Current mood:	loved
Current music:	"I Would've Loved You Anyway" - Trisha Yearwood
Entry tags:	!myfanfics, *[ff/s] hoban "wash" washburne, *[ff/s] zoë alleyne washburne, .dyaniera, fandom: firefly/serenity, fic.length: fic: oneshot

[FIC] Proposal Meme #1. HWW, ZAW. PG-13.
PROMPT: Proposal Meme: Zoë/Wash
AUTHOR: Jessi, princessjessia (Disclaimer)
FANDOM: Firefly
CHARACTERS: Wash, Zoë
SUMMARY: "Somethin' about him bothers me."
RATING: PG-13 for indirect adult themes
WORD COUNT: 841
NOTES: for dyaniera, with much ♥

Shaving off the mustache changes everything in Wash's life for the better, but he doesn't know that when he does it. He thinks it might help his case just a little, given the way Zoë looks at his upper lip like it's personally offending her just for existing. He used to think she just disliked him entirely, but after a few months as the pilot on the Serenity, he comes to realize she only really gets like that when she's looking at him face to face.

He doesn't know it changes everything for the entire first day after the mustache is gone, even though Zoë's no longer looking at him like she's calculating how quickly she could take him out at the knees and start plucking facial hairs one by painful one. No, instead, she's looking at him as though she's never seen him before. He does notice how many times that day they end up having to slide pretty close to each other to get where they're going on the ship.

Not that he minds. Not at all.

He doesn't know it the second day either, when she backs him against the wall in the mess and proceeds to give him a kiss that leaves him all but brain dead – and then walks away. He doesn't know it for the next five days, where they trade off who corners who, always walking away to spend the rest of their waking hours pretending nothing happened.

He doesn't mind this either. In fact, it's got the bonus of making Mal look at them funny during meals, which is always a plus.

He begins to suspect something a week later, though. It's a pretty clear message, when he thinks about it for the three seconds he can still actually think, as it's not every day he finds a gorgeous, naked Zoë in his bed. Or any woman, for that matter, but she's the only one that matters. But Hoban Washburne has never been one to let an opportunity pass him by and this, he figures, is an opportunity like none other.

When he wakes up the next morning, it's with sore muscles that he didn't know existed until now. When he realizes his arms are full of the very pliable and slumbering second-in-command, he forgets every bit of soreness, kisses her awake and shows her he has a few tricks of his own. It was definitely an opportunity like none other and he's certain he wants more

It takes three months before Wash realizes shaving off his mustache is likely the best idea he's ever had in his life.

"I think we should get married." It's as casual as he can make it sound, despite the fact his stomach seems ready to twist itself into a knot. He's had the thought for a week now, not enough time to do anything official about it, but no longer able to say nothing. He's ready to give her a hundred reasons why he thinks they should, ranging from the fact he's hopelessly in love with her to the upgrade in sleeping quarters, but only after he finishes his objective of kissing a line up her spine. It seems wise, as he figures it will give her time to think it over or kick him straight out of bed. Either seems likely to him, which explains the knot in his gut.

She doesn't even lift her head from the pillow when he reaches her shoulders and starts to speak, but she cuts him off just the same with her brief mumble.

"On one condition." It's a yes without it being a yes, but then, it wouldn't be him and Zoë if it were the 'expected' way of things.

"Anything. Everything." He buries his face between her shoulder blades, hiding a grin. If she asked for it, he would give her the whole 'verse without hesitating.

"Always shave."

"Shave. Sure. Just the face, or do you have a serious objection to my chest hair? I gotta say, Zoë, I think as far as chest hair goes, mine's-"

She shuts him up again, but this time with a kiss, pinning him to his back so fast that all he can do is laugh against her mouth and think again that being with this woman has to be the closest to perfection anyone can ever hope to get. Soon enough, he pins her in turn, as she's the warrior woman, but he's not so shabby himself when it comes to taking control.

"Wash." It sounds distinctly different from the way she's been saying his name for the last few minutes, so he makes certain to listen, even if he's too busy now to answer in actual words.

"Mmm?"

"Better be a proper proposal for me come mornin'."

There will be, and yet another when they're finally somewhere he can buy her a ring, but for now he proposes to her a thousand different ways, spoken and not, for the rest of the night.