He raised an eyebrow at the door as it only swung open as far as the chain. Mal hated to admit needing people, but damnit he did. He needed her, he needed Wash, he even needed Simon. But he wasn't about to admit that part, he wasn't ready to talk to Simon. He still felt back stabbed by the doctor and his ungrateful attitude. Mal's stubbornness could last a while until he finally caved. His people were family, he could never just leave them to their own devices very long even if he said he wanted to. Even if he pushed them all away until he was left standing alone.
It was still his job to watch after them, keep them alive. He didn't mind it, in fact it kept him going.
"Didn't show at the party. Didn't rightly give a damn about stayin for anyone else." He gave her a scruffy little smile, though his eyes were still hardened from war times. He still had laugh lines, that hadn't gone away in all the bloodshed he'd seen. He leaned on the door and watched her through the crack for a moment. "Bought this ridiculous thing and everything." Yes, bought. He hadn't gone to steal it off some poor sap for her entertainment, he'd bought it all nice and proper. With stolen money, but that was beside the point.
"Look I ain't good at this. " A hand motion that was supposed to mean 'being a couple' or whatever. "But nobody in that godforsaken place mattered if you weren't there with em so..I wanted to come here."He looked away from her then, down at the floor as though it were suddenly interesting. The C word was not an easy thing for him to say, neither was the word girlfriend, or was living together. But he could come up with something else. He had to maybe, or risk not seeing her anymore, and frankly his life was miserable enough without adding being alone to it.