Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ Got You ❯ Photograph ( Chapter 23 )

I do not own the characters of Cowboy Bebop. They are the property of Sunrise, Bones, and Bandai Visual (2001). They make the money, not me. Nor can I take credit for most of my chapter headings- they are the product of their authors. Sigh.

And now….

A little redecorating.

 

Chapter 23: Photograph (The Hanslick Rebellion)

 

Spike twitched at the girly giggling drifting in from the hall. He scowled when he heard Faye, “Go on. I'll bring the delivery in.”

“But he's sleeping.”

“He's been sleeping all day. Now go.”

“Spike person!” Ed chirped the moment she entered the doorway. He prepared when he heard flapping, bare feet. “SPIKE-PERRRRSON!” Ed squealed.

He grunted.

Her head tipped to the side and she frowned, “Was Spike-person sleeping?”

“Yeah, Ed. I was.”

“Oopsies.” She grinned, “You have a present! It's special. You have to sign for it. Come on. COME ON!” She grabbed his arm and tugged him to the hangar. Oblivious the pained expression, “Here. In here!” She dropped his limb and sighed, “Papa Jet said Edward was not allowed to stay. It's grown-up stuff.” She grinned at the scantily clad delivery man, “Bye cute leather man!” With Spike delivered and a wave, she scurried off.

 

Spike glared at the delivery boy in teeny, tiny leather shorts. He resisted the urge to step back when the man smiled sweetly and swayed over. The delivery man shifted, “Uh…” he glanced towards Faye's hiding spot, “I usually bring boxes to… uh… girls.” Faye stepped from the shadows, camera at the ready. She waited, smiling politely. With a sigh, the courier plastered a welcoming grin, “This is for you, from Faye.” He leaned over the box, now in Spike's hands and kissed the wary cowboy on the lips. The camera clicked, Jet dropped tools, the box dropped and the delivery boy scurried away.

Faye winked at Spike before she passed off a green money card. “Thanks,” she cooed, “He's been a little under the weather lately, I hope this compensates for your discomfort.” The kid nodded, with a genuine smile and accepted the tip. Faye ushered him to the door, spun on her heals and disappeared, giggling.

Jet glared at the box then Spike. His gaze flickered to the vibrating Ed near the hatch. “Open that where Ed won't see.” Spike scowled. Jet grinned, “Be rude not to, Faye went to all the trouble.” He resumed his tinkering, “Can't wait to see the pictures.”

Spike scooped the box up and left. He stepped around Ed and made his way to his room. He glanced in Faye's room. She was sitting on her bed cackling over the photos. Deciding she wasn't worth the energy at the moment he grumped to the safety of his space. With a scowl he sat studying the box. He'd shaken it- no results. Listened to the side- no ticking. Dropped it- nothing shattered. He even kicked it a few times, out of principle. Assuming it was safe he slit the tape with his pocket knife. Packing peanuts flooded into the room, a pink envelope lying innocently on the top. Opening the card he found a hastily scribbled note:

 

Spike,

Just thought you could use a little `pick-me-up'.

-Faye

 

 

“Faye!” More door banging. “FAYE!” What's he doing kicking the door?! “FAYE!!”

Jet glanced into the hallway, “What the hell?! After the second knock I'd think you'd realize she isn't in.”

Spike glanced at him before returning his displeased glare to the closed door. Just noticing the pictures of him being kissed taped all over the frame. He ripped one off, “Where is she?”

“How the hell should I know?” Jet crossed his arms. “I'm not her keeper.”

“Could've fooled me.” Still clutching the offensive box he spun in search of Ed.

 

“Ed…” she remained immobile. “Ed!” He tapped her with his foot, she twitched. “ED!”

Groggy, gold eyes blinked at him. She yawned, “Yessssss?”

“Where's Faye?”

“Edward does not know. Ed went to sleep after helping Faye redecorate the rooms. Isn't Faye-Faye sleeping?”

“No. Come on Ed, you always know where Faye's hiding.” She yawned again and shrugged, spooning back around the corgi.

Jet materialized behind him, “She's on the observation deck reading.” Not waiting for more, Spike stepped around the grinning man and headed for a confrontation over the proper way to spend his money. In other words: leave it ALONE.

Marching into the space he noted she was curled on a ledge, half asleep. Grinning he shouted, “FAYE! Get up!”

Startled she fell off the precarious perch. A pained yelp filled the space as Faye rolled from the damaged hand. Untangling from the spare blanket she glared at the intruder, hair mussed, eyes still glossy. “Yawn. What?!”

Spike upended a cardboard box and pointed, “What is this?”

She glanced at the disturbingly bizarre packages, “A joke?” Spike's eyes narrowed. “What?” She riffled through the peanuts and pulled out an order slip, “Just take them back with this and they'll refund you.”

“You used my money card?”

“Pff. You think I'd spend my money on crap like this?!” Spike remained silent. Faye's jaw dropped, “Holy cow! You do! You think I'd spend good, hard earned money on…” she grabbed a random package, “a blow up pig?!” She glanced at the package and giggled, “He oinks when you inflate him,” she read the heading, “or is it she?” She grabbed a few more toys laughing hysterically, “Did you see this one?!”

Spike suppressed a grin, “No.”

She found another package, ripping it open, “Here, it's candy!” She popped a penis gummy in her mouth. “It's cherry!”

“Not funny.”

“Bullshit. It's freakin' hysterical.” She licked another candy, rose and stuck it to his face. Giggling, “I'm glad I didn't pay attention to what I bought!!” She smiled and yawned, “Did you see the new decorations Ed and I put up?”

Spike scowled, he'd only seen her door, but now that he thought about it… “Spike!” Jet's voice boomed from somewhere outside, “Come get your sorry ass kiss off my walls.” The sound of papers being ripped drifted into the space, “I'm sure you're proud of yourself, but not all of us are into boy on boy action.” More ripping.

Faye rose and made a rather hasty retreat, “Have fun!”

Spike collected his box and its contents, threw it in Faye's room and began hunting for the hundreds of pictures Faye and Ed had plastered throughout the ship. He groaned; the girls had been busy.

 

Faye had just scurried past, so he waited for Spike to follow. Jet couldn't contain the smirk when Spike stormed by- he knew the cowboy had unfinished business and had every intention of seeing its completion, hence the speed he was ripping papers off the wall. He glanced at Ed who was sprawled across the floor. Jet studied her twitching, she wasn't asleep, the tell-tale smirk and snickers giving her away. They both stilled when a door opened and Faye yelped. Jet glanced at the teen, “How many images did you make, Ed?”

Gold eyes swiveled his direction, “Ummm…” she sat up and punched a few keys on her laptop, “4 of Spike with his box. 143 of the kiss,” Ed grinned, “and 1337 of this!” She spun the screen, showing Spike slumped over and snuggled with Faye on the couch.”

Jet scowled, “When'd you take this?”

“When Ed put a blanket on them,” she shrugged, “Faye and Spike didn't know Ed took this.” She grinned, “Faye-Faye said to print a lot of pictures. She didn't say what Ed should print up.” She grabbed the one of the two together, “Edward likes this one.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Spike-person looks happy.” She yawned and mimicked the current wall paper remover's method of avoiding conversation. Jet grinned, settled on the couch and lit a smoke.

 

An hour later the sound of shuffling and the rustle of papers drifted in from the hallway. Jet raised an eyebrow at the body in the doorway. “You get them all, Spike?”

“How many of these did she make?”
Ed mumbled, “1484 pictures total.”

Spike scowled and dropped his armful, “I'm not counting.”

Ed twitched and peeked at the pile, “That is not all of them. Spike missed those in the hangar, fridge and bathroom.”

“I checked the bathroom!”

“No. Ed was just there, you missed two.” She held up her fingers in a perfect `V'.

Spike scowled and drifted off to find the last several hundred missing images.

Jet chuckled, “How do you know he missed some?”

“Ed stuck a kissy picture under the toilet seat lid and one behind the mirror.” She peeked at the pile, “Lunkhead Spike doesn't have all the kissy pictures and only two of the box ones. Faye-Faye put them all over the…”

“ED! FAYE!! What the hell did you do to my ship?!?”

Ed snickered, “Faye-Faye is still a bit angry about being tied down.”

Jet snorted, “Don't blame her.” He rose to see what the problem was, just catching Faye's door locking as he passed he paused at the door, “I'll let Ed know you'll be sneaking out after Spike leaves the hangar.”

Faye chuckled, her voice muffled, “Ed already knows.”

 

Jet entered the hangar and froze. Staring in shock, Well, this whole charade began immaturely, I guess Faye decided to end it that way too. Spike materialized from the opposite side of Faye's ship, dropping the RedTail's fuel relay on the floor. Jet glared at him when he heard a loud crack. Glancing at the shattered part Spike grinned, “Gonna be hard for her to run away without that.”

Jet scowled, “Shit Spike. That's crossin' the line!” Spike's shoulder bounced, already clearing away the massive flyers. Lipstick, paint, what looked like shaving cream and wet toilet paper sticking to his person. Jet watched the activity, chuckling at the slight twitch every time Spike found another of Faye's hastily scribbled notes. He stilled when Jet stepped down the stairs, “Who printed up the pictures?”

Jet scowled, “Ed. Why?”

Spike just grinned and glanced at the beaming teen, “Funny kid.”

“Edward thought so,” she locked her hands behind her head, “Ed knew Spike was counting!” And scurried off to tell Faye how he was fairing.

“Game over, Spike. She won.” Jet grinned, “I'll have Faye come help you.” Spike shrugged and grimaced. Jet chuckled, “She left some interesting messages.” Spike's gaze flickered his way then back to his project. “She probably knows how to get that crap off in no time, Spike.” The cowboy jerked another offensive mass of paper off the wing obviously ignoring Jet's suggestion. He persisted, “Find me when you're done, we need to go over tomorrow's plan.” Spike's head bounced. With a sigh, Jet turned and disappeared. He thumped on Faye's door, “Faye!” Waited, hearing rustling, “Faye, open up.”

The door cracked, “What?”

“You need to go help Spike.”

She scowled, “Why?”

“You helped make the mess, help clean it up.” She frowned and slunk from the room. Ed appeared in the doorway,

“Ed helped Faye-Faye plan her costume.” She jiggled from foot to foot. “Ed thinks she knows why Spike got nervous about Faye's choice.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

 

Faye appeared in the hangar hatch. She scowled at Spike's labored attempts to clean off the Swordfish. She sighed and eased closer, grabbing the hose. “Move Lunkhead.” He glanced at her and continued yanking stuff off the craft. “Spike. Move or I'll do this with you in the way.” She turned the water on, letting it splash around her feet. With a dismissive shrug he continued, just catching her snort, “Warned you.” She purposely hit him first before moving to the body of the ship.

“What was that for?” The sopping cigarette falling to the floor with a soft splat.

She grinned and sang, “Just helping.”

“Pff… about as much help as tits on a boar.” He stepped back, letting her hose the largest amounts of paper onto the floor. “How's this supposed to get this crap off?”

Satisfied smirk, “I wash my make-up off, don't I? And TP on the ship is cheap and bio degradable. It breaks apart in enough liquid.” She shot a large clump with a jet of water, her eyebrow raising as it slowly disintegrated. “See? Now grab that bucket and the brush,” she flapped her hand towards the cleaning tools by the faucet. Doing as asked, he collected the supplies and made his way towards the lipstick smeared ship. She smiled, “Consider this my good deed for the week.” He scowled dropping the brush into the bucket. She slipped away with a sing song, “Have fun!” before he could retaliate. Spike watched her retreat, I really hate that expression.

 

Hiding from Spike, Faye begun sorting through the various gifts she'd bought, loving every minute. She was currently cackling over one of the farm yard creatures. Finished, Spike sloshed his way towards his room pausing at her doorway. He wasn't amused, but Faye seemed to be enjoying herself enough for everyone. He shook his head when she began blowing up the last of the various farm animals. She froze and spun at the masculine chuckle and 'Eeped'- Jet would have kittens over the mess of vibrators, dildos, misshapen farm blow-up dolls, and bizarre favors. She scurried towards the hatch and froze. Trying to decide whether to drag a dripping Spike in or push him out. Previous experience told her he'd expect her to push so she tugged roughly on his arm and clicked the door closed. Spike scowled, “What the hell?!”

She shrugged, “You seemed interested in what I was doing and I can't have Ed seeing this crap.”

Sensing something afoot, Spike eased towards the exit with a smirk, “You're not scared of Jet are you?”

Faye snorted, “Not really. I'm afraid of having to exlain to Ed what,” she scurried to an item on the floor flapped a box of flavored condoms at Spike, “these are?!”

Spike grinned, “Not my worry. She usually asks you those kinds of questions doesn't she?”

Faye smiled sweetly, “No, I usually play interference and stop her from asking you.” She tossed the box at his chest, “For some reason she thinks you know more about this stuff.”

Spike grinned, “Smart kid.”

“Fine. Next time she wants to know about something she sees diving I'll send her your way. Hmm…” she bounced a vibrator off her chin, “Last time she wanted to know what an Alaskan Firedragon was.”

She grinned at the slight paling of Spike's cheeks. “What'd you tell her?”

She dug out more obscene candy and popped one in her mouth, “I told her it's exactly what it sounds like. A fire breathing dragon from Alaska.” Faye scowled, “She didn't know what Alaska was though.”

“Huh?”

She shrugged, “What? You expect me to tell her the truth?” She grinned, “Next time I'll send her your way. It's a promise.” She began collecting his present and chuckled, “You know while you were recuperating she found an old stash of your rubbers hidden in the bathroom. Jet had a shit hemorrhage over the various condom animals all around the ship. He almost woke you up to explain why her balloons tasted funny.” Spike pulled a face. She snickered, “That was my good deed for the year! I told her they were special and used to collect specimens, not make shapes. That's why they were wrapped differently.” All secure she opened the door, “You're dripping.” With a soft push she removed his presence and secured the latch. With a scowl Spike hefted the toys and headed towards his room to deposit them under his bed, collect clothes and shower.