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The first time Leonard McCoy has the misfortune of meeting Jim Kirk, the kid’s feet are bleeding like no other and he has a grin that spreads from ear to ear and that Leonard thinks might actually break his face.
“Did you see me run, Bones? I was so close.” Jim holds up two fingers a fraction of an inch apart. “Like, this close to winning. If only that Russian wiz kid hadn’t been here.”
Bones looks up from where he’s washing off the idiot runner’s feet, “First of all, who the hell is Bones? Second, I saw you run. You should’ve won. You would have, too, if you knew how to wrap your damn feet and take care of your damn self, idiot.” He shakes his head ruefully and goes back to wrapping Jim’s feet.
“You really think so?” Jim ignores Leonard’s first question. “Wow.” He looks off into the distance dreamily for a few moments and Leonard worries for a bit that he may have possibly overheated and under hydrated.
Off to the left somewhere, Pavel Chekov is being congratulated on his win of the Savannah Marathon. The barely eighteen year old grins and bounces on his toes, impressive muscles flexing slightly as he does so. Leonard rolls his eyes. Damn crazy marathoners.
-
The first time Jim actually wins a marathon, he rushes over to Leonard immediately. “Bones, I didn’t want to win without you here!” His breath comes in short huffs and he smiles even wider than the first time they met.
Leonard rolls his eyes. Of course Jim came in second place at all those races on purpose. Of course. He hated to admit it, but he’d been watching the ones he could, on tv or streamed on the internet, somehow needing to see the kid he’d been teaching to take care of his feet. He felt a pull to watch Jim race, to see the long legs that pump crazily for ridiculous amounts of time. “Of course. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to convince them to let me see the medical volunteer lists? It’s good I have pretty eyes.” Jim flutters his eyelids dramatically and grins and Leonard, who scoffs and rips the shoes off his feet, checking over for blisters and only finding a few small ones.
“At least you know how to tape your feet.” Bones doesn’t mention that he thinks about those eyes at night and he doesn’t know why he’s so trapped by a stupid runner he never sees.
-
The first time Leonard realizes that maybe Jim has grown a bit attached to him [as a friend, of course], the blond is standing in his kitchen making pizza like it’s no big deal. “Pike would absolutely murder me if he found out that I was eating this but I don’t have a race for another three months and I need some fat in my system for once.”
“Go for a long run tomorrow, you can call it carb-loading.” Leonard waves his hand noncommittally back towards the kitchen from where he sits on the couch watching tv. He is met with cackling laughter and the dumb clapping thing that Jim does whenever he thinks something is funny. Leonard rolls his eyes and turns to look over the back of his couch at his (best) friend.
The sight takes him off guard, for some reason. Jim’s shirt is covered in flour and he rolls the dough out on the counter with precision, completely engrossed in his current task. A splash of sauce spread out evenly with a spoon. A sprinkle of cheese. Jim reaches toward a jar before pulling his hand back and looking up, blue meeting hazel for what feels like the first time to Leonard, “Hey, Bones, you don’t like black olives, do you?”
“Hate ‘em.”
“Thought so. I think you mentioned that once.” Jim screws his face up, obviously trying to recall the exact moment when Leonard told him that. (It was after his first win, Leonard took him to get pizza.) “Whatever. You like the type.”
“What type?”
“The type to not like great food.” Jim grins and throws some mushrooms on the pizza before sticking it in the oven. He wipes his hands on his shorts. (Does he ever wear anything but running clothes, really?) “All right. That should be done in about twenty minutes. What’s on tv?”
-
The first time the word “boyfriend” is used, Jim is on tv and Leonard is extremely confused. He watches his completely platonic friend on ESPN, (of course the kid is being interviewed, he’s taken the world by storm with his speed and good looks.) and his jaw drops when the interviewer smiles and asks with feigned innocence. “So, your boyfriend is Leonard McCoy, correct? The two of you have been incredibly close for the past two years. Tell us about him.”
And Jim doesn’t deny it. He smiles and folds his hands in his lap and looks down at them a little (a nervous tell America won’t see, but Leonard spots immediately) before answering smoothly, “Bones is great. He’s seriously the best person I’ve ever known and I am so lucky to have him in my life. I don’t know what I would do without him, to be completely frank.” He looks up through his lashes and smiles sheepishly. “Oh, look at me. I’m supposed to be some big tough athlete, aren’t I?”
The interviewer pats his knee patronizingly, “Oh, it’s fine. Love does that to the best of us.”
“Yeah, I suppose it does.”
Leonard pauses the tv and rewinds a bit to take in the look on Jim’s face. Not a trace of a joke or a lie. Just pure honesty and affection (love) for Leonard. What he’s saying, he truly believes.
Is Leonard Jim’s boyfriend? No.
Sure, they spend all their free days together, laying on the couch with their legs tangled up for warmth, they buy each other dinner and Leonard lectures him about his dietary habits and career. Jim knows everything about Leonard’s divorce and his father’s death. Leonard knows about Jim’s father and stepfather. He knows that Jim was a deadbeat going nowhere with a penchant for running, literally running, away from situations and it got him noticed by an old family friend who happened to have some sway in the community. They know secrets and jokes and they fit together like puzzle pieces (broken pieces of glass.)
Leonard really only has one person he wants to tell the little things that happen to him and he thinks Jim does the same with him.
But they’re friends.
Sure, Leonard has caught himself admiring Jim’s lithe athletic build. But the kid is a world-class athlete and a body like that does draw the eye.
Platonic.
Jim’s eyes take Leonard’s breath away sometimes and when Jim scoots close to him on the couch to ‘stay warm’, Leonard’s heart sometimes picks up.
Jim might linger for a few seconds longer than necessary when he claps Leonard on the shoulder, looking in his eyes as if for an answer of some sort. Jim might cling to Leonard endlessly, even going so far as to slightly curl his fingers around Leonard’s.
Leonard is not Jim Kirk’s boyfriend.
Except that he thinks he might be. He pulls out his phone and taps in a familiar number.
“Dammit, kid. We could’ve been sleeping together this whole time and you didn’t even think to kiss me or...I don’t know...Talk to me?”
-
The first time they say “I love you” out loud, Jim has just come back from a long run and Leonard is standing in the kitchen holding a phone and wearing his small half smile that is reserved for very specific people (Jim).
“Hey, what’s up with your face?” Jim jokes to lighten the mood, which seems somewhat different than he expected. Something has definitely shifted since he went out.
“I was just thinking about stuff. Talked to your mom for a bit.”
“That was a bad idea.” Jim sits in one of the chairs at the counter and bends down to untie his shoes. “She’s nothing but trouble. Her and Pike both.”
Leonard doesn’t respond with a snarky remark like Jim expected and it shocks him still. The brunet walks over to him and kneels, stilling his hands and taking over unlacing the shoes. “You forgot to get new insoles.” Leonard starts massaging Jim’s foot, knowing exactly where to place pressure to relieve the pain. (Jim spends enough time whining about it, really, it should not be that much of a surprise but it always is.)
“I didn’t have time.” Jim grins down at Leonard. “Someone took up all my time this morning.”
“Well, someone needs to take up all your time and I’d be pretty damn upset if it wasn’t me.” Leonard meets Jim’s gaze with fire in his eyes.
Jim shakes his foot free of Leonard’s soothing grip and stands. He grabs Leonard’s hands and pulls him to his feet. “What’s wrong, seriously.”
“I talked to your mom.”
“And?”
Leonard pulls his hands away from Jim and crosses his arms. He looks down at his feet and sighs. “And we talked about your dad. About how they were so in love and how you’ve never even had the chance to feel that and I really want it to be with me but what if it’s not? What if you leave me? What if you die without ever hearing someone say those words to you and feel the same way? Jim, I can’t bear the thought of you without love and light and life.”
Jim swallows the lump in his throat and grins with watery eyes. “Bones, you listen to me right now. Don’t you dare say I’ve never had the chance to feel that.”
“What?”
“I’m living it. Right now, every day. I am so completely in love with you, Leonard McCoy. I thought I made that obvious when I refused to win without you there.”
Leonard sighs out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in. “Well then, as long as we’re saying it, I love you too.”
Jim grins and skips to the fridge. “So, what’s for dinner? I’m starving.”
-
The first time Leonard realizes that Jim really does mean it when he says those silly words (forever, love, only you), a blond head is bent over a tablet. That same blond head whips around and wears a completely stunned expression as hands scramble to hide the tablet from view.
Leonard plucks the tablet away and gasps a bit when he sees that Jim is looking at rings.
Silver bands with matching engravings. Wedding rings.
Other tabs reveal bakeries that specialize in wedding cakes, websites for venues, and even a fucking band.
“So, were you going to tell me that we’re getting married or were you just going to spring it on me at the last minute like the ‘boyfriends’ thing?” Leonard grins and shakes his head, handing the tablet back. “Idiot.”
Jim stands up nervously and sticks his right hand in his pocket, fiddling around a bit. “Well, you’ve ruined it now, haven’t you?” He pulls out a small black velvet box. “I was just going to put it on your pillow and hope you got it, but I suppose this works, too.” He thrusts his hand out like a small child offering up his first valentine.
“I cannot believe you.” Leonard turns on his heel and walks quickly back to their bedroom. Jim follows in a light run to keep up with him.
“Wait, Bones! We don’t have to if you don’t want. Seriously, I will totally just forget the whole thing.” He smiles and catches Leonard’s shoulder. “It’s cool. No marriage. I’ve still got you, right?” His anxiety shows through his constantly shifting stance and flickering blue eyes.
“Put on your running shoes.”
“What? Why?”
“Just put them on. Your favorite ones.”
Jim shrugs and side-eyes Leonard as he walks over to the closet and pulls out his favorite pair of bright yellow running shoes. He bends over to tie the laces on the left shoe and gasps before looking up at Leonard, disbelief in his eyes.
“I cannot believe that you beat me to it, you idiot. I’ve had this planned for days. You were supposed to find it when you went for your evening jog. I was going to make you dinner since we can’t go to a restaurant because you are allergic to everything.”
Jim stands up in a slight daze and wraps his arms around Leonard’s neck. “I seriously thought you were kicking me out. I thought it was over. I was so scared, Bones. This is so amazing.”
“So...that’s a yes?”
“You’re not getting rid of me for a long time, old man.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, kid.”