Fic: World Falls Away - Part One, Chapter Five (Mal/Wash)
Title: World Falls Away - Part One, Chapter Five
Author: Nari
Pairing: Mal/Wash
Characters: Mal, Wash
Rating: this part, R for non-graphic type stuff, overall R
Summary: The Alliance come to help out the farming community on Shadow.
Notes: The age timeline in this fic is very AU. We're starting off with the boys being around 18 for Wash and 20 for Mal. Translations are in mouseover.
Thanks: To lvs2read for the beta! And to wildannuette for the beta and the encouragement.
Part One: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four
Chapter Five
The next morning, Wash is up before him. Mal thinks his eyes almost bug out of his head when he walks out into the kitchen and there's already coffee brewed, and oatmeal steaming. All that plus Wash is sitting at the counter, still looking half-asleep and Mal decides that the spiky mess of hair has just never seen a comb. He doesn't think Wash would have the energy this early to style it into its perfect mess.
“Mornin',” Mal greets Wash, a little on the cautious side, as he pours himself a cup of the coffee. The super strong coffee, apparently, and he makes a face as he chokes a mouthful down. “You're up because...”
“Because I need to learn responsibility and that my actions have consequences,” Wash says like he's reciting. He sighs and goes on a little more miserably. “And that I can't actually hijack a million credit ship and expect to get away with it.”
A laugh is surprised out of Mal. “You didn't? Actually, I think I entirely believe that you did.” He sits next to Wash and snags the bowl of oatmeal that Wash obviously isn't eating. “So this trip's a punishment?”
Wash nods, sullen for another moment before he grins at Mal. “Not much of one, though.”
Wash is awake enough to skate his hand from Mal's knee up his thigh, hidden from sight under the table. A fact that doesn't register with Mal when the Major walks on in, his ma right behind, and Mal gives a jerk hard enough to hit the table and knock over Wash's coffee. The cup tips over and sends the coffee spilling across the table, dripping over the edge and right over into Wash's lap. It's Wash's turn to yelp, chair shoved back as he jumps to his feet with a bitten out “Cào!”
“Hoban!” the Major snaps.
Wash bites at his lip and hisses. “Sorry. It's just...” he glares at Mal, “hot.”
Mal presses his lips together in an effort not to laugh. “Guess I'm a mite jumpy in the mornin'.” His ma's lips quiver like she might start laughing as well.
“You go get changed, child. Mal can clean up his mess.” She does give a warm chuckle. Mal only gives a token protesting look, before getting up to grab a damp cloth and mop up the spilled coffee. Wash listens to her, as well, moving out of the room to change.
The Major and his ma sit while Mal cleans the mess. He pours them each coffee while he's standing and the Major comments in a way that makes Mal's dislike for the man solid.
“If only Hoban listened half so well as your boy, Mrs. Reynolds.”
Mal’s ma only smiles at the Major. “I doubt you got us up so early to trade stories on our boys.”
“You insisted on being there when we started our work.”
“Just to oversee the start.” Mal’s ma is still smiling in the face of the Major’s derision, subtle as it might be.
Mal excuses himself a few minutes later to follow Wash into his room, tapping lightly and opening the door when Wash calls out for him to enter. He just catches sight of a sliver of skin on Wash's hip as the man pulls up a fresh pair of boxers. Mal shuts the door behind him and fights the new urge to laugh as Wash turns and glares at him.
“You're a real dramatic type of guy, aren't you?”
“Sorry.” He's not. Besides which, Wash started it with the inappropriate touching.
“I'm thinking you should kiss it all better.” And so Mal doesn't get the wrong idea about which part of him is hurting, Wash gestures with both hands down to his groin.
Mal doesn't hold back the laughter this time. “In your dreams. Ain't getting on my knees for you, boy.”
Wash considers that for a moment. “We could lay on the bed if that'd make it easier.”
Mal rolls his eyes. There's other places he doesn't mind kissing Wash, though, so he steps forward and closes his mouth over the other man's, even if it is just to stop him talking for a bit, bringing up ideas that make Mal's gut roll with anticipation and nerves.
*
They're kept busy for the rest of the day, both of them off doing their assigned chores. Mal finally helps get the rest of the calves branded. Wash spends the day in the fields and, near as Mal can tell, his job is to keep the machines that are digging the irrigation ditches running smooth. Mal watches him from the back of Sandy in between doing his own job.
Even off at a distance, he can see Wash is handy with the tools. Handy, and unafraid to climb all over the large machine tearing up the ground. He can also see that's it got to be hard work because Wash has stripped off his shirt at some point, and Mal can almost imagine the sheen of sweat forming over his shoulders.
They sneak in kisses where they can.
Mal takes Sandy over for a drink and Wash is there ten minutes later. They wait until the ranch hand is gone, Wash splashing water over his face. It runs down in small rivulets along his bare chest. When they're alone, hidden from view behind Sandy, Mal pins Wash against the trough and kisses him.
“You're a rutting tease, Hoban.”
Wash grins and teases some more by licking his lips. “I saw you watching, I figured I may as well put on a show for you.”
They go on like that through the rest of the day. It's fun. It sends a course of adrenaline through him every time Mal has Wash pressed against him. Not just the arousal that Wash can stir up in him, but the thought that the Major could walk around the corner any second and find out what they've been up to. He likes the idea of pulling one over an Alliance officer's eyes, and with his own son at that.
More than that, he finds he just likes Wash. His pa really would be furious to find out that it's not just kissin' and dry rutting that makes Mal want to seek the pilot-in-training out.
Wash searches him out when they're both done for the day. Dinner's been served and Mal had been thinking on an early night when Wash finds him on the deck. He's been gazing at the Alliance machines that look out of place on their homestead.
For a moment, Wash just stands beside him in silence. Mal is waiting for him to say something but, when he doesn't, he looks across only to meet Wash's grin. Wash grabs hold of his wrist and tugs.
“Come on.”
“Come on where?” Mal asks. He balks for a moment before letting Wash drag him off the deck. He thinks they're likely heading back to the barn and, if that's the case, he's not really going to argue. Early night be damned.
But Wash gives him a dangerous grin. “You got me on a horse. Now it's my turn.”
Mal's eyes widen when he realizes where he's being hauled off to, across the field and the huge Alliance ship that stands out against the final rays of light that cast dusk over the place. “No. Wash... No way! You're fēng le you think I'm getting on that thing.”
They're halfway there and they both know that if Mal really didn't want to go, Wash would be on his back by now, knocked cold or gasping for breath with Mal's boot over his throat. Wash still stops them and looks at Mal seriously.
“Not the ship. The Major would kill me if I touched that ship. But there's something almost as fun inside.”
“An' the Major ain't gonna kill you for takin' that?”
“Well, not as much. Please?”
Wash opens his eyes up wide and begging, and Mal rolls his own. It's as good as saying yes and Wash is back to hauling him along, though Mal goes a little more willingly now. There's an officer by the ramp, a guard Mal thinks, as if anyone around here is going to attempt to steal the ship or anything that's inside. It's part of being Alliance, though, paranoid as hell and gotta keep on eye on everything they can. Nothing left out of control.
The officer nods to Wash and lets them up the ramp. Everything in control except Wash, anyway. Mal's surprised when they're let on without questioning.
“Did you bribe him?”
Wash shoves him playfully, but that's not a no, and Mal's thinking that they're both going to get in some real trouble for this. There's also so much real enthusiasm on Wash's face that he can't bring himself to put a stop to it. Wash is damn near bouncing on his heels as he hauls Mal into the belly of the ship.
Mal's never been on a ship before. One of this size, huge cargo ship and they're right in the bay. It's like being in a giant metal cave. Mal could cry out and his voice would echo for an hour. He looks around himself in awe. There's catwalks over them, he guesses that one of them lead up to the bridge and he suddenly wants to see up there, too. Not to mention the rest of it, this is a world he's never experienced before.
Wash's hand snags his shirt and pulls him over to the side of the cargo bay, into the shadows and Mal thinks he's about to get manhandled, but all Wash does is pull a lever that Mal hadn't even noticed. There's the loud clank of machines, chains, something overhead and Mal looks up in time to see the hover vehicle lowering to the deck. It's small, sleek, built for speed and efficiency.
Wash runs his hand over the hull of it. “Sweet, huh?” He opens it to reach in and start it up. Mal is surprised when it doesn't make a noise, except for the quietest hum. Wash unhooks the chains and it floats a few feet above the deck. “After you.”
Mal takes a breath and steps up into the vehicle. It's spacious inside, the seats are soft. He shifts over to the passenger side and Wash joins him a second later. It bobs a little under their weight before finding a new equilibrium and steadying. They look across at each other and it's more the look on Wash's face that scares him than being in this thing at all.
“Okay, just take it-” Mal yelps, the hover car jerks forward and pushes him back against the seat while Wash shoves the accelerator forward. The vehicle rockets off the ship, down the ramp and out across the fields, engines kicking up dust behind it.
Wash is laughing like a madman and Mal stares at him.
“Wash, you lost your mind? Tryin' t' get us killed?” Mal barks, his voice gone high-pitched. Wash just looks at him and grins. Mal swears he pushes the hover vehicle to go that much faster. It takes Mal far too long to realize that Wash looks just fine and Mal's entirely alone in his panic. “Yē sū, y' are insane. We get off this thing an' I'm gonna be killing you.”
“Maybe I'll never let us off. You'll be stuck on here with me. Can't kill me because then you'd crash.”
Mal registers the incline Wash has them on, looking out his window and seeing they're already a good way up by now and Mal hadn't even noticed. “How high you say this thing goes?”
“Goes pretty high.”
Oddly enough, Mal finds himself relaxing the higher they get. 'Til he can only just make out his house through the quickly falling dark. He can still see the sunset from up here when Wash levels the hover craft out. Mal jumps when he feels a touch to his thigh and finds that Wash has shifted across to the middle of the long seat. His eyes widen but Wash's fingers cover his lips.
“Auto-pilot, Mal. We're in a mini-ship. A skiff. All the same perks, just doesn't go as high or fast.”
“Oh,” Mal breathes out and that's really all the reassurance he needs. He turns his head and catches Wash's lips. He can't get tired of kissing Wash, and Wash seems to feel the same about him. Slow, this time. Wash's hand is slow to run along his chest. His tongue is slow to slip into Wash's mouth. He's even slower to pull back. “Think this might be that romance, then.”
Wash shrugs, then looks down at the sunset going on ground level, stars showing up above them in the clear sky. “I did set a pretty good mood.”
“Might start likin' this thing, if you keep this up.”
“I can do even better.” Wash near on purrs against Mal's ear, lips that brush sending a shiver through him. He slides his arm around Mal's shoulders, half-turned in the seat so they're facing. His other hand skates down Mal's chest and Mal holds his breath, but Wash doesn't go there. He tugs up Mal's shirt instead and slips his hand under, running fingers teasingly light along Mal's belly.
Mal lets out his breath in a rush that catches when Wash's fingers pluck at hard nipples. “Tease, Wash.”
“Yeah.” Wash's mouth presses lightly along the side of Mal's neck and Mal tips his head to the side. He doesn't think to touch back, enjoying soaking up the feelings, the shivers and heat, that Wash is instilling in him. All things that overwhelm him, the way Wash has since he stepped off that ship.
When Wash's hand finally wanders back down, working open the fastenings on his jeans and reaching in to palm Mal's cock with a warm hand, Mal groans. He's sure he lasts about a minute after Wash starts working him, but he feels less embarrassed about that when Wash doesn't manage any better as Mal returns the favor.
They stay slumped against each other afterwards. Mal's not sure how far off they are from the farm now, and he doesn't care too much. Wash nuzzles against his neck and he brushes his fingers through Wash's messy hair.
“Still ain't answered my question.”
“Hm?”
“'Bout this being some kind of romance.”
“Ah.” Wash pulls back to look at him and Mal can see he's taking it seriously. “I'm leaving in a few months, you know that. Not to mention we have to keep the whole thing a secret. Do you want it to be?”
“You started it. We have a Cortex link, could give you the wave coordinates.” Which is a yes, Mal thinks. Wash thinks the same because he kisses Mal again. Hell, if the man can manage to make him feel weak-kneed sitting down, then why not?
Part One - Chapter Six
Author: Nari
Pairing: Mal/Wash
Characters: Mal, Wash
Rating: this part, R for non-graphic type stuff, overall R
Summary: The Alliance come to help out the farming community on Shadow.
Notes: The age timeline in this fic is very AU. We're starting off with the boys being around 18 for Wash and 20 for Mal. Translations are in mouseover.
Thanks: To lvs2read for the beta! And to wildannuette for the beta and the encouragement.
Part One: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four
Chapter Five
The next morning, Wash is up before him. Mal thinks his eyes almost bug out of his head when he walks out into the kitchen and there's already coffee brewed, and oatmeal steaming. All that plus Wash is sitting at the counter, still looking half-asleep and Mal decides that the spiky mess of hair has just never seen a comb. He doesn't think Wash would have the energy this early to style it into its perfect mess.
“Mornin',” Mal greets Wash, a little on the cautious side, as he pours himself a cup of the coffee. The super strong coffee, apparently, and he makes a face as he chokes a mouthful down. “You're up because...”
“Because I need to learn responsibility and that my actions have consequences,” Wash says like he's reciting. He sighs and goes on a little more miserably. “And that I can't actually hijack a million credit ship and expect to get away with it.”
A laugh is surprised out of Mal. “You didn't? Actually, I think I entirely believe that you did.” He sits next to Wash and snags the bowl of oatmeal that Wash obviously isn't eating. “So this trip's a punishment?”
Wash nods, sullen for another moment before he grins at Mal. “Not much of one, though.”
Wash is awake enough to skate his hand from Mal's knee up his thigh, hidden from sight under the table. A fact that doesn't register with Mal when the Major walks on in, his ma right behind, and Mal gives a jerk hard enough to hit the table and knock over Wash's coffee. The cup tips over and sends the coffee spilling across the table, dripping over the edge and right over into Wash's lap. It's Wash's turn to yelp, chair shoved back as he jumps to his feet with a bitten out “Cào!”
“Hoban!” the Major snaps.
Wash bites at his lip and hisses. “Sorry. It's just...” he glares at Mal, “hot.”
Mal presses his lips together in an effort not to laugh. “Guess I'm a mite jumpy in the mornin'.” His ma's lips quiver like she might start laughing as well.
“You go get changed, child. Mal can clean up his mess.” She does give a warm chuckle. Mal only gives a token protesting look, before getting up to grab a damp cloth and mop up the spilled coffee. Wash listens to her, as well, moving out of the room to change.
The Major and his ma sit while Mal cleans the mess. He pours them each coffee while he's standing and the Major comments in a way that makes Mal's dislike for the man solid.
“If only Hoban listened half so well as your boy, Mrs. Reynolds.”
Mal’s ma only smiles at the Major. “I doubt you got us up so early to trade stories on our boys.”
“You insisted on being there when we started our work.”
“Just to oversee the start.” Mal’s ma is still smiling in the face of the Major’s derision, subtle as it might be.
Mal excuses himself a few minutes later to follow Wash into his room, tapping lightly and opening the door when Wash calls out for him to enter. He just catches sight of a sliver of skin on Wash's hip as the man pulls up a fresh pair of boxers. Mal shuts the door behind him and fights the new urge to laugh as Wash turns and glares at him.
“You're a real dramatic type of guy, aren't you?”
“Sorry.” He's not. Besides which, Wash started it with the inappropriate touching.
“I'm thinking you should kiss it all better.” And so Mal doesn't get the wrong idea about which part of him is hurting, Wash gestures with both hands down to his groin.
Mal doesn't hold back the laughter this time. “In your dreams. Ain't getting on my knees for you, boy.”
Wash considers that for a moment. “We could lay on the bed if that'd make it easier.”
Mal rolls his eyes. There's other places he doesn't mind kissing Wash, though, so he steps forward and closes his mouth over the other man's, even if it is just to stop him talking for a bit, bringing up ideas that make Mal's gut roll with anticipation and nerves.
*
They're kept busy for the rest of the day, both of them off doing their assigned chores. Mal finally helps get the rest of the calves branded. Wash spends the day in the fields and, near as Mal can tell, his job is to keep the machines that are digging the irrigation ditches running smooth. Mal watches him from the back of Sandy in between doing his own job.
Even off at a distance, he can see Wash is handy with the tools. Handy, and unafraid to climb all over the large machine tearing up the ground. He can also see that's it got to be hard work because Wash has stripped off his shirt at some point, and Mal can almost imagine the sheen of sweat forming over his shoulders.
They sneak in kisses where they can.
Mal takes Sandy over for a drink and Wash is there ten minutes later. They wait until the ranch hand is gone, Wash splashing water over his face. It runs down in small rivulets along his bare chest. When they're alone, hidden from view behind Sandy, Mal pins Wash against the trough and kisses him.
“You're a rutting tease, Hoban.”
Wash grins and teases some more by licking his lips. “I saw you watching, I figured I may as well put on a show for you.”
They go on like that through the rest of the day. It's fun. It sends a course of adrenaline through him every time Mal has Wash pressed against him. Not just the arousal that Wash can stir up in him, but the thought that the Major could walk around the corner any second and find out what they've been up to. He likes the idea of pulling one over an Alliance officer's eyes, and with his own son at that.
More than that, he finds he just likes Wash. His pa really would be furious to find out that it's not just kissin' and dry rutting that makes Mal want to seek the pilot-in-training out.
Wash searches him out when they're both done for the day. Dinner's been served and Mal had been thinking on an early night when Wash finds him on the deck. He's been gazing at the Alliance machines that look out of place on their homestead.
For a moment, Wash just stands beside him in silence. Mal is waiting for him to say something but, when he doesn't, he looks across only to meet Wash's grin. Wash grabs hold of his wrist and tugs.
“Come on.”
“Come on where?” Mal asks. He balks for a moment before letting Wash drag him off the deck. He thinks they're likely heading back to the barn and, if that's the case, he's not really going to argue. Early night be damned.
But Wash gives him a dangerous grin. “You got me on a horse. Now it's my turn.”
Mal's eyes widen when he realizes where he's being hauled off to, across the field and the huge Alliance ship that stands out against the final rays of light that cast dusk over the place. “No. Wash... No way! You're fēng le you think I'm getting on that thing.”
They're halfway there and they both know that if Mal really didn't want to go, Wash would be on his back by now, knocked cold or gasping for breath with Mal's boot over his throat. Wash still stops them and looks at Mal seriously.
“Not the ship. The Major would kill me if I touched that ship. But there's something almost as fun inside.”
“An' the Major ain't gonna kill you for takin' that?”
“Well, not as much. Please?”
Wash opens his eyes up wide and begging, and Mal rolls his own. It's as good as saying yes and Wash is back to hauling him along, though Mal goes a little more willingly now. There's an officer by the ramp, a guard Mal thinks, as if anyone around here is going to attempt to steal the ship or anything that's inside. It's part of being Alliance, though, paranoid as hell and gotta keep on eye on everything they can. Nothing left out of control.
The officer nods to Wash and lets them up the ramp. Everything in control except Wash, anyway. Mal's surprised when they're let on without questioning.
“Did you bribe him?”
Wash shoves him playfully, but that's not a no, and Mal's thinking that they're both going to get in some real trouble for this. There's also so much real enthusiasm on Wash's face that he can't bring himself to put a stop to it. Wash is damn near bouncing on his heels as he hauls Mal into the belly of the ship.
Mal's never been on a ship before. One of this size, huge cargo ship and they're right in the bay. It's like being in a giant metal cave. Mal could cry out and his voice would echo for an hour. He looks around himself in awe. There's catwalks over them, he guesses that one of them lead up to the bridge and he suddenly wants to see up there, too. Not to mention the rest of it, this is a world he's never experienced before.
Wash's hand snags his shirt and pulls him over to the side of the cargo bay, into the shadows and Mal thinks he's about to get manhandled, but all Wash does is pull a lever that Mal hadn't even noticed. There's the loud clank of machines, chains, something overhead and Mal looks up in time to see the hover vehicle lowering to the deck. It's small, sleek, built for speed and efficiency.
Wash runs his hand over the hull of it. “Sweet, huh?” He opens it to reach in and start it up. Mal is surprised when it doesn't make a noise, except for the quietest hum. Wash unhooks the chains and it floats a few feet above the deck. “After you.”
Mal takes a breath and steps up into the vehicle. It's spacious inside, the seats are soft. He shifts over to the passenger side and Wash joins him a second later. It bobs a little under their weight before finding a new equilibrium and steadying. They look across at each other and it's more the look on Wash's face that scares him than being in this thing at all.
“Okay, just take it-” Mal yelps, the hover car jerks forward and pushes him back against the seat while Wash shoves the accelerator forward. The vehicle rockets off the ship, down the ramp and out across the fields, engines kicking up dust behind it.
Wash is laughing like a madman and Mal stares at him.
“Wash, you lost your mind? Tryin' t' get us killed?” Mal barks, his voice gone high-pitched. Wash just looks at him and grins. Mal swears he pushes the hover vehicle to go that much faster. It takes Mal far too long to realize that Wash looks just fine and Mal's entirely alone in his panic. “Yē sū, y' are insane. We get off this thing an' I'm gonna be killing you.”
“Maybe I'll never let us off. You'll be stuck on here with me. Can't kill me because then you'd crash.”
Mal registers the incline Wash has them on, looking out his window and seeing they're already a good way up by now and Mal hadn't even noticed. “How high you say this thing goes?”
“Goes pretty high.”
Oddly enough, Mal finds himself relaxing the higher they get. 'Til he can only just make out his house through the quickly falling dark. He can still see the sunset from up here when Wash levels the hover craft out. Mal jumps when he feels a touch to his thigh and finds that Wash has shifted across to the middle of the long seat. His eyes widen but Wash's fingers cover his lips.
“Auto-pilot, Mal. We're in a mini-ship. A skiff. All the same perks, just doesn't go as high or fast.”
“Oh,” Mal breathes out and that's really all the reassurance he needs. He turns his head and catches Wash's lips. He can't get tired of kissing Wash, and Wash seems to feel the same about him. Slow, this time. Wash's hand is slow to run along his chest. His tongue is slow to slip into Wash's mouth. He's even slower to pull back. “Think this might be that romance, then.”
Wash shrugs, then looks down at the sunset going on ground level, stars showing up above them in the clear sky. “I did set a pretty good mood.”
“Might start likin' this thing, if you keep this up.”
“I can do even better.” Wash near on purrs against Mal's ear, lips that brush sending a shiver through him. He slides his arm around Mal's shoulders, half-turned in the seat so they're facing. His other hand skates down Mal's chest and Mal holds his breath, but Wash doesn't go there. He tugs up Mal's shirt instead and slips his hand under, running fingers teasingly light along Mal's belly.
Mal lets out his breath in a rush that catches when Wash's fingers pluck at hard nipples. “Tease, Wash.”
“Yeah.” Wash's mouth presses lightly along the side of Mal's neck and Mal tips his head to the side. He doesn't think to touch back, enjoying soaking up the feelings, the shivers and heat, that Wash is instilling in him. All things that overwhelm him, the way Wash has since he stepped off that ship.
When Wash's hand finally wanders back down, working open the fastenings on his jeans and reaching in to palm Mal's cock with a warm hand, Mal groans. He's sure he lasts about a minute after Wash starts working him, but he feels less embarrassed about that when Wash doesn't manage any better as Mal returns the favor.
They stay slumped against each other afterwards. Mal's not sure how far off they are from the farm now, and he doesn't care too much. Wash nuzzles against his neck and he brushes his fingers through Wash's messy hair.
“Still ain't answered my question.”
“Hm?”
“'Bout this being some kind of romance.”
“Ah.” Wash pulls back to look at him and Mal can see he's taking it seriously. “I'm leaving in a few months, you know that. Not to mention we have to keep the whole thing a secret. Do you want it to be?”
“You started it. We have a Cortex link, could give you the wave coordinates.” Which is a yes, Mal thinks. Wash thinks the same because he kisses Mal again. Hell, if the man can manage to make him feel weak-kneed sitting down, then why not?
Part One - Chapter Six