"You were so eager to go on this mission, huh?" A grumpy voice said, belonging to Dr. Leonard McCoy aka "Bones". He looked at his patient on the table, the small, young, and thickly Russian accented Pavel Chekov. The young boy was filled with bruises located at various spots on his body and some wounds covering his legs. Chekov was quiet for the moment, his eyes, that were usually bright, were dull and obviously upset at the fact his first assignment outside the ship was not successful. It wasn't even much; his mission was to survey an unknown planet territory for HQ to document and archive. Of course, Chekov was usually at his navigating desk so his experience of the outside was quite minimal.
"You gotta be careful next time, kid. You should know that there are dangerous alien species and creatures, even worse, alien species and creatures with diseases just waiting to infect you." Dr. McCoy sternly said, while checking the young man for any infections of the sort.
"Doktor," The Russian began, "I couldn't help it, ze… Ze creature looked so harmless to me, I couldn't have imagined zat it vould attack me." The younger explained, turning red out of embarrassment for not being careful. "I should have known better…" He sighed.
Chuckling, with a slight grin, Dr. McCoy finished up checking up Chekov's whole body and just stared at him. "Yeah, you should have known better, ensign. Luckily, you haven't caught anything; you just need something to take care of those open wounds." He called the nurse for some bandages, she came, bent down, and started to wrap around the cloth firmly around the wounded parts of his legs. As of right now, Chekov's mind was racing. Yes, he had feelings for the doctor. He felt his face getting even redder at the gentle touch of the grumpy doctor. Actually, out of all of his patients, Chekov was the least to witness the Southern doc's grumpiness. Whenever this ensign came to medbay, which was rare except for the regular checkups, Leonard felt more relaxed and, surprisingly, happy. This time, though, he was anxious upon knowing that in this visit, the Russian was actually hurt. He thought to tell Jim to make sure this ensign did not get frequent out-of-the-ship mission trips. It would be good for the boy, he thought. He finished up with his bandaging.
"Zank you, Doktor" Said Chekov gratefully, his eyes beaming at him.
"No problem kid, just be careful next time. No matter how harmless, always be on the defense at the presence of a foreign creature." He said. "Got any questions? Otherwise, you're dismissed ensign."
The Russian hesitated, unsure and then started, "I-It is not really a question, Doktor, I just vanted to say…" A hint of nervousness was detected.
"What?"
"I know you are of higher rank zan I but I v-vould like you to call me Pavel if zat is alright with you?"
At this, McCoy's eyebrows raised. He was surprised at the ensign's want for informality. I mean, that was fine with him and all but that just came out of the blue. He smiled at the younger man, "Whatever suits you, Pavel," he said. He noticed a little sparkle in the boy's eyes and a rosy color on his cheeks, or maybe it was just imagination, or the light. Yeah, it was the light, he thought. "Oh, and you may also call me Leonard."
"Alright Dok- I mean Leonard!" Chekov said brightly as he started to slowly leave medbay. He waved at the doctor before going back to his position at the bridge.
The doctor just chuckled, it was awkward hearing his name come out of the ensign's mouth but also quite pleasant at the same time. "Interesting," He said to himself, quietly.
"What an interesting young man…"