trans_9 | My lover or friend / I won't ever tell / Our secret's safe / An unspoken citadel

Mal was sitting at the table in the dining room on Serenity with his gun resting in front of him. He'd just finished cleaning it out and reloading it, and was now taking a minute to just relax. It was ironic that the only thing that made him forget about the worries caused by living on Stacy was a good round of drinks and pleasurable company. He and Wolfwood had hit it off, but also the drinking game he did with Jo was definitely enjoyable.

But now it was business as usual, looking after Serenity and what there was of his crew. Even though they weren't all there, not all of them, he still felt he had the responsibility to watch over them and make sure they didn't get themselves in too much trouble. Inara could handle herself for the most part, so he rarely interfered with her, but Kaylee was the one he was most concerned about.

He had a soft spot for her anyway, so seeing her get hurt or in trouble was the last thing he wanted.

Mal shook his head then, thinking he was getting too lost in his own mind. He picked up the gun and pointed it at a random spot in front of him, and pretended he was firing it. There wasn't much cause to shoot things on Stacy, and she probably wouldn't have liked it if he did. Maybe a couple of hours in the Sensoriums would take care of that, he thought as he sat there with the gun still in his hand.

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Inara had for the most part tried keeping herself busy, tried keeping out of Mal's way. She told herself that it had been because she'd been angry at the situation she was in. But the truth was, it wasn't easy just forgetting about how she'd found Mal after his night was Nandie, and it wasn't easy pretending that it hadn't bothered her. It still wasn't easy.

But she knew she couldn't avoid him forever. And she'd actually gotten him some clothes when she'd picked some up for Kaylee. Only because she'd gotten some for Kaylee, at least that's what she kept telling herself.

She knew that she could normally find him in Serenity's dining room in the later hours, and so that was the first place she'd gone to, holding a small pile of clothing in her arms.

Pausing at the entryway, she studied the back of his head for a moment and then drew in a deep breath before stepping inside. "Get it all cleaned?"

Mal had been so occupied with cleaning the gun, and then staring pointlessly at the wall that he hadn't registered Inara's steps coming towards him. He jumped slightly where he sat, but didn't let on too much.

As far as he was concerned, things were still weird between them, and he didn't exactly know what to do about it. But at the very least, somewhat civil conversation was to be expected, as part of their agreement. "Yeah, I did. It didn't really need cleanin', but I had nothing better to be doing." He got up, gun still in hand, and turned to look at her. "What about you? Your evenin' goin' all right?"

Inara looked down, trying to smoother the smile of amusement seeing how Mal had jumped at the sound of her voice. It hadn't been the first time she'd caused him to jump, but it was still amusing all the same.

Clearing her throat, she looked back up and smiled. "It's fine, thank you." She stepped further into the room, and glanced briefly at the clothes she was holding. "I was actually looking for you," she explained, catching his gaze again.

It was a good thing he missed Inara's amused smile; that probably would have riled him up. But as it was, he remained relatively calm, and even managed something of a smile at Serenity's resident Companion.

"Were you now? Any particular reason?" He noted the clothes she was holding as he replied. "Where'd you find those?" Not that the plantsuit was too annoying, but Mal had tried off and on to find real clothes. It hadn't occurred to him that they might still have been on the ship, however. He assumed that was where Inara got them from.

"To give you these," Inara said, stepping around him to place the clothes on the table. She ran her hand over the shirt, which just happened to be a blue that matched the blue of his eyes, it was obviously a total coincidence. Obviously.

"One of the men came back from the mission that took place when I first got here, well he had apparently brought clothing back for everyone. I grabbed you some things... After I'd picked some things out for Kaylee." She turned her head to look at him again. "I thought you.. two might prefer them over the plantsuit."

"Well, thank you, Inara, that's very kind of you," Mal replied, as he looked through the clothes and smiled approvingly. Even he had to admit that they were very nice. "I'm guessin' you got some nice things for yourself and Kaylee?"

"I meant to get her one of those frilly dresses, but that didn't end up happening." Mal glanced down at his hands, still feeling vaguely guilty about that. But he meant to make things up to his mechanic eventually, especially after all the work she put into the party and cheering the people on the ship up. "These'll be much better than those gorram plantsuits. If people were meant to go around wearin' plants, it would've happened a long time ago."

"You're welcome," Inara answered, a little surprised at how easily he'd thanked her. But it was a nice surprised. Her lips pulled into a smile and she smoothed her hands over the dress she was wearing. Of course she'd gotten Kaylee and herself nice clothes. "Yes, Kaylee was estatic to have the chance to wear normal clothing."

She watched him silentely for a moment, her eyebrows furrowing a little bit. "I'm sure you'll have the chance to pick her up a frilly dress. Aren't we suppose to be making more stops at various planets?" She was pretty sure she'd heard that somewhere, though seeing as Mal had been there longer, she was sure he'd know more about it.

She looked back at the clothes, her smile growing a little more. "I looked for suspenders, but for some reason, there weren't any. I hope you'll be able to manage without them."

My lover or friend / I won't ever tell / Our secret's safe / An unspoken citadel

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