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Simon and Mal were hopelessly outmatched.
They ran through the open market, ducking the hanging foods and products, jumping over baskets and everything in their way. They were too focused on the plan of escape.
The deal had gone bad. Mal had figured it would, and Zoe had told him as much. But they were in sore need of the credits, and so Mal had accepted the transportation job. When they had arrived, it had been on a outer rim planet that was doing quite well for itself, with little alliance interference, so they had thought that Simon, at least, should be fine to leave the ship while the rest of the crew attended to their meeting. Unfortunately, Simon had been recognized by one fellow who was in need of some credits to get out of some trouble, and he thought that Simon would be an easy way to do that. Mal had been strolling along, his pockets a mite heavier than before, when the ruckus had started. Then Simon had promptly run into him.
“Woah, what's goin' on?” Mal asked the younger man, who was looking around nervously.
“They know who I am, Mal. There's at least four of them, I have got to- move!” Simon finished his sentence with a command that Mal found himself following, and not a moment to soon. A bullet whizzed past, narrowly avoiding his shoulder. He had a feeling they meant for the bullet to pass through him to hit Simon, and it wasn't a warm fuzzy feeling.
“Stop! He's ours!” A bulky man called out angrily.
“Mal, I need to move.” Simon said, and suddenly he was running again. Against his best judgement, Mal found himself following. Not like he was doing much else, and 'sides, it was his job to look after his crew.
“So is your plan just to run back to Serenity?” Mal asked him as they dodged a hanging plant of some kind.
“For now.” Simon responded, a little out of breath. Mal cursed himself for not having a weapon on him; he had left it with Jayne. He had a knife tucked into his boot, but he wasn't as great at throwing knives as he was shooting guns- he might hit an innocent person. Simon ducked under another low hanging thing and made a sharp turn, and then another, turning around. Their pursuers skidded to a halt, yelling as they looked around. Simon had slowed to a walk and taken off his vest, ruffled his hair, and rolled up his sleeves. He was trying to change his appearance as much as he could, but he knew it wouldn't last long. The leader of the group of men shouted for the men to split up. Simon glanced behind to see a big burly man closing in, and there was nowhere to hide.
“Please don't punch me.” Simon told Mal, and before Mal even had a chance to ask why he would, Simon was kissing him. His lips were soft and the kiss was gentle, and although he was surprised, Mal wasn't opposed to the kiss at all. It had been something he had been considering doing for a while, actually. As surprised as Mal was, he wasn't going to waste this opportunity.
He wrapped his arms around the smaller man, pulling him closer, one hand wandering a little further south to grab the doctor’s ass. Simon gasped a little in surprise, and Mal felt a little pleased about that; he wasn't the only one surprised by the turn of events. The big burly man made a noise of disgust at the couple making out and shoved past them, not looking close enough to recognize that one member of the couple was his intended target.
This, however, went unnoticed by Mal, who had started to run his tongue against Simon's bottom lip, hoping to deepen the kiss further. But then Simon was pushing gently against Mal's chest, pushing his captain away from him gently.
“They're gone now. I should get back to the ship before they come back.” Simon said quietly, very aware that Mal hadn't moved his hands at all. It was quite nice, Simon thought, but it was most definitely not the time or place for this. Maybe if Simon wasn't a wanted fugitive with a huge bounty on his head, they could continue this.
“Well now,” Mal drawled out, his voice just as quiet as Simon's, “seein' as they've left, it looks like we might have ourselves some peace. I intend to take advantage of that.”
“Not… not here. They could come back, they could recognize me and then associate me with you and try to take you out-”
“I believe you are underestimatin’ me, doc. I can take care of me and my own.”
“I know you can. I'm not doubting your skill. I'm just saying that…” Simon took a steadying breath. He couldn't believe he was actually going through with this, but Mal was so close , and it was taking everything in Simon to not jump the man right there. “I'm saying that maybe we should take this to a more private place.” Mal grinned down at him, and Simon was suddenly struck by how much taller than him Mal was- and it was definitely not a bad thing.
“I think that sounds a mite better than stayin’ out here. Let's take it back to my bunk.” Mal winked and Simon felt his face burn.
“That sounds good to me.” Simon glanced around- he might be ready to go, but he wanted to make sure they wouldn't be followed. “The coast is clear. Let's go.” Mal's grin reminded Simon of a shark for a moment, and the pair made their getaway, hurrying back to
Serenity
.