Fic: River/Mal comment fics (Firefly)
One last batch of Firefly comment fics, all on a River/Mal theme this time!
Title: On My Mind When I Arise
Rating: PG
Words: 620
Summary: Mal's on night watch, and River's on Mal-watch.
Notes: Off the prompt Firefly, any/any, watching you sleep.
On My Mind When I Arise
Wasn't that he fell asleep on the bridge, even if night watch is the most boring thing he can conjure. He'd just been resting his eyes, that was all - and his ears too, apparently, since he'd had no notion of River being in the room too until he opened his eyes to find her face right in front of his.
“Um, River, darlin', that's just a mite creepifing.”
“Why?” she asks, moving back just enough that he can take in her whole face at once, rather than just her great big brown eyes. “You do it all the time.”
“What? Don't do any such thing!” he protests.
“You do so,” she says, perfectly unruffled. “Every time someone's hurt. Kaylee, Zoe. Even Jayne. You sit, and wait, and watch. Try to hold them together with your will, make it so they won't dare slip away with you watching.”
It's downright uncomfortable, way that girl sees into things, gets into places a man didn't even know were there. Also the way she's standing so close he couldn't get up if he wanted to, but that's not quite so bad.
“That ain't the same,” he points out. “Folks are happy to see someone there for 'em when they're hurt, they expect it. Watching someone just plain sleeping is different. And creepy,” he emphasizes once more, hoping she'll take the hint and get them both out of this situation.
River being River, she doesn't, or more likely, chooses not to. “You watched me sleep, before,” she says, her voice soft in the dimness, swallowed up by all the black. “And I wasn't hurt then.”
Mal's not quite sure sleep is the word for what she was doing then, lying cuffed to Serenity's floor, caged up like a wild thing. “Weren't hurt on the outside, maybe. You were hurting plenty on the inside, way I recall it. And how do you know what I was doing while you were out, anyhow?”
She looks at him for a long moment, still so close he can catch the scent of her hair when she shifts. “I know everything,” she says finally, like she's stating the plainest of facts. “You watched, and you worried. Thought I was broken, that I'd break you too.”
Maybe it's that he's just woken up, but something compels him to go and be honest when he shouldn't. “Still ain't sure you won't, darlin'.” Moment it's out of his mouth, he knows it's the wrong thing to say, though he's less than certain which is worse, her thinking he still sees her as a threat or her taking it in regards to the lack of distance between them as of late, the way he meant it.
Way she smiles, quick and subtle, he knows full well which way she took it. “You won't break,” she says firmly, and moves away, settling herself in the other chair, watching him from further away now. “I won't let you.”
Funny, how he's finding he misses the heat of her close by; still, there's too many things to say just now, and they're all jumbled up in his brain 'til he can't possibly make sense of what's real and what's just in his head, and the possibility of something breaking - his sense of decency, her fragile peace, the rules that keep them both bound inches apart - seems more likely by the minute.
“It's alright,” she says, smiling that secretive little smile again and shaking her head just a fraction, as if to say, I can wait, and so can you. “Go back to sleep. I'll watch.”
Title: Unintended Usages
Rating: PG
Words: 471
Summary: She finds Wash's dinosaurs very useful, especially when Mal plays right into her hands.
Notes: Off the prompt River, she rarely played with uneducational "toys" in her childhood but Wash's small plastic lizards had their uses.
Also, yes, I've watched the Serenity outtakes a few too many times.
Unintended Usages
Looking down at the screens on the bridge, River frowns, because she certainly hadn't told the ship to do that.
A tiny click sounds off the metal space as she flips a switch.
A corresponding click from the opposite side of the room indicates the reason Serenity is disobeying her; the only reason the ship ever would, really - her sha gua of a Captain giving orders which are clearly quite incorrect.
Very careful not to look (that would spoil the game, and she does like to play), she flicks the switch again in response. And then again, and once more, faster and faster until the clicks are nearly indistinguishable, and Mal's got quick hands but hers will always be just a little bit faster, so -
A stegosaurus flies through the air, and it's not that his aim is bad, exactly, but she doubts he meant it to hit her right above her eye, and in any case, it makes her squeal in surprise.
He's out of his chair in a flash, his soft heart and gullible nature luring him right within range, and she pounces quick as a raptor, leaving Mal on his back, being menaced with tiny tail-spikes.
“Just because it was a herbivore doesn't mean it wasn't intended for combat,” she tells him.
“Looks more like a thing made for defense,” he points out, indicating the rows of plates on the creature's back, not seeming all that put out by his current position. He likes to play too, and she knows it, feels it in the instinctive rightness of his hips beneath hers.
“Highly debated,” she says, mastering reluctance and rising, offering him a hand up that doesn't contain a spiky plastic form. “Might all be part of a shell, bristling with spikes and surliness and bright warnings to keep away, don't get involved.” A sidelong look shows he's watching her very carefully; he's always been the one who bothers teasing out the practical intentions from her metaphors. “Or they could serve a thermoregulatory purpose. Or,” she says, turning back as she leaves the room to toss the object of debate back to him, “they might have served a sexual purpose. A flamboyantly prickly exterior can be seen as a highly attractive quality in a mate.”
There's a clatter of plastic on metal as Mal fumbles the catch, and River giggles her way down the passage, never ceasing to be amused by how easy it is to fluster him; he's nearly as bad as her brother when it comes to these things.
On that thought, she fishes the tyrannosaur from her pocket and smiles at it. “Shall we go find Simon?”
Mal will come around eventually, she knows, though he may never look at that stegosaurus quite the same again.
Title: As Little as this Bed Allows
Rating: PG-13
Words: 680
Summary: There's definite upsides to this situation, but some things still need a little work.
Notes: Off the prompt Firefly, Mal/River, I could get used to this.
As Little as this Bed Allows
Isn't that Mal's thinking Serenity is imperfect in any way, exactly - somebody else's fluffy lord surely knows how he loves his ship - but he is finding out now that there's a damn good reason Zoe had insisted on taking over the larger bunk when she started bedding down with Wash.
“You mind gettin' your hair outta my face, maybe?” Seems like no matter how much of River's silky hair he pushes off himself, there's always a strand or two left to tickle him. Not that the sweet flowery scent of it isn't a nice reminder that there's a woman in his bed for once, but really, it's enough to drive a man clear out of his head.
“You're lying on some of it,” she points out, shifting about next to him, getting cold little feet all kinds of places they don't belong. “That makes it rather difficult.”
“Well, here, let me just-” Except too much shifting around makes him almost fall off the edge, and the bed's a mess of flailing limbs in no time. Not in the fun way it had been not long ago neither, cause the wheezing gasp River lets out is no kind of pleased.
“Ow.”
“Sorry, darlin', did I hurt you?”
“Think your right patella made contact with my solar plexus.”
“Okay, can I get that in dummy talk for those of us who ain't freaky genius types like you?”
She gives him a long-suffering sigh and a pained look, pulling that endless curtain of tickles back behind her shoulders. “You kneed me in the chest.”
“Oh,” he says, pulling her down underneath him, cause he's more than happy to check for any damage in that particular area, “no harm done, I hope?”
She laughs against his mouth when he goes to kiss her, light and breathy and completely maddening, just like the rest of her. “The solar plexus is lower down, Mal.”
“Glad to hear it. Wouldn't want to - wo de ma, is that your foot?”
“Possibly,” she says, scooting away from him much as possible, which ain't so very far. “Was it problematic?”
“Only cause it felt like a block of ice. This is what comes of going 'round barefoot all the time.”
“It's a resolvable issue,” she says.
“Long as your solution don't involve getting your feet anywhere near me again, that's - hey, you give that back!”
“You wanted me to warm myself,” she says innocently, great big eyes peeping at him over the cocoon she's made out of the only blanket, wrapped all nice and snug around herself.
“Didn't have a mind to freeze my own self. You gotta share, and that's an order. Ain't gonna disobey Captain's orders, are you?”
“Your pilot and crew member wouldn't,” she says, before sticking her tongue out at him, safe inside her fleecy little fortress. “Your girlfriend would.”
“Well that ain't rightly fair,” he says, giving up and flopping down on his back, though there's parts of him hanging off the bed, what with it being more crowded than normal. “Might just have to take myself down to the passenger dorms to get any rest, if this is how it's gonna be.”
There's another little sigh in the darkness, and then her hands (thankfully a good deal warmer than her feet) and her voice prodding at him. “Move over - no, this way, you boob. There.” She settles herself, and the blanket too, down on top of him, more or less. “Will this do?”
Seeing as how there's no hair in his face, he can breathe fine, and none of his limbs seem likely to go all pins-and-needles on him, he thinks this just might work out after all. “Yeah, albatross,” he says, kissing her hair, not a single strand sticking around to bedevil him. “Thinkin' I could get used to this.”
Title: On My Mind When I Arise
Rating: PG
Words: 620
Summary: Mal's on night watch, and River's on Mal-watch.
Notes: Off the prompt Firefly, any/any, watching you sleep.
On My Mind When I Arise
Wasn't that he fell asleep on the bridge, even if night watch is the most boring thing he can conjure. He'd just been resting his eyes, that was all - and his ears too, apparently, since he'd had no notion of River being in the room too until he opened his eyes to find her face right in front of his.
“Um, River, darlin', that's just a mite creepifing.”
“Why?” she asks, moving back just enough that he can take in her whole face at once, rather than just her great big brown eyes. “You do it all the time.”
“What? Don't do any such thing!” he protests.
“You do so,” she says, perfectly unruffled. “Every time someone's hurt. Kaylee, Zoe. Even Jayne. You sit, and wait, and watch. Try to hold them together with your will, make it so they won't dare slip away with you watching.”
It's downright uncomfortable, way that girl sees into things, gets into places a man didn't even know were there. Also the way she's standing so close he couldn't get up if he wanted to, but that's not quite so bad.
“That ain't the same,” he points out. “Folks are happy to see someone there for 'em when they're hurt, they expect it. Watching someone just plain sleeping is different. And creepy,” he emphasizes once more, hoping she'll take the hint and get them both out of this situation.
River being River, she doesn't, or more likely, chooses not to. “You watched me sleep, before,” she says, her voice soft in the dimness, swallowed up by all the black. “And I wasn't hurt then.”
Mal's not quite sure sleep is the word for what she was doing then, lying cuffed to Serenity's floor, caged up like a wild thing. “Weren't hurt on the outside, maybe. You were hurting plenty on the inside, way I recall it. And how do you know what I was doing while you were out, anyhow?”
She looks at him for a long moment, still so close he can catch the scent of her hair when she shifts. “I know everything,” she says finally, like she's stating the plainest of facts. “You watched, and you worried. Thought I was broken, that I'd break you too.”
Maybe it's that he's just woken up, but something compels him to go and be honest when he shouldn't. “Still ain't sure you won't, darlin'.” Moment it's out of his mouth, he knows it's the wrong thing to say, though he's less than certain which is worse, her thinking he still sees her as a threat or her taking it in regards to the lack of distance between them as of late, the way he meant it.
Way she smiles, quick and subtle, he knows full well which way she took it. “You won't break,” she says firmly, and moves away, settling herself in the other chair, watching him from further away now. “I won't let you.”
Funny, how he's finding he misses the heat of her close by; still, there's too many things to say just now, and they're all jumbled up in his brain 'til he can't possibly make sense of what's real and what's just in his head, and the possibility of something breaking - his sense of decency, her fragile peace, the rules that keep them both bound inches apart - seems more likely by the minute.
“It's alright,” she says, smiling that secretive little smile again and shaking her head just a fraction, as if to say, I can wait, and so can you. “Go back to sleep. I'll watch.”
Title: Unintended Usages
Rating: PG
Words: 471
Summary: She finds Wash's dinosaurs very useful, especially when Mal plays right into her hands.
Notes: Off the prompt River, she rarely played with uneducational "toys" in her childhood but Wash's small plastic lizards had their uses.
Also, yes, I've watched the Serenity outtakes a few too many times.
Unintended Usages
Looking down at the screens on the bridge, River frowns, because she certainly hadn't told the ship to do that.
A tiny click sounds off the metal space as she flips a switch.
A corresponding click from the opposite side of the room indicates the reason Serenity is disobeying her; the only reason the ship ever would, really - her sha gua of a Captain giving orders which are clearly quite incorrect.
Very careful not to look (that would spoil the game, and she does like to play), she flicks the switch again in response. And then again, and once more, faster and faster until the clicks are nearly indistinguishable, and Mal's got quick hands but hers will always be just a little bit faster, so -
A stegosaurus flies through the air, and it's not that his aim is bad, exactly, but she doubts he meant it to hit her right above her eye, and in any case, it makes her squeal in surprise.
He's out of his chair in a flash, his soft heart and gullible nature luring him right within range, and she pounces quick as a raptor, leaving Mal on his back, being menaced with tiny tail-spikes.
“Just because it was a herbivore doesn't mean it wasn't intended for combat,” she tells him.
“Looks more like a thing made for defense,” he points out, indicating the rows of plates on the creature's back, not seeming all that put out by his current position. He likes to play too, and she knows it, feels it in the instinctive rightness of his hips beneath hers.
“Highly debated,” she says, mastering reluctance and rising, offering him a hand up that doesn't contain a spiky plastic form. “Might all be part of a shell, bristling with spikes and surliness and bright warnings to keep away, don't get involved.” A sidelong look shows he's watching her very carefully; he's always been the one who bothers teasing out the practical intentions from her metaphors. “Or they could serve a thermoregulatory purpose. Or,” she says, turning back as she leaves the room to toss the object of debate back to him, “they might have served a sexual purpose. A flamboyantly prickly exterior can be seen as a highly attractive quality in a mate.”
There's a clatter of plastic on metal as Mal fumbles the catch, and River giggles her way down the passage, never ceasing to be amused by how easy it is to fluster him; he's nearly as bad as her brother when it comes to these things.
On that thought, she fishes the tyrannosaur from her pocket and smiles at it. “Shall we go find Simon?”
Mal will come around eventually, she knows, though he may never look at that stegosaurus quite the same again.
Title: As Little as this Bed Allows
Rating: PG-13
Words: 680
Summary: There's definite upsides to this situation, but some things still need a little work.
Notes: Off the prompt Firefly, Mal/River, I could get used to this.
As Little as this Bed Allows
Isn't that Mal's thinking Serenity is imperfect in any way, exactly - somebody else's fluffy lord surely knows how he loves his ship - but he is finding out now that there's a damn good reason Zoe had insisted on taking over the larger bunk when she started bedding down with Wash.
“You mind gettin' your hair outta my face, maybe?” Seems like no matter how much of River's silky hair he pushes off himself, there's always a strand or two left to tickle him. Not that the sweet flowery scent of it isn't a nice reminder that there's a woman in his bed for once, but really, it's enough to drive a man clear out of his head.
“You're lying on some of it,” she points out, shifting about next to him, getting cold little feet all kinds of places they don't belong. “That makes it rather difficult.”
“Well, here, let me just-” Except too much shifting around makes him almost fall off the edge, and the bed's a mess of flailing limbs in no time. Not in the fun way it had been not long ago neither, cause the wheezing gasp River lets out is no kind of pleased.
“Ow.”
“Sorry, darlin', did I hurt you?”
“Think your right patella made contact with my solar plexus.”
“Okay, can I get that in dummy talk for those of us who ain't freaky genius types like you?”
She gives him a long-suffering sigh and a pained look, pulling that endless curtain of tickles back behind her shoulders. “You kneed me in the chest.”
“Oh,” he says, pulling her down underneath him, cause he's more than happy to check for any damage in that particular area, “no harm done, I hope?”
She laughs against his mouth when he goes to kiss her, light and breathy and completely maddening, just like the rest of her. “The solar plexus is lower down, Mal.”
“Glad to hear it. Wouldn't want to - wo de ma, is that your foot?”
“Possibly,” she says, scooting away from him much as possible, which ain't so very far. “Was it problematic?”
“Only cause it felt like a block of ice. This is what comes of going 'round barefoot all the time.”
“It's a resolvable issue,” she says.
“Long as your solution don't involve getting your feet anywhere near me again, that's - hey, you give that back!”
“You wanted me to warm myself,” she says innocently, great big eyes peeping at him over the cocoon she's made out of the only blanket, wrapped all nice and snug around herself.
“Didn't have a mind to freeze my own self. You gotta share, and that's an order. Ain't gonna disobey Captain's orders, are you?”
“Your pilot and crew member wouldn't,” she says, before sticking her tongue out at him, safe inside her fleecy little fortress. “Your girlfriend would.”
“Well that ain't rightly fair,” he says, giving up and flopping down on his back, though there's parts of him hanging off the bed, what with it being more crowded than normal. “Might just have to take myself down to the passenger dorms to get any rest, if this is how it's gonna be.”
There's another little sigh in the darkness, and then her hands (thankfully a good deal warmer than her feet) and her voice prodding at him. “Move over - no, this way, you boob. There.” She settles herself, and the blanket too, down on top of him, more or less. “Will this do?”
Seeing as how there's no hair in his face, he can breathe fine, and none of his limbs seem likely to go all pins-and-needles on him, he thinks this just might work out after all. “Yeah, albatross,” he says, kissing her hair, not a single strand sticking around to bedevil him. “Thinkin' I could get used to this.”