Fic: Drabbles
Written for janus_74 as a challenge. She requested three drabbles based on the song The Boys of Summer by the Ataris.
I'm hyped up on an energy drink and the fact that my computer didn't eat this set of drabbles. So bear with the horrible writing.
Common Ground
I see you walkin’ real slow and you’re smilin’ at everyone
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone
Kaylee’s got a smile that don’t run out.
‘Course, probably ain’t been happier than she is right now. They landed down on Haven for a month long stay, and she was the first one off the boat. She walked straight into a throng of people, mostly male people, eager to be on the receivin’ end of that smile.
Haven’s mostly made up of miners, lotsa men and only a few women, and theys got kids three deep hangin’ from their apron strings. So Jayne knows that Kaylee’s gonna be right popular this month.
Serenity don’t usually stay long in any one place, but Mal’s got an inkling they oughtta lay low for a while after that last job, and they got coin enough to go to ground for a space. Be the first time they stayed anywhere more’n a week.
He don’t think it’ll take Kaylee long to find a lover to warm her bed. Been a long time for her, waitin’ on the Doc to open his eyes without gettin’ nothin’ in response. The way them men, both young and old alike, are gathered ‘round her, he knows she’s got her choice. Wouldn’t surprise him if’n she took more’n one to her bed, she was generous like that.
Men loved Kaylee, and Kaylee loved men. Old and young and every age in between… ‘cept for maybe him.
An’ even that couldn’t stop him from lovin’ her. He’d dare anyone not to love a girl with a smile like that.
Jayne found himself lingering on Serenity’s ramp while the rest of the crew headed on into town, followin’ Kaylee and her legion of admirers.
Then there was just he and Simon left, standin’ a few yards a part. Silence reigned for all of a moment before Simon spoke.
“Do you think she’s going to--”
“Yep.”
Pause.
“I thought she--”
“She did.”
“Then why is she--”
“Wasn’t gonna wait on you forever, Doc.” Jayne interrupted, wondering how long Simon was gonna force him into conversation. “Girl’s got needs.”
“I just thought that she’d have more self-restraint than that.”
“Ain’t nothin’ wrong with makin’ love where ya can find it.”
Simon is quiet for a long time, and when he spoke again, his next words were slow and measured. “And you’re okay with this?”
He oughtta punch the doc’s lights out for implyin’ that he had feelin’s for Lil’ Kaylee. ‘Cept the Doc was right and it was probably the only thing the two of ’em had in common.
Glancing side long at Simon, he looked forward again, pulling a cigar from one of his pockets and lit it. “Was okay enough when she was lustin’ after you, wasn’t I?”
“That’s debatable,” Simon muttered under his breath.
Jayne took a drag from the cigar and then offered it to Simon, “She can spend all the time she wants with these boys, but summer’s end, she’ll be comin’ home.”
Simon twisted the cigar in his fingers, watching the smoke curl from the end with a thoughtful frown, “It’ll be different.”
“If your feelin’s get changed by any this, then they weren’t strong ‘nough to begin with.”
Simon put his mouth around the cigar, inhaling a deep drag before handing it back to Jayne with a smooth exhale. “Didn’t mean her. I meant between you and I.”
“Doubt it. Jus’ cause ya know I love her don’t change the fact she ain’t ever gonna look on me that way. Only competition you’ll have is the memory of them boys out there.“ He smirked at Simon, “I got my odds on them.”
“You love her?”
“Said so, didn’t I?“ He took another drag from the cigar and then offered it back to Simon.
Face awash with something greatly resembling shock, Simon looked down at the cigar in hand. “Huh.”
“Don’t gotta look so surprised.”
“I’m not. Not really. Only, I just didn’t expect you to admit it. Least of all to me.”
“Maybe I just figured for once, we’re on common ground, Doc.”
Sighing softly, Simon passed the smoke back. “It would seem so.”
Showtime
I can see you
Your brown skin shinin’ in the sun
He doesn’t mean to look. But there’s just something about the woman that draws his eyes like a magnet. Couldn’t seem to find it in him to care that she was fierce and wild and dangerous and would most likely kill him if she knew he was watching.
They were on one of the backwater moons that Mal liked to frequent. Bester was still struggling with the engine, or he at least made lots of noise and cursed frequently enough to make them thinking he was struggling with it. Wash had his doubts.
There was a lake not far from where Serenity was landed and Mal and Zoe had dispersed hours ago, looking for work to keep them occupied while they were landlocked, leaving Wash on his own. It’d been a long time since he’d taken a swim, and the lure of the water was too much.
Apparently, Zoe was of the same mind.
He wasn’t normally one for voyeurism, but while his brain kept sending warning signals to his feet to get moving already, they just weren’t listening. Nor were his eyes, fixed solidly on the expanse of brown skin that glistened in the sun, droplets of water meandering over hills and valleys he hadn’t more than dreamed existed.
She was graceful in the way no woman he’d ever known was. She completely lacked artifice, striding from the water with smooth, confident steps that were perfect in their conservation of movement. Her wild mass of hair curled thick and wet down her back as she toweled off and dressed. There was no rush to her movements, no urgency, she left no speck of skin untouched.
And still, Wash didn’t move.
Not even when she began striding up the path straight toward him. Of course, that was the fear keeping him frozen in place, not the lust.
The fear was all for nothing, because she strode past him, eyes focused straight ahead. The only acknowledgement he got were the words drifting back to him on the breeze.
“Next time, you’re the one giving the show, Pilot.”
The Night Before
Remember how you made me crazy?
Remember how I made you scream?
“Mal?”
“Hmmm?”
“We’re not dead.”
“Wha-huh?” The speed with which he went from dead asleep to fully alert would have amused her under different circumstances. Under these, however, she was devastatingly mortified.
“I said, we’re not dead.”
“I, uh, can see that,” he sprung away from her. The space where his body had warmed hers flooded with the cool rush of reality.
He was seeing a lot more than that, and she quickly gathered the blankets around herself. “What do you suppose happened?”
“Um. Kaylee found someway to fix the engine so it didn’t blow up?”
She shouldn’t have expected his brain to function clearly after the night before. Oh, God. The night before…
Desperate hands. Slick skin. Moist, heady kisses. Crazy promises. His name, a scream echoing off the walls.
“What are you thinking?” Mal asked unexpectedly, his shoulders gone stiff.
Still shocked by the memories rapidly filtering back to her, she answered honestly. “That last night didn’t happen.
Silence.
“Fine.“ And then he was moving faster than she thought possible. “Didn’t happen.”
“Mal--” She wanted to reach out for him, but found she couldn’t. Fearful that he wouldn’t stay or that he would, she couldn’t say.
“I got a ship to run. You got… a destination to reach.”
“I didn’t--”
“Mean to?” He shrugged, “Desperate times, I know how goes. ‘Fraid to say, it wasn‘t that memorable, ‘Nara. “ He was already heading for the door. “Forgotten already.”
He was gone before she could assemble a reply, the words slipping past her lips on a sigh.
“I’ll remember. Always.”