Chapter Two

Jim never expected anything to come out of the meeting. Scotty had been nice, but he'd only met the man once, and at two AM at that. He definitely didn't expect his comm to light up with the Scot's number and a message asking him to come install a new part a week or two later.

He'd begged off dinner with Bones, who'd been less than impressed until Jim had told him he might have made a friend- Scotty was nice but he certainly didn't want to fuck him- and then excited in turn.

"A friend, Jim?" He'd asked. "Well, I'll be damned."

"Hey! I have friends." Jim had argued. "I have Galia- and you!"

"That's two, Jim, two. Most people have more than two friends."

Jim flipped him off on the way out of their dorm.

Scotty was in fine form this evening, deep in the bowels of the ancient machine and already swearing up a storm as Jim dropped his bag on the floor.

"Shit, Fuck- Jim is that you?" The Scotsman near bellowed over the recalcitrant buzz and hum of unwieldy machine parts.

"Yeah." Jim grinned. This. This was fun, and it had the bonus of being Bones approved, so there would be no grumpy best friend when he got back tonight.

Well. Unless he headed out to the bar later. There was always a chance he'd head out to the bar later.

A head emerged from the old radio, ginger hair slicked up left and right with grease and oil. It was followed by the rest of Montgomery Scott, still in cadet reds. Jim was starting to wonder if he ever wore anything else.

"Good to see ya, Mate." Scotty clapped him on the back. "Ready to get that bit installed? It's looking to be a long night."

The smile never left Jim's face. "I was born ready, Scotty."

The engineer snorted. "Now that, I might actually believe."

The removal of Jim's jury-rig and the installation of the new part took the pair of them barely thirty minutes. Then Scotty asked a question about the internal mechanics of the broadcasting station itself and Jim happily opened the casing up to show him the answer.

It was late, much later than Jim had intended, when the pair finally pulled their heads out of the world of internal wiring and chipboards and back into the world around them.

He'd washed when he got back to the dorm, and the warm water had washed the radio grease and the last of the day's stress from his tired shoulders.

Bones had stayed up to wait for him, and grumbled about being late to his shift the next morning, but not very hard, and Jim appreciated Bones looking out for him but kept quiet about it because there were some things they just never talked about.

And so it went.

The semester rolled on, and every two weeks or so, Scotty would comm Jim to come down to the Radio Station and Jim would spend his evening with his head in the antique radio set, chatting amicably with Scotty and installing new parts and upgrades on the machine.

Bones never stayed up after that first night, and Jim was sure his friend appreciated the extra few hours of sleep- between his clinic hours and his classes, Bones had a lot going on day-to-day.

It was one of those nights tonight. Scotty had messaged him this morning about an adapter he'd hoped to install to connect the radio system directly to the computer that sat, seemingly unused, in the corner of the garage. The adapter was at least ten to fifteen years older than the radio itself, so installing and converting the part to fit their needs was looking to be at least a two hour problem. Jim could feel himself looking forward to getting lost in the old radio.

"Looking better and better by the day." Jim said cheerfully as he entered the garage that evening, dropping his bag in its usual spot.

"Aye, ain't she just!" Scotty was, as always, ensconced in the ancient tech. Today, it was sparking, and Jim grinned.

"Was this thing even functional before I got here?" He ribbed playfully as he got down on his hands and knees to investigate.

Scotty snorted. "This old thing, you mean? Mate, this radio's been broadcasting since it was new. I'm just the poor sod who's in charge of keeping it running these days."

Jim whistled, impressed. "That's a Long time, Scotty. Say, what's it even used for these days anyways? It can't just be your pet project."

"An I wish it was! You know how much class credit I could get for this? Nah, this is a favor to a friend."

A friend, huh? Jim looked over and sure enough, Scotty's face was glowing faintly red.

"Must be a very Pretty friend, Scotty." He teased.

His friend just blushed harder.

"Aye, That's she is, but don't you go tellin her that." He waved a soldering iron in Jim's direction, and Jim shifted back out of the way, mildly alarmed. "She's got a boyfriend."

"Damn." He cursed. "Shit luck, Scott."

"You're telling me." Scotty groaned.

They worked on companionably, silent save for the hum of the machinery around them and the occasional quick request for a tool.

It wasn't long before the peace was broken.

"Scotty! Damnit, where are you?"

The voice sounded familiar, but Jim couldn't quite place it. Scotty, however, clearly did.

"Speak of the devil." He cursed, wiping his hands on his pants.

"In here!" Scotty shouted, and stood up.

Jim, ever curious, poked his head out from behind the radio.

The person who entered the room was the last person he would have ever expected. Long tan legs, complete with surprisingly sturdy high heeled boots, were connected to cadet reds, topped with an unwantedly familiar face. Jim winced and hurriedly hid his head back in the machine as First-Name-Unknown Uhura walked into the room as elegantly as always. She'd never quite forgiven him for their first meeting.

Hopefully she wouldn't notice him. Jim breathed a sigh of relief when her eyes passed over him.

She was trailed by a short blond, barely out of his teens. To his shock, Jim recognized the guy- Pavel Chekov had taken Orbital Warp Mechanics with him last semester.

Uhura may have missed him, but Pavel didn't.

"Jim? Is that you?"

And that was enough to draw Uhura's attention.

"Kirk?"

Oh shit. She knew he was here now. Damnit Pavel.

Jim stood up from his hiding place and winced at the ache in his legs. He'd been down there a bit too long.

"Hey, Cynthia." He said, to the visible confusion of both Scotty and Pavel.

She laughed. "Still not my name, Kirk."

"Hey, at least I'm trying!" Jim defended himself as he went to put the soldering iron that he'd liberated off of Scotty back in the tool box.

Uhura just rolled her eyes and turned her back on him. Conversation over, he guessed. At least there had been no slapping, this time.

"We've got a problem, Scotty." She said, "Hikaru's sick. Something from the botany labs got to him."

Jim would bet his toolbox- and he was fond of his toolbox- that this was the case Bones had been complaining to him about last night. Some "goddamn fool cadet" had "eaten an experiment" on a "goddamn dare" and had wound up coughing up flowers. To be honest, the good doctor had been several drinks in and starting to slur his words, so Jim hadn't been paying all that much attention.

"Well," Scotty thought for a moment, "I can do your editing, but there's no way in hell that I'm going on the air."

On the air? "What's going on?" Jim asked.

Uhura ignored him, but Scotty thankfully took pity.

"She's looking for someone to do her radio show." he told him.

So that's what the old radio station was used for.

"I told her I would go on de air with her," Pavel complained, "but she doesn't want to talk about warp mechanics."

Jim couldn't relate. Warp Mechanics were fascinating. If he wasn't gunning for the captain position, he might have gone for the Engineering track. But he hadn't and here he was, in the oldest part of campus, working on a piece of ancient tech anyways.

But. He knew warp mechanics and could keep up with Pavel. If they needed someone-

Before he could think too hard about it, Jim spoke up.

"Hey, I could do that."

Instantly, Pavel got a hopeful look on his face. "Can we, Nyota?"

Uhura sighed. Jim grinned. He made eye contact with her.

"Nyota, huh?"

Uhura- Nyota put her face in her hands. "Kirk, no. And Pavel, I don't think that's such a good idea. Kirk has no idea what he's doing on a radio."

"I'm fine on a radio!" Jim said, feeling faintly insulted.

Uhura snorted. "You've certainly got the face for it"

"Hey!"

"We canne just leave it, Nyota." Scotty argued, "Put Jim on the mic with Pavel until Hikaru gets better. That way you can keep the station running for that vulcan of yours."

Uhura was dating a vulcan? Huh. Good on her.

"- fine" he hadn't heard what Uhura, Nyota, had to say, but that "fine" sounded like an agreement to him.

Jim Kirk traded grins with Pavel Chekov. This was going to be fun.