BSG ficlet: Settling Up (Kara/Lee, Helo, PG-13)
OMG, it's pilots! Flirty, no less. What's wrong with me, I wonder?
Title: Settling Up
Pairing/Characters: Kara/Lee, Helo
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Then, almost unable to get the words out around a wide grin, she says: "Kiss Helo." 1500 words.
Settling Up
He knows better than to play cards with Starbuck. He does. He thinks maybe, just maybe, he must enjoy losing.
"Full colors," she crows, and he tries not to let his face pinch up into a worried frown. He had been out of money and other goods to bet with, so the last hand had been played on faith. It was a good hand. It should have won. It didn't, but he had already agreed: he would take a dare if he lost the pot.
And, yes, he did lose. Spectacularly.
He thinks that, really, if he hadn't wanted to risk one of her crazy dares, he wouldn't have gone along with that stipulation to the betting. Chances were, he was practically itching to do something slightly crazy and, moreover, have an excuse to do it.
That comfort with his own need for rebellion turned again to a healthy dose of fear when he saw the gleam in her eyes.
"What, Starbuck?" he says.
"I know what you can do."
"As if you didn't already know before the hand even started."
She just nods.
"So?"
She's almost laughing already. It makes his stomach do this ridiculous flipping thing. Then, almost unable to get the words out around a wide grin, she says:
"Kiss Helo."
He barely keeps his eyes from widening in shock. Instead, he tried to meet her smirk head on with a slightly bored, slightly apathetic smile.
"No way," he says easily as he gets up from the table.
When he glances back at Helo, he's looking askance at Starbuck, but a smile is already forming on his face.
Oh, frak, Lee thinks. He's playing along.
"You did lose the bet, sir," Helo says evenly, without quite taking his eyes off Starbuck.
"Yeah, but you didn't."
"Let's just say I owe the Lieutenant."
"Oh?" Lee says, profoundly curious.
But Starbuck leans over and knocks at Lee's hand at his side. "C'mon. You lost."
"I know that."
"Besides," she says, slouching back into her chair. "It'll be pretty frakkin' hot."
The hair on the back of his neck prickles up with the low, lazy tone in her voice. Lee's stomach tightens in anticipation, not of kissing Helo but of what it'll do to Starbuck. Frak, what it's already doing to Starbuck.
But Helo's laughing. "Oh, is that how it is?" Helo asks her.
"Yeah," she says. "That's how it is."
Lee watches them have a whole conversation with their eyes, but for the life of him he can't see much more than friendly competition spark between them. They enjoy each other's company, sure, and they're both shamelessly flirty people, but Starbuck's never been fixated on getting Helo in the sack, so these looks they're passing between them shouldn't make him jealous, but they most definitely do.
He pushes himself up out of his chair.
"Well, come on, then, Agathon," he says. "If you're so game. Let's settle our debt with the mistress."
As Helo slowly lumbers up out of his seat, Starbuck cackles and says, "It's not that frakkin' kinky, Apollo. It's-"
But as soon as Helo steps up to him, Lee wastes no time in putting his hands on his shoulders and leans forward and tells himself it'll be just like kissing a girl.
Except for the way his head has to tip back. Godsdamn if Helo isn't big motherfrakker.
Starbuck stops talking altogether, and he can feel Helo smiling against his lips as he opens his mouth to it. In the look that passed between them as Helo crossed the room, they had their own sort of unspoken conversation, agreeing to just go with it and do their best to render Starbuck speechless, so Lee doesn't waste any time letting his tongue snake into Helo's mouth, which is shockingly sweet and sticky from the sucker he was just finishing off.
From there the kiss turns kind of lewd and noisy without being comically overplayed. They swap spit exactly as if this is serious and they're really, really enjoying themselves and trying to turn each other on. Really, they are enjoying themselves-Helo's a pretty good kisser-but if Lee is subtly flushing with arousal, it's because Starbuck's still watching-intently, if her silence is any indication. The rest of the room, however, has erupted into cat calls and wolf whistles.
It can't be more than a couple of turns of the head, to take the kiss deeper, and a few slow and wet thrusts of tongue before they're pulling apart, but not before Helo pushes that sticky remnant of green apple sucker into Lee's mouth purposefully enough that it can't be an accident. Just what he means by it, Lee doesn't know, but he doesn't think too hard about it, not when he can feel so many pairs of eyes on him, especially Starbuck's.
"Lieutenant," Lee says with a nod as he lets go of his shoulders.
"Captain," Helo says in response, a smile playing over his lips as floats back over to his seat.
The rec room hasn't entirely returned to calm at this point-in fact, Hot Dog looks a little shell shocked, and Racetrack chuckles like mad as she pours him another drink-but everyone goes back to their own conversations and games anyway-except for Starbuck, who waits at her table alone for him to come and sit back down. Her eyes are still a little wide, but they quickly narrow. She can fake blasé, all the while making you know it's fake, better than anybody he's ever seen.
"Didn't think you would have the balls," she says.
"Why'd you ask me to do it if you didn't want to see it?"
"Didn't?" she says with a snort, and her expression sort of opens wide again. "Frak that. I'm telling you, you two could make a killing making dirty movies."
He coughs, laughing. "I'm sorry, Starbuck, but butch pilot types just don't do it for me."
"No?" she says, catching his eye and burning a look at him. Oh, he hates that, when she rides the line between teasing and letting an honest-seeming admission of lust slip through. Then she says, "You need somebody who can make you feel tall?"
He's about to come up with a clever retort when Helo calls out from across the room:
"Hey, Captain. I hope you're not planning on playing any more Triad just now. I don't know if my reputation can handle it."
He rolls his eyes at Helo then he looks back at Starbuck, who has this curious expression of contemplation on her face.
"What did he do to get himself in hock with you?" Lee asks.
"He didn't. We bet Hot Dog a bottle of his black market booze we could get you to do it."
Lee huffs out a laugh. "Nice."
"Yeah. I thought so."
Her blue eyes are dancing over his face, triumphant and amused. He can't help himself. He pushes his tongue into his cheek and digs out that remnant of Helo's sucker. Slowly, he opens his mouth and sticks out his tongue.
Her eyes go wide again, and then she roars with laughter. "Gods," she says. "You two are such frakkin' sluts!"
As she's still laughing, he leans over and pulls her toward him by the back of the neck and smashes his lips over hers, instantly pressing that piece of candy between them. She almost gasps into the kiss with surprise but quickly recovers, quickly enough to pull the candy in with her own tongue and make this amused little murmuring sound.
For good measure, he twists and probes his tongue against hers teasingly, just for a second, and hints at taking the kiss deeper before he pulls away, sitting back in his chair and watching her, hoping like hell he isn't blushing like a frakkin' teenager.
She doesn't miss a beat. "Hey, Helo," she calls out. When she gets his attention, she sticks out her tongue, that little green circle in prominent display.
He just shakes his head, giving Lee a you poor bastard look even as he smiles in that serene but playful way only Helo can. Then he turns his attention back to Starbuck and her tongue.
"Lieutenant," Helo says, "if you wanted to make out with me, you didn't have to go through a middle man."
"No?"
He shakes his head, his face contorting against a peal of laughter.
At that, Starbuck swoops up out of her chair to the general amusement of the room, taking up the bottle of ambrosia. But she stops for a moment.
"What do you think, Apollo?" she asks, kicking at the rungs at the bottom of his chair. "You think I oughtta school that clown on how to use his tongue?"
"Did it seem like either of us need schooling?" he says, meeting her gaze and holding it.
She stares just long enough for him to see something halfway desperate come into her eyes, but it's gone in a flash.
"Shame," she says, pressing the bottle into his hand and swishing her hips all the way over to Helo's table.
~
Title: Settling Up
Pairing/Characters: Kara/Lee, Helo
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Then, almost unable to get the words out around a wide grin, she says: "Kiss Helo." 1500 words.
Settling Up
He knows better than to play cards with Starbuck. He does. He thinks maybe, just maybe, he must enjoy losing.
"Full colors," she crows, and he tries not to let his face pinch up into a worried frown. He had been out of money and other goods to bet with, so the last hand had been played on faith. It was a good hand. It should have won. It didn't, but he had already agreed: he would take a dare if he lost the pot.
And, yes, he did lose. Spectacularly.
He thinks that, really, if he hadn't wanted to risk one of her crazy dares, he wouldn't have gone along with that stipulation to the betting. Chances were, he was practically itching to do something slightly crazy and, moreover, have an excuse to do it.
That comfort with his own need for rebellion turned again to a healthy dose of fear when he saw the gleam in her eyes.
"What, Starbuck?" he says.
"I know what you can do."
"As if you didn't already know before the hand even started."
She just nods.
"So?"
She's almost laughing already. It makes his stomach do this ridiculous flipping thing. Then, almost unable to get the words out around a wide grin, she says:
"Kiss Helo."
He barely keeps his eyes from widening in shock. Instead, he tried to meet her smirk head on with a slightly bored, slightly apathetic smile.
"No way," he says easily as he gets up from the table.
When he glances back at Helo, he's looking askance at Starbuck, but a smile is already forming on his face.
Oh, frak, Lee thinks. He's playing along.
"You did lose the bet, sir," Helo says evenly, without quite taking his eyes off Starbuck.
"Yeah, but you didn't."
"Let's just say I owe the Lieutenant."
"Oh?" Lee says, profoundly curious.
But Starbuck leans over and knocks at Lee's hand at his side. "C'mon. You lost."
"I know that."
"Besides," she says, slouching back into her chair. "It'll be pretty frakkin' hot."
The hair on the back of his neck prickles up with the low, lazy tone in her voice. Lee's stomach tightens in anticipation, not of kissing Helo but of what it'll do to Starbuck. Frak, what it's already doing to Starbuck.
But Helo's laughing. "Oh, is that how it is?" Helo asks her.
"Yeah," she says. "That's how it is."
Lee watches them have a whole conversation with their eyes, but for the life of him he can't see much more than friendly competition spark between them. They enjoy each other's company, sure, and they're both shamelessly flirty people, but Starbuck's never been fixated on getting Helo in the sack, so these looks they're passing between them shouldn't make him jealous, but they most definitely do.
He pushes himself up out of his chair.
"Well, come on, then, Agathon," he says. "If you're so game. Let's settle our debt with the mistress."
As Helo slowly lumbers up out of his seat, Starbuck cackles and says, "It's not that frakkin' kinky, Apollo. It's-"
But as soon as Helo steps up to him, Lee wastes no time in putting his hands on his shoulders and leans forward and tells himself it'll be just like kissing a girl.
Except for the way his head has to tip back. Godsdamn if Helo isn't big motherfrakker.
Starbuck stops talking altogether, and he can feel Helo smiling against his lips as he opens his mouth to it. In the look that passed between them as Helo crossed the room, they had their own sort of unspoken conversation, agreeing to just go with it and do their best to render Starbuck speechless, so Lee doesn't waste any time letting his tongue snake into Helo's mouth, which is shockingly sweet and sticky from the sucker he was just finishing off.
From there the kiss turns kind of lewd and noisy without being comically overplayed. They swap spit exactly as if this is serious and they're really, really enjoying themselves and trying to turn each other on. Really, they are enjoying themselves-Helo's a pretty good kisser-but if Lee is subtly flushing with arousal, it's because Starbuck's still watching-intently, if her silence is any indication. The rest of the room, however, has erupted into cat calls and wolf whistles.
It can't be more than a couple of turns of the head, to take the kiss deeper, and a few slow and wet thrusts of tongue before they're pulling apart, but not before Helo pushes that sticky remnant of green apple sucker into Lee's mouth purposefully enough that it can't be an accident. Just what he means by it, Lee doesn't know, but he doesn't think too hard about it, not when he can feel so many pairs of eyes on him, especially Starbuck's.
"Lieutenant," Lee says with a nod as he lets go of his shoulders.
"Captain," Helo says in response, a smile playing over his lips as floats back over to his seat.
The rec room hasn't entirely returned to calm at this point-in fact, Hot Dog looks a little shell shocked, and Racetrack chuckles like mad as she pours him another drink-but everyone goes back to their own conversations and games anyway-except for Starbuck, who waits at her table alone for him to come and sit back down. Her eyes are still a little wide, but they quickly narrow. She can fake blasé, all the while making you know it's fake, better than anybody he's ever seen.
"Didn't think you would have the balls," she says.
"Why'd you ask me to do it if you didn't want to see it?"
"Didn't?" she says with a snort, and her expression sort of opens wide again. "Frak that. I'm telling you, you two could make a killing making dirty movies."
He coughs, laughing. "I'm sorry, Starbuck, but butch pilot types just don't do it for me."
"No?" she says, catching his eye and burning a look at him. Oh, he hates that, when she rides the line between teasing and letting an honest-seeming admission of lust slip through. Then she says, "You need somebody who can make you feel tall?"
He's about to come up with a clever retort when Helo calls out from across the room:
"Hey, Captain. I hope you're not planning on playing any more Triad just now. I don't know if my reputation can handle it."
He rolls his eyes at Helo then he looks back at Starbuck, who has this curious expression of contemplation on her face.
"What did he do to get himself in hock with you?" Lee asks.
"He didn't. We bet Hot Dog a bottle of his black market booze we could get you to do it."
Lee huffs out a laugh. "Nice."
"Yeah. I thought so."
Her blue eyes are dancing over his face, triumphant and amused. He can't help himself. He pushes his tongue into his cheek and digs out that remnant of Helo's sucker. Slowly, he opens his mouth and sticks out his tongue.
Her eyes go wide again, and then she roars with laughter. "Gods," she says. "You two are such frakkin' sluts!"
As she's still laughing, he leans over and pulls her toward him by the back of the neck and smashes his lips over hers, instantly pressing that piece of candy between them. She almost gasps into the kiss with surprise but quickly recovers, quickly enough to pull the candy in with her own tongue and make this amused little murmuring sound.
For good measure, he twists and probes his tongue against hers teasingly, just for a second, and hints at taking the kiss deeper before he pulls away, sitting back in his chair and watching her, hoping like hell he isn't blushing like a frakkin' teenager.
She doesn't miss a beat. "Hey, Helo," she calls out. When she gets his attention, she sticks out her tongue, that little green circle in prominent display.
He just shakes his head, giving Lee a you poor bastard look even as he smiles in that serene but playful way only Helo can. Then he turns his attention back to Starbuck and her tongue.
"Lieutenant," Helo says, "if you wanted to make out with me, you didn't have to go through a middle man."
"No?"
He shakes his head, his face contorting against a peal of laughter.
At that, Starbuck swoops up out of her chair to the general amusement of the room, taking up the bottle of ambrosia. But she stops for a moment.
"What do you think, Apollo?" she asks, kicking at the rungs at the bottom of his chair. "You think I oughtta school that clown on how to use his tongue?"
"Did it seem like either of us need schooling?" he says, meeting her gaze and holding it.
She stares just long enough for him to see something halfway desperate come into her eyes, but it's gone in a flash.
"Shame," she says, pressing the bottle into his hand and swishing her hips all the way over to Helo's table.
~