Chapter Text
“My gods, I am so frakking bored!”
Lee winces as the door to his bunkroom bangs open. He doesn’t need to look up from his textbook. There’s only one person in his life who feels free to waltz into his room at—he checks his watch—0200 without so much as a courtesy knock.
“I could have been sleeping, you know.” He hates the prim tone that creeps into his voice whenever Kara’s around. Somehow she always brings out the hall monitor in him.
“With finals starting at 0800?” She snorts, leaning against the doorjamb. “Yeah, right. I know you; you’ve been jacking your joystick over McAllister’s text all night. I bet that’s your sixth cup of coffee.” She nods to the cup by his elbow. He winces at her crudeness (though he should be used to it by now) and glances into his wastebasket, knowing there’s no way she can see the five cups crumpled there from where she’s standing by the door.
Annoyed, Lee watches as she flops backwards over the foot of his bed. The firm mattress bounces a little and so does Kara. She scoots up, tank rucking up over her stomach as she shimmies her way up his rack to rest on his pillow. Great. Now it will smell like her. Not that he’ll be sleeping tonight anyway. He sips from the coffee, long grown cold, before speaking. “And what about you, Starbuck? You’re not the least bit concerned about your marks?”
“If I don’t know it by now, I never will. No point in stressing.” He watches as she stretches up, reaching for the pyramid ball on the shelf over his bed, her body arcing into a bow. Kara snatches the ball and begins bouncing it hard against the ceiling. “I don’t know what you’re so worried for. It’s all over but the crying now anyway. All of you seniors already have your commissions.”
“Our records are still open—”
“Please, you think war college is gonna boot your ass out for flubbing one little astrophysics test?”
“One little— It’s sixty percent of our grade, Kara!”
“And you know it like the back of your hand, Lee,” she mocks. “You’ve never gotten below an 88 in that class. In fact, you probably recite formulas in your sleep.” She grins wickedly. “Maybe I should ask Mandy about it. ‘Ooh, E=MC— yeah, right there, baby.’ ”
“Oh, shut the frak up.” But Kara doesn’t seem to hear, clearly carried away with her invented scenario. She’s too busy giggling and grunting and doing a pretty fair imitation (“Yes, Lee, yes! Talk dirty linear equations to me!”) of his now ex-girlfriend’s breathy way of speaking. He’d broken it off with Mandy several days ago, but for some reason, he hasn’t gotten around to telling Kara that yet.
He wads up some scrap paper and launches it at her head. It bounces off her nose, and she yelps and fires the pyramid ball at his shoulder. She misses. Then Kara rolls over onto her side to face him. Her tank climbs an inch higher, exposing taut, tanned abs as she shifts, and Lee blinks. He has a sudden flash of Kara on his bed, twisting towards him, a lazy smile aimed at him just like now, except…she’s naked and he’s sliding in next to her. On top of her. Running his hands— He blinks twice and takes another sip of coffee.
Lee wants to chalk it up to being overtired. But these weird little fantasies—about Kara!—have been happening with a frequency he can’t deny lately. It’s baffling. He doesn’t think of her that way. He can’t. Lee focuses very deliberately on Kara’s face. “Don’t you have someone else you could be antagonizing right now?”
“Hmmm,” she pretends to think it over. “Nope. Besides, gotta get my kicks in while I can. You’re not gonna know what to do with yourself without me around next year.”
An awkward silence falls as her words sink in. One week left. Lee feels a sudden ache in his chest at the thought of the new life awaiting him. He’s never wanted this. The Academy was bad enough, but without Kara around… Well, he’s not exactly looking forward to it.
“Hey, isn’t your dad coming in tomorrow?”
Lee grimaces, turning back to his book. “Yeah.” He flips a page and it tears.
Blissfully unaware, Kara prattles on. “So I’ll finally get to meet the great Husker, eh?”
He nods, frowning. “My mother and Zak are coming down too. Separately, of course.”
She whistles. “The whole Adama clan. Impressive.” But her voice loses some of its enthusiasm and rings hollow.
Lee shoots her a glance. Kara’s on her back again staring at the ceiling, brow furrowed. He wonders if she’s thinking about her mom. He’s tempted to ask about her, but he knows better. Kara had all but taken his head off a couple weeks ago when he’d innocently inquired about whom she was sending her graduation tickets to. Things had been tense until a few days later, when he’d run by her dorm to drop off a music chip he’d borrowed and happened to spot the tickets in her wastebasket. He’d vowed right then to drag her along to all the family dinners he’d be subjected to before graduation. She could be the sister he’d never had. Sort of.
“Actually, my little brother’s the one who’s impressed,” he says now, smiling when she turns her head and quirks an eyebrow at him. “Keeps asking me why I haven’t introduced him yet to the ‘fox in the red bikini.’”
Her eyes about pop out of her head. “You showed him pictures from our beach trip?” She scowls. “I distinctly remember telling you to burn those.”
“I didn’t show him anything. He saw it when he was rifling through my wallet.” He sniffs, irked all over again at the memory. “Boundaries don’t really trouble Zak much.”
He expects her to laugh and say something about how Zak sounds like her kind of guy, but Kara’s sitting up now and staring at him in confusion. “You have a picture of me in your wallet?”
Shit. “No! I have a picture of us in my wallet.” Frak. “All of us. You know, from the…from the beach house.” He hopes she won’t call him on it. It had been a picture of all of them. Lee had just done some creative editing to it. The whole thing wouldn’t have fit in one of those little plastic sleeves anyway.
Kara gets up and walks over to stand behind him. She catches his eye in the mirror above his desk, a grin on her face. “So, little brother’s got a crush, huh?” Lee nods, trying not to get distracted by her hands, which are now resting on his shoulders. She smirks at him, one eyebrow raised mischievously.
Lee tenses, waiting for a wisecrack or maybe for her to ask him to set her up on a date with Zak. Instead she bends forward and he can feel the warmth of her breath as it riffles through the hair near his ear. “Too bad. You’ll have to tell him he’s too late. I’ve only got room for one pain-in-the-ass Adama in my life.” She laughs and reaches up to ruffle his hair, and Lee lets out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.
“Gods, your hair is getting long, Lee.” Her fingers comb through the strands—which are getting a little unruly—and tickle his scalp. He’s tempted to just lean back and close his eyes. But that would be weird and awkward.
“Damn. I meant to get a haircut today.” The Old Man (that’s what they call him on his battlestar and Lee hasn’t been able to think of him any other way since he heard it) would surely find fault with his decidedly non-military coiffure. “And I’ve got exams all morning, so I guess that’s out now.” He blows out a frustrated breath, muttering to himself, “He’s gonna love that.”
Kara catches his eye in the mirror again, her hands stilling on his head. “I can do it.”
“Do what?”
“Give you a haircut.”
He takes in her short, choppy cap of hair and eyes her skeptically. “Hey, I didn’t do this,” she says, pointing. “Besides, guys’ hair is easy. You just snip a little here and there and you’re done.”
“Kara, I don’t…” The protests die on his lips again when she leans forward, draping herself over and across him, reaching for his desk caddy, where a pair of gleaming scissors rest. Her breasts are pressing against his bicep and her hand is curled around his neck for balance and he finds he can’t speak after all.
“Got ’em!” She pulls back, waving the scissors rather recklessly. It does not imbue him with confidence. Her grin is infectious though.
“Is this really a good idea?” He has visions of himself standing in front of his father, his head looking like it’s gotten too close to a Mark-II turbine engine.
“No. This is a great idea,” Kara croons. “I am bored. And it’s your job to amuse me. Three years and you haven’t figured that out by now?”
“Oh, so I’m your personal slave, am I?” He lets his voice drop just a little. Just to show her he can play her game too. “I’m just here to see to it that your every need is satisfied?”
Her hand is warm on his neck and her face hovers over him, so close that he can see the little flecks of gold around her irises. She has cat’s eyes, he thinks randomly. Her wide mouth twists devilishly, catching his attention and dragging his gaze lower. He watches, transfixed, as her tongue peeks out and glides over her bottom lip. He’s so caught up tracking the motion that her voice, lowered to match his, almost startles him. “You think you could keep me satisfied,” she pauses, eyes locking on his, “Lee?”
His stomach flips when she says his name, which is odd, because it’s not like she hasn’t said his name thousands of times before. But maybe…maybe never quite like that, and it’s making him think impossible things. Like, what would happen if he reached up and tugged her head down to him, just enough so he could taste—
His thoughts abruptly terminate when Kara laughs suddenly and shoves him back in the chair. A flush burns its way up his neck as he realizes he’d been leaning forward like an eager puppy. Lee fidgets uncomfortably as she straightens up behind him, clicking the scissors open and shut with an enthusiasm he fears.
The unease must show on his face, because Kara rolls her eyes. “Just trust me, Apollo. And sit still for frak’s sake. Wouldn’t want to nick that pretty face.” She shoots him a sly glance. “Mandy wouldn’t thank me for it.”
He coughs and clears his throat, which suddenly feels very tight. “Actually, she might.”
“Trouble in paradise?” Her voice is light, lighter than usual, and Kara’s looking down, not meeting his eyes.
“We broke up last week.” And now she’s looking right at him. Eyes wide, blinking. Her mouth falls open and he waits for the joke, the cutting insult, but all she says is, “What happened?” She turns away a little before Lee can answer, but he’s watching her closely and doesn’t miss the little grin she bites back.
Lee can’t tell her that Mandy didn’t quite understand why he’d rather invite his smart-mouthed best friend to dinner with his family instead of her. He’s a terrible liar (too many nights losing triad games to Starbuck taught him that a long time ago), so he evades the question. “I’m leaving soon anyway. I doubt I’ll have much leave time keeping up at war college.”
The grin disappears and they both fall silent. He’s shot through suddenly with a wave of such intense longing that it physically hurts for a second, and it’s crazy. He didn’t feel like this when he broke up with Mandy last week, and he hasn’t gone anywhere yet.
The scissors click open again and Kara says, “Well, we better do something about this mop, Apollo, or they really might change their minds about letting you in.” She lifts the scissors and snips the first lock before he can answer.
He watches Kara as she works. Her hands are surprisingly gentle, steady as they comb out the strands and snip away. The first few clacks sound loud in the quiet room and he wishes he’d thought to put a towel down because she’s getting hair all over his carpet, but after a minute he just gives in. The rhythm of the clicking metal and the feel of her hands lull him, and he really does close his eyes this time.
“If I didn’t know better, Lee, I’d think you were enjoying this.” Kara’s hand slides forward and cups his jaw, tilting his head back towards her. He rests the crown against soft curves as she trims the front of his hair.
“You’re dreaming it. I’m just too afraid to look.” But he does open his eyes and she’s closer than he expected. She’s leaning forward, hazel eyes bright above him, and they lock gazes again. A new tension steals through him, and for one crazy minute he wants to reach up and hold her face in his hands. She blinks first and releases his chin, then gives his head a little push forward. He clenches traitorous hands in his lap, just in case they get any ideas about roaming where they shouldn’t. The metal is cold but her fingers are warm against his nape as she tugs on the locks brushing his collar, combing through and trimming them.
His gaze catches on his open, forgotten astrophysics textbook on his desk, and Lee feels guilty. “Are you almost done, Kara? ’Cause some of us poor fools still have more studying to do tonight.”
“Hey, you can’t rush genius.”
“I’ll remember that when I meet one.”
“Do you really think it’s a smart idea to taunt a woman who’s wielding a very sharp instrument?” She narrows her eyes at him in the mirror. “I could slip, you know.”
Kara steps around to the side of his head, fiddling with the hair over his ear. Then she darts around to the other side to do the same, frowning. She goes back around and snips a little more, then circles again to snip yet more.
“Kara, you’re making me dizzy.”
He sees her glare at him in the mirror. “I just can’t tell…” Her eyes light up and she yanks his chair back from the desk. Kara steps around in front of him, straddling his knees and coming in close as she reaches for his head. Her hands settle on his jaw, pulling him forward. “That’s better.” She clips a few strands, tilting her head and squinting to be sure the sideburns are even. “Can you slide forward a little more?”
He shifts in the chair gingerly, sliding forward to the edge. This presents its own particular problem as now his eyes are level with Kara’s cleavage, and he’s not quite sure what to do with that. The ideas that are coming to mind are all very bad ones indeed. “Tilt your head down a little.” And now he’s pretty sure she’s messing with him, because his chin is nearly brushing her chest, and he’s also pretty sure she’s not wearing a bra under that non-regulation tank top, and he’s about a half a second from grabbing her hips and pulling her down onto his lap when she steps back, bumping into the desk behind her. “All done.”
Kara’s blocking his view, so he has to stand up to see his hair. There’s not much room with her in front of him, but he gets up carefully and peeks over her head into the mirror. He’s shocked to find that it doesn’t look bad. There’s a spot that’s still too long over his right ear, and he’s about to tease her, tell her not to give up flying for barbering, when he catches the expression on her face. She’s studying him, teeth worrying her lower lip that way she always does when she’s nervous. And he realizes she wants his approval.
“Not bad.” He runs a hand over his forehead and through his hair. “Color me surprised. Starbuck has hidden talents.”
Kara grins and waggles an eyebrow at him. “Mmmm. Wouldn’t you like to know?” She winks and twists away to put the scissors back in his desk caddy (even though she didn’t clean them first, and he makes a mental note to do that later).
Lee watches the graceful sweep of her back and thinks to himself, Maybe I would. And then he’s not sure if his brain shuts off completely or just misses a memo, because suddenly his mouth is opening and he’s saying it. And almost of their own volition his hands reach out and settle on her hips.
She turns back to him, startled, a question in her eyes. “Lee?” If she’d sounded the least bit wary or disapproving, he probably would have stopped there, dropped his hands, let it go. But she sounds…curious. And he’s been curious too, for a long time now, if he’s honest with himself (which he usually isn’t). So he edges forward, thighs and hips, stomachs and chests pressing together as he crowds her back against the little desk.
The only thing he can focus on is her eyes, wide and watching him, and he leans in. “Lee?” she says his name again, and his stomach flips just like before, but this time he can feel her body against his tensing too. Her gaze is flicking rapidly from his eyes to his mouth, and his fingers press into the softness of her hips a little harder.
“Kara?” It comes out like a question, but he doesn’t wait for the answer. He closes the last inch, tilting his head and pressing his lips to hers. He’s so lost in the feel of it, finally tasting her at last (and she tastes like cinnamon, he thinks), that it takes a moment before he notices Kara has gone completely still, frozen against him. He feels a pang of disappointment and eases the pressure, about to pull back, as he racks his brain for an apology, a justification that will fix things. But when his lips leave hers and his eyes open, Kara’s staring at him with a funny look he can’t identify. His tongue feels thick and he’s trying to decide how to fix it, what to say, and he’s still holding her hips when she moves.
Kara reaches out, cupping the back of his neck and yanking him forward to mash her mouth hard against his. Lee almost yelps in surprise, and it’s awkward at first, noses bumping coupled with the strange awareness that Kara is kissing him. But then he tilts one way and she the other and her lips part under his, and suddenly it’s glorious. Lee flicks his tongue against the soft curve of her bottom lip and Kara makes a little noise that he’s never heard from her before and slides her free arm around his waist, pulling him closer. Emboldened, he darts his tongue into her mouth, sliding it against hers, stroking hard, and an electric current goes through him. The wet heat of her mouth is like a drug, intoxicating him, and her fingers are trailing over the sensitive skin on the back of his neck. She pulls back a little, sucking his upper lip between her teeth, scoring it gently, and he shivers.
Lee wants more, more, more suddenly and his hands scrabble against her hips, palming them and lifting. Kara takes the hint, boosting herself up onto the edge of the desk, her legs rising to wrap around his waist. He lifts a hand to her cheek, thumb stroking her soft skin, even as his mouth opens, sealing over hers again, and he catches her tongue, sucking on it gently. Kara writhes against him and his hips settle more directly against her groin. He can feel himself hardening, and he grinds just a little into the cradle of her hips. It feels so amazing that he does it again, sliding his mouth down over her jaw and chin, pressing wet, open-mouthed kisses all over her neck.
Her hands are gripping his shoulders now, hard enough to bruise, and he leans forward, edging Kara backwards as he stretches over her, dropping kisses down the column of her throat and down her chest, over the swell of her breasts and along the v-neck of her tank top. Lee remembers that she’s not wearing a bra and he reaches up to grip the thin fabric, his palm brushing against a stiff nipple. His fingers hook into the material and he’s just about to wrench it aside and take her into his mouth when Kara yelps and gives him a hard shove back. Lee drops his hands and stumbles back into the chair, shock and confusion infiltrating his desire-fogged brain. He watches as she jumps down, twisting away from him and hunching over the desk.
Frak! Reality claps through his brain like lightning and he feels ashamed. He’d been practically mauling his best friend on his desk. “Gods, Kara, I’m so… I shouldn’t have—I, I don’t know what came over me. I…uh…I just…” he’s still stammering when she looks over her shoulder at him, and thank the gods, she isn’t crying or anything, not that he’d expect her to. In fact, the very idea of it is kind of—
“Lee.” She snaps her fingers twice rapidly. “Hey! Lee!” She shifts, revealing the surface of the desk, where a puddle of brown liquid is spreading from the overturned coffee cup and trickling towards his physics notebook. “You got a towel or something?”
Snapping into action, he grabs a towel from his closet and throws it over the spill. He pushes the cloth around while Kara sweeps up his books and gives them a shake. A few droplets splatter his arm as she does, but they look okay, relatively dry. Lee lets out a hard breath and just focuses on the desk, his brain still revving in overdrive as he replays the last few minutes in his head.
“Uh, I think you’re gonna wear through the wood, you keep that up.”
He snaps his head up to find Kara watching him, eyebrows raised. “Oh, right.” He stands, wadding the towel up in a ball and pitching it towards his laundry basket. Then he meets her gaze, and it’s remarkably composed. He clears his throat, unsure what to say. “So…”
“So,” she echoes, and smiles strangely, overly brightly. “That was weird, huh?”
“What?” His brain is blank.
“You, me,” she nods toward the desk and laughs, but it sounds weak, a little strangled, to his ears. Or maybe he just hopes it does. “Must’ve been all that caffeine, got you on an endorphins high or something. Yeah?”
He scans her face, wondering if he’s imagining the hopeful, tentative look there. Lee’s unsure how to answer. Does he admit that it was all him, that he’d been wanting to do that for longer than he’d even realized? Or does he take the out she’s offering? He calculates the risk quickly and carefully. He’s only got another week here with Kara and he doesn’t want a fling. He wants her in his life for a long time, maybe even… There’s only one way to answer.
“Yeah, right, I—I’m sorry, Kara. I don’t know what I was thinking.” He steps toward her, a hand extended to…do what? Shake her hand? Touch her again? She steps back anyway and he shoves it into a pocket, rocking awkwardly on the balls of his feet.
“Forget it.” She shrugs, her eyes wide, lips twisting as she shakes her head. “It was nothing. Just a stupid kiss. No need to get all weird about it.” But she takes another step back as she’s talking, and he feels miserable. Lee wants to step forward and tell her it wasn’t stupid at all, that it was the most amazing kiss he’s ever had and that he wants to do it again, right now, in fact.
But she’s already turning toward the door. “I gotta go.” She huffs a laugh. “Either I wet myself in all the excitement or there’s French Vanilla running down my leg.”
“Kara, wait.” He steps forward and sees the expectant look in her eyes, and he gets nervous all over again. “I’ll see you tomorrow right? Lunch with the Adama clan.” He forces a smile that he hopes looks natural. “Don’t make me go alone.”
She ducks her head for a minute and when Kara looks up, she’s smirking again and it’s so damn normal that he breathes a sigh of relief that he didn’t ruin everything after all. “You need protecting, Apollo?” She sighs exaggeratedly, “A hero’s work is never done. I’ll be there.” Kara winks at him. “Besides, I’ve got a little brother to impress. Wonder where the hell I put that bikini…” she’s muttering as she strides out of the room. He hears her call out “Sweet dreams, Lee,” before the door bangs shut behind her.
He stays where he is for a moment, just watching the door for a good minute. He thinks about how close he came to losing everything in one little moment of indiscretion. And then he’s thinking about that kiss again and how she’d tasted, how her skin had felt, how her legs had locked around him. Lee flops onto his bed and pulls the pillow over his head to muffle the long groan he lets loose.
It smells like cinnamon.