Title: Jayne's Not a Pillow
Author: verdant quest
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Pre-Jayne CobbRiver Tam
Length: Drabble
Spoilers: None
Summary: Jayne still finds River unnerving.
Disclaimer: Credit for the creation of these characters and the Firefly/Serenity Universe belong to Joss Whedon and Fox. I only took them out to play.
Author Note: This is not original and likely isn't my finest work to date, but since it is my first crack at rayne, ease off and be kind.
Jayne's heart thundered in his chest.
River's unwavering stare was unnerving to say the least. She had been watching him all through dinner, through the hand of tall card, and still she eyed him as he cleaned guns at the mess table.
"Git, girl." He muttered quietly.
River tilted her head to the side and that broad, slightly 'off' smile lightened her pretty face.
"No." She stated bluntly.
Jayne scowled back at her and began polishing a little more emphatically than before.
She stood and stalked around the table and then twirled around behind Jayne's chair. River leaned back until she could lean her back against his. Her long, dark hair tumbled forward, down into his line of vision.
"Gorramit, girl!"
River laughed sweetly. "Jayne makes a good back rest!"
"No, Jayne don't! Jayne ain't yer mattress. Getoff!"
River twirled away again and then back towards him, this time she threw herself into the chair beside Jayne and she propped her head high up in his lap, below where his arms were bent to rest on the tabletop.
"Girl! What'd I just say? I ain't your pillow!
She smirked up into his gaze. "You said that Jayne is not a mattress."
He huffed in exasperation. "Mattress, pillow, it's the same thing!"
"She agrees with you. Both are soft surfaces designed to support body weight."
Jayne indulges himself in frowning in confusion. "Then how come yer still here?"
"She meant that he said Jayne was not a mattress, not that you are not."
"Gorramit, Jayne's my name."
It was River's turn to frown, but hers was one of disappointment in being forced to explain herself. "Jayne is a girl's name."
She paused and then her expression altered completely. "But you. You are not a girl."
To prove her point she rubbed the back of her head up against the bulge in his pants. Jayne groaned involuntarily.
"Girl?" He asked uncertainly.
She smiled sexily in that 'I'm a Woman' kind of way that is older than Earth That Was.
Jayne didn't know what would have happened next, but Simon walked up then with a prissy, horrified look on his face.
"River, let's go now. It's time to sleep. Why don't you get off of Jayne, okay?"
With a soft, regretful sigh River sat up and then moved to follow her brother. Jayne stared after their retreating forms in dumbfounded silence.
After a moment he coughed and started collecting his gun-cleaning supplies. He glanced surreptitiously over at the stragglers seated in the lounge area, feeling that his flushed face, accelerated heart rate and labored breathing must be apparent to all.
"I'll be in my bunk."
Fin.