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Entry tags:
F: Gift
Fandom: Firefly
Pairing: Mal/Simon, Mal/River, Simon/River
Warnings: Angst, sap
Rating: PG
Summary: The gift ain't for him. Timeline here.
Leanin' against the door, Mal can watch Simon and River without intruding. He can see the way they smile at each other -- secrets in smiles, sibling secrets that he couldn't decipher and doesn't really want to -- and the history between them is there at a glance; protection and pain and love that hurt and kept them going all at once. He sees somethin' he shouldn't be troublin' or ruinin', but he ain't strong enough a man to say 'stop' and let them both go.
Or let just one of them go, and keep the other. But it's either one heart or both he breaks, and if you cut one the other bleeds, and it's maddenin' to know what he should be doin'.
He never thought he'd get so attached to Simon. River, yes. There was just somethin' about her, and the way he found himself bendin' out of his way to help the Tams -- and back then, that was just for her sake. River is that little bit of mystery and intrigue that keeps his brain workin' when he thinks it might seize up just for sheer boredom. But Simon. That's different.
Simon's like this precious present, all wrapped up in shiny layers. Gift wrapped. There's the pretty clothes and the pretty manners and the cool dignified smiles like silver and gold wrapping, and then there's the raw emotion like brown paper, tough and strong, and then inside there's this precious delicate thing waitin' like a gift.
River got it, the gift, 'fore anyone else. Before anyone else ever came close to Simon she'd wormed through the pretty wrappin' and the brown paper and settled there right next to his naked defenceless heart. She's like that, and no one could be holdin' a grudge against her, either. She's done the same to him and all he can think is that he's that mite grateful for it.
Mal's gotten through the gilt paper and the thick brown stuff, too, but he's not sure if he was fair when he did it. River was gentle, slipping through like a knife through butter, but Mal has a feeling he's the rippin' kind, that he forced out this precious little thing, and now he's afraid he'll check the label and the present ain't for him.
He did that, once, with a real present, and it caused all manner of upset and he's afraid he's gone and done it again.
And, watching Simon push River's hair back and tuck it behind her ear, watchin' him take his sister into his arms and hold her, Mal curses himself for it. 'Cause maybe that precious thing on the inside was just for River, and now he might've gone an' ruined it an' her.
Pairing: Mal/Simon, Mal/River, Simon/River
Warnings: Angst, sap
Rating: PG
Summary: The gift ain't for him. Timeline here.
Leanin' against the door, Mal can watch Simon and River without intruding. He can see the way they smile at each other -- secrets in smiles, sibling secrets that he couldn't decipher and doesn't really want to -- and the history between them is there at a glance; protection and pain and love that hurt and kept them going all at once. He sees somethin' he shouldn't be troublin' or ruinin', but he ain't strong enough a man to say 'stop' and let them both go.
Or let just one of them go, and keep the other. But it's either one heart or both he breaks, and if you cut one the other bleeds, and it's maddenin' to know what he should be doin'.
He never thought he'd get so attached to Simon. River, yes. There was just somethin' about her, and the way he found himself bendin' out of his way to help the Tams -- and back then, that was just for her sake. River is that little bit of mystery and intrigue that keeps his brain workin' when he thinks it might seize up just for sheer boredom. But Simon. That's different.
Simon's like this precious present, all wrapped up in shiny layers. Gift wrapped. There's the pretty clothes and the pretty manners and the cool dignified smiles like silver and gold wrapping, and then there's the raw emotion like brown paper, tough and strong, and then inside there's this precious delicate thing waitin' like a gift.
River got it, the gift, 'fore anyone else. Before anyone else ever came close to Simon she'd wormed through the pretty wrappin' and the brown paper and settled there right next to his naked defenceless heart. She's like that, and no one could be holdin' a grudge against her, either. She's done the same to him and all he can think is that he's that mite grateful for it.
Mal's gotten through the gilt paper and the thick brown stuff, too, but he's not sure if he was fair when he did it. River was gentle, slipping through like a knife through butter, but Mal has a feeling he's the rippin' kind, that he forced out this precious little thing, and now he's afraid he'll check the label and the present ain't for him.
He did that, once, with a real present, and it caused all manner of upset and he's afraid he's gone and done it again.
And, watching Simon push River's hair back and tuck it behind her ear, watchin' him take his sister into his arms and hold her, Mal curses himself for it. 'Cause maybe that precious thing on the inside was just for River, and now he might've gone an' ruined it an' her.