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Daisuke often found himself infront of the large screen, sitting on a sofa and thinking. He had never liked being far from home, for any amount of time, but he knew that his mother had worked hard to find him this job. No way could he turn it down. Still, he tried to hide his discomfort from the rest of the crew. He had gotten quite close with the nervous nurse Anya, they often had game nights in the very area he was sitting in.
As for the rest of the crew, he wasn't too close with, not that he didn't like them. But there was quite a large age gap in between himself and the other men on board. Anya on the other hand, was only a few years older than himself, maybe that was why he was so fond of her. She was kind and understanding, and had a similar sense of humour to Daisuke himself.
Swansea was the ship's mechanic, and Daisuke, as his intern, spent a lot of his time with him. Although, the larger man intimidates him a lot. He still has a whole lot of admiration for him, after all, he is yet to fire Daisuke for all his fumbles and mistakes. And he always knows how to fix what has been broken, while also turning it into a lesson for his young intern.
The captain, Curly, almost always kept to himself. While he was clearly an extroverted, bubbly figure, he had the most work to do aboard the Tulpar. Daisuke also tried to stay out of his way, afraid of making a negative impression on him. Though Anya had told him many stories of Curly's kindness, he couldn't help but think that the captain disliked him, and he couldn't blame him. Daisuke was a very last minute add-on to the crew, so it was just more hassle for the captain looking after extra people.
Then there was the co-pilot, Jimmy. Daisuke couldn't lie, he got weird seriously weird vibes from this guy. While it could just be him overthinking and jumping to conclusions, he preferred to not find out. Though Curly seems to adore him, but Daisuke knows they've been friends since before being shipmates, thanks to Anya's superb reporting skills.
"You doing okay kid?" A rough voice behind him made him jump. He spun around and saw that it was his blond, curly haired captain. A smile on his face but concern in his blue eyes.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine". Daisuke huffed, clutching his chest. "But jeez man, don't scare me like that."
Curly chuckled, "Alright I'm sorry, just checking on you." He said, "You seemed to be staring off into space for a bit there kid."
"Oh uh, I've been told I do that a lot haha." He smiled nervously and turned back to the bright yellow sun on the screen. He knew that Curly was here to make sure he was alright, but damn was he scary.
"Can I sit? The Captain asked, moving around the sofa. Daisuke nodded his head, moving to the furthest right of the sofa. "The screens beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Daisuke answered.
"Ok, listen Daisuke I'm going to cut to the chase." Curly said, with a bit of a serious edge to his voice.
"Uh huh" Daisuke could feel his face heating up, and his palms getting sweaty. What had he done wrong?
Curly clearly noticed the young mans discomfort, because he quickly followed up with. "Just to be clear you're not in any sort of trouble, I just have to ask you something. And just know you're not required to answer it."
"Dude you're just psyching me out now." Daisuke dryly laughed, "Uh-what's the question?"
The blonde man readjusted how he was sitting, so that he was cross legged facing the brunette. "Uhm, so as you know, I'm the captain of this crew. And so, whenever new people join, I get given like their information and stuff." Curly explained, Daisuke nodded along, having no idea where this was going to go. "So, that would include basic things such as age, height.....and gender."
Daisuke froze, suddenly unable to hold eye contact. Fuck. He knew that on his Pony Express identification card it read 'female', but he hadn't thought that the fucking captain would get told that too.
"Shit." He eventually managed to get out. He felt like crying, what did this discovery mean for him? Would he get booted off the ship or something? His breathing sped up. God, of course the first time he speaks to the captain, it's because he found out that-
A large, comforting hand on his shoulder stabilised him, and brought him back to the present. He looked up and saw Curly's eyes, clouded with genuine concern. "Breathe."
Daisuke nodded and wiped his eyes hurriedly.
"Don't worry, you're safe here."
"I'm sorry." Daisuke sniffled. "I know you probably don't want some dumb tranny kid mucking about on your ship."
"Hey, don't say that, ever." Curly reprimanded, his tone still soft as ever. "You know, when you first got assigned to this mission, you really reminded me of me. I just couldn't work out why." He reached into his pocjet, pulling out his identification card. He looked at it for a moment before handing it to the younger man in front of him. "But now I know."
Daisuke took the card, giving the captain a confused look before examining it. Beside the photo of the grinning Curly, it had his details. And just like on Daisuke's card, beside gender it stated 'female'. His jaw went slack, what!?
"You-you're....what!?" Daisuke couldn't help but grin. "That's..wow. Dude I literally never would have known, holy moly."
Curly chuckled at his reaction, taking his card back. "Yup, even after twenty years of working with Pony Express, they haven't updated their files." Curly placed the laminated paper back into his pocket. "I guess I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone here. Hell, even Swanses couldn't give a fuck if you're trans. When I told him about myself he told me that he didn't care if I was a guy, a girl or a fucking unicorn. Just as long as I did my job right."
"That's so cool, dang." Daisuke was grinning from ear to ear, but suddenly, his smile faltered. "This might be an odd question, but have you had any of..uhh.."the surgeries" yet?"
"You don't have to feel awkward asking about this man. And yep, chest." Curly answered.
"Really? No way, that's so rad!" Daisuke beamed.
"Do you want to see?" Curly asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Is that okay?" The younger curiously asked. The blonde nodded. He unzipped his jumpsuit and lifted the front of his shirt, exposing his muscular torso. On his chest, on boths sides, were identical pink scars. "Wow..."
Curly fixed his clothing and smiled. "You're not alone here Daisuke, I know you probably feel like you are, but that feeling won't last forever. I swear by it."
Daisuke nodded but looked away glumly.
"What's eating at you kid?" Curly asked quietly.
"I...I dunno. I guess I just don't really like it here." He sounded almost like he was on the verge of tears as he curled his knees into his chest. "Not because anything bad has happened or anything, I'm just not used to being away from home. I miss my mom,"
"Yeah." Curly sympathised. "First missions are always difficult, especially the long periods without communication, but y'know, out here is like a whole new world. Away from the earthly problems. It's nice sometimes, I've gotten good at finding the bright side of these shitty situations."
"I guess that's why you're captain." The words left Daisuke's mouth before he realised how scornful they sounded.
"Daisuke, I'm not your enemy. I know I ain't the best at comforting people, but we at least got one thing in common. So if there is anything at all you think I can help you with, don't hesitate alright?"
Daisuke nodded and stood up. "I'm going to bed early cap'n, thank you and have a good night."
"Yeah, see you kid." Maybe life on the ship wouldnt be too bad for Daisuke after all.