"Well? Are ya gonna tell me or what, Jim?"

Jim glanced warily at Bones, keeping himself to himself until he figured out what was going on. Since when was Bones a fan of gossip? Normally he doesn't even listen to the non-gossip that Jim tells him, and he never encourages Jim to tell him things. Granted, Jim does it anyway, but that's because Bones is his other best friend; Bones may barely do it but he listens to Jim when he needs to talk, just like Jim listens to Bones on those rare occasions (usually anniversaries and birthdays) that he needs to talk.

Bones rolled his eyes and glared at Jim, "Look, you are about to burst if you don't get it off your chest, and if you tell me what's makin' you so damn happy then at least I know it won't go any further because I don't gossip. Other people probably would."

Well, he had a point there, but he was also wrong because Jim knew the others would respect his privacy as well. "The rest of the Command team-"

"Would gossip just the same, only to each other. And soon somebody would overhear, and it'd spread like wildfire. Me and the hobgoblin – and maybe Scotty; I dunno though, he might tell Pasha – are the only ones your secret's safe with. And somethin' tells me that our green-blooded crewmate is already privy to this information."

How right he was. Jim felt a smile play across his lips and he played with the shot glass Bones had handed him when he showed up tonight for their weekly drinking "date". "Spock and I are in a relationship. I am stupidly, ridiculously, absurdly happy about this. He loves me, and he told me straight to my face that he loved me. Well, it was in my mind, but that just makes it even more meaningful."

Bones raised an eyebrow and smirked a bit, "Well then. It's about damn time you acted on those feelings you kept pretending didn't exist."

"Hey, I resent that comment! I wasn't in denial about anything, I was just making sure I didn't force his hand."

Bones scoffed lightly, "Yeah, of course that's what you say, but you didn't even tell me you loved him, I figured it out on my own. You might not have been in denial with yourself but you were sure as shit in denial with everybody else."

Jim pouted and gulped down his bourbon. "Fine. Maybe I just didn't know how you would react to finding out that I was in love with "the hobgoblin". It's not like I've had a lot of support in my life. I had no idea how you would react to finding out I loved Spock."

That soft comment made Bones look up. "Look, I'll deny it if you tell anybody else I said it, but I honestly just want you to be happy, Jim. So long as he doesn't hurt you – and somethin' tells me he ain't gonna do that – we're golden."

Jim smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Bones. I appreciate it."

"Spill."

Spock blinked and looked over at his friend, "Spill what, exactly, Nyota?"

Nyota rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, Spock. You are far more aware of human sayings than you pretend to be. I know you know what that means."

Spock sighed to himself. He had hoped to avoid this conversation, but Nyota was too perceptive for her to have missed the changes in him since he and Jim had begun a relationship. He knew for a fact that he was far more at ease, and Jim had begun touching him far more frequently than he used to – and previously he still touched Spock more than anybody else ever dared to. Not to mention, they had stopped actively hiding their kisses from her since their last mission, so he had known it was only a matter of time. Knowing and being faced with something, were, however, very different things.

He inhaled evenly and "bit the bullet," as Jim would say. "Jim and I have entered an interpersonal relationship with each other."

Nyota smiled softly, "There! See? That wasn't so hard, was it, Spock? I'm not going to make a big deal out of this, don't worry. I'd suspected for a while that things were heading in that direction, the Captain and I are good friends now that I've gotten over myself, and I am absolutely positive that he won't hurt you, so I have no problems with it."

That… was not the reaction he was expecting. However, it was an exceedingly pleasant surprise. "Thank you, Nyota. I appreciate your support."

She waved his response off, "I just want what's best for you, and you've settled into a much more comfortable frame of mind ever since shortly after the Captain began inviting you to chess, and that air of contentment has only grown over the past few months. He's really good for you, somehow."

Spock meditated on her words before responding, "Jim is far different in private than how he acts around other people, to an extent, at least."

"I figured as much, or he would have likely provoked you into punching him a few times over. I will admit, he's far less arrogant and nothing like as much of a playboy as he pretends he is. Pike had to be mentoring him for a reason, after all, it just took me longer to catch up than it took anybody else."

Spock nodded, "Indeed. Jim is… ideal. In many ways."

That made Nyota giggle, "Is that a roundabout way of admitting you love him?"

Ah. He should clear that up, "No it is not, Nyota. I have no problem with admitting that I am deeply in love with Jim. I let one person leave my life without ever acknowledging how much she meant to me; I refuse to make that mistake again."

His words caused Nyota to blink, before she raised an eyebrow in an impressive impression of himself. "Wow. Since when do you feel that way? I didn't know you'd changed that much…"

He shook his head, "Jim changed my perception of myself many times over. It is not an outright change as much as it is me accepting that I cannot be as Vulcan as a full-blooded Vulcan, and thus, I must learn to manage my feelings in a different way. If so many people over my life have been able to provoke me into emotional responses, then I was clearly doing something wrong."

"Wow," she whispered. "He really is good for you, Spock. I didn't think anybody could make you see that. I'm very happy for you."

He almost-smiled and tilted his head towards her, "Thank you, Nyota."