Thoughts Colored Ugly 13
Jan. 9th, 2008 06:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lit_galWednesday chapter. The reunion with the crew begins.
Thoughts Colored Ugly 13/?
River/Jayne
Rated: ADULT
Warnings: Dom/sub, slavery, angst.
Previous parts
Thoughts Colored Ugly 13/?
River/Jayne
Rated: ADULT
Warnings: Dom/sub, slavery, angst.
Previous parts
"Can I have something?" River asked, holding his arm as they walked down the ramp to the dusty streets of Persephone.
"Reckon you have whatever you want," Jayne answered as he scanned the crowds. Considering that Jayne had more credits in his pocket right now than he'd ever held in his whole gorram life, he figured she could afford most anything Persephone had to offer. Served the crew of the Mockingbird right, trying to play poker with River. Serenity crew had learned the stupidity of that a whole sight faster than they had. A shirt seller was pushing his cart, and Jayne studied him for a second seeing as how that would be a real convenient place to hide weapons.
"Can I have sex then?" River asked brightly. Jayne glanced down at her. A deckhand from the Mockingbird were a good bit more surprised and almost drove off the side of the ramp, jerking the wheel on the small hauler filled with freight at the last second to save it from going nose down in the dirt. Mal didn't even twitch, but then after five day's passage on the Mockingbird, Jayne supposed the captain was immune to her saying such as that.
"No," Jayne answered as he kept scanning the crowd.
"Getting frustrated, you know. When you do finally give me sex, you aren't coming out of our quarters for a week. Chain you to the bed," River grumped.
Mal actually lost a half step on that.
"You actually want something or are you just pointing out that you need sexing?" Jayne asked as he followed Mal down onto the dirt. Felt right... back on the worlds the Serenity ran, his gun on his hip, and his new knife hanging from his belt. Now if he could just slip River and find a seller with some looser britches, he figured life would be about as close to perfect as it got for him. Maybe if he spaced these tight ones River would let him wear some of the ones that would have gone back to Serenity with his bag. Then again, she might make him walk around without no britches.
Jayne glanced down at River. She held his arm, pressed closely to his side as she gazed about curiously. Yeah, she'd probably space his old britches and use it as an excuse to keep him half naked in their quarters. She looked up at him with a smile. "Have something for you for me," she said as if it made perfect sense.
"What's that?" Jayne asked. She reached in the small bag she had carried off the Mockingbird with her and pulled out a metal cuff. Jayne looked at the slave cuff in surprise. He let her put that on, and he wouldn't be able to take it off. Anyone who looked at him would know he was a slave.
Jayne froze, and River's open curiosity slowly turned to confusion. "Thinking ugly," River said softly. "Why?"
Swallowing, Jayne looked at the thing. Black metal, heavy, just the right size to lock around Jayne's wrist. One side had a flattened ring for attaching a restraint. The restraint didn't bother him none given that he wore shackles about as often as not in quarters, but wearing that out in public.... "Ain't sure I want everyone seein' that and dismissing me as some gorram slave who ain't worth paying attention to," Jayne said. He'd learned he had to be real specific with River or she went plucking things out his mind, which weren't always to his benefit.
Mal snorted.
"You got something to say about this?" Jayne demanded. Mal glanced over to where the Mockingbird crewman was unloading their baggage and then at Jayne. For a second, then he shook his head and got an almost amused expression.
"First time I saw you, I knew I didn't want to cross guns with you. If you'd had that slave cuff on, I still wouldn't have wanted to cross guns with you," Mal pointed out. "If anything, it'd make me worry more. You wear that and everyone knows someone is on the other end of that leash--someone strong enough to hold you and command enough loyalty to let you loose with a gun. That weren't a comforting thought."
Jayne thought on that a second as he scratched his crotch. "If I'd been wearing a cuff that first time we met, you wouldn't have thought I were less of a man?" Jayne asked.
Mal snorted. "Jayne, you could wear a pink tutu and borrow my pretty floral bonnet, and you'd still look plenty manly, and I still wouldn't want to cross guns with you. Course, you doing that inappropriate scratching in a tutu would be a good sight more disturbing."
Jayne hesitated and glared before he just kept right on scratching. With River doing her best to seduce him, jerking off was about his only relief. Never thought he'd do it so much he were sore, but he wasn't about to stop scratching that itch just because he offended Mal's sense of manners.
When Jayne didn't stop, Mal just shook his head. "Only difference a slave cuff would've made in how I saw you was I wouldn't have assumed I could hire you away from that backstabbing son-of-a-bitch Marcos you was working for. A man wears a cuff or collar because he wants to or because someone has paper on him. Ain't no one in their right mind going to give a slave he holds paper on a gun because paper ain't going to keep a man from killing to win his freedom. So, if I saw you with your penchant for heavy weapons and a slave cuff, I would've assumed your loyalty weren't up for offer." Mal paused for a second. "And in a tutu, I'd be thinking you weren't right in the head."
"Ain't like you had problems bring crazy folk on board before," Jayne verbally jabbed at the man, but the fire weren't in it. Couldn't hardly say it was a bad decision, keeping River around. That's why Jayne had no business being captain because he would have spaced her and her brother long time back.
"I got all kinds of crazy folk on Serenity," Mal agreed. "Mind, you best be ready because doc is going to take one look at that and have thoughts about serving your guts up for supper."
"It's for him, too," River said. "So easy to forget, and I want everyone to remember that Jayne is mine. No more trying to throw him out an airlock," River said with a glare at the captain.
"I expect you to keep him from doing anything particular stupid then," Mal picked at a hangnail without looking up.
"I will," River quickly agreed, her glare vanishing.
"Ain't sure I like you two conspiring against me," Jayne said as he looked from one to the other. River smiled sweetly up at him. Her sweet smiles always worried him more than the wicked ones she'd flash him when she locked the chains on around his wrists.
River looked down at the cuff in her hand, stroking the edge with her thumb. "I want to look at it and know that everyone can see you're mine, that you laid down your strength for me. I want to see the steel and know you'll always be there to anchor me because you're mine and I'm never setting you free," River said quietly. Jayne knew that sweet smile were more worrisome than any wicked expression she ever got. He couldn't very well say no to that. With a sigh, he held brought his hand up and surrendered it to her.
Still smiling, she locked the cuff around his left wrist, closing it with an audible snap. The metal was cold against his skin, and Jayne could see his whole arm go to goose pimples. Then River wrapped herself around his arm, again pressing to his side.
"Ain't nobody going to see it if you keep clinging to him like that," Mal said dryly.
"Captain's cranky," River declared, but then a familiar face appeared, over the crowd.
"Captain," a voice called. Zoe maneuvered Serenity's hauler around a small crowd of children playing in the dirt. Her hair was pulled back, the curls dusted with gray from the clouds of dust that hung over the docks.
"Captain, Jayne, River," she called as she came to a stop and powered down in front of the Mockingbird. "Everyone okay?" she immediately asked as she studied each of them in turn.
"Got our lost sheep back," Mal commented, his thumb poking in Jayne's direction.
"Kaylee said you were coming in with some freight," she said as she looked at the pile the Mockingbird crew had just finished stacking in the dirt. "Looks a little scrawny for a hauling job."
"River done some shopping," Mal said without any emotion.
"He's thinking cranky thoughts about his shuttle," River said. Trust that girl to figure out whatever folk most didn't want to talk about and then bring it up. Mal gave her a real unfriendly look.
"What about the shuttle?" Zoe asked.
"Sold it," River announced. "Bought a Jayne."
Zoe whistled. "We sent along nearly 1200 credits. How much you go for, Jayne?" Zoe got off the hauler and leaned back against it as she gave Jayne an appraising look.
River jumped in before he could answer. "I paid 900 credits for him," River said cheerfully as she held up Jayne's arm with the slave cuff. Jayne stared at Zoe, just daring her to say anything.
"And I come back with 1,200 credits, but no paper on Jayne and no shuttle," Mal offered with a sigh.
"You could have had Jayne if you hadn't messed up so bad," River pointed out. Mal really glared at her then.
"Considering you weren't going to bring that up any more, you spend a goodly amount of time bringing that up."
"And now Jayne is my slave," River finished happily.
The whole time Jayne watched Zoe--her shocked face and the way her eyes kept darting from River to Mal to the cuff on his arm. "If you're planning on saying something, spit it out now because I ain't going to have you staring at me," he warned.
"Just surprised, is all," she said, not even bothering to change her expression.
"Shocked the hell out of me, too," Mal sympathized. "I would have figured that Jayne would space himself before ever wearing a cuff, but like I told him, don't make him any less of a black-hearted hwun dan."
Zoe laughed. Jayne could feel his guts rise to his mouth, anger and frustration that made him want to rip off the slave cuff and punch Zoe right her gorram laughing mouth. River's hand caught his arm. Maybe it was something in his expression that cut off Zoe's laugh so sudden. "Sir, the only thing I'm surprised at is him wearing River's cuff. Always figured you'd cuff him sooner or later."
Mal's mouth about dropped open, and Jayne's anger turned all confusion. "What?" Mal finally managed.
"Come on, sir. Jayne went from shooting his old captain in the leg to following us through Reaver territory. If he were in it for money, he would have jumped ship when we started taking more missions that were likely to get us killed than get us paid, but as much as he argued, he never hesitated to follow exactly where he didn't want to go."
"Wait, are you saying you thought..." Mal stopped and stared at her. Mal looked over toward him, and Jayne could only stare back with a confused expression of his own.
"Captain is stupid," River said. "He didn't even notice Jayne with all his strength following behind."
"I ain't stupid," Mal snapped, then he thought on that for a second. "Usually."
"Honestly?" Zoe asked, "I figured when Jayne had his bag sent to Serenity, that were his way of forcing your hand, sir."
"I weren't trying to force anything. Just wanted Vera to go to a good home if something happened to me. You thought I'd end up wearing a cuff?" Jayne couldn't even figure how he felt about that.
"I'm not one to lead myself," Zoe shrugged. "Can't say I'd ever wear a cuff, but that's just me. Jayne, you okay with River buying your paper? Don't seem like you two have a real amicable relationship."
"She ain't bad, and she's smarter than the captain," Jayne shrugged. River smiled up at him, that look like someone had just given her a puppy, and Jayne couldn't ever remember anyone looking at him like that. He remembered his Ma watching Matty's crib with that sort of pure love, so he supposed before he were old enough to start breaking things, she'd looked at him like that, but he sure hadn't had anyone in his life since consider him like she done right now.
"Right now, I'm starting to think you're right on that," Mal said, sounding kind of dazed. "So, if I had walked out at dinner and said I were moving Jayne into my quarters?" he asked.
Zoe looked at him with a sort of indulgent amusement. "I would have asked what took you so long to figure it out, sir."
"Tee wuh duh pee-goo."
Zoe coughed like she was hiding a laugh. "Inara asked if mayhaps you needed some instruction either on handling Jayne or just on menfolk's ways of pleasuring," Zoe added, and now she was clearly enjoying the situation.
"She... what?" Mal's voice was sounding downright unmanly now. Jayne didn't even try to hide a smirk.
"She thought that you were taking too long to getting around to Jayne… that maybe you had some issue she could help you with. When she come to me, I told her I knew you'd taken a man or two to bed, so I didn't think you were unversed in that. Didn't occur to either of us that you just hadn't figured it out." Zoe still had that military stiff body language, but Jayne could see the edges of her eyes crinkle, the corners of her mouth twitch as she fought back a laugh.
"Aiya. Tell me you and Inara weren't talking on my sex life."
"Sorry, sir," Zoe said, not sounding the least bit sorry. "In our defense, we did think you had at least noticed."
Jayne opened his mouth to get in on the fun, and River was there, pressing her back to his stomach and pinching his arm.
"Ow," he complained, and she looked up with that same affectionate smile. Mal didn't even seem to notice.
"Did everyone on the gorram ship know?" he demanded.
Zoe thought on that for a second. "I don't think Kaylee noticed, sir. Or Simon either. Reverend Book knew. Wash… well, he had all sorts of schemes for making you two stop butting heads and start talking." Zoe fell quiet, the memory of her husband did that when it slipped into the conversation. For a long minute, they all just stood, the bustle of Persephone flowing around them.
"Well, shi. Could've one of you told me," Mal finally sighed.
"Thought you knew, sir."
"Next time, when it comes to things like this, assume I'm gorram clueless."
"Yes, sir," Zoe agreed crisply.
"Told you that you messed up," River offered all friendly-like.
"Yeah, well tell your slave to help me load this gao shi you traded my shuttle for," Mal said as he headed over for the stack of goods sitting in the dust. River twisted out of Jayne's arms and gave him a smack on the butt to get him moving, but the grope at the end didn't make keeping his mind on work any easier as he headed for the pile. Three days and River seemed to have bought out half the planet. Mal grunted as he picked up a heavy box and headed for the hauler Zoe had brought. "What you got in here, River?"
"Books," River said absent-mindedly, her gaze on Jayne and a small smile on her lips. Jayne added the box of chains to the loader and looked at River suspiciously.
"Ain't a good look you're wearing," he said. River started to really smile, that sweet smile that made Jayne more stupid because it twisted something in his guts that made thinking downright impossible. Her eyes traveled down over him as she reached up and trailed a finger over the buttons of his shirt.
"Don't even go there," Jayne growled. "Not loading bare-chested in the middle of Persephone docks," he snapped as he started heading back for the pile, but River caught him by the arm, pulling him back in with that unnatural strength of hers. Jayne found himself pressed against the hauler as she went on tiptoes, her arms around her neck.
"Won't take what you can't give, but Jayne doesn't get to be that growly," River said softly. Sliding forward, she stood on the tops of his boots, her soft soled boots braced on his shit-kickers and her body pressed to his. Jayne's brain turned off as his cock hardened, sore or not.
"Why ain't I getting sexed again?" he asked as his arms went around her waist.
"Because you're being all stupid. Just because my brother would think you had been ungentlemanly with me, no reason for not having sex," River tightened her arms, her weight braced on his shoulders as she pulled herself up. Jayne tightened his arms to hold her in place and groaned. "Is it working yet?" she asked, her new favorite question as she kept trying new ways to seduce him. His cock were going to fall off before she was done with him.
"Ain't never wanted to get an argument over with so much in my life, but I ain't giving you that until we deal with your gorram brother. Mal, any chance we can just space the doc so I can commence with getting sexed without worrying about him getting his knickers all twisty.
"No," Mal said as he loaded another box, "but you can put your woman down and help load now. A captain shouldn't be doing all the work." River smiled slid down Jayne's body, rubbing in a way that just didn't help with the need for getting sexed or the soreness. He reached down and scratched as she stepped back.
"So, who gave River the birds and bees talk?" Zoe asked as she headed for the pile and lifted a large, awkward crate.
Jayne caught one edge and she shifted her grip so they could carry it together.
"Ain't sure anyone has yet, but she seems to be feeling her way though on her own," Jayne said. Didn't bother him to have the crew see him in a slave cuff, but he sure weren't confessing to being the one to teach River about sex and submission. Any brother would kill over gou shi like that.
"I ain't gone a day without hearing how she needs to be getting sexed." Mal complained as he leaned on the hauler.
"Think how I'm feeling sharing quarters. I ain't been so frustrated since I were fifteen," Jayne complained.
"What, you two aren't…?" Zoe's eyebrows rose.
"Given how they're groping each other, shocking, isn't it?" Mal asked.
"Very, sir."
"Ain't going to walk on the Serenity and have you think I went and seduced her and turned her head all around. I ain't never coerced a woman or went and bedded a child, so I told her she's got to convince you that she ain't no child. I may be a black-hearted hwun dan, but I've got my limits." Jayne dropped his end of the crate kind fast so that Zoe grunted as she worked her end around.
Mal dropped two small boxes into the hauler. "Looking at her now, I'm convinced. Five days of hearing her say things damn near as inappropriate as all Jayne's scratching, and I don't think I'll ever forget she's not a child."
"Salacious?" Zoe asked with a smile. Mal shook his head, leaning against the hauler as Jayne grabbed the last of their freight.
"Girl made one of the Mockingbird crew snort soup out his nose. One dinner should be enough to convince Simon that she ain't exactly child-like anymore. And for one," Mal added, "I'm hopin' she does less talking about sex once she's having it. But if she don't, I ain't even going to be comin' to dinner because all we'll be hearing about is Jayne's prowess in bed."
"Like the shepherd would have said," Zoe smiled, "wonders never cease. Our girl went and grew up, sir," Zoe said with a smile as River attached herself to Jayne's side again as soon as he'd put the last box in the hauler. "You planning on staying attached to Jayne from now on?" Zoe asked as she looked at how River plastered herself to his side.
Jayne groaned, knowing exactly what was coming. River's hand stroked his chest, wandering south until she cupped his genitals. "You had to ask," he snarled at Zoe. The woman's eyes were open about as wide as plates as she stared at River's hand, kneading Jayne's growing erection.
"Going to torture him until he agrees to have sex," River announced happily.
"Zoe, never, ever again ask *anything* going on the subject of them touching," Mal ordered, a strange expression on his face as he got in behind the wheel.
"Yes, sir," Zoe agreed as she took shotgun.
"Time to go home now," River said as she finally let go and climbed into the back, poking among her packages.
Jayne got in last, his cock already caught between aching and itching. Ignoring Zoe's disapproving look, he started scratching it again.
"Reckon you have whatever you want," Jayne answered as he scanned the crowds. Considering that Jayne had more credits in his pocket right now than he'd ever held in his whole gorram life, he figured she could afford most anything Persephone had to offer. Served the crew of the Mockingbird right, trying to play poker with River. Serenity crew had learned the stupidity of that a whole sight faster than they had. A shirt seller was pushing his cart, and Jayne studied him for a second seeing as how that would be a real convenient place to hide weapons.
"Can I have sex then?" River asked brightly. Jayne glanced down at her. A deckhand from the Mockingbird were a good bit more surprised and almost drove off the side of the ramp, jerking the wheel on the small hauler filled with freight at the last second to save it from going nose down in the dirt. Mal didn't even twitch, but then after five day's passage on the Mockingbird, Jayne supposed the captain was immune to her saying such as that.
"No," Jayne answered as he kept scanning the crowd.
"Getting frustrated, you know. When you do finally give me sex, you aren't coming out of our quarters for a week. Chain you to the bed," River grumped.
Mal actually lost a half step on that.
"You actually want something or are you just pointing out that you need sexing?" Jayne asked as he followed Mal down onto the dirt. Felt right... back on the worlds the Serenity ran, his gun on his hip, and his new knife hanging from his belt. Now if he could just slip River and find a seller with some looser britches, he figured life would be about as close to perfect as it got for him. Maybe if he spaced these tight ones River would let him wear some of the ones that would have gone back to Serenity with his bag. Then again, she might make him walk around without no britches.
Jayne glanced down at River. She held his arm, pressed closely to his side as she gazed about curiously. Yeah, she'd probably space his old britches and use it as an excuse to keep him half naked in their quarters. She looked up at him with a smile. "Have something for you for me," she said as if it made perfect sense.
"What's that?" Jayne asked. She reached in the small bag she had carried off the Mockingbird with her and pulled out a metal cuff. Jayne looked at the slave cuff in surprise. He let her put that on, and he wouldn't be able to take it off. Anyone who looked at him would know he was a slave.
Jayne froze, and River's open curiosity slowly turned to confusion. "Thinking ugly," River said softly. "Why?"
Swallowing, Jayne looked at the thing. Black metal, heavy, just the right size to lock around Jayne's wrist. One side had a flattened ring for attaching a restraint. The restraint didn't bother him none given that he wore shackles about as often as not in quarters, but wearing that out in public.... "Ain't sure I want everyone seein' that and dismissing me as some gorram slave who ain't worth paying attention to," Jayne said. He'd learned he had to be real specific with River or she went plucking things out his mind, which weren't always to his benefit.
Mal snorted.
"You got something to say about this?" Jayne demanded. Mal glanced over to where the Mockingbird crewman was unloading their baggage and then at Jayne. For a second, then he shook his head and got an almost amused expression.
"First time I saw you, I knew I didn't want to cross guns with you. If you'd had that slave cuff on, I still wouldn't have wanted to cross guns with you," Mal pointed out. "If anything, it'd make me worry more. You wear that and everyone knows someone is on the other end of that leash--someone strong enough to hold you and command enough loyalty to let you loose with a gun. That weren't a comforting thought."
Jayne thought on that a second as he scratched his crotch. "If I'd been wearing a cuff that first time we met, you wouldn't have thought I were less of a man?" Jayne asked.
Mal snorted. "Jayne, you could wear a pink tutu and borrow my pretty floral bonnet, and you'd still look plenty manly, and I still wouldn't want to cross guns with you. Course, you doing that inappropriate scratching in a tutu would be a good sight more disturbing."
Jayne hesitated and glared before he just kept right on scratching. With River doing her best to seduce him, jerking off was about his only relief. Never thought he'd do it so much he were sore, but he wasn't about to stop scratching that itch just because he offended Mal's sense of manners.
When Jayne didn't stop, Mal just shook his head. "Only difference a slave cuff would've made in how I saw you was I wouldn't have assumed I could hire you away from that backstabbing son-of-a-bitch Marcos you was working for. A man wears a cuff or collar because he wants to or because someone has paper on him. Ain't no one in their right mind going to give a slave he holds paper on a gun because paper ain't going to keep a man from killing to win his freedom. So, if I saw you with your penchant for heavy weapons and a slave cuff, I would've assumed your loyalty weren't up for offer." Mal paused for a second. "And in a tutu, I'd be thinking you weren't right in the head."
"Ain't like you had problems bring crazy folk on board before," Jayne verbally jabbed at the man, but the fire weren't in it. Couldn't hardly say it was a bad decision, keeping River around. That's why Jayne had no business being captain because he would have spaced her and her brother long time back.
"I got all kinds of crazy folk on Serenity," Mal agreed. "Mind, you best be ready because doc is going to take one look at that and have thoughts about serving your guts up for supper."
"It's for him, too," River said. "So easy to forget, and I want everyone to remember that Jayne is mine. No more trying to throw him out an airlock," River said with a glare at the captain.
"I expect you to keep him from doing anything particular stupid then," Mal picked at a hangnail without looking up.
"I will," River quickly agreed, her glare vanishing.
"Ain't sure I like you two conspiring against me," Jayne said as he looked from one to the other. River smiled sweetly up at him. Her sweet smiles always worried him more than the wicked ones she'd flash him when she locked the chains on around his wrists.
River looked down at the cuff in her hand, stroking the edge with her thumb. "I want to look at it and know that everyone can see you're mine, that you laid down your strength for me. I want to see the steel and know you'll always be there to anchor me because you're mine and I'm never setting you free," River said quietly. Jayne knew that sweet smile were more worrisome than any wicked expression she ever got. He couldn't very well say no to that. With a sigh, he held brought his hand up and surrendered it to her.
Still smiling, she locked the cuff around his left wrist, closing it with an audible snap. The metal was cold against his skin, and Jayne could see his whole arm go to goose pimples. Then River wrapped herself around his arm, again pressing to his side.
"Ain't nobody going to see it if you keep clinging to him like that," Mal said dryly.
"Captain's cranky," River declared, but then a familiar face appeared, over the crowd.
"Captain," a voice called. Zoe maneuvered Serenity's hauler around a small crowd of children playing in the dirt. Her hair was pulled back, the curls dusted with gray from the clouds of dust that hung over the docks.
"Captain, Jayne, River," she called as she came to a stop and powered down in front of the Mockingbird. "Everyone okay?" she immediately asked as she studied each of them in turn.
"Got our lost sheep back," Mal commented, his thumb poking in Jayne's direction.
"Kaylee said you were coming in with some freight," she said as she looked at the pile the Mockingbird crew had just finished stacking in the dirt. "Looks a little scrawny for a hauling job."
"River done some shopping," Mal said without any emotion.
"He's thinking cranky thoughts about his shuttle," River said. Trust that girl to figure out whatever folk most didn't want to talk about and then bring it up. Mal gave her a real unfriendly look.
"What about the shuttle?" Zoe asked.
"Sold it," River announced. "Bought a Jayne."
Zoe whistled. "We sent along nearly 1200 credits. How much you go for, Jayne?" Zoe got off the hauler and leaned back against it as she gave Jayne an appraising look.
River jumped in before he could answer. "I paid 900 credits for him," River said cheerfully as she held up Jayne's arm with the slave cuff. Jayne stared at Zoe, just daring her to say anything.
"And I come back with 1,200 credits, but no paper on Jayne and no shuttle," Mal offered with a sigh.
"You could have had Jayne if you hadn't messed up so bad," River pointed out. Mal really glared at her then.
"Considering you weren't going to bring that up any more, you spend a goodly amount of time bringing that up."
"And now Jayne is my slave," River finished happily.
The whole time Jayne watched Zoe--her shocked face and the way her eyes kept darting from River to Mal to the cuff on his arm. "If you're planning on saying something, spit it out now because I ain't going to have you staring at me," he warned.
"Just surprised, is all," she said, not even bothering to change her expression.
"Shocked the hell out of me, too," Mal sympathized. "I would have figured that Jayne would space himself before ever wearing a cuff, but like I told him, don't make him any less of a black-hearted hwun dan."
Zoe laughed. Jayne could feel his guts rise to his mouth, anger and frustration that made him want to rip off the slave cuff and punch Zoe right her gorram laughing mouth. River's hand caught his arm. Maybe it was something in his expression that cut off Zoe's laugh so sudden. "Sir, the only thing I'm surprised at is him wearing River's cuff. Always figured you'd cuff him sooner or later."
Mal's mouth about dropped open, and Jayne's anger turned all confusion. "What?" Mal finally managed.
"Come on, sir. Jayne went from shooting his old captain in the leg to following us through Reaver territory. If he were in it for money, he would have jumped ship when we started taking more missions that were likely to get us killed than get us paid, but as much as he argued, he never hesitated to follow exactly where he didn't want to go."
"Wait, are you saying you thought..." Mal stopped and stared at her. Mal looked over toward him, and Jayne could only stare back with a confused expression of his own.
"Captain is stupid," River said. "He didn't even notice Jayne with all his strength following behind."
"I ain't stupid," Mal snapped, then he thought on that for a second. "Usually."
"Honestly?" Zoe asked, "I figured when Jayne had his bag sent to Serenity, that were his way of forcing your hand, sir."
"I weren't trying to force anything. Just wanted Vera to go to a good home if something happened to me. You thought I'd end up wearing a cuff?" Jayne couldn't even figure how he felt about that.
"I'm not one to lead myself," Zoe shrugged. "Can't say I'd ever wear a cuff, but that's just me. Jayne, you okay with River buying your paper? Don't seem like you two have a real amicable relationship."
"She ain't bad, and she's smarter than the captain," Jayne shrugged. River smiled up at him, that look like someone had just given her a puppy, and Jayne couldn't ever remember anyone looking at him like that. He remembered his Ma watching Matty's crib with that sort of pure love, so he supposed before he were old enough to start breaking things, she'd looked at him like that, but he sure hadn't had anyone in his life since consider him like she done right now.
"Right now, I'm starting to think you're right on that," Mal said, sounding kind of dazed. "So, if I had walked out at dinner and said I were moving Jayne into my quarters?" he asked.
Zoe looked at him with a sort of indulgent amusement. "I would have asked what took you so long to figure it out, sir."
"Tee wuh duh pee-goo."
Zoe coughed like she was hiding a laugh. "Inara asked if mayhaps you needed some instruction either on handling Jayne or just on menfolk's ways of pleasuring," Zoe added, and now she was clearly enjoying the situation.
"She... what?" Mal's voice was sounding downright unmanly now. Jayne didn't even try to hide a smirk.
"She thought that you were taking too long to getting around to Jayne… that maybe you had some issue she could help you with. When she come to me, I told her I knew you'd taken a man or two to bed, so I didn't think you were unversed in that. Didn't occur to either of us that you just hadn't figured it out." Zoe still had that military stiff body language, but Jayne could see the edges of her eyes crinkle, the corners of her mouth twitch as she fought back a laugh.
"Aiya. Tell me you and Inara weren't talking on my sex life."
"Sorry, sir," Zoe said, not sounding the least bit sorry. "In our defense, we did think you had at least noticed."
Jayne opened his mouth to get in on the fun, and River was there, pressing her back to his stomach and pinching his arm.
"Ow," he complained, and she looked up with that same affectionate smile. Mal didn't even seem to notice.
"Did everyone on the gorram ship know?" he demanded.
Zoe thought on that for a second. "I don't think Kaylee noticed, sir. Or Simon either. Reverend Book knew. Wash… well, he had all sorts of schemes for making you two stop butting heads and start talking." Zoe fell quiet, the memory of her husband did that when it slipped into the conversation. For a long minute, they all just stood, the bustle of Persephone flowing around them.
"Well, shi. Could've one of you told me," Mal finally sighed.
"Thought you knew, sir."
"Next time, when it comes to things like this, assume I'm gorram clueless."
"Yes, sir," Zoe agreed crisply.
"Told you that you messed up," River offered all friendly-like.
"Yeah, well tell your slave to help me load this gao shi you traded my shuttle for," Mal said as he headed over for the stack of goods sitting in the dust. River twisted out of Jayne's arms and gave him a smack on the butt to get him moving, but the grope at the end didn't make keeping his mind on work any easier as he headed for the pile. Three days and River seemed to have bought out half the planet. Mal grunted as he picked up a heavy box and headed for the hauler Zoe had brought. "What you got in here, River?"
"Books," River said absent-mindedly, her gaze on Jayne and a small smile on her lips. Jayne added the box of chains to the loader and looked at River suspiciously.
"Ain't a good look you're wearing," he said. River started to really smile, that sweet smile that made Jayne more stupid because it twisted something in his guts that made thinking downright impossible. Her eyes traveled down over him as she reached up and trailed a finger over the buttons of his shirt.
"Don't even go there," Jayne growled. "Not loading bare-chested in the middle of Persephone docks," he snapped as he started heading back for the pile, but River caught him by the arm, pulling him back in with that unnatural strength of hers. Jayne found himself pressed against the hauler as she went on tiptoes, her arms around her neck.
"Won't take what you can't give, but Jayne doesn't get to be that growly," River said softly. Sliding forward, she stood on the tops of his boots, her soft soled boots braced on his shit-kickers and her body pressed to his. Jayne's brain turned off as his cock hardened, sore or not.
"Why ain't I getting sexed again?" he asked as his arms went around her waist.
"Because you're being all stupid. Just because my brother would think you had been ungentlemanly with me, no reason for not having sex," River tightened her arms, her weight braced on his shoulders as she pulled herself up. Jayne tightened his arms to hold her in place and groaned. "Is it working yet?" she asked, her new favorite question as she kept trying new ways to seduce him. His cock were going to fall off before she was done with him.
"Ain't never wanted to get an argument over with so much in my life, but I ain't giving you that until we deal with your gorram brother. Mal, any chance we can just space the doc so I can commence with getting sexed without worrying about him getting his knickers all twisty.
"No," Mal said as he loaded another box, "but you can put your woman down and help load now. A captain shouldn't be doing all the work." River smiled slid down Jayne's body, rubbing in a way that just didn't help with the need for getting sexed or the soreness. He reached down and scratched as she stepped back.
"So, who gave River the birds and bees talk?" Zoe asked as she headed for the pile and lifted a large, awkward crate.
Jayne caught one edge and she shifted her grip so they could carry it together.
"Ain't sure anyone has yet, but she seems to be feeling her way though on her own," Jayne said. Didn't bother him to have the crew see him in a slave cuff, but he sure weren't confessing to being the one to teach River about sex and submission. Any brother would kill over gou shi like that.
"I ain't gone a day without hearing how she needs to be getting sexed." Mal complained as he leaned on the hauler.
"Think how I'm feeling sharing quarters. I ain't been so frustrated since I were fifteen," Jayne complained.
"What, you two aren't…?" Zoe's eyebrows rose.
"Given how they're groping each other, shocking, isn't it?" Mal asked.
"Very, sir."
"Ain't going to walk on the Serenity and have you think I went and seduced her and turned her head all around. I ain't never coerced a woman or went and bedded a child, so I told her she's got to convince you that she ain't no child. I may be a black-hearted hwun dan, but I've got my limits." Jayne dropped his end of the crate kind fast so that Zoe grunted as she worked her end around.
Mal dropped two small boxes into the hauler. "Looking at her now, I'm convinced. Five days of hearing her say things damn near as inappropriate as all Jayne's scratching, and I don't think I'll ever forget she's not a child."
"Salacious?" Zoe asked with a smile. Mal shook his head, leaning against the hauler as Jayne grabbed the last of their freight.
"Girl made one of the Mockingbird crew snort soup out his nose. One dinner should be enough to convince Simon that she ain't exactly child-like anymore. And for one," Mal added, "I'm hopin' she does less talking about sex once she's having it. But if she don't, I ain't even going to be comin' to dinner because all we'll be hearing about is Jayne's prowess in bed."
"Like the shepherd would have said," Zoe smiled, "wonders never cease. Our girl went and grew up, sir," Zoe said with a smile as River attached herself to Jayne's side again as soon as he'd put the last box in the hauler. "You planning on staying attached to Jayne from now on?" Zoe asked as she looked at how River plastered herself to his side.
Jayne groaned, knowing exactly what was coming. River's hand stroked his chest, wandering south until she cupped his genitals. "You had to ask," he snarled at Zoe. The woman's eyes were open about as wide as plates as she stared at River's hand, kneading Jayne's growing erection.
"Going to torture him until he agrees to have sex," River announced happily.
"Zoe, never, ever again ask *anything* going on the subject of them touching," Mal ordered, a strange expression on his face as he got in behind the wheel.
"Yes, sir," Zoe agreed as she took shotgun.
"Time to go home now," River said as she finally let go and climbed into the back, poking among her packages.
Jayne got in last, his cock already caught between aching and itching. Ignoring Zoe's disapproving look, he started scratching it again.
