Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ Under Pressure ❯ Ch. 8: Longview ( Chapter 8 )

Sadly, 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 my chapter headings- they are the product of their authors.

 

Chapter 8: Longview (Green Day)

 

Faye glanced at Spike's slumped form on the couch. Sighing she made her way to the hangar. Pausing at the grumble of her name. She huffed before returning to the lounge. She glared at the clunky shoe draped over the yellow armrest. “What?”
“Pick up dinner on the way back.”

She snorted, “Why? There's food in the kitchen, get off your ass and make something.”

He sat up, grinning at the soft dusting that grew across Faye's features as his eyes roamed her form. She shifted slightly when he focused on her face. “Do you really want PB and J for dinner again?”

Huff, “Fine. I'm off just after seven, call in the order and I'll pick it up.”

He nodded, satisfied he wouldn't have to get creative with the groceries on hand. Pleased and grinning over the easy win, he gave her the directions to the small take-out restaurant and settled into a comfortable sprawl. At least he had one thing to look forward to, there was nothing like Sid's.

 

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Jet cursed. Ed was up, chipper and far too concerned with contacting Faye. She'd gotten a hold of someone named Nandi over Tomato, giggled, babbled as she typed that: “Nandi-lady made a good plan. Toys weren't working so she thought big. He he, Nandi-lady is a genius.” She froze when Jet grumbled into the main room of their little rented flat.

“Who you talkin' too Ed?”

She blinked, “Ed wants to call Faye-Faye.” She blasted past him, snagged his comm and disappeared into the bathroom. The click of the lock signifying she did not wish to be disturbed. He glared at the blockade, tired of all Ed's secrets; Spike and Faye's were bad enough.

 

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Spike twitched at the soft chirping. Comfortable, he tried to ignore the incessant beeping. It continued, grumbling over the caller's persistence he answered with a repressed snarl. “Wh't!?” more a garbled protest than an actual word.

Ed blinked, “Where's Faye?”

“Work.”

“Oh,” her brows met, “But today isn't Faye-Faye's work day.”

“Well she's workin'.”

Frown, “Does Spike think he could help Edward?”

Scowl, “Depends.”

“On?”

“On what you want help with? If it's that boy you've been hangin' with no can do.”

“Hey!” She began to pout, “Faye would help Ed.”

Spike's eyes glanced at his toes then back to the upset teen, “Do I look like Faye?”

She shifted gears, “Has Spike found the movies Ed left for you?”

“What movies?”

She grinned, “Ed found some more shows like Spike-person watched while he was getting better. Papa Jet thought you'd like to watch them while you were alone.” Her eyebrows wiggled in a highly disturbing way. She stopped at his uncomfortable shift, eyes narrowing, “Perhaps Spike is afraid to watch what Ed found.” Grin, “Not as good as Faye-Faye's bath, hmm?”

“Not afraid kid, just not in the mood to watch some bizarrely drawn caricatures get busy.”

“Spike did not mind them when he was a mummy.”

“I was on some pretty decent shit at the time. I probably would've enjoyed the shopping network.”

She shook her head, “No. Ed tried the home shopping channel, Spike person said it was boring and to find him something with action.” Grin, “Ed was not sure what action Spike wanted so she found a variety.” Snicker, “Spike liked the grownup action ones Papa Jet grounded Ed from Tomato for watching.” Her head waggled, “It was the first sign of Spike's true pervert nature. Sad really.”

“What do you want Ed?”

Blink, “Ed said she wanted Faye. Spike-person said he would not help Ed with,” She blushed, a small sigh escaping, “James.”

“Errr… so the punk has a name?”

“Yes.” She began educating Spike on how much fun her new beau was. The number of rides he'd taken her on, how he'd bought her a soda and won her a cute teddy bear. Every squishy, disgustingly sweet incident that occurred the day before; the cherry on the top was her girlish squeal at the fact James had held her hand to help her out of the roller coaster. She grinned, “Ed wants to thank Faye for helping her look a little more girly.”

Spike scowled at the teen, she did look disturbingly feminine. He squinted at the small screen, “Are you wearing makeup?”

Head bounce.

“What the hell'd you do to your hair?”

Frown, “Ed combed it and used some goop.” She fluffed it with her fingers, “Ed's pretty.”

An eyebrow rose, “Sorry kid, I'm not a judge of teenage fads.”

“James likes Ed,” she cooed before disconnecting.

 

 

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The shop had been busy. Nandi's attempt to sell to June spouses a popular concept. The spring marital celebrants came in droves to buy up all the love potions and toys. Faye grinned at the amount she'd earned in commissions as she stepped into the small eatery.

“Sid welcome's you!” Greeted a grizzled man from behind the counter, “You pick up order or need make one?”

Faye frowned, “Uh… Called in.”

“Name?”

“Spike?”

He turned, screaming something foreign through the small window. A negative response answered.

“No. No order Spike.”

“Faye then?”

More indecipherable screaming.

“No.”

She shifted, “The guy I live with ordered for us, can you just tell me the names…”

A woman from the back gasped and stormed from the kitchen, “WHORE!”

“Ex…excuse me?”

“You work in evil shop.” A wooden spoon swung under her nose, “WHORE!”

Faye held her hands up in a placating manner, “Look, all I want is to get my food and leave.”

The spoon whipped under her nose again. “Evil woman. Look at clothes.” The spoon swept towards Faye's skirt, “Lots of leg. Not a nice girl. WHORE!”

Faye blinked, unsure what to do.

The man stepped close and passed off a menu, “Ignore Mama. She do not like my sister's shop.”

“Why?”

A bushy eyebrow rose, “Hurry an' pick your food an' go away.”

Faye snatched the proffered cardboard, furious. “Spike said you guys were really good.”

The old woman inched closer, her spoon hand dropped to her hip. “This Spike, he Spike Spiegel?”

“Yeah,” she rolled her eyes, How many Spikes could there be?! Biting her tongue she smiled politely with a nod, “He was supposed to call in our order.”

The old man smiled, “Spike is good customer. Tall and skinny, yes?”

Nod.

He took the menu back, “No need to look, we remember what he likes.”

Scowl, “Uh… ok. Um… just double it then.”

The woman gave Faye a serious, soul searing once over. “If you Spike's friend you not a whore, but not good woman.” Scowl, the spoon reappearing, “Stay away from my boy!”

Faye's hands went up in defense yet again, “I don't even know your boy.”

The man bounced his head at a drooling teen wiping tables.

Faye gave an emphatic nod, “You've got my word, lady.”

“Good.” Satisfied the rotund hausfrau waddled back into her realm of bubbling pots and sauces.

 

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Showered, half dressed and very bored Spike plodded his way to the lounge. Collapsing on the sofa he kicked the view screen on with his toe and hoped to be numbed into a state of dulled, nothingness. Remembering Ed's little announcement from earlier he flipped to the video menu and grinned at the familiar flick. It had been one of his favorites while he recuperated. Chuckle, there was nothin' like gratuitous sex to help brighten an otherwise wasted day. Finding a comfortable position he flipped it on and settled in for a lazy afternoon of humorous, porn perusal. Grinning that with only the dog for company, it was a nice change of pace. The smile soon faded as he watched the female lead- this was not the same show and there was something familiar about her, disturbingly so.

Deciding it wasn't too bad and quite secure in the fact Faye wasn't due home for an hour. He grew blissfully comfortable as he relaxed to enjoy his unsavory entertainment. He chose to ignore the fact the woman on screen currently getting manhandled by a man in an ugly grey suit looked a lot like the focal point of most his issues over the past month. The actress moaned loudly, causing the cowboy to shift into a more accessible sprawl.

 

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Crawling from her ship was quite the hassle. It had taken Sid and his vicious wife over an hour to complete Spike's usual order. Granted, the food smelled great but the six bags of steaming whatever Sid cooked, plus her work swag was a bit cumbersome. Grumping, she staggered up the stairs, through the hatch and into the kitchen. Bags on the counter she huffed off to: one, throw her sauce covered blouse in the sink; two, scream at Spike until he was deaf for wasting her time getting his sorry butt food; and three, taking a nice hot bath to remove all the work stress that seemed centered on the third vertebrae of her neck. Hearing noise in the lounge she rounded the corner and froze, a scarlet tint quickly rising to her cheeks. The video had run its course, snow now filling the screen.

Otherwise occupied, Spike was oblivious to the soft thrum of static.

His eyes were closed, a light sheen of sweat coating his shoulders and chest. Faye started when he mumbled. Realizing she was staring and at what, she rushed back to the hangar and tried to get her bearings. She fanned her face nervously, Was Spike just… Did he just say… Holy Shit! She pranced nervously to and fro before perching on the stairs, she needed a moment to collect herself. She hadn't expected to ever witness that. All the strange noises through the wall making sense. The blush grew, she hadn't misheard. Oh crap! The blush grew. She flopped back against the cold metal, she could barely handle him potentially witnessing her bath, but there was no question what she'd seen. She took another deep breath and eyed the RedTail. Hiding wouldn't work- he'd figure it out eventually. Settled on letting the cowboy think she was ignorant she stood and gave a nervous stretch. Deciding to make do with somewhat composed, she slammed the hatch home, announcing loudly, “Lunkhead, I'm home!” She stomped into the kitchen and shuffled the bags violently, “I got the food! You could've called it in idiot. I was attacked by the owner, did you know he was related to my boss at H.M.? His wife nearly beat me with a spoon. Crazy lady called me…” She continued to babble as she banged down the hall, forcing her brain to turn off what she'd seen. At the doorway she cleared her throat, her attempts to forget failing, epically. Trying hard to ignore Spike's new position, she glared at the far wall. He appeared to be napping on the couch, several tissues littering the floor.

 

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Spike was just finishing when he heard the hatch bang. Panicked, he cleaned up his `mess', threw a blanket over himself and pretended to be sleeping. Internally hoping she wouldn't notice he was sweaty or the tissues littering the carpet, and check him for a temperature. She had a tendency to fuss more about his health since she'd drug him back from that hellish hospital on Mars. Instead she hovered in the doorway, shifting as though she wished to be far, far away. “Uh… Food's on the counter.”

He yawned and pretended to stretch, the blanket slipping off his chest.

Flustered, the blush grew as Faye back pedaled into the hallway. Intent on collecting some dinner and hiding out, “Get it while it's hot.”

Scowling at her continually goofy behavior he scratched his stomach and puttered towards the take-out. Faye scurrying past with a plateful. He studied the cooling boxes, from the heat on the counter they'd been sitting there for quite a bit. Brown eyes snapped to the doorway. Curious, he slumped off to the hangar to check on the ship.

Yup, the RedTail was cool which meant Faye had been home for quite a while. His face scrunched in contemplation. Did she… he shook his head, hoping that perhaps she had just gotten distracted on her way to the kitchen. Probably tripped over Ein. He caught the sight of her work shirt soaking, Oh. She rinsed her clothes, that makes sense. Satisfied with his reasoning he clung to it and made his way back to collect some kabobs, rice and flat bread.