A/N: Okay so like I'm literally the worst person ever, not because I haven't updated in forever, but because I promised I'd update one of my multi-chaptered ficsand I didn't. Seriously, my bad. Between getting ready for school this fall and writers block I've been super busy though, so to get back into the swing of things I'm writing random Kircus trash.

And speaking of random Kircus trash, if anyone has a Kircus prompt or idea that they'd like to read, PM me. I could use a bit of inspiration and y'all could use more Kircus in the fandom. XD

Something Like Falling in Love

Lenore

The instant he catches her eye across the smoky bar, he feels his heart stop. It's not her jaw dropping beauty or poorly concealed knife in her garter, nor is it the stunning dress that clings to every curve of her body seductively or the demure smile curling at the corners of her red mouth.

No, it's the harsh reminder that the past never stays where it's supposed to be.

The instant their eyes meet, her smile disappears.

The instant their eyes meet, the noise around them fades into silence.

The instant their eyes meet, he knows he's done for.

She sashays across the room, her glittering dress drawing attention to certain…parts of her. His eyes sweep carelessly across her figure, lips quirking into a smirk when she notices him staring. With a smirk of her own, she whirls around, soft golden curls flying, and all but flounces out of the bar.

He follows.

She pins him up against the alley wall, knife against his throat. Her eyes burn with hatred, red mouth curved into a beautiful smile.

You're supposed to be dead, she murmurs, gently brushing the cold steel against his throat, her mouth so close they're practically kissing.

So are you. His own voice is rough and desperate. He grabs her wrist and spins her around, pinning her to the brick wall. Her breath catches slightly, pupils dilating.

Do it, her eyes challenge. Finish what you started.

He twists the knife out of her hands. It clatters to the ground, forgotten. With a breathy laugh she leans forward and seals her mouth against his in a fiery, passionate kiss that he can't help but melt into.

He's never had what you would call a significant other or a girlfriend, but she comes pretty close. The two of them wreak havoc across the quadrant, flirting their way through bars, picking fights too big for either of them to handle, and ending it all in messy, noisy sex in cheap motel rooms and alleyways.

They're both one of a kind, kindred spirits, soulmates even. They flirt and sleep their way through any and every catastrophe with men and women alike. When the demons become too loud, the nightmares too vivid, the darkness to close, they find some sort of comfort in each other, but it's never gentle or intimate.

It's going to fall apart, he knows. Something this wrong can't last forever.

In the end it ends with a simple comm.

She's not furious, not even a little bit, but her smile is so, so sad and something in him breaks just a little when she softly kisses him goodbye because this one time it's something gentle and intimate.

He leaves, determined to forget her, but never quite does. Because no matter what memories the thought of her induce, James Kirk has never been able to resist a beautiful woman.

Uhura

The instant he catches her eye in the filthy dive, he feels a grin slowly form. She's clearly the most beautiful woman in the room, with dark caramel skin, almond shaped eyes, and a coy smile—but it's not her looks exactly that catch his eye. No, it's the uniform.

Starfleet.

He tosses back another drink, trying to drown out his bitterness. Starfleet has taken everything from him. Dad. And because of Dad his Mom was absent so many years. And because of Mom Sam left. And because Sam left Jim had been sent away to Tarsus and Tarsus had stolen what little innocence he'd had.

And now Starfleet had taken his Mom again.

Killed during active duty, the official comm had said.

Jim knocks back another drink. He hadn't been with anyone since…well…he'd rather not think of that.

He quickly moves through the crowded room until he's at the bar near the cadet his eye is on.

He offers her a drink. She shoots him down.

He laughs. She smirks.

She rebuts. He flirts.

She teases. He grins.

And it all somehow ends in a bar fight over her, but he's actually not all that surprised. He gets his ass handed to him epically—but only because he's drunk and stopped caring at least halfway through—but he can't quite find it himself to mind very much, until a loud, shrill whistle pierces the room.

A week later and he's sure she's ruing the day she ever met him, what with the not-so-subtle pickup lines he's sending her and the constant guessing of her name. Somehow, though, during the next few years, in between the constant bickering and teasing/flirting that they both partake in, he's developed a brotherly affection for her that he'd rather die than admit.

(He later learns that she feels exactly the same way, but not until after he dies—sort of—and the two of them finally get on the same page)

It may end in friendship rather than sex, but James Kirk has never been able to resist a beautiful woman.

Galia

The instant he catches her eye across the busy campus he knows it's going to end badly. She's petite and curvy and has soft, emerald skin and hazel eyes and a flirty smile to rival his own. He approaches her, even though she's surrounded by at least half a dozen guys all drawn in by her soft laugh and seductive voice.

Three hours later they're having rough, noisy sex in her dormroom. She's good at it—really good at it and he's really good at it and he just knows this is going to become a thing because when two people are really good at sex and even better at sex together, then it's totally something they should do like all the time.

After a few months, sex slowly starts to turn into comfort. Comfort into friendship. Friendship into intimacy.

The two of them share a connection that forged in understanding and trust—and it feels so strange to trust someone fully like this, to actually let them in and let them see the cracks and imperfections, but he knows that she understands, because whatever hell he's been through, whatever horrors he's seen, he knows that she's seen her share of darkness too and has her own demons and nightmares she hides from.

It's like Lenore, but also not in ways he can't explain.

Then the Narada happens.

She's on the Farragut.

After the memorial Jim finds himself at another bar, slowly getting drunker and drunker as the night goes on. He swears he'll never let anyone in that close again—it makes him too vulnerable, too raw, and they leave, they always leave him in the end, whether by choice or by circumstance.

He should have never let her so far in in the first place, but James Kirk has never been able to resist a beautiful woman.

Christine

The instant he catches her eye across Medbay, Bones is snapping his fingers in front of Jim's face, grumbling at him not to seduce his staff. Jim just laughs and winks at her across the room, causing her to glare at him, but he can see the amusement behind her soft brown eyes.

Three hours later he's bleeding to death on the transporter pad floor. The sound of Bones shouting, someone screaming and sobbing, and the warm hum of the Enterprise all blend in together as he loses consciousness, but the last actual coherent thing he hears is a soft, female voice whispering thank you as a pair of warm lips press against his forehead.

He wakes up to Bones' furious glare and Spock's Eyebrow and is sure he's going to be reamed out when both officers are unceremoniously kicked out of Medbay by a very pissed off head nurse.

He isn't completely saved from a lecture, however, when she suddenly explodes off on him demanding to know why he'd pull a dumbass move like that to save one medical officer when the life of the Captain is a higher priority.

This ticks him off and suddenly they're having a shouting match in the middle of the—thankfully—empty Medbay that ends with her furiously pressing her lips against his in an attempt to shut him up.

They have sex a week later and it's one of the worst decisions of his life.

It's not you, it's me, he tells her, resolutely not meeting her eye, praying that he's not breaking her heart, that he's not becoming that guy.

She gently presses a kiss to his cheek and tells him it's going to be okay, and that surely he of all people knew that sex could be meaningless?

It's only after he's signed her transfer that he remembers that she was Galia's friend too.

He's beginning to realize that although he can't resist a beautiful woman, that some woman find it hard to resist him too.

Enterprise

After Christine, he sleeps his way through as many men and women as it takes to forget the previous—from some random chick he picked up in a bar, to a pair of feisty twins he meets on shore leave after Niburu. Nothing is satisfying anymore and he begins to truly wonder if he's incapable of feeling love.

He gets drunk with Bones one night and tells him that Enterprise is the only woman who he can ever fully commit too.

Three weeks later, Spock figuratively stabs him in the back and Jim loses her.

Carol

It all comes to a full circle during the worst day of his life.

Pike was dead, Bones was furious, Spock was questioning his every decision, and the half of the crew that wasn't dubious of his command decisions were still ticked off at him over the Niburu Incident.

He's about to start throwing punches—at Spock preferably, considering he's the closest and won't effing shut up—when the biggest cliché of his life happens to him.

Years later he'll tell Bones it was love at first sight (causing the Doctor to roll his eyes in exasperation and call him a romantic dumbass), but how could it not be?

The instant their eyes meet, his heart starts beating faster and his breath hitches.

He barely hears her introduce herself and when she hands him her padd he can hardly focus on what's on it. It's only until Spock starts his not-pouting that Jim snaps back into reality just in time to shut the Vulcan up and offer her a seat.

She joins the crew when Enterprise sets out on the Five Year Mission, even though the previous one had been a complete disaster, almost ending with them all dying, and actually ending with him dying.

Truth be told, he'd been apprehensive at best and furious at worst with her during that day, but that's all behind them both now, because after all she did help save his life and it'd be hypocritical of him if he was mad at her for sneaking on the Enterprise.

All the same, he's careful not to flirt or anything around her, reminding himself that she isn't into him and he's not supposed to be letting anyone in.

He's always been so bad at following the rules.

One failed Away Mission later, she finds him on an Observation Deck, soberly watching the stars flit by. She sits next to him, slides her hand into his.

He turns. Her lips brush his.

"What's this feeling?" he whispers the next morning, fingertips gently brushing across her spine.

Carol blearily blinks up at him before pressing a gentle kiss to his collarbone. "I think it's something like falling in love."