Players

[bookdragon01]

Title: Players
Author: bookdragon01
Characters/Pairing: Kirk/Gaila
Bingo Card: babel.crackerboxpalace.com/stbingo/bookdragon01card1.jpg
Bingo Progress: [5/8 needed to complete bingo]
Summary: Jim did some research before making a move on Gaila, but maybe not quite enough... humor/romance
Rating&Warnings: PG-13, none

Disclaimer: I don't own them, but they're a lot of fun to play with

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"Another?" Jim asked, already lifting a hand to signal the bartender.

He was not trying to get Gaila drunk - not really anyway, because seducing someone didn't count if their defenses were too far down. Besides, Orions seemed to have a higher tolerance for alcohol than humans (or at least Jim Kirk) and he had no intention of getting wasted enough to give Gaila the opportunity to exercise what he'd observed to be a wicked sense humor.

Unlike his usual conquests, Jim had spent some time observing Gaila. In fact, he'd applied a little tactical recon. First, because she had access to a certain training simulation, so he was interested in her for more than just a good time. But second, because there were a lot stereotypes about Orions and separating fact from fiction would be important to establishing the sort of rapport required for the goal of the first reason (or at least that had been his motivation when the pursuit had started. Eventually there was a third reason, which was that she seemed to be pretty cool).

Gaila gave him a slow smile. "As long as you're buying."

"I'm definitely buying." Jim flashed a playful grin.

His first step had been a visit to the admissions office where his decent skills as hacker and excellent skills as a charmer had scored a look at her application. If Gaila had been a former slave girl that would have had a serious impact his plan. However, as it turned out, she had basically grown up in the Orion version of a nice, middle class suburb. Options for women on Orion were a lot more limited than on earth, but still, no guilt there.

Gaila arched an eyebrow. "Anything?"

Jim laughed, "Anything the bartender can mix."

She scanned the bottles behind the counter. "Maybe I'll get creative..."

"I can't wait to hear what you come up with, gorgeous."

The next step had been gathering intel. Unfortunately, most of what he'd heard had come from guys claiming things that sounded more like one of those phony fantasy letters in Playboy. It seemed entirely possible, even likely, that the data had been falsified by guys too embarrassed to admit that they couldn't score with an Orion chick. That impression was reinforced by the fact that a couple guys who had two-timed one of her friends had wound up in some extremely embarrassing situations with photographic evidence posted for all to see. Those guys clearly had not gotten past the first few sentences in the Playboy fantasy letter.

"Hmm... How about this? I'll pick something green and you pick something tan," her tongue slid along her bottom lip. "We can see how they taste together."

Bam. That was the moment that Jim knew - absolutely knew - that he was in the presence of a player. And one near his level. He grinned, leaning a little closer. "How many guys have you used that line on?"

She smiled slyly. "42, so far."

"And how many times did it work?"

"41," she whispered against his ear as a finger lightly stroked the inside of his thigh, "so far."

Okay, maybe all those guys hadn't been completely exaggerating. Jim forced himself to swallow. "Nice record."

"Oh, that's just this month," she replied with a throaty chuckle. "Last month I hit 97."

Whoa. Jim stared with open admiration. He was in the presence of greatness.

"Of course, that included a Parrises Squares team and a couple sets of roommates," Gaila gave him a wicked smile. "Do you have a roommate Jim?"

His breath caught. Bones would absolutely die. Or kill him. Or both. Either way, at least one of them would get to heaven tonight. "Yeah. He can be a little ...uptight, but if we get started before he gets back from the library, maybe we can persuade him to join in."

"A challenge! - I like that," Gaila exclaimed, getting up. "Let's go."

Jim hurried after her, an expectant grin spreading over his face. Dear Playboy...

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AN: Another story for an lj startrekbingo space.

I tend to imagine Gaila as a free Orion. No matter how much of a hound he is, Jim just isn't the sort who'd use someone who'd escaped that sort of exploitation. Otoh, if her back story is a lot less tragic than his, his main concern would be how he was going to smooth talk her into believing that he'd kept her in dark to provide 'plausible deniability'.

Like it? Hate it? Please r&r