Thanks for keeping with me so far.

.

.

Jim dropped his bag on to the small, twin, bed. The room wasn't big, 15x15 at most, but he wasn't picky and things appeared to be shipshape. The beds were made, dressers were placed on the walls opposite of the beds, and the room came equipped with a private bathroom. It was fantastic to have a personal shower; having been placed in the boys' dormitory he didn't want risk showing off his female genitalia to the whole male population of StarFleet. It would be bad enough if he ran into someone he knew from Riverside.

He was positive Pike had something to do with it. The man struck him as a sneak, though not necessarily in a bad way. He was just surprisingly slick. Jim wasn't sure but the Captain could have had more power than just being his academic-advisor while the Enterprise was still being built. Pike didn't seem the type to take on students. Perhaps it was because of George Kirk that the man had taken him on, or maybe he just needed something to occupy his free time. Either way Jim couldn't complain, he was set.

The familiar hiss of a pneumatic door alerted him that his mysterious roommate had finally arrived. There was an audible groan and Jim spun around with a grin stretched across his face. "Bones!"

"Good lord, what did I do to deserve being stuck with you; and quit callin' me Bones!" The southern man snapped.

"Whatever you say Bones." Jim smile faded, but a smirk remained.

The man grunted, tossing his duffle bag down next to the free bed. He sat down, facing Jim just as the blonde began to unzip his bag. "So, how did you make it into an all male dormitory?"

Jim felt the heat rise in his face and refused to look up. "What do you mean by that?"

Bones rolled his eyes. "I'm a doctor, kid. I know a girl when I see one. I guess it doesn't matter whatcha are in the long run, just as long as you don't go bringin' your dates back to the room." Bones grunted, leaning over to unzip is own bag. He dug out his toiletries and took them to the bathroom.

"I identify as a gender male." Jim said loud enough for the man to hear. "I have female reproductive organs and everything. I'm just a guy and people wouldn't treat me like one if I went to the girls' dorm."

"So you got your I.D. changed and everything?" Bones asked from the bathroom.

"Yeah, my shrink approved it about a year ago."

Bones didn't say anything as he returned. He merely nodded his head and continued unpacking, prompting Jim to do the same. The night was spent in amiable silence. Occasionally Jim felt the need to say something that would annoy the Doctor, testing his limits; but overall the company was pleasant. Jim, Bones learned, was a genius and placed in the top three percent for command track. His future captaincy was basically ensured. He also learned, within the first hour of sharing a dorm with the man, that Jim was allergic to everything. Simply sitting on the bed had broken him out in hives.

Despite the drama of the evening it was waking up the next morning that was the unpleasant part. Bones was up at the crack of dawn, tired and irate since Jim snored him awake several times during the night. If the man hadn't openly admitted to his female sexual gender he would have had to retract his statement from the night before and admit that he clearly couldn't tell xy from xx; though that would be a perfect reason for how he'd ended up married to the devil.

Bones looked over at his roommate who was wrapped around a coverless pillow with no sheets or blankets since they'd gone to be rewashed so late. He debated waking him up, Jim probably wouldn't eat on his own and if he did it would be in a rush, and who knows what kind of trouble he could get into then. He eventually elected for a shower before waking the other.

He sighed, pleasantly relaxed under the streams of hot water. So, his roommate was genetically speaking, a female; he could honestly say he never saw that coming. When he enlisted, he expected his roommate to be some youngin', some a kid with a basic degree, little sense, and mounds of naivety. Bones honestly had no idea how to handle the situation; he could deal with this clinically, but otherwise he was a man, and was raised with the belief that it was improper for a man and woman to live together before marriage, gender identity be damned. It was easy to refer to him as a man, but harder than hell to actually think of him as one.

He wanted to slam his head against the wall as he rinsed the soap from his hair and body, shutting off the water and grabbing a towel. "Damn it," he said, grumbling. He didn't grab any clothes before entering the bath. It was still early though, so Jim was probably still asleep. Bones wrapped the towel tightly around his waist, gipping it tightly, as he approached the door.

Bones instantly felt his mouth go dry. Jim was standing by his dresser clad in only boxer briefs and despite his well-built core and muscles all Bones could focus on was the elegant curve of his back. His face flushed as he quickly locked the bathroom door.

"Bones!" He heard the call through the door and fought back a groan. There was no way he was going out there while that idiot was naked. "Damn it Bones, come out of there, I'd like to shower too you know!"

"No!" He yelled back. "Not until you put on some clothes!"

"And I'm not putting on clean clothes until I've showered!" The shouts got louder as Jim drew closer to the door. "Now stop being a narrow minded ass, it's not like I have anything for you to ogle anyhow."

"And how do you know I wouldn't act like this around another man!" Bones huffed, hoping his bluff would work. It was quiet on the other side of the door and he could finally feel his pulse calming. Maybe Jim was putting on a shirt at least. Seconds later Bones was sprawled out on the floor. Jim stood next to him with the panel next to the door removed and a series of wires hanging out.

"You know it's much faster if you just close your eyes than run back into the bathroom." Jim said.

Bones tried to avert his eyes, but they quickly traveled to the bare chest of the man next to him. He didn't have breasts? Not in the feminine sense. In fact his pectorals were just as well developed as his core. Again he found himself feeling strange about the situation. Again he felt that if Jim hadn't told him he would have been retracting his statement and apologizing for making assumptions about Jims' biological sex. So he had a pretty face and slender body, that didn't mean anything. There were plenty of other men out in the world that looked similar.

"Bones, get up, I need to shower." Jim said, stepping over the body. He sighed as the gentleman scrambled out of the doorway, barely keeping his towel up. Maybe Jim should have continued playing dumb, but that could have caused problems later. It shouldn't have, but it would.

Jim showered in record time, dressing in the required red uniform, but not before stepping out of the bathroom in nothing but his underwear again to watch his roommate squirm under the guise of having forgotten something. Today he'd be mapping out his classes before they started so he'd know specifically where and the fastest ways to go. He supposed it really didn't matter, there were maps all over to assist the freshmen, but it made him feel better; and he REALLY wanted to check out the library.

The Doctor scowled further, Jim was a morning person—god help him—and appeared dead set on smiling at every possible second. For the dower man it only served as a current for stirring the raging pool of sarcasm and vitriol that filled him.

"You comin'?" Jim questioned brightly, pretending not to notice the discomfort on his roommates face as he tried to clasp the collar of the uniform.

"Yeah, yeah," Bones grabbed his bag, and Jim's. "Let's go eat before you start draggin' me all over the place."

0o0o0o0

Yooo, it's be years or something hasn't it. Anyhow, I'm gonna be straight up, I have a habit of using ridiculous amounts of deal and getting myself burnt out, so I'm going to average these chapters around 1500 words and keep them fairly quick paced. …I'm still inexperienced with writing gender queer characters, so if you see something that might be not good, lemme know. (still also a little displeased at the lack of Gender Queer ST stories.)