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It was a cool, quiet night on the Tulpar (or at least, Daisuke assumed it was night. It would suck if they’d all totally screwed up their Cicada rhythms, or whatever it was called.) The engine hummed softly, and in the next room, Daisuke could hear Swansea’s snoring, just barely. If he craned his ears, he could hear the soft whoosh of their thrusters flying through space. It was peaceful. The perfect circumstances to drift off…
for everyone but Daisuke. He was staring directly at his ceiling, which was better than staring at his eyelids like he had been for the last hour. Every night had been like this lately. He used to do it when he was a kid, too. He’d get too excited, think too fast, and wouldn’t be able to sleep. He’d work himself up, and wouldn’t be able to come down until his body collapsed from exhaustion. It was a nightmare, because it meant he’d drag his feet the next day, and the cycle would start again.
Now, on the Tulpar, it’s the same. He wonders if maybe it’s the homesickness, or the change in surroundings, but whatever it is doesn’t matter. Daisuke cannot sleep, and if he doesn’t sleep, he’s gonna go all Jack Torrance on everyone. All work and no sleep makes Daisuke a cranky boy.
When he was a kid, his mom had started dosing him with Benadryl before bed, and that’d worked damn well. He thought for a long moment, then decided that if anyone on this ship would have Bennys, or something adjacent, would be Anya.
God, Anya was cool. Maybe Daisuke was just looking for an excuse to talk to her. He’d always gravitated towards girls when making friends growing up, and despite the fact he’d had a thriving friend group of other dudes by the time he’d dropped out of college, he still couldn’t help the fact he preferred befriending women. He wondered if maybe, it was because he grew up around only women. His mother, his auntie, his older sister, that might’ve been it.
Off topic! He was doing it again, he needed to sleep. The only person on this ship who could help him was only a few doors down. He rolled out of bed, mildly annoyed at the fact he was still practically bouncing with energy. The walk was quick, probably quicker than it generally would be if he didn’t have a specific goal in mind. Anya’s door was just a little ajar, and he could hear something from inside, so he knocked on the doorframe while he pushed the door open.
He froze.
When he was 11, his sister had come home trying not to cry. He’d not quite known what to do, he’d never seen her like that. His older sister was always put together, probably the most stable person he knew, and a straight A, 4.5 GPA student.
But, she had wobbled into the kitchen, gripped the kitchen island, and very visibly did not realize Daisuke was watching from the staircase before she began to sob. Deep sobs, that looked like they were being ripped out of her by a hook. Daisuke hadn’t known what to do, had never seen his sister even shed a tear. So, rather than sit idly by, he tumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen.
He’d said her name softly, trying not to scare her, but she had flinched like he hit her.
“Are you okay?”
“Go to your room, Dai.” She tried, but could barely get the words out before she crumpled into herself again. Daisuke floundered, what the heck was he supposed to do?!
“Do you want a hug?” He’d said, keeping his voice quiet again.
She looked at him, thick tears still rolling down her cheeks, and nodded.
She didn’t tell Daisuke what had happened that night. But, when the police had come to their house the next day and he’d been sent to his room, he pressed his ear against the vent that gave him a direct line into the living room and listened.
He didn’t know how to help after that. He didn’t know what to do with the blinding, all consuming rage that someone had hurt his sister in a way he didn’t totally understand yet. But he did his best.
That same blinding anger tore through his chest again. Jimmy was on top of Anya, key word was. He’d been kissing her, Anya had been crying, he’d been sticking his hand under her shirt, Anya had been telling him to stop , voice muffled by Jimmy’s mouth on hers . Anya had been trying to push him away, it seemed, because Jimmy had one of her hands pinned to the thin mattress.
He didn’t even think before he crossed the room and knocked Jimmy off of Anya’s bed. Daisuke was bigger than him. Even though he hadn’t been able to go to a proper gym since they’d gotten on the Tulpar, he was still bigger than Jimmy. Jimmy fought dirty, so Daisuke fought dirtier, yanking his hair as Jimmy’s hands went for Daisuke’s throat, Jimmy’s blunt nails tried to rake down Daisuke’s face, so he went for Jimmy’s nose. There was a thick crack and a howl of pain. Jimmy clawed harder, so Daisuke punched the same spot again.
He hadn’t gotten in a real fight before. He’d done hockey as a kid. Watching boys toss their gloves off just to beat each other harder, bloody noses, missing teeth, it had made his stomach churn.
He didn’t like fighting. But apparently, he liked hurting Jimmy.
It wasn’t until Daisuke was being yanked off of him that he realized Anya had gotten the others. He tried to shove off the person pulling him away, and Swansea’s voice reached his ears.
“Jesus Christ, kid! Calm down!” He barked, and Daisuke tried again to shove him away. Curly was crouched over Jimmy, who was cupping his hand under his nose, gushing blood. He was shouting at Daisuke, words slurred as he blathered out accusations. Anya stood a few feet away, fussing with her fingers. Her tear tracks were vivid in the now turned on lights. Daisuke took a few hard breaths, keeping his eyes locked on her.
“What the hell happened?” Curly asked, looking at Daisuke with pure shock. He clearly hadn’t expected this from Daisuke. Daisuke hadn’t expected this from himself either.
He flicked his eyes to Curly as he spoke, then back to Anya. He didn’t know what kind of response he wanted from her, but he didn’t want to speak before getting any kind of clearance from her. He didn’t know what she wanted him to say.
She chewed a bit on the inside of her cheek, before she spoke. Her voice wobbled as she explained, as it had every damn right to.
“I…” She started, fumbling for wording. Attempted rape was a rough thing to say, and she went for a softer verbage. “Jimmy tried to take advantage of me, while I was sleeping. I woke up with him on top of me, and a minute or two later, Daisuke found him.”
Swansea’s grip loosened, and Daisuke tore himself out of it. Curly’s mouth dropped open, and he turned to Jimmy, blinking.
“I-The kid- I was just fucking, walking in here, to talk to Anya, and-and he went psycho. She wanted it-”
Daisuke shoved himself up to go for more, but Curly’s hand planted on his chest stopped him before he could properly grab Jimmy by the shirt and go for another round.
“Daisuke.” He said, voice firm. “More violence isn’t necessary.”
Daisuke’s face, if it was even possible, went even more red hot in anger. “I-Curly, are you seriously-”
“I’m not taking his side.” Curly interrupted. “But I’m telling you right now, that you’ve done enough. You’ll do permanent damage if you don’t calm down.”
“I fucking hope he does do permanent damage.” Swansea said from behind Daisuke, voice shaking with unconcealed malice.
“Swansea..” Anya chided softly.
“Curly, he’s-he’s-” Daisuke spluttered, hand going up to- oh, shit, his face was bleeding- to run a hand through his hair. “Sorry, your co-pilot is a rapist, and you’re trying to keep him from- what, the consequences of his actions?!”
“No, Daisuke, I’m not. ” Curly’s voice was irritatingly stable. “But, you’re roughed up too. I don’t want you to get hurt, or receive criminal charges, because you caused permanent damage to a crew member.”
“Just-Just one more, Captain?” He said, not missing the way he sounded like a kid begging for five more minutes on his playstation.
“No.” Curly said firmly. Daisuke wilted in a way he was sure was visible. “Anya’s going to patch you up, I’m going to set Jimmy’s nose, and handle, ” he cut his eyes to Jimmy, who didn’t look guilty for the right reasons, “this situation.”
Daisuke sighed, but stepped away. He watched as Curly practically dragged Jimmy out of the room. Anya was walking his way in a second, eyebrows knit together in concern. “Oh, Daisuke , your face.” She murmured, dabbing at it with a bit of gauze she must’ve grabbed. Did she just have that on her at all times? “It might scar.”
“Are you okay?” Daisuke asked, frowning. “He didn’t- has he done that before…?”
Anya shook her head. “No, but I’ve…there’s always been…I don’t know. I’ve felt a good amount of nerves around him for a while. I just always chalked it up to my own anxiety.” She sighed.
“You could’ve said something.” Swansea said. He wasn’t kneeling next to Anya, and Daisuke internally chalked it up to the fact he was old as hell. “If not to Curly, then to me, or Daisuke, apparently.”
She sighed. “There’s always the nervousness, when you’re around men like Jim.” She pulled Daisuke up to his feet, still looking at him with concern. “But if I said something every time I was scared of a man for the same reasons…” Her face twisted.
“Oh.” Daisuke mumbled, holding the gauze to his face.
“We need to disinfect that. We don’t know what he had under his fingernails.” She explained, pulling Daisuke by his arm out of her room. Swansea lagged behind, and Daisuke could tell from the way he kept flexing his hands that he felt similarly about Jimmy as he did.
“I’m going to install a lock onto your door.” Swansea said with a degree of finality. “There’s some replacements for the cockpit’s lock somewhere, it’ll be on before you get back.” With that, he walked away. Probably, partially, to get rid of the enraged energy that was likely bouncing in his chest.
As Daisuke sat down in Anya’s little office, he watched her closely as she puttered about. Her hands were still shaking as she retrieved everything she needed.
“If he ever does anything even close to that again..” Daisuke started, before Anya looked over at him with pleading eyes, and he shut up.
“Why were you coming to my room, Daisuke?” She asked as she pulled the gauze away from Daisuke’s face, replacing it with antiseptic-soaked cotton.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Daisuke explained. “I was gonna ask you for Benadryl.”
Anya laughed, the sound delicate in the tension thick in the air of the Tulpar, shaking her head a little. “How about we start you on a low dosage of melatonin, before I start drugging you up.”
“Awww, why?” Daisuke whined, playing up the reaction more than a little. “C’mon, Anya, you’re a nurse! What else are you on this ship for, if not to give me any drugs I want?”
“Making sure you don’t die when you electrocute yourself?”
“It was one time- ”