Manly Men Wash Dishes
"Auugggghhh!" Faye groaned, throwing a dramatic arm over her eyes and falling back onto the couch. Jet, sitting across from her, did not so much as look at her over the top of the laptop as he said,
"What now?" Faye peeked at him from under her arm and then sat up, leaning toward him with her elbows on her knees. She stared at him for a few moments in silence. Feeling her eyes on him, he looked up in irritation. "Dammit, Faye, I'm trying to work here."
Faye sighed. "It's just so boring around here ... I mean, Spike took off, and I dunno where Ed and Ein are."
"Apparently they went and found something to occupy themselves with. Unlike someone I know."
"But I'm too hungry to do anything by myself."
"So go find something in the kitchen to eat."
"There's nothing there."
"Have you looked, Faye?"
"Well, no ... But even if I did find something, I wouldn't be able to cook it."
"Well, why not?"
Faye stared at him blankly for a moment.
"I just can't." Jet sighed and massaged his brows with his thumb and forefinger.
"Is it because you're lazy or you can't cook?" Jet asked. When Faye failed to answer, he sighed again and stood, starting for the kitchen. Faye followed him. He tied his apron around his waist and Faye pulled up a stool.
She watched as he pulled down ingredients she hadn't seen in a while except for in restaurants, and wondered where he'd gotten them.
"They're my hidden stash. I eat them when you guys aren't around." He slapped a frying pan down on the stove and turned on the burner.
"You mean not even Ed and Ein know about it?" Jet shook his head at her query. Admittedly, it made her feel at least a little special that he was serving her his hidden stash of food.
They remained silent as Faye watched Jet toss the ingredients in the pan for a nice stir-fry, the smell reaching her nose and making her mouth water for a nice meal. When he began serving the stir-fry onto plates, she took a couple of beers from the fridge and walked back to the living room and sat on the couch. He followed her, the plates in hand, and sat across from her once more. He slid a plate to her and watched her shovel most of it down before starting on his own.
Faye popped the cap on her beer and began to sip at it. She eyed him as he held his plate in one hand and tapped on the laptop with the other, occasionally picking up his chopsticks to pick at his food.
"No one good?" she said, hoping to spark a conversation.
"Not a bit," he replied before returning to silence.
"Oh ... Well, I'll need some more gas before I can go on another long mission. I'm almost on empty." At this, Jet looked up.
"You filled her up a few days ago."
"Yeah ... but, I've been places." Jet only grunted in disapproval before returning to scrolling through the lists of bounty heads. "You don't grill Spike about this kinda stuff," she mumbled.
"I get on to Spike just as much as I do you, maybe even more," he retorted without looking up. Faye gave a small sigh and sipped her beer.
"Hey, Jet. I got a question."
"Shoot."
"What's with you and your bonsai plants?"
"Faye, don't ask me that."
"Why not? It's a simple enough question. Just answer it."
"It ... It's kind of like you and gambling, I suppose."
"What, you mean, like, trimming bonsai plants is an addiction?"
Jet glared at her over the laptop once more. "No, I mean it's just a hobby of mine. Bounty hunters have to have some way to separate themselves from the criminal world, and the best way is to find a hobby. Mine just happens to be-"
"-Gardening?"
"Close to it, I guess."
"You're not a very manly man, are you, Jet?"
"Excuse me?" Jet said, bewildered, almost dropping his plate. Faye gave a small laugh.
"I mean, you know, you cook and garden ... stuff that guys usually don't do. You usually stay here in the Bebop while me and Spike go off to get the bad guy. It's like a backwards, if somewhat twisted and sadistic, fairy tale ... thing."
It was Jet's turn to laugh. "Fairy tale? I guess you mean I'm the princess the needs to be rescued or somethin'." Jet stood and took his plate and Faye's into the kitchen. Faye followed.
"Well, why don't you usually get out there in the field and do something with us instead of staying here? I mean, Ed and Ein can run the Bebop in your place, right?"
"Ha! Like I'd leave my ship to a little girl and her dog ..." Then, as an afterthought, "no matter how smart they are." He began warming the water to wash the dishes. "Thing is ... I guess I'm just getting too old to go charging out there into the fray like you and Spike do every time there's a good bounty head."
"Old? Old?" Faye let out a loud laugh. "Heh, no way you're too old for it. I mean, you can't be if I'm still doing it, considering how old I am!" But instead of Jet laughing, he frowned. "What, did I say something wrong again?" Faye said, putting a hand on Jet's shoulder as he began to wash a plate. His brow was furrowed, and he was scrubbing so hard Faye thought the plate would break.
"Did I-?"
"No. It's nothing you did. Don't worry about it," he assured her. It felt awkward for both of them to be in this situation, especially with each other. Jet wasn't comfortable being openly upset about something so stupid, whether or not she knew the reason for his being upset in the first place. And she just wasn't comfortable with being openly nice.
Jet looked up for a moment before sighing and turning to Faye, he wiped his wet hands on his apron and put his hands on her shoulders. "Faye," he whispered. "There's something I have to tell you. Ed's-"
There was a loud crash, a bark, and a string of curses before Jet was able to register in his mind the vision of Faye jumping up and chasing Ed from the kitchen and out of his sight. Somewhere off in the distance, he heard Faye screaming, then a loud smack, and, "Oooooooouch, Edward hurrrrrrrrts!"
Jet chuckled; then he turned back to the sink and washed the dishes.