“Daaa,” Parker agreed.
It was going on six at night, but despite the advanced hour, the scorching June temperatures had yet to let up. Cool May days were long gone. Summer was on the way.
Across the kitchen, Shep, Caleb, and Everett worked on scaling a fish caught fresh from a lake Caleb knew from his childhood. How it took three men to prepare a fish, Jayne didn’t know, but he was having a fun time watching. Caleb and Everett had spent the last half hour overtly flirting and play-bickering with each other while Shep rolled his eyes and occasionally fixed Jayne with a look that said that this was somehow all his fault.
It was, of course. Jaynemayhave started it by flirting with the two of them.
GlitterDoctor: Stroke averted
GlitterDoctor: Parker’s here with me. I think he was trying to say hello
xVerity: That’s a remarkable use of a semicolon. The twins could stand to learn a thing or two from him. I wonder what he would have said if you let him complete the sentence.
KnotMyProblem: Oh, I know this one
KnotMyProblem: “;;;;;lllll;lllllk”
KnotMyProblem: It’s been a while since I spoke baby. My delivery might be slightly off.
xVerity: Impressive.
GlitterDoctor: Your little sarcastic chip off the old block teach you that one, Knot?
Several people started typing all at once, and one by one, all of them stopped. The conversation went dead. Jayne narrowed his eyes.
GlitterDoctor: Okay, I’ll bite. What’s going on?
TD replied by sending a laughing emoji. Tears leaked from the corners of its closed eyes, and Jayne couldn’t help but take it personally.
GlitterDoctor: Not fair to laugh at the new kid
GlitterDoctor: Why are we laughing about Knot’s progeny?
TD, the illustrative young man that he was, sent three more laughing emojis.
GlitterDoctor: Wow, that clears things right up.
KnotMyProblem: They’re all dicks, aren’t they, Glit?
GlitterDoctor: The dickiest
KnotMyProblem: I wonder if we can convert that into the metric fuckton system
KnotMyProblem: @LoveHarley, you go up to film in Vancouver and shit with Evie, don’t you? Help a guy out here.
LoveHarley: whoa, uh, sorry, no can do
LoveHarley: all I know about canada is that beaver tails AREN’T what you think they’re going to be
Across the room, Shep gasped. Caleb laughed.
“It’s gettingeverywhere!” Shep decried in an accusatory voice. “It’s all over my hoodie!”
“They’re just scales,” Caleb replied. He plucked one from Shep’s hoodie and set it back on the cutting board. “You’ve got to get them off the fish if you want to eat it. Getting dirty’s just part of the job. Consider it a rite of passage.”
“A rite of passage into what?” Jayne asked. He shifted Parker’s position, causing Parker to coo and babble in delight. He grabbed onto the collar of Jayne’s shirt and started to tug, and Jayne had to put his phone away to fix the situation. The Single Dads continued to chat, buzzing merrily in Jayne’s back pocket.
When Jayne received no answer, he looked up to find Caleb and Shep staring at him, different degrees of incredulity plastered on their faces.
