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Day 01:
They were nearly on top of each other in the damn shuttle, which wasn’t helping Leonard’s nerves at all. But Jim took the flask carefully, and Leonard watched as he took an appreciative sip. He handed the flask back, and Leonard took it and slipped it back into his jacket pocket. He was surprised to see that there was someone who looked like they needed the whiskey more than he did. Which was a sad realization of what Jim’s situation must be. They didn’t speak much for the rest of the shuttle ride, but Jim kept bumping Leonard’s knee with his leg. It was a distraction, and Leonard recognized it for what it was. It made the bumps from the shuttle less terrifying; his stomach wasn’t ready to revolt on him. He was surprised at the consistent nudges from Jim and how much they grounded him.
They didn’t speak, really, just nodding to each other as they went their separate ways. Leonard didn’t think much of them splitting off. He focused on the new recruit things that had to be done, and when he finally got his housing assignment, he headed off. He was in one of the larger dorms, but he wasn’t sure if he had a roommate or not. Pike had said something to him about there being a slight change in his housing, so he wasn’t sure what that meant. He didn’t mind, necessarily, the thought of having a roommate. As long as they weren’t going to trash the place. He shouldn’t have been surprised, though, when he heard the door open and turned away from setting up his own space to see Jim Kirk walk in the door.
“Well, heya, Bones,” Jim said, grinning.
“Bones?” Leonard raised an eyebrow.
“Well, I’m not calling you Leonard,” Jim replied.
“That’s my name.” Leonard stared at him.
Jim shrugged, dumped the things he’d received on his bed, and smacked Leonard on the shoulder. “You’ll get used to it, Bones.”
“Will I?” Leonard rolled his eyes, realizing that he was going to have to start picking and choosing battles.
Day 02:
Leonard woke with his alarm, and he realized that Jim was just walking in. Leonard sat up, turned off the alarm, and stood to head into the bathroom. Jim was heading there, too, and Leonard elbowed at him. Jim elbowed back, whining.
“I need a shower! I just ran two miles!”
“I just woke up; I need to use the bathroom! You can wait!” Leonard shoved Jim, not hard, just a little push to force the younger man back.
“Boooones.” Jim dragged out the one syllable word in a way that made it have multiple syllables.
“Give me two minutes,” Leonard replied. “Jesus. Put on a pot of coffee, will ya?” He gave Jim another, gentler, shove towards the kitchen area of their unit.
“Fine,” Jim huffed.
Leonard mused silently on the fact that Jim was clearly one of those overly chipper morning people who got up and moving right away, and he was wondering if he would be eligible for a room switch anytime soon. Between classes and the clinic, he was not going to have the best schedule or sleep habits, and he could wake up at the slightest breeze when needed.
He walked out, and the coffee was being made. Jim gave him a smile.
“I figured you’d need it dark, so I hope that it’s strong enough for you.”
“Insufferable morning person,” Leonard muttered.
“Grumpy Bones,” Jim shot back, slapping his shoulder as he moved past to the bathroom.
Yes, Leonard was going to kill him.
Day 03:
Leonard wasn’t surprised that Jim wasn’t in their room that night. Jim was young, and he wanted to be out there socializing. Leonard was more than content to stay in and get ahead on his work. Even though it was their first week, their classes were not light. He looked up when the door opened, and then he froze for a second.
“Heya, Bones. You’re medical track, right?”
“Jim, what the hell did you do?” Leonard caught his roommate, leading him to their couch. “Jesus.”
Jim already had a black eye, really dark purple, and Leonard could tell his ribs were bruised.
“Try to breathe slowly,” Leonard instructed. “You’re lucky I have a medkit here,” he said. “What happened?”
“Oh, you know, guys from the bar from recruitment night wanted to show how pleased they were to see me again. It was great.” Jim winced.
“You are a mess. How many guys were there?” Leonard gloved up and took out his dermal regenerator, holding it up to Jim’s eye.
“Six from the other night, and then they were joined by another…four? I sort of lost track, or maybe I was seeing double. I at least avoided a broken nose this time.” Jim seemed proud.
“No, but your ribs are not going to be happy. I can get you to the clinic and use an osteo-regenerator, but those aren’t part of medkits.” Leonard moved the dermal regenerator to Jim’s knuckles. “You managed to throw some punches, too. How do they look?”
“A lot better than me, unfortunately. Thanks, Bones. You’re gonna be a great CMO someday.”
Leonard snorted. “I’m not looking for a starship posting. Nope, planet-side for me.”
“Well, who’s gonna be my CMO?” Jim looked up at him with those vibrant blue eyes.
Leonard rolled his eyes. “You think you can bat your eyes at me and make my aviophobia and fear of space go away? I told you, Jim, space is disease and danger wrapped up in darkness and silence.”
“I got you to not throw up on me,” Jim shot back.
“Yes, but I think that was for your benefit, not mine.” Leonard tentatively probed Jim’s ribs. “Jim, I think these are broken. At least one of them. You really should let me bring you to the clinic and the osteo-regenerator.”
“Nah, it’s fine. Just wrap ‘em for me, will you?”
Leonard blinked, pressing his lips together. “Why not the clinic?”
“The clinic means reports and files, and I don’t want to start things like that. I can deal with the ribs,” Jim insisted.
“You know that means no running, right?” Leonard glared.
“Thanks, Bones.”
Day 04:
Leonard was learning that Jim liked to take up space. Leonard also realized that he didn’t mind. He’d known Jim for less than a week, but it didn’t matter in the slightest. After patching Jim up, and the more that Jim called him Bones, the more that Leonard just felt like Jim had sort of always been there. Jim fit easily into his life, these pieces he was putting back together, and it was nice to not be completely alone. So, he could tolerate this; he could even learn to like it. Even if that meant that Jim was half on him as they were watching a holo to relax after they finished up their homework. He was surprised by himself, but he leaned into Jim’s weight, accepting Jim’s touch. He found that he wasn’t even paying attention to the holo anymore. He was focused on how the low light made Jim’s hair shine just a little bit and how Jim was slowly pushing more and more into his side.
“How’re your ribs?” Leonard asked quietly.
“If I take very slow breaths, I can pretend they don’t hurt,” Jim replied. “It’s fine.”
“Still wish you’d have let me take you to the clinic.”
“Maybe next time,” Jim replied.
“There better not be a next time,” Leonard said. “Come on; I’m not your private doctor.”
Jim gave him a Cheshire cat grin, and Leonard frowned back.
“That ain’t gonna work on me.”
“I’ll wear you down.”
“Or you’ll just strengthen my resolve.”
Day 05:
Leonard was at the clinic this time, and a nurse called for him. He moved into the exam room and saw Jim, who was practically blue.
“Shit,” Leonard swore. “They busted your rib right into your lung, huh?”
He jumped into action as Jim nodded. Once he was done with both hands, he took Jim’s wrist in the one hand he didn’t need, tapping gently to reassure Jim.
“I’ve got you,” he said. “You’re okay.”
“Thanks, Bones,” Jim wheezed.
“Don’t talk right now. Just try to breathe.” Leonard could feel his chest tightening up.
Yeah, he was five days into knowing Jim, and he was definitely charmed. There was no other way to put it. He really left the shuttle that first day thinking he wasn’t going to give Jim Kirk much of a second thought, but Jim was becoming a big part of this new life that he was forging for himself. He could feel Jim’s pulse evening out against his fingertips, and he was so grateful for that.
“How you feeling?” Leonard asked.
“Better. Oh, that hurt,” Jim said.
“We are filing a report this time. You could have been killed.” Leonard stood tall, using every bit of his frame to make sure that Jim understood how serious he was.
“It wasn’t even a fight, Bones. I was having some, uh, fun; we hadn’t quite gotten to the stripping part, but I got slammed up into something. It hit me in exactly the wrong place.”
“You are something, aren’t you? Jesus, we haven’t even finished a week.”
“But I’ve got you,” Jim said, grinning that charm smile of his.
“Yeah, you do.” Leonard shook his head. “God help me. You’re gonna make me gray before I’m forty at this rate.”
“You’ll be a hit with the ladies. They like a silver fox.”
Leonard laughed, a deep belly-laugh, and sent out a silent thank you to whatever was out there that put Jim Kirk on that shuttle with him. Even if he was going to go gray before forty now.
Day 06:
Leonard had put Jim on house arrest for a week just for his own sanity. Jim was doing his best to make him regret it. This meant running around the perimeter of the inside of the dorm for his morning run, and when Leonard yoinked him down onto the couch, Jim shoved himself entirely into Leonard’s personal space.
“You’re a jackass,” Leonard said.
“A jackass who owes you his life,” Jim replied, batting his eyelashes.
“Yeah, you can keep it,” Leonard retorted.
“Ouch, Bones. That hurts.” Jim looked properly offended.
Leonard frowned. “Sorry,” he said gently.
He looked at Jim, who flashed him a smile. But it didn’t reach his eyes, and Leonard realized that Jim was hiding behind a lot of walls. He wasn’t the only one who was shielding from pain and hurt. He had already given Jim a large chunk of who he was—the divorce, his fears, had shared his alcohol and everything that he felt was his—but he wasn’t exactly an open book. There was a lot that had dissolved his marriage, a lot that made him reluctant to open himself up at all. And he still wasn’t quite sure what Jim was hiding himself from. But the vibrant livewire, the guy who got in bar fights and went out to hookup, that was Jim’s shield.
“Okay, tell me something you like,” Leonard said.
“Something I like?” Jim asked. “Anything?”
“Anything,” Leonard replied.
“History,” Jim said. “I love learning about the past, about how things were before Starfleet, about how we got to this world.”
Leonard raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t strike you one for history.”
Jim grinned. “How are we supposed to move forward if we don’t know where we came from?” He was sitting up now, knee pressing into Leonard’s leg. “Infinity goes in all directions, Bones.”
“You’re right,” Leonard said. “Tell me more.”
Jim’s eyes were shining, as if no one had ever really taken him seriously before. “How much do you know about classic literature?”
“Not a lot,” Leonard said honestly. “But it sounds like you do.”
“Yeah!” Jim turned, laying his head in Leonard’s lap, and he started talking with his hands.
Leonard listened, and he was surprised how much he was actually learning just from Jim’s excitement.
Day 07:
Their second day of no classes, and Leonard had the night shift at the clinic tonight, so Leonard woke up only when Jim started to groan. Mostly because the noise reverberated against his side, as Jim’s face was plastered into him. They’d stayed up late talking about history and science and anything else that they could think of; there was only silence when they were chewing over questions for the person who was more knowledgeable on the subject they were discussing. Leonard wasn’t sure when they had fallen asleep; he wasn’t sure when they’d even stopped to eat last night, but it had been a really good day. Leonard ran his fingers through Jim’s hair with one hand and through his own hair with his other.
“Mornin’,” he drawled. “Sleep okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. Thanks for yesterday.” Jim smiled.
Leonard’s heart skipped a beat, and he realized it was the first genuine smile that he’d ever seen out of Jim.
“Thank you. I haven’t had a conversation that was so invigorating in…well, ever. You’d think that medical school would be interesting, but no one’s a good conversationalist. You like to learn, and that passion is palpable.” Leonard groaned and stretched, and the movement caused cracking and popping of various parts of his body.
“What was your specialty?” Jim asked.
“Neurosurgeon,” Leonard replied.
“Well, fuck, Bones. You’re holding out on me.” Jim sat up, eyes wide. “How many grades did you skip?”
Leonard snorted. “A couple,” he replied. “And what about you? Yesterday proved you’re more than a loudmouth and obnoxious morning person.”
Jim smirked. “Gotta keep you on your toes,” he said. “How about coffee?”
“You’re a quick study. You start the coffee, and then you can have the bathroom.”
Leonard was absolutely prepared to do whatever it took to call Jim his friend. And he hoped that Jim felt the same about him.