly sent her back a thumbs up in turn.

Swansea wouldn't ever admit, but those small exchanges he saw between them made him smile. They were both good kids.

~

Curly hummed contently as he ate his cake, taking a moment to swallow his mouthful before speaking up. "So, not that Imma be complainin,' but what's the occasion?"

Daisuke said something through his mouthful of cake until Swansea smacked him upside the head for talking with his mouth full.

Anya shook her head with a laugh, propping her chin on her hand as she looked over. "Well, we figured since we're only a few days out from earth that we all deserved something nice."

The blond smiled back despite the way his heart sank into his stomach. "Huh, yeah, that's right, ain't it? Few days, wow. Cheers."

The woman nodded, going back to her own slice of cake as she watched Swansea lecture Daisuke. The blond could see an amused smile teasing onto her face. Curly observed the group silently, smile falling a moment. "…only a few days," he whispered to himself.

He poked at his cake before quickly fixing an easy grin back onto his face as Daisuke said something directed towards him.

—3 days until Home—

"He's doing it again," Daisuke muttered as he heard a now familiar wheezing grumble from where the captain had fallen asleep at the end of Anya's bed. He glanced over, blowing on his freshly done nails as he regarded the sleeping figure of the older man.

The blond wasn't sprawled out like he usually was, asleep flat on his back instead as one eye stared blankly at the ceiling. "And he's got his eye open, too. Why do think he does that?"

Anya made a face, "Maybe anxiety? I know sleeping with your eyes open can have a few different causes but his doesn't quite align with what I know regarding it."

Daisuke shrugged, pausing with a frown as he noticed Curly's breathing suddenly hitch up. "Anya?"

His friend glanced over with a questioning hum, raising her eyebrows as she noticed how tense Curly was getting as well.

None of them were strangers to nightmares by this point, especially when it came to helping each other through them, but something seemed different this time.

~

Curly couldn't move. His eye was open and he couldn't fucking move. Things were tight and he was flat out on his back and there was shit moving around the corners of his vision— smiling teeth and bloodied faces and Jimmy staring down with a blank, blank look— and just— he couldn't fucking movehecouldn'tmovehecouldn't—

There was someone walking towards him. His eye darted over as he wheezed desperately for breath— hischestwastootighthischestwastootightthebandagesweretootight—oh god. No, no, no— not the knife again not the knifeagainnotthreknifeagain not the—Jimmy didn't say a damned word. Blood dripped down from the man's forehead. Curly couldn't make himself look at where it was coming from.

The brunet's hands raised like a martyr's, eyes bloodshot, tears falling down, and smile stretching much too far. A gun in one hand. The knife in the other.

The figure mouthed the word 'choose.' Curly began to cry. The figure's lips peeled back farther and farther. He wanted to look away. Flesh tore and blood began to pool down in thick rivers as the gun raised. Curly couldn't fucking breath— hecouldn'tbreathhecouldn'tspeakhecouldn'tfuckingscreamscrEaMSCrEAMSCREAMSCREAMSCREAM—

Hands gripped his arm and shook him. And like magic, he was jolting to awareness, gasping wildly as he clawed to sit up, gasping so hard infact that he began to gag.

There was a sound, but he just shook his head sharply, sucking in mouthfuls of air feverishly. Curly looked about wildly, looking for Jimmy or thecorpses but he didn't see them, he only saw Anya and Daisuke and— thebloodhecouldstillseethebloodhesworehedid— the blond slammed into the floor in his haste towards the bathroom, hissing at the pain it sent through his shoulder.

Curly heard voices but he was more focused on the acid tickling the back of his throat. He forced himself back up onto his numb legs as he clawed the door open.

The cake was horribly sweet on the way up. The bile was a bitter contrast.

~

Anya cringed as Curly coughed and spat into the toilet, the man beginning to slump forward as he swallowed thickly a few times. The nurse moved to help steady him back upright so he didn't fall face forward into the dirtied toilet water.

"H-Hey, you're okay, you're okay," she whispered. "Just breathe, Daisuke's getting some water for you to rinse with, okay?"

Curly shakily raised an arm to wipe at his mouth, sniffling harshly as a few tears slipped down his cheeks.

"Curly?"

He just stared blankly ahead, swallowing again before giving a strangled wheeze. Anya sighed, moving a hand to rub circles against the man's back, the blond's eyes falling shut a moment before snapping back open. He gave a full body tremor.

She decided to ease him back so they could both rest their backs against the near wall, Anya moving to ruffle her hands through the man's curls as he settled. Curly leaned into the contact, eyelids drifting down until his eyes were cracked open. "You feel alright?"

The man mumbled incoherently, but well, at least that was an attempt to answer.

~

It was hard to get back to his feet, but having Daisuke and Anya by his sides certainly helped out quite a bit. His mouth didn't taste as bad after he'd had some water to swish around his mouth, though he was feeling more and more exhausted by the second.

He sighed as he was helped to settle back on the bed, letting himself fall back the moment he was let go of. "Captain…?"

"Hey," Curly managed to croak out.

"What was that about…?" The blond could feel Daisuke flop down next to him while the bed sank over on his other side as Anya sat down as well.

"…J-Jimmy was in, in the room a-and, and I swore— fuck it felt so real."

"Haven't you had nightmares like that before?" Daisuke asked faintly.

"Mmmm… I couldn't move this t-time," he muttered in turn, "I, I felt like I was awake."

Anya made a thoughtful sound, Curly glancing over to the woman quietly. She regarded him in turn, "Have you ever had sleep paralysis before?"

Curly shook his head, swallowing a few times as he cleared his throat. "That's uh… I thought that was a medical condition?"

"…I don't think so? I… hm. I mean, it can be caused by some conditions but I don't think it counts as one itself, maybe?"

"I dunno…"

Daisuke snorted, biting back a yawn as he stretched. "Well, that was like legit terrifying, dude. Your eye was darting about like crazy."

"Yeah?"

"Yeaaaah."

"I think I'm going to get a giant serving of coffee until I have a bloody heart attack," Curly said. "That was probably worst than the shadow people."

"I'm sorry, the what now?"

"Bro?????"

The blond just nodded tiredly, squinting, "Definitely worst."

~

"You look awful."

Curly gave Swansea a tight smile, "You know just what to say to make a guy blush."

"Shut it, kid." The man looked towards Anya for explanation, the woman sat on a nearby stool as she watched Daisuke and Curly cook. "What happen."

"Curly found out what sleep paralysis was like," the woman yawned, "Freaked me and Daisuke out pretty bad."

"Still terribly sorry bout it," Curly muttered under his breath, humming as Daisuke nudged him in the side. The intern gave the blond a gentle smile when he looked towards him, Curly hesitating before returning it.

"Mmmphm. Carrol had that problem for sometime when she got on a different sleep medication, said she'd see monsters creeping around the bed."

"She did?" Anya gave a sympathetic frown, "That sounds awful."

"Mmm. She'd wake me up in tears when she could snap outta it, babbling about the spooks she'd done seen, can be downright disturbing shit."

Curly looked back to the pan he was tending to, moving to flip the pancakes settled in it. It was a near perfect flip. "Disturbing is puttin' it nicely… n-none of you better die on me anytime soon, heh, yeah?" He tried to make his tone light, but the blond just knew they could probably hear the tremor in his words.

Daisuke leaned against him, looking at him seriously, "You are not getting rid of me in like a million billion years."

The man snorted, peering over as Anya spoke up, "I mean, I don't really have time to die or anything. I don't know where I'd fit that into my schedule."

Curly smiled with a roll of his eyes, reaching a hand out to try and ruffle her hair, the woman slapping his hand away playfully. "Besides, you and Swansea are the old ones here—"

The mechanic gave a scoff.

"—you two better not die on us, am I understood?" She placed her hands on her hips and gave her best Swansea glare. The captain couldn't help but chuckle.

"Nah, I ain't gonna be headed nowhere, whatta bout you, Swans?"

"My wife'll bring me back to life just' kill me herself if I figured to keel over."

"Ha!"

—2 days until Home—

"Curly?"

"Mmm?"

"You sure you still want to help with my college?"

The man didn't even hesitate to give her an answer, leaning his head back to look up at her, "Ain't nothing gonna make me change my mind bout it."

Anya smiled, fidgeting with her hands a moment before letting her tight shoulders fall. "Okay."

Curly nodded before settling back in, "You still gotta invite me to your graduation, yeah?"

"Of course."

—1 day until Home—

Daisuke beamed up at Swansea as he talked on about all the epic stuff they could build and fix together while working for that guy Curly knew, kicking his legs as he sat on a high stool. "This is literally like the greatest."

The engineer snorted, sprinkling some more spices into the bowl he was getting readied, "That so?"

"Uh-huh! Like, we're two epic dudes, and like we could get all the ladies wi—"

"Still married."

"—oh yeah! Uh, well I can get all the ladies then and they'll be all like 'wow, you helped make all this!?' And I can be like, 'totally.' That would be so awesome—"

"I thought you liked men."

Daisuke sniffed, resting a hand against his chest, "I'm a guy of excellent taste, Swansea. Men and woman are both great. Oh! And like, everyone outside of that can also be pretty cool, ohmygosh, maybe this is why I can't get dates!? There's too many options!"

"Uh-huh. Sure. That's the only reason."

The intern pouted, "…was that sarcasm?"

Swansea smirked, "Nope, not at all."

"You're so mean to me…"

—Returning Home—

Curly hugged Daisuke as the kid took in deep, shuddering breaths, the younger having woken up from a nightmare about the ship falling apart just as they got back to earth. "It's alright, you're safe, everyone's safe," the blond muttered, Daisuke trembling against him.

"W-What, what— what if, if we do crash or— or, something goes wrong!?" The younger man's voice was strained as he tucked closer against Curly, Daisuke's fingers curling tighter into his shirt. "I— I, I thought I was fine! We, we are going h-home and… and…" He trailed off with a sob.

"And yet you can't stop fretting, yeah?" A shallow nod, Curly humming as he carded his hand through Daisuke's messy locks. "I get it, heh, I mean, ya remember my freak out a couple nights ago?"

Daisuke nodded again, sniffling, "You… you were scared that Jimmy was back, r-right?"

He sighed, looking off to the side. "Yeah… yeah I was. Thought that, despite everything, that I was about to get hurt again. That, t-that everyone was going to get hurt. And, and well, that was pretty bloody terrifying, but it was just my brain trying to process my nerves and trauma. You know, in the most horrifying way possible, cheers."

"What a-about… but, but the ship—"

Curly hushed him gently. "Statistically speaking, crashes are very rare to happen with aircrafts, especially with interspace ships due to the stricter regulations on travel, understood?"

Daisuke sighed, voice small. "I… I guess?"

"I been flyin' bout a decade as well, so I can say I know what I'm doing," he shifted in place so he could wink at the other, "At least a little bit."

A snort, Daisuke rubbing at his face as he let out a breath, "Yeah. Pfff, I-I hope you, like, you know a lot more than just a bit… unless those blond jokes aren't just jokes."

"Wow!" Curly laughed, raising his eyebrows, "You wound me!"

A few breathy little laughs before there was a faint sniffle. "…Curly?"

"Mhm?"

"Can, can I just… stay like this for awhile?"

The blond patted him on the back, "Course. Here, lemme just lie on down so my back ain't gonna yell at me later, yeah?"

"Mkay."

Curly grunted as he settled back down, opening his arms so Daisuke could worm his way back against his chest. Once comfortable, the blond moved to pull up his bear blanket over the two of them. Daisuke took in a shuddering breath before letting it out slowly, "T-Thanks."

"Ain't no worries."

~

Anya yawned widely as she slunk her way back into Daisuke's room, rubbing at an eye as she walked over to her bedding.

She did pause when she noticed her friend wasn't in his bed, glancing over towards Curly's makeshift bed before relaxing. Both her boys were there, fast asleep, Curly snoring softly as he held Daisuke in a protective hug.

It made the woman smile, Anya biting back a yawn before deciding she wanted to join the pile rather than just tuck away into her own sheets. Dragging her blankets over, she settled herself down on Curly's other side, laying so she was back to back with the man.

She yawned again before easing her pillow under her head, eyes falling shut within moments.

~

Curly couldn't find it in himself to stay still, sipping at his tea (Anya wouldn't let him drink coffee if he didn't eat so they compromised) as he paced around the ship. Everything was already in order, yet he decided to check over things at least three more times before allowing himself to believe it.

He had meant what he'd said to Daisuke early in the morning, he was confident in his ability to land this fuckin' ship, it just didn't make him any less nervous though.

Like it or not, Curly was scared. But honestly, it was a lot more than just landing the damn ship that had him stir-crazy. It was figuring out what the hell to do after all that, figuring out legal bullcrap, getting in touch with his bloody lawyers, hoping that the rest of the crew actually would keep in touch with him, etc.

Not to mention that for the first time in over a decade he was unemployed. That alone was unnerving even if he could stand on his own feet for ages to come, he just, hadn't wanted to think this far ahead until it was now hitting him full forced.

He sighed, sitting down in his chair in the cockpit, leaning back with a shake of the head. He was going to miss flying, that's for sure… though maybe he could get back into piloting planes? That had been nice, though maybe not anything commercial. Ugh, then he'd have to deal with the general public, yeeeesh.

Wait. Curly tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, he always could do those silly little private tour flights again, then he could also control who he let on his ship— plane, whatever.

Hell, he always did like planes, sure, flying in space was pretty damn cool, but Curly wasn't sure if he'd want to be leaving earth anytime soon. Besides, it would be nice to watch a proper sunset again, bloody beautiful sights they were.

~

Swansea glanced up from the game of chess him and Daisuke were in the midst of as the overhead speakers crackled to life. "Hello, hello, everyone! This is your incredibly handsome Captain speaking!"

"Never understood why he had to introduce himself when it's just us onboard," the mechanic muttered, looking back down to the board as he nudged one of his pieces to a new position.

Daisuke snorted, watching his move closely as the captain's voice continued.

"I just wanted to let you know that in the next half an hour or so, I'll be gettin' contact with the air control folks down below us on-planet! Cheers, eh? Ha! We'll most likely deal with quite a bit of turbulence as we get to the atmosphere so here's your head's up for all that. Captain Curly over and out!"

The speakers sputtered and shut off once more, Swansea focusing back in on this dumb game as Daisuke finally fucking made a move.

~

Anya yelped a bit as the ship began to shake, moving to sit down as she looked about worriedly. It took her a moment to remember what the captain had said over the intercom, the woman sighing out a breath. "Just re-entry," she muttered to herself, wincing as the ship shook a bit harder.

Anya tapped her fingers against her seat nervously. Oh goodness, she never was going to get used to this kind of turbulence, even if Curly was a reputable pilot or not. At the very least, it didn't last for too long.

She needed a drink after this, the woman letting out a soft laugh.

~

Curly blew a stand of hair back as he eased the ship down, muttering to himself as he worked. He still was quite pleased with himself with how easily he fell back into the grove of the whole landing ordeal.

"Bloody brilliant work," he mused to himself.

And despite all the nagging thoughts, all the anxieties churning through his stomach, every terrifying what-if, they landed without a single hitch.

The ship settled, Curly flicking off several switches before easing the engines off for good. A great tremor went through the ship before the ever present hum trailed into a barely present rumble and then a stark silence.

The blond stretched out his hands, flexing his fingers a moment before he clicked on the intercom once more, "Hello, hello!" He smiled as he spoke into the speaker, "Welcome back to Earth!"

He paused, clapping his hands and giving a happy little 'woooo!' Curly chuckled, leaning back in, "Ain't that something? I'll ask everyone to go on get your stuff ready for departure and I'll meet you lot at the doors! Bloody finally, right?"

"Captain Curly, over and out." He clicked the intercom off and stood to rejoin the crew, pausing to look about the cockpit one last time. The man gave a bittersweet smile, patting the doorway fondly. "You were a good ship."

He nodded once and left, clicking the lights off as he went.

~

Anya brushed off her skirt before grabbing her suitcase once more, looking over as Daisuke settled in besides her.

Her friend was wearing that age old hibiscus hawiian shirt of his with a tie-dyed shirt underneath it. He had one bag tucked under an arm and his backpack settled onto his back.

"Hey!" Daisuke chirped, nudging her excitedly, "I can't wait to be on solid dirt again, you know what I mean?"

She wrinkled her nose with a laugh, "Oh, for sure. Besides, we won't be stuck playing the same old games, oh! We need to play Jenga at some point!"

"You are so on," he beamed, adjusting himself before looking over at the sound of footsteps.

Curly beamed at them, waving as he adjusted his bags, Anya couldn't help but eye his outfit. Nothing like an unbuttoned hawiian shirt of his own covered in tiny birds overtop a black shirt that simply said 'Hewwo!'

She couldn't focus on a damn word him or Daisuke said, moving to adjust her glasses to make sure she was seeing that right. "Curly…"

"Wh—yeah?" He perked up, looking so damn happy with himself.

"…where did that shirt come from?"

The man peered at his hawiian shirt instead of the one she actually was wondering about before he nodded towards Daisuke. "I bought it at port so we could match."

"Mhm, mhm." Well. So he did just wear stuff like that while out in public then, oh goodness.

"Oh, hey, where's Swans?"

She opened her mouth to answer when Daisuke burst in with a smirk, "He's taking a massive old man shit."

"What the fuck, Daisuke," Anya turned to stare at the younger man as she made a face.

Curly stuck his tongue out, "Gross."

"Old people man, you should know all about it Curly!"

The blond stared over slowly before setting his bags down and giving a hum. "Imma give ya ten seconds to run."

Anya snorted as Daisuke hurried to drop his stuff and bolt the other way, Curly muttering numbers under his breath as he calmly set his own things down. Then he was casually walking after in the way the younger had run. She shook her head, looking over when she heard Swansea's voice.

"The fuck them two doing?"

"Idiot stuff, I see you're wearing that hat."

Swansea rolled his eyes. "And you're wearing those weird socks."

She glanced down at her bass fish socks before shrugging.

~

As usual, they had to wait for the doors to be opened for them before they left the ship. Something about how after landing, an exterior check was done over the ship before confirming the interior was stable (something about pressure and gravity?)

Curly could care less, he just took in a deep breath of fresh air as the doors were opened snd they were motioned off so they could be checked over by medical officers that had been waiting for their arrival.

The first thing he really took note of was the sunlight filtering through the cloud coverage overhead. The second was a group of birds flying against the blue sky, chirping and chittering as they flew by. He smiled, following the flock's motions as the medical officer tending to him checked his blood pressure.

Christ. They were actually here. Curly felt himself relax as he began looking around with more interest, chuckling as the medical officer spoke up with a dry hum. "Ya can do yer sight'seein' after I finish yer check, deal, Captain Grant?"

"Curly if you'd please," he nodded, "And of course, of course, thank you kindly."

The medical officer, who's name tag curiously just read 'Duck' of all things, continued their work with barely another word. Curly did his best not to squirm about until given his all clear.

All he could think then was how despite it all, they had made it. They had actually fucking made it.