#mace fluff

Mace snorts, turning around and leaning on the counter. His built arms cross over his chest and his sleeve strains over his bicep, exposing a peek of his tattoo. "The kind of frustration I have can't be relieved alone."

It takes a few moments for you to understand, and when you do, your eyes widen. "Oh! That's—That's, um..." Heat washes over your body, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"You do that a lot."

Gnawing on your lip, you twiddle your fingers. "Do what?"

"Apologize when you shouldn't." Mace returns to the table, this time right next to you instead of across. "You're the softest out of all of us. The optimist, the caregiver, the friend, whenever one of us needs someone to lean on or vent to, you're there."

He hesitantly reaches out, grasping your chin to turn you to face him. You look so nervous, like a sudden noise could send you into hiding. Soft, yeah, you're really soft.

"You must be so tired, huh? Taking care of everyone else and forgetting about yourself." His thumb gently tugs your bottom lip, releasing it from between your teeth, "I could take care of you, sunshine. You just gotta say the word."

You’re sitting at the dinner table with the others, eating a portion of beef and noodles which would normally soothe you, because you so rarely get beef and you fucking love that stuff. 

But today, nothing could soothe you. 

Not even beef and noodles, which you hadn’t had for the past month due to your sparse rations of beef and your excess rations of chicken.

Nothing could possibly soothe the ache you felt inside. 

That ache, the one you felt deep inside your being, practically smothering you. 

And there was only person to blame for that ache being there, impossible to soothe, impossible to get rid of. 

And he’s sitting right next to you, eating his beef and noodles as he hums in delight at the taste, excited to finally get something other than chicken. 

Mace. 

James. Fucking. Mace. 

It had been over a month, since he first kissed you. Which means it would have been about a month, since he first really kissed you. 

And that kiss was mind blowing. It broke you, turned you into mush, and it made you a wanting woman. 

A woman, wanting nothing more than to be touched and loved by the man who held her heart, to feel nothing more than what it’s like to have that ache soothed. 

That’s what a wanting woman means, right?

It really doesn’t matter what the word means. Because either way, you were one. 

And it didn’t exactly help when he suddenly decided to change his hair, cutting off those those long, untamed locks and opting for a buzz-cut instead. 

No, the buzz cut definitely didn’t help. As in, at all. 

He was beautiful before, but now... 

The look made your mouth water. There’s really no other way to put it. 

He already looked gorgeous, strutting around in his tight t-shirts, his bulging biceps peeking out from just below the sleeves. And now he had a buzz-cut to top off the look. 

Nothing about that was fair, but it perhaps would have helped just a little, if you actually got to act on your now, even stronger, urges. 

But no. You couldn’t, because he didn’t seem to want it, and that left you not only confused and frustrated, but also a little hurt. 

Why the hell didn’t he want you?

Why the hell did he not feel the same way you did, that ache, the longing, the need?

What the fuck was going on? 

As soon as Kaneda finishes what he’s saying, you push back in your chair and quickly get up to leave the dinner table. 

You can’t stand sitting around it for even a second longer. 

For a month, James Mace had left you wanting and unsatisfied, and it was starting to affect your work. 

It had even gotten to a point where Harvey had called you out on it, in front of everyone, and the thought made you feel embarrassed and guilty. 

Guilty, because you knew the exact reason why you haven’t been doing as well as usual, why you haven’t been paying attention. 

And it’s the exact same reason why relationships within crew mates are frowned upon. 

“What’s the status on the vegetables?” Harvey asks, the discontent clear on his face as he lifts his fork, “I’m tired of carrots.” 

“I’m growing potatoes, too,” You reply as you look at him, furrowing your brows at his expression. 

“Yeah, you said that two weeks ago, as well,” Harvey responds, picking at the carrots on his plate, “How long does it take?” 

“It takes as long as it takes, Harvey,” Mace suddenly says, making you look at him.

He’s sitting next to you at the table, and the expression he gives Harvey is stern, perhaps even dominating as he speaks. 

“You’ve got carrots, and they’re fucking delicious, so stop complaining and eat your damn vegetables,” Mace mutters before his eyes move from Harvey to you for a moment, and then drop down to his food again.

“Mace is right,” Kaneda quickly adds, “We should be grateful we have a biologist brilliant enough to be able to grow up carrots, or any type of vegetable, more than six months into our travels.” 

It made you feel nice and warm inside, when Mace defended you. It showed that he cared, and truth be told, you already knew he did, because he shows it every day. 

But it also made you realize that you’ve been slacking on your work. 

Because the truth is that you probably could have had finished potatoes by now, even if just a few, if you’d been tending to your garden as much as you normally would. If you’d been paying as much attention as you normally would. 

But of course, you hadn’t been.

Because your mind had been preoccupied. 

Preoccupied with thoughts of why you needed to feel this constant ache, why your needs weren’t being met when you literally live inside a metal can with the guy you’re dating. 

It just doesn’t seem right. It doesn’t feel right. 

And it’s making you doubt everything. 

Mace has been noticing a change in you lately. 

He can’t quite put his finger on it, he doesn’t exactly know when or why it changed, but he knows that something has definitely changed. 

He’s tried to stay close by, he has done everything he possibly could beyond neglecting his job to spend as much time with and around you as possible. 

He has done everything he could think of to make it clear to you that he wanted you, and only you, and that he wanted you in such a way that he was willing to spend any possible amount of time with you, even if it meant following you around as you did your work. 

And the truth is, Mace didn’t just do it for you. 

He missed you, when he had to spend full days in areas far away from the lab.

He used to enjoy fixing the cooling system that controlled Icarus, but now it just meant that he would be in the furthest spot away from you, and the truth is that he absolutely hated that. 

He had done everything he could possibly think of to make you feel safe, happy and content. 

He didn’t want to risk losing you, or even worse, risk you realizing that you deserved so much better than him. 

Which is also why, despite his urges, he had been taking it painfully slow with you. 

He didn’t want to fuck it up, he didn’t want you to doubt his intentions, and so he took it slow. 

Very, very slow. 

He figured that was what you wanted, needed, that it was what he should be doing to make it clear to you just how much he cared about you. 

He cared about you beyond the physical attraction he felt for you, which, to be fair, was very strong, but it didn’t matter.

Because for once in his life, he felt a deep, emotional connection, pulling him towards another person in a way that he had never felt before. 

And the fact that the person he was drawn towards was you.. Well, that was just icing on the cake. 

Or, actually, the icing on the cake was that you felt just as strongly about him as he did about you. 

Which is why he was surprised when you suddenly left dinner without a word, once Kaneda was done speaking. 

The crew had finally been served beef and noodles and Mace was no idiot; he’s been infatuated with you long enough to know that you fucking love beef and noodles.  

Which subsequently made him realize that something really awful must have happened for you to leave the table in the manner that you did. 

Mace quickly gets up, not even finishing his plate before he hurries after you down the hall. 

He’s sure the others wonder about the two of you - hell, he does too. 

But it’s really none of their business. 

Although romantic entanglements within the crew is frowned upon, it’s not technically against the rules, and thats enough. 

It’s enough to make Mace not hide what he feels - how he feels - whenever he looks at your stunning face. 

But the feeling that usually rushes through him at your close proximity is not there right now, as he approaches you in the lab. 

He can tell you’re frustrated, angry even, as he watches you touch the plant in front of you with much less care than usual. 

And he knows that if you’re taking it out on your plants, your babies, it must be bad. 

“Hey,” he says hesitantly as he takes a few steps closer to you, “Is everything alright?”

“No,” you grumble, a frown on your face as you narrow your eyes, your fingers moving over the leaves of the plants even more harshly than before. 

“What’s wrong?” Mace asks gently, hoping that perhaps he could coax you into opening up to him. 

If there’s one thing you’ve taught him, it’s that talking about feelings actually helps. Even when you don’t want to. 

You sigh, or perhaps it’s actually closer to an annoyed huff, before you say, “I can’t tell you..” 

“Why not?” He asks with furrowed brows as he steps closer, now close enough to reach out and touch you, “Does it have something to do with me? Did I do something?” 

“Yes!” You suddenly exclaim, turning your head to look at him, “Yes, Mace, you did something!” 

What could he possibly have done? 

He’s been so careful, so vigilant in hiding his wants and needs, so hyper aware of ensuring that you only ever feel safe around him, that he honestly has no idea where he possibly could have overstepped. 

“What did I do?” He asks quietly, his eyes locked on yours as he speaks. 

You huff again, crossing your arms over your chest before you finally gather the courage, turning towards him as you angrily say, “Why the hell do you not want to have sex with me?!”

Mace snorts.

A loud, obnoxious sound that represents just how ridiculous the words coming out of your mouth right now are.

“What?” He asks with a chuckle, his lips lifting into an amused smile, “What did you just say?”

“I asked you,” you say with a stern tone as you look at him, your arms still folded over your chest, “Why you don’t want to have sex with me. Are you not attracted to me? Is that it?”

“Oh no,” Mace says, shaking his head as he feels a laugh building its way up his throat, “No no, it’s definitely not that.”

“Then what?!” You huff, throwing your arms up in exasperation, “Are you a virgin?! Because that’s fine if that’s the case, we can-”

“No!” Mace quickly interjects, the laugh that was building in his throat now swallowed and gone, “Absolutely not. I am definitely not a virgin.”

“Then what is it, Mace?” You ask, the look on your face pleading and almost exhausted as you look at him, “Why are you not interested in me? Why don’t you want to touch me?”

You trail off, your voice getting quieter with every word because you suddenly realize how pathetic you sound.

Are you really standing here, begging a man to have sex with you?

What has the world come to..

“Sunshine,” Mace says gently, reaching out to take both of your hands in his, “I am interested in you and I do want to touch you.”

“Then why don’t you?” You whine, your fingers automatically entwining with his, your head tilted downcast in embarrassment as you speak, “Did I do something that made you not want to?”

Mace’s heart practically breaks.

He’s been taking it slow for you, not even realizing that him doing that made you worried and upset because you thought it meant he didn’t want you.

The fact that you could even think that is in itself heartbreaking. In fact, it makes him almost feel sick to think about.

“Baby,” he whispers, taking a step closer before his hand reaches up to cup your cheek, tilting your head upwards until your eyes meet his, “You have no idea how much I want you. You are ridiculously sexy, and so fucking sweet, and kind, and smart... I’ve wanted you since the moment I first laid my eyes on you. But I was taking it slow because I thought that was what you wanted - I wanted to show you that I’m serious about this, that it’s not just about sex for me..”

“Oh..”