DISCLAIMER: I didn't create them, I just write them. And love them dearly.

CHARACTERS: Mal

RATING: M - minor slash

SPOILERS: very minor for 'War Stories'

FEEDBACK: Yes please! I always like feedback and constructive criticism.

NOTES: Requested by willshenillshe, part of the Fireflyfic Challenge

THANKS: FuzzyBen for smutty feedback.

Shipboard romances complicate things.

So he doesn't have them. Doesn't have much romance at all, come to think. Keeps it to himself, saves his groaning for times when he can be alone, Captain of nothing but himself. Sitting on his cot he takes his pleasure deftly and quietly, always aware of ship noise around him, the rumbling accompanied by the sound in his throat.

Oh, he likes a woman as much as the next man, admires Inara when she's not looking. He thinks of the soft cushions she has in her shuttle, wonders what her bed feels like, breasts look like. But to think too long on it just twists him up, so he focuses on ... other things.

The feel of his cock so much like another's, his balls tight with need and aching. His tip slick against his palm as he speeds his movements, the catch of breath in his throat as he stifles his groans. Then the incandencent feeling of release and collapse.

His eyes closed and his belly damp, he briefly regrets his solitude. Then thinks of Simon and repeats his mantra to himself. Shipboard romances complicate things.

But those nights in the taverns ... well, that's a whole 'nother story.