Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Anya and Curly were sitting in the lounge room of the Tulpar together, chatting.
The large screen displayed a bright white moon with clouds and a dark sky that filled the room with a deep blue.
The moon hurt to look at, it being so bright, but it was peaceful.
Anya couldn’t sleep. Curly couldn’t either- but at least she already knew.
He’s an insomniac and takes medication for it.
A lot of the time, though, he’s working shifts too late and doesn’t come to the medical bay to collect it.
Might not even be by accident.

Anya started to tell Curly about the dead pixel.
“If you look really, really close, you can see that there’s a dead pixel in the upper right corner.” Anya muttered.
She looked up at the screen and at the dead pixel. It wasn’t obvious, not at all, but once you notice it, it’ll never go away.

“That so?” Curly replied.
His voice was nice to listen to. God, Anya. Don’t think in that way.
“Hmmm…”
Anya could see him squinting and trying to find the dead pixel.
“Nope, don’t see it.” He said at last, readjusting his position on the couch.

“In the back of my mind,” muttered Anya, “it’s always there.”

“Now I’ll go bonkers looking for it.” Curly remarked. “Cheers.”
Anya let out a small laugh. No, more of a giggle.
“I don’t think it ruins the illusion, though.” He added. “It’s peaceful… but maybe I’m just used to looking at the bigger picture.”
The bigger picture, Anya thought, makes sense.

“How many days of transport do we have left?” Inquired Anya, hugging her stomach subtly.
“Ah, let’s see…” Curly thought, “off the top of my head… around 237 days. Just under-”
“Eight months.” Anya interrupted.
Curly nodded.

“Hey,” Anya added. She quickly thought to herself about if she should ask him this, “why do you think Pony Express put a lock on the medical room door but not in the sleeping quarters?”
She looked away shyly.
“Ah, I suppose for the same reason they put a lock on the cockpit.” Curly replied.

“Safety.”

Anya felt a lump in her throat.
“Hm.” She nodded, a quiet cry and a wish that he would read between the lines.
They sat in silence for a moment.

“Is everything okay, Anya?” Asked Curly.
Anya turned her head to look at him. “Yeah, w-why?” Wow, real good lying.
“Did something happen?”
Anya froze. She wanted him to know, she needed him to know, so why was she so nervous?
“Uhm…”
“You know you can tell me anything, Anya.” Curly said, turning in his seat and looking at her.

She sighed and swallowed deeply.
“Two months ago…”
Curly looked at her earnestly.
Come on, Anya. Stop being such a wimp.
“There was an incident, and…” she struggled to get the words out,

“I’m pregnant.”

They both sat there in silence for a moment, looking at each other.
Anya could feel herself falling into Curly’s sky-blue gaze until he broke the silence.
“Who?”
She stuttered. “I- uhm- it was-”
Curly shook his head and put his hand over his face. “No, I’m sorry- you don’t have to tell me.”
Anya smiled and shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I will.”
She swallowed hard. She coughed. She was doing everything she could to put off saying his name for as long as possible.

“Jimmy.”

Curly was visibly shocked and upset. He stood up from his seat on the couch and walked to his room. Anya sighed and went to hers.
Curly needed time to process, and she respected that.
She took two whole months to tell him, after all.

What.
What the hell.
Curly paced around his room, repeating circles around the walls and furniture.
Jimmy had been his best friend since year 6. How could he do this? I know Jimmy, he would never do anything like that! I love him!

Sure, he’s done some illegal and ethically questionable things over the years, but he would never rape someone!
Yeah so he’s stolen some things from stores, he was always getting into fights in high school, he gets into fights now as well, but Curly bails him out of jail.
And sure he’s broken into Curly’s apartment many times and trashed it with alcohol and nudie magazines, and maybe he…

He did all that?

God damn it.
Jimmy sucks.
He’s done so much sketchy stuff and Curly never even saw it.
He bailed him out of jail.
Jail.
Jimmy was in jail regularly and Curly would get him out and go on to forgive him.

“Shit.” Curly whispered to himself.

He has to do something…
But not today.

Jimmy would freak out if he barged into his room right now, especially since he’s asleep.
Curly couldn’t trust Jimmy to be responsible anymore, he doesn’t know what would happen if he talked to him. Who knows what he would do?
Curly thought about it.
Got it. I won’t talk to Jimmy until tomorrow, when I’ll confront him when we’re in the cockpit. The cockpit, he could… no, he wouldn’t.
He wouldn’t do that.

Chapter Text

Anya was putting all of her clothes in a pile when Curly came in.
“Need some help with anything?” He offered.
Anya shook her head and smiled, looking up at him. “Thanks for this, Captain.”
He adjusted his stance awkwardly. “Well, no problem. It’s my job to make sure that my crew members are comfortable.”
She smiled again and looked down sheepishly. “Uh, I’m getting my clothes right now, all my other stuff is in that bag.” She tilted her head towards the black duffel bag sitting on her bed.

“I’ll take it if you want.” Curly suggested.
Anya let out a small giggle. “If I don’t let you do anything you’ll be annoying, so sure.”
Curly jokingly gasped and put his hand over his heart. “How… dare you?”
They laughed together.

Anya set her books down neatly on Curly’s bookshelf.
They had decided to move her into his quarters after what happened with Jimmy. She didn’t feel comfortable in her own room, and she knew that Curly would do anything for his crew to be happy.
“I think I’m all done.” She says, placing the last book between the others.
“I think so.” Curly replied. Anya turned around and he was standing behind her with his hands on his hips.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
Curly nodded and Anya grabbed her pyjamas as she headed to his bathroom.

Anya turned the shower knob and undressed while she waited for the water to warm up.
She tried not to look at herself in the mirror, all she could think of was bad memories.
Once the shower water was warm enough, she stepped in and started to squeeze the body wash onto her hands. She tried not to think as she scrubbed herself. She could still feel Jimmy’s hands on her and she now felt like she was trying to wash them off like she did so much that her skin turned red on the night it happened.

When Anya rubbed herself stomach, she thought. She had taken a pregnancy test a month ago when she missed her period. It was positive.
She felt sick thinking about giving birth to Jimmy’s baby. There was no safe way to perform an abortion and Anya was bound to give birth before the Tulpar made it back to Earth.

She pushed away the thoughts and washed her hair. She used shampoo, rinsed it and then conditioner.
Once she was done, she stepped out of the shower and dried herself. She put on her pyjamas and began putting on moisturiser- she had fairly delicate skin so she couldn’t do a very complicated routine.

Anya walked out of Curly’s bathroom and was greeted by him reading a book in his bed.
“Hey, Anya.” He said. “So, I was thinking, you could sleep on my bed.”
Anya nodded. “Where will you sleep?”
Curly thought for a moment. “Couch?” He said at last.
Anya shook her head. “Curly, you are not sleeping on the couch.”

Curly looked slightly shocked as he stared at her. “I just- I thought- you would want to sleep alone.” He muttered. “After what happened.”
“Curly, that couch is so small and the pillows are rock hard.” Anya began. “You can sleep in your bed too, it’s big enough for two people since a captain needs that for some reason.”
Curly chuckled and nodded. “Alright, as long as you’re 100% sure.”

Anya nodded. “One hundred percent.”

The night went smoothly.
Curly didn't move at all, and Anya took a while to adjust but once she was asleep she became a statue.
She felt comfortable, it was the first time in two months that she'd felt safe in bed.
She trusts Curly. She likes him.

Chapter Text

·:*¨༺ THE NEXT MORNING ༻¨*:·

Anya stood at the bench of the kitchen in the Tulpar. She was hydrating her breakfast when she saw Daisuke enter.
"Hi, Anya!" He greeted her, yawning.
"Morning, Daisuke." She replied. She had finished hydrating her tan-coloured slop and walked over to the dining table to eat.
"So, I saw you were sleeping in the captain's room." Daisuke started. "Were you..." he snuck a naughty smirk.
Anya blushed. "What? Daisuke, no!" she flailed about. "Don't be so crude."

He smiled and sighed. "Okay okay, sorry. Why were you in there, though?"
Anya froze.
"It's..." she stuttered, "it's a long story, and I don't really want to talk about it."
He nodded.
Daisuke loved to be in other people's business but he respected it when he could tell it was something serious.

Anya sat down at the table and stared at the goop in the container.
She sighed and took a bite. It was better than not eating at all. Pony Express really just doesn't care. Wouldn't taking the time to mash the food take longer than not mashing it? Or does it have to be mashed to be sent into space? The candy Daisuke snuck in is fine. Maybe it's because they dry it?
Anya was kicked out of her thoughts when Daisuke, Swansea and Curly sat down at the table, they were all chatting about what was happening recently, which was, as usual, absolutely nothing.

"How'd you sleep, Swansea?" She asked.
"Good." He replied. "Well, as good as it can get on a mattress made from cinderblocks."
Anya chuckled and continued eating.
Until the person she least hoped would walk in, walked in.

"Good morning, Jim." Curly muttered. He had a happy tone but was clearly lying.
"Morning." Jimmy replied dryly.
Anya avoided eye contact with him and pretended to be interested in her food. Wow, I can see two whole shades of tan in here. Wow, what? Is that... a speck of green? Pony Express, you shouldn't have! This is gourmet type stuff!
Curly, the captain, was at the head of the table, and Anya sat two seats away.
The only seat left for Jimmy was next to her.

He sighed as he sat down and Anya almost flinched when he put down his container aggressively.
He ate his food annoyingly loudly and she had to fight the urge to yell "Close your fucking mouth, Jimmy, you idiot, you gross, manipulative rapist, you dumb fu-"
Yeah, let's not do that.
Anya finished her food, put the plastic container in the trash chute and headed to the med bay to read medical books for the next three hours, as usual.

Chapter Text

Anya was sitting at her desk in the med bay, reading a book about maternity. Good thing I had this, She thought.
Anya heard the door open and quickly slid the book under the desk, onto her lap. "Come in?"
"Hey, Anya!" It was Daisuke, smiling and walking in. Phew. Anya had been paranoid for months, ever since what happened.
"Hey, Daisuke!" She greeted him, "Do you need anything?"
He shook his head. "No, I'm not hurt, I was gonna ask if you wanted to join game night! We're playing Uno."
Anya stood up. "Sure, I've got nothing to do anyway."
They began to walk out into the hallway together.

"So, who else is playing?" Inquired Anya.
"Oh, Swansea, Curly's coming in a second," he replied, "oh, and Jimmy. So, the whole crew."
Anya froze internally.
After the incident, she hadn't been interacting with Jimmy any more or any less than before, but she definitely wanted to be around him less. She found that he had been making more sexual comments on her.
"Cool!" She lied. "The whole crew's playing."
"Yeah! It's gonna be totes fun!"

Anya sat down on the couch and Daisuke crouched on the other side of the table. He began sorting out five sets of cards as they waited for everybody to arrive.
Swansea was already sitting with them, then Curly came and sat down next to Anya. She gave him an awkward smile.
Finally, Jimmy came.
"Sorry I took a second." He announced.
Not gonna say why? Sure, then.
Jimmy sat down next to Anya, she was now between him and Curly.
She flinched.

Everybody picked up their cards and began playing.
Daisuke won first, as usual.
Jimmy won the second round, and Daisuke again for the third.
"Daisuke, you have to be cheating!" Yelled Anya.
"How do you cheat at Uno?"
"Shoved the cards up your ass." Swansea interrupted.
The group argued playfully until everybody got bored.

"Should we play a different game now?" Asked Daisuke.
"There's nothing in our path, so I'm free for a game." Said Curly.
"Yeah," interrupted Jimmy, "we don't need to do any flying at the moment, so we can play."
Anya and everyone else could tell that he was just butting in because he wanted to be included.
Because he thinks he's the fucking main character.

The group played a couple rounds of charades until it was time to go to bed.
Pony Express made sure that their employees had only 5 hours of sleep a night. There was a designated schedule, but it's fine as long as you stay close enough to the planned hours.
It's not like Pony Express will notice that their nurse is getting 3 more hours of sleep than she's meant to.