Two Pentathlon Fics (Kara/Lee, Billy/Lee)
I wrote two fics for the bsg_epics pentathlon! Apparently Billy/Lee is a rare pairing...? It was worth a shot!
Title: Doomed Triangle
Pairing: Billy/Lee
Rating: T
Word count: 620
“It wasn’t worth it.”
The events that had just transpired on Cloud Nine continued to play over and over again in his mind, and he felt compelled to share his conclusion with one of the people he deemed responsible. Sure, it wasn’t Lee’s fault that those wackos had come into the lounge; Lee hadn’t pulled the trigger that had gone straight through her gut, ripping open her pretty dress and causing a dark stain to bloom across her midsection. But it was Lee’s fault that she was there in the first place. If only the Commander hadn’t given her leave, if only she hadn’t been so besotted with Lee. But now Dee was gone.
He wished he hadn’t been there, wished he hadn’t let his boss cajole him into “going out with the other young people.” The humiliation at realizing she was there on a date with him, followed by the despair of seeing her life seep away under the terrorists’ sneering watch, was too much to bear.
He spoke more loudly to get the man’s attention. “It wasn’t worth it, you know.”
Lee looked up, startled, from his melancholy slouch over the corner table in the pilots’ rec room. “What are you doing here, Billy?”
“Came to say goodbye. Get my debate team ring back.” Billy didn’t meet his eyes, just turned the wide gold ring with the bright red stone over and over in his hand.
“So you found her things in the duty locker, then.”
“Yeah.” Billy paused, as if he couldn’t quite decide whether to leave. Something kept him rooted to the spot. “I know why she chose you.”
“I don’t know that she really did,” Lee said softly. “We had something, I guess. But I think she continued to care for you.”
Billy took the seat across from Lee and reached for the bottle in front of him. “Yeah, right.” He took a long pull of liquor, spluttering as he set it back down. “‘Captain Apollo,’ the golden boy of the Fleet.” His tone was mocking, bitter. “How could I compete with that?”
“You shouldn’t have had to.” At Billy’s confused look, Lee clarified. “I shouldn’t have led her on.”
“She wanted you. She didn’t want me.”
“I...” Lee looked around the room, then lowered his voice. His blue eyes nervously met Billy’s. “I was as attracted to you as I was to her, Billy.”
Billy’s mouth gaped open. He stood up and started pacing, making a lap around the room before returning to the table in the corner. Finally he spoke, more to the otherwise-empty room than to Lee. “I would have taken you both, you know.” He grabbed the bottle again and this time poured himself a shot in Lee’s glass. He sat down again, picked up the glass and drained the liquor in a slow, controlled gulp. “One of my sisters was in a poly relationship, back on Picon. They were all so happy together.”
Lee’s hand reached out across the table and covered Billy’s before turning it over and plucking the ring from out of Billy’s curled fingers. He looked closely at the ring, then smiled and slid it onto the fourth finger of Billy’s right hand.
“Happiness like that doesn’t exist anymore, Billy,” Lee informed him. “Just memories of what was, and ideas of what could have been.” He stood up, the scraping of the chair reverberating loudly through the eerily quiet room, and tugged Billy to his feet.
Billy finally broke, weeping against Lee’s shoulder as the pilot pulled the taller man into his embrace. Lee patted his back and made soothing noises. Finally Billy stopped heaving and awkwardly stepped back.
“Come on,” Lee said. “Let’s go pack up her things.”
Title: Getting to Know You
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Rating: T
Word count: 685
The blond girl catches his eye immediately. In this bar full of swaggering pilots, her brash confidence stands out.
She’s cute, with long hair and a great rack. Her nonregulation strappy tank top shows off a dark tattoo on her shoulder blade when she turns and laughs loudly at something someone says.
She probably outranks you, Lee.
He makes his way over to her anyway, a pigeon that’s been unwittingly trained to home in on her. Nudging his way past a rowdy group of jocks, he eases onto the stool next to where she’s standing. “What’s your poison?”
“You tryin’ a buy me a drink?” she yells over the din.
“Yeah!” he shouts back.
“Why?” she says, challenging him.
She wasn’t going to make it easy for him. “Why not?”
She snorts, sets her big ceramic mug down on the bar. “You can get me another Virgon Brew.”
He looks at the stein with interest. “Delphi’s Top Gun.” The bartender finally comes over and Lee motions for him to refill it and bring another for him. The roll of his eyes makes Lee wonder just how many times this particular scenario has already played out tonight.
“What’s the deal with the mug?” he asks.
She shrugs carelessly. “A group of nuggets gave it to me when they finished their training. They found a picture of me from when I was serving aboard the Triton, wanted to know what the deal was with the big glass.” Someone taps her on the shoulder and hands her a shot of deep amber liquor, and without missing a beat she slams it down against the bar and throws it back. “They thought it was funny,” she continues. “‘Delphi’s Top Gun.’ ‘Cause I spend so much time kicking their asses in simulation.” She takes a long draught, eyeing Lee curiously over the rim.
“You’re an instructor at the Academy?” he guesses.
“No, I’m a frakkin’ kindergarten teacher.” She punches him in the shoulder to let him know she’ll cut him some slack. “Yeah, I teach at the flight school. Basic Flight, war games. How Not to Get Thrown in the Brig 101.” She looks past him and mouths something at the bartender, and a few moments later a pair of shots appears before them.
“Salut,” he offers before clinking the glass to hers and downing the burning liquid.
She smacks her lips as she savors it, and something combustible passes between them that hangs in the fumes of the cheap liquor vapor surrounding them.
“So you’re on leave?” she ventures, leaning a little closer to him.
He nods. “My father’s in the Fleet, commander of the Valkyrie. He’s on leave, he wanted to have a frakking family get-together.” The thought disgusts him a bit-- who is this man, trying to act like he cares about his sons? It was too little, too late, as far as Lee was concerned, even with his harpy of a mother happily packed off to Picon, out of sight, out of mind. But Zak had convinced him to get the time off and come home to Caprica. Maybe they’d go to a fight.
A sad look crosses the blond’s face, soon replaced by a sarcastic sneer. “Sounds lovely,” she said. “Well, I’m here pretty much every night if the family togetherness gets too unbearable.”
He likes that she’s just said that, a lot, and a slow smile creeps across his lips. “Great.” He leans in closer, getting a glimpse down her shirt as he speaks softly into her ear. “Hey, I never got your name.”
“Kara Thrace!” she says with a grin, grasping his hand firmly.
“I’m Lee. Lee Adama,” he says, feeling slightly awkward but still surprised that this confident, gorgeous girl is still talking to him.
“Lee Adama?” she repeats, wrinkling her brow and stepping back to place a respectable distance between them. She takes another long slog of beer, then sits the mug down on the bar and smiles, this one wan in comparison to the one she’d just given him. “I know your brother.”
Title: Doomed Triangle
Pairing: Billy/Lee
Rating: T
Word count: 620
“It wasn’t worth it.”
The events that had just transpired on Cloud Nine continued to play over and over again in his mind, and he felt compelled to share his conclusion with one of the people he deemed responsible. Sure, it wasn’t Lee’s fault that those wackos had come into the lounge; Lee hadn’t pulled the trigger that had gone straight through her gut, ripping open her pretty dress and causing a dark stain to bloom across her midsection. But it was Lee’s fault that she was there in the first place. If only the Commander hadn’t given her leave, if only she hadn’t been so besotted with Lee. But now Dee was gone.
He wished he hadn’t been there, wished he hadn’t let his boss cajole him into “going out with the other young people.” The humiliation at realizing she was there on a date with him, followed by the despair of seeing her life seep away under the terrorists’ sneering watch, was too much to bear.
He spoke more loudly to get the man’s attention. “It wasn’t worth it, you know.”
Lee looked up, startled, from his melancholy slouch over the corner table in the pilots’ rec room. “What are you doing here, Billy?”
“Came to say goodbye. Get my debate team ring back.” Billy didn’t meet his eyes, just turned the wide gold ring with the bright red stone over and over in his hand.
“So you found her things in the duty locker, then.”
“Yeah.” Billy paused, as if he couldn’t quite decide whether to leave. Something kept him rooted to the spot. “I know why she chose you.”
“I don’t know that she really did,” Lee said softly. “We had something, I guess. But I think she continued to care for you.”
Billy took the seat across from Lee and reached for the bottle in front of him. “Yeah, right.” He took a long pull of liquor, spluttering as he set it back down. “‘Captain Apollo,’ the golden boy of the Fleet.” His tone was mocking, bitter. “How could I compete with that?”
“You shouldn’t have had to.” At Billy’s confused look, Lee clarified. “I shouldn’t have led her on.”
“She wanted you. She didn’t want me.”
“I...” Lee looked around the room, then lowered his voice. His blue eyes nervously met Billy’s. “I was as attracted to you as I was to her, Billy.”
Billy’s mouth gaped open. He stood up and started pacing, making a lap around the room before returning to the table in the corner. Finally he spoke, more to the otherwise-empty room than to Lee. “I would have taken you both, you know.” He grabbed the bottle again and this time poured himself a shot in Lee’s glass. He sat down again, picked up the glass and drained the liquor in a slow, controlled gulp. “One of my sisters was in a poly relationship, back on Picon. They were all so happy together.”
Lee’s hand reached out across the table and covered Billy’s before turning it over and plucking the ring from out of Billy’s curled fingers. He looked closely at the ring, then smiled and slid it onto the fourth finger of Billy’s right hand.
“Happiness like that doesn’t exist anymore, Billy,” Lee informed him. “Just memories of what was, and ideas of what could have been.” He stood up, the scraping of the chair reverberating loudly through the eerily quiet room, and tugged Billy to his feet.
Billy finally broke, weeping against Lee’s shoulder as the pilot pulled the taller man into his embrace. Lee patted his back and made soothing noises. Finally Billy stopped heaving and awkwardly stepped back.
“Come on,” Lee said. “Let’s go pack up her things.”
Title: Getting to Know You
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Rating: T
Word count: 685
The blond girl catches his eye immediately. In this bar full of swaggering pilots, her brash confidence stands out.
She’s cute, with long hair and a great rack. Her nonregulation strappy tank top shows off a dark tattoo on her shoulder blade when she turns and laughs loudly at something someone says.
She probably outranks you, Lee.
He makes his way over to her anyway, a pigeon that’s been unwittingly trained to home in on her. Nudging his way past a rowdy group of jocks, he eases onto the stool next to where she’s standing. “What’s your poison?”
“You tryin’ a buy me a drink?” she yells over the din.
“Yeah!” he shouts back.
“Why?” she says, challenging him.
She wasn’t going to make it easy for him. “Why not?”
She snorts, sets her big ceramic mug down on the bar. “You can get me another Virgon Brew.”
He looks at the stein with interest. “Delphi’s Top Gun.” The bartender finally comes over and Lee motions for him to refill it and bring another for him. The roll of his eyes makes Lee wonder just how many times this particular scenario has already played out tonight.
“What’s the deal with the mug?” he asks.
She shrugs carelessly. “A group of nuggets gave it to me when they finished their training. They found a picture of me from when I was serving aboard the Triton, wanted to know what the deal was with the big glass.” Someone taps her on the shoulder and hands her a shot of deep amber liquor, and without missing a beat she slams it down against the bar and throws it back. “They thought it was funny,” she continues. “‘Delphi’s Top Gun.’ ‘Cause I spend so much time kicking their asses in simulation.” She takes a long draught, eyeing Lee curiously over the rim.
“You’re an instructor at the Academy?” he guesses.
“No, I’m a frakkin’ kindergarten teacher.” She punches him in the shoulder to let him know she’ll cut him some slack. “Yeah, I teach at the flight school. Basic Flight, war games. How Not to Get Thrown in the Brig 101.” She looks past him and mouths something at the bartender, and a few moments later a pair of shots appears before them.
“Salut,” he offers before clinking the glass to hers and downing the burning liquid.
She smacks her lips as she savors it, and something combustible passes between them that hangs in the fumes of the cheap liquor vapor surrounding them.
“So you’re on leave?” she ventures, leaning a little closer to him.
He nods. “My father’s in the Fleet, commander of the Valkyrie. He’s on leave, he wanted to have a frakking family get-together.” The thought disgusts him a bit-- who is this man, trying to act like he cares about his sons? It was too little, too late, as far as Lee was concerned, even with his harpy of a mother happily packed off to Picon, out of sight, out of mind. But Zak had convinced him to get the time off and come home to Caprica. Maybe they’d go to a fight.
A sad look crosses the blond’s face, soon replaced by a sarcastic sneer. “Sounds lovely,” she said. “Well, I’m here pretty much every night if the family togetherness gets too unbearable.”
He likes that she’s just said that, a lot, and a slow smile creeps across his lips. “Great.” He leans in closer, getting a glimpse down her shirt as he speaks softly into her ear. “Hey, I never got your name.”
“Kara Thrace!” she says with a grin, grasping his hand firmly.
“I’m Lee. Lee Adama,” he says, feeling slightly awkward but still surprised that this confident, gorgeous girl is still talking to him.
“Lee Adama?” she repeats, wrinkling her brow and stepping back to place a respectable distance between them. She takes another long slog of beer, then sits the mug down on the bar and smiles, this one wan in comparison to the one she’d just given him. “I know your brother.”