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For the first time in about a month, the crew on the Bebop had caught a bounty who was worth enough woolongs to split between everyone. Except Ed, who stated that they didn't need any, but Faye took Ed's share and insisted they were going shopping together.
Spike didn't even begin to protest. Ed didn't seem to mind, so neither did he. Jet was on his way out soon after Faye and Ed, causing Spike to put out his cigarette sooner than he was expecting to.
"Where you headin' to?" Despite how he tried to convince himself he should mind his business, it wasn't an easy feat, and there Spike was, a few feet behind Jet, awaiting a response.
To his surprise, Jet just shrugged. "To the store. I'm spending my share on food because God knows we need it."
It was a justifiable reason and Spike could feel himself getting excited about the thought of being able to choose what he wanted for dinner instead of settling with whatever was left. And so, he stepped forward and passed by Jet, two finger gesturing for Jet to follow if he so pleased.
"Can I tag along?"
Jet blinked, brows furrowing just slightly. Spike had his own share, so maybe that was why he wanted to tag along, to buy things from the store himself. So, he shrugged again. "Fine by me. Just don't do anything stupid inside the store."
Spike snorted, a hand dramatically thrown over his chest. "I'd never."
Jet and Spike reached a nearby store. It was mostly just a grocery store that had occasional essentials should anyone need it. As they walked in, Jet was expecting Spike to run off on his own and get what he wanted, but seemed genuinely surprised when Spike hadn't.
Instead of commenting on it, Jet began walking further inside, turning his head to look at Spike.
Spike tagged along, not for any personal reasons, but because he preferred going places with Jet than with Faye (at least that's what he told himself). And he didn't feel like being alone on the Bebop. The ship was too big for that (even with Ein). "Is there anything you specifically wanted, Spike?"
Caught off guard by the question, Spike stopped in his tracks and shifted his attention to Jet. It took Spike a little longer than he had expected to say something, but he did. "Anything but cup noodles and mushrooms. And I'm serious. If I catch you getting cup noodles, I'll smack you."
Jet paused, snorting at Spike's response before he could stop himself.
Well, perhaps having Spike with him wasn't so bad. Besides, he could keep an eye on the younger male so he couldn't get into any trouble at least while Jet was shopping. Suddenly, he was glad Spike took it upon himself to come along.
By now, Jet had acquired a cart to put everything in. Spike had wandered off maybe once or twice to grab something Jet had missed, but other than that, their shopping spree had been tame and silent.
Until Jet was on his way to pay for everything and noticed Spike had vanished again. Starting to assume the boy had finally gotten bored and left, Jet continued on until he felt something smack the back of his head.
"Wh—" He began to say, feeling himself start to get angry until he noticed that it was Spike with a... a fucking pool noodle? Two, in fact. Spike was grinning widely, holding out the extra noodle to Jet and whacking him again.
"Spike, what the fuck are you doing?"
"I am engaging in combat with you. Fight back."
Jet took the pool noodle slowly and blinked, he was deciding against indulging himself with this, that was until Spike hit him again. Jet finally gave in and whacked Spike back, smacking him right on top of his head. He felt childish, really, but watching Spike start laughing and try to land a hit on Jet again had the older male laughing harder than it should have.
And so, they shifted their stances, pretending to take the fight seriously. Suddenly, the forgot they they were in a grocery store.
"Ya' gotta hit harder than that, partner." Spike teased, lunging forward and landing a hit upside Jet's head. For a pool noodle, Spike was putting a lot of force into his hits.
Jet wasn't even sure what caused Spike to do this, but not a single part of him was complaining.
The two kept going until a customer got bumped into by Spike when Jet caused him to stumble back, earning an enraged complaint. "Will you two go do that somewhere else?!"
Spike and Jet lowered the noodles as the customer walked away, grumbling to themselves about the two until they were out of sight.
Jet shook his head and whacked Spike one last time. Spike laughed and took Jet's pool noodle into his own hands again. Jet was expecting him to return them but was again, pleasantly surprised to see Spike throwing them into the cart.
Jet, despite his better judgement, raised an eyebrow curiously and began pushing the cart to finally go pay for everything. He felt relief when Spike followed him.
"I thought you said no noodles." Jet said, a teasing grin forming across his features. Spike blinked, his grin vanishing briefly before he bursted into a fit of laughter before he could stop himself.
"Fuck off, Jet."
Jet and Spike returned to the Bebop before Faye and Ed, which wasn't surprising since Faye liked to shop. She was probably buying Ed (and herself) new outfits.
As they finished carrying all the bags inside, Spike pulled one of the pool noodles out of the last bag left and turned quickly, ready to smack Jet with it, but stopped when the noodle smacked Jet's own.
"Gotta be quicker than that, kid."
Spike gasped, eyes briefly widening as he registered what just happened.
"Oh, you're gonna regret that!" Spike laughed despite his attempt at pretending to be angry, and lunged at Jet, causing the two to stumble and fall over onto the ground.
After a beat or two of silence, Jet whacked Spike with his pool noodle again. "You win this time, Spike."
"JET MAN IS DOOWWWN! WEE-WOOOOO!" And it seemed Faye had returned, judging by Ed's sudden presence. Shoving Spike off of him as gently as possible, Jet sat up and pulled Spike up by his shirt collar as Faye came in holding more bags than she should've been able to carry.
Spike preoccupied himself with fixing his shirt and making a conscious decision to ignore Faye's presence until she spoke.
"Help me unload this! I got stuff for you boys, too." Faye said, rolling her eyes as the two males blinked and stared at each other briefly before getting up off the floor. Jet shrugged, responding to her before Spike could make a smart remark.
"Whatever you say, Faye."