Firefly fic: The Wager
So, way back in 2005, before I started having computers blow up on me right and left, dessert_first and I started writing this. We originally began a post-Serenity fic, but we got depressed by the lack of Wash. So this. And, there was moving and working and stuff. But, in hopes that seeing it up will make me work harder, we post the first part here, and in our LJs.
Whatcha think?
Title: The Wager
Author: Dessert_First and Tesla
Genre: Firefly/Serenity
Pair: Jayne/Mal, Inara/Mal
Rating: Adult
Cross-posted in dessert_first's LJ
It’s a well known fact that life can get a mite lonely out in the black. Still, there’s no call for a man to go to desperate measures. Mal generally liked his measures somewhat less than desperate. But he’d be the first to admit that a bottle of whiskey consumed in a relatively quiet bar after a profitable job that ran mostly smooth--Mal will take his victories where he can get them, and Doc said Zoe’s ankle should be fine within a week--well, that kind of circumstance could lead to a fella being a shade less picky than he might be otherwise.
So when Jayne reached back from his seat at their table in the bar, hooked an oversized hand in the waistband of Mal’s pants, and yanked Mal into his lap… well, those pants could only stand so much straining at the seams. Mal wouldn’t want to endanger them. They’re one of his favorite pairs.
And if Jayne reeled Mal in a little further, and nuzzled his face into the nape of Mal’s neck, and slid the other hand across Mal’s stomach, belting him in against Jayne’s waist… well, it’d been a while, that’s all. And Jayne’s pretty good at what he’s doing back there.
Mal was feeling a slight, pleasant buzz from the alcohol, and Jayne’s hands were large and warm and thorough, so Mal let Jayne rent a room above the bar and hustle him up there. Jayne laid him out on the bed, stripped off Mal’s clothes and stared at him for a while, just long enough for Mal to start to maybe change his mind, so Mal yanked Jayne down onto himself. Jayne smiled at that, and put his mouth to better use than he had to date in all the time Mal had known him-he set to mapping out Mal’s chest with his tongue and a more judicious use of teeth than Mal would have given him credit for. Jayne worked his way down to Mal’s crotch, engulfed his cock in one hand, gave it one long stroke, then greedily stuffed it in his mouth… and Mal’s brain took a well-deserved holiday.
::
“Plate tectonic shifts, unparalleled but unexpected, not enough variables to calculate accurately. XY plus XY equals--”
“River!” Mal cut her off cheerfully, passing through the common room on his way to the galley the next afternoon. “You want some protein with your protein this evening? I hear tell little Kaylee made dinner.” He handed her a peach rice bar he'd been saving.
“I think you’ve already had your protein, Captain,” River smirked, but she set aside the book she was pulling apart and took the rice bar. He tried not to watch her stuff it into her mouth, wrapping and all. Maybe if she kept her mouth busy she wouldn’t be able to talk as much. Mal felt optimistic about the idea, being as how that very tactic worked so well with Jayne last night. And earlier that morning. Up till around noon, when Jayne left, saying something about wanting to look at some guns at the market before they had to leave the planet.
“Be back in time to take off tonight!” Mal yelled at his retreating back, then turned over for a well-deserved nap.
He noticed Inara giving him an odd look or two during dinner, but ignored it.
::
“Jayne,” Inara rapped delicately on Jayne’s door. “May I come in?”
Jayne set aside Binky while she climbed down the ladder, and hurried over to pull up the one chair for her. She sat, gracefully folding her skirts about her feet.
“Thank you,” she said, looking around the room.
Jayne waited for her to say something, but she didn’t speak. “Somethin’ I can do for ya?”
“Well, it’s more a question I had. A curiosity you might indulge for me.”
Jayne smirked. “I’m an open book for you, ‘Nara.”
“I’m sure you are,” she smiled. “Would you be willing to turn to last night’s page?”
He stiffened. “Now, that was fair play. You ain’t done a thing with Mal in all the time you been here, and last night he was feelin’ a little friendly, so I thought I’d take my chance.”
“Of course. I was just wondering what your intentions were. Do you have specific plans for the future, or are there still… possibilities?”
“Don’t know about plans,” Jayne said. “But Mal seemed pretty happy with the way things went. Done wore himself out.”
“Oh, really?” Inara tilted her head, puzzled. “That’s odd. I saw him strolling about the ship earlier. He seemed wide awake to me. Of course, I suppose that’s only to be expected.”
Jayne narrowed his eyes. “What are you aiming to say?”
“Oh, nothing, nothing at all,” she said, delicately fussing at an invisible piece of lint on her immaculate sari. “It’s only…”
“Only what?” he crossed his arms. “You think I don’t know how to rut proper?”
“Why, Jayne! I would never imply such a thing. I’m certain you’re a very talented man. For a civilian.”
“Civilian!” Jayne exclaimed, scowling. “Now look here. Just because I ain’t got no fancy Companion schooling don’t mean I don’t know how to handle a man in bed. I been told I’m a real good lover. By people I didn’t pay, even!”
“I’m sure that’s true,” she soothed. “It’s just that, well. A Companion would have….worn him out a bit more, that’s all. Don’t trouble yourself about it, I’m sure it was fine.”
“ ‘Fine’?!” he sputtered. “Now look here! Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, coming in here with all this fei hua. You think you can show Mal a better time, you go right ahead. I ain’t afraid of your fancy Companion learnin’. All the learnin’ in the world don’t teach you how to please a man’s ji ba the way another man can. I’d like to see you try.”
“Would you, now?” Inara lowered her lashes to shield the slight gleam of satisfaction in her carefully made-up eyes.
::
“Zoe,” Mal said thoughtfully. “I know we don’t run the tightest ship in the ‘verse, but I do like to think it’s orderly.”
“Neat as a pin, Sir.” Zoe didn’t look up from her inventory sheets.
“So why is there a… don’t rightly know what to call this bit of fluff.” Mal gingerly picked up the satiny scrap of red material littering his cargo bay.
Zoe glanced up from the sheets. “I believe it’s some sort of undergarment, Sir.”
“What?” Mal dropped it like it was on fire. “Under-- what?”
She looked it over assessingly. “Looks familiar, now I think on it.”
“It’s not one of Wash’s things, is it? Because I am not too proud to beg you not to tell me about it.”
Zoe smiled. “No, Sir. Wouldn’t dream of traumatizing you that way. I believe it’s one of Inara’s scarves.”
“Oh,” Mal didn’t bother trying to hide his relief. He scooped the scrap of material back up. “Reckon I’ll return it to her, then. And mayhap have a little chat about keeping an orderly boat.”
“You do that, Sir.” Zoe said, already reading again.
::
On the way to Inara’s shuttle, Mal came across another, larger piece of material, vaguely shaped like an overtunic. And a sparkly beaded slipper. And some sort of veil. And-tah mah deh!- a piece that looked awful like an entire dress, all soft and nice-smelling, like that light musky fragrance Inara favored, the one with the hints of flowers. He cycled past annoyance, into anger, and over into concern by the time he arrived at her shuttle, a pile of soft, sweet-smelling garments in his arms. Inara dumping her expensive things all over Serenity? She must be sick. He considered calling the doc, but decided to assess the situation first. Maybe she just felt a little… warm?
“Mal?” Inara called. “Is that you out there? Come in.”
Mal started, almost dropping the load. “Uh,” he stammered, entering the shuttle. “I was just wondering what-”
“Yes?” she walked out from behind the privacy screen in the corner and he almost drops the pile of clothing. She was wearing a little smile and the flimsiest excuse for--
“Wo de tien ah!” he blurted.
The smile widened as she dropped the robe.
::
“Cap’n looks kinda funny, don’tcha think?” Kaylee thoughtfully poked at her bowl of protein mash, looking over at the doorway where Mal had just about floated out of the galley after dreamily eating his breakfast.
“Well, now that you mention it, I suppose he does look a mite… odd.” Book agreed.
“Odd?” Wash snorted. “He looks positively loopy. Last time I saw him looking like that, the next morning we found he had himself a wife on board.” He narrowed his eyes. “I say we check the cargo bay.”
::
“Looks awake enough to me,” Jayne smirks, having watched Mal’s dazed wanderings on his way to the bridge.
Inara frowns. “He’s clearly-”
“Awake, ‘Nara. Strollin’ about on his own two feet.” He leaned back in his chair, the smirk widening, and crossed his arms over his chest.
“He was practically floating!” she snapped.
“Sure, after I done softened him up for ya night afore last. Looks like all that fancy Companionin’ is just so much pretty mei yong-duh business, huh?”
If it weren’t for all that fancy Companion training, though, Jayne was pretty sure he’d be hearing a passel of rough language right about now, judging from the delicate set of Inara’s pretty lips.
“Double or nothing?” she asked.
tbc
Whatcha think?
Title: The Wager
Author: Dessert_First and Tesla
Genre: Firefly/Serenity
Pair: Jayne/Mal, Inara/Mal
Rating: Adult
Cross-posted in dessert_first's LJ
It’s a well known fact that life can get a mite lonely out in the black. Still, there’s no call for a man to go to desperate measures. Mal generally liked his measures somewhat less than desperate. But he’d be the first to admit that a bottle of whiskey consumed in a relatively quiet bar after a profitable job that ran mostly smooth--Mal will take his victories where he can get them, and Doc said Zoe’s ankle should be fine within a week--well, that kind of circumstance could lead to a fella being a shade less picky than he might be otherwise.
So when Jayne reached back from his seat at their table in the bar, hooked an oversized hand in the waistband of Mal’s pants, and yanked Mal into his lap… well, those pants could only stand so much straining at the seams. Mal wouldn’t want to endanger them. They’re one of his favorite pairs.
And if Jayne reeled Mal in a little further, and nuzzled his face into the nape of Mal’s neck, and slid the other hand across Mal’s stomach, belting him in against Jayne’s waist… well, it’d been a while, that’s all. And Jayne’s pretty good at what he’s doing back there.
Mal was feeling a slight, pleasant buzz from the alcohol, and Jayne’s hands were large and warm and thorough, so Mal let Jayne rent a room above the bar and hustle him up there. Jayne laid him out on the bed, stripped off Mal’s clothes and stared at him for a while, just long enough for Mal to start to maybe change his mind, so Mal yanked Jayne down onto himself. Jayne smiled at that, and put his mouth to better use than he had to date in all the time Mal had known him-he set to mapping out Mal’s chest with his tongue and a more judicious use of teeth than Mal would have given him credit for. Jayne worked his way down to Mal’s crotch, engulfed his cock in one hand, gave it one long stroke, then greedily stuffed it in his mouth… and Mal’s brain took a well-deserved holiday.
::
“Plate tectonic shifts, unparalleled but unexpected, not enough variables to calculate accurately. XY plus XY equals--”
“River!” Mal cut her off cheerfully, passing through the common room on his way to the galley the next afternoon. “You want some protein with your protein this evening? I hear tell little Kaylee made dinner.” He handed her a peach rice bar he'd been saving.
“I think you’ve already had your protein, Captain,” River smirked, but she set aside the book she was pulling apart and took the rice bar. He tried not to watch her stuff it into her mouth, wrapping and all. Maybe if she kept her mouth busy she wouldn’t be able to talk as much. Mal felt optimistic about the idea, being as how that very tactic worked so well with Jayne last night. And earlier that morning. Up till around noon, when Jayne left, saying something about wanting to look at some guns at the market before they had to leave the planet.
“Be back in time to take off tonight!” Mal yelled at his retreating back, then turned over for a well-deserved nap.
He noticed Inara giving him an odd look or two during dinner, but ignored it.
::
“Jayne,” Inara rapped delicately on Jayne’s door. “May I come in?”
Jayne set aside Binky while she climbed down the ladder, and hurried over to pull up the one chair for her. She sat, gracefully folding her skirts about her feet.
“Thank you,” she said, looking around the room.
Jayne waited for her to say something, but she didn’t speak. “Somethin’ I can do for ya?”
“Well, it’s more a question I had. A curiosity you might indulge for me.”
Jayne smirked. “I’m an open book for you, ‘Nara.”
“I’m sure you are,” she smiled. “Would you be willing to turn to last night’s page?”
He stiffened. “Now, that was fair play. You ain’t done a thing with Mal in all the time you been here, and last night he was feelin’ a little friendly, so I thought I’d take my chance.”
“Of course. I was just wondering what your intentions were. Do you have specific plans for the future, or are there still… possibilities?”
“Don’t know about plans,” Jayne said. “But Mal seemed pretty happy with the way things went. Done wore himself out.”
“Oh, really?” Inara tilted her head, puzzled. “That’s odd. I saw him strolling about the ship earlier. He seemed wide awake to me. Of course, I suppose that’s only to be expected.”
Jayne narrowed his eyes. “What are you aiming to say?”
“Oh, nothing, nothing at all,” she said, delicately fussing at an invisible piece of lint on her immaculate sari. “It’s only…”
“Only what?” he crossed his arms. “You think I don’t know how to rut proper?”
“Why, Jayne! I would never imply such a thing. I’m certain you’re a very talented man. For a civilian.”
“Civilian!” Jayne exclaimed, scowling. “Now look here. Just because I ain’t got no fancy Companion schooling don’t mean I don’t know how to handle a man in bed. I been told I’m a real good lover. By people I didn’t pay, even!”
“I’m sure that’s true,” she soothed. “It’s just that, well. A Companion would have….worn him out a bit more, that’s all. Don’t trouble yourself about it, I’m sure it was fine.”
“ ‘Fine’?!” he sputtered. “Now look here! Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, coming in here with all this fei hua. You think you can show Mal a better time, you go right ahead. I ain’t afraid of your fancy Companion learnin’. All the learnin’ in the world don’t teach you how to please a man’s ji ba the way another man can. I’d like to see you try.”
“Would you, now?” Inara lowered her lashes to shield the slight gleam of satisfaction in her carefully made-up eyes.
::
“Zoe,” Mal said thoughtfully. “I know we don’t run the tightest ship in the ‘verse, but I do like to think it’s orderly.”
“Neat as a pin, Sir.” Zoe didn’t look up from her inventory sheets.
“So why is there a… don’t rightly know what to call this bit of fluff.” Mal gingerly picked up the satiny scrap of red material littering his cargo bay.
Zoe glanced up from the sheets. “I believe it’s some sort of undergarment, Sir.”
“What?” Mal dropped it like it was on fire. “Under-- what?”
She looked it over assessingly. “Looks familiar, now I think on it.”
“It’s not one of Wash’s things, is it? Because I am not too proud to beg you not to tell me about it.”
Zoe smiled. “No, Sir. Wouldn’t dream of traumatizing you that way. I believe it’s one of Inara’s scarves.”
“Oh,” Mal didn’t bother trying to hide his relief. He scooped the scrap of material back up. “Reckon I’ll return it to her, then. And mayhap have a little chat about keeping an orderly boat.”
“You do that, Sir.” Zoe said, already reading again.
::
On the way to Inara’s shuttle, Mal came across another, larger piece of material, vaguely shaped like an overtunic. And a sparkly beaded slipper. And some sort of veil. And-tah mah deh!- a piece that looked awful like an entire dress, all soft and nice-smelling, like that light musky fragrance Inara favored, the one with the hints of flowers. He cycled past annoyance, into anger, and over into concern by the time he arrived at her shuttle, a pile of soft, sweet-smelling garments in his arms. Inara dumping her expensive things all over Serenity? She must be sick. He considered calling the doc, but decided to assess the situation first. Maybe she just felt a little… warm?
“Mal?” Inara called. “Is that you out there? Come in.”
Mal started, almost dropping the load. “Uh,” he stammered, entering the shuttle. “I was just wondering what-”
“Yes?” she walked out from behind the privacy screen in the corner and he almost drops the pile of clothing. She was wearing a little smile and the flimsiest excuse for--
“Wo de tien ah!” he blurted.
The smile widened as she dropped the robe.
::
“Cap’n looks kinda funny, don’tcha think?” Kaylee thoughtfully poked at her bowl of protein mash, looking over at the doorway where Mal had just about floated out of the galley after dreamily eating his breakfast.
“Well, now that you mention it, I suppose he does look a mite… odd.” Book agreed.
“Odd?” Wash snorted. “He looks positively loopy. Last time I saw him looking like that, the next morning we found he had himself a wife on board.” He narrowed his eyes. “I say we check the cargo bay.”
::
“Looks awake enough to me,” Jayne smirks, having watched Mal’s dazed wanderings on his way to the bridge.
Inara frowns. “He’s clearly-”
“Awake, ‘Nara. Strollin’ about on his own two feet.” He leaned back in his chair, the smirk widening, and crossed his arms over his chest.
“He was practically floating!” she snapped.
“Sure, after I done softened him up for ya night afore last. Looks like all that fancy Companionin’ is just so much pretty mei yong-duh business, huh?”
If it weren’t for all that fancy Companion training, though, Jayne was pretty sure he’d be hearing a passel of rough language right about now, judging from the delicate set of Inara’s pretty lips.
“Double or nothing?” she asked.
tbc