Warning for use of language, this takes place in their younger Academy days, so the characters aren't as civil minded as their future selves (yeah that's the excuse I'll go by).

The First Time

They Opened Up to Each Other

The chair squeaked under her weight, interrupting the silence with its shrill whine and adding to the general frustration broiling through her.

When he didn't bat an eye from the text before him, she quietly sighed.

Rain continued to patter against the windows.

"Do you have any siblings?"

His head shot up at once, almost as if he'd only been waiting for a distraction.

By the twitch in her lips, he could tell she was fighting a scowl (and failing). The brows over her eyes darkened and said eyes burned his with their intensity.

Unsure of where the foul mood came from, he cautiously responded with: "Why?"

"Because my brother is an idiot."

Her response, so immediate, resolute, and unquestioned, had a short burst of laughter erupt from the depths of his chest. He wouldn't admit it was a bit of a relief to learn her mood wasn't the result of something he did. Like breathing wrong, because, hell, it wouldn't have been the first time that happened.

Considering her mood with a new view, Kirk realized this was going to lead to a long, possibly deep conversation if not handled properly. Not that he didn't want to hear her story, at this point they were friends enough for him to care what troubled her. He'd had enough relationships, though, to recognize the conversations that could lead to inquiries of his own life that, as far as he was concerned, he wasn't ready to divulge much about.

"I'll take your word for it," He spoke lightly. "Trouble at home?"

"By his own doing!" She leaned towards the table, her movements sharp as if the skin of her body only barely managed to contain the fiery energy within. "I get that life is tough, who the hell doesn't?"

Kirk made himself comfortable as she set off on her rant.

"But, why-why would someone turn tail, run, and blame everyone else for their short-comings? What good does that do?"

"Generally, none at all."

"Exactly!"

"Laxely, are you going to tell me what exactly he did, or am I just going to be a yes man for the rest of this conversation?"

She physically reigned in her words, took a breath and calmly (as best she could) explained the predicament her older brother had managed to get himself into. Another woman, anger management issues, an impressionable young son (Lex) and a wife (Felicia) always on the verge of leaving.

"And what does he do? He slacks off at the one job that would have him, spends the afternoons at the bar when he's not seeing that woman at her place, and goes home and yells at his wife when she calls him out on his shit." She clenched her fists in the air between them, making to slam the table, slowing them just before they could hit, and knocking the wood in furious short taps. "I just don't understand. I don't get it. I don't…I don't know what to do."

She couldn't bring her eyes up to him. He noticed and the frown that had developed over her speech, deepened.

"What can I do?" Her brown eyes lifted suddenly. Vulnerable, dark pools of emotion crowned by lowered, protective brows.

"Nothing."

The answer, poured so easily from his lips, surprised her to the point the tension in her body momentarily dissipated. Any sparkle of mischief was gone from his blue eyes, replaced with hardened assurance.

"Laxely, you can't live your brother's life for him. Sometimes, you have to let them fall and hit rock bottom. It's the only way for him to learn to stand up on his own."

Her face turned from him.

He almost leaned forward, but caught himself and leaned back instead.

The rain outside, though light, could have been a thunderstorm for the held silence between them.

"Is that why you're here?" She voiced lowly. "You finally hit rock bottom and had nowhere else to go?"

Fuck.

Shutting his eyes, he sighed loudly, moved in his chair but could think of nothing useful to throw the light off of him.

"Sure," He replied flippantly.

Her mouth slid to the side and her eyebrows lifted. The same way he didn't exactly hide his evasiveness, she didn't hide the fact she didn't believe him.

"Why I'm really here, though, is to study. So…" He cleared his throat and made a show of picking up the text he'd dropped at the beginning of the conversation.

She rolled her eyes and shoved the table forward to pin him between it and his chair. "You're an ass."

She picked up her text as well but before she could focus on the first sentence, the table was pushed back under her chest.

They glared over the table at each other before Laxely nudged the table back in the middle, shook her head and went back to her reading.

She got as far as two pages before Kirk decided to speak again.

"Yeah, I do."

She waited, but when he didn't continue, she slowly lifted her head.

Reluctance poured off of him in waves, from the aversion of his eyes to the pursing of his lips. One arm draped over the back of his chair while the other rested atop his crossed legs.

"I have a brother. We don't talk, so I couldn't tell you what he's done with his life, if he's screwed up royally or not."

"Who left?"

His eyes slid to her. He guessed it wasn't so farfetched for her to believe he could have been the one to run away from home. That he had been the one to never respond whenever a pleading letter came through the mail.

"He did."

Her right brow twitched lower, the rest of her face remained unreadable.

"He found our grandfather on our dad's side. Then, decided one day, he'd had enough and left." He went back to picking off the dried mud from the seam of his pants. The memory of that day, that damned blistering hot, unforgiving day replayed in his mind so vividly it could have only happened the day before for all he remembered.

"You never…?"

"Oh I tried." He tried to brush it off with a dismissive smile, but it faded half way through completion. "To this day, I can't really blame him. Life sucked. He found a way out for himself, he had to take it. I would have."

He could feel her eyes burning into him; gathered his courage and stared back. He expected sympathy of some sort, awkwardness at the least. Instead, she studied him, deeply. He felt her eyes were peeling back all the bullshit, his armor, to the sticky truth beneath.

"No," She spoke without breaking eye contact. "You wouldn't have."

If he hadn't already been leaning back against his chair, he would have pulled away further. She wouldn't stop dissecting even his reaction. He uncrossed his arms and sat straighter, pointedly picking up his text again.

Laxely fingered the PADD before her, bit her lip and chuckled humorlessly. "Family is something, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Kirk responded without thinking.

He chanced a glance at her.

She tried to smile, though the effort never reached the disappointment in her dark eyes.

He returned the effort.

Wordlessly they resumed their reading. Both very much aware they had opened wounds to each other they'd rather no one else knew about. And yet, never questioned the loyalty they felt towards one another and the trust that it wouldn't be talked about again.

A/N: Thank you keptinkirk and tehquila . mockingburd for your reviews! And many thanks to everyone who is still reading, has started reading, following, and favorited this story. Let me know what you think of this chapter. It was originally supposed to be the first time he talked about his childhood as requested by prettytightkid (so long ago) and maybe even the first time she asked about his family as requested by princess-wallflower. If this satisfies your request, please let me know, especially if it didn't, because, again I'd like to know.

Hopefully I'll be able to post something for the Christmas holiday! Until then, enjoy this magical time of the year. :)