Judging Fish

by BrokenBones (Hikarinimichitasora)

Summary: "Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it'll spend its whole life believing that it is stupid." – Albert Einstein

Jim Kirk is nervous about starting in a new school, especially as a Second-in-Department. His nerves aren't soothed by the fact that his department seems to be made of an army of geniuses in their fields. While he's stressing about his own lessons, how to make his Department Head Spock like him enough to take his suggestions on board, and how the hell to get the school board to agree to paint the school corridors something other than grey, he meets Biology Teacher Leonard McCoy. The doctor is gruff, has given up on teaching but Jim sees a brilliance in him he can't describe. He makes it his personal mission to help McCoy, without realizing he's falling in love at the same time.

Notes: I'm going to apologise for inaccuracies. I know the UK education system, and have no IDEA about American ones. I am trying to keep things as vague as possible because of that but it might be a bit hazy in places or there might be things that are downright inaccurate. For that I apologise profusely. In any case, this is the first chapter of the Teacher!AU 'Judging Fish'. I hope you enjoy it.

Jim tapped his hands against the steering wheel of the car, looking at the building in front of him nervously. The first day at a new school always got to him. Every school was different, different paper work, different systems, different kids, different staffroom dynamics. He had never encountered one that had been similar to another. It wasn't that he was scared, although maybe he was a little. It was just that he needed to make a good first impression.

He was aware that outsourcing for a Second-in-Department and Teaching and Learning Co-Ordinator was practically unheard of, that he was waltzing into a job that someone might have been working exceptionally hard for. He had to come across as competent from the get go, and hopefully friendly.

He didn't feel he had to prove his credentials. Those spoke for themselves. His record was prestigious and most did a double-take when they saw his age. Old enough to have built a career, but still considered young by most in the profession seeing as he was only just on the wrong side of thirty. Yet he'd still achieved more in his short time than others would in their career.

He sighed and knew that he had to get out of the car. He opened the door to the stupid old thing that he was driving these days for lack of anything better, and got to his feet. The feel of mid-August was still in the air, the Georgia heat still prickling against his skin and down his back. He knew his suit was going to be driving him nuts by lunch time, but he still guessed he had to wear a tie, at least for now.

As he stepped across the car park, he tried not to feel too nervous. Enterprise High School was… well. It had seen better days. The building itself desperately needed work doing to it, and there were signs that the place had been vandalised over the summer by the local kids. Still, that wasn't too much to worry about. So, the school wasn't a suburban dream, he'd known that when he applied.

Stepping into reception he was glad that the receptionist was there, smiling at him with a large, bright smile. Her staff pass read 'Janice Rand' and he returned her smile, changing his briefcase from his dominant hand to offer it to her.

"James Kirk, er, Jim? I was told to start today?" he said, hoping he didn't sound like a moron. She smiled broadly and shook his hand, blue eyes twinkling.

"Welcome to Enterprise High, Mr Kirk. I'm Janice," she said, probably unnecessarily. "Why don't you sign in to that book there for now, and then we'll get you sorted with a staff badge and all those things in a moment."

Jim took the pen he was offered, filling out the relevant boxes to let people know he was onsite and glancing around as he did so. The school's colour scheme was a little drab, grey appeared to be everywhere. Very non-distracting, Jim supposed, but hardly something that would enthuse young people. He put the pen down, noticing that Janice was watching him avidly.

"Well then. If you want to follow me, I'll take you to the Science Office. Mr Spock, the Faculty Head, has been waiting for you," she said. Jim felt the nerves in his stomach increasing massively. He was about to meet his boss and although he'd met Spock, briefly, at interview, he'd not had the chance to strike up a conversation. In fact he'd got the distinct impression that Spock disliked him.

The corridors leading to the Science Department smelled of wet paint and plaster. Jim noticed that the walls had been freshly painted, although all either depressing white or grey as cold and impersonal as the front of school. There were a few displays, here and there, of student's work. Bright splashes of colour that were all too soon lost in the overwhelmingly depressing atmosphere.

"Who picked out the colour scheme?" Jim asked. Janice turned to him, flicking her blond hair over her shoulder in a way that she must have thought was attractive but just seemed very rehearsed.

"Oh, the school board pretty much dictate everything. Pike tried to talk them into having something else but they maintained that the school colour was silver so everything should be that horrible grey colour. Soul destroying in a way…" she said, shrugging, her bright smile juxtaposed against her words. Jim guessed he was going to have his work cut out if he was going to make any of the changes he was hired to bring about.

She took him up a flight of stairs and Jim purposefully didn't look at her behind as she did so. He saw her glance back once, but pretended to be taking in one of the displays and didn't make eye contact.

She drew to a stop outside the science office and rapped smartly on the door. Jim shuffled a little nervously behind her, adjusting his tie slightly, before the door opened. It revealed Mr Spock, tall, dark, incredibly handsome and almost certainly looking at Jim like he might just be a rabid dog off the street. Jim cleared his throat and held out his hand.

"Jim Kirk. We met at interview," he said, smiling as brightly as he could. Janice was beaming at him. Mr Spock just stared at him for a long moment.

"Mr Spock doesn't touch people," Janice chirped up and Jim felt like an idiot. He let his hand drop, forcing the smile back on his face. "Oh! I'll go and get your staff pass for you Mr Kirk!"

Jim watched her go, wondering if Mr Spock was going to leave him stood in the hallway. He didn't though, stepping aside to reveal the Science Office beyond. There aren't any desks in there, which Jim finds surprising. Instead there is a single large table in the middle, a coffee machine in the corner, a laptop charging station and a noticeboard full of rather uninspiring pictures of various scientific discoveries. All seemed to be a few years old. He took a seat, guessing that Spock probably wasn't going to offer him one if he waited, and put his briefcase on the desk.

"I did not receive a read receipt from the emails I sent you containing the schemes of work or curriculum planning, Mr Kirk?" Spock said, pouring Jim coffee before taking one himself. He sat down opposite Jim and stared at him. It was rather like being stared down by a predator and Jim shifted a little in his seat.

"I looked over them and planned my lessons for the start of term accordingly. I was hoping that there will be a chance to talk to you about it before the term starts however-"Jim began but at that moment the door opened in a cacophony of noise and laughter.

"And then Pasha just looked at him, and you can just imagine it right, like a puppy dog facing down a bear or something. But he says this threat in Russian and god, he could have been saying anything and it would have sounded threatening. This guy just pooped his pants and ran. We were calling him Baby Odessa for the rest of the trip!"

Jim got to his feet just as the man finished his story. The other spent a few moments just looking at him, then at Spock, before he smiled and held out his hand.

"You must be Jim, right? Hikaru Sulu, Biology. I look forward to working with you!" he said, shaking Jim's hand. Jim smiled in return and turned to the person with him. She was stunningly beautiful, her dark skin perfect in the way he thought was only possible in magazines. She smiled with only half her mouth, as though she knew everything that was going through his mind at that moment and didn't appreciate any of it.

"Uhura. Languages," she said, holding out her hand for Jim to shake as well. He took it, making sure to grip it just as he would a man's. She seemed to appreciate it a little as her smile widened a little.

"I'm going to need to know your last name if you want me to be able to refer to you in front of the kids," he said. Sulu's eyebrows rose a little and he looked at Uhura to see her reaction. Jim guessed he was about to strike out but he wasn't too fussed. He wasn't serious about flirting and he didn't want people to believe that he was here just to destroy their precious department.

"That is my last name," she said. Sulu mimed pouring water onto a burn but Jim just laughed good-naturedly.

"Well Miss Uhura, it's an honour to meet you anyway," he said, chuckling. Uhura inclined her head gracefully and went to help herself to the coffee pot.

"This office is a communal office for everyone on this floor normally. I'm one floor above, but I like spending time with the Doctor and a few others on this floor so I'll be around quite a bit. I'm sure you'll pick up my first name eventually, Mr Kirk, when you've earned it," she said as she sipped the coffee and went to sit down next to Spock. The other looked at her out of the corner of his eye and didn't comment on any of it.

"Pasha got held up in some traffic on the way in. He's going to be late for briefing. Doc's being his usual self as expected. Oh and Scotty needs dragging out of the supply cupboards I think. He's convinced someone stole his scissors over the summer and is trying to track down the new set," Sulu said, sitting down next to Jim. Jim was trying to take in names and put them to faces off the website, but it was difficult. He put his briefcase on the floor and tried not to take too much of the content in, but more of the feel.

Uhura and Sulu chatted, with Spock interjecting occasionally, and Jim got the sense they understood each other well. He could see there were strong bonds here already, ones that should have shown through in the department statistics. The fact that they didn't was why he was here, but he'd always thought that staff morale was one of the most important things in getting students their grades.

Soon the room was full of tired looking, but well-dressed teachers. 'Pasha' turned out to be Pavel Chekov, a genius in the realms of physics who had gone into teaching instead of a guaranteed illustrious career in research. Montgomery Scott was a physicist by trade who had ended up teaching chemistry at the high school due to there being a shortage and him having an interest in how to make various things go boom. It didn't take long before the three of them were having a rather heated debate and then Spock suddenly stood up.

The briefing was short and sweet. It briefly welcomed Jim to the department, before Spock started handing out paper work, copies of detention papers, explaining changes from the year before and new ways to write reports. They had three days before term started to get used to all the differences. Jim felt like it would take three months to take it all on board but refrained from commenting.

There was one empty seat with papers piled onto it. Chekov had been putting one there and when Spock dismissed them all, he took the spare pile and disappeared down the hall with it. The others continued to talk, Jim feeling increasingly antsy as they did. Eventually it was Uhura who noticed his restlessness and took pity on him.

"Want me to show you to your classroom? You can look over all the paper work and things," she suggested. Jim was on his feet before he'd even verbalised what a good idea it was. She smiled, indulgently like one would at a child, before getting to her feet as well.

The classrooms on the corridor were all an improvement on the dreary décor of the school at least. Uhura showed him Sulu's classroom, which had bright displays showing the workings of photosynthesis along one wall and along the back a collection of sunflowers, their faces turned towards the windows. Chekov's had a mobile hanging from the ceiling with a replica of the solar system. Spock's was… a little less personal, but had various helpful posters explaining chemical reactions. Jim finally found his room second to last on the corridor.

The sign on the front bore the mark of the last teacher before him, the plastic having faded around the stickers where their name had been. The new lettering didn't quite cover it, but still, it helpfully said his name and subject and that was more important than having a new door plaque he supposed.

He opened the door to see a room that had clearly been completely gutted, and obviously in a hurry. Displays had been ripped from the walls, but years of staples remained in the boards. Desks had been re-varnished but still bore the carvings deep into them of 'CC loves JR 4eva'. There was an archaic computer in the corner and paint was peeling off the door to the store cupboard.

"Well, I guess this is home," Jim said, keeping his tone neutral. Uhura's smile dropped slightly as she looked around.

"If you want I can give you a hand putting up some backing paper or something…?" she offered. Jim put his things down on his desk. It wobbled. One of the legs was apparently shorter than the others. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"If you don't mind…?" he replied. Uhura made a face that said she did but was going to go through with it anyway.

By lunch time they had managed to cover most of Jim's boards with black backing paper and were sat cutting out silver shapes that would, Jim hoped, become a decent representation of how electrical current worked.

Uhura chatted about various things, her experiences in Europe when she'd been travelling, who to watch out for in the school, a few of the things that Jim should know about dealing with the students. Jim absorbed as much as he could, sharing details of his own where it was appropriate.

"You did some teaching in Finland?" Uhura had sounded incredulous but Jim just shrugged.

"If you want to know about something, go to the best place to learn," he replied. She spent half an hour bugging him for words in Finnish from that point and Jim struggled to recall words beyond 'beer', 'please' and 'thank you'.

"You're full of surprises, Jim Kirk," she said when she stood up to leave. Jim just smiled and shook his head.

"You haven't seen anything yet."

Jim got into his car at the end of the day and sank into his seat. He felt too drained to even put the keys into the ignition but he knew that he was going to have to eventually or he'd hit rush hour traffic and end up taking an hour to get back to his place.

He managed to pull out of the car park without dinging someone else's car, which he considered a victory at that point and managed to make it home within an acceptable amount of time.

Opening the door he groaned at the sight that greeted him. He hadn't been especially proactive with unpacking and most of his things were still in boxes in the hallway. He slung his keys on top of a box and dragged himself into the kitchen.

There was nothing in his fridge except for a single beer and a block of cheese that he had bought to make himself grilled cheese in the morning. He snagged the beer and returned to his lounge.

He dug around in boxes until he found what he was looking for. He reverently pulled the record deck out of its bubble wrap, setting it on the counter that he'd bought especially to house it. It took a while to set it up, correcting the weights and attaching the speakers. He then went on the hunt for his records.

He found them in his bathroom of all places, and began to rifle through them. He finally found a decent enough vinyl, pulling it from the selection and heading back to the lounge. There was a crackle as he set the pin down, then the soft, deep tones of Nina Simone warmed the apartment.

He collapsed onto his couch, swigging from his beer and staring at the bare wall in front of him.

God, he had his work cut out for him.

Jim had spent the previous day acclimatizing. He had finished his displays, finished labelling his books and making sure everything was where he wanted it, hunted down textbooks and packets of pens and stationary. The classroom wasn't perfect, but it felt like a space he could teach in at least.

It was only when Uhura came down to meet him to take him to lunch on the final day before term started that Jim realised there was one member of staff he hadn't met yet and that was his neighbour. He saw the door was slightly ajar and turned to Uhura.

"Who's classroom is that?" he asked. Uhura looked a little uncomfortable and shrugged a little.

"Doctor McCoy's. He teaches Biology and is, well, kind of grumpy. Don't get me wrong, he's got a heart of gold it's just… He's not been the same since his divorce," she said softly. Jim raised his eyebrows. He was second in department, he should have been introduced to everyone if he was going to be their boss. It was bad form to start term without having met a member of staff.

"Go on ahead. I better introduce myself," he said. Uhura looked hesitant for a moment before she nodded and walked off, her heels clicking on the floor. Jim spent a moment appreciating her figure as she walked away before he turned back to the task at hand.

Jim peered through the door. The classroom itself was dark, the curtains having been drawn tightly against anything so cheerful as sunlight. Every space was methodically taken up by something, though it wasn't anything of note. Textbooks lined back benches, the shelves had more textbooks, mostly on human biology, or else there were pupil's notebooks in drab brown boxes. Even the posters on the walls looked like they'd seen better days, dog-eared and slightly yellowed with age.

It was the man at the front of the classroom who drew Jim's attention though. His head had shot up when he heard the door open, dark eyes narrowed and clearly ready to say something dismissive. He seemed to be brought up short by seeing Jim there though.

The man had dark hair, cut in a style that suggested that he had perhaps once followed fashion and now could no longer be bothered but kept going back for the same cut. He had a good build, broad and strong looking, but the hands that were shuffling papers on his desk looked elegant and long fingered. He was dressed simply, a black suit, black tie, white shirt, the clothes a man who has one suit for church, funerals and work would wear.

"I hope I'm not intruding. Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm the new Second-in-Department. Jim's the name. Jim Kirk," he said, stepping inside. The man rose to his feet and so Jim traversed the classroom to introduce himself. The tiles were slightly uneven, meaning he had to watch his feet as he stepped.

Then suddenly the man was before him and Jim could see his eyes weren't just dark, but hazel flecked with green. He was being offered a hand and he quickly took it, his palm feeling sweaty with sudden nerves.

"Leonard McCoy, biology," the other man replied. Jim nodded, he'd already known that. He glanced around the classroom again, feeling awkward. Just as he was about to start some small talk about something like the weather, he saw it. In the corner, virtually hidden away behind a stack of books, was a full human skeleton. Jim hadn't seen one like that inside a classroom in years.

"Is that real?" he asked, stepping away from McCoy to look at it in more detail. McCoy huffed.

"You think we'd have a real human skeleton in a school, kid?" he replied gruffly. Jim turned round, grinning and holding up the skeleton's hand, making it wave.

"Well, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing that I'd have discovered in a classroom," he replied. McCoy raised his eyebrow and said nothing. Jim began to trace up the white, smooth plastic (at least he hoped McCoy wasn't lying and it was plastic).

"If you'd stop molesting my bones, I have work to do," McCoy said. Jim chuckled and shook his head slightly, dropping his hand and leaning back against the desk.

"Want to get some lunch?" he asked. McCoy scowled at him and glanced at the clock. It read 4:47 and he saw McCoy scowl at it.

"That darn clock. Always showing the wrong time!" he snapped, as though verbally abusing it would help. Jim chuckled and grabbed a chair. He hopped onto it, snagging the clock off the wall and setting it to read the correct time of midday instead. McCoy watched him warily the entire time.

"See, lunch time. What do you say, Bones? Let's go get something to eat," Jim pressed as he hopped back down off the chair. He wasn't sure whether the nickname would stick. The way that McCoy's eye twitched at its use made Jim want to keep using it. He clapped the other on the shoulder.

"I brought lunch from home," McCoy said, gesturing to a tupperware container on his desk. Jim shrugged and put the chair back where he'd found it. McCoy was watching his every move like he was a dangerous animal and Jim didn't know whether or not to be flattered.

"Hey, I just wanted to drop in and say hi. If you're really busy or something, we don't have to talk," he said, putting his hands up in a placating gesture. He could see the guilt pass over the other's face and knew that he'd won.

"I guess I can eat with you," McCoy conceded. Jim smiled brightly and decided to forego getting food from the cafeteria, choosing instead to pull up a chair to McCoy's desk and sit down, rolling up his shirt sleeves as he did.

"So then, Bones, why don't you tell me all about your time at Enterprise High School?"

McCoy had painted a rather colourful picture that Jim was sure 80% of which was exaggeration. Even so, he had recognised something in the other. There was a hint of brilliance there, a hint of something beyond the normal. He'd seen it in all the staff, but their genius was stamped on their classrooms, in the resources they had somewhat shyly shown Jim, in the way they talked in morning briefings about what they had planned for the year ahead.

With Bones it was in all the things he'd tried over the years. Tried. All past tense. He spoke about various lessons he'd done, things he'd tried, but when Jim tried to get him to talk about the future? Bones somehow always managed to turn the question back on Jim to avoid it. It was like the man saw no path towards improvement and it got Jim curious as to what had happened.

Uhura had mentioned a divorce, and if anything could make it difficult for a man to continue such a high-stress job as teaching, it was a troubled personal life.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with the fact that McCoy was a very attractive man. Jim could appreciate that the other was handsome, that he was fit in a way that lead to strength and power, rather than agility or tone. He had long-fingered hands and a full mouth that made Jim wonder how many teenage girls and boys had imagined Doctor McCoy outside of the workplace.

Still, eye candy aside, Jim knew that he was going to have to try to get through to Bones probably more than he was going to have to try to grow on Spock. The other would respect his academic achievements, his sound strategies backed by research, but McCoy… With McCoy he was going to have to inspire. To lead by example and hope that McCoy got caught up in the tide.

He couldn't deny, he was looking forward to it.

That night when Jim got home, he set his record player going, swaying to the sound of Jimi Hendrix as he unpacked box after box, then set is alarm for 6am before passing out.

He dreamed of Georgia accents, being late for school, and the way that Uhura's skirt rippled when she walked.