BY YOUR COMMAND - Static ARCHIVE

No, I don't begrudge Starbuck his brother. I just happen to dislike the guy. Out of a fleet of 220 ships, I'm entitled to disliking at least one person. And it's not like Kyle hasn't given me enough reason to dislike him. It's a love-hate relationship. We love Starbuck, and hate each other.

So, getting stuck with him in that place was, to say the least, not my idea of fun. The ceiling of the corridor had caved in on us, and that combined with the damage already caused to the ship by the Cylon blow, was enough to leave us a nice, cozy place to hang around in until rescue came. At least, I hoped rescue would come. I knew one person'd miss us, at least. I could just see Starbuck's reaction when he found out that his dear brother and me were trapped together in the lower decks.

"Oh, frak! Forget the ship! It'll be fine! Kyle and Apollo would kill each other!"

Well, I wouldn't kill Kyle! I mean, not on purpose. Starbuck would kill me if I even thought about it, and Starbuck can get, um, creative, shall we say, when it comes to paying me back for all sorts of injustices he thinks I did him.

I ran my eyes and hands over the caved walls, trying to see if there was anyway we could get out of there by ourselves. There wasn't. But what bothered me most was the fact that I was doing the research alone.

I know Kyle wouldn't go out of his way to help me. After all, his favorite nickname for me is "skinny brat". Which often causes Starbuck to quirk an eyebrow. If I'm a skinny brat, what does that make him? Good question, by the way. I don't know. He was, and will always be a rascal. That would make him my fellow brat, I suppose. Ha! Shoving Kyle's words in his face is my favorite pastime. When Starbuck isn't around, that is. We're both on our best behavior when he is. I'd rather be stranded on a barren world with a pyramid-playing Cylon before I'd hurt Starbuck. Especially about something he feels so strongly about.

But I'm digressing. I was getting upset that I was doing all the work alone. Age difference or not, he was stuck here just as much as I was. I swirled back to face him. Heck, I figured, if we can't get out, we might as well kill time. I couldn't think of any better way to kill a few centars than a good, healthy fight.

I turned at him, intending to angrily demand his help, and when- I hoped- he'd wave me off, I'd get to blow out some steam.

Instead, I saw him curled in to a fetus position on the other side of our "room". He was breathing fast, his eyes had that glazed look, and his fists were clenched so hard that he was almost drawing his own blood.

"What's wrong, Kyle?" I asked. I may not like him, but he's Starbuck's brother, and I'd be damned if I let anything happen to him.

He jumped to his feet, startled at the sound of my voice. He was still very tense, and he started pacing our space, fists still clenched and eyes glazed. "Nothing's wrong, brat," he said, gruffly.

"Well, then," here was my chance at a fight. "Why aren't you helping me out here? We're stuck in this together, you know."

He gave me a look of absolute horror. "I know," he mumbled. "Do they...do they even know we're down here?"

"I think so. The evacuation is almost over by now, I think, and they'll notice we're missing. You don't think Starbuck would leave you here to rot, do you?"

He swallowed hard. "No, I suppose he wouldn't."

Suppose he wouldn't? Coming from Kyle? Sire My Brother Can Do Anything? Something was wrong here, and I didn't like that notion one bit. Being stuck with him was one thing, but being stuck with him in his state of panic? I don't think so!

"Of course he wouldn't, what's wrong with you?" I said. A closer inspection of him didn't cheer me up, though. He was using every bit of energy he had to push down panic. Probably trying to hide it from me. Far be it from him to show a skinny brat like me that's he's terrified. But, why the frak...Oh, no, I didn't like the idea that had just occurred to me one tiny bit!

"Kyle," I tentatively asked, "are you claustrophobic?"

"No!" He denied that a bit too quickly. A family trait. Starbuck can't fool me with that, and Kyle didn't really had a chance.

I blew out a tired sigh. It was starting to get on my nerves. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" They're also thick-headed, it appears. And stubborn. I know when they're bluffing me. Why can't they grasp that?

"That you're.." He gave me a sharp look. "...not too fond of close places?"

That made him crack a grin at me. Good, maybe I'll be able to get some reasoning into him. I needed to keep him distracted. As long as he wasn't thinking about our situation, he'd be fine. Of course, as the little red me sitting on my left shoulder pointed out, I could wave it in his face...But I'm not mean. Such a shame.

"Look, Kyle, it's no big deal, really." I slumped down near the wall. "They'll know we're missing, they know where we went, they'll come looking for us. At most, we're looking at a few centars here."

"A few centars?" he asked, and stopped pacing. "That's all?" I nodded. "I can do that." Yeah, right. But at least he was trying.

"Yup. Just a few centars. And until then, you and me have this cozy, little space all to ourselves."

It was probably a bad choice of words, because he paled a whiter shade, and resumed his pacing. Now that I know that he wasn't about to freak out on me, I was in a bit more liberty to tease him.

"Kyle, would you stop pacing? You'd wear a groove in the floor and we'll fall down to space."

He glared at me. "Ha, ha. Real funny, funny boy." Sometimes, he's so much like Starbuck, I just can't help but laughing at them.

"Okay, okay, sorry. Look, it'll be fine, just, relax, okay? It'll be much easier that way."

He nodded shakily, and came over to sit by me. He slouched down, and I could vaguely hear my mother say, "Don't slouch! It's bad for your back!" I wasn't about to tell him that, though. The last thing he needed from me is reprimanding.

We sat like that for a while longer, watching the thin air and the metal walls. Suddenly, he slid a bit further down and rested his head on my shoulder. I didn't understand why he did that, but I didn't really care. He was stuck in his worst nightmare, the least I could do was indulge him.

I hung my head, and we sat in silence. I could hear his heavy breathing, and I could practically hear his heart beating. Judging from his breath, he was working hard to stay in control of himself. Oddly, I suddenly began being aware of his smell.

He smelled good, familiar. It was a scent I knew, and it made me relax a little. He smelled like Starbuck, in a way, and I knew practically everything about Starbuck since I was a teenager. The way he smelled was all too familiar to me. Kyle's hair, too, was like Starbuck's. They both had that same straight hair, that always fell down into their eyes, no matter what they did with it. How envy I was of Starbuck at our teens. He had the perfect hair, and I had this muss of rumpled individual hairs stuck on my head. I looked like a mop, sometimes.

Kyle's hair was lighter than Starbuck, maybe because he used to be out in the sun more, or maybe it was just the way his hair was. Starbuck's hair is kind of brownish, and Kyle's more yellowish. But the ruling shade, that blonde, was the same.

He smelled good, and he looked good. And suddenly, my hand was brushing his hair. I passed my fingers through that hair of his a few times, enjoying the way it felt in my hand, before I realized what I was doing and snatched it away.

"Don't stop," he mumbled. "It felt nice."

I returned my hand to where it was, and indulged myself at stroking his hair a bit more. He had silky hair, that felt good to touch, and the color was...fascinating. Somewhere between Cassie and Starbuck, I think. It just felt nice, and we both enjoyed it, so I continued a while longer.

I was beginning to relax, and so was he, which was good. He certainly didn't want to think about where, and with whom, he was, and me, well, I wasn't to keen on it, either. We just sat there, not talking, and everything was fine. I was even beginning to enjoy it. Sheba never lets me play with her hair, says it annoys her, or something. So it's a suppressed urge with me, I suppose.

The steady, slow rhyme was starting to lull both of us into a sleep-like state. Or so I thought. My head dropped lower, and then, I felt his fingertips on my jaw.

He'd risen from his slouched position, and now he was sitting before me, our eyes at almost the same level, so close that I could feel his breath on my cheek.

"What does he see in you?" he murmured.

I pushed out my lower lip. "I'm pretty," I told him.

He laughed softly. "So is Cassie."

"We serve different functions," I informed Kyle. Starbuck's like a brother to me. The very thought of touching him in more than a friendly embrace feels like incest.

"Oh," he breathed. I shivered. His very breath sent shivers down my spine, and he wasn't even touching me. For some very odd reason, the idea of Kyle's hands on my body seemed appealing. The oxygen must be running out.

"I..." I mumbled, just to say something.

He put a finger to my lips. "Shh. Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Starbuck'd kill me." He smiled.

"Oh." It was my turn to blow a breath at him, and I could see him shiver. It felt good to see him tremble at that. I never even stopped to think that this was absurd. We were two guys, trapped on a ship, not knowing when the rescue team will arrive, and...well, my sexual experience with women isn't that large, and most of it is made up of Starbuck's stories. My sexual experience with men was non existent.

"You're just doing this to get your mind off things," I whispered, and saw his eyes cloud, and his hand close on my face.

"Maybe I am," he agreed. "Are you complaining?"

Me? Complain? The guy I can't stand is sitting at such close proximity to my face that I can see the tiny brown specks in his eyes, and smell his breath, his hand on my cheek, and I'm pretty sure I'm not in control of this anymore. Complain? Me? No way!

"No, I suppose." I stopped to savor the feel of his fingers against my skin. "A good way as any to kill time."

He laughed. "Imagine what will happen if Starbuck rescues us just now..."

"I'll put him on report, that's what."

"Right, I forgot. You're his boss." He chuckled at that.

I took my own hand up and closed it on his. Our eyes were locked. "Does it matter?" I asked.

"No."

"Good."

And then, his lips were on mine, and his tongue was seeking entrance to my mouth. I opened my mouth slightly, not knowing what to expect from a man's kiss, and let him do what he wanted.

He pushed his tongue inside my mouth, intent on tasting me. And I paid him back in kind. I wasn't about to stay behind in this little game we were playing. We were testing the waters, testing each other, seeing what worked, what didn't, and set the pace for what we both knew would come.

He seemed intent on exploring my mouth thoroughly. His tongue dueled with my mine, then left it at peace and moved on to explore the rest of my mouth. He apparently enjoyed it, because he was making some very interesting whimpers by then, which I was determined to drive out of him some more.

When the lack of oxygen started painting golden dots behind my eyelids, we finally parted. We were both out of breath, looking at each other cautiously. Kyle looked...smug. I stared at him with my mouth open, trying to understand where it came from and where it was headed, and why, oh why, was I letting it advance. Kyle was gazing at me with those blue eyes quietly, waiting for whatever move I made.

"That was nice," I finally found the breath and courage to say.

"Yeah, it was," he agreed with me. "I'm glad you like it." He looked me over, and liked what he saw, judging from his wide smile.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Well, we could do more of the same thing," he said. "If you want to."

If I wanted to. There it was. My chance to back away and pretend this never happened. But the rational part of my mind seemed to be closed for business.

"That'd be nice," I said.

"Good," he murmured. Slowly, he closed the space between us, and our lips touched again. The kiss this time was more...searing. More powerful. And suddenly, I felt his hands at the neck of my tunic, coaxing it open.

I squirmed under him, trying to reach up and open my own tunic and still not break the contact. He noticed my feeble attempts, and swatted my hand away. He nibbled lightly on my lower lip before breaking the contact, much to my disappointment.

"Sit still," he told me, and reached to open the tunic. I watched in fascination as he pilled it away from my torso, and couldn't help a laugh when I saw him frown at the pressure suit I was wearing underneath it.

"Here, I'll get that," I said, and started to take the pressure suit off. It hung from my waist, where the uniform pants still held it, but Kyle seemed transfixed enough by what he was seeing of me, and as he was the one who knew what he was doing, I didn't venture further.

He sat there and stared at me for a few centons more, until I started to become self-aware. Looking up at him, I saw that he was gazing intently at my chest, I decided that some initiative was in order. Before I could change my mind, I took hold of his head and dove in for a kiss. His lips were soft and pliant and I delighted in feeling them part under my assault. He humored me a little before drawing away from me. I looked up at him with a little triumphant smile.

"Nice," he said, with this quiet smile I've seen on him so many times before, but have always thought to be over-confidence.

"Yeah."

He brought his fingertips back to my jaw, and drew a trail from my jaw to my navel with them. Feather light touches, that almost made me wonder if I was imagining this. He continued his exploration of me, while I watched him under half-closed lids.

His eyes were following his fingertips over my body, and I wished for a stronger, firmer touch, just so I'd know this whole thing is real, and not some dream I was having. Maybe it was both.

Entwining my fingers in his, I stopped him and brought his hand to my lips. I planted a kiss on his palm, and he smiled at me with pleasure.

"I said a few centars, Kyle," I told him, and brushed my other hand's fingers over his cheek. "Not a few centuries."

He laughed heartily, then looked straight into my eyes. "Faster?"

I nodded. He gave me that oh-so-familiar smile I've seen on his younger brother so many times I can't even remember most of them. I'll never be able to look at Starbuck the same way again.

When I was distracted, he didn't waste time, because I was pushed onto my back, and he was beside me, running his lips where his fingers had already trailed. I gasped. It felt...good. Different, but good. There wasn't anything frightening about it, or alarming. Just a building sensation, and a partner determined to do it by my pace. I closed my eyes and let this new sensation work its magic.

He must have been enjoying himself, and as I wasn't giving any fight, he decided to press a little harder. His mouth was on my nipple, sucking on it like a babe. It sent a thrill down my spine that shot my eyes open, and I moaned silently. Whatever he was doing, he repeated it on my other nipple, and proceeded to lick and kiss a wet trail down to my waistline.

When I felt his hand tugging at the waist band of my pants, I entwined my fingers in his hair and pulled. He wasn't going anywhere without me! He looked up immediately, his pink tongue lapping at his lips.

"Too fast?" he said.

I gave him my own enigmatic smile. "No."

"Then what is it?" he asked.

I smiled again. "An eye for an eye."

He frowned at me, trying to understand what I meant. Just to make it easier on the both of us, I tugged lightly at his shirt's collar. He grinned at me, and shrugged the shirt off. Being the "uniform" of a civilian officer, it was much easier to take off that mine was.

He was about to dive back down to my navel when I stopped him. He's got an eyeful of me, and I wanted to treat myself to the same thing. Not moving- I felt much too comfortable where I was to move- I let my eyes and hands run over the smooth hills and valleys of his torso. He's 6 yahrens older than me, but you'd never have guessed it. I closed my eyes, concentrating on the fill at my fingertips, and remembered all the times I had seen Starbuck without his shirt on. No, I smiled, this wasn't the same man. Kyle was more slender, a bit thinner, a little less...something. Or maybe a little more of something else. I pushed the thought away. It wasn't Starbuck I was lying here making love to.

I opened my eyes again, and looked to see a pair of blue eyes smiling at me. All of a sudden, just fingertips and palms weren't enough. I wanted to fill his skin against mine.

"Come here," I told him, and he fell down to my embrace, our lips locking to another kiss. We lay in each other's arm, caressing each other softly, exploring whatever exposed skin was available to us, slowly, softly, with no rush. We had all the time in the world.

His hands groped at my waistband, and I lifted my hips to help him take them off me. He grinned and sat up, despite my protest. He silenced me with a touch, and turned to pulling off both our boots. Then, he came back to my embrace.

"Where were we?" he asked innocently. A shameless tease. Another family trait.

I groaned. "You know perfectly well where we were," I admonished him, and pushed his hands back to my waistband.

"Ah," he agreed, and continued to divest me of my pants and the pressure suit. I promptly returned the favor, and we were soon lying back in each other arms, naked this time.

His hands were still caressing me, and I arched into his touch. The motion caused my erection to bump into his, making me skip a beat and gasp into his neck. Funny, I didn't even notice I was erect until I felt him. It felt like my body was willing to accept whatever it was given without making extra demands.

But it had changed now. I pushed slightly against his hip, causing him to bite into my shoulder.

"Ow!" I exclaimed.

He giggled. "Don't worry," he said, kissing the small wound. "No one will know." That was true, the uniform took care of that.

I offered him a smile and pulled him in for another kiss. No matter what his arms or the rest of his body were doing to me, I couldn't get enough of his mouth, of his kisses.

I kissed him, and closed my eyes to savor the feeling, the taste, the texture of his mouth, when I felt him thrust gently against my groin.

I moaned into his mouth, sharing my pleasure with him in the most intimate way I could. He thrust again, and again I moaned, the feeling intensified. The third time our groins touched, though, I thrust back at him, and felt his tremble against me. Smiling to myself, I thrust again, matching his motions.

He threw his head back and moaned. I rocked my hips again, a little harder this time, and he shut his eyes and gasped, "Apollo!"

The sound of my own name made me clutch him even tighter. It was the first time in the whole ordeal when he had called my name. It excited me. Not being referred to as "the skinny brat".

Things were rolling faster now, sensation after sensation, each outdoing the other. Kyle was holding me tight now, raining kisses on my temples, cheeks, neck and shoulders, and still thrusting against me. I matched his motions, pushing against him, harder each time, both of us eager to feel as much of the other as humanly possible.

I felt like I was drowning. A sea of sensations was all around me, all over me, each wave higher than the one before him. My mind has shut off completely, and all I could focus on was the body in my arms and the wonderful things he was making me feel.

I could feel Kyle tense above me, and he thrust his hips against my groin one last time. That was all I needed to lose myself in my own climax. The world went black around me, and all I was aware of was an immense feeling of release and intense pleasure. I clutched Kyle's shoulders harder and lost myself in all the sensations assailing me.

When I came to again, I was still lying on my back near the wall. Kyle was curled beside me, his head leaning on my shoulder, his arm draped across my waist and his fingers were drawing tiny circles on my abdomen. I could see our clothes thrown in a pile next to us, but neither I nor Kyle had the desire to actually let go of each other and get them. I was perfectly happy and content to just lie there, breathing in Kyle and remembering the pleasure I had just experienced in his arms.

He noticed that I've woken, and rose on his elbow to look at me. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," I answered, giving him a goofy smile and a quick kiss.

He returned the kiss briefly. "How you doing?" he asked me.

I was doing just great, and told him so. He smiled, and kissed the tip of my nose, drawing a laugh from me. Then, he pushed himself away from me and sat up.

"What about us?" he asked.

"Us?"

"Yeah," he looked at me. "You, me..."

"Ah." I sat there in silence, thinking it over. While I was doing that, he got up and started pulling on his clothes. When he was fully dressed, I started pulling on my own. Once dressed, the rational part of my mind, the one that had so conveniently shut down before, kicked back to action.

"We can't turn this," he gestured at the space we had just occupied, "into a habit."

"Yeah." I knew a relationship wasn't an option. And, truth be told, I didn't want one with him. Not sexual, anyway. And looking at him, standing there, looking like his kid brother with his bowed head and stray blonde hair, I knew that he didn't want it either.

"But, you know, I can't really think of you as a skinny brat, anymore," he added with a grin. "You've added some weight."

"We do that, sometimes," I answered. "And I can't really be mad at you anymore, too."

"So," he tilted his head. Another familiar, unconscious gesture, "friends?" He reached out his arm.

I grabbed it in the Warriors' handshake. "Friends," I smiled at him.

Just them, the space shook. We looked around in alarm, just to find that it the wall was shaking. We heard voices behind it, and soon enough, a large hall was opened in the wall, and Starbuck stepped through it. He looked from me to Kyle and back, appraising us both with that single look and smirk of his.

"What? No broken bones? No split lips?" he asked, and I glared at him. He grinned back at me. Undaunted as ever.

"I was kinda worried about you two, you know. Wasn't sure the ship would last the clash of the titans, and all that," he ventured, walking around a pile of dirt, shaking my hand and letting Kyle draw him into a brief embrace.

I put on my most serious expression. "Really, Lieutenant," I mock scolded him. "You know me better than that."

He shrugged. "Well..."

"Don't worry, squirt," Kyle assured him, throwing his arm around Starbuck's shoulders and steering him outside of that room. "Apollo and I just made friends. He's a much better guy than I gave him credit for."

"Really?" he asked, looking up at Kyle, then moving his eyes to me. I nodded my consent.

"Really, squirt," Kyle told him, and they disappeared from my view. I still heard one of them laugh at something, before silence fell around the small space we had spent the last -how many?- centars in.

Yeah, real good friends, I smirked. A perfect match. I shook my head and went out to join them.

--The End!