DYIN'

 

 

Jayne didn’t say much. He never did. And Mal found that he liked that best of all. The others, well the others made him feel tetchy. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew how close he’d come to dyin’. Inara, Kaylee, and even the Shepherd – none of them seemed to want to forget it neither.

But Jayne… Jayne hardly said a word. Just brought his meals, sat with him a spell, usually sharpening a blade or chewin’ one of them gorram apples. Mal didn’t like thinking about it none. Dyin’. But lately seemed he couldn’t think on much else.

The next time Jayne came Mal was finally able to sit up without feeling like his insides were rippin’ themselves apart. He nodded his thanks as he took the tray and settled it on his lap.

“Lookin’ better,” Jayne observed as he took a seat across from Mal’s bunk.

“Feel like go se,” Mal said as he shoveled a spoonful of protein in his mouth.

“Reckon most would after dyin’.”

“Didn’t die.” Mal’s eyebrows drew together as he stared at Jayne. “Still gorram here, ain’t I?”

Jayne shrugged, not bothering to look up from his blade. “Doc said you died. Brought you back with one a his fancy machines.”

The world tilted and it was all Mal could do to keep the tray from sliding off his lap. “Inara and Kaylee cried a bit. They was pretty upset. Reckon that’s why they want me bringin’ you supper. Embarrassed most like.”

Doc said you died. Jayne’s words echoed in his skull. He shook his head, the tray slipping through his fingers with a loud crash.

“Gorramit, Mal!” He heard Jayne yellin’ somewhere far off.

Next thing he knew he was blinking up at a spittin’ mad Jayne. “What the hell did you go and do that for?” Jayne’s face was red with anger, though Mal could see worry there, too. When Mal didn’t answer Jayne came closer, eyes searchin’ for something. “Need the Doc?”

He shook his head. “I died?” His voice sounded weak and he cleared his throat.

“That what this is all about?” Jayne looked disgusted. “Didn’t stay dead, did ya?”

Jayne was hovering over him. Somehow he’d slipped down on his bunk, Jayne sitting precariously on its edge. He could feel the heat from Jayne’s body and without much thinkin’ reached out for it.

He ran a hand up Jayne’s arm until he reached cotton, then ran it back down again. Jayne was hairy and the dark curls brushed roughly across his palm.

“Cap’n?” Jayne hadn’t moved, but his voice was questioning.

Mal didn’t answer. Wasn’t sure himself what he was doin’. He just kept moving his hand, drawing the heat from Jayne’s skin into his own. Then Jayne’s hands landed on his chest and even through the thin fabric of his shirt he could feel them rough and callused. He arched into the touch, heat radiating through every pore in his body.

Jayne’s fingers fumbled with his buttons, thick and clumsy but then his shirt was gone and those same fingers were on him. His nipples puckered under Jayne’s rough touch, and Mal moaned softly his body coming alive. He reached up wanting more of Jayne’s skin and cursing when he couldn’t get the buttons undone. Then Jayne’s hands were pushing his away and ripping the material open like it was no more than the fancy paper Inara’s clients sometimes wrapped her gifts in.

Mal teased the hardened nubs now accessible to him. He pulled and twisted until Jayne was growling above him. The sound went straight to Mal’s cock, making it twitch and lengthen in his trousers. Wanting more, Mal moved to the clasp of Jayne’s pants.

He frowned when Jayne’s hand covered his. “You sure ‘bout this, Cap’n?” And for a second Mal wasn’t. The mix of worry and vulnerability he saw in the big man’s eyes made him pause. But then his cock throbbed and the heat of Jayne’s hand seemed to sink clear down to his bones. And he nodded and shook off Jayne’s grip to finish his task.

He nearly whimpered in protest when Jayne stood up and away from him. But then he watched as Jayne pulled at his boots then shoved his trousers off. Jayne’s shaft was thick and sticking straight out at Mal. He could practically hear the blood pumping through Jayne’s body to fill his cock in readiness.

Mal twisted to his side and circled the base with his fingers. It’d been a long time since he’d seen any man’s ji ba but his own. It was different, but good. Thick and warm between his fingers. He stroked up and swiped the head with his thumb making Jayne groan and jerk forward. “Want to feel – “ Mal didn’t get to finish his sentence because Jayne pushed him onto his back and began unbuckling his pants. He groaned when Jayne finally freed his arousal, his prick slapping up against his belly as his pants were eagerly tugged away.

Then before he could say another word, Jayne’s mouth was on him. Hot and tight and wet and all Mal could do was hold on; fingers entwined in thick, dark hair. He felt the rough rasp of Jayne’s goatee against his balls each time Jayne took him in and it only heightened his pleasure. “Wo de ma, Jayne!” He tried not to use him roughly, tried not to hold Jayne down and fuck his mouth, though Jayne was doing a damn fine job of making it feel as if he had.

Christ, he was so close. Mal pulled at Jayne’s head, trying to warn him off, but Jayne didn’t seem to notice. “Ai ya!” Mal grit his teeth trying to hold back, but just as he was about to come down Jayne’s throat he felt his cock slip from Jayne’s mouth. When he looked down Jayne was smiling, predatory and arrogant.

Then Jayne was stalking toward him, his big body covering Mal’s completely. And the next thing Mal knew, they were kissin’. Full on the lips, their tongues rubbin’ over each other and making Mal squirm beneath Jayne’s heavy weight. He tasted salty bitterness, his own come on Jayne’s tongue. And that thought only made the kiss even more arousing.

Jayne finally broke the kiss, his hips beginning to move shallowly against Mal’s. Both men gasped as their erections rubbed together and Mal had to bite back a shout when he felt Jayne’s teeth scraping against his shoulder.

“Yesu! Jayne, faster!” Mal moaned, grasping at Jayne’s hips and trying to push him into a faster rhythm.

“Don’t want to hurt you, Cap’n.” Jayne murmured as they strained against each other. And it was then that Mal realized how much of his own weight Jayne was carrying, his muscled forearms tight with strain on the bunk beside Mal’s head.

“Ah, Christ, Jayne.” Mal felt a wave of tenderness wash over him, completely at odds with the hot, searing flash of arousal that was gearing up to explode from his body. “Not hurtin’ me. Want to come. Want to see you come.” He said, licking a trail up Jayne’s throat and to his mouth.

Jayne groaned and sped up, his hips slapping loud against Mal’s. “Ruttin’ hell, feels good.” He moaned as Mal cupped his ass.

Then neither of them said a word, the only sound grunts and groans and the slap of flesh until Mal stiffened and came in white hot spurts against their bellies. “Yes! Jayne!”

And Mal felt the muscles in Jayne’s arms contract even more as he struggled to keep from collapsing atop him, the orgasm slamming through Jayne’s body with a low, soft cry. “Wo de ma, Mal!”

Afterwards, while Jayne was slipping back into his torn shirt and picking up the ruins of Mal’s supper, Mal turned to watch. “I reckon ruttin’s as good a way as any to feel alive,” he said.

Jayne’s face turned impassive, and he shrugged. “Reckon that’s true.”

Mal waited, but Jayne turned without another word and began to climb the ladder. He was almost gone when Mal called out. “Seems to me we’ve got us a pretty dangerous way of life out here in the black. Facing death every day, most like,” he added softly.

There was only silence and Mal wondered just what a fool he’d made of himself.

But then, quietly, just before Jayne’s boots disappeared from sight, “Reckon that’s true, too.”

 

 

End