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Chapter Two: Crossing Wires
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"You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job."
Laurence J. Peter
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The next morning, Jim was gone—Leonard's good spare uniform with him. The blankets were folded neatly on the couch and the mug was clean and dry in the small dish drainer by Bones' sink. As were the rest of McCoy's dishes.
If nothing else, the kid was clearly a neat freak. If not for those small signs of disruption, Leonard might have easily sworn the boy had never been there at all.
He considered this as he stood in the doorway, staring out at the small dining room and kitchen. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but certainly not this wordless departure. Leonard knew he probably shouldn't dwell on it: Should pack up his books and head off to class, but something about last night was nagging at his mind and was not willing to allow him to forget about the odd boy who called himself Jim.
Call him crazy, but that kid had big things in his future.
.
As it turned out, he was compelled neither to hunt Jim down again, nor to forget about him. Not thirty seconds after plopping down in vacant seat near the top row in the Stellar Cartography auditorium a pair of dazzlingly bright blue eyes popped up in his field of vision.
"Hey, Bones." Jim seated himself facing backwards on a seat just below Leonard.
"Well look who it is." McCoy drawled, "I almost didn't recognize you with your clothes on."
"Someone didn't get much sleep."
"What can I say? I spent half my night patching up some dumb cadet."
"Lucky him."
Bones glared at the back of Jim's head as the cadet turned around to face the instructor, who had just entered and was now attempting to restore some semblance of order to his classroom. For obvious reasons, there weren't a whole lot of students who paid close attention to this class. This may have had something to do with the fact that the Professor was a small Tellarite with an unusually laid-back disposition who seemed to believe the humans were inferior in intellect. He displayed this prejudice through over-simplified tests and extreme lenience with his "mentally challenged pupils". As of yet, no-one had been dumb enough to challenge his misconception, and the majority of the cadets found his class a welcome respite from the challenges of other courses.
Leonard had never noticed Jim in his class before, but as explained he rarely paid attention to anything going on in the room anyway, and generally spent the lectures buried in his PADD catching up on reading or assignments for other classes. Not to mention that the auditorium could easily house five hundred students. It wasn't hard to believe that faces got lost in the crowd, here.
It wasn't until the end of a full day of classes that Leonard began to have his suspicions. He walked into a medical class and spotted Jim sitting across the room, and decided he'd just about had it.
He strode across the room purposefully, stopping inches from Jim's foot.
"Astrosciences I get. Subspace Theory, Organic Chemistry, I'll buy it." Bones glared down at the cadet. "But there is no way in hell that I'm going to believe that you are enrolled in Advanced Experimental Medicine of the 23rd Century."
"You know, there is some interesting stuff in this class." Jim waved his fork out across the crowd. He had his feet propped up on the next row, and a steaming Styrofoam bowl of some cafeteria-issue mush in his hand. "I never knew that Terran Subspace had the potential to produce so many medically relevant antibodies."
McCoy felt a vein pop in his forehead. This kid was breaking so many rules right now that Leonard didn't even know where to start.
"You're not allowed to eat in here." He huffed, trying to keep his temper in check. "You're not even supposed to be in here, kid."
"Who says?" Jim sounded indignant. "I sit in on Rath's classes all the time. He doesn't care."
Walk away now. Leonard reminded himself.
"It's against regulations." He ground out, hardly able to believe the words coming out of his own mouth. "And why are you stalking me anyway?"
"Why Bones." Jim's fork stopped halfway to his mouth. "I'm offended."
"Of course you are." Leonard sighed heavily. He climbed over the row to sit down next to Jim, unwilling to spend another class staring at the back of the kid's head. "Of course you are."
Jim grinned widely, tapping his propped-up feet in time to some incomprehensible tune in his head. He offered a forkful of mush to Leonard, and the doctor swatted his hand away in disgust.
This was going to be a long week.
.
"She just doesn't get it, you know?" McCoy's words were slurred, his eyes bleary as he starred down into his fourth—fifth?—drink. He wasn't drunk, just very pleasantly removed from reality.
"Women are pigs." Jim agreed with a raised glass in what Leonard was sure was a mixed metaphor, but he just couldn't be sure after this many drinks.
He wasn't sure how he'd wound up at one of the San Francisco's best hole-in-the-wall bars close to midnight on a Friday, but damn if it didn't feel good to unwind and drink until his head started getting fuzzy and his tongue loosened. Loosened more than usual, that is.
As it turned out, Jim was a pretty good listener. He was even better at making sarcastic comments, obscure references, and hitting on and/or pissing off anything on two legs that happened to walk by, but somehow all of that was combining to put Leonard into an even better mood.
"It was just a birthday present, for my little girl, you know?" Leonard moaned to his beer. "I was just trying to be a good dad." He tried to take a sip of his drink, but wound up setting it back down on the bar before the glass even touched his lips. "She could have given it to her."
"What a bitch." Jim supplied helpfully. "I'd have split, too."
"Yeah." McCoy nodded emphatically. "It was a good idea. Wasn't it?"
"Absolutely."
Leonard was too buzzed to be irritated that Jim was simply agreeing with everything he said. He hadn't had someone agree with him in a very long time. He finished off his drink a long, desperate swig, and slammed the glass down with a flourish. He contemplated cutting himself off, but Jim beat him to the punch, swiping his glass and handing it off to the passing bartender.
"I don't want to have to carry you home." He supplied devilishly when Leonard dared to scowl at him. "You look heavy."
McCoy really didn't have much of an answer for that. He folded his arms on the bar and sighed heavily.
Jim opened his mouth as if to continue their conversation, but was cut off when a heavy cadet a good six inches taller than himself slammed into him, knocking him into the bar and off his stool.
"Hey!" McCoy growled indignantly, but Jim was already pulling himself up, waving Leonard down.
The big cadet laughed with his friend, not bothering to give Jim a hand up. "Sorry Kirk." He said in fake concern. "Just didn't see you there."
Jim shot him a tense, restrained smile. "Yeah. I figured." He nodded. His fists were clenched and he looked ready to swing.
McCoy sat on the edge of his stool, ready to leap after him if he tried anything stupid.
"Don't be so invisible next time." The cadet's friend laughed as they slowly wandered away, keeping their eyes on Jim.
McCoy thought that this was a wise move, considering how Jim looked like he was about to launch off after them.
"What was that all about?" He demanded when the pair of offenders had safely meandered out of the building.
Jim shrugged, returning to his half-finished drink.
"I swear to god, you've got more enemies than a colony of tribbles." Leonard grumbled as he joined him reluctantly.
"I don't have enemies." Jim smiled tersely, still tense as a bowstring. "Just people I disagree with."
Leonard snorted.
"Guess we'll have to find a new bar next week." The younger cadet shrugged.
"Why?" Leonard was offended. "I like this place."
"I just don't want to get into any more fights." Jim hedged, shrugging one shoulder again as he swirled his drink around in the glass.
"Just cause a guy bumps into you at a bar doesn't mean you have to punch his lights out." McCoy griped. "You're going to have to grow a thicker skin if you're going to make it in the command track, kid."
Jim slammed down his glass, startling Leonard. His jaw was tightly clenched when he turned to look at the doctor. "Yeah, and maybe you're going to have to grow a thicker skin if you're going to make it in the divorce track."
Slapping a handful of credits down on the bar, Jim yanked his coat off the back of his chair and headed for the door without further ado.
Shocked more than anything, Leonard watched him leave. His mental scales swung wildly between "just let the prick go" and "what the hell; there is more to this than meets the eye".
He made his decision quickly, and stumbled slightly as he shot after Jim.
"Hey!" He yelled once he reached the street. Jim was already halfway down the block. "Jim!"
The kid stopped, and McCoy jogged to catch up to him.
"What was that?" He growled, grabbing the kid's shoulder and spinning him around to face him.
Jim slapped his hand away almost viciously. "It was nothing, McCoy. Just let it go."
"Don't you lie to me." McCoy felt his temper flaring at the obvious untruth. Did Jim think he was stupid? "What's going on with those two?"
"They just don't like me very much." The cadet scowled. "Why is that your problem?"
"Are they the ones who 'pranked' you the other night?"
"Jesus, Bones!" Jim threw up his hands. "Why can't you just mind your own business?"
"If either of us were minding our own business, we wouldn't be crashing in some god-forsaken bar in the middle of nowhere." Leonard insisted. "I would have left you chained to that goddamn pole, and you wouldn't be haunting all my classes."
"You don't decide what classes I take." Jim hissed. "But don't worry: from here on out, I'll leave you alone."
Leonard clenched his jaw in fury as the kid spun to leave.
"They called you Kirk." He called after him. "So would that make you James Kirk?"
Jim froze; this time he wouldn't turn to meet McCoy's accusations.
"Kind of makes sense." McCoy slowly closed the distance between them. "I guess I didn't really put it together at first but… it does make sense."
He walked around Jim's frozen figure until he stood directly in front of him. The cadet was staring at the sidewalk, fists once more clenched. McCoy half expected the kid to take a swing at him.
"Yeah, you guessed it." Jim smiled bitterly, letting out his words in a shuddering breath. "Good for you."
McCoy stared, in deep water and unsure how to escape safely.
"So what now?" Jim looked up at him with fury burning in his ice-blue eyes. It was an expression that hid hurt and bitterness, and was painfully transparent to the doctor. "I guess you really can't be seen running around with some no-good, wash-out son of a dead Starfleet Officer. I mean, what would people think…."
"Kid." Leonard blinked. "Why would I give a shit about that?"
Jim threw up his hands. "I don't know! Everyone else does."
"Yeah, and everyone else is a prick."
Jim laughed against his will, his tense shoulders slowly relaxing.
"I thought we were here to moan and groan about you." He sighed.
"We were." Leonard shrugged. "And I've already talked your ear off, so. That's enough of that."
Jim didn't look sure and stood where he was, hands on his hips and half-turned away as he refused to look at the Doctor.
"Listen here, punk." Leonard threw his arm around Jim's shoulders, guiding their steps back towards the academy. "I don't think you can get back to campus on your own: and to be honest, I might not be so steady on my feet either. So I guess this means we're stuck with each other."
Jim laughed, and it was almost free of that haunting anger and pain again.
He had been right about one thing all along, Leonard realized as they managed to stumble their way back to the nearest rail station.
There was much more to James Kirk than met the eye.
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Wow, I've been a little obsessed with this story lately. Can you believe I now have chapter seven done already? Yeah, neither can I. Let me tell you, you will be getting very steady updates for quite some time. :)
Ackeberlynn, Kalmiel, spinalcracker, Harm Marie, Lori Jean, zhen123, Lynaeve, Original Dinner Plate, Romanse: Thank you so much for all your reviews on the first chapter! You made me so happy. :3
Squigglytext: Yes, I'm definitely a sucker for a good academy fic, especially considering they're so hard to find. There are so many different versions of Jim's academy days, but so few that seem to be realistic and/or in character. I had to take my shot; I hope I manage both. :) Thank you so much for your kind words!
ShamelessSpocker: Awwww, thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying this one as well as the last, and I am definitely glad that you're sticking around. I hope you continue to enjoy the story. :)
frozenlaughter: Yes, I definitely had to insert some self-indulgent fluffangst in there, I couldn't help it. I've had that image in my head far too long. ;) So glad you're enjoying it, and thank you!
laynee: Yay! Well as your new favorite person, I will have to try my very best not to disappoint you, I hope you like the new chapter!
lynxzpanther: Thank you for all your reviews on "Make It Home", and I'm so glad you're enjoying this story as well! Hope it lives up to expectations. :)
SupernaturalGeek: Thank you! Glad the story seems realistic so far: love me some Jim and Bones banter. I can't help it, they just tend to argue a lot as I write hahaha. It's in their nature. Thanks for stopping in!
Thank you again, and do review!
