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It was a commonly known fact at Starfleet Academy: Dr. Leonard McCoy was probably the grouchiest person you would ever meet in your life.
He was a good doctor, that was for damn sure, but he constantly chided you for every single bump and scrape, and when he really didn’t like you or he was in a really bad mood, he’d stab you extra hard with your hypo before stomping off. If he liked you or was in a good mood, you’d get stabbed a little gentler and maybe one of the nicer nurses would be assigned to your case.
Whenever it was Jim Kirk on the receiving end of one of the hypo stabs, he’d shout before rolling his eyes and clapping a hand on Leonard’s shoulder.
“We need to get you laid, Bones,” he’d declare every time with a smile. “Tonight, you and me are going to the bar and we’re going to get you laid.”
Leonard would snort in response and Nurse Chapel would be assigned to Jim’s bed with instructions to give him no pain meds, no matter how much he begged.
The truth was, Leonard hadn’t been with anyone since his marriage to Jocelyn fell apart. His divorce had barely been finalized when he ended up in Nowhere, Iowa and on a shuttle to Starfleet, granted, but that was almost two years ago now. He had barely actually physically touched anyone in any sort of intimate way either- there were a few handshakes when he first began at the hospital, sometimes a steadying hand on a patient before applying a hypo, and Jim’s routine shoulder claps- but nothing even remotely personal outside of Jim. He hadn’t even hugged anyone since the last time he had seen Jo, just a few days before the papers were signed and he was out of Georgia for as long as he could be.
And he was too damn grumpy to fuck some random cadet Jim picked out at the bar. No, if he was getting laid, he was going to do it proper, after being in a real relationship with someone he cared about.
Problem was, he thought he was having feelings for his best friend. The type of feelings he hadn’t had since meeting Jocelyn in college. And there was no way he was going to ruin his friendship with Jim.
It made sense, he supposed. Jim was the type of person to bump shoulders with you and grin as he crossed campus by your side when he was happy. Jim was the type of person to put his feet in Leonard’s lap on movie night. Jim was the type of person who had no personal space issues and would barge in the bathroom babbling about stubble and regulations and start shaving while Leonard was in the shower, and pat his best friend on the back while shaving with the other hand. Jim was the type of person who would trip and fall when walking into their dorm, and grab Leonard’s sleeve to catch himself instead of the doorframe.
Leonard was annoyed at first, often grumbling about Jim’s lack of personal space issues and his chirpiness. After a while, though, he found himself not minding so much, and even leaning in to return the shoulder checks at times. He smiled occasionally now that he was sharing a room with Jim, but only in the comfort of their dorm, generally at one of Jim’s crazy antics that ended with him sprawled on the floor and shouting in pain from a turned ankle. He’d grouse about the irresponsibility of trying to retrain oneself to jump hurdles by leaping over the small couch, but he really didn’t mind treating the small injuries anymore. And Jim would smile sheepishly and thank the doctor, placing a hand on his arm or pulling himself up by Leonard’s wrist, and that, to Leonard, made it all worth it.
Leonard McCoy was the grumpiest bastard to ever enter into Starfleet and he was too grumpy to do anything to change it. Because he didn’t want to push away his only friend, he would rather stay a grumpy, touch starved bastard as long as he could.
It wasn’t really a surprise anymore when Jim came stumbling into their shared dorm at ungodly hours of the morning, completely drunk, sometimes with a bloody nose or split knuckles, It was those mornings that Leonard was at his most tender, shaken awake by a rueful Jim whose nose was dripping blood onto the blond’s boots slowly. It was those mornings that Leonard would be reminded of why he was falling in love with the idiot.
It was not one of those mornings when Leonard woke up to find Jim in his bed, glommed onto he doctor’s side and fast asleep. Leonard had to crack a small smile- after all, Jim was never really one to show affection quite so obviously - usually it came in smaller gestures - and Leonard felt like someone loved him for the first time since his divorce. He gently peeled the blond’s arms off of his chest and wrangled his legs out from Jim’s- how the hell Jim managed to not wake him up, Leonard didn’t know- and changed into his scrubs, slipping out the door for the hospital with coffee in hand.
He went to work with a smile on his face for the first time since he came to Starfleet. Every patient he treated asked the nurses if something was wrong with him, and they all just shrugged. They decided that they liked when Leonard was in a good mood, and vowed to try to get it to happen more often.
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It became common for Leonard to find Jim draping an arm over his shoulder when they were sitting on the couch, or to wake up with Jim pressed up against him in the bed.
“You’re okay with this, right, Bones?” Jim asked softly one night, his head leaning on Leonard’s shoulder as he half-watched some 21st-century action film about comic book superheroes, a carton of pad thai in his hand.
Leonard scoffed and dropped his chopsticks into his own carton of lo mein. “Kid, if I wasn’t okay with you smushing yourself on top of me, I would have said something a long time ago. I’m not okay with you talking during The Avengers, though, so shut up.”
Jim snuggled deeper into Leonard’s shoulder, happy to eat his takeout in silence and listen to the film.
“Bones?” he asked softly as the credits began to roll a while later. “Do you think...”
“Do I think what, kid?”
Jim shook his head and sat up, dropping the empty takeout carton on the table. “Nevermind. It’s just something dumb.”
Leonard huffed and rolled his eyes. “Jim, you and I both know that it’s gonna eat at you for days, so spit it out.”
Jim sighed. “I was talking to Gaila the other day, and you know, Orions have that whole ‘love radar’ thing or whatever. She said that the person I felt so strongly about...” he paused, searching for the right words, “She said that that person returns my feelings just as strongly. Do you think he might?” His impossibly blue eyes met Leonard’s hazel for the first time all night.
“I think he just might,” Leonard whispered, leaning in closer to the blond and gently pressing his lips to Jim’s. Leonard had wondered for a long time what Jim’s lips would feel like pressed against his own, lain awake and imagined the softness at night, but Jim’s lips were better than he had ever imagined. They were soft and warm and alive, responding to Leonard’s own as Jim’s hand slid into the doctor’s dark hair and pulled them closer together.
“I think I love you, Bones,” Jim murmured in between kisses.
Leonard just kissed him harder.
Jim got the message to shut up.
Leonard woke up the next morning with Jim in his bed, which he was used to. What he wasn’t used to was being in Jim’s arms. It wasn’t like the first time he had found Jim in his bed, when the blond clung to him like an octopus- this time, Jim was holding Leonard to his chest, his entire body pressed against the doctor’s. Leonard smiled and turned his head to press a kiss to Jim’s forehead, watching the blue eyes slowly blink open.
“Hey,” Leonard whispered.
“Hi,” Jim grinned. “Got a shift at the hospital to go to?”
Leonard sighed. “Yeah. Are you going to unwrap your arms from me?”
Jim kissed him before unwinding his arms. “Dinner tonight?”
“We got takeout last night, Jim. That’s not healthy to do too many nights in a row.” Leonard frowned.
“No, like, at a restaurant.” Jim ran a hand through his hair and sat up.
Leonard mirrored his second action. “Like a date?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“I’d love to.” Leonard reached over to kiss Jim quickly before sliding out of bed to grab his white medical uniform. “I’m off at 1600. Meet at the Italian place off campus?”
“Sounds good,” Jim chirped. “Around 1700?”
“Absolutely,” Leonard called as he pulled the door open. “I’ll comm you when I’m done tonight.”
Jim flopped back on the bed with a smile, content to stay in the mess of blankets for a while more before he had to finish his xenolinguistics paper.
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They fell into a routine quickly- through the week, they would go to class and work, and come home and curl up together in the beds they had shoved together. On weekends, Leonard would go to the hospital, and they would go to dinner or sometimes a movie, trading kisses and holding hands everywhere they went.
Leonard was comfortable, and after a while, he would be the one to initiate the contact, reaching for Jim’s hand or pulling him into a kiss. And Jim was content to take things slow- he understood that Leonard needed time before he would sleep with Jim, no matter how much Jim wanted it to happen as soon as they could. They took baby steps from base to base- making out on the couch, handjobs, blowjobs, just laying together naked.
It was in their third year at the Academy that Leonard finally said it, while they were making out on the couch. “I want you to fuck me,” he gasped out between kisses, and Jim stopped.
“You sure, Bones?”
“Absolutely,” he growled, and Jim grinned.
“Bed. Now,” the blond ordered, but instead of waiting for his lover to get up, he took advantage of the legs wrapped around his waist and hoisted the doctor up, stumbling through the room while Leonard sucked on his neck. Jim dropped Leonard on the bed on his back and started pulling their clothes off.
“God, Jim,” Leonard breathed when the blond finally tumbled into the bed after they were both naked. “I’ll never get over how beautiful you are.”
“You don’t even know, Bones,” Jim said as he mouthed across Leonard’s chest. “You’re far prettier than I am.”
“Shut up and stop teasing, asshole,” Leonard gasped as Jim latched onto his collarbone. “Oh, God,”
Jim grinned and lifted Leonard’s hips to slide a pillow underneath before he slid farther down Leonard’s chest, stopping when he passed his lover’s dick and pressing his lips to the insides of Leonard’s thighs. He quickly reached over to find the lube he had stashed a few weeks ago, just in case Leonard was ever ready, and squirted a healthy dose on his fingers before pressing one in slowly to Leonard’s asshole, hearing his groan and checking to see if the doctor was fine.
“I swear to god, if you don’t hurry up, I’ll wipe your medical records and bring you in for a round of hypos. My own fingers have been up there before, it ain’t gonna break,” Leonard growled, and Jim smiled.
“Whatever you say, doc,” he replied, crooking his finger to swipe Leonard’s prostate and enjoying the gasp he got in response. He circled his finger several more times and slid a second one in, scissoring and stretching, occasionally brushing up against the small organ and enjoying Leonard’s noises; when Jim pushed a third finger in, Leonard groaned again and Jim knew it was time.
He slicked himself up and aligned the head of his cock, slowly pushing in and keeping eye contact with Leonard the entire time. When he bottomed out, he reached up to kiss Leonard, trapping the doctor’s penis between their abdomens. Jim pulled back and rocked back in, setting a slow rhythm before he felt Leonard’s hands gripping his ass. It wasn’t long before they moved to Leonard’s own cock, moving in time with Jim’s thrusts.
“O- oh god,” Leonard stuttered. “Jim, I- I’m gonna-” He didn’t finish his sentence before his orgasm washed over him, and that was all it took for Jim to reach his release too.
When they finally slid apart and Jim rolled out of the bed to trudge into the bathroom and get a washcloth, he found Leonard on his back and sprawled across the entire mattress, a dopey grin plastered on his face.
“That was incredible, Jim,” he mumbled happily, and Jim laughed as he started wiping them both up.
“I should hope so. Scoot over, old man,” he replied, dropping the washcloth on their floor and crawling into bed next to Leonard, who just huffed and let Jim wrap his body around the doctor’s.
“I love you, kid,” Leonard whispered as he drifted off. Jim didn’t reply, merely pressed a kiss to the older man’s shoulder.
“Good, because I love you too, Bones,” he murmured into the flesh, but he knew that Leonard had heard him, because he felt the doctor slide just a little closer to his boyfriend before they both sank into sleep.
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Six weeks later, Leonard was assigned to the Enterprise and Jim was having a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine for Movarian Mud Fleas, and Leonard was remaining remarkably calm on the outside for someone whose heart was about to fly out of his chest.
Six weeks and a day later, Leonard was the Chief Medical Officer of the Enterprise and Jim was her acting captain while Leonard was trying to save Pike’s spine and life.
Six weeks and two days later, Leonard collapsed onto the bed in the CMO’s quarters to realize that he hadn’t seen Jim in twenty-four hours. “Computer, locate crewmember James Kirk,” he called as he rolled off the bed, finding his sweatpants he knew had been brought aboard with the crew’s personal effects.
“Acting Captan Kirk is currently in the Captain’s ready room,” the cool female voice replied.
Leonard sighed and went to go pull Jim away from his paperwork for at least a couple hours of sleep, ignoring all the glances he got from wearing his thinning Ole Miss sweatpants and regulation undershirt in the halls.
He found Jim dropping off on a video call. Leonard placed his hand on Jim’s arm and respectfully told Admiral Archer that as the physician responsible for the acting captain’s care, he was going to put Jim to bed and they could talk later.
“”hanks, B’nes,” Jim mumbled as Leonard guided him down the hall to the doctor’s quarters.
“Anytime, Jim,” Leonard replied softly as he tapped his passcode in. He had to half-drag Jim to the bed, where the acting captain collapsed and succumbed to sleep before the doctor could even offer to lend him a pair of sweatpants.
“Lights off,” Leonard ordered before wrapping his arms around Jim and allowing sleep to claim him too.