A Star Trek Fiction
"The shattering of a heart when being broken is the loudest quiet ever."
Break but Shatter
if i fall will you catch me?
He promised himself that he'd be there when his best friend breaks, but he didn't realize he would not break but shatter beyond repair.
He's known his friend for years, meeting him on shuttle ride to the academy. He ended up puking on the man but he made up for it with the alcohol. The blond man accepted the drink and ever since then they've been inseparable, through the highs and lows of life.
He's known since the beginning that his friend is cracking, falling apart into pieces that dissolve in the darkness. And he promised himself that'd he be there for his boisterous blond friend when he did finally fall apart, so he can put the pieces back together.
The blond isn't the most talkative person; he keeps things to himself and lets it consume him from the inside out. But usually he's there to save his friend, to pull him from the raging fire before it swallows him whole and turns him into a crisp. He has to be there, because no one else will break Jim's fall. No one else will hold the crumbling pieces of Jim's life into place. No one will take the time to fit the puzzle pieces back together.
So Leonard Horatio McCoy made it his personal duty to be there for Jim if he ever fell, so he can catch him and bring him into a safe place where the fire can't touch him and the darkness is scared away with light.
He'd never let Jim fall because he'll always be there to steady him back on his feet, but he didn't expect Jim to fall apart standing.
Jim's thick wall of defense is strong, he holds back most of the violent emotions inside, but he is no Vulcan. So when he is defeated from the inside out, making him shatter into a million pieces that fall between the cracks of the universe, it doesn't surprise him, but it is all too sudden for his Doctor friend.
Bones didn't see it coming. Jim was fine, his demeanor was stoic and his mind seemed at ease. Nothing was supposed to happen; it was supposed to be a normal day of exploration. So when Jim started to crack, he couldn't catch all the pieces that split off, he could only watch in despair as Jim falls and shatters into a million pieces.
Jim didn't just break, but shatter.