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Jimmy had been lingering outside her room at night. Anya knew it was him from the aside glances and smirks he’d give her the next morning. She’d tried to tell the captain about it but he’d mostly brushed her off. ‘Jimmy sleepwalks sometimes’ ‘Jimmy could just be getting up to do other things, Anya. Maybe you’re just looking too much into it?’
But Anya knew. Sooner or later the door would no longer protect him from his gaze, and something likely worse, because Pony Express didn’t put locks on the doors.
So when there was a knock on her door that night, soon after she’d crawled under the covers, she’d frozen up in fear and dread. Until she realized, Jimmy wouldn’t have knocked.
Her fears were further dispelled when the door opened only slightly, just enough for a whisper to travel into the room. “Anya? Are you awake?”
It was just Daisuke. Daisuke was safe. He was a former party girl, a sports star, and until this ship he would never be the type of person the bookish and nerdy Anya would naturally hang out with. But he was safe.
“Yes,” She responded, and the door was pushed open ever so slightly further for Daisuke to slip inside, closing the door behind him. “Do you need something from Medical?” That was the only explanation she had for him approaching her this late in the day. Because while their game nights were pleasant, and Daisuke would talk her ear off it she let him, as Jimmy constantly reminded her all the time, she was just the nurse.
Anya couldn’t see him well in the dimness, but she could still make out him dramatically waving his arms. He often ‘talked’ with his hands, emphasising his words that way. “No, no! I had, like, the craziest dream. Super scary! Jimmy crashed the ship and Curly looked worse than when my brother cooks and you…” Daisuke trailed off. “...so can I sleep here tonight?”
Having someone in bed with her once Jimmy started his nightly stalking would be a huge comfort, but she didn’t want to sound desperate. “Why me?”
“Well, we’re the only two girls here and it would be weird to crawl in with the boss when he still clearly hasn't read the file they gave him on me because he keeps calling me ‘boy’” Anya suspected she had been the only one on the ship to read that file. She had told Daisuke once that if he corrected Swansea on that, he might treat him better. Swansea had daughters after all. Daisuke had affirmed he wanted Swansea to treat him better just because he liked him, not because Daisuke was a girl. “So, please Anya?”
Daisuke was safe. Daisuke wouldn’t hurt her.
Anya pulled the cover off, “Come on, we only get five hours. Wasting that isn’t healthy.”
Daisuke practically left from the floor to her bed, pulling the covers over them both. “Awesome! It's like a sleepover. Only with less makeup and doing each others nails and weirdly philosophical questions at 3am”
Anya briefly wondered what kind of sleepovers Daisuke had been going to, before turning over and sighing softly. “Good night, Daisuke.”
“‘night, Anya.”
For a brief moment, or maybe even longer than that -it was hard to keep track of time in that space between waking and sleeping- Anya felt like she could sleep without worrying, because Daisuke was safe…
Daisuke moved before she did as her door opened, pulling her closer and resting his head in the crook of her neck while entangling their legs together, hand going to cup one of her breasts. She tried not to flinch at that, but the true intention behind it was clear. Anya kept her eyes closed and her breathing as steady as possible as footsteps came closer.
She felt a presence above her, something predatory, something deadly.
And then a quiet, raspy, annoyed ‘what the fuck?’ left Jimmy’s mouth and he was gone quicker than he came. Neither moved until the door had been slid shut once more, and seconds crawled by in tension. Daisuke’s hand left her chest, but neither felt ready to address what just happened, instead settling into a more natural embrace, even if neither slept for a while after that.
The looks Jimmy gave her in the mornings now were different.