“Do you have any sense of decorum at all?” Jake growled down at her.

Across the aisle, his little sister finally couldn’t take it anymore. She burst out laughing, and Jake whipped around to finally notice he had the attention of pretty much every single one of their friends at this point - except for Kate who was still asleep on Andrew’s shoulder.

“What?!” he barked out.

“De- de- de-“ Lexie couldn’t even get the word out, she just pointed at him, laughing even harder as tears started to slide down her face.

“What Lexie means is you’re turning into a prude, Captain America,” Patrick said.

“Don’t call me that,” Jake snapped.

Rolling her eyes, Sharon pretended she hadn’t just stirred the pot, returning her attention to Ellie. “Please tell me you’ll think about it?”

“I’ll think about it,” Ellie said, but her tone of voice indicated thinking was all she’d be doing, making Sharon sigh with exaggerated defeat.

The conversation got a little quieter as the Metro moved along, more people getting on and off at every stop. Sharon started bouncing in her seat with every stop, now chattering about all the animals she wanted to see today and what she hoped they would be doing. When Michael happened to glance up at Jake, he smirked when he saw the other man watching Sharon’s excitement, the tiniest hint of a smile curving his lips.

Ha.

Busted.

Jake was lucky their other friends had gone back to their own conversations, since Michael was probably the only person in the group who wouldn’t gossip about it. Well, Ellie probably wouldn’t either. Her head on his shoulder felt nice, moving occasionally when she nodded in response to something Sharon said.

By the time they reached the stop before the zoo, Sharon had moved herself around so she was on her knees, bouncing incessantly.

“What about you?” she asked Jake, turning her attention to him. His expression was carefully blank, with no hint of the smile Michael had observed earlier. “Do you have an animal you want to see?”

“Do you have to pee or something?” he asked instead of answering her, gesturing at her squirming body.

Sharon laughed, completely unperturbed. “Nope, I’m just excited! Zoo! Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo-“

She started sing-song chanting, and behind Michael he heard Kate groan. “Dammit, you got her started again!”

Michael was a little distracted, because Ellie was suddenly burrowing into his shoulder, her body shaking although her hair slid forward to cover her expression. He turned towards her, brushing her hair back in slight alarm, only to see her wide grin as she tried to stifle her giggles.

When Sharon farted, Ellie stopped even trying.

“Whoops, excuse me! Zoo, zoo, zoo -“

“Did you just fart?!” Jake looked appalled and maybe just a tiny bit impressed at Sharon’s complete lack of fucks to give.