Chapter Text
Things had been rocky for a little while now and Leonard could see it. He saw it in the way Kirk behaved and the way that Eva now looked through him if he bothered to pay her any attention at all these days.
As soon as Kirk saw the bright lights of the academy campus, that was it, his fate with Eva was sealed and it killed Leonard to sit and watch it fall apart. Not because his friends were hurting, but how could Jim be so stupid? He had the entire world on a string.
They’d been out into the city for some drinks and Eva had spent much of the time staring into the bottom of her glass while Kirk charmed the barmaid and spread his charismatic good charm around the bar to several other women. She hadn’t said a word, just left him to it, probably hopeful that at some point he’d come sit with her and share a drink or two. But that never happened, and Leonard couldn’t get away from the conversation he was having with Scotty to offer her his own company.
Even now on the shuttle back to campus, Kirk was sat laughing and joking with Scotty and Eva was sat alone with earphones in watching the city zip by out of the window. Leonard had been noticing that more and more now, she carried a set of earphones wherever they went, knowing full well she’d be ignored and someone else favoured for Kirk’s affections.
To his knowledge, Kirk and Eva were still together. There hadn’t been a formal break up but lately they barely said two words to one another, but Leonard had been watching Kirk watch her. Kirk was paying close attention to who was looking at her, smiling at her, trying to gain her attention.
Which Leonard thought was laughable; what’s good for one is good for all after all.
And Eva had gained a lot of attention since her toes touched the concrete of the campus. Heads turned, eyes lit up and smiles widened in her general direction and that was the effect Eva had on people whether Kirk liked that or not.
She sat quietly and alone in her own little world and Leonard gave a small sigh. He couldn’t just shuffle over there without Kirk’s attention being laser focussed on why he was doing that so instead, he turned his attention back to whatever it was Kirk and Scotty were talking about.
But as he turned his head, he caught another cadet blatantly staring in Eva’s direction. A cadet she hadn’t noticed, and a cadet Leonard wasn’t familiar with. He knew he was a cadet from his lapel pin; all cadets had to wear them, even in civilian clothes so they were easily identifiable.
He was sat alone in a quad of four like Eva was with a bag by his side and his feet up on the seats ahead of him. He wore a leather jacket, some old style army dog tags and a white t-shirt, but it was the crooked smile on his lips that made Leonard look back to Eva.
She was still none the wiser, but seemed even more hunched over to the window, her back was almost completely turned to him and the others.
He turned back to the conversation as Eva moved and sat up straight, flicking through her phone for another song to listen to no doubt before she glanced up and caught the eye of the cadet looking right at her.
His eyes dropped but his smile grew, and Eva narrowed her eyes before she looked back to her phone; this wasn’t news to her, most of the guys did that if they caught her looking.
The shuttle eventually got into the campus station and Kirk bounced out of his seat and right by Eva while Scotty and Leonard waited until she got up before following her off.
“Y’alright?” Scotty asked with a sympathetic look.
Eva shrugged one shoulder as she pulled her earphones out and shoved them in her pocket.
“You guys coming?” Kirk shouted from down the platform.
Scotty made a move to walk towards Kirk and as Leonard did the same, the cadet from the shuttle made his way over to Eva making Leonard stop a few paces away.
“Seen you were a cadet too,” the cadet gestured to Eva’s pin hanging from the collar of her leather jacket near her neck.
“Most of us are,” she said glancing at him.
But Leonard saw her do a small double take. The cadet was burly, he reminded him a lot of Sebastian. He wasn’t tall in stature but he was stocky. He had the half smile on his mouth again as Eva eyed him. He dropped his bag between them and pulled out a paper from his back pocket.
“Yeah,” he answered a little awkwardly. “But most of the others don’t wanna help me, figured you looked alright.”
Leonard watched Eva’s right eyebrow lift; a trait she had undoubtedly learned from him over the years.
“Alright?” she said, folding her arms.
And Leonard saw it in a flash. She relaxed into her stance, eyebrow raised and a whisper of a smile on her lips and the cadet, burly as he was, seemed to shrink in stature.
“Friendly,” he said, half handing the paper to her. “Look, I’m lost, I didn’t come with everyone else the other month.”
He had an accent, but Leonard couldn’t hear it properly over the noise of the station.
“Bones!” Kirk hollered from the other end of the platform. “Hurry up!”
He glanced to Kirk and quickly back to Eva who was looking at the paper the cadet had handed her and that’s when Kirk’s eyes fell on the scene and he came barrelling to where she was stood.
“…the Kelvin Building, through uh,” Eva looked at the exits for the station. “That exit will get you there fastest, but I can walk you, I dorm in there too.”
“Ain’t it the engineering dorm?” the cadet looked puzzled as he grabbed his bag.
“Yeah,” Eva’s eyebrow raised a little further and the smile became more apparent. “But there’s med students there too.”
“Oh,” he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder as Kirk approached.
“You coming?” he directed his question at Eva but eyed the burly cadet beside her. “We’re waiting for you.”
“Oh you mean you remembered I exist?” she said meeting his icy stare, making the others around her noticeably flinch. “No, I’m not, I’m going to dorm.”
“What about tonight?” Kirk kept staring at her but she shouldered past him.
“Sure,” she said as she walked away, but she stopped by Leonard and offered him a small smile. “See you in the lobby at 7?”
Leonard nodded as Kirk watched her walk away and watched even closer as the cadet from the shuttle followed behind her.
“Who’s he?” Kirk asked with the gall to look offended.
“Do you care?” Leonard asked, shouldering him in the direction Kirk was previously headed.
“Well yeah,” he answered stuffing his hands in his pockets as they met back up with Scotty. “He’s wandering off with my girlfriend.”
“Oh aye,” Scotty rolled his eyes as they left the station and headed for the main quad. “The one you’ve barely paid attention to all day? And you got the cheek to be upset at her? Come off it Jimmy.”
Leonard glanced at Scotty over Kirk’s head as they walked in silence, but Scotty was unapologetic for his words. He was right and Leonard knew it, but it somehow seemed cruel to say it.