Still, Jet felt a guilty pang as he stood at the bathroom door while Ray was lifted butt naked into the cool air. A mighty wail soared from his lungs to further fill the chaos of the echoed room.
"Spike! He's cold!"
"You told me to pick him up-"
Spike and Faye were attempting to give Ray his first bath at home.
"Not all the way out of water, look he's shivering!"
"Would you stop yelling at me and just do what you have to do? Hurry up!"
With a grunt and shoving of things, Faye attempted to replace the water in the little tub. Apparently, it grew cold during the prolonged prepping.
"Ah- shit!" Spike suddenly cursed.
Faye jumped back with a yelp as she witnessed, with shock, Ray pee directly onto Spike's clothed chest.
"Ew...He's peeing in you!"
"YEAH. I can see that Faye. Would you do something about it?!" Spike was tense with disgust. He attempted to hold the baby further away from himself, but the pee only went further up his torso.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Take him!"
"No! So he can pee on me? Let him finish."
"What?!"
Jet burst out with laughter, unbeknownst to either of them.
They have to learn...right?
...
I said this story should find y'all in summer, but like I'm a liar so I meant fall...😁 honestly it's not as far along as I'd like, but I have no need to rush it, so I'm going to start posting this month yeeee. My goal was to post chapter 1 on my birthday, Sep. 17, but I'll be out of town so expect it the week of-ish~
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Notes: Also on Fanfiction.net !
I'm so excited to finally get the ball rolling on this!! Several chapters are in the making, but I work sporadically so none are fully complete lol. You can probably expect quick-ish updates at first. My dream is to write a whole story and then release it in a perfect schedule once it's complete, but I'm never able to do that 😂
Those of you who do, you are AWESOME.
I wanna talk about part I for a sec. I'm slowly going to give it a re-write (or revision might be the better word). I really appreciate those of you who enjoyed it as is, but there are certain things I was not fully satisfied with, so I wanna improve it. Not necessarily change it, mostly just fix/expand upon certain areas of the story. It won't be going anywhere though (:
Edward was the only member of their crew who enjoyed when Spike arrived back at the ship injured or after too much drinking.
He slept so deep on those nights; nothing could wake him up. She used it as the opportunity to make him her living canvas.
Whether it be on his bandages or exposed skin, Edward was fond of drawing funny creatures all over him. When he awoke he didn’t complain, only examined the drawings, examined her and griped to himself on his way to the bathroom.
Faye was much different. Edward had to be sure she out of the room before Faye could wake up or there would be a chase and throwing of things. Though being chased by Faye could be a fun game on its own. At some point, Edward realized it was much safer to draw on her face so that it would take longer for her to notice anything. Spike and Jet willfully played along too, not telling Faye when she had a mustache or unibrow across her face.
While Jet was a heavy sleeper himself, Edward never had the chance to draw on him. He didn’t sleep out in the open and kept his room on lockdown at all times. Technically, the girl could simply hack his access codes, but the effort often outweighed her desire.
Of course, when she saw him crashed out on the sofa of his bonsai room, she couldn’t resist the sudden urge. His metal arm called out to her like no other canvas had. There was only one problem.
“No pen…” she muttered with disappointment. Faye had secretly confiscated it days ago. Suddenly, she behind her with folded arms and a jutted hip.
“No pen for what?”
She followed Edward’s gaze, and for a moment was ready to reprimand the girl until a mischievous thought entered her mind. She grinned down to the teenager, “you know what Ed? I think I have something better.”
Fifteen minutes later Spike found himself treading past the room. When he caught a glimpse, he stepped backwards just to confirm what he thought he saw. Faye and Edward towered over his poor comrade with colorful markers. His metal arm was full of hearts and smiley faces and Faye was in the process of drawing flowers on his cheeks.
They caught his eye.
“Those are permanent,” he quietly observed.
Faye looked down at her marker and back at him, “yeah I know.”
“You’re terrible.”
Faye grinned in her typical wily manner, “yeah, I know.”
“then Jet person can be pretty forever,” Edward whispered.
Spike sighed and slumped his head. “Least give the guy a spaceship or something,” he mumbled and was off.
Edward looked up at Faye, “why a spaceship when we can do bonsai!” she called out with far too much excitement.
Faye quickly shushed her and both of them froze as Jet stirred.
“Alright, time for a little disappearing act Ed.” Edward giggled as Faye roughly pulled her away.
Minutes later the ship’s metal walls echoed with Jet’s cries of despair.
[Part of a new series posted on A03 & Fanfiction.net - Song]
Andromeda's a big, wide open galaxy
Nothing in it for me except a heart that's lazy
Running from my own life now
I'm really turning some time
Looking up to the sky for something I may never find
Jet wasn't the only one on the ship who enjoyed a nice tune now and then. Faye enjoyed her music as well. Pop, jazz, R&B, it didn't really matter as long as it spoke to her in some way.
Everyone had their own thing. Spike ran through his Jeet Kune Do routines, Ed played on her tomato or went wondering about with Ein, and Jet trimmed his precious bonsai.
Everyone probably thought Faye found her comfort in the mundane things like her baths or doing nails. They weren't completely wrong, however, music was one of her true comforts. And no one knew it, her private little secret.
Since before she ever joined the Bebop, Faye fancied an aimless drift through space where she could blast her music so loud and no one could hear it. She would sit, close her eyes, and imagine being somewhere different, being someone different. Something about the solitude was nice, but when the songs were over she was only reminded that there was no one there to listen with her.
After Faye joined the Bebop, she would sneak out of her room in the middle of the night and hop into her Redtail's cockpit. In those times, she listened quietly. She found it was more calming that way.
It was after their run in with Vincent that Spike discovered this. For whatever reason, he stood there that night and watched as she sat, light faintly cast over her features, with a tune muffled behind the Redtail's rounded glass doors.
He wondered what could make her look so peaceful, but really sad too. He had never seen her that way before. There was something unfortunately captivating about it.
After that, he would hear her go out almost every night, but never followed again.
Then sometime later, at the beginning of what could maybe be called them, he felt a dip in the bed disappear. It was the first time she stayed.
He knew where she was off to, and temptation got the best of him.
The music was louder than he remembered and he realized her ship door was slightly ajar. He realized she sang along to the smooth voice, but he also noticed a shakiness in her tone.
She was crying.
Without much thought and still half asleep, Spike walked up to the cockpit and opened her door all the way.
With a genuine gasp of surprise, Faye stared at him for a long moment, without any movement or words. Her eyes were red and watery, and a single tear fell along her cheek, as if in slow motion.
"Yo," was all he could offer up as he realized his intrusion.
Instead of being angry with him, Faye sighed and answered him with a tired voice.
"Hey," she moved forward to turn off the music.
"You're not asleep."
"No, I'm not."
He ran a hand through his hair, "sorry I didn't mean to stop you."
Faye laughed, he gazed at her with confusion.
"You didn't mean to stop me from wallowing in my self-pity?"
Spike was still confused.
He didn't like when he couldn't read her well, but maybe it was the sleep.
"What was that?" he finally asked, with a gesture to the radio.
"A song…I, well I remembered something…"
He didn't say anything, just continued to awkwardly stand at the door of her cockpit.
"I've been singing this tune in my head for weeks and I finally remembered the name. My mother used to love this song, she played it in the evenings with her glass of wine, always with that red wine…she'd let me sit there and watch her tipsily dance barefoot on that shag carpet- I hated that carpet."
Her voice sounded so far away, he wanted to bring her back.
"Can I hear it?"
Her surprise at his request was visible for only a moment, then she was eased.
"Sure," she answered.
He scooped himself into the cockpit and they casually shared the single seat. He closed the door, it was just the two of them in the dark, illuminated only by the board system.
Faye reached forward to play the song again, they listened.
Time passed in silent appreciation as the music flowed in the round.
"It's a nice song," Spike muttered.
"It's a sad song."
He listened to the words.
Treat me right
I'm still a good man's daughter
Let me in if I break
And be quiet if I shatter
He didn't think it had to be so sad.
There she was, leaning on his shoulder, with the hint of a pretty smile.
Soooo, unfortunately the week I thought I had free time got busy and now I'm out of town with family...so there might not be a Santa Clause to bring you new chaps this week afterall LOL. I will try cause I actually feel like writing, but you know how it is when you're with family or friends, I might get caught up with that.
I know you're patient and thanks so much for that! ❤ Just wanna keep you in the loop if you're looking forward to new chapters of TBD. If anything might be a regular update. I really wanted to update before the new year, but LIFE.
I will be sharing a fun holiday read...not by me but one my favorite authors! Stay tuned 🥰🎄