Work Text:
Prompt: 072 – Myth (list 2)
Word Count: 797
Progress: 17/100
"You are Tantalus," she whispers a few nights later. She's in the cockpit, looking at the stars. He hadn't expected to find her there, to be perfectly honest. It was late at night and he had purposely avoided going through the kitchen so he wouldn't have to see her.
She was the reason he wasn't sleeping.
He looks at her and wonders if it's too late to turn around and head back to his bunk.
"I have coffee," she says, holding out the cup she had in her hand. "It's very strong."
Mal sighs and steps closer. "Who did you say I was?" he asks, as he takes it and savors the heat of the mug in his hands before taking a sip.
"Tantalus," River replied. "Punished by the Gods; never allowed to eat or drink or have what he really wants, no matter how he yearns for it."
"Well, I don't know 'bout that, little Albatross. Seems to me I got pretty much everything I need. My ship is flying, I ain't starving and I'm drinking this here fine cup of coffee you made for me."
"Need and want are different things." River turns to look out at the stars. "You can have what you need and what you want. I tantalize you. If you reach out to touch me, I won't pull away."
"And I won't be reaching," he replies. "I'm old enough to be your daddy."
"But you aren't."
"You're just a kid and you don't know anything about life."
"I know too much about life," she murmurs. "And I haven't been a child since they cut me open and hurt me."
Mal pauses at that, before conceding the point. "That may be so, but it doesn't change the fact you have a chance to be a child now…again. You don't need to grow up too quickly. It's okay to be innocent."
"I've killed more people than you have, how can I be innocent?"
"Don't rightly know, little Albatross," he admits. She is studying him intently now, her eyes dark and depthless, swimming with mysteries. She's got her knees tucked up to her chin underneath her white cotton nightgown and even though the pose is that of a little girl, her expression isn't. He moves a bit closer to her despite his better judgment and takes another sip of coffee. "This…whatever it is, between us, it ain't right."
"But it is," she replies. "You know me and I know you. You and Inara – that wasn't right. You didn't love her. You hurt her."
Mal winces, "That's between Inara and me. Sometimes things just don't work out. We were too different."
"My point," River agrees. "We're the same. More scars on the inside than on the outside. Both of us created by the Alliance. They took out parts of my brain and tried to make me a killer Scarecrow. They killed pieces of your heart and tried to make you a Tin Man, but I can hear it beating again. At night, in the dark of my bunk, it calls for me."
He is standing right in front of her now – can feel the heat radiating from her body – and he realizes he's missed their odd conversations.
"I don't understand half of what you say, little witch."
"But you understand half of it," she smiles. "Is it wrong that I want to be human again? I want to belong to someone who wants to belong to me. Someone who understands me as much as I can be understood. Someone who makes me feel safe."
He crouches down to look at her and her legs drop. One of his hands reaches out and brushes a piece of hair hanging in her face back behind her ear and his fingers trace the shell of it before withdrawing.
"No one will understand," he mutters, "even I don't understand."
"You do," she whispers. "You recognized me the minute you saw me."
Somehow he is on his knees on the floor of the cockpit, his belly pushing against the seat and her legs on either side of him. Her arms are resting lightly on his shoulders, her hands dropping down his back. He leans forward until their foreheads touch. "I just want to sleep without dreaming," he sighs. "I can't stop thinking about you."
They sit that way for a few minutes. He closes his eyes and can still see her, but he finds it a comfort. "Tantalus, huh?"
"Not anymore," she sighs, "Now you are Mars, God of War, and I am Venus, Goddess of Love. You have come to me for comfort and peace and I will give you everything I am if only you will stay."
"River," he whispers against her lips as she kisses him.