"Mr. Mitchell, that speed will bring us too close to the planet to enter orbit," Mr. Spock said, checking the readings at the science station. Gary changed the speed, but from his body language he looked like he rolled his eyes at the navigator while doing it. From the captain's chair, Kirk couldn't be entirely sure, and he didn't want to start reprimanding people for things he couldn't be sure they'd done. That was the surest way to create a paranoid, distrustful bridge crew.

Still, he was going to have to do something. The balance between his longtime friendship with Gary and his new friendliness with Spock was proving harder to find than he'd thought. At times, being with Gary while on duty was the best experience he'd ever had as an officer; laughing and spending off-duty time together as if they were back on Earth fifteen years before. At other times, though, he found himself noticing things about Gary he never had before. Like how he never had a group smaller than six around him at a time, even though Kirk would have liked a smaller group every so often. Like how Gary never seemed able to make his interest in any woman less than blatantly obvious. It was bordering on harassment, and Kirk had lost his temper at least once over it. And, thinking of that instance, Gary's inability to take anything seriously was starting to really bother Kirk.

"Captain? We have entered orbit," Spock's voice snapped him out of his reverie, and Kirk stood up.

"Good. Mr. Spock, Mr. Mitchell, with me. Scotty, you have the bridge."

There was an awkward silence as the three of them stood in the turbolift, until Spock spoke up. "Captain, it is an informality to refer to Mr. Scott as 'Scotty.'"

Gary sighed loudly, which Spock graciously ignored. Kirk shot Gary a look before turning to Spock. "I suppose it is, but it seemed natural at the time and it's stuck now."

Spock raised an eyebrow, muttering, "Illogical." Gary shot him a glare but Kirk smiled. He didn't mind Spock giving his opinion, not if he was going to be giving his other officers nicknames. Informality had to be fair to work.

Once they beamed down, there was more for Spock to do than for either Kirk or Gary. They wandered the forest, keeping Spock in sight. Gary seemed bored the whole time, a few times mentioning the card game he'd organized for later . Kirk was doing his best to politely ignore him; he didn't want to spend his whole time on a new planet talking about plans he'd already bowed out of. He'd never been much of a card player, and he knew from experience that Gary's events got loud and boisterous very quickly. He wasn't in the mood for that tonight; it seemed like he hardly ever was anymore. Getting old…

Kirk shook his head, making an excuse so he could catch up with Spock. He felt bad leaving his First Officer on his own, the way he was so often forced to. The idea was that they were supposed to work around each other; the captain beaming down while the First stayed on the bridge, and vice versa, but Kirk had known from the start that would never work, not if Spock was Science Officer as well. Besides, he felt bad leaving Spock alone while he and Gary spent time together, although he knew how little sense that made.

"So what's so interesting about this planet?" Kirk asked. Spock brightened instantly, launching into an explanation of the planet's unusual botany and soil components. Kirk took it in, formulating his report for later, feeling Gary's gaze on him as he and Spock discussed the possibilities of colonizing the planet. Kirk ignored it; Spock was pointing out the unique properties of the plant's leaves that promised to revolutionize the energy storage capacity of algae processors.

Later that night, after Kirk and Spock had spent hours writing their reports, Kirk's door chirped. He frowned, wondering if Spock had forgotten something, and opened the door. It turned out to be Gary.

"Gary? Is something wrong?" He looked a little drunk, and Kirk stepped back.

"No, I'm just tired of being second choice," Gary answered clearly. Not that drunk, then.

"What do you mean, second choice?"

Gary's expression grew angry, "You know what I mean. You and I planned this from the first few days we met, that one day you'd be captain and you would pick me to serve on your crew. We always said it would be the best, that no one would stand in our way, and how much fun we'd have…what happened?"

"What do you mean, what happened?" Kirk asked. "I'm captain, I asked you to serve with me. I'm not sure what else you wanted."

"Well, I didn't expect you to forget your best friend for the computer you call your first officer," Gary shot back. "If you had to replace me, couldn't you at least pick someone normal?"

Kirk's anger flared up, "Think very carefully about what you say next, Mr. Mitchell."

"Oh, I have," Gary said. "You'd rather play chess with him than cards with me, you give him preference over every other officer, you leave parties I'm holding to walk the corridors with him instead…for God's sake, Jim, how do you think it feels, watching your best friend leave you behind for someone who can't care one fig about anyone else!? You know he's only here because none of the other captains wanted him."

Kirk shook his head. Really? This petty jealousy? This is middle school stuff. He would have liked to believe that this was out of character for Gary, but years of evidence he'd mostly ignored told him it wasn't. Gary had always taken perceived rejection and criticism badly. It made sense that he'd see this as a betrayal, when the Enterprise was supposed to be the culmination of everything they'd ever wanted.

"Gary, pull yourself together. You're here because I want you to be here, and I'm happy you're here. I wouldn't have picked you if you weren't a damn good helmsman, and I thought we were having a great time together," Kirk said. "But get this straight, who I am friends with is my own business, not yours. I don't want to hear you talking about Lieutenant-Commander Spock, either to me or anyone else. He's your superior officer, and you will show him respect. Understood?"

Gary snapped to attention, but his expression remained sullen. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Dismissed." Gary left and Kirk sat down heavily. For all he'd said he was enjoying having Gary here, it was becoming less and less true. He kept remembering more times from the past where their personalities clashed, and couldn't figure out how he'd never thought of this before: that in close quarters, they might find it difficult to work together. That was without the extra addition of Spock, who Kirk was finding invaluable, both as a colleague and an acquaintance. Spock always had something interesting to talk about, not just memories of better times at the Academy. He never made demands on Kirk's time the way Gary did, he was never a disciplinary problem. He was a good listener and an excellent chess opponent. If only Kirk felt his overtures of friendship would be received, he wouldn't be so uncertain about how the three of them would work together in the future. But as it was now, Spock was only ever going to be a work colleague, while Gary was a friend, an old friend at that. But he'd be working so much more closely with Spock than with Gary. Kirk gently beat a hand against the wall. He couldn't simply end such an old friendship, nor did he want to. He knew he had more in common with Gary than with anyone else; it just didn't feel that way most of the time.

Kirk sighed in frustration. Who would have thought being a starship captain would bring him right back to high school drama?