FIC: It's not really a date. (BSG, Kara/Lee, PG)
Title: It's not really a date.
Author: olaf47
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Characters/Pairing: Lee, Kara, Kara/Lee
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Summary: Lee’s dad sets him up with some commander’s daughter who’s coming to town.
Word count: 1847
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. The words are.
Author's Note: Inspired by this DPP at no_takebacks. Cross posted to sasa_hq, beyond_insane, and bsg2003fics.
It’s not really a date.
Lee’s dad sets him up with some commander’s daughter who’s coming to town.
Lee being Lee, and his relationship with his father being what it is, it doesn’t matter that he shouts no to the heavens, they’re going on a date. He’ll do it with a smile and he’ll do it well.
She likes bowling of all things, and there’s a place Lee knows where they can have a burger and a brew and bowl a couple games.
But then she shows up with her frakking cousin, a civvie, two years younger. Cindi, that’s the girl’s name, thinks the cousin can hang out in some of the bars while she and Lee are on the date. Except Lee knows the bars, goes to the bars, knows the kind of trouble a twenty year old kid is bound to get in there. So while Cindi and her cousin get settled in their hotel, he pays Kara a visit.
“Please, Kara, just come bowling with us. I just need someone so her cousin doesn’t get bored,” he pleads. “My dad will kill me otherwise.”
She thinks about making some choice comments about the famous Husker, but Lee keeps begging, actually gets on his knees. And he promises cigars and ambrosia and other favors to be called in as needed, so she eventually relents.
That’s the only reason she’s standing here now, some freckly ginger kid named Tommy shaking her hand, slack jawed.
To be fair, her jeans are tight enough to make most any man slack jawed. Pairing it with a shirt with a treacherously deep neckline, she didn’t expect much less. But she wore it for Lee’s reaction, not the kid’s. His jaw is tight, flush creeping up his cheeks. Anything involving the Old Man ensured that stick was up Lee’s ass, as though disappointing the father he claimed to hate would kill him. She likes nothing more than messing with him, especially in times like these. And she knows his thoughts are almost exclusively curse words as she grins lasciviously at Tommy. But she also knows that if Lee gets some ambrosia in him, his eyes wander just as much as the ginger’s.
They head to the bowling alley and Lee is the perfect date, holding doors and pulling out Cindi’s chair. She thanks him profusely and Kara hides her snicker.
“So how did you two become friends?” Cindi asks as they wait for their food. “Being different years and all.”
Kara smirks; Lee rolls his eyes.
“Kara’s in advanced flight classes,” he explains.
“They say I’m precocious.”
“Not in her other studies, they don’t,” Lee bites. “If you don’t pass history they won’t make you a fourth year, you know?”
“This is why I keep Leland here around,” Kara says. “Keeps me in line, helps me study.”
She beams, a bit predatory, and he forces a smile.
“Enough about us though. Tell us about you, Cindi.”
The girl talks about cosmetology school for a good half hour. They’ve finished their burgers before anyone can get a word in. Then Lee says something, feigning interest and trying to move the conversation elsewhere, but Starbuck cuts in.
“Whaddya say we get a shot in us before bowling?” She can feel Lee stiffen next to her.
“Tommy’s not old enough,” Cindi says.
“Don’t worry, I know the bartender.” And with a wink, she’s off to the bar.
Just as she expected, Lee is quick to follow. He catches her by the elbow as she waves down the bartender.
“Kara,” his voice is quiet, angry at more than her, like maybe the last half hour of beauty talk strained his nerves.
“It’s one shot, Lee, get a grip,” she says.
His grip on her elbow tightens and she glares at him.
“Kara, I just have to get through this night without frakkin’ up, okay? And then you show up looking like-”
“Looking like what, Apollo?”
He at least has the decency to look guilty. He’s never called her a slut, but she sees the way he looks at her sometimes at bars when she’s picking someone up; it’s less than friendly. She jerks her arm out of his grasp.
“For frak’s sake, Lee, you’re the one who made me come. At least let me have some booze and kick your ass bowling.”
Eventually, he smirks. “Kick my ass, huh?” he asks, takes two of the shots she ordered and heads back to their table.
“Oh, don’t even, Apollo. This is one of those things, like flying, in which my skills are far superior to yours.”
They’re laughing as they drop the shots in front of Cindi, who looks nervous, and Tommy, who looks over eager.
“Don’t worry about it, Cindi.” Starbuck winks again, throws the shot back.
Lee and Tommy follow suit, and Cindi finally joins in.
“Okay, c’mon now, I’ve gotta show Apollo just how much better I am at bowling.”
They pick bowling balls and Cindi, predictably, picks bright pink. Kara snickers. She programs the computer keeping score; it tells them that Cindi bowls first, then Tommy, then Dipstick, then Starbuck.
Lee just rolls his eyes, “Let’s play then.”
Cindi isn’t half as bad as Lee expected; she drops seven pins in the first frame. Lee equals her and Starbuck gets a strike. She cackles.
As the game continues, Lee’s trying to make sure Cindi has a good time, meanwhile Kara spreads over the seats and regales Tommy with The Embarrassing Exploits of Leland Joseph Adama. Lee cringes as she tells about the time he got three nights in the brig for being caught drunk and disorderly, running a pair of Helo’s underwear up the flag pole outside the manor house.
Starbuck laughs, and Tommy and Cindi do too, and Lee knows the tops of his ears are red with his blush.
It takes Kara until the third frame before she realizes Lee’s letting Cindi win. She thought she had him beat by almost twenty points already, but he’s barely trying. The next frame, after he intentionally rolls a gutter ball, he turns around and both Tommy and Starbuck have beers. She mouths, “What?”, faux innocent, and he narrows his eyes.
By the end of the game, Kara’s blown them all away, and there are enough empty shot glasses on the table that she crows even though she knows Lee intentionally lost.
She slips into the seat next to him, all heat and skin and tightness in that outfit. He keeps his face blank.
“You lost, Apollo,” she says, just above a whisper.
“Yes, but he let you win,” says Cindi, who’s still on Lee’s other side, their shoulders pressed together. She looks at him. “I’m a big girl, I can handle losing. You have to at least give Starbuck a run for her money.”
Kara grins, and Lee can feel it. Competition and alcohol are her oxygen, what she lives on. She’s bragging in his ear about how he’s still going to lose, how he’ll never beat her.
The next game, he bowls three strikes in a row.
He smirks at Kara, who sticks out her tongue. She’s stopped telling stories now, but Tommy doesn’t seem to mind, especially since she’s been slouching when she sits, giving him a good view of her cleavage. Lee tries to ignore them, focus on Cindi instead.
Except Kara’s pouting, and he’s not sure why. He’s only beating her by a few points, and he suspects the pout is an attempt to throw him off his game. Even so, the next time she bowls, he downs a shot, just to make her laugh.
It works, and she and Cindi both chuckle at him. He thinks that might count as encouraging bad behavior. He also takes Cindi’s laugh as permission to do another shot, and ends up doing them three frames running.
Kara keeps laughing and not quite looking at him. He laughs back, leans closer to Cindi. But then Kara takes the lead and flashes him a triumphant smirk. She stands too close, whispers in his ear.
“Told you I’d show you, Apollo.”
“Game’s not over yet, Starbuck,” he says, and when she moves away he keeps looking where she just was, like he misses the proximity.
His hand finds Cindi’s thigh and he squeezes, grins at her, surprised he’s having so much fun on a date set up by his dad.
After the eighth frame, Kara saunters back over, into his space. She smirks again.
“Nervous yet?”
He’d answer, except her tongue darts out to wet her lips and he can only star. He doesn’t realize Cindi’s moved from his side until she clears her throat, standing in front of them.
“Maybe Tommy and I should just go.”
“What?” Lee’s head snaps to her. “No, why?”
“Well, I know our fathers set this up as some sort of a date,” Cindi says. “But it’s clear we’re intruding on something.”
Lee just looks at her, opens his mouth, closes it.
“What?”
“I mean, it’s clear that you two are-” she gestures between him and Kara, who is still half-leaned over him, face inches away. “Well, your dad seemed to think you were single. You’re not. It’s no big deal.”
And it finally clicks in Lee’s head. “Wait, you think-me and-you think Kara and I are dating?”
Kara cackles and finally moves away.
“It’s pretty clear that there’s something going on between you,” Cindi says.
Lee looks at Kara, who rolls her eyes and picks up her bowling ball. She bowls as Lee keeps talking.
“No, there’s nothing going on. We’re friends. Gods, that’s ridiculous.”
Cindi smiles at him gently and Tommy chuckles.
“It’s kind of ridiculous that you don’t realize you want her, man,” he says.
Kara is determinedly waiting for her ball to come back, paying no attention. Lee just opens his mouth again, without anything to say. He closes it.
“It’s fine,” Cindi says. “I’ll tell my dad it went great, but you’re not my type. Don’t worry about.”
It’s the most sensible she’s sounded all night, but Lee’s head doesn’t stop swimming.
“Look, Cindi-”
She pats his arm. “It’s fine. We’re just going to go.”
She grabs her purse and Tommy gives a wave and that’s it, they leave. Kara doesn’t meet his eyes as she sits across from him.
“Your turn,” she says. “I didn’t even make the spare.”
Lee sputters. “Are we-can you-can you believe this?”
“Whatever, Lee. Who cares what Cindi the cosmetologist said? Let’s finish this game so you finally admit that I’m better than you, and then we can go get hammered.”
He almost doesn’t believe it, but Starbuck’s actually blushing. It’s just a slight twinge, and if they’d been drinking more he’d blame it on that. But he knows her, knows she hasn't had enough to get her cheeks red like that, and he realizes she’s blushing.
Lee doesn’t push it, though he does “accidentally” hurl his ball into the gutter, just to hear Kara’s victorious cackle.
Author: olaf47
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Characters/Pairing: Lee, Kara, Kara/Lee
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Summary: Lee’s dad sets him up with some commander’s daughter who’s coming to town.
Word count: 1847
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. The words are.
Author's Note: Inspired by this DPP at no_takebacks. Cross posted to sasa_hq, beyond_insane, and bsg2003fics.
It’s not really a date.
Lee’s dad sets him up with some commander’s daughter who’s coming to town.
Lee being Lee, and his relationship with his father being what it is, it doesn’t matter that he shouts no to the heavens, they’re going on a date. He’ll do it with a smile and he’ll do it well.
She likes bowling of all things, and there’s a place Lee knows where they can have a burger and a brew and bowl a couple games.
But then she shows up with her frakking cousin, a civvie, two years younger. Cindi, that’s the girl’s name, thinks the cousin can hang out in some of the bars while she and Lee are on the date. Except Lee knows the bars, goes to the bars, knows the kind of trouble a twenty year old kid is bound to get in there. So while Cindi and her cousin get settled in their hotel, he pays Kara a visit.
“Please, Kara, just come bowling with us. I just need someone so her cousin doesn’t get bored,” he pleads. “My dad will kill me otherwise.”
She thinks about making some choice comments about the famous Husker, but Lee keeps begging, actually gets on his knees. And he promises cigars and ambrosia and other favors to be called in as needed, so she eventually relents.
That’s the only reason she’s standing here now, some freckly ginger kid named Tommy shaking her hand, slack jawed.
To be fair, her jeans are tight enough to make most any man slack jawed. Pairing it with a shirt with a treacherously deep neckline, she didn’t expect much less. But she wore it for Lee’s reaction, not the kid’s. His jaw is tight, flush creeping up his cheeks. Anything involving the Old Man ensured that stick was up Lee’s ass, as though disappointing the father he claimed to hate would kill him. She likes nothing more than messing with him, especially in times like these. And she knows his thoughts are almost exclusively curse words as she grins lasciviously at Tommy. But she also knows that if Lee gets some ambrosia in him, his eyes wander just as much as the ginger’s.
They head to the bowling alley and Lee is the perfect date, holding doors and pulling out Cindi’s chair. She thanks him profusely and Kara hides her snicker.
“So how did you two become friends?” Cindi asks as they wait for their food. “Being different years and all.”
Kara smirks; Lee rolls his eyes.
“Kara’s in advanced flight classes,” he explains.
“They say I’m precocious.”
“Not in her other studies, they don’t,” Lee bites. “If you don’t pass history they won’t make you a fourth year, you know?”
“This is why I keep Leland here around,” Kara says. “Keeps me in line, helps me study.”
She beams, a bit predatory, and he forces a smile.
“Enough about us though. Tell us about you, Cindi.”
The girl talks about cosmetology school for a good half hour. They’ve finished their burgers before anyone can get a word in. Then Lee says something, feigning interest and trying to move the conversation elsewhere, but Starbuck cuts in.
“Whaddya say we get a shot in us before bowling?” She can feel Lee stiffen next to her.
“Tommy’s not old enough,” Cindi says.
“Don’t worry, I know the bartender.” And with a wink, she’s off to the bar.
Just as she expected, Lee is quick to follow. He catches her by the elbow as she waves down the bartender.
“Kara,” his voice is quiet, angry at more than her, like maybe the last half hour of beauty talk strained his nerves.
“It’s one shot, Lee, get a grip,” she says.
His grip on her elbow tightens and she glares at him.
“Kara, I just have to get through this night without frakkin’ up, okay? And then you show up looking like-”
“Looking like what, Apollo?”
He at least has the decency to look guilty. He’s never called her a slut, but she sees the way he looks at her sometimes at bars when she’s picking someone up; it’s less than friendly. She jerks her arm out of his grasp.
“For frak’s sake, Lee, you’re the one who made me come. At least let me have some booze and kick your ass bowling.”
Eventually, he smirks. “Kick my ass, huh?” he asks, takes two of the shots she ordered and heads back to their table.
“Oh, don’t even, Apollo. This is one of those things, like flying, in which my skills are far superior to yours.”
They’re laughing as they drop the shots in front of Cindi, who looks nervous, and Tommy, who looks over eager.
“Don’t worry about it, Cindi.” Starbuck winks again, throws the shot back.
Lee and Tommy follow suit, and Cindi finally joins in.
“Okay, c’mon now, I’ve gotta show Apollo just how much better I am at bowling.”
They pick bowling balls and Cindi, predictably, picks bright pink. Kara snickers. She programs the computer keeping score; it tells them that Cindi bowls first, then Tommy, then Dipstick, then Starbuck.
Lee just rolls his eyes, “Let’s play then.”
Cindi isn’t half as bad as Lee expected; she drops seven pins in the first frame. Lee equals her and Starbuck gets a strike. She cackles.
As the game continues, Lee’s trying to make sure Cindi has a good time, meanwhile Kara spreads over the seats and regales Tommy with The Embarrassing Exploits of Leland Joseph Adama. Lee cringes as she tells about the time he got three nights in the brig for being caught drunk and disorderly, running a pair of Helo’s underwear up the flag pole outside the manor house.
Starbuck laughs, and Tommy and Cindi do too, and Lee knows the tops of his ears are red with his blush.
It takes Kara until the third frame before she realizes Lee’s letting Cindi win. She thought she had him beat by almost twenty points already, but he’s barely trying. The next frame, after he intentionally rolls a gutter ball, he turns around and both Tommy and Starbuck have beers. She mouths, “What?”, faux innocent, and he narrows his eyes.
By the end of the game, Kara’s blown them all away, and there are enough empty shot glasses on the table that she crows even though she knows Lee intentionally lost.
She slips into the seat next to him, all heat and skin and tightness in that outfit. He keeps his face blank.
“You lost, Apollo,” she says, just above a whisper.
“Yes, but he let you win,” says Cindi, who’s still on Lee’s other side, their shoulders pressed together. She looks at him. “I’m a big girl, I can handle losing. You have to at least give Starbuck a run for her money.”
Kara grins, and Lee can feel it. Competition and alcohol are her oxygen, what she lives on. She’s bragging in his ear about how he’s still going to lose, how he’ll never beat her.
The next game, he bowls three strikes in a row.
He smirks at Kara, who sticks out her tongue. She’s stopped telling stories now, but Tommy doesn’t seem to mind, especially since she’s been slouching when she sits, giving him a good view of her cleavage. Lee tries to ignore them, focus on Cindi instead.
Except Kara’s pouting, and he’s not sure why. He’s only beating her by a few points, and he suspects the pout is an attempt to throw him off his game. Even so, the next time she bowls, he downs a shot, just to make her laugh.
It works, and she and Cindi both chuckle at him. He thinks that might count as encouraging bad behavior. He also takes Cindi’s laugh as permission to do another shot, and ends up doing them three frames running.
Kara keeps laughing and not quite looking at him. He laughs back, leans closer to Cindi. But then Kara takes the lead and flashes him a triumphant smirk. She stands too close, whispers in his ear.
“Told you I’d show you, Apollo.”
“Game’s not over yet, Starbuck,” he says, and when she moves away he keeps looking where she just was, like he misses the proximity.
His hand finds Cindi’s thigh and he squeezes, grins at her, surprised he’s having so much fun on a date set up by his dad.
After the eighth frame, Kara saunters back over, into his space. She smirks again.
“Nervous yet?”
He’d answer, except her tongue darts out to wet her lips and he can only star. He doesn’t realize Cindi’s moved from his side until she clears her throat, standing in front of them.
“Maybe Tommy and I should just go.”
“What?” Lee’s head snaps to her. “No, why?”
“Well, I know our fathers set this up as some sort of a date,” Cindi says. “But it’s clear we’re intruding on something.”
Lee just looks at her, opens his mouth, closes it.
“What?”
“I mean, it’s clear that you two are-” she gestures between him and Kara, who is still half-leaned over him, face inches away. “Well, your dad seemed to think you were single. You’re not. It’s no big deal.”
And it finally clicks in Lee’s head. “Wait, you think-me and-you think Kara and I are dating?”
Kara cackles and finally moves away.
“It’s pretty clear that there’s something going on between you,” Cindi says.
Lee looks at Kara, who rolls her eyes and picks up her bowling ball. She bowls as Lee keeps talking.
“No, there’s nothing going on. We’re friends. Gods, that’s ridiculous.”
Cindi smiles at him gently and Tommy chuckles.
“It’s kind of ridiculous that you don’t realize you want her, man,” he says.
Kara is determinedly waiting for her ball to come back, paying no attention. Lee just opens his mouth again, without anything to say. He closes it.
“It’s fine,” Cindi says. “I’ll tell my dad it went great, but you’re not my type. Don’t worry about.”
It’s the most sensible she’s sounded all night, but Lee’s head doesn’t stop swimming.
“Look, Cindi-”
She pats his arm. “It’s fine. We’re just going to go.”
She grabs her purse and Tommy gives a wave and that’s it, they leave. Kara doesn’t meet his eyes as she sits across from him.
“Your turn,” she says. “I didn’t even make the spare.”
Lee sputters. “Are we-can you-can you believe this?”
“Whatever, Lee. Who cares what Cindi the cosmetologist said? Let’s finish this game so you finally admit that I’m better than you, and then we can go get hammered.”
He almost doesn’t believe it, but Starbuck’s actually blushing. It’s just a slight twinge, and if they’d been drinking more he’d blame it on that. But he knows her, knows she hasn't had enough to get her cheeks red like that, and he realizes she’s blushing.
Lee doesn’t push it, though he does “accidentally” hurl his ball into the gutter, just to hear Kara’s victorious cackle.