Chapter Text
The realization came on slowly. Jim couldn’t decide how long it had been going on. But now that he noticed, he couldn’t help see it.
Leonard McCoy was a man who moved. He was motion. To say he fidgeted would be unfair. His work kept him moving. Around medbay, around patients. Hypos loaded, blankets pulled up. Updating charts, stocking supplies. Running, when engineering or the transporter room called. Deft, minute movements to complete a surgery. Pull through an old fashioned stitch, flick on a regen. In his medbay domain his movements were a dance of life.
Outside of his work and his medbay, his movement followed. He bounced on his toes. He rolled his shoulders. His fingers tapped rhythms and heartbeats. A toe might tap under a table. He would roll a drink glass between his hands. There was always something.
People looked at Jim and expected nervous energy to manifest itself, but it was McCoy who moved.
So when Jim suddenly noticed the movements had stopped, he didn’t know what to think.
What was different?
They were in one of the rec rooms. That was normal. They were having a drink. Also normal. Scotty and Sulu were with them. Normal.
The drinks? Couldn’t be. Jim and McCoy had been drinking together for as long as they had known each other. He’d seen McCoy drunk out of his mind and he may even have been more in motion then.
It was the same if the doctor was tired. He yawned. Then would he begin to fidget. Anything to fight off sleep when he wasn’t ready.
Bad days left him agitated. Good days made him warm and more willing to touch and spread goodwill.
No. Jim knew McCoy through and through and this was baffling.
He began to watch the doctor. McCoy still laughed. He talked and joked. But there was some peace settled on him. A warm blanket wrapped around stilling him. Even when he slept he wasn’t this quiet in his body.
Jim was determined to figure this out, because as he thought back, this wasn’t the first time this had happened.
Another night. Another drink together. Jim was watching McCoy. He was his usual self. They were in Jim’s quarters. Was it the rec room then? Did the location do something to McCoy that settled him? The stars out the window? Jim snorted back a laugh at that.
“What kid?” McCoy asked.
“Nothing,” Jim replied quickly. “Something Pavel said earlier.”
McCoy gave Jim a look, but let it go. Jim watched as McCoy’s fingertips continued to tap rhythms against the end of his thumb.
“Is everything alright with you?” Jim blurted, mouth before brain.
McCoy raised an eyebrow at him.
“Yeah Jim, I’m fine. Should I not be?” McCoy gave him a curious smile.
“No! Uh…, I…, yes! You should be good. Just, uh, everything’s good in medbay?” Jim stumbled around for an answer and cursed inwardly.
McCoy raised an eyebrow.
“You aren’t in it, so I’d say that’s good.”
“Hey!”
McCoy had come to the bridge. That wasn’t unusual. There weren’t many days that he didn’t. He came with reason, he came with no reason. Most times McCoy stood slightly behind Jim’s chair to the left. He’d bounce on his toes, or slightly sway back and forth. Sometimes those tapping fingers rested on the chair behind Jim’s shoulder. It had annoyed Jim at first, but he had become used to it and now it was a comfort.
McCoy would laugh and joke. He’d debate with Spock, or rebuke Jim for his recklessness. He’d compliment Uhura for whatever reason he felt like she deserved any given day. McCoy wasn’t assigned to the bridge, but he was a welcome addition.
Jim could feel McCoy’s presence behind him. McCoy was leaning on one of the railings, watching out the main viewport. Jim turned in his chair to say something to his friend, but stopped. McCoy was motionless. No bouncing, no tapping. Just standing.
Jim quickly turned back forward. Again! Jim racked his brain. Had this happened before on the bridge? What was it? Was it the stars? Jim subtly peeked over at the doctor. McCoy wasn’t focused on anything in particular. He and Scotty and Sulu seemed to be talking about something.
The rec room. The same group around the table, and joined by Chekov. Jim was trying to not openly stare at his best friend. McCoy was listening with Scotty, to Sulu and Chekov teasing each other back and forth. What was bringing this peacefulness to the doctor? It was beginning to drive Jim crazy.
OH! Jim’s brain suddenly screamed at him. Was it someone? He fell back in his chair. Who? How could he even broach that topic with McCoy without being yelled at into the next week? Did he have to? Maybe he could figure it out without asking McCoy.
Chekov hadn’t been with them the previous time in the rec room. So, Sulu or Scotty? Jim’s eyes darted back and forth between the two men. That was a possibility that hadn’t occurred to the captain before. He looked back to McCoy. He thought he knew all there was to know about the doctor, maybe there was more to learn.
“Aye cap’n, ye’ve gone all quiet,” Scotty said, breaking him from his thoughts.
“Let him,” said McCoy. “He’s enough as is.”
McCoy, Scotty and Sulu laughed. Chekov smiled nervously, apparently unsure how far he wanted to go in teasing the captain with the others.
“Hey!” Jim replied with a grin.
An away mission went wrong. Jim and Scotty had been ambushed and now they were each lying in medbay recovering. McCoy was hovering over him.
“I’m fine,” Jim croaked out weakly.
“The hell you aren’t,” McCoy snorted.
The doctor fussed around; adjusted an IV, pulled up the blanket where Jim had pushed it, reorganized a tray.
“Can I go now?” Jim asked. He knew what McCoy would say, but it was their tradition.
McCoy spun around and glared.
“No! Now get some rest.”
Jim watched as McCoy moved over to check on Scotty. The engineer was asleep, using his unexpected time off to catch up on some rest. McCoy did a quick tricorder scan and stood comparing the results with the biobed’s measurements.
Jim’s eyes widened as he looked. McCoy wasn’t moving. It was Scotty! Was it Scotty? Jim couldn’t believe it. What about Scotty made McCoy so peaceful? His thoughts raced.
“Jim!”
“Huh? What?”
“What are you doing? I told you to rest. Your heart is racing!”
McCoy was standing over him again and gesturing at the biobed monitor.
“Nothing!” Jim protested.
McCoy scanned him with tricorder.
“Seriously. Rest.”
McCoy walked away back into his office, where he could still keep an eye on medbay. On Jim.
Jim had so much to think about now. Was it really Scotty? Or had McCoy simply stopped moving to compare the tricorder and the biobed? He glanced over at the Scotsman. He hadn’t thought about it before, but the engineer would be a good match for the CMO. Scotty’s levity was a good temper for McCoy’s grump.
Jim was going to need study this more before he came to any conclusion.
Jim was eating breakfast with McCoy and Sulu. Jim had been trying to gain more evidence for his Scotty theory, but it was hard going. Trying to find ways to get McCoy and Scotty in the same place together without being obvious was a struggle. Especially when dealing with McCoy. He seemed to read Jim like a book, above all when Jim was trying to hide something.
It was a struggle then to keep his delight hidden, when Scotty joined them. Sitting across from McCoy gave Jim the perfect excuse to look at his friend. It was surprising as he watched, the slow change that came over the doctor.
Jim wondered once more how long this had been happening. How long had McCoy been into the engineer? Or, Jim abruptly realized, was McCoy aware of what he was doing? And what did or would that mean if McCoy was unaware?
Just another usual day on the bridge. McCoy was grumbling behind Jim’s shoulder. It was almost as soothing as the rhythmic tapping McCoy was producing on the captain’s chair.
The turbolift swished open. Jim paid no mind, and kept working away at the PADD on his lap. It dawned on him slowly that the grumbling and tapping had died away. His eyebrows lifted before he could keep his face neutral and he glanced over his shoulder.
Scotty was sitting at his rarely occupied bridge station. McCoy was still watching the stars, not seeming to notice anything around himself.
Alright. Jim was determined now. He had a curiosity to satisfy and he was just going to have to grab this bull by the horns.
“Bones?”
“Yeah Jim?”
“Drinks later?”
“Sounds good.”
Jim smiled. He had a few hours to figure out how and what he wanted to ask to solve this puzzle.
Jim waited until they were a couple drinks in before he tried asking anything. McCoy held his liquor well, but he was relaxed and Jim felt daring.
“You seeing anyone Bones?”
Jim threw the question out casually, and braced himself for the metaphorical fire McCoy might spit at him.
McCoy laughed to Jim’s surprise.
“What?”
Jim shrugged.
“I don’t know. Thought we’ve been out here a while now, maybe someone might have sparked your interest.”
McCoy raised a brow at the captain.
“If you’re tryin’ to come on to me—“
“No!” Jim said quickly. “No. I— I just worry about you sometimes. Wouldn’t you want a partner again someday?”
“You sure you aren’t coming on to me?” McCoy smiled. “But sure kid. I suppose someday. She did her damage, but that’s in the past.”
Jim knew who “she” was. He’d heard many a story of McCoy’s ex over late night drinks. Jim warmed to hear his friend finally felt open to someday having someone new in his life romantically.
“So you’re not seeing anyone?” Jim persisted, still trying to keep his interest sounding casual.
“No kid.”
“And you’re not crushing on anyone?”
“Crushing on—? What am I, a teenager? What’s with the sudden interest Jim?” McCoy had that eyebrow raising up at him again.
Jim raised his glass and took a long drink while his brain raced for an answer. Should he tell McCoy what he had noticed? Should he flat out ask if the doctor had feelings for Scotty? Should he let it be and let McCoy discover himself on his own?
“I just noticed you were acting a little different lately and I got curious.”
McCoy frowned.
“Acting different? In what way Jim?”
“Maybe it’s nothing. I mean I could just be imagining things. Overworked maybe,” Jim made up something on the spot and cursed inwardly.
“Jim.”
“It’s probably nothing,” he said again. He finished the drink in his hand.
“Jim.” McCoy had set his glass down. “I know when you’re lying to me. How have I been acting?”
Jim squirmed.
“Still. You’ve been still. All your fidgets go away when—“ Jim caught himself before he said Scotty’s name.
“When what?”
Jim’s mouth worked open and closed a few times.
“When you’re around a certain person.”
“When I’m around a ‘certain person’?”
Jim nodded.
“Who?”
This time Jim shook his head.
“If you don’t know you’re doing it…, I think you should figure it out on your own.”
“Kid…,”
“No Bones. You really haven’t noticed?”
McCoy shook his head this time.
“Well, if it means anything,” Jim said, “when your brain catches up with your body, it’s a really good match. You two would be really good together.”
“But you won’t tell me who?” McCoy asked in an oddly wounded voice.
“No. You should discover it yourself,” Jim smiled.
He heard McCoy sigh.
“Alright kid.”