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The day things changed most unexpectedly Jim Kirk marched into Leonard McCoy’s quarters unannounced and without having bothered to beep the door first. That was something he did on a regular basis because a) it gave Leonard something to pretend to be annoyed about, and knowing how much his friend loved that, Jim was more than willing to provide and b) there was always the chance of catching Leonard emerging half-naked from the shower stall. Leonard being half-naked was nothing Jim hadn’t seen before, of course, since they’d roomed together at the academy, but it never hurt to refresh the memory.
What he saw upon entering with an over-the-top happy “Breakfast Call!”, though, was the son of the ancient Andorian embassador the Enterprise was currently transporting to a nearby space station, together with a handful of other representatives, in order to attend an intergalactical summit there.
The young, tall, handsome and very fit Andorian was, in fact, half-naked in just his trousers and shoes and also standing very close to Leonard. So close that Jim knew without having witnessed it that their lips had just stopped touching.
“Uh,” Jim said.
The Andorian – he had a name, but damned if Jim remembered it – turned his head with a quick embarrassed smile and stepped away from Leonard.
“Oh. Captain. Len didn’t say… I was leaving, anyway.”
With extraterrestrial grace he slid into the shirt he’d been holding, concealing all the toned muscles and smooth blue skin.
“I’ll comm you,” he said to Leonard, who gave a quick nod and – while Jim was not staring, but watching very closely – leaned in to peck the Andorian’s cheek.
“You do that, darling.”
Maybe Jim was staring after all.
“Captain,” the Andorian said again as he walked past Jim.
“Uh,” Jim said again.
The door slid closed, leaving him alone with Leonard, who had tilted his head slightly and was looking at him with much less annoyance and way more amusement than Jim would have anticipated if he’d ever anticipated a situation like this at all.
“Good morning,” Leonard said and snorted at Jim’s dumbfounded stare. “Give me a sec to get ready.” He walked over to his wardrobe, opening the sock drawer.
Jim’s eyes followed him, but he didn’t move.
Once he’d chosen from his collection of identical pairs of socks, Leonard closed the drawer and turned around. “Jesus, Jim,” he said. “You look like you’ve never seen a blue man before.”
“I’ve never seen one smooch you,” Jim said, his gaze wandering over to the rumpled sheets on Leonard’s bed. “I’ve never seen… anyone smooch you.”
“I don’t smooch,” Leonard said, sitting down on the edge of the bed to get his socks on. “I’m a doctor, not a teenager.”
“I’ve never seen anyone kiss you before, then,” Jim said. “Or being naked in your room or… When did this even happen? Did you just take him to your quarters after the banquet?”
“Yup.”
Jim stared again.
"What?” Leonard asked. “I can’t screw the guests? You do it all the time.”
Jim ran a hand through his hair. “Well, yeah, just, I… I mean, this is diff…” He shook his head. “Just… you never… we shared a freaking room and you never… I thought…”
Leonard sat with one bare foot resting on his knee, sock in hand, watching him with a frown. “That I’d given up sex?” he asked incredulously.
“Well… kinda?” Jim shrugged. “Yeah. Sorta.”
Rolling his eyes, Leonard put on his second sock. “Christ. You hogged the place six nights out of seven for recreational exercise with a variety of people, man. Obviously I did my business elsewhere.”
“There was business?”
“Jim…” Leonard sat back with his hands behind him on the mattress. “Are you being insulting on purpose?”
“No! No, I just-“
“ – think I’m a sad old monk or something. You know even Keenser gets some on occasion, right?”
Jim opened his mouth to reply, closed it. “Oh my… does he?”
“Yeah, and let me tell you as your CMO here – he should be more careful.” Leonard grimaced and nodded.
Jim arches his brows. “Thanks for that. I don’t mean to sound… Just… you don’t flirt, you never said anything, you don’t seem to… I mean, I invited you to join in, like, at least twice back at the academy and you never-“
“Yeah, not much into it if it’s a crowd,” Leonard said and shrugged.
“But you don’t flirt,” Jim said, suddenly determined. “You never seemed interes…” He trailed off, bit his lip. “Uhm… I guess I just… misjudged. Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to sound so… What?” he asked at Leonard’s sudden change of expression.
Leonard studied Jim for a moment, then shook his head. “Nothing.”
“No, what?”
“Are you… jealous?”
Jim froze. “What?”
Leonard didn’t say anything, just looked at him.
“Of… him?” Jim gestured for the door.
Leonard followed the gesture with his eyes, then looked back at Jim, but still didn’t say anything.
Jim’s heart was beating too loud. He really wished he’d walked in twenty minutes later. “Well…” he started and inwardly kicked himself. He might as well have just said ‘yup, totes’ now. He drew in a breath and started again. “There… might have been a time when I was … you know…” He gestured helplessly between himself and Leonard. “… wondering. But it was always obvious you… weren’t. And so I… stopped… wondering.” His gaze wandered off. He couldn’t really look at Leonard while lying to him.
Leonard pursed his lips, thinking. He nodded slowly. “Let me get this straight. You MIGHT HAVE at one point been into me.” He looked up at Jim, who didn’t react. “But you came to the conclusion I wasn’t interested, so your only explanation for that was that I must be permanently celibate.”
Jim frowned. “When you say it like that-“
“And what gave you the idea I wasn’t interested?” Leonard asked.
Jim’s gaze snapped to him.
Leonard lifted his brows.
“I told you I wanted to sleep with you and you said no.”
“Not really,” Leonard said, tilting his head as if thinking. “You’d go ‘Bones, this is XY and this is XX and this is their bangmouse from Omega 24, c’mon, join the party’. “
"Yes,” Jim said. “Join the party as in all of us have sex.”
“That’s not what it sounded like to me.”
Leonard’s quarters were too warm, Jim suddenly noticed. Did he turn the heating up for the Andorian?
“Why did you never just act on it?” Leonard asked.
Jim found he couldn’t really meet his eyes again. His gaze was jumping all over the bed behind Leonard and the floor. “I flirted with you all the time!” he burst out. “You were obviously really not having it.”
Leonard stood and Jim involuntarily took a step back.
“Jimmy darling, if that’s so, your flirting isn’t very distinguishable from your regular communication.”
“What, no, I-“
“You flirt with everyone!” Leonard exclaimed. “Shinoh thought you were coming on to him.”
The Andorian hunk, Jim remembered now.
“Hell, I bet every time we leave somewhere after an away mission, they think you do your whole crew including the Vulcan. They probably always go, ‘This Starfleet gig seems cool, where can I sign? Are all Captains like this?’ It’s one helluva recruitment trick.”
Jim scowled. “I don’t flirt with everyone. I’m… charming, there’s a difference.”
Leonard snorfled, shook his head. “You’re all over everyone like a happy puppy, kid. It’s endearing. I’ll deny I ever said that,” he added matter-of-factly. “But it’s your default mode. Flirt or fight.”
“Well, I was flirting with YOU,” Jim said, pouting. “But you weren’t interested.”
“You keep saying that,” Leonard said, taking another step closer. Jim forced himself to remain where he was. He swallowed drily. “Yet you did not act on it.”
“Act on it how?” Jim’s gaze wandered up Leonard’s form to meet his eyes.
“I dunno,” Leonard said. “Maybe like this.” He took a last step to get right into Jim’s personal space and kissed him.
It wasn’t chaste, exactly, but it wasn’t forceful, either. It was, however, over way too quickly.
Jim blinked owlishly at Leonard, when he let him go again.
“You never did that,” Leonard said.
“… no,” Jim said. “True.” Damn, but he wanted to kiss him again.
“So – why not?”
Jim stared at Leonard’s mouth, then snapped out of it and met his eyes. He cleared his throat. “Would you have… said yes? To… any of it?”
Leonard smiled, though it looked a bit smirk-ish. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Then why didn’t you act on it?” Jim asked.
“You paraded a string of hot guys, women, everything in between and beyond through our room from day one on and you wanna know why I didn’t throw my little self in the ring, too, really?” Leonard said.
“But we’re… different,” Jim said and reached out to pretend to stick a stray lock behind Leonard’s ear. Really, he just wanted to touch him.
Leonard’s gaze softened. “Exactly.”
“We’re not in academy anymore,” Jim said.
“No. Now you’re my commanding officer. That obviously helped,” Leonard added sarcastically.
Jim snorted. “It's not like you behave like I am.”
“Well…” Suddenly, it was Leonard’s turn to drop his gaze. Jim wondered if his heart beat as fast as his. “You’re still you and I’m still… just me.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Leonard sighed. It visibly took him a moment to find the right words. And he didn’t, really, considering his next were, “You’re all…” He gestured for Jim. “… all that and you’re a damned pain in the ass, but brilliant and… glowing or something,” he almost growled. “And enthusiastic and shiny and hot and I’m this old wreck. I’m phenomenal at cutting people open and that’s pretty much all there is.”
Jim blinked, baffled. “You really mean that. I always thought you were joking about calling yourself old.”
“I was the oldest cadet in all my classes,” Leonard pointed out.
“Because you were already an M.D.,” Jim said. “You’re not exactly looking at retirement or anything, Bones. And ‘shiny and hot’… ? Did you see the dude you pulled last night?”
Leonard rolled his eyes.
“You got all this going on for some reason,” Jim said, grabbing Leonard’s shirt before he could stop him and lifting it to expose his flat stomach and chest. “I don’t even know how you do it, you never work out.”
"I work out.” Leonard scowled.
“No, man, *I* work out. You do two push-ups and complain about the gym smelling of cheese and leave. Every time.”
Leonard shrugged, blushing a little. “Good genes.”
“Some genes that make you get a six-pack from lifting hypos.”
Leonard blushed a little more.
“You’re seriously super drop-dead gorgeous,” Jim said. “And you don’t even fucking know it. And you’re the sweetest person I know, which is so ridiculous, since you’re also the crankiest badger ever, I don’t know how you do it. I don’t know how you do any of it.”
“Any of what?” Leonard muttered, clearly embarrassed now.
“Being so freaking perfect.”
Leonard looked up at that, met Jim’s eye and sighed, scratching his forehead as if suddenly nervous. “Your taste in men is alarming. No surprises there.” He licked his lips, thinking. “I never acted on it,” he finally said, “cause I was pretty sure you’d - very gently – let the offer slide and I… didn’t want to face that. It wasn’t worth losing what we had.”
He looked at Jim expectantly.
“And I’m shit at feelings. Sex I could do, but…” Jim slumped his shoulders helplessly. “Being in love’s fucking scary, okay?”
Leonard smiled warmly and leaned his head in so his forehead rested against Jim’s. “Yeah, sucks balls,” he said.
“The worst feeling.” Jim brought his hand up to rest it against Leonard’s cheek, stroking his cheekbones with his thumb.
“I’d take a Tritarian root canal over it any day.”
“Hm,” Jim agreed and closed his eyes.
“Just thinking about it is shit,” Leonard continued. “We should get all of that sex we missed out of the way first.”
Jim smiled. He could feel Leonard’s nose bump his. “Doctor’s orders?”
Leonard groaned. “You’re gonna get all of those lines in now, aren’t you? Playing doctor, extensive examinations-“
Jim snickered. “Boning Bones,” he said. “Yes, all of those.”
“You gonna have to call me something different if we’re doing this,” Leonard said.
“Jumping Bones,” Jim said as if he hadn’t heard him.
“I’m regretting this already,” Leonard muttered close to Jim’s mouth.
“That’s what I always fantasized you’d say once we got to this point,” Jim laughed.
He opened his eyes when Leonard didn’t reply and saw him looking at him with such a loving look it reminded him of the time Leonard had trained a tribble to do math. “That’s adorable,” Leonard said. “I think I kinda love you.”
“Kinda love you, too,” Jim said and kissed him. It was a deeper kiss than their first short one, more urgent and definitely more confident.
“You’re a great kisser, doctor,” Jim said, when they stopped for breath.
“You sound so surprised,” Leonard said, running his hands through Jim’s hair.
“Didn’t expect it,” Jim said and tried to catch Leonard’s mouth again, but he moved his head back.
“You just thought I was the worst lay, didn’t you?” Leonard accused. “Never getting any, hasn’t done it in a decade, lights-out-socks-on old country fart. Didn’t you?”
It took Jim decidedly too long to answer and when he finally hurried to say “I just thought I could teach you-“, Leonard cut him off by kissing him again, hungrily this time, and walking them to the bed, where he pushed Jim down unceremoniously.
“Extensive examination it is, I think,” he said, dragging his shirt over his head. “Full treatment, the works. So you’ll learn some respect for your elders.”
Jim grinned, sprawling. “Just what I was about to order you to do as your comman-“
“Shut up,” Leonard growled and kissed him, pinning him to the bed.
“Just don't forget to take off your socks,” Jim said when he could.
THE END