The First Time
They Held Hands
"This is stupid. This is so unbelievably goddamn stupid."
He laughed.
Her glare, instantaneous and unforgiving, had him apologizing and defending himself with the excuse of not being able to help it.
She was adorable. With her childish glower that gave him a clear vision of what she must've looked like at the age of nine, her cheeks repeatedly puffing as she attempted to calm herself and the sea air causing the small hairs along her face to curl he thought of her as nothing less than.
"This is training, Laxely." He tried to amend which only elicited an eye roll.
"This is bullshit, is what it is." She grumbled as another wave lifted to their navels and passed to the shore behind them.
Biting the inside of his cheek, Jim eyed the dark water.
The high moon provided little light to the naked eye, heightening every other sense which, for his friend, included paranoia.
"I'm not scared of the ocean, I can swim just fine." She'd earlier raged. "It's what's in the ocean that I can't see that I'm uncomfortable with."
"Like sharks?"
The punch in the arm he'd received for the mere mention of the large fish had him rethinking his approach with her.
"I'm right here with you," He spoke lowly to her now. "Hey, look at me."
She leaned away from him, her eyes fervently avoiding his. "I don't need to, I know you're here."
The corners of his mouth pulled down at her attitude. Without a word, he bent forward and splashed the salty water into her face.
The arm closest to him reached out to smack him while the other dipped low towards the water to retaliate. Anticipating both moves, he grabbed each arm and forced her to face him.
"You have to do this. Who knows what kind of mission you'll be assigned, especially if you end up working on my ship one day."
"Your ship?"
"Yeah, my ship. And I'd be honored to have you as part of my security detail; chasing me around planets and taking bullets for me-"
She jerked one arm free, but he held fast to the one that kept her from completely turning away. He'd earlier noted she didn't like to have her back to the open water.
"Sonja?"
"What?" She growled behind clenched teeth.
Swallowing another laugh at her expense, he kept his eyes trained on her face.
"Walk with me until the water reaches your neck and we'll call it a night."
Instead of responding right away with a suggestion on where he could shove that idea, she silently fumed. Once his grip on her arm loosened and dropped, she crossed her arms, turning away from the hand she could see he offered from her peripheral.
A few more waves rocked through them, making the footing for both difficult as the sand moved with the tide.
If she walked away, she'd never hear the end of it. Her friends would forget about it soon enough, accepting it as part of who she was. It was herself that she wouldn't hear the end of it from. This scene would forever play out in her mind of how weak she was.
But if she went…she'd have to take his stupid hand. The fact that he knew that-could see that, frustrated the hell out of her.
"I hate you." She breathed before quickly grasping his hand and looking out towards the dark horizon. Her grip automatically tightened as another wave approached.
He smiled at her, again because he couldn't help it, and squeezed her hand in reassurance.
"I know."
With each step they took, Jim could feel his hand less and less. With every wave that lifted them, Sonja moved that much closer to his side.
She didn't conquer her fear of the ocean that night. But once a week, hours after the sun had set, Jim would meet her on the sandy shore in his beach shorts and white t-shirt, ready to take her hand and walk her into the deep. The last time they met up was at the beginning of their third year at Starfleet. They raced into the water with the rest of their friends who had decided to join them. She thanked him for his efforts by dunking him under a crashing wave. He welcomed her by tackling her into another.
A/N: Thank you so much Kat7CA, SchadenFreude95, and anons for your reviews. It's going to be two years since I started uploading this story, isn't that amazing? If anyone has a first they'd like me to write please feel free to let me know. I'll give it my best shot!
I hope everyone is kicking this summer off with a blast!
Until next time :)