Bones stared at Jim.
Jim stared at Bones.
There was much staring.
Bones raised an eyebrow, and he would never admit that he'd picked that up from a certain pointy-eared hobgoblin—even though we all know he did.
"You want my advice on what?"
Jim visibly gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing, and winced at the dangerously low tone in his friends voice.
"On where I should take Pavel on a date?" His voice got meeker and meeker as the glare directed at him intensified. One of the doctor's eyes twitched. Jim wondered idly if he should ask him to check his blood-pressure; it couldn't be good for the doctor's health to get worked up like this all the time.
"Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor! Not a relationship counselor!" Jim barely resisted running and taking cover.
"But Bo-ones!" Time to go for the begging approach. He was very good at whining. Besides, the Jim Kirk Puppy Eyes™ always worked on Bones. "You're my best friend! You gotta help me! It's in the rules!"
"Quit yer whining!" Yep, he was annoyed; that southern drawl usually came out when Bones was either a) annoyed b) angry, or c) drunk. And Jim was pretty sure his whining didn't warrant anger. Whether or not he was drunk though was up in the air.
Bones glared at Jim. Jim just kept the Puppy Eyes going. Little known fact about his good friend: the doctor may be gruff, rude, and seemingly mean, but on the inside—deep, deep inside—he was a squishy, fluffy, cuddly teddy bear. And sooner or later he would give up on the whole disgruntled doctor routine and give in to Jim.
Bones sighed dramatically. "Fine." He turned towards his office, expecting Jim to follow him. Under his breath he kept grumbling to himself.
"The things I put up with. Damn kid's going to be the death of me."
"But Hikar-ru! I haf a date vith Jim tonight!" Chekov was very good at whining—Jim had learned from the best after all. Sulu just looked at him, even went so far as to put his hands on his hips.
"Well you should have thought about that before you agreed to cover my shift for me last week."
"Can't you get someone else to cover it for you?"
"Riley's already covering for someone in engineering, Mitchell's got a cold, and Sanders's has already done double shifts. I'm sorry Pavel but you promised and there's simply no one to replace you. Besides, you and Jim can reschedule; you're already dating. This is the first date for me. Way more important."
Pavel glared at Sulu. It would have scared Sulu, if it didn't look so adorable on the Russian. "Vhat about zat ensign from engineering? Zhe blond one?"
"She's working with Scotty all night. Something about re-calibrating the sensors in the dilithium chambers."
"Thompson? I know he hasn't started shift yet. He could take your post, yes?"
Sulu paused, considering. He hadn't thought of Thompson. "Oh. Well I suppose if he's qualified-"
"Yes! He is qualified!" Chekov was desperate. Nothing would stand between him and his date with ze Keptin—ahem, I mean Captain… the Captain.
So Chekov got his way, and Sulu gracefully bowed out, allowing Lieutenant Thompson take over his post that night. Later he would wonder why the hell Chekov wanted this date so badly; there was plenty of other time he could spend with Jim.
Jim walked onto the bridge. Everyone noticed he was grinning like a madman as he plopped himself into the captain's chair. He sent Pavel a mischievous wink and the young ensign blushed and turned back to his station. No one commented on it, thought they did notice that Chekov would send Jim little bashful glances every now and then.
Apparently their date had been worth facing the wrath of Sulu. In fact one could venture a guess and say that it had been the best date of Chekov's young life.
Well Jim certainly wasn't complaining.