Pear
"Helo, I can't believe you actually own a wicker basket," Beak jokes even as he searches its contents for a new bottle of ambrosia. If there is one. They already have four empty bottles scattered on the ground around them. "That's so . . . housewifey of you." They all laugh, including Helo, though he looks a bit embarrassed.
It's a warm Saturday afternoon in late summer. No flying has been scheduled for several days, and all the cadets are relaxed, even if they have started to get a bit restless again. A bunch of them had crammed into Ripper's old Jeep and headed outside the city for a day in the sun, as far from the Academy as they could get while still having enough gas to get back in the evening. An impromptu pyramid game followed by a haphazard picnic thrown together from what Helo and Ripper happened to have stashed in their lockers and a quick stop at a supermarket for drinks—mostly ambrosia—have made them mellow. They lie now spread out on the grass beneath the canopy of a few sturdy trees, which are surprisingly lush considering the sweltering heat of late. Half of them lie in the shade, half in the sun.
"It was a gift! I already told you!" Helo says now; he can't help defending his reputation. "My aunt sent over cookies and ambrosia and stuff for the celebration of Hestia a few months ago. You should remember, since you ate them all before I even got a chance to taste one."
"So you say, Helo. So you say. I have no memory of any cookies."
Helo punches Beak on the bicep. Beak yelps and retaliates, and if it weren't so damn hot, this would soon have escalated into a wrestling match. It is hot, however, so Beak just gives Helo a glare, coupled with a grin, and goes back to searching the basket, rummaging through it.
"I know we should have one more. Didn't you buy five, Apollo?"
"Mhm," Lee answers without opening his eyes from where he lies a few feet away. "One each seemed a bit over the top."
"Hey, speak for yourself!" Starbuck says. "We do seem to be a bit low on fluids around here." She bounces the pyramid ball on the ground in front of her, as usual not being able to keep still for long. These last few days without being inside a Viper have made her antsy.
"Well, I thought one of us should be sober enough to drive back…"
They all look around at each other and start laughing.
"Shoulda thought about that before we broke out the bottles," Helo drawls.
"Guess we're stuck here for a while then," Apollo mumbles and closes his eyes again, angling his face toward the sun.
"No harm in that," Swiper says. "I ain't in any hurry to leave." He settles back once more, his head in Urania's lap. "You'll drive us home, won't you, baby?" He gazes up at her.
"Sure, I can drive. If that last bottle doesn't turn up anytime soon, I'll be sober by, let's say, midnight." She breaks off a strand of grass and starts to tickle Swiper's face with it. As hot as it is, this does turn into a wrestling match.
"Hey, get a room, you two," Helo groans.
"Yeah," Starbuck snorts. "Rule-boy over there might feel obligated to report a breach of the anti-frat regs if you two keep it up." She glances over at Apollo, but he doesn't rise to the bait. He just rolls his eyes at her and then closes them again. Kara shrugs it off.
"Where the frak did you put the damn bottle?" Beak is about to lose his patience with this futile search.
"I put them all in that lovely basket of Helo's," Lee says. "How can you not find it?"
Beak has started to remove the contents of the basket, tossing empty wrappers and crumpled napkins around him. When he finds a pear, he lobs it at Apollo, hitting him squarely in the midriff.
"A pear! Mine!" yells Starbuck as she lunges for it. But before she reaches it, Lee has snatched it in one hand and holds it out of her reach.
"Uh-uh. Not so fast. This one is mine. You find your own pear."
Starbuck scoots over to Beak and the basket and turns it over. Out rolls half a packet of crackers, a candy bar, and the last bottle of ambrosia, rolled up in Ripper's t-shirt. But no more pears.
"There it is," Beak murmurs and picks the bottle up. He unscrews the cork and takes a hefty swallow. "Anyone else?"
They pass the bottle around.
Apollo plays with the pear. Throws it up and catches it again. Starbuck follows it with her eyes. The sun and the ambrosia make her head swim a little. Lee notices the way she looks at the pear and starts to juggle it, tossing it from one hand to the other, then up behind his back only to catch it in front of himself again.
"Mighty fine pear, this," he says, looking askance at Starbuck. She sticks out her tongue at him. "Oh, very mature," he scoffs.
"C'mon, Apollo, let me have it," she pouts. "I haven't had a pear in ages."
"Nope, I'm really in the mood for a pear today." He sniffs it theatrically. "Mmm. Just right. Ripe and juicy."
Starbuck tackles him, but he manages to keep the pear out of her reach, and then he rolls over, trapping her torso under his.
"Play nice and I might share it with ya, though," he says quietly. His right arm presses down on her shoulders and collar bones, his left is holding the pear just out of her reach.
Kara shifts a little to test his hold, but in this position he outweighs her easily, and it really is too warm for this.
"Uh-huh," she says, keeping her eyes on the prize.
"Good luck with that," Helo snickers. "Starbuck won't play nice if she can help it."
"Helo!" she says, mocking offense. "You're supposed to be on my side."
"I am, 'Buck, you know that," he answers. "Just tellin' it how it is."
"Well, don't give away my tactics like that, then," she pouts and then grins. Helo grins back and turns towards the others again, and their vivid discussion on the latest scandal in the pyramid circuit—the lead player of the Picon Panthers was caught frakking the wife of one of the team sponsors, who also happens to be a leading politician in the Quorum of twelve, and everyone is waiting for the fallout. Everyone also has an opinion, and Apollo and Starbuck are soon forgotten as the exchange gets more heated.
"Like I didn't know already," Apollo says. "It's not like you haven't cheated to win over me lately, like that triad game last Wednesday, or …"
"Have not!" she interrupts.
"Oh yeah? How about that foul during pyramid earlier, then?"
"Hey, flyboy, that's your word against mine. Nobody else saw anything."
"That just means you know how to pick the right angle for your dirty tricks, jetgirl."
Lee lifts up the pear and waves it back and forth a bit. Kara has kept her eyes on it the whole time.
"Huh," Lee says, moving his pear up and down, looking down at how her gaze keeps following it. "You're just like a baby seeing a shiny coin, or a kitten with a toy mouse," he smiles. "You can't take your eyes off it."
"I just want that pear. Really frakking bad," Kara says with determination.
"You calm now?" Lee asks.
"Sure," she says innocently.
As soon as Apollo starts to ease up, she goes for the pear. Knowing Starbuck, he has anticipated this and quickly slams her back down on the ground.
"I thought I asked you to play nice," he says, his eyes just a few inches from hers. She looks up into them. So blue.
"You shouldn't have challenged me," she says defiantly.
"Well, then I challenge you to behave nicely." He holds her gaze steadily, his breath fanning her cheeks.
"What's in it for me?" Why is her voice so breathless all of a sudden? She wrinkles her eyebrows.
"You'll just have to wait and see," Lee replies before taking a big bite from the pear. It was probably ripe a few days ago already, and bumping around in Helo's basket together with ambrosia bottles and the pyramid ball and other various objects has made it overly so. Juice trickles down Apollo's chin. He catches the drops with his thumb and licks them off. Kara doesn't breathe. All of a sudden he feels very close.
Apollo sits back up, releasing her, and she props herself upon her elbows. He reaches into his pocket and takes out a knife, then flicks out the blade and cuts off a small piece of the pear.
"Are you behaving now?" he asks, holding the piece of pear between his thumb and index finger.
"Who said anything about behaving? You know me, flyboy. I never behave." Their eyes are locked together. "I do, however, play nice, when it suits me. Very nice indeed."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, that is so."
"Then maybe you should get your reward." He starts to reach out towards her, but then changes direction and puts the piece of pear into his own mouth. "When it suits me."
Her eyes narrow.
He cuts another piece. "Don't bite my fingers off," he says, and then holds the piece in front of her mouth.
Kara smiles, opens her mouth, and leans forward. She lets her teeth graze over the pad of his thumb as she takes the piece of fruit. "Wouldn't dream of it," she whispers. His pupils dilate.
He cuts off another piece. Puts it into his mouth and then licks his fingers off.
It's really warm outside. Must be the weather. He can see a few drops of sweat glistening in the indentation between her collarbones. Feels a few drops trickling down the side of his neck. Her breathing is shallow. He knows because her chest is moving faster than just a few moments ago. If he's honest with himself, so is his.
He holds another piece in front of her. She sticks out her pointy tongue and flicks it from his fingers into her mouth.
"Does it taste as good as you thought it would?"
"Better," she answers slowly with a mischievous grin. "Sweet and . . . potent. I can't remember a pear I enjoyed more."
After a short pause, he pushes the next piece between her lips. His index finger touches her tongue. He lingers. Her nostrils flare. He tastes salty, a contrast to the almost too-sweet pear. She can smell him. Skin warmed by the sun, sweat from the previous pyramid game, that smell that's just . . . Lee. She knows it, has borrowed enough of his sweaters in the past, all with that Lee scent.
He draws up his knee, trying to camouflage the emerging bulge in his shorts. He cuts of another piece and puts it into his own mouth, sucking lightly on the finger that was in her mouth a few seconds ago. Their gazes are locked on each other, neither willing to release the other's eyes.
"More," she says breathily.
"That's not the nice way to ask."
She narrows her eyes again. He can see her calculating his response to various comebacks popping up in her mind.
"More . . . please," she says after a while, indulging him.
Something flashes in his eyes. Starbuck never backs down.
He cuts a new, small piece and holds it just in front of her. Her lips are parted and she leans in to close them around it, and around his fingertips. She sucks lightly on them, moving her tongue against them before drawing back again. His heart feels like it stops for a little while.
"It sure is warm today," he says pointedly, then glances downward. She looks down. Her nipples are clearly outlined against her tanks, sharp little peaks.
"Sure is," she agrees and returns her gaze to his. This has turned into a whole new challenge, and she can feel her pulse racing.
"Enough with the eye-frakking, you two."
Helo's voice breaks in on them. They both start. The rest of the world comes crashing back around them.
Kara bristles immediately.
"Yeah, right!" she smirks. "As if you would know frakking in any form!"
She pushes off the ground and picks up the pyramid ball a few feet away.
"C'mon you guys. Let's play! Loser gets to do all the maintenance next week," she says, taking off.