Jim floundered on his couch for about twenty minutes before springing off of it. It had been about a week since Hanson died, and Jim was still feeling bothered. He wasn't grieving or anything, but he just felt... off. Maybe he needed to start talking to his pen pals again. He had been feeling too discouraged over the past few days to keep up any conversations.

Yep, he made up his mind about it. He was going to go visit Spock and see what he was doing. Maybe play some chess. He went through their shared bathroom, and knocked on Spock's door. He heard him say "Enter," so he waltzed in. Spock was at his computer, typing flawlessly, so Jim came up behind him to watch. The Vulcan immediately moved his body to try shielding the screen from him.

"What the hell, Spock? Getting all secretive on me?" Jim asked, looking appalled. Spock didn't change his expression, just backed off his computer a little bit.

"Our conversation is somewhat private at the moment." Spock said, and Jim strained to look at the words. He stopped dead when he saw the other person's nickname. Meonatio? Why did that sound familiar? Then his blood ran cold.

Bones.

He swallowed, hard, and backed off. His initial shock was overcome quickly, as he laughed it off. "Fine, fine, have your private moment." Jim said, waving his hand and going over to flop onto the silky red bed. He heard the typing continue, and so many questions were coming to him.

He was just so shocked. A huge grin spread across his face. Spock and Bones were talking! More than talking, they were close! He tried really hard not to make any noise as he freaked out behind Spock's back. They were really... so close. Jim wasn't even mad. In fact, he was so unbelievably happy. If they met completely different people, then that just meant that Jim would have to meet them too, and what if he didn't like them?! This way, everybody already knew everybody!

"So..." Jim sat up, still grinning. "How close are you two?" Spock turned around to face him, and raised an eyebrow.

"You seem quite pleased about the matter." Spock commented, and Jim lessened his grin.

"I'm just happy that you've finally found someone that you like." He replied smoothly, but Spock looked unconvinced.

"We are only friends." Spock said, and Jim sucked his lips in and nodded.

"But do you want more with him?" Jim asked, and Spock blinked at him. They looked at each other for a while before Jim noticed his mistake. "Them! Do you want more with THEM?"

"I have no comment on the matter." Spock said, turning his chair back around to face the computer. Jim came up close behind him to look at the screen. Their conversation didn't look very private now, which is probably why Spock let him look. He squinted, looking for the tiny number in the corner of the screen.

"You guys have sent 1897 messages to each other? Damn..." Jim said, and Spock nodded from beside him. "So that means in... 103 message, your true names will be revealed. You ready for that?"

"The chances of us already knowing each other is but a slim 9 bi-"

"I know the chances, I know." Jim said, interrupting him. "But what will happen when you learn who they really are? Things will get pretty personal. What if they're a guy? And don't say you don't have any comments about it."

"I have already considered the possibility of them being male, and I have made my peace with it. The Vulcan society believes in a very general policy called Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations." Spock replied calmly, clearly not phased by any of Jim's questions.

"What if you guys meet, and you totally and completely hate each other?" Jim asked, trying to get some sort of actual information out of him.

"I am incapable of hate, Jim." Spock replied, making Jim groan.

"Yeah, of course you are. Anyway, I'm going to head back to my quarters. You're not being any fun, and I have things to think about." Jim said decidedly, and walked back to the bathroom door. "G'night Spock." He said quickly before retreating back to his room.

His two best friends were steps away from being together. Sure, they were only friends, but they were very close friends. Very close. God, they didn't even KNOW how close they were to each other. They were literally half a flagship away from one another! And oh how Jim yearned to tell them. At least one of them! He knew he couldn't, though. But he did yearn.

What if he just told Bones? He'd probably be the one most irritated about it. So if he told him in advance, he'd have time to get over it before Spock knew about it. It was the perfect plan... perfect, as long as he didn't take into account that that probably was not how it would go down. There'd probably be blood. Jim's blood included.

On second thought, Jim would just stay out of it completely. It was as if he never knew in the first place! Who was this 'Meonatio' person anyway? Certainly not anybody that Jim knew. Sure, he could play along. Even though he was itching terribly to tell someone. Anyone. Maybe he could gossip with Bones about it... He really needed more friends. He may have been popular starship captain James Kirk, but he didn't really have very many real friends. At least, not any friends that he could gossip about it with.

Uhura would probably be unwilling, since she didn't like ruining people's lives with gossip. Chekov and Sulu were the opposite (damn Gossip Queens), so they were out. Scotty blabbed everything he ever heard when he got drunk. Jim didn't really know many people outside of those friends. Would he really have to keep this all to himself?

Damn... secrets suck.

The three of them were sitting together at lunch, and Jim was just itching to tell them everything. They literally had no idea that they've been messaging EACH OTHER this whole time! All he wanted to do was give them some little clues about it. If the three of them were together, and Jim just asked Spock who his pen pal was, then Bones would know! He just couldn't wait for them to figure it out.

He wondered what would happen. Would the two of them start dating? Or would they feel betrayed and hate each other's guts? ... Would one of them want a transfer?!

Jim stopped, mid-bite, and was internally panicking. Spock and Bones were sitting quietly, eating their own meals, so they (thank goodness) weren't paying attention to him. But... What if one of them actually did want to get transferred?! What would Jim do then? He'd be horribly lonely! There weren't any other people that he could trust anyway, so he'd be at a loss if one of them left.

He looked between Bones and Spock frantically, still panicking a little. Or a lot. Man he was starting to sweat so hard! It was making him extremely uncomfortable.

"What's your problem, man?" Bones said, looking at him curiously. Jim just smiled charmingly at the hot brunette, playing as cool as he possibly could.

"Nothing, just super excited about poker tonight! There's also going to be food there. You two should come!" Jim suggested, and Spock rose an eyebrow at him. He must've known that Jim was acting on impulse, but he didn't comment about it. But in reality, if Jim got them to go to poker, it would be one more night that postponed their identities being revealed on the site!

"No. Got things to do tonight." Bones said over his chicken alfredo, dampening Jim's spirits.

"I, too, will decline your offer." Spock said, taking a last sip of his tea before standing and leaving the table. Didn't even say goodbye, that ass. Jim turned back to Bones.

"Bones. It's imperative that you come with me tonight." He said, trying to make it sound important. Hell, it WAS important!

"No, Jim. I'm sorry. I can't ditch out on my pen pal tonight. We left off yesterday on an important, very scientific conversation, and I'd very much prefer to continue it." Bones said, finishing up his meal as well. Jim groaned loudly. Why couldn't Bones have said that BEFORE Spock left?!

"So you value this pen pal more than I, your best friend of... how many years now?" Jim asked, acting appalled. Well, he didn't really need to act.

"I value insightful conversation over losing credits to fixed games." Bones said, and stood to leave.

"Okay, it was only fixed once! And that was Chekov's fault! Damn kid is conniving sometimes..." Jim grumbled, standing as well.

"Anyway, see you later." Bones said, completely abandoning him. He gaped after the doctor, feeling rejected. He really was feeling rejected. They treated him like trash and they had no idea what kind of service he was lending them by keeping quiet about their pen pal relationship. Bastards. He had horrible taste in people, honestly.

Leonard sighed, trying to rub away the bags under his eyes. He blinked a little, then went back to staring at the computer screen. He and I-Chaya knew that it was nearing time for their identities to be revealed- and with each message, Leonard was growing more and more nervous. It's not like it would be particularly special, as long as they didn't know each other in real life.

But what if they did? Before, he didn't think it particularly possible. What if it was just someone on the ship that he never talked to? What if it was one of his friends? What if it was someone back on Earth that he used to be buddies with? Damn it, what if it was an ex?! Or somebody that he hated?

He sighed again, and typed up a message.

"I-Chaya,

I'm being quite unreasonable with myself here, but I'm pretty nervous about learning what your name is. If you're somebody that I already know, then what will happen? But if you're somebody that I don't know, then what significance will this even hold?

So I have a proposition, of sorts. I want message 2000 to hold some sort of meaning, whether we know each other in the physical world or not. So how about after message 1999 has been sent, we both type up personal things about ourselves and send them at the same time. That way, with the revelation of names and everything, it'll actually be an important and personal event. How does that sound?

Meonatio"

He chewed on his lip, already regretting sending that message. He felt like it was going all too fast... Even though it had been about two months. It's not like he and his pen pal were TOGETHER or anything, but there was no denying their chemistry. They both held their opinions in strong regard, they both had good scientific backgrounds, and they shared a lot of interests. Even if he knew this person and hated them, there was no way that he could still dislike them now. They were much too close.

"Meonatio,

I, too, find it in best interest that more personal information be shared between us at that time. It is also expected that you be anxious about learning my true identity after all of our private conversations. I can assure you that no matter who you are to me, I will forever hold secret the information that you have entrusted me with. You can believe this, as I do not lie.

As for the content of the messages to be sent after message 1999: what information in particular would you want to be revealed?

I-Chaya"

Leonard smiled, feeling a little more at ease at I-Chaya's promise to keep all his information a secret. Obviously, Leonard could only offer the same promises back to them.

He really felt at home when messaging them. He couldn't believe that he found someone on this god forsaken website that he actually liked and depended on. And even though he was still tempted to ask Christine or a couple other ladies out on dates, he didn't out of loyalty to I-Chaya. They weren't even together! He just felt that as long as they were talking, he shouldn't try and get into a thing with any other people. It was strange.

Their system was perfect, too. They messaged each other at set times every day, which worked great with their work schedules. Sometimes one or the other were late, but since they were both in Starfleet, it was completely understandable. If they weren't feeling too great or if they were too tired, they at least sent one message to each other explaining their situation so that the other would know that they were still alive. It was a crude explanation, but in their line of work, it was a real comfort. And if they disagreed on something or had an argument (which did happen- they weren't perfect), they either talked it out or ignored each other for the rest of the day. None of their arguments ever lasted for more than a couple days.

In fact, their longest "fight" lasted two days, and it was about whether or not one should leave a couple others behind in order to save a bigger party. Like on an away mission. If someone died, Leonard would definitely try to take the body back (and possibly even have a proper burial), even if it put himself at risk. I-Chaya, on the other hand, argued that there would be no benefit of sacrificing oneself in order to "sanctify the lost." They also said things like "The good of the many greatly outweigh the good of the few" and stuff like that, to which Leonard agreed with, but still didn't exactly agree with their point. That argument went on for hours and hours on end for both days. It eventually did come to an end, though, and they probably came out as better people because of it. Leonard would still sacrifice himself, though.

In any case, Leonard was still anxious, but mildly relieved about their "2000th Message Agreement" and I-Chaya's promise to keep the privacy. Still... he couldn't help losing sleep over it.