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It was a quiet day on the Bebop and all of her crewmembers were relaxing in one way or another. Faye was soaking in the bathtub, Jet and Spike were in the main room, and Ed had been missing for most of the day, not a single trace of her to be found anywhere. Ein was missing as well, so the adults just assumed that he was off getting into mischief with Ed.
Jet had been looking up active bounties for the past hour and while Spike enjoyed down time, he was starting to get bored. He waited until Jet sat back to rub a hand over his face to flop over into his lap, looking up at him expectantly.
“Can I help you with something?” Jet asked, chuckling when Spike squirmed to get more comfortable.
“I’m bored.”
Jet resumed his reading by reaching over Spike, looking quite bored himself.
“Go find something to do then. Some of us are trying to work.”
Spike sighed and slumped even more, his lanky legs dangling over the arm of the couch and his arms crossed over his chest. A few minutes went by, during which Spike’s eyes closed, and Jet looked down at him with a smile. He began threading his fingers through Spike’s fluffy hair as he worked, and eventually he heard Spike start to hum happily every now and again, which was as close to purring as a human could get.
Spike loved the feeling of fingers gently massaging his scalp or running through his hair, and Jet’s metal fingers always felt the best. They never absorbed heat so they were always cool, and since today the ship seemed a little warmer than usual (that plus the fact that Ed was missing was something Spike was trying not to think about), they felt even better than usual.
Spike felt Jet’s chuckle rumble in his belly against his ear and smiled. With a little more squirming around, he rolled over on his stomach and put his arms under his head, sighing happily.
“Now do that thing on my back…” He mumbled, feeling Jet sigh.
“I’m trying to work here.” Jet said.
“Come on, just for a little bit.” The younger man replied, squirming again.
Jet rolled his eyes but began petting his hand down Spike’s back, feeling all the dips in his spine and the muscles that were always hidden under his suit jacket. Then he started scratching little circles up the length of his back. Spike melted with a happy little moan as a big smile spread across his face.
“You are so spoiled, you know that?” Jet mumbled. Spike’s smile stayed where it was as he stretched his legs a bit.
“Yeah…” He replied. “But you’re the one who spoils me, so whose fault is it really?”
Jet didn’t answer him, just shaking his head with a sappy smile and resuming his gentle scratching, using his free hand to continue looking for active bounties.
Faye came into the room a little while later, rubbing her hair with a towel and her book in her hand. At this point, she was used to Spike and Jet cuddling on the couch, but they hadn’t had a score in a while, so did they really need to be lazing around? She snorted at them.
“Shouldn’t you two be working?” She said as she sat across from them, putting her feet up on the table. Jet looked at her over the top of his screen.
“I am working.” Jet said flatly. “In fact I found us a fresh bounty while you were soaking in the tub.”
Faye raised an eyebrow and looked at Spike, who was still lying there with his eyes closed, humming as Jet scratched his back.
“And your giant cat there… Has he been doing any work, or has he been slacking off?”
Spike cracked open an eye and smiled at her.
“You’re just jealous, Faye.” He drawled before closing his eyes again. “It’s okay, you can be jealous. Jet is great with his hands.”
Jet and Faye both sputtered and Faye got up, slinging her towel over her shoulder and putting her headband on with a huff.
“Sappy, love struck, good for nothing—give me that bounty information. I’ll go get the low life myself.”
Jet wrote down the information and held it out to Faye, chuckling when she snatched it from his hand and turned on her heel, making to strut out of the room. Spike chose that moment to sit up a bit, bumping Jet’s hand away from the screen.
“Hey,” he said, making Faye stop and turn around, hand on her hip. “Take Ed with you if you can find her. She’s been missing all day and I don’t want to know what she’s been doing.”
Faye gave him a little pout but sighed.
“Fine, I’ll see if I can find her. Don’t see why I’m doing you any favors…” She mumbled, starting off down the hallway in search of the hacker.
“See you when you get back!” Jet called, chuckling at the snippy ‘yeah yeah’ that echoed back down the hall.
Spike settled back down into Jet’s lap with another low hum, scooting closer with a sigh.
“Thought she’d never leave.” He mumbled.
Jet stopped his mindless scratching to look down at his partner, raising an eyebrow.
“She was only in here for two minutes, Spike.”
“Yeah, and that was enough.”
Another chuckle and Jet ruffled his fingers in Spike’s hair, making the other man turn back over on his back.
“Spoiled rotten.” Jet said with a shake of his head. Spike reached up and ran his fingers along the line of Jet’s jaw through his beard, cocking his head a bit.
“Because of you.” He said.
Jet leaned down and kissed him, feeling Spike’s hand on his cheek and kissing him for just a bit longer, before pulling back with a smile.
“Yeah yeah because of me, I know. You remind me all the time.”
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It was much later when Faye returned with Ed behind her. Spike was still lounging in Jet’s lap, smoking a cigarette when the two girls came into the main room. He raised an eyebrow at all the bags they were carrying and sat up.
“What’s all that?” He asked, getting Jet’s attention as well. Faye pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head with a smile.
“Ed and I picked up some things while we were out.” She said casually, walking into the main room and putting the bags down next to the table. Ed followed her happily, dropping her own bags next to Faye’s and plopping down on the floor, flipping her goggles up on her head.
“What kind of things?” Jet said slowly.
Faye sat down in the chair in front of the table and kicked her feet up again, looking all kinds of comfortable and suspicious.
“Just some things I needed. I don’t see why it’s any of your business—hey!” She sat up when Spike grabbed one of her bags and rifled through it, pulling out some shirts.
“Clothes, Faye? You went out and did some shopping?” Spike yelled, rounding on her. “Did you even get the bounty?”
Faye blinked at him innocently.
“What bounty?”
“The one you asked about.” Jet clarified. “The one I gave you the info about. The one you said you were gonna go out and get yourself.”
“Oh did I say that?” Faye drawled with a sly smile. “I must have just been saying things. Anything to get you two to stop being so sickeningly domestic.” She sneered.
“Purposely not getting the bounty just to get back at us is such a childish thing to do.” Spike snapped as he started gathering his things and preparing to go out.
“Dammit, Faye.”
“Dammit, Spike.” Faye mimicked back, crossing her arms with a huff. “It was my money anyway. It’s not like I spent yours.”
Spike grumbled at her as he walked past, jerking his jacket on as he stalked out the door. A few seconds later, his head reappeared in the doorframe.
“By the way, I’m glad it was your money, because Ed already found a new project to work on, so that’s your money lost, not mine.”
As soon as he left, Faye looked down at the other girl and shrieked. Ed had found a pair of scissors and some needle and thread, and had spent the last few minutes cutting some of the clothes up, and then sewing them back together to form hand puppets.
She held one up in Faye’s face and made it talk.
“That’s your money lost, not mine.” The puppet said in a mock deep voice. Faye groaned and sunk down in her seat as Jet laughed.