Jim groaned, leaning on his bed. His head was spinning and his eyes were telling him that there were pulsing lights all over the place. Why had he drunk so much?
He groaned again. Starfleet...How the hell had Pike convinced him to join? The shuttle ride here had been so lonely, and now...he sighed. Tomorrow he was going to take that Maru examination thing... completely drunk, he could not for the life of him remember the name.
He frowned, trying to remember something. Life here was so lonely and nobody wanted to help him. Almost everybody was like those guys at the bar where he'd met Uhura. Thinking about Uhura made him smirk, remembering all of the times he had gotten her angry, annoyed her, made her slap him. Sometimes he wondered whether he should consider himself her friend, and whether she considered him a friend.
And, well, everybody but Spock. Spock had always been kind to him, ever since the flight over here. They had become closer than anybody would have thought possible. It had been fun, being friends with Spock, but a lot of times Jim thought that he shouldn't have met Spock till later. He often thought that his life was messed up.
He fell asleep before he could remember what he had forgotten he was remembering to remember.
The next morning, Jim walked towards the Kobayashi Maru examination simulation room. He had a tiny smirk on his face, because last night he had had an idea. A stupid idea, an idea that would probably make him get in so much trouble. But incredibly worth it.
Because he didn't believe in the no-win scenario.
That afternoon, he was surprised to find Spock, coming up to him. Jim immediately looked suspicious, but Spock glanced at him once to shut him up. Jim found himself being yanked aside and Spock started talking to him.
"You cheated this afternoon." It wasn't a question.
Jim stared at Spock. "How -"
Spock rolled his eyes slightly, not surprising Jim. Everybody here thought that he had not emotions and he was like a cold, calculating robot. Everyone but Jim. "I created that version of the test, Jim. I think I would find out if someone passed an un-passable test."
Jim sighed, rubbing his forehead. "What's your point?"
"You cheated, Jim. I cannot just not tell anybody."
"You can, though!" snapped Jim. He was getting annoyed. "Listen. I don't know...sometimes I feel like my life has something major messed up with it, like somebody should be here that isn't and it's ruining everything." He leaned against a wall, closing his eyes briefly. "I dunno, Spock," he muttered.
Spock knit his eyebrows. "That could very well be, Jim."
"Could you please not tell anybody, Spock? About my cheating, about the feeling about my life?" pleaded Jim rather desperately.
Spock hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Of course."
Early the next day, he was woken up by somebody saying that he needed to be somewhere. To Jim's utter disbelief, he found himself in the middle of a disciplinary hearing – about his cheating.
His eyes found Spock, and his (A/N: Jim's, not Spock's) expression was full of anger and betrayal. Spock wasn't meeting his eyes, and Jim's first reaction was that he had sold him out.
He verbally sparred with his superiors, with arguments that the test itself was a cheat and that he didn't believe in the no-win scenario. Eventually, he asked to to face his accuser.
Spock stood up.
The next few minutes held an angry fight that Jim felt should not be in his life. "You said you wouldn't! I thought you were my friend!" Jim yelled.
Spock didn't reply angrily, just rationally, as always. "Yes, however -"
"You can't just say you won't do something, and then do the opposite!" snapped the blond.
It went on like this for a few more minutes, with Jim continuing to interrupt Spock, and suddenly an alarm came to them, cutting the hearing short. Vulcan was under attack.
Jim was angry. Very angry. Part of it was Spock's fault – actually, all of it was Spock's fault. If that stupid Vulcan hadn't told anybody about Jim's cheating, none of this would have happened. Jim wouldn't be incredibly angry at Spock. Jim wouldn't have had to go to a hearing. And most importantly, he wouldn't be stuck here while the other cadets got to go on the USS Enterprise.
He was sitting in his room when suddenly, he looked at his hands. There were gold and orange spark-like lights spinning in lines around them. The lights quickly spread to the rest of his body. Jim barely registered it, but his mind told him that this was a transporter beam, beaming him somewhere.
He found himself on a starship. He was stunned to find himself in front of Spock, and the only thing he could manage to say was "Um...but...what?"
Spock stared at Jim. "It worked," he commented, sounding faintly surprised.
"Where am I?" Jim asked slowly.
"On the USS Enterprise," replied Spock.
"Why am I here?"
"Because I beamed you here," Spock told him.
"And why did you do that?" asked Jim exasperatedly. Getting answers out of this Vulcan was like trying bathe a cat.
"Because I never got a chance to explain what happened."
"I know what happened! You told our superiors that I cheated on the Kobayashi Maru examination! You -"
"I did not," interrupted Spock.
Jim stopped talking with his mouth open, stunned. "W-what?"
"I did not tell anybody about the examination. The reason I stood up was to tell you who did, because I guarantee that your actual accuser would not have gotten up to face you."
Jim blinked, long and slow. "Okay...then who was it?"
"I believe that Cadet Gina, a girl who you once -" Spock cleared his throat, embarrassed.
"Umm...I think the words 'took advantage of' would be a good one there," murmured Jim, looking away.
"Yes, that. She overheard our conversation and told our superiors."
Jim stood for a moment, fairly stunned. "I'm sorry, Spock," he said finally. "I just thought – I didn't mean..."
Jim was graced with one of Spock's rare smiles. "It's fine, Jim."
Overcome with the impulse, Jim leaned forward and grabbed Spock's collar, pulling him in for a heated kiss. When they broke apart, Spock was flummoxed. "What –?"
"Oh, don't pretend you don't feel the same way," Jim whispered.
Spock hesitated a moment, then broke into another smile. "Of course I do," he replied.
What would come after was much kissing, saving people, and other lovely things. Jim no longer cared that somebody from his life was missing. Because Spock had stumbled into it, and now it was complete.
So, this was just a thought that came to me one night when I was falling asleep - the title, "No Bones About It." What would Jim's life be without Bones? This started me on the path of figuring out exactly what Bones has done for Jim, and how Spock could make up for it. It was just a random idea. Hope you like! May have a different (longer) Spirk on the way. Please review!