BSG Ficlets
Yaih for prompt fic! That was a nice way to spend the night. Here are the ficlets I wrote yesterday, all of them BSG. I'll keep the Dollhouse prompts for another time. Tonight, maybe. Anyway, these are all of the quick and easy persuasion. Unbeta'd, too. Still, hope you enjoy, and thanks very much for the prompts!
Happily Ever After
set in the world of Becoming A Parent In Seven Swift Steps, Hoshi/Gaeta, cracky kid!fic, rating: teen, ~ 300 words, prompt by daybreak777
Surprisingly, Louis was the one to put down his foot. He’d taken to being a parent amazingly fast but then again, they both hadn’t been given a choice in that matter. Felix had thought before that he knew what it meant to be tired all day. He’d been wrong. He was used to guarding the Dradis while coordinating refueling. He was not used to simultaneously worrying about Tanya asking for her mother all the time, and Leon flat-out refusing to eat the algae.
“Alright, you know what,” Louis had said levelly. “I don’t care. Adama could be the frakking Queen of Picon as much as I care. He doesn’t have three children and a partner who works in the same frakking job. If he doesn’t reassign one of us to a different position, we’ll just have to quit. He needs us. We’ll see how he handles the ship on his own.”
Turned out, Adama needed his navigators to stay put indeed, so the plan bore fruit. Hoshi was promoted to watch officer. A new position was found for Felix. This enabled them to work the same shift. The children would now learn what it meant to have both parents around.
It made them awfully suspicious.
“You can’t both be awake at the same time,” Larissa said, clutching her stuffed tiger in fear. “The evil wizard Bill says you can’t. His magic makes it so.” Then she whispered with her tiny voice, “It’ll break the space-time continuum!”
In the corner of his eye, Felix could see Louis turning around to give him an annoyed look. “I thought we agreed you wouldn't tell that kind of stories anymore.”
“Whyever not?” Felix shrugged. “It's true, after all.”
He looked into the mirror again, narrowing his eyes.
He couldn’t help it. The CAG insignia would forever look strange on him.
Words
Felix & Chief, awkwardness post-Collaborators, rating: teen, ~ 330 words, prompt by falafel-musings
Galen meets up with Gaeta once a week to brief him on supplies and schedules. It’s easy to get back into the routine; it all came back to him as soon as he put on his gear. The only thing that has changed is Gaeta, who always looks tired now, and gray, reminding Galen he’s guilty, no matter he cut the man’s chains.
Galen feels there are things he could say to make it better; there are ways to express that he’s sorry although there is nothing he could say he’s sorry for. He thinks he should say, This is my fault, too, and We should have known it was you all along. He wants to hear Gaeta answer, You weren’t supposed to know. That was the whole point. Sometimes, Galen wonders if he doesn’t speak up only because he knows that wouldn’t be what Gaeta would answers. But the truth is that he just can’t come up with the right words, and there never seems to be an opening either.
“Listen, Gaeta,” he says abruptly when they're working through the fuel report, hesitating. Whatever words he wanted to use, they are gone as soon as he opens his mouth. Galen clears is voice. “Are you alright?” he asks instead.
Gaeta glances up. “I’m fine,” he says curtly, eyes back on his clipboard already.
At first, Galen puts it down as a rebuff. But the next day, he overhears Barolay asking the very same thing in the mess, and Gaeta just gives her a look before turning away, not answering at all. Not by way of words, anyway. The message conveyed by his eyes is clear and cutting.
Gaeta isn’t one to like relying on words, either, Galen thinks. Maybe he doesn’t know the right ones just like Galen. Maybe Galen should stop worrying about it overall.
He still asks him again one week later, and Gaeta still tells him that he’s alright.
One day, it might even stop being a lie.
Justice
Helo & Gaeta talking Baltar, “Crossroads”, rating: teen, ~ 300 words, prompt by blue-crow
Nobody wants to execute Gaeta anymore, but nobody wants to socialize with him, either, especially after that suspicious stint he just pulled at the trial. Since Dee is nowhere to be seen, it’s Helo who ends up half-carrying him back to his quarters when he gets drunk.
“I should have known,” Gaeta says, his words surprisingly precise, considering he smells like a distillery and staggers like a rook. “I should have seen it coming. He wouldn’t even have been President without me. I gave him my vote.” He spits the word out like it’s poisonous. “Do you have any idea what that feels like?”
“We’re almost there,” Helo says patiently. “I’ll see if I can find a bucket.”
It doesn’t do to try and explain to a drunk man that yes, Helo knows exactly what that feels like. He sure as hell wouldn’t have given his vote to the woman who wanted to murder his child. Helo thought he knew Gaius Baltar, too. He thought he’d be an asset.
Waking up in the morning, Gaeta doesn’t seem to remember that part of the night at all. But when Helo spots him in the courtroom that day, he still sits down at his side.
Helo lets his thoughts wander to the day he and Boomer first set down on Caprica. He remembers the flood of civilians purging down the hills, and -- “Aren’t you Gaius Baltar?” -- “I haven’t done anything!” The shock and the adrenaline of that day have burned those words into his mind forever.
Helo should have known. Helo should have seen it coming. Baltar wouldn’t even be alive without him.
He smirks.
Meanwhile, Lampkin and Lee are talking about justice.
Scientific Interest
Gaeta/Baltar, Six/Baltar, season one, rating: adult, ~ 300 words. Uhm, I have a strong feeling that this isn't fluff at all. It was supposed to be though, originally. Prompt by tin-o-biscuits
Gaius has made the Six a science. She knows it, of course. It makes her laugh. She teases him about it, day and night, while his scientist mind works on the problem: What is she? Where did she come from? What can she do? He tries to form a hypothesis, working through it step by step.
She always knows exactly what he’s thinking. Is that because she can access his thoughts or because she can read him that well? Forcing himself to look at it from a scientific angle, Gaius has to admit that he’s easy to read. However, people often fail to realize that the many things easy to read about Gaius were all carefully designed for that purpose. Once upon a time, flamboyancy was an excellent tool to distract people from those Aerelon vowels that kept creeping up.
He decides for an experiment.
Gaius sleeps with three different women in a row, which isn’t exactly a hardship. All of them are blonds. All of them are strong and independent. All of them remind him of Six.
“Oh Gaius,” Six says that night, the tips of her long, steely finger pushing him down on his cot. “Do you really believe that they can give you want you need?”
Gaius closes his eyes.
He concentrates on the memory of spending the day in his lab. He remembers working with Lt. Gaeta. The way the lieutenant’s eyes lingered on him when he thought that Gaius wouldn’t notice. The way Gaeta smiled to tell Gaius hello.
Gaius imagines advancing on the lieutenant with a smile of his own, predatory and determined.
Hands are opening his zipper, reaching for his cock.
In his mind, he pushes Gaeta back against the wall.
“God doesn't care about those women,” the Six is purring. “But he cares about you.”
Gaius isn’t sure what makes him come so hard, whether it’s the triumph of having deceived her, or the unwavering image of Gaeta leaning in to kiss him back.
A Helping Hand
Gaeta and Helo helping each other out, Gaeta/Helo, pre-series, rating: teen, ~ 300 words, prompt by rebelliousrose
There are two different kinds of fraternization.
The first kind happens when many sexually active young people are penned up on a battlestar. And the next shore leave is another year away. Almost everybody does it, and the command staff turns a blind eye, so they don’t have to put half the crew on report. It’s nothing, anyway, it’s friends lending each other a hand. It’s a way to blow off steam at a place full of soldiers but without whores.
The second is talked about less but feared more. It endangers the chain of command. It’s what everyone knows the Chief and Valerii are up to, no matter they still put up an effort to keep it a secret. It’s the kind of fraternization that you know exactly is against orders, and you go through with it, anyway. This is the kind that either ends in tears and demotions, or with a marriage and kids.
“I must say I’m surprised,” Helo remarks, putting his trousers back on. “I never would have thought you’d be the type. Not that there’s anything wrong with sticking to protocol,” he hurries to add. Post-orgasmic bliss has made him chatty. It’s the same every time. “But I didn’t think you’d be the type. I’m glad I was wrong.” He’s smiling.
Felix shrugs, busy straightening his jacket. “Just lending a hand,” he says casually, thinking of the way Helo keeps looking at Boomer. “It’s a way to blow off steam.”
“Way to make it sound impersonal.” Helo rolls his eyes at him. Pushing Felix back against the wall, he leans in to kiss him goodbye. “See you tomorrow?”
Felix melts into the kiss until his legs start feeling wobbly. Then he watches the armory’s hatch closing behind Helo. He’ll have to wait a minute before he can follow him out.
There are two different kinds of fraternization. It would never occur to Felix to take part in the first. But he’s getting a feeling that maybe, the second kind is beyond his control.
Happily Ever After
set in the world of Becoming A Parent In Seven Swift Steps, Hoshi/Gaeta, cracky kid!fic, rating: teen, ~ 300 words, prompt by daybreak777
Surprisingly, Louis was the one to put down his foot. He’d taken to being a parent amazingly fast but then again, they both hadn’t been given a choice in that matter. Felix had thought before that he knew what it meant to be tired all day. He’d been wrong. He was used to guarding the Dradis while coordinating refueling. He was not used to simultaneously worrying about Tanya asking for her mother all the time, and Leon flat-out refusing to eat the algae.
“Alright, you know what,” Louis had said levelly. “I don’t care. Adama could be the frakking Queen of Picon as much as I care. He doesn’t have three children and a partner who works in the same frakking job. If he doesn’t reassign one of us to a different position, we’ll just have to quit. He needs us. We’ll see how he handles the ship on his own.”
Turned out, Adama needed his navigators to stay put indeed, so the plan bore fruit. Hoshi was promoted to watch officer. A new position was found for Felix. This enabled them to work the same shift. The children would now learn what it meant to have both parents around.
It made them awfully suspicious.
“You can’t both be awake at the same time,” Larissa said, clutching her stuffed tiger in fear. “The evil wizard Bill says you can’t. His magic makes it so.” Then she whispered with her tiny voice, “It’ll break the space-time continuum!”
In the corner of his eye, Felix could see Louis turning around to give him an annoyed look. “I thought we agreed you wouldn't tell that kind of stories anymore.”
“Whyever not?” Felix shrugged. “It's true, after all.”
He looked into the mirror again, narrowing his eyes.
He couldn’t help it. The CAG insignia would forever look strange on him.
Words
Felix & Chief, awkwardness post-Collaborators, rating: teen, ~ 330 words, prompt by falafel-musings
Galen meets up with Gaeta once a week to brief him on supplies and schedules. It’s easy to get back into the routine; it all came back to him as soon as he put on his gear. The only thing that has changed is Gaeta, who always looks tired now, and gray, reminding Galen he’s guilty, no matter he cut the man’s chains.
Galen feels there are things he could say to make it better; there are ways to express that he’s sorry although there is nothing he could say he’s sorry for. He thinks he should say, This is my fault, too, and We should have known it was you all along. He wants to hear Gaeta answer, You weren’t supposed to know. That was the whole point. Sometimes, Galen wonders if he doesn’t speak up only because he knows that wouldn’t be what Gaeta would answers. But the truth is that he just can’t come up with the right words, and there never seems to be an opening either.
“Listen, Gaeta,” he says abruptly when they're working through the fuel report, hesitating. Whatever words he wanted to use, they are gone as soon as he opens his mouth. Galen clears is voice. “Are you alright?” he asks instead.
Gaeta glances up. “I’m fine,” he says curtly, eyes back on his clipboard already.
At first, Galen puts it down as a rebuff. But the next day, he overhears Barolay asking the very same thing in the mess, and Gaeta just gives her a look before turning away, not answering at all. Not by way of words, anyway. The message conveyed by his eyes is clear and cutting.
Gaeta isn’t one to like relying on words, either, Galen thinks. Maybe he doesn’t know the right ones just like Galen. Maybe Galen should stop worrying about it overall.
He still asks him again one week later, and Gaeta still tells him that he’s alright.
One day, it might even stop being a lie.
Justice
Helo & Gaeta talking Baltar, “Crossroads”, rating: teen, ~ 300 words, prompt by blue-crow
Nobody wants to execute Gaeta anymore, but nobody wants to socialize with him, either, especially after that suspicious stint he just pulled at the trial. Since Dee is nowhere to be seen, it’s Helo who ends up half-carrying him back to his quarters when he gets drunk.
“I should have known,” Gaeta says, his words surprisingly precise, considering he smells like a distillery and staggers like a rook. “I should have seen it coming. He wouldn’t even have been President without me. I gave him my vote.” He spits the word out like it’s poisonous. “Do you have any idea what that feels like?”
“We’re almost there,” Helo says patiently. “I’ll see if I can find a bucket.”
It doesn’t do to try and explain to a drunk man that yes, Helo knows exactly what that feels like. He sure as hell wouldn’t have given his vote to the woman who wanted to murder his child. Helo thought he knew Gaius Baltar, too. He thought he’d be an asset.
Waking up in the morning, Gaeta doesn’t seem to remember that part of the night at all. But when Helo spots him in the courtroom that day, he still sits down at his side.
Helo lets his thoughts wander to the day he and Boomer first set down on Caprica. He remembers the flood of civilians purging down the hills, and -- “Aren’t you Gaius Baltar?” -- “I haven’t done anything!” The shock and the adrenaline of that day have burned those words into his mind forever.
Helo should have known. Helo should have seen it coming. Baltar wouldn’t even be alive without him.
He smirks.
Meanwhile, Lampkin and Lee are talking about justice.
Scientific Interest
Gaeta/Baltar, Six/Baltar, season one, rating: adult, ~ 300 words. Uhm, I have a strong feeling that this isn't fluff at all. It was supposed to be though, originally. Prompt by tin-o-biscuits
Gaius has made the Six a science. She knows it, of course. It makes her laugh. She teases him about it, day and night, while his scientist mind works on the problem: What is she? Where did she come from? What can she do? He tries to form a hypothesis, working through it step by step.
She always knows exactly what he’s thinking. Is that because she can access his thoughts or because she can read him that well? Forcing himself to look at it from a scientific angle, Gaius has to admit that he’s easy to read. However, people often fail to realize that the many things easy to read about Gaius were all carefully designed for that purpose. Once upon a time, flamboyancy was an excellent tool to distract people from those Aerelon vowels that kept creeping up.
He decides for an experiment.
Gaius sleeps with three different women in a row, which isn’t exactly a hardship. All of them are blonds. All of them are strong and independent. All of them remind him of Six.
“Oh Gaius,” Six says that night, the tips of her long, steely finger pushing him down on his cot. “Do you really believe that they can give you want you need?”
Gaius closes his eyes.
He concentrates on the memory of spending the day in his lab. He remembers working with Lt. Gaeta. The way the lieutenant’s eyes lingered on him when he thought that Gaius wouldn’t notice. The way Gaeta smiled to tell Gaius hello.
Gaius imagines advancing on the lieutenant with a smile of his own, predatory and determined.
Hands are opening his zipper, reaching for his cock.
In his mind, he pushes Gaeta back against the wall.
“God doesn't care about those women,” the Six is purring. “But he cares about you.”
Gaius isn’t sure what makes him come so hard, whether it’s the triumph of having deceived her, or the unwavering image of Gaeta leaning in to kiss him back.
A Helping Hand
Gaeta and Helo helping each other out, Gaeta/Helo, pre-series, rating: teen, ~ 300 words, prompt by rebelliousrose
There are two different kinds of fraternization.
The first kind happens when many sexually active young people are penned up on a battlestar. And the next shore leave is another year away. Almost everybody does it, and the command staff turns a blind eye, so they don’t have to put half the crew on report. It’s nothing, anyway, it’s friends lending each other a hand. It’s a way to blow off steam at a place full of soldiers but without whores.
The second is talked about less but feared more. It endangers the chain of command. It’s what everyone knows the Chief and Valerii are up to, no matter they still put up an effort to keep it a secret. It’s the kind of fraternization that you know exactly is against orders, and you go through with it, anyway. This is the kind that either ends in tears and demotions, or with a marriage and kids.
“I must say I’m surprised,” Helo remarks, putting his trousers back on. “I never would have thought you’d be the type. Not that there’s anything wrong with sticking to protocol,” he hurries to add. Post-orgasmic bliss has made him chatty. It’s the same every time. “But I didn’t think you’d be the type. I’m glad I was wrong.” He’s smiling.
Felix shrugs, busy straightening his jacket. “Just lending a hand,” he says casually, thinking of the way Helo keeps looking at Boomer. “It’s a way to blow off steam.”
“Way to make it sound impersonal.” Helo rolls his eyes at him. Pushing Felix back against the wall, he leans in to kiss him goodbye. “See you tomorrow?”
Felix melts into the kiss until his legs start feeling wobbly. Then he watches the armory’s hatch closing behind Helo. He’ll have to wait a minute before he can follow him out.
There are two different kinds of fraternization. It would never occur to Felix to take part in the first. But he’s getting a feeling that maybe, the second kind is beyond his control.