Work Text:
Sidetracked
As Mal made his way to the communal showers via the passenger dorm corridor, he came across Simon just coming out of River's room. He stopped and nodded in her direction. "Doc. How's she doin'?"
Simon glanced at Mal then back towards River's room. "She's sleeping, but I don't know for how long." He looked exhausted.
Mal nodded again. "But she's doin' better? The images you got, they're helping, yes?"
"Yes. Some. At least I know what's wrong now, and can keep adjusting her medications until I get it right. For instance…"
Mal stopped listening, just let Simon talk. A lot of what the doctor was saying would probably go over his head, anyway, but he figured Simon needed the outlet. Instead, he watched Simon, watched the almost hopeless despair and worry expressed in the set of his shoulders and the nervous movements of his hands and eyes. Watched the way his lips moved as he talked. Lips Mal knew could be tight with disdain, full with laughter, or somewhere in between - as they were now. Lips he’d watched too often for his own peace of mind.
Suddenly, with no real thought to have done so, he leaned in and kissed Simon. There was a moment's hesitation on Simon's part, a slight stiffening of his body - probably from the shock of Mal's actions, which he couldn’t rightly blame him for, he was a mite shocked his own self - and if there'd been continued resistance, Mal liked to think he would have stepped back and apologized. Instead, Simon's lips became soft and pliant under his own, parting slightly on a soft sigh as his hands came to rest at Mal's waist.
Mal brought his hands to cup Simon's face as the kiss continued. He didn't push, just kept it soft and gentle as he explored the pretty mouth that had fascinated him from the first day he'd met Simon. After another moment or two, he stepped back - his hands sliding down to rest on Simon's shoulders - and smiled slightly at the dazed look in Simon's eyes.
Simon brought one hand to his lips, looked down at it and back up at Mal, confusion plain to see. "M-Mal?"
Mal stroked his thumbs along Simon's collarbone. "Simon?" It seemed he'd found a way to take away Simon's words. He'd have to remember that in the future.
Simon licked his lips and Mal felt a twitch of interest in his nether regions. "You kissed me."
Mal's smile widened into a grin. "Noticed that did you, top three percent?"
Simon blushed, actually blushed, as he looked at his hands now splayed across Mal's chest, and Mal could practically hear the wheels turning, though it was a bit harder to hear his whispered, "Why?"
Shrugging lightly, Mal tipped Simon's face up with the fingers of one hand so he could look him in the eyes. "Seemed like the thing to do. Take you out of that headspace you been livin' in. Give you something else to think about."
"Oh." Simon looked back down at his hands, now clutching Mal's suspenders, then glanced up through his eyelashes and smiled almost wickedly as he stepped forward, close enough that Mal could feel his breath on the skin underneath his partially unbuttoned shirt. "Do it again?"
Mal strangled a laugh - it wouldn't do to wake anyone at this juncture - and leaned down to capture Simon's mouth in a much more demanding kiss, one that Simon fully participated in much to Mal's delight - whispering as their lips met, "My pleasure, Simon. My very great pleasure."