A/N: Just a quick Firefly drabble! I've been overdosing on this show lately (but I haven't finished it yet, so don't plotspoil!) and felt the need to write this. Enjoy!
"So what was in the crates, captain?" The dinner table got quiet, and everyone turned to look at Mal.
Earlier that day, they had managed to raid an Alliance cargo transport. It was unmanned, and really quite an easy target. Get in, get out, a clean profit. So now they were headed to an outer planet to sell the goods.
"Well, lessee… there was some fancy fabric, copper bricks, protein bars, a couple boxes of ammo… and oh yeah, some chocolate."
"Real chocolate?" Inara gasped.
"Looks real enough. I reckon the transport was headed for some royal in the core. Too bad for them they didn't design their locks to be Kaylee-proof." Mal's grin was wasted on Kaylee, who had a glazed look on her face.
"Wow… I haven't had chocolate since my tenth birthday," she sighed wistfully.
"Yeah, it should fetch a nice price."
The table quieted again- everyone was looking morosely at the attempt at food lumped on their plates.
Mal looked thoughtful. "Well… see, there's a hundred and eight bars in the box. Now that's just an odd number. The maths and the sellin' would be a lot easier if there was only a hundred…"
Mal pulled eight thick slabs of chocolate out of his pocket and tossed them on the table. "I figure we could use a treat, right?"
Broader smiles had never been seen at that table, as everyone grabbed a piece. Hesitantly peeling back the silver paper, they all started to nibble. The general consensus was that this was the best day ever. Period.
One by one, they got up and left, pocketing the remainder of the treasure. Eventually the only people left were Kaylee and Jayne.
Kaylee carefully wrapped up the rest of her chocolate, and started to clear the table. Jayne had only taken a small bite of his.
"What's wrong, Jayne, is yours gone bad? You can have some of mine if you want."
Jayne shook his head. "Naw, I just don't really like chocolate. Too sweet and girly. Like you. Here, you have this."
He tossed it to her, and she caught it, surprised. "What… but it's yours Jayne, you can at least sell it at the next port."
"You seem mighty fond of it. God knows you keep this ship running fine, I figure the happier you are the less chance of us crashing into some gorram moon. Just keep it."
Kaylee stood stunned, as Jayne stumped out of the room.
"I think you're sweeter than you think you are, Jayne," Kaylee called after him.
A few seconds later, a smile broke out on both of their faces- Kaylee because of the sweetness of the chocolate and Jayne's kindness, Jayne because he'd nicked a dozen bars from the crate before the captain had had a chance to count them, and now there was absolutely no chance he'd get caught.